• Also says the life of its Kusasalethu mine west of Johannesburg reduced to five years from 24 because grades are expected to become much lower. Mine has been a flashpoint of labour unrest and employs around 4,500 workers.
• Net profit in year ended June 30 of 949 million Rand ($64 million) compared with net loss of 4.5 billion Rand ($374 million) in previous year.
• Headline earnings amount to 221 South African cents per share (15 US cents per share), near the bottom of company forecast, compared with a headline loss of 189 SA cents per share (16 US cents per share) for FY15.
• Dividend of 50 South African cents per ordinary share declared, first to be paid since 2012. Company has also given all employees across board 3,000 Rand bonus.
• Company says favourable exchange rate with weaker Rand triggered decision to hedge since February.
• Currency hedging is in the form of zero cost collars, which establish a minimum (floor) and maximum (cap) Rand/Dollar exchange rate at which to convert Dollars to Rand. The nominal value of the hedging contracts as at 30 June 2016 was $500 million.
• Harmony entered into short-term gold forward sale contracts during July for 432,000 ounces over a period of 24 months, representing approximately 20 % of total production.
• "This we have done to help us to pay back our debt and to secure our cash flow," said Chief Financial Officer Frank Abbott. Group net debt fell 61 percent to $74 million.
• Company also said it sees growth in copper interests with exploration and development projects in Papua New Guinea.
--reuters--
