A strong second-half showing from Sibanye-Stillwater’s SA gold operations and the restructuring and closure of loss-making operations helped the miner narrow its full-year loss.
The group reported headline earnings of R1.817bn for the year ended December compared with R1.784bn the year before. The group’s net loss narrowed to R5.71bn from a loss of R37.43bn previously. This translated into a loss of 258c per share from a loss of 1,334c in the previous year.
The importance of the group’s diversified portfolio of metals was reinforced by the increase in the financial contribution of the SA gold operations to the group, Sibanye said on Friday.
“These mature mines, buoyed by the tailwind of a strong gold price, delivered materially better financial results for 2024, during a challenging period for most of our other metals, which are more aligned with industrial economic cycles,” it said.
Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) from the SA gold operations increased by R2.5bn to R3.6bn thanks to an improved operating performance in the second half and a 26% increase in the average rand gold price.
Adjusted ebitda from the gold portfolio accounted for 56% of group adjusted ebitda for the period and was 38% higher than adjusted ebitda from the SA platinum group metals (PGM) operations.
“This was the first six-month period since 2017 that adjusted ebitda from the SA gold operations has exceeded the contribution from the SA PGM operations and marks a notable turnaround from previous years when the SA PGM and US PGM operations comprised 80%-90% of group earnings and sustained the group during a period when the SA gold operations experienced significant operational disruptions,” Sibanye said.
CEO Neal Froneman said the diversification and proactive actions were a response to many of the forces driving global change and had ensured that the group was well positioned to sustain a longer period of low prices, and to benefit from opportunities that may emerge.
“The economic context may remain challenging for some time and, accordingly, our focus remains on the strategic essentials: optimising operations for profitability and sustainability and protecting the group balance sheet to secure our financial health,” he said.
“The operational restructurings undertaken over the past 18 months has secured greater operational stability and has, on balance, improved the profitability of the group, with the SA PGM operations profitable for 2024, the SA gold operations benefiting from the increasing gold price and the Century operations in Australia and recycling operations in the US region all contributing positively to the group,” Froneman said.
The restructuring of the US PGM operations in the fourth quarter and ongoing restructuring at Sandouville in France were expected to reduce losses from those operations for 2025, further underpinning the firmer earnings outlook for the group.
PGM production from the US operations for 2025 is forecast at 255,000oz-270,000oz. PGM production from the SA operations is forecast at 1.75-million ounces to 1.85-million ounces.
Gold production from the managed SA gold operations (excluding DRDGold) for 2025 is predicted at 547,000oz-579,000oz.
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