A consistent dividend payer with a high yield

”‹Central Asia Metals (CAML) has increased its annual dividend by 24% year-on-year, to 15.5p per share, providing shareholders with a 6.6% yield. The company recorded its fifth consecutive year of profits and has paid out dividends in excess of the funds it raised in its 2010 initial public offering (IPO). CAML’s main asset is its Kounrad copper dump treatment operation, in Kazakhstan, which produces copper through a solvent extraction - electrowinning (SX-EW) plant. CAML appears to have a long and stable future production profile and, if this continues, as one of the lowest-cost copper producers in the industry, it should continue to deliver a high dividend yield for many years. It currently outperforms its peer group of copper producers on most value metrics and has a better EBITDA margin and dividend yield than some of the more prominent London-listed copper producers. Although ex-production growth, CAML says that it is looking prudently at opportunities to grow its output. The company had cash of US$40 million at the end of 2016 and is debt-free.