Kaz Minerals' interim profits slide on weakened copper prices

Kazakhstan-focused miner Kaz Minerals revealed a drop in interim profits on Tuesday, principally due to lower copper prices throughout the period.

Kaz posted a pre-tax profit of $249.0m for the six months ended 30 June, down 13.84% year-on-year, as revenues slipped 5.8% to $991.0m.

Underlying earnings narrowed 9.84% to $559.0m and operating profits shrunk 12.93% to $357.0m.

Net cash flow from operations grew 31% to $310.0m.

Despite the weakened performance across the board, Kaz Minerals declared an interim dividend of $0.04 per share, in line with the interim payment made by the group at the same time a year earlier.

Looking forward, Kaz said risks linked to the Covid-19 pandemic still remained but highlighted that full-year production guidance was unchanged.

The FTSE 250-listed firm added that while lower average LME copper prices had hurt its interim numbers, Kaz stated it was confident that the medium- to long-term outlook for the price of copper was positive.

Chief executive Andrew Southam said: "Thanks to the dedication and hard work of our employees we have increased copper and gold production and maintained our low-cost position, recording a net cash cost of $0.68 per pound.

"Covid-19 risks remain, but the group is on track to achieve its full-year production guidance after an excellent performance in the first half."

As of 0840 BST, Kaz shares were down 1.43% at 571.53p.