Amplats returns 80b rand to investors on record profit

[JOHANNESBURG] Anglo American Platinum Ltd will pay out 80 billion rand (S$7.1 billion) in dividends after the world's biggest platinum miner by market value reported a record profit.

Amplats and its South African peers are reaping bumper earnings as automaker demand buoys the price of rhodium and palladium - metals produced alongside platinum that are used in devices to curb pollution from gasoline cars. The miner also processed more stockpiled metal.

This has delivered windfall payouts to Anglo American, which owns about 79 per cent of Amplats.

The dividend equates to 100 per cent of headline earnings, which is profit stripping out some one-time items, the Johannesburg-based company said in a statement on Monday. Amplats' second-half payout, including a special dividend, was 33 billion rand, or 125 rand a share.

Demand for platinum-group metals remained strong, even after chip shortages hampered carmakers' production last year. Palladium will be impacted by tensions between Ukraine and Russia, the biggest producer of the metal, but prices won't reach last year's levels, chief executive officer Natascha Viljoen said on a conference call.

"In 2021, we saw record prices; we have sold quite a bit of metal in this very high-price environment," Viljoen said. "We are forecasting not to the same level as we have seen in 2021, but certainly for prices to remain strong."

Amplats shares slipped 0.5 per cent in Johannesburg trading, paring this year's gains to 7.4 per cent.

BLOOMBERG