Exiting CEO Nick Holland: Gold Fields has managed to limit the impact of Covid-19 on production.
On 20 August, Gold Fields announced that, after 13 years at the helm, its CEO Nick Holland is set to retire in September 2021,
The gold mining company also released its interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2020.
“2020 is a year that will be remembered for generations to come, with Covid-19 changing the world as we know it. It has challenged our lives and our businesses in every way and will continue to do so in the coming months,” Nick said in a statement. “However, we are proud of the resilience of our teams across our business who have prioritised the health and wellbeing of our people and the communities in which we operate.”
While some of Gold Fields’ operations have been disrupted, Nick said that the company has managed to limit the impact on the group’s production. “A bittersweet respite for gold companies has been the rise in this safe-haven metal to record levels.”
The company reported:
- A net cash inflow of $320 million
- Net debt down to $876 million
- Normalised earnings more than doubled to $323 million
“Gold Fields welcomes the accelerated economic recovery strategy aimed at achieving higher levels of economic growth post Covid-19, published by Business for South Africa (B4SA) in July,” Nick said. “We believe the emphasis should be on the SA government to provide the economic leadership in a social and economic compact with business and organised labour to create a more stable regulatory and operating environment that is conducive to private sector investment. For the mining sector this means providing clarity around key aspects of the Mining Charter and associated legislation.”
The company said in a statement that the global search for a suitable replacement for Nick will commence soon.
