File photo of Goldcorp CEO Chuck Jeannes.Tibor Kolley/The Globe and Mail
Gold mining company Goldcorp Inc. has boosted its monthly dividend by 32 per cent thanks to its strong cash flow.
The Vancouver-based miner said Monday that the increase to a monthly payout of 4.5 cents per share will begin for shareholders of record as of Dec. 16. That brings the company's annual payout to shareholders to 54 cents per share.
"This action underscores Goldcorp's unique ability to generate the cash flows necessary to both invest significantly in the strongest growth profile in the gold sector and to provide regular dividend growth for the benefit of our shareholders," president and CEO Chuck Jeannes said in a statement.
"We will continue to review dividend levels at regular intervals in the future."
In October, the company reported a third-quarter profit of $336-million (U.S.), compared with a profit of $721-million a year earlier when it earned $416-million from discontinued operations, as its revenue surged nearly 50 per cent on the back of a soaring gold price.
Excluding one-time items, the company reported an adjusted profit of $459-million or 57 cents per share, in line with the analyst average compiled by Thomson Reuters.
The company said gold sales in the quarter were 571,500 ounces on production of 592,100 ounces. That compared with sales of 567,500 ounces on production of 588,600 ounces in the third quarter of 2010.
Goldcorp has mines as well as exploration and development projects in Canada, the United States, Mexico and Guatemala and Argentina. The company employs more than 14,000 people.
Major rains and forest fires forced the gold miner to cut its 2011 production guidance earlier this year to between 2.5 million and 2.55 million ounces. That compared with previous guidance of between 2.65 million and 2.75 million ounces.
The company's Mexican Penasquito mine has seen lower processing rates, slower than expected progress on a dam and supplier production issues, while part of its Pueblo Viejo project in the Dominican Republic suffered significant damage due to major rainfall.
In July, Goldcorp temporarily stopped operations and evacuated most of the 380 employees from its Musselwhite gold mine in northwestern Ontario due to forest fires sweeping through the region.