Higher gold price to boost Gold Fields' headline earnings

10th February 2021 By: Marleny Arnoldi - Deputy Editor Online

Higher gold price to boost Gold Fields' headline earnings

Gold Fields' Damang mine

NYSE- and JSE-listed Gold Fields expects its headline earnings per share (HEPS) for the year ended December 31, 2020, to be between $0.81 and $0.85.

This marks an increase of about 305% compared with the HEPS of $0.20 reported for 2019.

Gold Fields attributes the increase in HEPS to slightly higher production and higher gold prices achieved, despite the hedges that were in place during 2020.

Normalised earnings per share (EPS) for the year should be between $0.98 and $1.02 – a 133% increase on the normalised EPS of $0.42 reported in the prior year.

Meanwhile, the company expects its attributable gold equivalent production for the year to total 2.2-million ounces, a 2% year-on-year increase.

Gold Fields had revised its 2020 production guidance down to between 2.2-million and 2.25-million ounces, from between 2.27-million and 2.31-million ounces before, as a result of having to account for the impact of Covid-19 on its operations.

Gold Fields will release its results on February 18.