https://www.investegate.co.uk/south32-l ... ed%20Alert
South32 delivers earnings growth, reshapes portfolio and continues shareholder returns
"Record production at Australia Manganese, strong operating performance more broadly and higher commodity prices delivered a 17 per cent increase in Profit after tax for the half year, while Underlying earnings per share grew by 20 per cent as we continued to benefit from our on-market share buy-back program.
"Our strong start to the year means that our production guidance is unchanged for all of our operations with the exception of Illawarra Metallurgical Coal where we have upgraded guidance by 7 per cent. We have also lowered our unit cost guidance as we have maintained operating discipline and benefited from a stronger US dollar.
"We continued to reshape our portfolio by acquiring the high-grade Hermosa resource and a 50% interest in and operatorship of the Eagle Downs Metallurgical Coal project during the period. We are also progressing our early stage exploration projects and remain on track to divest South Africa Energy Coal with binding bids expected by 30 June 2019.
"We are well positioned for the second half of the year, with a net cash balance of US$678M and an improving outlook for production and costs. This strong position has allowed us to return US$511M to shareholders in respect of the period with today's declaration of a US$258M fully franked interim dividend and an US$86M fully franked special dividend.
"Having established a strong track record, we will continue to return any excess capital to shareholders in a timely and efficient manner by monitoring our financial position within the context of the prevailing macro-economic environment and our capital management framework. This will involve the continuation of our existing US$1B capital management program with the recommencement of our on-market share buy-back following release of our financial results."
Dividend details can be found here ….
https://www.investegate.co.uk/south32-l ... ed%20Alert
South32 Limited (ASX, JSE, LSE: S32; ADR: SOUHY) (South32) announced that the Board has resolved to pay an interim dividend of US 5.1 cents per share (fully franked) for the half year ended 31 December 2018 and a special dividend of US 1.7 cents per share (fully franked).
The record date for determining entitlements to dividends is 8 March 2019; payment date is
4 April 2019.
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