Implats to repurchase treasury shares as firm continues capital structure spring clean

IMPALA Platinum (Implats) is to buy about 16.2 million treasury shares from subsidiary, Gazelle Platinum as part of its capital restructuring plans.

The miner said in an announcement on Thursday that the proposed transaction required shareholder approval that will be sought at an annual general meeting (AMG) scheduled for October 14. The effective date of the repurchase would be October 19 with the cancellation of the shares set down for October 22.

After the “specific repurchase”, there will be 4.6 million treasury shares in issue which are held in terms of Implats’ long-term 2018 share plan.

The proposed repurchase, which is a non-cash transaction, follows other capital structure optimisations including the conversion of a $250m bond and a revised dividend policy in which some 30% of free cash flow, pre-growth capital, will be distributed to shareholders.

Implats expects to report stellar year-end numbers.

Commenting in a trading statement on August 20, Implats said headline earnings would be R15.6bn and R16.2bn, equal to headline share earnings of 2,007 to 2,084 cents per share.

This represents an increase of between 413% and 433% for headline earnings and an increase of between 374% and 393% for headline share earnings. Headline earnings and share earnings last year were R3bn and 423 cents respectively.

Implats is scheduled to publish its numbers on September 3.

Implats said refined production for the year was revised to between 2.77 to 2.8 million oz compared to previous guidance of 2.6 to 2.9 million oz. Actual refined production in Implats’ 2019 financial year totalled 3.01 million oz.

Concentrate production from Implats’ Rustenburg mine would be 1.06 to 1.12 million oz as per revised guidance compared to 975,000 to 1.05 million oz in previous guidance and actual 2019 financial year concentrate production from Rustenburg of 1.29 million oz.