“Gold Fields Ltd. (GFI), the fourth-largest producer of the metal, more than doubled its dividend for last year after benefiting from higher sale prices in rand.
The 3.30 rand (43 U.S. cents) a share payout is “the highest dividend yield in the gold industry globally,” Chief Executive Officer Nick Hollandtold Bloomberg Television today. Gold Fields will keep its policy of paying out half of earnings after growth capital is deducted, Chief Financial Officer Paul Schmidt said in a separate Johannesburg presentation.
The company was little changed at 125.90 rand by 2:08 p.m. in Johannesburg trading, valuing it at 91.4 billion rand.
“Dividend policy has been well-accepted by the market,” said David Davis, an SBG Securities analyst. “I’ll be paying attention to their growth pipeline and how it’s funded.”
Gold Fields, which mined about half its 3.49 million ounces of 2011 output in South Africa, targets 5 million ounces a year in production or development by 2015. It’s growing in Peru andAustralia and plans mines in Mali, Finland and the Philippines.
The company reported fourth-quarter earnings excluding one- time items rose to 2.65 billion rand, or 3.68 rand a share, from 2.11 billion rand, or 2.91 rand, in the previous three months, according to a statement today. The median of five analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg was 3.62 rand a share….”
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