By Clara Denina
LONDON (Reuters) – Antofagasta posted a fall in half-year profit on Thursday, as higher costs, lower grades and a persistent drought in Chile hit the miner’s copper production.
It said it would slash its interim dividend to 9.2 cents per share from a record 23.6 cents last year, joining fellow miners including Rio Tinto, and Anglo American in lowering payouts after last year’s bonanza.
Mining firms have also warned about future returns on fears that slower growth or recession in key markets could dent commodity demand in the next few months.
London-listed Antofagasta, majority owned by Chile’s wealthy Luksic family, saw its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) for the first six months fall to $1.24 billion, compared with $2.4 billion last year.
Antofagasta’s profit surged to its highest ever in 2021 when copper prices reached record levels, allowing it to make a record shareholder payout of $1.4 billion for the year.
It said it remains on track to produce its revised guidance of 640,000-660,000 tonnes of copper for the full year.
“We expect the remainder of the year to look very different from the first half – as production improves quarter-on-quarter,” Chief Executive Iván Arriagada said.
(Reporting by Clara Denina and Muhammed Husain; Editing by Shailesh Kuber and Alexander Smith)
