AIC Mines Ltd (ASX: A1M) reported its first-half results this week, and analysts from two broking houses were impressed, assigning bullish price targets on the company's shares.
So let's have a look at the results first.
Image source: Getty Images
Profit surging
AIC reported revenue of $110.6 million, up 19% on the previous corresponding period, and a net profit of $17.4 million, up 114%.
The company's Eloise mine produced 6526 tonnes of copper in the first half at an all-in sustaining cost of $4.92 per pound.
The company said the result met its production and cost guidance and "was underpinned by disciplined cost control and strong gold and silver credits''.
The increase in revenue was underpinned by improved copper and gold prices during the half, with the company receiving $15,845 per tonne of copper, up from $13,576 in the previous corresponding period and $5839 per ounce of gold, up from $4506.
The company also said regarding an ongoing expansion project:
The Eloise expansion project is progressing well and although it is still early in the construction period, it remains on schedule at the end of the period. Earthworks and concrete works were well advanced during the period, with structural and mechanical construction to commence shortly in the March 2026 quarter. Detailed engineering design continues to progress well and was 70% complete at the end of the period. Engineering design work has also commenced for the stage two expansion to 1.5Mtpa.
The company is also developing the Jericho deposit, 4km south of the Eloise processing plant and said that during the half, the Jericho access drive continued, with that drive to connect the deposit directly to the Eloise decline.
The company said its financial position remained strong with $44.9 million in cash on hand at the end of the half-year period.
Shares looking cheap
Analysts from both Shaw and Partners and Bell Potter had a look at this week's results, and they all like what they see.
Shaw said in a note to clients that Eloise has had an "outstanding couple of years'' and reiterated its price target of $1.10 per share for AIC, compared with 58.5 cents currently.
The Shaw team said the demand thematic for copper would remain strong.
As they said:
Coupled with supply fragility throughout 2025 as mudslides at Grasberg and labour strikes in Chile vaporised the global supply surplus, copper market deficits appear likely in 2026 according to the International Energy Agency following decades of chronic underinvestment. In fact, we recently posited in our Copper price upgrade note … that the sheer scale of the energy transition and AI-demand all but ensures long-term structural deficits.
The Bell Potter team also likes AIC shares, increasing their price target from 67 cents to 80 cents.
They also said the company had more growth options.
AIC's regional exploration shows high potential for success across a large scale, strategic tenement package. The current share price, in our view, represents attractive value for a well-managed, Australian-based copper producer.
