Johannesburg, Wednesday, 23 August 2023. In terms of paragraph 3.4(b) of the Listings Requirements of the JSE Limited (“JSE”), a company listed on the JSE is required to publish a trading statement as soon as they are satisfied that a reasonable degree of certainty exists that the financial results for the period to be reported upon next will differ by at least 20% from the financial results for the previous comparable period.

“FY23 was a year filled with many highlights as Harmony delivered on its strategic objectives of producing safe, profitable ounces. We have met the upper end of our production guidance of 1.4 to 1.5 million ounces at an all-in-sustaining cost of below R900 000/kg. Underground recovered grades also exceeded the upper end of the guided 5.45 to 5.6g/t. Our embedded approach to safety, operational excellence, alongside our improved asset quality, resulted in a strong and sustainable group performance with solid free cash flows. We will continue allocating growth capital to our high-grade underground and high-margin surface source operations in South Africa and expanding our international copper-gold portfolio,” said Peter Steenkamp, chief executive officer of Harmony.

Expected basic and headline earnings for FY23

Shareholders of Harmony are advised that a reasonable degree of certainty exists that basic earnings for FY23 will be higher than for the financial year ended 30 June 2022 (“the previous comparable period” or “FY22”) primarily due to:

an increase in revenue due to higher underground recovered grades and a higher average gold price received;
and no impairment recognised on assets during FY23 due to headroom shown on all assets compared to R4 433 million (US$273 million) impairment in FY22.
The increase in earnings was partially offset by the following:

an increase in production costs mainly as a result of higher consumables, contractors and services costs;
acquisition-related costs relating to the Eva Copper assets purchased during December 2022 and subsequent exploration expenditure related to the feasibility study;
a foreign exchange translation loss of R634 million (US$36 million), compared to a R327 million loss (US$21 million) in FY22, is predominantly attributable to the weakening of the Rand/US$ exchange rate year on year, which unfavourably affects the translation of the US dollar loan balances; and
an increase in the taxation expense predominately due to deferred taxation. Deferred taxation moved from a credit of R353 million (US$23 million) in FY22 to an expense of R1 080 million (US$61 million)in FY23 mainly due to higher property, plant and equipment carrying values and utilisation of unredeemed capital expenditure. The current taxation also increased due to higher profitability resulting from favourable gold prices.
Earnings per share (“EPS”) are expected to be between 763 and 798 South African (“SA”) cents, which is an increase of more than 100% on the loss per share of 172 SA cents for the previous comparable period. In United States (“US”) dollar terms, the earnings per share is expected to be between 43 and 45 US cents, which is an increase of more than 100% on the loss per share of 8 US cents reported for the previous comparable period.

Headline earnings per share (“HEPS”) are expected to be between 747 and 850 SA cents, which represents an increase of between 50% and 70% from the headline earnings per share of 499 SA cents reported in the previous comparable period. In US dollar terms, the headline earnings per share is expected to be between 43 and 50 US cents, which is an increase of between 30% and 50% on the headline earnings per share of 33 US cents reported for the previous comparable period.

Harmony will publish its financial results for the financial year ended 30 June 2023 on Wednesday, 30 August 2023. Please see Harmony’s website for more details: www.harmony.co.za.

The financial information on which this trading statement has been based has not been reviewed or reported on by Harmony’s external auditors.

FOR MORE DETAILS, CONTACT:
Jared Coetzer
Head: Investor Relations