Newly minted Jupiter Mines says it will more than likely pay shareholders a dividend rather than undertake a share buyback.

“As I said time and again the only thing which I focus on is how much money we can put into the shareholders pockets,” chief Priyank Thapliyal said during a quarterly conference call on Tuesday afternoon.

Jupiter (ASX:JMS) told investors last week they could expect to receive a “healthy” return.

“The past few distributions have been done as buybacks so there might be a limitation on how much we can do in terms of the buyback, but that call still needs to be made and my gut feeling is that it will most likely be in the form of a dividend.”

Better-than-expected sales from its Tshipi manganese mine in South Africa in the first quarter of the company’s 2019 financial year (March to May) has bolstered Jupiter’s bottom line.

Jupiter shipped about 925,000 tonnes of manganese, which was 175,000 tonnes more than it expected to sell during the quarter.

As a result, the company expects around $80 million to be available for payback to shareholders as part of the distribution for the first half.

Jupiter earned itself the accolade of the biggest float in years after making its debut on the ASX in April on the back of a successful $240 million raising.

Shares closed down 1.3 per cent at 37.5c on Tuesday.

Jupiter Mines (ASX:JMS) shares since its debut in April.
Jupiter Mines (ASX:JMS) shares since its debut in April.

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