S&P hikes Sibanye Stillwater

S&P said it boosted Sibanye Stillwater Ltd.’s issuer and debt ratings to BB from BB- and its South Africa national scale rating to zaAAA from zaAA+, citing higher gold and platinum group metals prices.

“Persistent elevated gold and PGM prices have extended Sibanye's period of very strong cash generation, raising financial resilience. We recently increased our gold price assumptions $200 per ounce (/oz) for 2022 and 2023 to $1,800/oz and $1,600/oz, respectively. At the same time, PGM prices have shown significant resilience as automakers' production is slowly returning to pre-pandemic levels, and higher PGM usage in auto parts reflects advancing global emissions legislation,” the agency said in a press release.

S&P said it forecasts Sibanye to generate ZAR 35 billion-ZAR 45 billion of EBITDA in 2022 compared to ZAR 66 billion in 2021.

“The upgrade reflects our expectation that Sibanye will maintain its strong credit metrics over the next few years, supported by improvements in operating efficiency at its SA PGM business,” the agency said.

The outlook is stable.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.