Citi reaffirmed its "Buy" rating on CMOC (03993) with an unchanged target price of HK$11.20. The mining giant issued a profit alert indicating first-half net profit between RMB8.2 billion and RMB9.1 billion, marking a robust year-on-year increase of 51.4% to 68%. While this represents 61%-67% of Citi's full-year forecast, it slightly trails the bank's expectations.

Second-quarter performance showed significant momentum, with net profit surging 27%-54% year-on-year and accelerating 8%-31% quarter-on-quarter. CMOC attributed its H1 profit growth primarily to higher average selling prices for copper and cobalt products, complemented by increased copper sales volumes.

Production metrics revealed copper output rose 12.7% year-on-year during the first six months, while cobalt production climbed 13.1%. These figures achieve approximately 54% of Citi's annual projections. The second quarter specifically witnessed copper production increase 10% year-on-year and 7.3% quarter-on-quarter, with cobalt output growing 6.4% year-on-year and edging up 0.8% quarter-on-quarter.