(Bloomberg) — Anglo American Platinum Ltd., the world’s largest platinum miner by market value, has cut its dividend payout as mounting power outages in South Africa curb production and profits.
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Anglo American Plc’s unit reduced its total 2022 payout by 62% as state-owned utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. struggling to keep its coal-fired power plants running. To minimize the risk of a total grid collapse, Amplats is receiving more requests to reduce its power consumption, Chief Executive Officer Natascha Viljoen said in a conference call. South Africa is the world’s largest platinum producer.
“This fiscal year we have navigated a complex operating environment of macroeconomic challenges, supply chain disruptions, socioeconomic turmoil and power load limitations, as well as some operational headwinds of our own,” Viljoen said in a statement on Monday.
Johannesburg-based Amplats will pay investors 30 billion rand ($1.66 billion) after earnings before some one-time items – known as headline earnings – fell 38% over the past year. The distribution collapsed from 300 Rand in the previous year to 115 Rand per share.
The payout is below a Bloomberg consensus of 149.28 per share and “will disappoint the market,” RMB Morgan Stanley analysts including Christopher Nicholson said in a note. Amplats shares fell as much as 5.2% in Johannesburg.
Amplat’s full-year dividend was 62% of total earnings, and the company is able to keep payouts at at least 40% despite the challenges, Chief Financial Officer Craig Miller said.
“We have a very strong balance sheet to withstand some of these challenges and continue to invest in the business to maintain our asset integrity,” the CFO said on a conference call.
(Adds CEO comments in second paragraph)
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