Peter Hambro returns to Petropavlovsk after shareholder ousting
The co-founder of Russian gold miner Petropavlovsk has returned to the company after being ousted as chairman by shareholders last year.
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Shares jumped from 6.48p to 6.85p this morning before falling back to 6.37p as Petropavlovsk announced that Peter Hambro has been appointed as president of the company in its half year results.
Hambro, who will also act as senior adviser to the board, was ousted in a shareholder revolt led by Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg's Renova Group in June last year.
Co-founder Pavel Maslovskiy resigned as chief executive the following month but returned to the position in June this year.
"We are already benefiting greatly from his [Hambro's] four decades of invaluable experience in the gold industry," the company said.
The group reported a drop in revenue to $270m (£205.4m) in the first half of the year compared to $304m the previous year, and an operating loss of $17m in the six months to 30 June, falling from a profit of $65m in the first half of 2017.
Chief executive officer Pavel Maslovskiy said: "After the period of instability in the first half of 2018, I am delighted to be leading Petropavlovsk’s operations once again during this crucial phase and in doing so to be supported by the Company’s original development team
"Whilst the results today show the effect of the disruptions to the operations caused by the management hiatus in the first half, we believe we have already turned a corner.
"Hence I am confidently presenting today the improvement on our original guidance for the full year bringing the business back into sustainable operations and increasing profitability."
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