Gold Fields pledges extra $500M in shareholder returns over two years

[Gold mine head gear and production plant, South Africa]
bucky_za/E+ via Getty Images

Gold Fields (GFI [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/GFI]) +1.7% in Wednesday's trading after saying it plans to return $500 million to shareholders [https://www.morningstar.com/news/dow-jones/202511123562/gold-fields-plans-extra-500-million-in-returns-in-next-two-years-updates-dividend-policy] over the next two years via special dividends or buying back shares, as part of a five-year plan aimed at maintaining its production profile and cutting costs.

The South African miner also said it would target a base dividend of 35% of free cash flow before discretionary growth investments, with a minimum return of $0.50/share annually in two payments of $0.25/share each provided its net debt does not exceed 1x EBITDA.

The company's dividend represented 43% of free cash flow in 2024 before discretionary growth investments; it was 40% in 2023 and 44% in 2022.

Gold Fields (GFI [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/GFI]) also said it will present its plans for maintaining gold production at 2.5 million-3 million oz/year, and will look to improve its cost base and extend mine life into the next decade.

The company said last week it was on track to hit the upper end of its FY 2025 gold production forecast of 2.25 million-2.45 million oz, with attributable Q3 output rising 22% Y/Y and 6% Q/Q to 621,000 oz.

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* Gold Fields: A Miner Worth Owning, But Not Chasing Here [https://seekingalpha.com/article/4841725-gold-fields-stock-a-miner-worth-owning-but-not-chasing-here]
* Gold Fields: Zero Margin Of Safety At Current Levels [https://seekingalpha.com/article/4826416-gold-fields-zero-margin-of-safety-at-current-levels]