KGHM ups profit target on back of copper prices
KGHM, Europe’s number two copper producer, has raised its 2011 net profit target by 16 per cent to a record 9.6bn zlotys (£2bn) on higher copper prices and asset sales, a touch above analysts’ forecasts.
Analysts expected the state-controlled miner to raise the goal to 9.5bn zlotys from the 8.4bn it had predicted earlier, after it booked more than half of the previous goal in the first six months.
KGHM is now targeting 2011 sales of 18.9bn zlotys compared with 16.1bn expected earlier.
The forecast, already nearly double last year’s net record profit, includes a windfall from the sale of its stake in Poland’s second biggest mobile operator Polkomtel, which the owners agreed to sell in June in the country’s biggest ever takeover.
“The change results mainly from higher production and a higher estimate for the copper price,” said Ipopema analyst Tomasz Duda.