Polymetal to pay record divi as soaring gold price lifts trading
THE commodities boom being enjoyed by investors gained extra lustre today as FTSE-100 listed precious metals miner Polymetal revealed plans for a record dividend pay-out.
The gold and silver specialist, whose flagship facility is the Kyzyl mine in Kazakhstan, will pay $608 million in total dividends from 2020 trading — up 57% on a year earlier after more than doubling the latest payment to 0.89 cents a share.
It comes after 2020’s average gold price jumped 27% to an all-time high of $1770 an ounce, having peaked at $2067 in August on the back of its safe haven appeal in the pandemic.
The weaker value of the Russian rouble also benefited Polymetal and more than outweighed Covid-19-related costs. It joins other London-listed commodity stocks including Rio Tinto and Anglo American by declaring a big increase in dividend payments from 2020 trading.
Since joining the stock market in 2011, Polymetal has more than doubled production and built seven new mines alongside a steady dividend flow for shareholders. It is now worth almost £7.5 billion, having replaced Marks & Spencer in the blue-chip index in 2019.
Shares rose 29.5p, 2%, to 1,468.5p this morning.
tech guru presumably in no hurry for lockdown to end is Zoom founder and 20% shareholder Eric Yuan. Upbeat revenue forecasts sent shares surging 12% on Wall Street yesterday, translating to a $2 billion pay day for Eric. Meanwhile, weary parish council clerk Jackie Weaver and the rest of the Zoom-fatigued planet count down the days to deleting the wretched thing.