By Christian Moess Laursen
Sibanye-Stillwater cut its gold production guidance for the year and saw profit swing to a larger net loss than analysts had expected for the half year, as a continuously challenging platinum market and a $401-million impairment hurt earnings.
The South African precious-metals miner on Thursday reported a net loss of $379 million for first half of the year, a swing from a $427 million profit a year before, it said.
Revenue fell 11% to $2.95 billion.
Analysts had expected a net loss of $60.8 million and a revenue of $3.04 billion, according to a Visible Alpha survey.
The declining results were driven by persistently weak platinum-metals prices, limiting profitability, the miner--which is among the top platinum-metals producers in the world--said.
A previously-announced impairment of $401 million caused by a decrease in expected future net cash-flows due to lower palladium price forecasts also dented earnings.
The results were buoyed by an increase in platinum-metals production, as output from U.S. operations rose 16%, while the South African site dug out 3.7% more in the period.
However, gold output dropped 17%, mainly due to the closure of a shaft at the Kloof site in South Africa, leading the miner to cut its guidance for the year. It now expects an output of 530,000-563,000 ounces, down from 627,000-659,000 ounces.
It kept its full-year guidance steady for all other operations.
Sibanye-Stillwater and its South African peers have suffered high inflationary costs in the country, with the rand being one of the worst-performing currencies last year, and a persistent platinum metals price rout.
As a result, the company said in July that it had cut more than 2,000 jobs, echoing similar measures by its main rivals, and said it would merge gold and platinum-metals operations in South Africa.
The company said Thursday it expects the full cost and efficiency benefits from restructuring its South African operations to show in a phased manner over the next six months and only be fully reflected from next year.
Last month, in a bid to re-focus its portfolio of metals used for electric-vehicle batteries, the company scrapped a contract at is nickel refinery project in France and said it would repurpose the site for making precursor cathode active material--an essential part of EV batteries.
Sibanye-Stillwater said it has submitted a patent application in France and is engaging stakeholders regarding the future conversion of the plant, dependent on the outcome of feasibility studies that are underway.
The move coincided with the company securing final funding for the construction and development of its Keliber lithium project in Finland. Lithium is a similarly crucial component in making EV batteries.
Sibanye-Stillwater expects commissioning and the treatment of third-party concentrate during 2025, making the Keliber site the first to produce battery-grade lithium in Europe at time when the European Union is pushing to increase supply within the bloc to reduce dependency on China's lithium.
Headline earnings--a closely-watched metric for South African miners--fell significantly to $7 million from $324 million a year before.
The company didn't declare an interim dividend as it did last year, in line with its current policy.
Write to Christian Moess Laursen at christian.moess@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 12, 2024 07:25 ET (11:25 GMT)
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