Randgold’s Fourth-Quarter Profit Falls 10% as Gold Prices Drop

Randgold Resources Ltd., the best performer in the U.K.’s benchmark stock index this year, said fourth-quarter profit fell 10 percent as increased production failed to offset lower gold prices.

Profit in the three months through December declined to $44.5 million, from $49.6 million a year earlier, the company said in a statement Monday. Sales for the period rose 4.4 percent to $354.8 million.

While gold producers’ profits have been hit after the metal tumbled to a five-year low in December, a rebound in bullion prices since then has buoyed shares. Randgold has risen 28 percent this year, making it the best performer in the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index. The board proposed increasing the annual dividend by 10 percent to 66 cents a share to reflect the company’s strong cash flows.

Randgold, which mines the metal in West Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo, produced a record 1.21 million ounces last year at an average cost of $679 an ounce. It said it’s targeting output of 1.25 million ounces to 1.3 million ounces this year.