ANNUAL RESULTS
Merafe to settle debt as revenue improves
Merafe Resources aimed to be debt free at its head office but had no plans for mergers or acquisitions to grow
Merafe Resources, the junior empowerment partner in a chrome joint venture with Glencore, aimed to be debt free at its head office but had no plans for mergers or acquisitions to grow, CEO Zanele Matlala said on Tuesday. Merafe, which is the 20.5% partner in the chrome joint venture, reported a slew of record numbers for its full financial year to end-December despite a sluggish start to the year when ferrochrome prices were low before improving strongly in the second half of 2016. Prices for ferrochrome, which is used to make stainless steel, doubled by the end of the year, while prices for chrome ore, the feedstock to make ferrochrome, had increased fourfold, Matlala said. Merafe’s portion of the joint venture’s revenue increased 29% to R5.7bn while profit grew to R532m from R343m. Merafe declared a final dividend of R100m compared with R30m a year ago. Tuesday’s dividend declaration translated to 4c per share, or 3.2c after the deduction of the freshly increased dividend withhold...
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