MOSCOW, March 28 (RIA Novosti) – Russia's largest gold producer Polyus Gold saw its 2012 IFRS net profit soar 71 percent year-on-year to $980.5 million on increased sales and higher gold prices, the company said in a statement on Thursday.
That was above a consensus forecast of $860 million from analysts polled by Prime news agency.
The company's revenue grew by 19 percent year-on-year in 2012 to $2.8 billion, with EBITDA rising by 22 percent to $1.38 billion.
The company produced 1.678 million ounces of refined gold in 2012, compared to 1.495 million ounces in 2011.
“The 12-percent growth in production was achieved as a result of increases in gold output at all Russian operations, including significant increases at Olimpiada mine (up 15 percent), Blagodatnoye (up 11 percent) and Kuranakh (up 19 percent), and additionally as a result of the launch of Verninskoye,” the gold producer said in a statement.
In the fourth quarter of 2012, the company produced 478,000 ounces of refined gold, up 22 percent compared to 391,000 ounces in the fourth quarter of 2011.
“I am pleased to present another set of target-beating operating results delivered by Polyus Gold. With the fifth consecutive year of growth in production, we have demonstrated our ability to consistently deliver on the ambitious growth plans we set out,” Polyus Gold CEO German Pikhoya was quoted as saying in the statement.
Headquartered in Moscow, Polyus Gold's operating mines and development and exploration projects are located in five major gold mining regions in Russia: the Krasnoyarsk Territory and the Irkutsk Region in Siberia, the Far Eastern Magadan and Amur Regions, and the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) in East Siberia.
