MANILA, Philippines - Listed miner Atlas Consolidated Mining and Development Corp. is declaring cash dividends of P0.25 per share of its capital stock.
In a disclosure to the local bourse late Friday, the company said it currently has 2,075,151,773 outstanding common shares.
The cash dividend will be payable on April 19, 2013 to stockholders on record as of March 22, 2013.
“It is truly a remarkable achievement for Atlas Mining to finally deliver dividends again to its shareholders after 32 years. This affirms our commitment to increase shareholder value as we implement a clear startegy to strengthen and grow our operations,†said Atlas executive vice president Adrian Ramos.
Atlas reported a 48 percent increase in net income in 2012 to P3.44 billion from P2.33 billion in 2011 on the back of the strong performance of its wholly-owned copper-gold mine in Cebu.
The company also reported a 46 percent increase in consolidated income form its core businesses to P2.54 billion in 2012 from P1.66 billion in 2011.
Its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) rose 64 percent to P5.74 billion in 2012 from P3.50 billion in 2011.
The improvement in income was driven mostly by a 21 percent growth in consolidated revenues to P15.54 billion in 2012 from P12.83 billion in 2011.
Atlas said a substantial increase in the copper output of its wholly-owned subsidiary Carmen Copper Corp. (CCC) in 2012 pushed revenues up despite a 10 percent decrease in the market price of copper.
Carmen Copper registered a 30 percent hike in gross copper shipments, reaching a record- high of 91.39 million pounds in 2012 from 70.46 million pounds in 2011.
The increase in shipments was attributable to a rise in throughput and recovery rate, and to the improvement of copper ore grades.
Atlas is investing around $105 million for the upgrade of the mill facility of its Toledo complex in Cebu which is operated by CCC.
Of this amount, $50 million is being spent for the upgrade of the copper mill, $30 million for additional optimization and $25 million for upgrading its mine fleet for the delivery of the copper ore.
This will enable CCC to increase its output to 10 million pounds of copper concentrate per month from the current production capacity of around seven to 7.5 million pounds per month.
The upgraded mill is expected to be operational within the second quarter of 2013.