Anglo Platinum first-half profit slumps after metal prices drop




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Anglo American Platinum said first-half profit likely fell as much as 75% due to lower metal prices and after power outages and a smelter rebuild cut sales volumes.

Earnings declined as the price of rhodium and palladium slumped 47% and 29% respectively, from a year earlier, the Johannesburg-based company known as Amplats said Monday in a statement. Sales volumes dropped 12% after maintenance at its Polokwane smelter and load curtailment by state-owned power utility Eskom.

Amplats expects profit for the period to be between R6.6 billion and R9.3 billion, down from R26.7 billion a year earlier. Profit before some one-time items, known as headline earnings, also likely dropped by as much as 75%, it said.

Amplats, a unit of Anglo American, is scheduled to publish sales and production results for the six months on July 20 and will release earnings for the period on July 24.