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Sibanye-Stillwater said on Tuesday it expects to report an attributable loss of R265m for the first half of the year, compared with a profit of R77m in the corresponding previous year, due to a prolonged strike at its gold operation.
The diversified mining group said the strike staged by employees who are members of AMCU over wage increases significantly impacted operations, costing the company R374m. The strike began late in November 2018 and ended in April.
As a result, the group expects to report a loss per share of 11 cents for first half of 2019 compared with earnings per share of 3 cents for first segment of 2018.
Headline per share will plunge by 54 cents, compared with headline earnings per share of 4 cents in the previous period. This represents a 467% decrease in earnings per share and 1 450% decrease in headline earning per share, year-on-year, read a statement.
"The financial results for H1 2019 primarily reflect the significant impact of the strike at the SA gold operations, which ended on 17 April 2019, but affected the entire six-month period."
Sibanye is set to release its financial results on Thursday.
It said other contributing factors to slashed earnings included R387m restructuring costs from gold operations, following the conclusion of consultations regarding job cuts.
The diversified miner, which has increased its platinum interests through the acquisition of Lonmin assets, said the unfavourable financials were partially offset, among other things, by significantly higher profitability at the local and US platinum operations.
