Nexa Resources SA (NYSE: NEXA) stock rose 3.51% on Feb 15th, 2019 and continued its bullish momentum even in the after-hours rising over 1.7%. The company has reported Production by metal in 2018 was within the annual guidance range for all metals and NEXA surpassed the top of the range of the guidance for gold by 16%, which the company had recently revised upward. 2018 production totaled 373kt of zinc, 39kt of copper, 52kt of lead, 7,992koz of silver and 29koz of gold compared to 375kt of zinc, 44kt of copper, 53kt of lead, 7,946koz of silver and 33 koz of gold in 2017. Production by metal in 4Q18 totaled 103kt of zinc, 9kt of copper, 15kt of lead, 2,197koz of silver and 8koz of gold compared to 102kt of zinc, 11kt of copper, 15kt of lead, 2,271koz of silver and 8koz of gold in the same period of 2017.
NEXA has posted 17% decline in the revenues to US$583 million in 4Q18 compared to 4Q17, driven by lower metal prices, partially offset by higher sales volumes from the smelters. In 4Q18 Adj. EBITDA reached US$131 million compared to US$222 million in 4Q17, which is lower by 41.2% due to a significant decrease in LME prices.
Meanwhile, NEXA has approved the appointment of Rodrigo Menck to succeed Mario Bertoncini as Nexa’s Senior Vice-President of Finance and CFO starting March 1st, 2019.
NEXA has declared a cash dividend of US$0.525494 per common share, or approximately US$70 million, considering 133,208,125 shares outstanding as of December 31, 2018, to shareholders of the Company of record at the close of business on March 14, 2019. The cash dividend is expected to be paid on March 28, 2019. During 2018, the company repurchased 112,388 common shares, at an average price of US$12.00 per share, for an aggregate purchase price of US$1.350 million.
For 2019, the company expect zinc mining production to expand approximately 3% versus 2018. In 2019, the company is increasing the CAPEX compared to 2018. This is primarily due to the initial investment in the Aripuanã project, the most advanced greenfield project in the pipeline. The company has received the Installation License for Aripuanã on December 20, 2018 and started investing in construction immediately. NEXA estimate the company will spend approximately 35% (or US$140 million) of the total US$392 million capex estimated for the Aripuanã project in 2019. Excluding Aripuanã, the planned investments for 2019 is total approximately US$280 million, the same level of 2018.