The Mufulira based explosives company’s AEL Mining Plc has posted a 4.5% increase in revenue on account of increased exports, according to a statement in the Company’s 2019 half-year financials.
However, the company also disclosed that the move towards exports was driven by weakened local demand following the loss of one of their largest customers during the period under review. “Revenue increased by 4.5% to ZMW 331,587 million (2018: ZMW 317,161 million), with an increase in exports neutralizing the effect of the loss of a large local customer during 2018, for the period to June 2019”¸ read a statement issued Francois van Niekerk, the Financial Director of AEL Mining.
Financial Insight, which owns shares in the company, was advised by AEL Mining that “the large customer lost during 2018 was Barrick’s Lumwana mine after a tender process which was concluded in 2017, after which the mine changed its explosive supplier during 2018”.
The company has experienced a marginal decrease in its bottom line. “The company achieved a net profit after taxation of ZMW 40,488 million (2018: ZMW 41,193 million), a decrease of 4.2% from the same period in the prior year”. The Earnings per share in June 2019 were ZMW 1.98 compared to ZMW 2.02 in June 2018, therefore the Board has elected to declare an interim dividend of ZMW 2.00 per share for the period ending 30 June 2019 compared to ZMW 3.80 per share for the same period last year.
The company remains bullish on its prospects for the last two quarters of 2019 but anticipates a “local economy that will remain challenging with Lower productivity in the mining industry and continuous fluctuations of the ZMW/USD exchange rate will have a significant influence on year-end results.”