AAL Anglo American Plc

CAPE TOWN, South Africa—Anglo American Platinum Ltd. said Monday that impairments and restructuring costs pushed it to a net loss in 2015 as the world's top producer of the precious metal battles low platinum prices.

The Johannesburg-listed miner reported a 12.125 billion South African rand ($760 million) net loss for the full year compared with a profit of 624 million rand a year earlier.

Its headline earnings, which strip out some exceptional items and is a measure preferred by many investors, plunged to 107 million rand for 2015 from 786 million rand in 2014, in line with the company's previously announced guidance.

Amplats, a majority-owned unit of globally diversified miner Anglo American PLC, booked impairments totaling 14 billion rand in 2015, of which 1.8 billion rand hit headline earnings. It has said the write-downs and impairments reflect the carrying value of assets, restructuring costs and plans that led to layoffs of contractors and employees.

On the plus side, all its operating mines were cash flow positive as a result of the restructuring, which helped Amplats reduce its net debt by 13% to 12.8 billion rand in 2015.

"This has been an extremely tough operating environment," said Chief Executive Chris Griffith. "We will manage the business for this environment."

That includes beginning the process of putting the company's Twickenham project on care and maintenance and considering the exit of the company's 50% interest in the Kroondal mine, Mr. Griffith said. The carrying value of Twickenham is 2.3 billion rand following a 3.2 billion rand write-off.

"Clearly the market is not looking for an extra project," he said of Twickenham, which employs about 1,000 people. The company will consider whether to reopen the mine in 2017.

Amplats is also continuing to look for a buyer for its Union mine and plans to exit joint ventures at its Bokoni and Pandora mines.

Still, "we are not in a fire sale process," Mr. Griffith said.

Amplats, like other South African platinum producers, has been hammered by labor issues and low prices, which have driven away investment. Shares of Amplats on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange were down 0.3% at 268.95 rand a share in early trade Monday.

The company's shares have tumbled 30% over the last year, though they are up 45% since the start of 2016, boosted by the local rand currency plummeting to all-time lows against the U.S. dollar.

Refined platinum production rose 30% to 2.46 million ounces in 2015, the company said. However, despite benefits from the currency, metals prices continue to present a challenge as they plumb seven-year lows. The company received an average basket metals—including platinum, palladium, rhodium and others—price of $1,905 an ounce in 2015, down 21% from $2,413 an ounce during 2014.

It reported net revenue of 59.8 billion rand for the 12 months ended Dec. 31, up 7.6% from the year earlier, when the company was hit by a five month-long strike—South Africa's longest ever.

Write to Alexandra Wexler at alexandra.wexler@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 08, 2016 04:45 ET (09:45 GMT)

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