Johannesburg - Anglo American Platinum Ltd, the world’s largest producer of the metal, said a global depletion of metal stocks would aid prices even as 2014 profit declined 46 percent.
Headline earnings, which exclude one-time items, were R786 million, or R3.01 a share, from R1.45 billion, or R5.56 rand a share, in 2013, the Johannesburg-based company said in a statement on Monday. The average of four analysts’ estimates was for profit of R798 million. The company’s board said no dividend was declared.
“All indications suggest that platinum is in its strongest position since 2005,” Amplats, as the Johannesburg-based unit of Anglo American PLC is known, said in the statement. “The cumulative oversupply from 2006 has been eliminated in the past three years, and signs point to demand increasing. This could also lead to an increase in the price for platinum and palladium.”
Amplats’ profit fell after a five-month strike by the largest union at its South African mines. The company is discarding some of its aging, deeper-level operations as it increases production and capital spending at its mechanised Mogalakwena pit, the world’s lowest-cost platinum mine.
Lower metal prices crimped profit, with the average price of platinum in 2014 decreasing 6.8 percent to $1,385.02 from the previous year.
Equivalent refined platinum production declined to 1.84 million ounces from 2.32 million ounces a year earlier because of the strike, it said.
Bloomberg