Aquarius Platinum, which has decided to limit its mining activities in the wake of falling prices and soaring costs, has reported a 14% drop in production in its fourth quarter.
The company's shares are down 2.39p to 40.08p on the news, a near 6% decline. It has put two of its mines on a care and maintenance basis, and also warned of possible strikes in the near future. Chief executive Stuart Murray said:
The likelihood of industrial action over the South African winter is high. Aquarius is by no means immune to this threat, and intermittent unlawful industrial action has occurred... in July. We are working hard to resolve this in order to return to uninterrupted production as soon as possible.
Dominic O'Kane at Liberum Capital said:
Poor platinum price and industrial action continues to hamper things and it is clear that while Aquarius is making every effort to protect profitability they are by no mean out of the woods. The stock sell off is a clear reflection of market concern.
