/ 26 January 2007

Kumba says empowerment one-off cost R150m

Kumba Iron Ore, recently unbundled in a restructuring of Kumba Resources, says its earnings for the two months to end-December will be impacted by a R150-million one-off cost arising from the implementation of the Kumba Resources empowerment transaction.

Last year in a dual transaction, Kumba Resource unbundled iron ore, its most profitable division, and then merged with black empowered Eyesizwe Coal, which saw it change its name to Exxaro Resources.

Overall the company expects headline earnings to come in at between R250-million and R275-million for the two months to end-December, with basic earnings at between R350-million and R400-million.

Solely for information purposes, Kumba says that unaudited comparative figures for the year to end-December will be provided in the results announcement.

The headline earnings for the 12 month period are expected to be between R2,5-billion and R2,7-billion, with basic earnings between R4,1-billion and R4,4-billion.

According to the circular, pro forma headline earnings for the 12 months to end-December 2005, were R1,996-billion, and basic earnings were R2,727-billion. – I-Net Bridge