Company news in brief

Amplats: Explosion forces shutdown

South Africa's Anglo American Platinum declared force majeure and cut its production outlook after an explosion led to a shutdown of processing facilities, sending its shares sharply lower and driving the price of platinum up.

Amplats, the world's second-biggest platinum producer, cut its 2020 production guidance for platinum group metals (PGMs) by 900 000 ounces, from between 4.2 million and 4.7 million ounces to between 3.3 million and 3.8 million ounces.

An explosion on Feb. 10 damaged the Anglo Converter Plant (ACP) phase A plant, part of a chain of processing facilities, at Waterval smelter in Rustenburg, 141 km from Johannesburg. The phase B unit was set to take over but water was detected in the furnace, which posed the risk of another explosion, so Amplats shut the plant down.

The company said repairs to the phase B unit would take about 80 days and it had to declare force majeure - which allows the suspension of contractual obligations because of exceptional circumstances - as it cannot process material during that time. Repairs on the phase A plant should be completed in early 2021, it said.

"The hit to EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) would be more than US$1 billion based on current spot prices," Jefferies analyst Christopher LaFemina said. – Nampa/Reuters

Aspen expects corona impact

South African drugmaker Aspen Pharmacare Holdings Ltd reported a small rise in earnings in the first half of the 2020 financial year on Thursday and said the coronavirus outbreak would impact its performance.

Normalised earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) was flat at R5.26 billion in the six months to Dec. 31, from a restated R5.24 billion rand, the firm said in a statement.

The drugmaker, which is nearly 170 years old and has a presence in about 56 countries, said coronavirus had resulted in its Chinese commercial team being largely inactive since February and this would impact performance.

"To date our inventory holdings have been sufficient to prevent any negative impact arising from reliance on active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) and API intermediaries imported from China, but this risk remains under close assessment," the firm said in a statement.

On a business as usual basis, excluding the impact of coronavirus, Aspen's performance in the first half "creates the opportunity to outperform our previous guidance which expected our 2020 financial results to be broadly in line with the results reported for 2019," it said. – Nampa/Reuters

Barrick stockpiling, bracing for virus

Barrick Gold Corp said on Friday it would stockpile key commodities due to the coronavirus, drawing on its experience from Ebola outbreaks to prepare for the possibility the outbreak could shutter its mines.

It was the latest defensive step by the mining industry, which is bracing for a prolonged drop in commodity prices and worried the contagion could fuel a rare simultaneous drop in both supply and demand for the minerals used to power the global economy.

Barrick, the world's second-largest gold miner with operations across the globe, did not specify which "key commodities" it was stockpiling.

No employees or contractors at Barrick or peers have tested positive for coronavirus.

Barrick has put emergency medical procedures and facilities in place and is screening employees, contractors and visitors at each site. The company has not yet restricted employee travel. – Nampa/Reuters

Exxon pushes ahead with spending plans

Two years into an ambitious growth plan to revive earnings at the largest US oil company, Exxon Mobil Corp said on Thursday it would stick to its plans to "lean in" to spending even as its shares have lagged those of competitors, which are cutting costs.

Oil prices have fallen more than 20% this year, natural gas is at its lowest price since the 1990s and the industry's long-term outlook is clouded by a push toward cleaner fuels. The entire oil industry has fallen out of favour with investors, but Exxon, once the industry’s cash flow and profit leader, has tumbled particularly hard.

The company is "mindful of the current market environment," but will stay with its strategy of "leaning in to this market when others have pulled back," Exxon chief executive Darren Woods said at the company's annual investor day meeting. He first laid out plans to improve profit through investment in 2018, and Thursday's message did not diverge from that.

The company plans to spend between US$30 billion and US$35 billion a year through 2025.

Exxon's total share return is minus 26% over the last five years, far behind the other global oil majors, according to Refinitiv Eikon data, while the broader S&P 500 Index has returned 49%. – Nampa/Reuters

Starbucks sales in China to plummet

Starbucks Corp said on Thursday it expects China sales in stores open for at least a year to fall by about 50% in the quarter ending March due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The world's largest coffee chain said the impact of the epidemic could reduce its second-quarter revenue in China by US$400 million to US$430 million versus its prior expectations, and hurt its adjusted earnings per share by 15 cents to 18 cents.

Starbucks said it has been forced to defer some store openings planned in China for fiscal year 2020 to next year due to the outbreak.

The company said its business has also been affected in Japan, South Korea and Italy due to store closures and reduced customer traffic, but it is unable to quantify the impact as the outbreak is still in early stages.

The company, which gets 70% of its revenue from the United States, said it was business as usual at home. – Nampa/Reuters