DRDGold posts first-quarter net loss

South Africa’s fourth-biggest gold producer, DRDGold, on Thursday said production in the first quarter was unchanged at 70 861 ounces, while revenue fell owing to a weaker price for the metal.

Revenue fell 4% to R476,7-million, reflecting a 4% decline in the average gold price received of R216 297 per kilogram.

On DRDGold’s outlook against the backdrop of the current turmoil in global markets, CEO John Sayers said the company would focus on three areas—risk management, cost control and margin management:

“This is no time for heroics but rather for careful consideration of all of the dynamics—those which are in our power to manage as well as those that are not—and to plan a rational and economical course ahead.”

Cash operating costs were 9% higher at R416,5-million, in part due to power utility Eskom’s 20% price increase and higher winter tariffs, leaving operating profit 55% lower at R57,2-million.

The company recorded a net loss of R8,8-million compared with the previous quarter’s profit of R44,5-million.

Headline earnings per share (EPS) were at 10,5 cents. Headline EPS is the main gauge of profit in South Africa, and excludes non-trading, capital and certain one-off items.

The company has recently focused its operations solely in South Africa, unlike some of its bigger peers.—Reuters