Harmony’s interim profit takes a smack
Accounting entries hammer the miner’s interim profit, but CFO Frank Abbott says, when it comes to operations, the company is ‘very proud of our results’
Accounting entries overshadowed Harmony Gold’s interim operating performance, which was boosted by the inclusion of Moab Khotsong and commercial output at its Hidden Valley mine in Papua New Guinea, hammering profits lower. Net profit for the six months to end-December shrank to R75m from R897m. Harmony reported total revenue of R13.8bn, up from R9.9bn a year earlier. Revenue from gold sales grew to R13.1bn, up from R9.3bn in the same period a year before, while income from its hedging programme, or forward sales of gold and silver, contributed R365m, down from R503m the year before. The inclusion of Hidden Valley’s full commercial production since June meant silver sales shot up to R227m from R33m, while the ownership of Moab generated R90m from uranium sales. However, these benefits were eroded by amortisation and depreciation charges shooting up to R2.1bn from R1.3bn the previous year as Harmony began to amortise the money it spent at Hidden Valley now that the mine was in commer...
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