South Africa's Gold Fields flags lower H1 earnings

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's Gold Fields Ltd expects interim earnings to have fallen by as much as 15% despite an increase in metal output after the inclusion of its joint venture with Asanko Gold, it said on Friday.

Headline earnings per share (HEPS) for the six months ending June 30 are expected to be between 10% and 15% lower, in a range of U.S. 6.8 cents to U.S. 7.2 cents per share compared with U.S. 8 cents per share during the same period a year ago.

HEPS, which strips out certain one-off items, is the main profit measure used in South Africa.

Attributable gold output rose 9% to 1.083 million ounces in the period from 994,000 ounces a year before, after including the contribution from the Asanko operation in Ghana.

Gold Fields is expected to release its interim results on Aug. 15.

(Reporting by Tanisha Heiberg; Editing by Jan Harvey)