Share

Amplats sees profit drop of up to 70%

Johannesburg - Anglo American Platinum [JSE:AMS said first-half profit probably fell by 50% to 70% after inventory gains last year weren’t repeated and the dollar price of the commodities it mines declined.

Headline earnings for the six months ended June 30 probably dropped to a range of R745m and R1.24bn from R2.47bn a year earlier, the Johannesburg-based company said in a statement on Tuesday.

Amplats, as the Anglo American [JSE:AGL] unit is known, last year had a R1.6bn gain after its annual metal-inventory count, less than the R424m increase for this year, it said. Platinum fell 6.5% in the year to June and has almost halved since August 2011, while palladium decreased 13% in the period.

The company and other major producers such as Impala Platinum [JSE:IMP] and Lonmin [JSE:LON] are staving off the plunge in prices by selling or closing mines, reining in expenditure and reducing thousands of jobs.

The cutbacks are weighing on growth in South Africa, the source of more than 70% of the world’s platinum and a country where more than one in four in the workforce is unemployed.

We live in a world where facts and fiction get blurred
Who we choose to trust can have a profound impact on our lives. Join thousands of devoted South Africans who look to News24 to bring them news they can trust every day. As we celebrate 25 years, become a News24 subscriber as we strive to keep you informed, inspired and empowered.
Join News24 today
heading
description
username
Show Comments ()
Rand - Dollar
18.97
-0.3%
Rand - Pound
23.97
-0.3%
Rand - Euro
20.51
-0.2%
Rand - Aus dollar
12.36
-0.1%
Rand - Yen
0.13
-0.4%
Platinum
906.75
+1.1%
Palladium
1,015.63
+1.4%
Gold
2,208.55
+0.6%
Silver
24.60
-0.2%
Brent Crude
86.09
-0.2%
Top 40
68,222
+0.8%
All Share
74,420
+0.7%
Resource 10
56,938
+2.3%
Industrial 25
103,869
+0.6%
Financial 15
16,500
-0.2%
All JSE data delayed by at least 15 minutes Iress logo
Company Snapshot
Editorial feedback and complaints

Contact the public editor with feedback for our journalists, complaints, queries or suggestions about articles on News24.

LEARN MORE
Government tenders

Find public sector tender opportunities in South Africa here.

Government tenders
This portal provides access to information on all tenders made by all public sector organisations in all spheres of government.
Browse tenders