Centamin annual profit falls 16%

Centamin's annual profit fell as revenue decreased and costs rose at the miner that operates Egypt's only gold mine.

Pre-tax profit for the year to the end of December dropped 16% to $224.1m (£158m). Revenue slipped to $675.5m from $687.4m as cost of sales rose to $414.3m from $389.3m.

Centamin said revenue benefited from a slight increase in the price of gold but that this was offset by a fall in gold sales. Cost increases included higher fuel and chemical reagent charges and capital expenses from planned fleet rebuilds.

The company, whose main asset is Egypt's Sukari mine, proposed a final dividend of 10 cents a share, resulting in an annual dividend of 12.5 cents a share – down from 15.5 cents a year earlier.

Josef El-Raghy, Centamin's chairman, said: "The central tenet of our corporate strategy is delivering returns to stakeholders. Following a strong operational and financial performance throughout the year, the board of directors is delighted to propose a final dividend for 2017 of 10 US cents per share.

"The past year has seen the company firmly consolidate its position as one of the world's leading low-cost gold producers. Sukari has maintained cash costs in the lowest quartile in the industry."

Yuen Low, an analyst at Shore Capital, said Centamin's financial performance was good but that investors may be disappointed that the results were slightly weaker than 2016.

"The balance sheet remains in very good health, with current assets far exceeding both current and total liabilities, and the company remains debt-free and unhedged," Low said.