Mid-tier miner Pan African Resources says it expects headline earnings per share for the six months to end-December to rise 41%-51%.
Headline earnings per share (Heps) for the current reporting period are expected to be 2.14 US cents to 2.3 US cents, compared with 1.52c per share in the previous matching period.
The company recorded a rise in revenue of almost 24% to $193.9m as prices and volumes sold rose.
The gold producer, which has a dual listing on the JSE and AIM in the UK, benefited from a rise in the gold price and lower-than-expected production costs.
The gold price received jumped about 14% to $1,961/oz for the six months to end-December compared with the previous matching half-year. Production costs were expected to be about $1,300/oz, below the guidance of $1,350. The group reported gold production of 98,458oz for the half-year or 6.7% more than in the previous reporting period.
Pan African Resources said last week the reduction in production costs was due to “excellent cost control, improved gold production, as well as the weaker dollar-rand exchange rate”.
The company’s share price was 0.46% higher at R4.34 at close of trade on the JSE on Friday.
With Denene Erasmus
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