Benzinga | Oct 1, 2020 05:39AM EDT

Caledonia Mining Increased Quarterly Dividend 18% to $0.10

Caledonia Mining Corporation Plc (NYSE:CMCL) is pleased to announce that the Board of Directors has declared an increased quarterly dividend of ten United States cents (US$0.10) on each of the Company's common shares.

Highlights

18% increase from the previous quarterly dividend of 8.5 cents paid in July 202045% cumulative increase from the level of 6.875 cents since October 2019Third increase in the dividend since October 2019Significant business resilience demonstrated through the COVID 19 pandemicCentral Shaft equipping on track to be completed in Q4 2020 and commissioning to be completed by end of Q1 2021Stable production, a high gold price and good cost control have resulted in increased cash generation in 2020; this has given the Board confidence that the business can sustain a higher level of dividend distributions before the benefits of the completion of Central Shaft are realised.Commenting on the announcement, Steve Curtis, Chief Executive Officer, said:

"We are pleased to announce an 18 per cent increase in our quarterly dividend, the third increase in the past nine months, representing a cumulative 45 per cent increase on the dividend in the past 12 months. The decision by the Board to increase the dividend reflects our continued and increasing confidence in the outlook for our business. As we reported in our Q2 2020 results, the business continues to perform well, supported by strong production and a firm gold price.

"As we approach the end of the six-year investment programme at Blanket Mine, we anticipate that the rate of capital expenditure will begin to reduce in 2021. We expect the combination of rising production and declining capital investment to give us greater flexibility to consider further increases in the dividend in addition to possible investment in new projects."

The relevant dates relating to the dividend are as follows:

Ex-dividend date: October 15, 2020Record date: October 16, 2020Dividend cheque mailing date: October 30, 2020

Shareholders with a registered address in the UK will be paid in Sterling.