ARM: Earnings up 8% as profit halves

Full-year headline earnings at African Rainbow Minerals (ARM) rose 8 percent, the mining house said yesterday. But profit halved after it took a R2 billion hit on its investment in Harmony Gold. Headline earnings a share for the year to June were R17.35 from R16.15 the previous year, beating the Thomson Reuters StarMine consensus of R16.27. Profit came in 50 percent lower at R1.8bn after the group wrote down the value of the investment in Harmony. ARM’s share price has risen 29 percent in the past 12 months, and added 4.61 percent to close at R197 yesterday. – Reuters