{"id":13694,"date":"2012-08-20T15:02:47","date_gmt":"2012-08-20T13:02:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/08\/miner-lonmin-shares-slide-as-troubles-deepen\/"},"modified":"2012-08-20T15:02:47","modified_gmt":"2012-08-20T13:02:47","slug":"miner-lonmin-shares-slide-as-troubles-deepen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/miner-lonmin-shares-slide-as-troubles-deepen\/","title":{"rendered":"Miner Lonmin shares slide as troubles deepen"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

LONDON<\/span> Aug 20 (Reuters) – Shares in miner Lonmin
\n slid for a sixth day on Monday, as investors
\nfretted over the prospect of a cash call to shore up its balance
\nsheet and the potential dismissal of 3,000 striking workers
\nafter a week of violence in which 44 people were killed.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

South African-focused Lonmin, the world’s third-largest
\nplatinum miner, has given workers at its Marikana mine an
\nultimatum to return to work on Monday or face being fired, a
\ntwist that could heighten a tense situation on the ground and
\nmake it even harder for production to resume.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Already battered by rising costs and feeble prices squeezing
\nthe platinum industry, union clashes have now pushed Lonmin
\nshares to the lowest levels since 2008.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

At 0740 GMT, its shares were down 4.7 percent in London at
\n610.3 pence, underperforming a 0.3 percent drop in the UK mining
\nsector, while the Johannesburg shares were down 3.8
\npercent.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Lonmin has one of the most pressured balance sheets in the
\nsector and analysts have warned for days that the latest
\nstoppage, which means the miner will miss its 2012 output
\ntarget, would force it to overhaul its debt and potentially
\nraise cash on the equity market.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

The Sunday Times newspaper said the miner’s expected rights
\nissue could be as large as $1 billion, roughly half its current
\nmarket capitalisation. Sources familiar with the matter told
\nReuters it was too soon to put a figure on a cash call, as
\nproduction had yet to resume at the mine.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Analysts at Liberum in London said a $1 billion cash call
\nwould be the “belt and braces” recapitalisation needed, given
\nindustry oversupply and market conditions that have made large
\nchunks of production loss-making.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

“A $1 billion rights issue, as compared to its current $2
\nbillion market cap, will be a difficult proposition, but
\nstrategically, could provide them with a longer-term benefit,”
\nNomura analysts said in a Monday note.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

“However, with such an uncertain future we continue to see
\nthe share price as too high and re-iterate our ‘reduce’
\nrecommendation.”<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Deutsche Bank cut its recommendation on the stock to “sell”
\nfrom “hold.”<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Lonmin has also yet to receive a firm commitment of support
\nin the event of a rights issue from its largest shareholder,
\nminer Xstrata, the sources said.<\/p>\n

(Reporting by Clara Ferreira-Marques; Editing by Erica
\nBillingham)<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LONDON Aug 20 (Reuters) – Shares in miner Lonmin slid for a sixth day on Monday, as investors fretted over the prospect of a cash call to shore up its balance sheet and the potential dismissal of 3,000 striking workers after a week of violence in which 44 people were killed. South African-focused Lonmin, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[830,2370,183],"class_list":{"0":"post-13694","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-news","8":"tag-reuters","9":"tag-south-africa-2","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13694"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13694\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}