Dineo Faku
Anglo American Platinum (Angloplat) yesterday warned of a 20 percent drop in profit for the year to December from those reported in the comparative period last year.
Angloplat, whose operations have grounded to a halt amid an eight-week strike, yesterday cut its forecast for profit citing lower sales volumes, the impact of the unprotected industrial action on production and cost, higher mining inflation and the lower metal prices achieved compared with the comparative period.
“In view of volatility in exchange rates, metal prices and the impact of the current [wildcat] industrial action, [Angloplat] cannot, with reasonable certainty, quantify the extent of the decrease in expected earnings other than that the decrease is expected to be more than 20 percent,” the statement read.
Headline earnings and basic earnings reported for the comparative period were R3.566 million and R3.591m respectively, while headline earnings a share and earnings a share were R13.65 and R13.74 respectively.
The company also revised its wage offer to employees in a bid to end the strike.
“Indications are that the strike committee members are happy with the revised offer and they will today present the offer to their members and encourage them to return to work tomorrow,” Mpumi Sithole, an Angloplat spokeswoman, said.
The offer includes a one-time payment of R4 500 and ‘‘either a gross pretax standalone allowance of R600 monthly or a salary increase of R400 pretax”, she said.
Today a formal feedback session between unions and Angloplat would be held on which of the two options members had chosen, Sithole said.
Lesiba Seshoka, the spokesman for the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), said members were generally happy about the offer. “They said they will go back to work tomorrow,” Seshoka said.
Angloplat cut its capital expenditure (capex) plan for the quarter to September to R6.5 billion last month, marking the third time the company had slashed capex this year. In February, the company had set a capex target of as much as R8bn.
Meanwhile, all mining and processing at AngloGold Ashanti’s Mponeng mine, which was suspended on November 6, resumed as normal yesterday, the company said. With the successful restart of Mponeng, all six of its underground mines and its surface operations were operating.
Talks between AngloGold management and union representatives resulted in an agreement on a set of guiding principles to govern safe work and labour relations at Mponeng.
Angloplat fell by 1.98 percent to close at R370.01. AngloGold lost 3.44 percent to R280.41. – Additional reporting Bloomberg