(Reuters) -Swedish miner Boliden plans to resume dividends going forward, the group’s Chief Executive Mikael Staffas said in an interview on Friday.
The copper and zinc producer, which scrapped its payout for 2024 after the acquisitions of the Somincor and Zinkgruvan mines from Lundin Mining, is committed to its dividend policy to distribute 1/3 of its net profit to shareholders, he said.
“Even though we had a good cash flow in this quarter, the balance sheet is much stronger than I think most people thought it would be after the acquisition,” Staffas said.
He added that while Boliden is not yet ready to pay extra dividends, he would not rule it out if it had too much surplus capital.
The group, which also mines gold and silver, reported free cash flow (FCF) excluding the acquisition of 2,035 million Swedish crowns ($210.19 million) in the second quarter.
Both RBC and JP Morgan said that the FCF was higher than anticipated with the beat coming from the release of working capital.
Staffas would not comment on the size of any potential dividend.
($1 = 9.6816 Swedish crowns)
(Reporting by Agnieszka Olenska and Izabela Niemiec; Editing by Matt Scuffham)
