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Trading statement for the year ended 30 June 2019

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Published: Tuesday, 27 August 2019 02:00

DRDGOLD TRADING STATEMENT:  SUBSTANTIAL RISE IN EPS, HEPS EXPECTED FOR FY2019

Johannesburg, South Africa. 27 August 2019. DRDGOLD Limited (DRDGOLD; JSE, NYSE: DRD) said in a trading statement released today that it expects to report earnings per share (EPS) of between 11.65 and 11.95 cents for the financial year ended 30 June 2019 compared to 1.5 cents for FY2018.

The company’s full results will be released on Tuesday, 3 September 2019.

Headline earnings per share (HEPS) are expected to be between 10.73 cents and 11.07 cents compared to 1.7 cents.

The expected increase in EPS and HEPS, DRDGOLD says, are due mainly to the following:

• Revenue increasing by 11% (R271.7 million) to R 2 762.1 million (2018: R2 490.4 million). Ergo’s R 2 577.5 million contribution to revenue was 3% higher due to the higher average Rand gold price received, which moderated the impact of 4% lower gold sold. Far West Gold Recoveries (FWGR) made its maiden contribution to revenue of R184.6    million, most of it from 1 April 2019 when commercial production began.
  The increase in revenue was moderated by an increase of R206.2 million (9%) in cost of sales to R2 553.9 million (2018: R 2 347.7 million). This included:
  • an increase of R255.9 million (R112.7 million in operating costs relating to the first period of operations at FWGR and the remainder mostly to inflationary cost increases at Ergo); and
  • a credit of R60.0 million (2018: R2.9 million) to provision for environmental rehabilitation, relating mainly to Ergo’s obligations in this regard.

FWGR’s revenue and cost of sales were lower than the forecast in the circular to shareholders dated 26 February 2018 due to commercial production only starting on 1 April 2019, instead of the initially planned date of 1 January 2019, the result of a three- month delay in the anticipated effective date of the transaction.

All-in sustaining costs per kg for FWGR were disproportionately impacted by the unwinding of the environmental rehabilitation provision for 11 months and the inclusion of gold sold mostly from 1 April 2019.

DRDGOLD ended the year with cash and cash equivalents of R 279.5 million (2018: R302.1 million) and borrowings of nil after R192 million was raised and repaid on the revolving credit facility during the year.