On payment date, dividends due to holders of certificated securities on the SA share register will either be electronically transferred to such shareholders’ bank accounts or, in the absence of suitable mandates, dividends will be held in escrow by the Company until suitable mandates are received to electronically transfer dividends to such shareholders.

DRDGOLD is in the process of finalising its results for the six months ended 31 December 2022 (“Current Reporting Period”) and shareholders are accordingly advised that the Company has reasonable certainty that for the Current Reporting Period it will report earnings per share (“EPS”) and headline earnings per share (“HEPS”) of between 59.5 cents and 68.1 cents per share compared to EPS and HEPS of 58.0 cents per share for the six months ended 31 December 2021 (“Previous Corresponding Period”), being an increase of between 2.6% and 17.4%.

This was largely down to an 11% increase in the rand gold price as well as a 10% lift in yield from the company’s sites which lifted revenue to R1.96bn, an increase of R153.8m compared to the same period last year. Gold sales were 2% lower partly owing to lower volumes. DRDGOLD said throughput fell 14% owing to “unprecedented” loadshedding, unscheduled electricity trip-outs at its Ergo plant related to the Eskom grid and “excessive” rain.

In a February 3 trading update to shareholders, ahead of the planned publication of its interim results on February 15, the company noted that revenue had increased by 6% year-on-year. DRDGOLD subsidiary Ergo Mining achieved a R153-million year-on-year increase in revenue to R1.96-billion for the interim period, owing to an 11% increase in the rand gold price received and a 10% increase in yield to 0.203 g/t.

DRDGOLD, valued at about R12 billion on the JSE, comprises two subsidiaries — Ergo, about 50km east of Johannesburg in Brakpan, and Far West Gold Recoveries, near Carletonville, west of Johannesburg. The company uses chemical processes to recover residue metal from the retreatment of surface tailings left over from mining, processing vast quantities of material.