Petropavlovsk to cut debt pile further

LONDON (ShareCast) - Petropavlovsk (LSE: POG.L - news) , the London listed mining company, issued its audited 2014 results and provided investors with a production update for the first quarter. Due to the lower gold price the company had to streamline to make itself more secure.

Peter Hambro, Chairman of Petropavlovsk said the company had reduced its costs since the start of 2014 and restructured itself financially. Pavel Maslovskiy was brought back as Group Chief Executive and the company predicted stability over the next four years while flagging its intention to reduce debt further.

Cash costs per ounce dropped by 15% last year. Petropavlovsk was also planning a 17% reduction in central administration costs to $38.2m and a 60% reduction in total capital expenditure for its gold division to $97m.

The company said it was anticipating a further reduction in its working capital requirements of $60 and operating profits on an EBITDA basis of $252m.