Lonmin falls 11% on lower production

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FTSE/JSE Africa Index Series

STOCKS were largely flat yesterday, but platinum miner Lonmin was in the limelight, tumbling over 11 percent.

The benchmark JSE Top40 index advanced 0.01 percent to 47 436.82 points, and the broader all share index declined 0.02 percent to 54 052 points.

lost the most ground, falling 11.56 percent to R17.91, after reporting a drop in half-year production and higher costs.

Lonmin, which has all its mines in South Africa, reported a loss per share of 64.4c against 1.8c, while unit costs were higher driven by the weak mining performance.

Lonmin

“Longer term, we continue to argue that the company faces sig- nificant structural head winds,” Citi analyst, Johann Steyn, said in note, adding that Lonmin was its least preferred South Africa platinum stock.

slid 3.6 percent to R275.31 after EU antitrust regulators said it would investigate whether the drugmaker was charging excessive prices for five key cancer drugs.

The bourse’s biggest gainer was Barloworld, which is southern Africa’s largest dealer of Caterpillar CAT.N mining trucks. shares gained 5.09 percent to end the session at R119.99 after the firm reported a 9 percent half-year profit rise.

Aspen Pharmacare Barloworld