Apex Mining Q1 profit: P853-M (+55%)

Apex Mining [APX 3.70, up 3.6%; 119% avgVol] [link] reported a Q1 net income of P853 million, up 55% y/y from its Q1/23 net income of P549 million. Consolidated revenues were up 31% y/y to P3.4 billion thanks to the “surge in realized price per ounce of gold” which increased from $1929 in Q1/23 to $2149 in Q1/24. APX’s sales volume of gold also increased 16% to take advantage of that uptrend in pricing to 27,373 ounces. Its silver sales volume increased 11% to 93,081 ounces. On the mining side of the operation, APX reported milling 12% more ore during the quarter but noted that the gold recovery was “slightly lower” (85.45% vs 88.77%) and the gold that was recovered was of a lower quality/grade on average. APX updated that its Maco Mine has enough reserves to produce at the targeted production rate for another eight years. APX is owned by Enrique Razon Jr. and is a subsidiary of his private holding company, Prime Strategic Holdings. 

MB bottom-line: While APX’s price action isn’t in lock-step with the spot price of gold, it does roughly follow the larger trends in the price of gold and has performed exceptionally well over the past two months following gold’s recent pump. Over the past year, APX is up 25% and gold is up 15%. The upcoming OceanaGold PH [OGP 13.33 pre-IPO] has generated a little more interest in the PSE’s small gold mining sector, besides what was already bubbling up thanks to the weird gold price pump. Where OGP positions itself as a dividend play, APX isn’t the same animal. It pays a dividend, but its special and regular FY23 dividends amounted to P0.081433/share, which is good for a 2.2% yield based on yesterday’s APX closing price. OGP plans/projects a double-digit dividend yield based on its IPO price.

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