(Alliance News) - Wheaton Precious Metals Corp on Friday backed its annual production guidance following strong third-quarter trading.
The Vancouver-based precious metals streaming company said revenue for its third-quarter rose 38% to USD308.3 million from USD223.1 million the year prior, with Wheaton owing the USD85.2 million improvement to a 26% surge in the average realised gold equivalent price.
Wheaton also recognised a 10% improvement in the number of attributable gold production sold throughout the period.
Year-to-date, revenue improved by 29% on-year to USD904.1 million from USD702.6 million, primarily reflecting a 16% increase in the average realised gold equivalent price but with Wheaton also realising an 11% increase in the number of gold equivalent ounces sold.
Pretax profit also rose during the firm's third-quarter, up 50% to GBP182.1 million from GBP121.5 million the previous year.
Wheaton shares were up 1.4% at 5,040.00 pence on Friday morning in London.
Gold production throughout the period actually fell 17% to 87,199 ounces from 105,027 the previous year. However, GEOs only fell slightly, down 2.1% to 144,164 from 147,278.
Wheaton reiterated its annual production guidance range for 2024 of 550,000 to 620,000 gold equivalent ounces.
The USD29.29 billion market capitalisation firm increased its third-quarter dividend by 3.3% USD0.155 versus USD0.15 the prior year.
This follows on from Wheaton's announcement in October that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Wheaton Precious Metals International Ltd acquired a gold stream from Montage Gold Corp's Kone gold project located in the Ivory Coast in a deal that included an upfront cash consideration of USD625 million.
Wheaton Chief Executive Randy Smallwood said: "Wheaton achieved record cash flow from operations in the third-quarter of 2024, underscoring the effectiveness of our business model in leveraging rising commodity prices, with our cash operating margins increasing by over 30% relative to the third-quarter of 2023.
"Our portfolio of operating assets delivered solid production levels, continuing to support our annual production guidance range for 2024 of 550,000 to 620,000 gold equivalent ounces."
By Christopher Ward, Alliance News reporter
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