Australia’s largest gold miner has recorded a net profit of $154 million in the six months to December, compared to a net loss of $8.1 million a year earlier.
Newcrest said today that its growth in profit and cash flow was driven by higher realized gold prices that more than compensated for the lower achieved copper price and increased input costs.
Gold prices firmed 28% in the half-year period, helping boost gold sales revenue 27% to $955.7 million, compared to $751.2 million a year earlier. Revenue from copper sales fell to $328.8 million from $361.4 million, hurt by a 13% slide in copper prices. Revenue from silver sales slipped to $9.7 million from $10.8 million.
Newcrest said gold sales volume was unchanged from a year earlier as it drew on inventories to offset a 4% decline in gold production.
Total revenue was $1.294 billion, up 15% from the $1.123 billion a year earlier.
Newcrest said the weaker Australian dollar exacerbated its cost pressures during the period. Those costs should decline over the coming year helped by the general easing in wholesale prices, the miner said.
Newcrest said it had no losses on gold hedging activities in the half year, compared to a $33.8 million loss a year earlier.