Hochschild Mining plc

H1 2026 was described as the company’s strongest half-year ever. Revenue was $844 million, up 62% year over year; adjusted EBITDA was $492 million, up 119%; and EPS was $0.37, up 208%. Attributable AISC was $2,448/oz gold equivalent. Free cash flow was around $156 million, cash and short-term investments ended at $309 million, and net cash was $51 million. Production was a little more than 150,000 oz. For the full year, production guidance was kept unchanged, while AISC guidance was revised to $2,380-$2,500/oz. Capex guidance was maintained at $210 million-$225 million. Management said the interim dividend was $0.04 per share, or $21 million. In Q&A, management said H2 admin expenses should be similar to H1, working capital should improve, cash tax payments in H2 should be similar to or a little higher than H1 excluding about $70 million of 2025 tax regularization, and Mara Rosa should run at about 7,000 tonnes/day at least, with the top end of production guidance tied mainly to grades.

Eduardo Landin framed the period as a record half-year and emphasized execution across the portfolio. He highlighted the Mara Rosa reorganization, the Royropata permitting progress, and Monte do Carmo moving toward an FID at year-end, while repeatedly stressing disciplined capital allocation and value-accretive growth. His tone was upbeat and confident, especially on the turnaround at Mara Rosa and the company’s exploration pipeline in Peru.

Eduardo Noriega said the strong financials were driven by higher gold and silver prices, plus improved operations and recovery in Brazil. He broke down free cash flow of about $156 million, including strong generation at Inmaculada ($288 million) and San Jose ($149 million), offset by $80 million at Mara Rosa, $129 million of taxes paid, $80 million of debt reduction, $84 million of dividends, and several project investments; he closed with $309 million in cash. He also explained that the AISC guidance increase was mainly from higher prices, FX and local inflation, and that full-year capex remains guided at $210 million-$225 million.

Analysts focused on admin expense, working capital, cash taxes, dividend policy, Mara Rosa’s normalized cost/run-rate, Monte do Carmo timing risk, and future cash needs for Tiernan Gold and Aclara. Management said admin costs should stay broadly similar in H2, working capital should reverse somewhat by year-end, and H2 tax payments should be similar to or slightly higher than H1 excluding the prior-year tax catch-up. On dividend policy, they clarified it is an annual 20%-30% of attributable free cash flow policy and the interim dividend is intentionally not a straight half-year application. On Mara Rosa, they said the new contractor is performing well, throughput should be at least 7,000 tonnes/day and potentially 7,000-8,000 tonnes/day at maximum, with 2027 expected around 80,000 oz at current prices.