London-listed Central Asia Metals Limited (CAML) has had a good start to the year at its Kounrad and Sasa operations, with the company on Wednesday declaring that it was on track to meet its full-year guidance for copper, zinc and lead.

The Kounrad dump leach, solvent extraction and electrowinning copper recovery plant in Kazakhstan produced 2 952 t of copper in the first quarter and the Sasa zinc/lead mine, in north Macedonia, produced 5 639 t of zinc in concentrate and 7 212 t of lead in concentrate.

The base metals production guidance for 2019 is 12 500 t to 13 500 t of copper cathode, plus 22 000 t to 24 000 t of zinc in concentrate and 28 000 t to 30 000 t of lead in concentrate.

In 2018, the Sasa mine delivered 22 532 t of zinc in concentrate and 29 388 t of lead in concentrate. The Kounrad operation produced 14 049 t of copper last year, CAML reported on Wednesday.

CAML has also published its financial results for 2018, reporting group revenue of $204.2-million – an increase from the $106.5-million reported in 2017.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) came to $125.3-million, compared with $53.9-million in 2017.

“2018 was the first full year that we have operated both Kounrad and Sasa, and we are pleased to report a successful year at both sites, with on-guidance production and strong group financial results. In acquiring Sasa we have demonstrated a 132% increase in Ebitda to $125.3-million since 2017, at a broadly maintained Ebitda margin of 61%, despite an average 20% fall in the basket price of our base metals.

"Ebtida per share increased year-on-year by 65% and earnings per share from continuing operations rose by 8% from 2017 to 31.33c. We believe that, while taking other factors into account, these increases demonstrate the accretive nature of the Sasa acquisition,” said CEO Nigel Robinson.

CAML has also proposed an 8p-a-share final dividend, equating to a full-year dividend of 14.5p.

Once the final dividend has been paid, the company will have returned $162-million to its shareholders in the last seven years, Robinson said in a statement.

The full-year dividend represents 44% of CAML’s 2018 adjusted free cash flow and is in line with CAML's new policy of returning to shareholders between 30% and 50% of annual free cash flow.