Feb 12 (Reuters) – Australia’s South32 reported higher first-half profit and beat analysts’ estimates on Thursday, boosted by higher commodity prices, sending shares of the diversified miner to their highest point in nearly four years. Shares of the company rose as much as 5.4% to A$4.91, their highest level since June 9, 2022. Stock was […]
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Australia’s South32 beats half-year profit estimates, trims output view for Brazil operations
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Feb 12 (Reuters) – Australia’s South32 reported higher first-half profit and beat analysts’ estimates on Thursday, boosted by higher commodity prices, sending shares of the diversified miner to their highest point in nearly four years.
Shares of the company rose as much as 5.4% to A$4.91, their highest level since June 9, 2022.
Stock was also among the top movers in the benchmark index, which was up 0.5%, as at 0019 GMT.
Its underlying earnings attributable was $435 million for the half-year ended December 31, beating the Visible Alpha consensus estimate of $386.6 million and higher than the $375 million a year earlier.
The miner, however, trimmed the production outlook for its Brazil aluminium segment to 135 kilo tons (kt) from 160kt in fiscal 2026 and to 140kt from 165kt in fiscal 2027.
The revision in forecast comes as the smelter’s operator is implementing measures to improve stability and continue the ramp-up of all three potlines at the operations, South32 added.
South32, which was spun-off from BHP Group in 2015, declared an interim dividend of 3.9 cents per share, compared with 3.4 cents in the previous year.
The first-half earnings were driven broadly by higher commodity prices, notably copper, silver and aluminium, lower controllable costs, and the restart of operations at its manganese division in Australia, the world’s biggest producer of manganese said.
That offset lower contributions from its Illawarra Metallurgical Coal and Cerro Matoso sites post divestment.
The company also increased its capital management programme by $100 million to $2.6 billion, with $209 million remaining to be returned to shareholders by 26 February 2027.
Its manganese division in Australia swung to a profit with underlying EBIT of $66 million, up from a loss of $34 million from a year earlier, as the segment achieved normalised production rates on the execution of its recovery plan following the impacts of Tropical Cyclone Megan.
(Reporting by Sherin Sunny in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri and Sherry Jacob-Phillips)