Boliden's Q2 earnings disappoint despite near fivefold rise
Swedish miner Boliden said on Friday its core earnings rose by nearly fivefold in the second quarter, helped by a one-off insurance claim, but missed market forecasts on weak zinc and copper production.
Its shares fell around 9% by 11:35 GMT, among the worst performers on Europe's benchmark STOXX 600 index.
Boliden's operating profit, excluding the revaluation of its process inventory, rose to 4-billion Swedish crowns ($375-million) in the quarter, from 0.83 billion a year earlier, driven by the previously announced insurance claim of 2.4-billion crowns related to a fire at its smelter last year.
That was still 10% below a company consensus, RBC said in a note to clients, adding that weaker-than-expected zinc and copper production drove a 45% earnings miss in the mining division.
"The weak operating performance from the mining segment will likely drive downgrades to consensus forecasts," RBC wrote.
Martin Persson, a fund manager at insurer Lansforsakringar that has a stake in Boliden, told Reuters he was disappointed with the results, and particularly the performance of the Aitik copper mine in northern Sweden.
Aitik's milled volume fell in the period, and Boliden said production from the mine's Liikavaara satellite pit had started with ramp-up issues.
Persson said he still thought Boliden was an interesting investment in the longer term, despite short-term challenges.
"If you look at electrification and future needs for copper, I think it is interesting, and Boliden sit on good assets," he said.
The miner said higher prices for copper, zinc, gold and silver boosted its earnings, while lower treatment charges and metal premiums weighed on the result.
Metal prices rallied in the second quarter but have pulled back somewhat since then, affected by high inventories and soft demand in China. But smelter treatment charges - the fee a smelter earns for converting mined concentrates into metal - have collapsed for copper and zinc.
"While I believe that the longterm demand looks very good, in a short-term perspective the market is now characterized by a global concentrate production, that does not quite meet the available smelter capacity," CEO Mikael Staffas said in a statement.
Comments
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation