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Johannesburg - Harmony Gold Mining Company [JSE:HAR], the world's 5th-largest listed gold miner, on Monday reported a fourth-quarter headline loss, but was bullish on the gold price and output for the group's next financial year.
Harmony said its results were boosted by the rise in the gold price, but were hit by an increase in operating costs on the back of higher electricity prices and winter tariffs.
Harmony reported a fourth-quarter headline loss per share from continuing operations of 6 cents compared with a loss per share of 24 cents in the previous quarter.
The company's total headline loss per share - which included discontinued operations - during the quarter narrowed to 10 cents from 27 cents the previous quarter, but missed an average analyst forecast of headline earnings per share of 39 cents.
Headline earnings are the key profit measure in South Africa, stripping out some one-off and non-trading items.
Gold production rose 4% from the previous quarter to 346 714 ounces, with total cash costs up to $831 per ounce from $829 per ounce the previous three months.
THe company recorded an 11% rise in the gold price during the quarter to R295 580/kg.
Analysts had forecast a strong set of results for Harmony and its South African peers, betting on higher output and prices to offset increased electricity tariffs and a new revenue-based royalty charge.
Bigger rival Gold Fields [JSE:GFI] posted a threefold increase in adjusted earnings per share for the June quarter while AngloGold Ashanti [JSE:ANG] beat market consensus with its second-quarter figures.
Harmony said output in the next quarter would be affected by a temporary suspension of operations at its Joel North Shaft and an explosion at its Phakisa mine in South Africa.
The company forecasts a rise in gold output to around 1.7 million ounces for the next financial year, up from the 1.4 million ounces produced in the year to the end of June 2010, at a total cash costs of around R195 000/kg.
The company declared a full-year dividend of 50 cents per share.