Lonmin Shares Rise on Swing to Profit in FY18

By Oliver Griffin

Shares in platinum miner Lonmin PLC (LMI.LN) rose after the company reported a swing to a pretax profit for fiscal 2018 and said that full-year sales exceeded guidance.

The company reported a profit of $68 million for the year ended Sept. 30 compared with a pretax loss of $1.17 billion in financial 2017. The company booked an impairment of $1.05 billion last year, which affected its profitability.

Lonmin is being taken over by South African platinum and gold miner Sibanye-Stillwater Ltd. (SBGL). The company said the deal is expected to close in early 2019, subject to approval by shareholders and sanction by courts of England and Wales.

Revenue for the year rose 15% to $1.35 billion, Lonmin said. The company said it sold 681,580 ounces of platinum during the course of the year, exceeding its guidance range of 650,000-680,000 ounces. The company reported a net profit of $42 million, swinging away from a net loss of $996 million the prior year.

Lonmin said it expects platinum sales of between 640,000 and 670,000 ounces in fiscal 2019, in line with removing high cost production.

Shares at 1003 GMT were up 8.8% at 46.78 pence.

Write to Oliver Griffin at [e-mail]; @OliGGriffin

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 29, 2018 05:27 ET (10:27 GMT)

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