Jubilee Platinum losses widen amid depressed market

Jubilee Platinum posted its audited results for the year to 30 June on Monday, with operating expenses from continuing operations - excluding share-based payment charges and impairments - down 16.27% to £2.4m.

The AIM-traded firm did highlight a the disposal of its Middelburg Operations and Power Plant disposal, which completed during the year for a gross cash sum of ZAR110.5m, accounted for as £5.3m.

It reported a loss per share for the year on continuing operations of 0.38p, a reduction of 15.6% on last year.

On a reported basis, its revenue from continuing operations was £1.47m, up from £48.9k, with gross profit of £0.87m a marked increase from £23k.

Its reported loss for the year was £3.67m, up from £3.45m in 2105.

“The theme of last year's report was that the resource industry in general was experiencing very difficult times with commodity prices and difficulty in accessing finance for survival, let alone growth,” said non-executive chairman Colin Bird.

“We are somewhat disappointed that platinum has been so resilient at its lower levels and the much expected breakout in a positive way did not occur.

“I have been cynical over the link between gold and platinum and have often stated that the coupling has little sense since platinum is a commodity and should therefore respond to supply and demand fundamentals.”

Looking ahead, Bird said the board was seeing a healthy market for platinum with expectation of higher prices, though he remained confident of making good returns on investment at current platinum price levels.

“Our chrome operation at Dilokong has benefited considerably by increased prices for chrome and we are encouraged by our effort and opportunities in the local chrome arena.”