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Hochschild Mining PLC on Wednesday reported a jump in half-year profit, thanks to higher gold production and prices, but it lowered its production guidance for all of 2025, due to sharply lower output from a mine in Brazil. The stock was down 14% to 262.60 pence early Wednesday in London, the worst performer in the FTSE 250 index. London-based Hochschild is a gold and silver miner in Argentina, Brazil and Peru. Pretax profit after exceptional items more than doubled to $140.1 million in the six months that ended June 30 from $69.4 million a year before, as revenue rose 33% to $520.0 million from $391.7 million the previous year. Exceptional items in the first half of 2025 consisted of a $30.8 million gain from the reversal of an impairment of the Volcan project, thanks to higher gold prices, whereas the first half of 2024 had a net impairment after tax credit of $12.5 million. Pretax profit before exceptional items rose 32% to $109.3 million from $83.1 million, while adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation increased 27% to $224.5 million from $177.1 million. Hochschild declared an interim dividend of 1.0 US cent per share, which it noted constitutes a $5.1 million return to shareholders. Hochschild paid no interim dividend last year. It restored dividend payments with a 1.94 US cents final payout for 2024, having not paid anything since 2022. At the time, Hochschild had promised $10.0 million in annual dividends going forward, split equally between an interim and final payout. On Wednesday, the company said net debt was reduced to $202.3 million as of June 30 from $215.6 million on December 31. Hochschild reported attributable production of 161,597 gold equivalent ounces, or 13.4 million silver equivalent ounces, in the first half. This was up from 152,792 gold equivalent ounces or 12.7 million silver equivalent ounces a year before. It was composed of 3.8 million ounces of silver, down from 4.1 million a year before, and 116,000 ounces of gold, up from 104,000. Looking ahead, however, Hochschild lowered its 2025 group production guidance to between 291,000 and 319,000 gold equivalent ounces from between 350,000 and 378,000 ounces. This reflects a lower production forecast for Mara Rosa in the Goias state in central Brazil, cut to 35,000 to 45,000 ounces, against prior guidance of 94,000 to 104,000 ounces. The cut in guidance is due to an operational review and temporary suspension of the processing plant at the mine, which has since restarted. Hochschild noted on Wednesday that mining has continued as planned at Mara Rosa, and it has appointed a new Brazil country manager. Hochschild also noted higher costs in Argentina, amid inflation and lower production in that country. It guided all-in sustaining costs in 2025 of $1,980 to $2,080 per gold equivalent ounce, up from $1,587 to $1,687 previously. The spot gold price was $3,380.55 early Wednesday in London. Copyright 2025 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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