Pan African Resources’ management expects headline earnings per share (Heps) and earnings per share (eps) to increase sharply by between 41% and 51% for the six months to end December 31, the company said in a trading statement on Friday.
The strong earnings forecast by the mid-tier African gold producer saw the company’s share price ratchet up 3.01% to R4.45 on Friday morning, a price that brought the gain for the year to 34.4%. The share closed the day at R4.34, up 0.46%.
Heps and eps were expected to be between US 2.14 (R0.40 ) cents a share and US 2.30 cents a share, compared to US 1.52 cents per share for the corresponding reporting period.
Pan African’s presentation currency is the US dollar and its functional currency is the rand. The year-on-year change in the average and closing exchange rates was 7.8% and 7.6%, respectively.
The group said the increases in Heps and Eps were largely as a result of a 23.9% increase in revenue to $193.9m (2022: $156.5m).
This increase was due to gold sold volumes rising by 8.9% to 98.458 ounces (oz) (90.439oz). In addition, the average dollar gold price received increased by 13.7% to $1.961/oz ($1.725/oz).
The results for the six months ended December 31, 2023 are expected to be released on February 14, 2024.
BUSINESS REPORT