Gold Fields (JO:GFIJ) has released a voluntary trading statement for the year ended December 2021.
Over the past year, Gold Fields is up 23%. To put this into perspective, Harmony Gold is down 7.9% and AngloGold Ashanti (JO:ANGJ) is even worse, down 9.3%. I hold all three, as I didn't back myself in December 2020 to pick the winner in this industry and I wanted gold exposure in anticipation of inflation. Hindsight is perfect, of course, as there has only been one winner.
Headline Earnings per Share (HEPS) is expected to be 6% to 13% higher than the comparable period, a decent result that reflects Gold Fields' solid operations.
In the final quarter of 2021, attributable gold production increased 4.1% vs. the prior quarter. All-in costs came in 8.4% higher and all-in sustaining costs were 3.8% higher.
For the full year, gold production was 5% higher than 2020, coming in at the upper end of the production guidance range
.At constant exchange rates, all-in costs increased 14.6% due to increased project capex at Salares Norte. This was still at the lower end of the cost guidance given. All-in sustaining costs came in slightly above guidance.
Detailed results for FY21 will be released on 17 February.
The share price increased 1.7% based on the announcement, so the market gave Gold Fields another thumbs up for the efforts over the past year.
Disclaimer: the author holds shares in Gold Fields
Follow @Finance Ghost