• Zimplats' H1 FY2026 revenue surged 83% to $641.8 million, driven by strong PGM prices and a 13% increase in 6E metal production
• Net profit jumped 3,376% to $143.7 million, with earnings per share rising from 4c to 134c, as platinum, palladium, and gold prices climbed 58%, 33%, and 48% respectively
• Zimplats is on track to breach $1.3 billion in revenue for FY2026, with its expanded smelter and Mupani Mine development poised to boost production and cash flow

 Harare- Zimbabwe's platinum giant Zimplats Holdings Limited has posted the most striking half-year financial transformation, turning what was barely a rounding error in profit twelve months ago into a war chest of US$143.7 million in net earnings in just six months. Zimplats has earned US$641.8 million in revenue in a single half-year, the company's full-year revenue in FY2025 was US$826.6 million, and the second half of the year is historically its stronger one. Barring a dramatic reversal in platinum group metal prices, Zimplats is on course to breach the US$1.3 billion revenue mark for the full financial year ended June 2026. That would represent the company's best revenue performance in at least four years and a complete reset of what investors should expect from this operation.

Revenue of US$641.8 million was 83% higher than the US$350.2 million recorded in the comparable period of 2024. Profit before income tax exploded by 2,191% to US$203.4 million from just US$8.9 million a year earlier. After a tax charge of US$59.7 million, profit attributable to shareholders landed at US$143.7 million, compared to US$4.1 million in the previous comparable period. Earnings per share rocketed from 4 US cents to 134 US cents, a 3,250%  increase.

In the half-year ended December 2024, Zimplats was barely profitable. Palladium was trading at around US$991 per ounce. Platinum was at US$965. Rhodium, which in its glory days commanded prices above US$20,000 per ounce, was at US$4,565. The entire PGM complex had been battered for two years by the combination of rising electric vehicle penetration, Russian oversupply and weak automotive demand from a slowing global economy. Zimplats soldiered on, spending heavily on capital projects, US$100 million in capex in that single half-year, and barely breaking even on its bottom line.

What changed between December 2024 and December 2025 was not primarily the company. It was the world. PGM prices surged dramatically across the basket. Platinum climbed 58 percent to average US$1,529 per ounce for the period. Palladium gained 33 percent to US$1,319. Rhodium surged 55 percent to US$7,072. The most remarkable mover was ruthenium, a smaller element in the PGM basket, whose average price more than doubled, up 123% to US$839 per ounce. Gold, which Zimplats produces as an associated metal, averaged US$3,799 per ounce for the period, up 48% year-on-year. Copper rose 14%. Even cobalt, a metal that had been deeply depressed, doubled year-on-year to US$19 per tonne.

The net effect was a gross revenue per 6E ounce sold of US$2,080, up from US$1,252 in the prior period, a 66%improvement in the price the company received for every unit of production. When that is applied to a modest 10% increase in sales volumes to 308,598 six-element ounces, the result is revenue growth that a company's finance director might ordinarily describe as transformative.

To understand where Zimplats now stands, it is instructive to look at the company's revenue history across a full cycle. The picture that emerges is of a company that has now returned, through price recovery rather than volume growth, to levels last seen during the post-COVID PGM supercycle of 2021 and 2022.

There are four interlocking reasons why Zimplats' second half of FY2026, covering January to June 2026 is likely to be at least as strong as, and quite possibly stronger than, the first half. A review of Zimplats' historical half-year splits reveals a consistent pattern. The second half of its financial year (January to June) tends to produce equal or higher revenue than the first half (July to December). This reflects a combination of factors. the build-up of processing output from the smelter as the year progresses, fewer planned maintenance shutdowns in the second half, and the seasonal dynamics of metal sales and pipeline adjustments. In FY2022, a year of strong prices, Zimplats paid an interim dividend in March 2022 and then a further final dividend in August 2022 signalling that H2 earnings were robust enough to support a second distribution. In FY2025, with full-year revenue of US$826.6 million against H1 revenue of US$350.2 million, the second half contributed US$476.4 million, a full 36% more than the first. The implication for FY2026 is significant.

Perhaps the most underappreciated operational development in these results is the status of Zimplats' smelter expansion. The company completed the commissioning of its new converter in December 2024, meaning that in the first half of FY2025 (ended December 2024), the expanded furnace was still in ramp-up phase, and the company was carrying accumulated concentrate stocks that could not yet be fully processed. The effect was a depression of sales volumes relative to production. In the current half-year, concentrated output from the expanded smelter contributed to the 13% increase in 6E metal production to 316,765 ounces. For the full year ended June 2026, the new furnace will operate for its first complete twelve-month cycle. The company has now expanded its smelting capacity from 135,000 tonnes per annum of concentrate to circa 380,000 tonnes, equivalent to 1.1 million 6E ounces of converter matte annually, nearly double the previous capacity. This is not incremental, this is a step-change in throughput capability.

Also most importantly, the metal prices that drove Zimplats' H1 FY2026 performance did not arrive by accident, and they are not expected to retreat quickly. Bank of America Securities, in a January 2026 research note, raised its full-year 2026 platinum price forecast to US$2,450 per ounce from US$1,825, and its palladium forecast to US$1,725 per ounce from US$1,525. During Zimplats' H1 period, platinum averaged US$1,529 and palladium averaged US$1,319, suggesting that if Bank of America's forecasts hold, H2 prices for Zimplats' two largest revenue contributors could be materially higher than H1.

The structural dynamics behind this are well understood. The platinum market remains in deficit. Mine supply from South Africa, the world's dominant source has been constrained by years of underinvestment, and a meaningful supply response requires years of lead time. On the demand side, tightening emissions standards in China (China 7 legislation, effective 2026) require higher platinum and palladium loadings in catalytic converters. Meanwhile, the broader slowdown in battery electric vehicle adoption has surprised analysts who expected combustion engine vehicle demand to have declined faster, sustaining catalyst demand at higher-than-forecast levels. Russia, the world's largest palladium supplier, faces ongoing supply disruption, with Norilsk Nickel's platinum and palladium output down 7 and 6% respectively in the first nine months of 2025, and an active US anti-dumping investigation into Russian palladium that could further restrict supply flows.

Gold, which contributed US$60.4 million to Zimplats' H1 revenue at an average of US$3,799 per ounce, is another tailwind. As at March 2026, gold prices remain above US$5,000 per ounce, a level entirely absent from the H1 reporting period. If gold sustains those levels into H2, the gold line in Zimplats' revenue breakdown could alone add tens of millions of dollars relative to H1.

Meanwhile, Zimplats processed 4 million tonnes in H1 FY2026, a 5% improvement on the prior period. Mined volumes of 4.2 million tonnes were 8% higher, benefiting from improved trackless mobile machinery availability and the resuscitation of the open pit mine at Ngezi. The Mupani Mine development, the company's flagship replacement mine project remains firmly on schedule, with cumulative expenditure of US$360 million against a US$386 million budget at December 2025. Full production capacity of 3.6 million tonnes per annum is targeted for H1 FY2029. With the mine largely funded and in development, the capital consumption headwind will ease in coming periods, releasing more of the operating cash flow to the bottom line.

In January 2026, the High Court of Zimbabwe ruled in favour of Zimplats in a longstanding dispute with the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority over historical royalty assessments on mineral-bearing products, specifically matte and concentrate, for the period June 2018 to December 2021.

The ruling eliminates an overhang of legal uncertainty that, had it gone the other way, could have resulted in a substantial retroactive liability. That risk is now extinguished. A High Court victory of this nature provides a meaningful degree of regulatory comfort for the future.

The balance sheet at December 31, 2025 tells the story of a company that has repaired itself financially during its most difficult years and is now beginning to accumulate cash from operations at pace. Total equity stood at US$1.97 billion, compared to US$1.79 billion a year earlier, entirely as a result of retained earnings growth, the company has paid no dividends since FY2023. Net cash inflows from operating activities were US$171.8 million for the half, nearly three times the US$59.9 million generated in the prior comparable period. Cash and cash equivalents stood at US$145.7 million at period end, up from US$41.4 million at December 2024 and US$99.3 million at June 2025.

The debt position is manageable and structured. Zimplats holds a US$120 million revolving credit facility with Standard Bank of South Africa, of which US$90 million was undrawn at period end. A US$35 million short-term working capital loan with Stanbic Bank Zimbabwe remains in place, extended for another year to November 2026 at 10% per annum interest. The company also maintained a smaller local ZiG-denominated facility with FBC Crown Bank of Zimbabwe. Total borrowings stood at approximately US$72 million, comfortably covered by the cash position and operating cash flow generation.

Critically, capital expenditure is declining. Having spent US$100 million in H1 FY2025, Zimplats reduced capex to US$91 million in H1 FY2026. The bulk of the major programmes, the smelter expansion at US$466 million spent against a US$544 million total budget, and the Mupani Mine development at US$360 million against US$386 million, are largely complete or fully committed. The solar expansion project is the remaining significant capital commitment, with a total cost of US$54 million against US$24 million spent to date. The combination of rising cash generation and declining capital consumption creates the conditions for dividend restoration

What could go wrong

No analysis of Zimplats would be complete without acknowledging the risks. The most significant near-term threat is a reversal in PGM prices. Heraeus Precious Metals, in its 2026 forecast, cautioned that 'after such strong price increases, a period of reset and consolidation is likely.' If platinum retreats from current levels above US$1,500 per ounce toward the Heraeus lower-bound forecast of US$1,300, the revenue impact on H2 could be considerable. Palladium, which surged 80% in 2025, faces structural headwinds from EV adoption even if the pace of transition has slowed.

The US-Iran conflict, which has sent oil prices to four-year highs as of this writing, introduces both direct and indirect risks. Higher energy costs raise operational expenses across the mining and processing operations. The broader inflationary impact of an oil shock adds to Zimbabwe's already elevated input cost environment, where power remains unreliable, generator costs are material, and logistics costs are structurally high. Zimplats' cost of sales already rose 31% in H1 to US$425 million, a figure that will not be immune to further energy-price pressure in H2.

The path to a billion-dollar full-year revenue figure, a milestone Zimplats last achieved during the supercycle of FY2021 and FY2022  is now clearly visible. With US$641.8 million already banked from the first half, a historically stronger second half, PGM prices remaining well above last year's averages, and the expanded smelter now running at full capacity for a complete year for the first time, the full-year revenue for FY2026 is not merely likely to exceed US$1 billion. Under base-case price assumptions, it could reach US$1.3 billion or beyond.