Hochschild Mining earnings drop but production set to jump

Hochschild Mining reported a drop in full-year profit and earnings on Wednesday despite a rise in revenue, as it said production is expected to double this year.

In the year to the end of December 2017, profit before income tax fell to $64.1m from $108.3m, while adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation declined to $300.8m from $329m the year before as it took a hit from higher costs and increased investment in brownfield exploration.

Revenue rose to $722.6m from $688.2m thanks to record production and the gold miner declared an interim dividend of 1.965 cents a share, up 42% from 2016.

Chief executive officer Ignacio Bustamente said: "We have delivered another set of solid results driven by record production and costs in line with expectations. We have completed a very successful refinancing and along with strong operational cashflow, we have consequently been able to reward shareholders for their support with a proposed increase in the final dividend for 2017.

"In 2018, we can look forward to the ramp up of production from the Pablo vein and continued investment in our brownfield exploration programme."

Hochschild is targeting production of 514,000 attributable gold equivalent ounces for 2018, up from 255,000.