Gold Miner Centamin to Start Paying Dividend This Year

Gold miner Centamin Plc said on Friday it intends to begin paying a dividend during the current financial year.

The company, which mines gold from its flagship Sukari mine in Egypt, said it would announce its maiden interim dividend when it released interim financial results.

Centamin, scheduled to report results in mid-August, said it would aim to approve an annual dividend equal to 15-30 percent of the company’s net cash flow after capital costs and the payment of profit share due to the government of Egypt.

Centamin’s shares rose as much as 2 percent after the company’s announcement, before reversing course to trade down 0.8 percent at 61.30 pence at 1056 GMT on the London Stock Exchange on Friday.

“While confirmation of a maiden interim dividend this year is good news, the likely quantum of … dividends is lighter than we had been hoping for,” analysts at Investec Securities wrote in a note.

The company’s net cash from operating activities was $245.14 million for the year ended Dec. 31.

Source: Reuters