Wheaton Precious Metals beats 2017 guidance, lifts dividend 29%

VANCOUVER (miningweekly.com) – The world’s largest precious metals streaming firm Wheaton Precious Metals has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.09 a share – up 29% year-on-year as record production lifted the bottom line.

The Vancouver-headquartered company reported full-year silver output of 28.6-million ounces, which was 5.7% lower than in 2016, while gold output fell 3.1% over 2016 to 355 104 oz. This compared favourably with the production guidance of 28-million ounces of silver and 340 000 oz of gold for 2017.

Full-year headline earnings, which typically exclude special items, improved 4% year-on-year to $277-million, or $0.63 a share, compared with adjusted net earnings of $266-million, or $0.62 a share, a year earlier.

The company’s operating cash flow fell 7.8% to $539-million, or $1.22 a share, which is a sector-leading figure.

“With 30% of our cash flows being distributed in dividends, we now provide the highest yield of all the precious metal streamers,” president and CEO Randy Smallwood pointed out in a news release late on Wednesday.

Revenues for the 12-month period came to $843-million, derived from sales of 24.6-million ounces of silver and 337 200 oz of gold. This represents a 5% decrease from the $892-million revenue generated in 2016, and was mainly impacted by 13% fewer silver ounces sold, a 2% increase in the number of gold ounces sold; and a 1% boost in the average realised gold price of $1 257/oz in 2017, compared with $1 246/oz in 2016.

The company reported average cash costs during the year of $4.49/oz of silver sold and $395/oz gold sold.

Wheaton Precious Metals has guided for 2018 attributable output of 22.5-million ounces of silver and 355 000 oz of gold. Over the next five years, the company expects to produce on average about 25-million ounces a year of silver and 370 000 oz/y of gold.