South32 HY profit beats estimates, trims production view for Brazil operations

Australian diversified miner South32 reported higher first-half profit and beat analysts’ estimates on Thursday, boosted by higher commodity prices, while trimming the annual production view for its aluminum operations in Brazil.

Its underlying earnings attributable was $435 million for the half-year ended December 31, beating the Visible Alpha consensus estimate of $386.6 million and higher than the $375 million a year earlier.

The first-half earnings were driven broadly by higher commodity prices, notably copper, silver and aluminum, lower controllable costs, and the restart of operations at its manganese division in Australia, the world’s biggest producer of manganese said.

Its manganese division in Australia swung to a profit with underlying EBIT of $66 million, up from a loss of $34 million from a year earlier, as the segment achieved normalized production rates on the execution of its recovery plan following the impacts of Tropical Cyclone Megan.

However, the miner trimmed the production guidance for its Brazil Aluminium segment to 135,000 tons from 160,000 tons in fiscal 2026 and to 140,000 tons from 165,000 tons in fiscal 2027.

The smelter’s operator is implementing measures to improve stability and continue the ramp-up of all three potlines, South32 added.

South32, which was spun-off from BHP Group in 2015, declared an interim dividend of 3.9 cents per share, compared with 3.4 cents in the previous year.

(By Sherin Sunny; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)