(Reuters) – South Africa’s Impala Platinum on Tuesday said half year sales to December 31 were down 5% as power cuts, industrial action and safety stoppages impacted production.
In a production and trading update, Impala said refined production had also declined by 5% as a result of reduced processing capacity, compared to the previous year.
“Sales volumes declined by 5% to 1.55 million 6E ounces from the comparative period, in line with lower refined production,” Impala, which will release its financial results for the period early in March, said.
Impala’s basic earnings per share for the period are expected to decrease by between 42% and 53%, to between 1,529 cents and 1,872 cents per share.
The company said the sharp decline is because the previous period’s basic earnings were boosted by the reversal of impairment losses on property, plant and equipment and a prepayment of royalties of 10.6 billion rand ($696.49 million).
($1 = 15.2191 rand)
(Reporting by Nelson Banya in Harare; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
