Antofagasta raises dividend after reporting a strong first half

Antofagasta plc (LON: ANTO) ended in the red today even though it reported a year-on-year increase in its profit in the first six months of this year.

Antofagasta reiterated its production guidance

The share price weakness was particularly interesting considering the mining company also reiterated its full-year guidance for copper production on Thursday.

Antofagasta is committed to producing 640,000 metric tons to 670,000 metric tons of copper this year (source). Its CEO Ivan Arriagada said today:

Looking ahead, we expect the desalination plant will continue to ramp-up to its design capacity, which will allow increased throughput at Los Pelambres.

Also a positive was a 27% increase in interim dividend the multinational announced this morning. At writing, its shares are trading at roughly the same price at which they started 2023.

Antofagasta saw profit and revenue climb in H1

Antofagasta ended the first half with $764.5 million of profit before tax – up from $679.6 million in the same period last year.

The Chilean miner also noted a 14% annualised growth in its revenue to $2.89 billion. It attributed much of that strength to higher sales volumes of copper, gold, and molybdenum. CEO Arriagada also said in the press release today:

Long-term fundamentals for copper are very strong as demand is forecast to grow and incremental supply remains challenged. Our focus remains on growing production which will generate value for stakeholders.

Strength in Chilean peso and inflation also helped drive a 7.5% year-on-year increase in its EBITDA to $1.33 billion in the first half of 2023. Wall Street currently rates Antofagasta at “hold”.