Motsepe’s ARM doubles profit on platinum price surge

A year ago, Patrice Motsepe’s African Rainbow Minerals was writing down its platinum assets and placing expansion projects on care and maintenance. Now, with platinum group metal prices running hot, the company has posted a sharp turnaround and is weighing whether to bring those projects back to life.

ARM reported revenue of 8.4 billion rand ($503.9 million) for the six months ended Dec. 31, 2025, a 31% jump from the same period a year earlier. Operating profit came in at 1.9 billion rand ($113.9 million), swinging from a 409 million rand ($24.5 million) operating loss in the prior comparable period. Profit attributable to equity holders rose to 2.4 billion rand ($144 million) from 1.4 billion rand ($83.9 million). Headline earnings per share landed at 866 cents ($0.52), up from 775 cents ($0.46) a year earlier, at the upper end of the range ARM had flagged in a February trading statement.

The driver was platinum group metals. In rand terms, platinum prices were up 53%, palladium up 29% and rhodium up 50% over the six-month period. Cobalt prices rose 78%. ARM Platinum’s headline earnings swung to 704 million rand from a 689 million rand loss in the first half of 2025, a turnaround of more than 200%. Sales across the group rose 38% to 7.86 billion rand, while cost of sales increased 10% to 5.24 billion rand.

The results put into sharp relief just how far the pendulum has swung. ARM’s platinum division bled heavily through much of 2024 and early 2025, as palladium and rhodium prices collapsed by as much as 40% and 62% respectively, hammering the economics of South Africa’s PGM producers. ARM responded by cutting costs, deferring capital and shelving growth plans. The Merensky Reef project at its Two Rivers mine, a joint venture with Impala Platinum in Limpopo, was placed on care and maintenance in July 2024. A bankable feasibility study at the Bokoni Platinum mine was deferred indefinitely.

Both projects are now being looked at again. ARM said in its interim results that the Merensky Reef project at Two Rivers could be restarted once market conditions improve, with the company currently evaluating the timing of recommissioning. The Two Rivers Merensky project, when it was approved by the ARM board in March 2021, was designed to produce an additional 182,000 ounces of platinum group metals a year at steady state, along with 1,600 tons of nickel and 1,300 tons of copper, at a total capital cost of 7.3 billion rand. That potential is now back on the table.

The results land at a moment of leadership transition at the company. In February, Motsepe stepped down as executive chairman following new JSE listing requirements that bar a board chair from simultaneously holding an executive director role. He remains on the board as non-executive chairman. Jacques van der Bijl was named chief operating officer at the same time. The numbers suggest the transition has not disrupted momentum.

Not everything moved in the right direction. ARM’s ferrous division, which spans iron ore and manganese, continued to drag. Rising operational costs and weak markets in those commodities offset some of the gains from platinum. ARM shares fell nearly 5% on the day results were released, making it the JSE’s worst performer in morning trade, even as the stock has climbed more than 50% over the past year on the back of the PGM rally.

Motsepe built ARM from a standing start. He bought marginal gold mine shafts from AngloGold in 1997 when gold prices were depressed and few wanted them, listed ARMGold on the JSE in 2002, then engineered a merger with Harmony Gold and Anglovaal to create African Rainbow Minerals in 2003. The company now has a market capitalisation of approximately 46 billion rand ($2.76 billion) and operations spanning five commodity groups.

The broader commodity picture has since grown more complicated. The Middle East conflict, which has pushed crude oil prices sharply higher, could yet provide a further tailwind for gold and platinum as investors seek safe-haven assets. ARM’s exposure to PGMs puts it in a reasonable position to benefit if that dynamic holds.