Results round-up

Egyptian gold miner Centamin declared a bumper dividend as it posted results for the year to 31 December on Wednesday, with EBITDA up 145% to $373m due to higher gold prices, increased production and lower costs.

The FTSE 250 company’s revenue was also up, to $158.3m from $130.2m in 2015, as production reached 551,036 ounces, a 26% increase on 2015 and above the revised guidance range.

Basic earnings per share were 18.61 cents, up 313% on the prior year.

Profit sharing with the Egyptian Mineral Resources Authority commenced during the third quarter, with earnings per share before profit share of 23.05 US cents, up 411% on the prior year.

Centamin said it remains debt-free and unhedged with cash, bullion on hand, gold sales receivable and available-for-sale financial assets of $428m at 31 December, up 85%.

Its board proposed a final dividend of 13.5 cents per share, making for a total 2016 dividend payout of 15.5 US cents per share.

The cash cost of production was $513 per ounce, down from $713 per ounce in 2015 and below the revised guidance range, driven by higher production and reductions in mine production costs, mainly due to lower fuel prices.

All-in sustaining costs were $694 per ounce, down from $885 per ounce in 2015 and below the revised guidance range, due to the same factors affecting the cash cost of production.

Central and Eastern Europe focused airline Wizz Air cut its underlying net profit guidance for the full year on Wednesday despite reporting a surge in third-quarter profit, on the back of lower fuel prices and severe weather conditions.

For the three months to the end of December, pre-tax profit jumped 104% from the same quarter a year ago to €33.1m as revenue rose 10% to $341.1m and the company carried 5.7m passengers, up 20% on 2015.

Ticket revenues increased 2.5% to €191.8m, while ancillary revenues grew 21% to €149.4m.

Wizz said that although the current financial year is looking like “a very good year” for the company and it remains excited about its prospects for the next financial year, lower fuel prices continue to feed through to lower airfares, a trend which looks set to continue well into 2017. In addition, the group’s operations this winter have been disrupted by unusually severe weather conditions in CEE.

As a result, Wizz has trimmed its guidance for net profit for the full year from €245-€255m to between €225 and €235m.

Chief executive József Váradi said: “Wizz Air remains on track to strengthen its position during 2017 financial year through continued growth in our core markets and expansion of our network. We expect to grow capacity in terms of ASKs at 20% for the current financial year which is at the higher end of our previous guidance of 18% - 20%. And the current environment of very low fares and increasing fuel prices presents excellent trading conditions for Wizz Air to continue securing its market leadership position while maintaining industry leading profitability."