This is the first time – since returning to dividend payments – that the company has paid a third-quarter dividend and means that DRDGOLD now has an uninterrupted nine-year dividend run.
The dividend declared today, together with the interim dividend of 12 cents per share declared on 16 February 2016, makes a total distribution of 50 cents to date in FY2016 and marks a 400% improvement on the total distribution of 10 cents per share for the whole of FY2015.
DRDGOLD CEO, Niël Pretorius, says the latest dividend underscores the board of directors’ position not to sit on surplus cash, but to pay this out to shareholders.
“The very significant weakening of the rand, coupled with higher production and stable costs, pushed our net cash and cash equivalent position up at the end of the third quarter to beyond R410m.”
“We do not have any large near-term capital projects to fund and can do this distribution without cutting into our cash buffer,” he explains.
