Goldcorp's CEO Discusses Q4 2013 Results - Earnings Call Transcript

Partial Transcript.

"Gold production increased 11% to 2.7 million ounces and in an all-in sustaining cost of $1031 per ounce. The lower cost guidance of a $1050 to $1100 per ounce. Of particular note nearly every mine in the portfolio either met or exceeded production guidance a testament to our focus on execution.

Our financial results demonstrate the impact of lower metal prices that have on our overall performance but they also reflect the swift response by our operating teams to the changes we saw in the business during the year. We significantly reduced our spending forecast in mid-2013 and in the year-end we repeat the revised forecast. Our capital spending, exploration expense and G&A.

Importantly these changes have not adversely affected our leading growth profile which will include contributions from two important new gold mines in 2014. In response to changing market conditions in 2013 investors have rightly demanded that renewed focus on profitable gold production. While we’re disappointed to break our string of nine consecutive years of increasing gold reserves our 54.4 million ounces of proven and probable gold reserves demonstrate strong economics in the current metals market and in fact we saw our overall reserve rate increased by 18%. Peñasquito is a prime example of how a new mine plan that cuts reserves and mine life can actually yield enhanced value and cash flow. We remain bullish on the long term direction of gold prices but our focus on cost containment across our portfolio represents best opportunity for continued success in (indiscernible) gold price environment.

Our strategy is unchanged, we’re committed to being a gold focus company and intend on growing safe profitable gold exposure for investors. On that front our plans to deliver two new outstanding gold mines in 2014 remain on track. With Cerro Negro in Argentina scheduled to commence gold production mid-year and Éléonore in Quebec on track for first gold by year end. Our period of intense capital investment is nearing an end. In fact most of our capital spending this year will be front end loaded such that at a flat gold price of $1200 per ounce we expect to generate free cash flow during the fourth quarter of this year. The completion and integration of the Cochenour project will soon follow in 2015 bringing a new source of gold production to Red Lake and an initial capital cost that’s actually decreased from our expectations a year ago.

The prospect of growing cash flows coupled with our strong balance sheet provided the confidence to maintain our dividend at $0.60 per share in 2013 when many companies were compelled to cut or cancel dividends. As a our cash flows increase overtime we will continue to evaluate our capital allocation alternatives to maximize shareholder returns while pursuing future growth opportunities. On January 8 we provided new production and cost guidance for 2014 and our updated five year growth profile. Production is expected to increase significantly in 2014 to between 3 million and 3.15 million ounces with all in sustaining costs decreasing to between $950 and a $1000 per ounce.

Capital expenditures are expected to range between $2.3 billion and $2.5 billion. Our five year gold production profile remains intact with a forecast increase of approximately 50% over the next two years driven by our three new projects coming online this year. The ramp up of Pueblo Viejo and continued increases in production for Peñasquito. Our five year plan positions us for continued success. With strong production growth combined with continued decreases in all-in sustaining cost we expect to generate increasing cash flows even in a flat gold price environment.

We have worked very hard to get to this position and we look forward to delivering sustained value to our shareholders in 2014 and for many years to come".

GLOBAL MARKETS-Asia stocks rally, dollar slips as emerging market fears ebb.

Asian shares extended their recent rally on Monday as worries about emerging markets continued to ebb, dragging down the U.S. dollar while giving commodities a lift.

Stocks across the region felt the benefit with MSCI's index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan  up 0.8 percent, bringing its gains to almost 6 percent in eight sessions. Indonesia's market added 0.8 percent <.JKSE>, as did the Philippines <.PSI>.

Several once-embattled Asian currencies all gained ground as sentiment improved. The Indonesian rupiah did especially well with the dollar down 4 percent in as many days and dealers reporting a return of funds to many emerging markets.

The lower dollar in turn tends to be positive for commodities priced in that currency, helping lift gold to a fresh three-month peak at $1,323.76 .

Even Japan's Nikkei <.N225> managed to shrug off a firmer yen and soft domestic data to gain 0.4 percent. It had eased early as the U.S. dollar lost a quarter of a yen to 101.58 , while the euro made a three-week peak at $1.3723 .

The calmer mood was only briefly ruffled by data showing Japan's economy grew just 0.3 percent in the fourth quarter of last year, compared to the previous quarter, confounding forecasts of a 0.7 percent gain. [ID:nL3N0LH3C4]

The disappointing result will keep pressure on the Bank of Japan to support the economy once an increase in the sales tax goes through in April. The central bank's latest policy meeting ends on Tuesday and the market will be keen to see what it makes of the growth figures.

"We still have to see how much last-minute domestic demand ahead of the sales tax hike boosts January-March GDP before pondering whether extra fiscal and monetary stimuli are needed," said Junko Nishioka, chief economist at RBS Securities in Tokyo.

In energy markets, Brent oil futures dipped 8 cents on Monday to $109.00 a barrel, while U.S. crude firmed 18 cents to $100.48.


CHINESE LOANS

There was better news on China as data showed banks there disbursed the highest volume of loans in any month in four years in January, a surge that suggests the world's second-biggest economy may not be cooling as much as some fear.

Chinese banks made 1.32 trillion yuan ($218 billion) worth of new yuan loans in January, beating a 1.1 trillion yuan forecast and nearly three times December's level.

It is usual for loans to spike in January, when banks try to lend as much as they can to grab market share, but last month's surge was still the largest since January 2010.

The next hurdle will be Thursday's HSBC flash PMI survey of manufacturers for February, given that January's disappointing result sent ripples through global markets. 

The same day has a rash of flash PMIs for Europe and the United States, along with U.S. inflation data. 

Finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of 20 also start their meeting in Sydney on Thursday. Events run through to Sunday, when European Central Bank President Mario Draghi, among others, gives a news conference.

Minutes of the February policy meeting of the Federal Reserve are due on Wednesday but are not expected to differ greatly from the steady outlook offered by Fed Chair Janet Yellen last week.

Yellen still has to appear before the Senate after her testimony was postponed due to bad weather, but no firm day has been set as yet.

Source: Reuters

Japan's economy grows at slower pace, raises stakes for Abenomics

Japan's economy grew at a much slower pace than expected at the end of last year, posing a challenge to policymakers as massive government stimulus efforts showed few signs of sparking momentum in consumption and exports.

The data showing disappointing private consumption, business investment and shipments came as the Bank of Japan met to review its ultra-easy policy, with markets widely expecting the central bank to hold firm to the current pace of bond-buying stimulus. [ID:nL3N0LI07U]

However, pressure is likely to mount on the BOJ and the government to do more in coming months, especially if a planned sales tax hike in April proves more damaging to growth than expected.

The Cabinet Office said on Monday that the economy grew 0.3 percent in the fourth quarter, well below the median estimate for a 0.7 percent increase and followed 0.3 percent growth in July-September.

It was the fourth successive quarter of growth, which is the best run for the world's third-largest economy in more than three years.

Economists still expect that growth will accelerate in the current quarter as shoppers buy more goods before the tax hike, but any further disappointments could increase the need for further fiscal and monetary stimulus.

"I am not so concerned about domestic demand given a buying rush ahead of a sales tax hike in April will play out more strongly in the current quarter," said Taro Saito, senior economist at NLI Research Institute.

"What's more worrying is sluggish exports despite long-expected impact of a weak yen on boosting external demand."

Export growth has remained sluggish over recent quarters, partly reflecting softer demand in Asian markets though some of it also underlined the shift by Japanese companies of their manufacturing plants to offshore centres.

The weak external sector is a worry for Japan especially as the initial burst of momentum created by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's unprecedented monetary and fiscal expansionary policies start to fade.

After decades of lacklustre growth, during which time China overtook Japan as the world's second-biggest economy, Abe swept to power in December 2012 with a bold plan to end deflation and strengthen economic reforms.

His policies, dubbed Abenomics, helped Japan's economy speed past many of its Group of seven counterparts in the first half of last year, but the latest data will raise doubts about Abe's strategy.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average <.N225> opened higher but then fell 0.4 percent as the slower-than-expected growth weighed on sentiment. It has since rebounded 0.3 percent.

On an annualised basis, Japan's economy grew 1.0 percent, below the median estimate for a 2.8 percent rise and 3.2 percent annualised growth in the United States in the same quarter, the Cabinet Office data showed.


SLACKENING MOMENTUM

Capital expenditure, a weak link in Japan's rebound so far, rose 1.3 percent in October-December. This marked the quickest growth in two years but was still less than the median forecast for a 1.9 percent gain.

The data adds to recent signs of slackening momentum in the economy, including from a closely-watched leading indicator of capital expenditure that suggests companies could turn more cautious this year due to worries about consumer spending. [ID:nL3N0LH26E]

In the fourth quarter private consumption, which makes up about 60 percent of the economy, grew 0.5 percent from the third quarter.

That was less that the median estimate for 0.7 percent in October-December, suggesting that a spurt in demand ahead of the sales tax hike is not as strong as anticipated.

The government will increase the sales tax in April to 8 percent from 5 percent, and consumers have been buying cars, homes and durable goods before the tax increase.

Some companies have indicated they are willing to raise salaries during annual wage negotiations with labour unions held in the spring, which is an important barometer of whether Abe's economic policies are working.

Still, some economists worry wage gains will not be strong enough to support consumer spending after the tax hike takes effect.

"Optimists say the last time the sales tax was raised in 1997, consumption stumbled not because of the tax hike but because of a financial crisis," said Takumi Tsunoda, senior economist at Shinkin Central Bank Research Institute.

"But at that time, wages were growing 1.5 percent. Today wages are up just 0.4 percent. So the negative impact on consumers' real purchasing power will be bigger this time."

External demand subtracted 0.5 percentage point from growth, versus the median estimate for a 0.4 percentage point subtraction. The negative contribution is due partly to Japan's expanding domestic demand, which is boosting imports.

However, some economists worry that net exports could subtract from growth this year as companies continue to look for low-cost places outside of Japan to produce their goods, which means they ship less from Japan.

Recent turmoil in emerging markets, have also raised concerns about an external shock harming shipments.

BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda has dismissed the need for additional monetary easing as consumer prices are headed toward its 2 percent inflation target and as overseas economies recover.

At its policy review on Tuesday the BOJ is widely expected to maintain its commitment of increasing base money at an annual pace of 60-70 trillion yen ($585-$683 billion) -- the world's biggest money-printer after the U.S. Federal Reserve started to trim back its own stimulus program since January. 
Source: Reuters

Led by UC Browser, China spends twice as much time on mobile browsers as last year

iResearch, the Shanghai-based internet research firm, released a report today revealing data on mobile browser usage in China.

Among other key points, the study revealed that the most popular mobile browser in China (measuring both iOS and Android devices) is UC Browser, the popular app designed by UCWeb, with a market share of over 65 percent when measured in monthly active users.

Sitting behind UC Browser is Tencent’s QQ Mobile Browser with roughly 30 percent market share, followed by Baidu’s Baidu Browser at roughly 10 percent.

Other key data points from the report include:

• Mobile browser effective usage time increased 97 percent in China from November 2012 to November 2013.
• Mobile browsers reached 210 million monthly active users by November 2013, marking a 51 percent increase from the year prior.
• The number of mobile browsers on the average Chinese consumer’s phones has decreased year-on-year, from 2.46 in November 2012 to 1.29 in November 2013.

Mobile browsers tend to be one of those love-them-or-leave-them apps on smartphones. For some users, they’re the core of the mobile experience, the gateway to everything they do on their phones. For others they’re borderline bloatware, to be used only when they’re required to type in a URL. And while web-browsing on a smartphone pales in comparison to doing so on a tablet or desktop, mobile browsers are likely to grow more powerful in the future, acting equally as “fluid” as native apps.

As a result, a successful mobile browser can serve as prime real estate to push other moneymaking services. In the case of UC Browser, Chinese tech giant Alibaba owns a sizeable stake in parent company UCWeb. This gives the e-commerce firm yet another potential avenue into the pocketbooks of consumers in China and India, where it reportedly owns 25 percent market share.

Source: TECHINASIA

Alibaba, Temasek, Qiming Venture Partners pump $100m into online education platform

Online education platform and English-learning institution TutorGroup announced it has raised $100 million in strategic funding from Alibaba, Temasek Holdings, and Qiming Venture Partners. The latest figure adds to its $15 million round raised in April 2012.

According to a report by VentureBeat, with its new funding from Chinese and Singaporean investors, it plans to build its brand within the Asia region. Since incorporating in 2004, the online education platform currently hosts more than 10,000 hours of course content, has educated students across 40 countries, and has hosted more than 5 million sessions through its four products, namely VIPABC,TutorABC, TutorABCJr, and TutorMing. TutorMing is also offering a scholarship for students in the United States and Singapore to learn the Chinese language, in celebration of the new funding.

In the same report, the company spokesperson also said that the online education platform differentiates its product from others in the market by being “personalized”; with course content all made by teachers, rated by real students, and constantly updated and checked for errors and accuracy. It is also available for learning anytime and anywhere, even from mobile devices using its TutorMobile classroom apps, which is available in both iOS and Android.

It also plans to go beyond the scope of online language learning by venturing into other sectors, such as wine education classes taught by practitioners and experts in their respective fields.

Source: TECHINASIA

From gamers to podcasters to major events, this startup banks on the growth of live-streaming

Streaming live video to Twitch, UStream, or YouTube Live is quite popular with both regular people and companies who need to livestream events. Sometimes, more video features or controls are needed, and numerous companies have come up with products for this nice area.

That’s what Hong Kong startup SplitMedia Labs specializes in. So far it has come out with two pieces of software for this sector. One is XSplit, for individuals and organizations to publish live video streaming through platforms such as UStream, Twitch, or YouTube Live, or to make recordings to share online. And there’s XSplit Broadcaster, which allows switching between multiple video scenes for television-like production techniques. SplitmediaLabs CEO Henrik Levring says this has been used for live webinars, video podcasting, eSports, and other events.

This month the startup expanded its Broadcaster to come out with XSplit Gamecaster, a similar application built for gamers so they can broadcast and record gameplay. In a nutshell, these applications let users create videos and add visual effects such as images, video and text intuitively through simple controls.

Levring believes that video streaming services have been extremely successful in creating a huge interest in watching and creating content. “We don’t expect the growth of the medium to slow down anytime soon.” He adds:

Like many other forms of internet television, live streaming has certainly caused disruption in how media is being consumed, and we definitely believe that XSplit has been an important part of this evolution.

These applications have personal and premium licenses which start at US$14.95 for three months. It also licenses out its technology on a business-to-business scale. Levring declined to divulge the number of registered users across its apps, but he says the company gains thousands of new XSplit users every day.

The Asian advantage

While headquartered in Hong Kong, its development center sits in Manila, the capital of the Philippines. Levring explains that the firm chose Manila because “the city has an active and engaged tech and gaming industry that we believe will continue to thrive in the coming years.”

Given that the gaming industry is the core of its business, the team found it logical to grow its talent here in Manila. More than that, it engages with the local community through eSports events.

Apart from Manila, SplitMedia Labs also has team members spread across Asia, such as in Japan and China.

Source: TechinAsia

Daemon And Influx Author Daniel Suarez On Why Innovation Has Stalled

  Daniel Suarez,self-published his first novel,Daemon, in 2006. The book and its sequelFreedom™ chronicled the rise of a botnet that uses self-driving cars to kill humans, crashes the stock market, and creates a new society in its own image. His next novel, Kill Decision, published by Dutton in 2012, was about aerial drones that could decide when to use lethal force independently of any human.

After reading his books, you could be forgiven for thinking it was time for someone — the government, maybe — to put the brakes on technological progress for a while. But he wouldn’t agree with you. In fact, his latest novel, Influx, explores the idea of trying to control technological progress. And it’s just as scary as his previous stories.

Influx, which will be out next Thursday, is the story of Jon Grady, a physicist who invents a machine that can reverse gravity. But before he can share his work with the world, a secret U.S. government agency called the Bureau of Technology Control seizes it and arrests him. He soon learns the BTC has seized many other inventions, including cold fusion reactors and quantum computing systems. Using the technology it’s stockpiled, the BTC has become more powerful than any government. And it’s completely out of control.

I interviewed Suarez about Influx, the real reason that technological innovation has slowed down and why he has reservations about Bitcoin.

TechCrunch: Your previous books focused on the dangers of certain technologies, particularly artificial intelligence, robotics and drones. But your new book focuses on the dangers of withholding or restricting technology. What made you decide to change direction?

Daniel Suarez: I’m not sure I would say that it’s a change of direction. Let me revisit how you describe what I do. I actually love technology. I worked for 18 years as systems analyst in technology. If we are going to be addressing the very major problems that you see before humanity, it is going to be technology that’s going to rescue us, basically. We are going to have to think our way through this and that’s going to involve obviously a lot of people and all these conflicting ideas.

That’s why I push back when people describe my books saying that I’m showing the dangers of technology. Not just the dangers.

I think that for all of the dangers of technology spreading, I think it is more dangerous in some ways that it doesn’t. My simple reason for that is we’ve got 7 billion people on the planet and we have these very serious problems and I think we don’t know who’s going to have the answers to the problems that are coming around the bend. That’s why we really need everybody thinking on it. We need every Einstein on this planet to help us.

Who’s going to have the idea that modifies a technology that brings it to the next level or combines it with another technology? I think in the long run we’re going to be better served by sharing knowledge as opposed to creating silos of it.

The role I see for my books is trying to think through the consequences of various things because a lot of the issues around technology and the nuances in it are not usually widely appreciated. That’s how I view my writing as I sort of explore this terra incognita ahead of us in an effort to try to understand where we might be heading. And I do that using the thriller genre because I think it’s a useful way to explore the territory in a realistic way without boring the crap out of people.

TechCrunch: You wrote this book before the Edward Snowden NSA revelations, but you’ve said that the Snowden revelations weren’t that surprising given the leaks that had come before. Did you have the NSA in mind when you wrote the book?

Suarez: Well, it’s funny that I showed them in the book as sort of hapless victims in a way of the BTC. There was something appealing of course about seeing the NSA being tapped and helpless, trying to figure out how to resist a technologically superior foe. I thought that that was an interesting way to look at things. It’s not just the NSA, but any unseen and unaccountable concentration of power that I’m trying to portray in this story. And right now that might be the NSA, but over time it might change. And I wouldn’t really put a specific nationality on it. It’s a story about progress and an effort to try to retain advantage.

So, yes, it was partly about the NSA but then it’s also partly about the broader issues — the broader issues of control and transparency.

TechCrunch: It feels like the power imbalance isn’t just a political power imbalance but it’s also the lack of understanding and awareness on the part of the public as to how these things work.

Suarez: And possibly interest. It’s been mildly infuriating to me to speak with even friends and people I know who shrug and say “Well, you’re not doing anything wrong, why should you worry about surveillance?” And of course you and I would probably say well, actually, it’s not just people doing things wrong. For example somebody running for Congress 20 years from now I think is going to have a very detailed record to have to defend. “Why were you standing next to this person every day for five years and this person later turned out to be a criminal?”

I think that is why these revelations were powerful. I don’t think that many technology or IT people were surprised by this, but I think it became much more personal with Snowden. Now, it’s dying down again but I think there will be more revelations that hopefully wake people up. We can’t just be passive. Being a citizen in a democracy really does require some interest.

TechCrunch: Were you also thinking at all about the power imbalance between a wealthy nation and a poor nation, both in terms of their military might as well as just access to healthcare or plentiful food?

Suarez: Well, that certainly is part of it. Although I would say that a billionaire in a third world nation lives very much like a billionaire elsewhere. I mean they create an enclave, and they have satellite uplinks and they have jets and things like that. So, yes, the great majority of people in underdeveloped countries would live a much more technologically backward life, although it’s a mix. Again, they might skip the hardwire telephone networks that we have. I’ve never been to Africa, but a number of people that I talked to who have been to various places in Africa talk about how great the cell service is. And here I am in a first-world nation having to seek a hill top to talk to you on the cellphone.

I think technology is spreading and I think one’s experience of technology is going to relate increasingly to class, not so much to country. There are areas in parts of this country that look very technologically backward and abandoned by society in general. I wouldn’t say that they resemble the third world exactly, but they are not experiencing technology and its advantages like the rest of the country.

Source: TechCrunch

A Man And a Woman Theme Music for the Film of Claude Lelouch

Claude Lelouch Film Un Homme et une Femme, parlent les acteurs

     
                                        Anouk Aimee et Jean Louis Trintignant derriére des scenes