African gold producer Randgold records big earnings decline in Q2

 Randgold Resources Ltd, a West African gold producer listed on the London Stock Exchange, Thursday posted a 29 percent decline in its profits attributable to equity shareholders in the second quarter of this year, compared to three months earlier.
With gold production decreasing, the firm registered earnings of 53 million U.S. dollars in the second quarter of 2014, significantly lower than the 74.34 million dollars in the first quarter of the year, Randgold said in a statement.
The basic earnings per share were 0.53 U.S. dollars for the three months ending June 2014, down from 0.8 dollars a quarter earlier.
The company produced 277,283 ounces of gold in the second quarter, less than the record high 283,763 ounces in the first quarter.
Gold sales for the quarter were 355.2 million U.S. dollars, down 2 percent from the previous quarter, as average prices slipped to 1,290 U.S. dollars per ounce.
Randgold Resources, headquartered in Jersey, Channel Islands, is listed on the London Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ stock exchange.