Gold Fields, the world’s number four gold producer, on Friday posted a 10% fall in adjusted headline earnings to 140 cents per share for the fourth quarter, and forecast weaker output in the quarter to end-September.
The average forecast of six analysts surveyed by Reuters was for unchanged adjusted headline EPS of 155 cents for the fourth quarter. Earnings are adjusted to exclude the effects of financial instruments and foreign debt.
The company said its share of gold output rose 5% to 865 000 ounces in the fourth quarter, which runs to end-June, while total cash costs were steady at $502 per ounce.
But Gold Fields said gold production would fall 5% in the first quarter of its new financial year, which ends in September, and predicted higher cash costs of $590 per ounce as it shut shafts at key mines for safety-related repairs.
For its 2008 financial year, the company’s gold production fell to 3,64-million ounces from 3,97-million ounces in the previous year, owing to a power crisis in South Africa as well as safety-related stoppages.
This led to a rise in total cash costs at $476 per ounce against $374 per ounce a year ago.
In the 2009 calendar year, output would rise to four million ounces, the company said, citing expansions at mines outside South Africa.
The company paid a final dividend of 120 cents for the year. – Reuters