Chilean copper miner Antofagasta has reported an 11% increase in its annual core profit for 2024, driven by higher copper prices.
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose to $3.43bn, up from $3.09bn the previous year. This increase highlights the company’s strong performance in the copper market.
Antofagasta has proposed a final dividend of 23.5 cents per share, representing a 50% payout of underlying earnings per share.
In 2021, the company made a record shareholder payout of 142.5 cents per share, totalling $1.4bn. Antofagasta’s policy is to return at least 35% of net earnings to its shareholders.
The company’s capital expenditure reached $2.4bn last year and is projected to rise to $3.9bn in 2025 as work on its Centinela concentrator progresses.
Antofagasta’s net debt increased to $1.63bn at the end of 2024, compared to $1.16bn a year earlier. Analysts had anticipated net debt to be around $2bn.
Antofagasta CEO Iván Arriagada said: “We have delivered another year of strong revenue growth and cash flow generation, and our EBITDA margin widened to 52%, maintaining our position at the top-end of our peer group of pure-play copper producers.
“Copper’s unique role in energy security and electrification means that the world needs more of it, and our projects are on track to deliver industry-leading levels of responsible copper supply growth. Our strong balance sheet enables us to invest in profitable growth for the medium and long term.
“Our disciplined approach to capital allocation allows us to balance investments and shareholder returns, with the final dividend that we have proposed today taking total distributions in respect of 2024 to 50% of underlying earnings, reflecting our confidence in the future of our business.”
Primarily owned by Chile’s Luksic family, Antofagasta operates four copper mines in Chile.
