Record R3bn operating profit for Northam

JOHANNESBURG – Northam Platinum, one of the world’s lowest-cost platinum group metals (PGM) producers, posted a record R3 billion operating profit during the half-year ended December on stronger revenues, underpinned by robust metal prices, as it warned Eskom was a risk to the company.

Northam and its PGM industry peers, including Anglo American Platinum and Impala Platinum, have generated significant cash on the back of extraordinary runs in rhodium and palladium and the weaker rand.

The stricter emissions legislation standards have forced car makers to use catalytic converters in vehicles, spurring demand.

Normalised headline earnings surged by 241percent to R1.9billion from R553.3million a year earlier, and headline earnings a share jumped to R36.96 in 2019 from R10.85 in 2018.

Revenue increased 57percent to R7.8bn from R5bn in 2018, driven by an increase in both sales volumes and PGM prices.