Shares hit by investor shyness of Russian firms at gold miner Polymetal, despite strong results – CEO

Investor uncertainty around Russian firms has held back Polymetal’s share price even though sanctions have not hit the company, its boss said yesterday as the miner showed gold sales up 10 per cent.

Tensions between Russia and the west have not impacted operations at the company, chief executive Vitaly Nesis said.

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Nevertheless, “for a lot of investors a Russian company is a more risky, less well-understood, value proposition,” he told City A.M.

Shares rose around 0.8 per cent to 863p at the London-listed miner as it showed revenues up four per cent to nearly $1.9bn last year.

The increase was mainly driven by an rise in gold sales to nearly 1.2m ounces, as production at its flagship Kyzyl mine ramped up. This offset a decline in silver output by three per cent to 25.7m ounces.

However the figures, which were largely in line with expectations, were impacted as the price of gold fell two per cent, while silver decreased eight per cent.

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“I think the results are quite positive, we have improved the profitability and increased dividends in the face of declining gold and silver prices,” Nesis said.

Net earnings ticked up by $1m to $355m last year, while earnings per share fell five per cent to $0.78. Net debt rose seven per cent to more than $1.5bn, while capital expenditure fell ten per cent to $344m.