Randgold Posts Drop In Profit, Lifts Dividend

Randgold Resources Ltd. (NASDAQ: GOLD) reported a drop in its net profit last year and raised its final dividend by 20%.For the year, Randgold ‘s net profit shrank to $235 million, while revenue declined 4.5% to $1.09 billion. Gold output surged 26% to 1.14 million ounce, while unit cash cost declined 2.4% to $698 a troy ounce.Randgold's fourth-quarter pretax profit fell to $73.30 million from $129.73 million, while profit attributable to owners of the parent slipped to $49.62 million from $81.10 million. EPS dropped to $0.53 from $0.87. Its total revenue fell to $226.32 million versus $291.79 million. Randgold's board proposed a final dividend of $0.60 per share, compared to $0.50 per share a year ago.Chief executive Mark Bristow said, "Our long standing goal of reaching an annual production of 1.2Moz in 2015 is now comfortably within reach, and we are already looking beyond that to our next big step forward. We remain strongly committed to exploration and our geologists continue to scour the gold fields of West and Central Africa for multi-million ounce deposits. The current stress in the gold mining industry is also generating what may well prove to be transformational growth opportunities and we are closely monitoring this situation."Randgold shares declined 4.64% to close at $81.18 yesterday.