Shares in Sibanye-Stillwater, a gold and platinum group metals miner, fell by 5% on Wednesday morning after it warned of a steep drop into an attributable loss for its 2017 financial year.
Sibanye, which has assets in SA, Zimbabwe and the US, warned investors less than 24 hours ahead of its full-year results release that it would report an attributable loss of R4.4bn or $333m compared to attributable earnings of R3.5bn or $237m the year before.
The shares fell to a session low of R12.70 before recovering slightly to trade at R13.04, a 5% decline on the previous day’s closing price. The shares are a long way from the R70 high reached in August 2016.
The loss largely stemmed from developments in the company in the first half of its year when it reported an attributable interim loss of R4.8bn on the back of impairments, a provision for an occupational lung disease settlement, restructuring and transaction costs as it concluded the $2.2bn cash purchase of Stillwater Mining in the US.
Changes in commodity prices and exchange rates also played a role in swinging the company to a loss.
The issuance of shares towards funding the $2.2bn price tag would skew the earning and headline earnings per share (HEPS) numbers, Sibanye said, forecasting a basic loss per share of R2.29 and a headline loss per share of 12c against earnings and headline earnings per share of R2.25 and R1.62, respectively, compared to the year before.
Sibanye said the headline loss of 12c per share was better than the R1.10 loss it had warned of in October after favourable tax reforms in the US and a better-than-expected operational performance at Stillwater, the palladium and platinum miner and recycler.
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