News: NCM UPDATE 1- Newcrest Mining's annual profit drops nearly 11% as operating cost rises

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Aug 11 (Reuters) - Australia's Newcrest Mining (NCM) on Friday reported a 10.8% fall in its annual profit, hurt by lower realized prices of copper and an increase in operating and finance costs.

The fall, however, was capped by a higher contribution of low-cost production at the company's Cadia mine.

The country's largest listed gold miner said its underlying profit was $778 million for the year ended June 30, compared with $872 million a year earlier.

Analysts on average estimated a profit of $689.7 million, according to Refinitiv data.

Newcrest — which has received a A$26.2 billion takeover offer from Newmont Corp NEM.N — expects 2024 gold production to be in the range of 2.0 million to 2.3 million ounces, compared with 2.1 million ounces in 2023.

Newcrest also declared a final dividend of 20 cents per share, same as last year.