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South32 Limited

S32.L
48
Industrial Materials · Basic Materials
Price
258.80 GBp
+4.40 (+1.73%)
Market Cap
£11.60B
Exchange
London Stock Exchange
Winston Score
48
Winston is serious
Mixed quality — meaningful strengths and weaknesses.
Data as of Aug 23, 2026 · filings through Dec 31, 2025
How the score breaks down
Quality
Weak
Growth
Good
Cash Flow
Strong
Stability
Good
Valuation
Good
Dividends
Weak

Share count falling — buybacks

5.5% over 4y

The company has reduced its share count over this period, returning value to shareholders through buybacks.

Diluted shares outstanding: 4.79B (2021) → 4.52B (2025)

Winston Score History

The full picture

South32 is a global mining company that digs up and sells metals and minerals used to make everyday products like aluminum cans, steel, and batteries. Its main materials include alumina, aluminum, copper, zinc, manganese, and coal, which it sells to manufacturers, steelmakers, and industrial companies around the world. The company was spun off from BHP in 2015 and is listed in London, Sydney, and Johannesburg.

South32 earns money by selling these raw materials at market prices, which means its revenue rises and falls with commodity cycles. It operates mines and processing facilities across Australia, South Africa, Colombia, Brazil, and North America, making it a mid-sized diversified miner by global standards. The company's growing copper and zinc exposure gives it potential upside from the energy transition, since those metals are critical for electric vehicles and power grids, but low commodity prices remain the biggest risk to its earnings.

Growth Profile

When traditional metrics don't capture the full picture, these are the signals growth stock investors use instead.

Revenue Growth

-10.3% YoY

YoY Growth Rate

Revenue declining

EPS Growth

+16.1% YoY

YoY Growth Rate

Steady EPS growth

R&D Spend

$0/ year

0.0% of revenue

Below sector average (3%)

Research and development spending

Insider Activity

5.6%ownership

Flat

Insider ownership roughly steady over the past year

Cash Position

Cash flow positive

$4.5B cash & investments

Quarterly Free Cash Flow

↓ Burn rate worsening

Company generates more cash than it spends — no dilution risk from fundraising

Revenue declining

South32 Limited's revenue is actually shrinking. In a growth stock, that removes the core investment thesis. The low Winston Score here may be warranted — unless there's a turnaround story.

The Winston Score above measures business quality today. Growth stocks often score lower because they invest in the future rather than maximising current profits. These metrics show what matters most for evaluating that future.

Score breakdown

Every number that matters to educated investors.

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Quality

Profit per sale
Gross Margin
12.7%
Thin — 12.7% gross margin
Profit after running costs
Operating Margin
12.7%
Healthy — 12.7% operating margin
Return on the money invested
ROCE
-1.7%
Weak — -1.7% return on capital

Negative ROIC means the business is losing money on every dollar invested in it.

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Growth

Sales growth
Sales YoY
+10.8%
Steady sales growth (+10.8% YoY)
Profit growth
EPS YoY
+62.4%
Earnings growing fast (+62.4% YoY)

Earnings growing 25%+ a year. The compounder zone.

How steady the profit is
EPS Consistency
5/8 quarters
Mixed — about half the quarters showed growth

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Cash Flow

Profit that turns into cash
Cash Conversion
482%
Turns 482% of profit into real cash
Spare cash per sale
FCF Margin
6.9%
Modest free cash flow (6.9%)

FCF margin between 0% and 10%. Some cash from sales, but not a lot.

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Stability

What it owes vs what it owns
Debt / Equity
0.18
Conservative — low debt load (0.18)
Covers its interest
Interest Cover
N/A
Data not available

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Valuation

Price vs profit
P/E Ratio (TTM)
39.2x
Pricey — P/E 39.2

P/E over 35. The market is pricing in heavy, sustained growth.

Cheaper or dearer next year
P/E vs Forward
+21.9
GROWING
Earnings expected to grow meaningfully — cheaper on forward P/E (39.2 → 17.2)

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Dividends

Dividend
Dividend Yield
1.87%
Small dividend — 1.87% yield

Modest yield. The bulk of any return needs to come from price appreciation.

Dividend record
Dividend Growth
-54.6%
Dividend cut (-54.6% YoY) — warning sign

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