| Mon 6 Feb 2017, 8:00 | | DRDGOLD LIMITED - Trading statement for the six months ended 31 December 2016 and production update for the quarter ended 31 December |
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DRD 201702060006A
Trading statement for the six months ended 31 December 2016 and production update for the quarter ended 31 December
DRDGOLD LIMITED
(Incorporated in the Republic of South Africa)
(Registration number 1895/000926/06)
JSE share code: DRD
ISIN: ZAE000058723
NYSE trading symbol: DRD
(“DRDGOLD” or the “Company”)
TRADING STATEMENT FOR THE SIX MONTHS ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2016 AND PRODUCTION UPDATE FOR THE QUARTER ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2016
In terms of paragraph 3.4(b) of the JSE Limited Listings Requirements, companies are required to
publish a trading statement as soon as they are satisfied that, with a reasonable degree of certainty, the
financial results for the current reporting period will differ by at least 20% from the financial results of the
previous corresponding period.
DRDGOLD is in the process of finalising its results for the six months ended 31 December 2016
(“Results”) and shareholders are accordingly advised that the Company expects to report:
- earnings per share to be between 0.17 cents and 1.03 cents per share (a decrease of between
76% to 96%, respectively) compared to 4.3 cents earnings per share for the previous
corresponding period; and
- headline loss per share to be between 2.66 cents and 2.14 cents per share compared to
headline earnings of 2.6 cents per share for the previous corresponding period.
In a production update for the second quarter ended 31 December 2016 released today, DRDGOLD
reported:
- volume throughput amounted to 6,0 million tonnes compared to 6,6 million tonnes, a 10%
decrease;
- gold production amounted to 1 066kg compared to 1 034kg, a 3% increase; and
- operating costs increased by 9% to R 82 per tonne.
As communicated previously, the final clean-up and closure of specific Crown sites continued to weigh
on costs causing both accelerated depreciation and retrenchment costs of approximately R18 million
each.
After paying a final dividend of R52 million for the year ended 30 June 2016, the Company ended the
second quarter of FY2017 with R290 million in cash and cash equivalents, compared with R335 million
at the end of the first quarter of FY2017. The cash position was also influenced by an increase in working
capital of R 70.5 million for the 6 months ended 31 December 2016.
Gold production for the year ending 30 June 2017 is expected to be between 136,000 and 140,000
ounces at cash operating costs of between R468,000 per kilogram and R482,000 per kilogram.
The above information has not been reviewed or reported on by the Company’s auditors. The
Company’s Results are expected to be published on or about 15 February 2017.
Johannesburg
6 February 2017
Sponsor
One Capital
Date: 06/02/2017 08:00:00 Produced by the JSE SENS Department. The SENS service is an information dissemination service administered by the JSE Limited ('JSE').
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