Sibanye-Stillwater registers promising lift as Q1 Ebitda surges

A SURGING gold price and restructuring efforts in its platinum group metal (PGM) mines powered Sibanye-Stillwater to a much improved first quarter.The precious metals miner reported on Friday adjusted Ebitda of R4.1bn, 86% higher than adjusted Ebitda in the first quarter of 2024 which came in at R2.17bn.The group’s gold mines comprised R1.16bn of the Ebitda improvement after the price received for Sibanye-Stillwater’s mines increased to R1.68m per kilogram, a year-on-year increase of 34%.But there were good signs at the South African PGM assets that a restructuring last year was bearing fruit. Its Ebitda increased to R2.53bn, up 42%.There was also a positive contribution from Sibanye-Stillwater’s Australian zinc retreatment operations while Sandouville, a nickel refinery in France, was due to be closed this year saving costs.The US PGM assets remainined loss making, however, and need a higher average PGM 2E (platinum/palladium) price which fell 2.3% year-on-year. The mines are barely profitable at an adjusted Ebitda level even after factoring in US subsidies assuming from the US government in terms of its support of critical mineral miners.Commenting on the first quarter results performance, Sibanye-Stillwater CEO Neal Froneman said it “reinforces the trend we noted” in the second half of its 2024 financial year in which profitability had “stabilised”. That period was the third consecutive six month period of group adjusted Ebitda of between R6.4bn to R6.7bn, he said.While the PGM basket price over a 52-week period seems stubbornly flat (but tracking significantly higher year-to-date), there was additional upside from the gold price. “With the gold price increasing further during the second quarter, if maintained, profits from the South African gold operations could increase materially,” said Froneman.Despite this, the market didn’t like the numbers. Shares in Sibanye-Stillwater fell nearly 5% in early Johannesburg trade. At R21.47 per share, the company is nonetheless 35% higher in value since the beginning of the year.The post Sibanye-Stillwater marks major turnaround as Q1 Ebitda surges appeared first on Miningmx.Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Mining.com Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Mining.com