The platinum arm of Anglo American PLC (LSE:AAL) could axe around 3,700 jobs at its South Africa operations as part of restructuring plans to cut costs after sharp falls in platinum-group metals prices.
Shares in Anglo American Platinum, known as Amplats, announced a 71% tumble in annual underlying earnings to 14 billion South African rand.
The contribution to underlying EBITDA at its FTSE 100-listed parent, which owns a 79% stake, will be around US$1.2 billion.
The financial results are "reflective of the weakness in the macro-economic environment and lower PGM prices", with the main driver of the all-in earnings being a 35% decrease in the PGM dollar basket price, most notably palladium and rhodium.
Lower prices also led to a R10 billion increase in cost of sales compared to 2022, though these headwinds were partially offset by a 2% increase in sales volumes.
Profitability continues to be impacted by above-inflation cost increases in utilities and consumables, the company said.
Shares in Amplats rose 0.8% while Anglo's fell 1.4%, with both having slumped by around 50% since the start of 2023.