Newcrest net profit rises

Newcrest net profit increases Topics: Products News & Market MarketCompany EarningsStock On Friday February 11, 2011, 9:29 PM EST Australia's biggest gold miner Newcrest Mining Ltd has more than doubled its net profit in the first half that achieved record board production.Newcrest Gold Mining also announced Friday that CEO Ian Smith will step down July 1, with the chief financial officer to succeed Greg Robinson him.Net profit was $ 437,800,000 for the six months to 31 December in compared with $ 176,200,000 for the same period a year earlier.Revenue increased 65.6 percent to $ 1,966,000,000 $ 1,187 billion.Newcrest Mining, said higher production from its mines and the inclusion of the assets acquired from Lihir Gold Ltd had delivered half year production record and financial results for the six months ended December 31 2010.Newcrest declared an unfranked interim dividend of 10 cents per share, compared with a profit of five cents a year earlier.Underlying increase of 96 percent to $ 523.1 million.Operating cash flow of $ 922.1 million for the December 2010 quarter was 92 percent higher than the previous period. The gold production of $ 1,397,000 oz, was 70 percent higher than previous period.