World's second-biggest producer of Platinum, Impala Platinum Ltd has said that its profits might have fallen 79 per cent during the six month period till December.

The company said that the fall in profit was mainly due to a fall in output, rising costs and a write-down during the period. It said that the earnings per share excluding one-time items would be in the range of 1.20 rand to 1.38 rand during the six month period till December compared to 5.73 rand recorded in the same period of the previous year.

The company said that its lower profit "is due to a decrease in mine-to-market throughput, above-inflation cost increases and the impairment of long-term receivables."

Impala Platinum said in a statement that it also recorded a write-down of 603 million rand during the period. Unrest in the country has severely affected the production of platinum and gold since August, 2012. Thousands of workers went on strike and won a significant hike in wages in the country.

Eskom Holdings, which provides 95 per cent of South Africa's power, has said that it is planning to increase a 16 per cent rise in tariff each year till 2018 in order to fund its expansion. The high level of inflation al affected the margins of the company.