Johannesburg - Kumba Iron Ore [JSE:KIO], a unit of global mining company Anglo American [JSE:AGL], on Tuesday posted a 28% drop in full-year earnings, hit by lower export prices, rising costs and an illegal strike at its Sishen mine.
Kumba, the continent's largest iron ore producer and No. 10 globally, said diluted headline earnings per share fell to R37.91 from R52.99 a year earlier.
The results compared to R37.76 per share forecast by Thomson Reuters consensus estimates.
The declared dividend was R12.50 compared to the R32.10 per share from the Thomson Reuters estimates.
Kumba said earnings fell due to a drop in export iron ore
prices over the 12-month period and lower production following an illegal
strike at its Sishen Mine.
Kumba's flagship Sishen mine is not back to full production after it was shut for two weeks in October following an illegal strike, the company's CEO Norman Mbazima said.
"We are not back to full production levels yet," Mbazima said.
South African mining companies were caught by a wave of labour unrest that started in the platinum industry last year and swept across the country.
Kumba remains one of the best performers in the stable of Anglo American, which has seen its fortunes flag in the face of a $4bn write-down on its flagship Minas Rio asset and a slide into the red of its South African platinum arm.