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Shareholders in Yamana Gold (TSE:YRI) (NYSE:AUY) on Wednesday shrugged off news out yesterday that the Toronto-based miner had swung to a fourth-quarter loss after booking a $672 million impairment charge.
Shares in Yamana Gold, the world’s fifth largest dedicated gold company in terms of market capitalization, ended down 1.74% in Toronto on Wednesday, making it one of the better performers on a day when gold mining stocks were hammered across the board.
The $8.5 billion stock is up 23.5% year to date and enjoys a higher valuation than the likes of South Africa’s Anglogold Ashanti which produces some 4.5 million ounces per annum range and Gold Fields and Australia’s Newcrest Mining which produces in excess of 2 million ounces per year.
Yamana reported a net loss of $584 million, or $0.78 a share, compared with profit of $169 million, or $0.23 a share in the same period a year earlier due to the write-down of certain exploration and operating properties, notably its Ernesto/Pau-a-Pique mine, in Brazil.
Revenue at company which operates eight mines in Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Mexico, also disappointed with turnover coming in almost $60 million below expectations at $421 million which were already down significantly from the year-ago quarter on lower metal prices.
Yamana said the average realized price for gold fell 25% to $1 277/oz, for silver fell 34% to $20.63/oz and for copper fell 5% to $3.37/lb. All-in sustaining cash costs on a co-product basis for the full year were $947 per gold equivalent ounces and $814 per gold equivalent ounces on a by-product basis.
The company said output reached 1.2 million gold equivalent ounces for the full year, below its July forecast of between 1.32 million and 1.37 million gold equivalent ounces.
Yamana declared a first quarter 2014 dividend of 3.75 cents per share, representing an annualized dividend of 15 cents per share, down from the previous annual dividend of 26 cents per share.
