Feb 13 (Reuters) - Australian diversified miner South32 S32.AX reported an 838% surge in first-half profits on Thursday, driven by higher sales of aluminium and copper and strong commodity prices.
South32, the world's biggest producer of manganese, said its underlying earnings for the half-year ended December 31 came in at $375 million, ahead of $40 million a year ago. That beat a Visible Alpha consensus estimate of $370.1 million.
(Reporting by Aaditya Govind Rao and Sherin Sunny in Bengaluru; Editing by Mohammed Safi Shamsi)
((Sherin.Sunny@thomsonreuters.com;))