Northern Star reports record revenue, profit down
An acquisition drive has led gold miner Northern Star to record revenues and a $24 million profit - down $4.3 million on last year.
On revenues of $297 million - up from $144.2 million last year - Northern Star said the result confirmed its "new status as an Australian gold miner with scale, low costs, low debt and asset diversity".
The gold miner produced 215,419 ounces during the 12 months, with all-in sustaining costs of $1094/oz.
The company said its final dividend had been maintained at 2.5 cents a share fully-franked, keeping the full-year payout at 3.5 cents a share.
Its $24 million profit - down from $28.3 million last year - came after one-off acquisition and redundancy costs of $7.4 million and $7.2 million respectively.
Northern Star has been on an aggressive acquisition drive in WA over the past 12 months, taking on Barrick's Plutonic, Kanowna and Kundana mines, and, most recently, Newmont Mining's Jundee operation.
It has flagged output of up to 600,000 ounces this financial year.
Northern Star Managing Director Bill Beament said the results demonstrated the company's cashflow-generating capacity, following its recent acquisition drive.
He said its "strong cashflow and robust balance sheet" enabled Northern Star to maintain its dividend despite funding the acquisitions and increasing its exploration budget from $15 million to $50 million.
"These results show clearly that our recent acquisitions have delivered critical mass at both the production and cashflow levels," Mr Beament said.
"In addition, we have the reduced risk associated with the expanded asset base and the financial muscle to take full advantage of our opportunities to grow mine lives through exploration.
"In light of our strong position, we have committed $50 million to exploration at and around our five projects. We are confident that this will result in significant increases in gold inventories."
The company said capital expenditure for the year would be $100-110 million, 95 per cent of which would be "sustaining capital".
It has flagged $5 million for "one off" capital to bring the Pegasus deposit at Kundana into production.
