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Sibanye Stillwater (NYSE:SBSW) -0.7% in Friday’s trading after the miner said it expects to report sharply lower H1 earnings, due to weaker prices for platinum group metals and lower production from its U.S. operations.
In a trading update, Sibanye Stillwater (SBSW) said it expected to report headline earnings per share of 1.98-2.18 South African rand ($0.1039-$0.1144) for the six months ended June 30, roughly half the 4.23 rand/share posted in the prior-year period.
The company expects to report H1 earnings per share of 2.49-2.75 rand cents, compared with EPS of 4.26 rand/share a year earlier.
Sibanye Stillwater (SBSW) attributes the declines to lower PGM prices, which resulted in a 22% Y/Y drop in the average rand 4E PGM basket price and a 28% decline in the average US dollar 2E PGM basket price.
H1 4E PGM production from the company’s South African operations was little changed 848,723 oz vs. 849,152 oz in the year-ago period, while output from U.S operations fell 11% Y/Y to 205,513 oz, due to shaft infrastructure damage at the Stillwater mine in Montana and ongoing skills shortages.
H1 gold production jumped 75% to 334,721 oz from 191,683 oz during the strike-hit H1 a year ago, but remained well below levels above 500K oz reached before the strike.
