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Strong production boosts Endeavour Silver's Q1 profits

Gold production jumped 62% in Q1 but the miner says it expects net earnings to fall in Q2 on exploration costs

(Reuters)  - 

Endeavour Silver Corp (EDR.TO: Quote) posted a quarterly profit, buoyed by higher production and prices, but said it expects net earnings to decline in the second-quarter as exploration spending increases.

For the second quarter, the company expects higher gold production and prices.

For the first quarter, net income was $1.7 million, or 3 cents per share, compared with a net loss of $1.7 million, or 3 cents per share, a year ago.

Gold production soared 62 percent to 3,775 ounces, while silver production for the quarter rose 34 percent to 766,210 ounces.

Revenue more than doubled to $18.2 million.

Two analysts were expecting the company to earn 3 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

It said cash costs are expected to decrease in the second half of the fiscal year as new ores bodies under development in the first half enter production.

Shares of the Vancouver, British Columbia-based company were up more than 1 percent at C$3.82 Monday morning on the Toronto Stock Exchange. (Reporting by Abhiram Nandakumar in Bangalore; Editing by Unnikrishnan Nair)

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