RBC sees near-term challenges for 29Metals' Queensland copper project

29Metals

18/07/2023 04:25

** RBC Capital Markets initiates coverage on Australian
copper-focused miner 29Metals  29M.AX  with PT of A$0.90 and
"sector perform" rating
    ** RBC says 29M "has near term challenges operationally with
Capricorn and with its balance sheet"
    ** Operations at Capricorn copper mine in Queensland, which
contributed ~40% of 29M's fiscal 2022 revenue of A$720.7 mln
($492.02 mln), suspended in early March 2023 due to extreme
rainfall
    ** Brokerage forecasts copper-equivalent (Cu-eq) production
growth of ~28% and ~22% for CY24/25, respectively
    ** Sees Cu-eq output growth to boost EBITDA to A$244 mln in
CY24 and to A$386 mln in CY25 vs A$151.6 mln logged in CY22
    ** 29M trading 0.6% higher at A$0.825, as of 0235 GMT
    ** One analyst rates 29M "strong buy", nine rate "hold", and
one "sell"; median PT is A$0.88 – Refinitiv data

    ($1 = 1.4648 Australian dollars)
  

 (Reporting by Sameer Manekar in Bengaluru)
 ((Sameer.Manekar@thomsonreuters.com; Twitter: https://twitter.com/sameer_manekar))