Johannesburg - Impala Platinum, the world’s second-largest producer of the metal, headed for the biggest decline in more than a month after the company said Tuesday that full-year earnings would tumble as much as 75 percent because of lower local prices and production stoppages.
The shares slid 4.6 percent to R58.95 as of 9.52am in Johannesburg, the largest decrease in the five-member platinum mining index, before paring losses to close 3.74 percent down at R59.50.
Earnings before one-time items were expected to be between 9c to 16c a share for the year to June, compared with 36c a year earlier, the company said.
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The world’s top platinum producers, including Anglo American Platinum and Lonmin have seen earnings squeezed by a more than 40 percent plunge in platinum prices in the past five years. The metal is Impala’s main earner and it has also been plagued by safety-related stoppages in the past year.
As of June, eight workers have been killed at Impala’s operations this year.
Every fatality causes lost production while government inspectors examine the site.
BUSINESS REPORT