https://www.miningweekly.com

Wheaton Precious Metals beats 2017 guidance, lifts dividend 29%

22nd March 2018

By: Henry Lazenby

Creamer Media Deputy Editor: North America

     

Font size: - +

VANCOUVER (miningweekly.com) – The world’s largest precious metals streaming firm Wheaton Precious Metals has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.09 a share – up 29% year-on-year as record production lifted the bottom line.

The Vancouver-headquartered company reported full-year silver output of 28.6-million ounces, which was 5.7% lower than in 2016, while gold output fell 3.1% over 2016 to 355 104 oz. This compared favourably with the production guidance of 28-million ounces of silver and 340 000 oz of gold for 2017.

Full-year headline earnings, which typically exclude special items, improved 4% year-on-year to $277-million, or $0.63 a share, compared with adjusted net earnings of $266-million, or $0.62 a share, a year earlier.

The company’s operating cash flow fell 7.8% to $539-million, or $1.22 a share, which is a sector-leading figure.

“With 30% of our cash flows being distributed in dividends, we now provide the highest yield of all the precious metal streamers,” president and CEO Randy Smallwood pointed out in a news release late on Wednesday.

Revenues for the 12-month period came to $843-million, derived from sales of 24.6-million ounces of silver and 337 200 oz of gold. This represents a 5% decrease from the $892-million revenue generated in 2016, and was mainly impacted by 13% fewer silver ounces sold, a 2% increase in the number of gold ounces sold; and a 1% boost in the average realised gold price of $1 257/oz in 2017, compared with $1 246/oz in 2016.

The company reported average cash costs during the year of $4.49/oz of silver sold and $395/oz gold sold.

Wheaton Precious Metals has guided for 2018 attributable output of 22.5-million ounces of silver and 355 000 oz of gold. Over the next five years, the company expects to produce on average about 25-million ounces a year of silver and 370 000 oz/y of gold.

Edited by Creamer Media Reporter

Comments

The content you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.

If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.

If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.

For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.

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?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION