Bank of China International has issued a research report reiterating its existing forecasts and a "Hold" rating for Zijin Gold International (02259).

Based on the company's preliminary earnings announcement, it anticipates its first-half 2026 profit to surge by approximately 169% year-on-year, reaching around $1.4 billion. This robust growth is attributed by the company to concurrent increases in both the average gold price and production volumes.

However, calculations derived from this guidance indicate the company's profit for the second quarter of 2026 fell by 27% sequentially to $593 million.

Given that the average gold price for the quarter declined by only 7% sequentially and gold production actually saw a marginal 1% quarterly increase, the report infers that the company's unit costs likely rose on a quarter-over-quarter basis.

The projected net profit for the first half of 2026 appears relatively low, constituting only about 37% of the bank's full-year forecast.