Impairments drag ARM into narrowed loss

Diversified mining company African Rainbow Minerals (ARM) on Thursday reported a narrowed basic earnings loss of R254-million in the six months to December 31. The loss resulted mainly from attributable impairments of the Nkomati nickel and Modikwa platinum mines totalling R1.4-billion after tax and compares with the half-year loss R996-million in the corresponding period of 2015. However, ARM, headed by executive chairperson Patrice Motsepe, increased headline earnings by 234% to R1 693-million, or 893 c a share, compared with R507-million in the corresponding period of 2015.