Barrick reported full year revenue of $12bn, down 5% year-on-year. Higher copper sales due to favourable pricing couldn't offset a drop in gold volumes. Profits after tax fell 13% to $2bn as costs for both gold and copper rose.
The board have announced a dividend of $0.10 per share for the fourth quarter and a share buyback programme up to $1bn.
The shares rose 1.2% in pre-market trading.
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Our View
Buoyant commodity prices over the past couple of years have provided an enviable tailwind for Barrick. Whilst prices may be down from their highs, and that's dented profits somewhat, they've proved high enough for Barrick to report reasonable cash flow - although we can't ignore that rising costs have made their mark.
There's a lesson in that - since Barrick's fortune is to some extent out of its hands. When prices rise, profits roll, and when prices fall the pain is unavoidable. Still Barrick has done its best to influence its own destiny.
CEO Mark Bristow is a serial dealmaker. An audacious bid to acquire Newmont ended instead in a joint venture combining the two groups' Nevada assets. Barrick's also taken full control of struggling Acacia Mining in recent years. With a negligible net debt position, despite billions of dollars invested in expanding the very low-cost Pueblo Viejo mine, the group's well positioned to take advantage of any other opportunities as they arise.
Increased production at existing mines can be a particularly powerful driver for the group - since costs rarely increase in line with output. That means rising production helps boost margins, while lower production hits the bottom line hard.
We expect homegrown expansion, either on greenfield sites or expanding existing mines, to be more common in years to come, with the current 10 year plan focused on growing production organically. It's underpinned by the group's top-quality, Tier One mining assets - with an average all-in sustaining gold cost of $1,026 compared to a price of $1,862 - which should be profitable in most environments. It's also a plan that the group can fund through its own cash flows, which is a positive in our book.
The strong balance sheet and high-quality production has given Barrick the confidence to mark in some considerable shareholder returns. They offer a current prospective dividend yield of 2.0%, not bad in gold mining terms. The group's is also wrapping up a further $1bn in capital returns - although a sudden reverse in the gold price could upset the apple cart and there are no guarantees.
With fingers in many regions and mines, Barrick's relationships with its partner countries are important, and the group's record here is encouraging. Battles with the Tanzanian government over the former Acacia mines have been resolved and operations and exports are back up and running. We're still waiting to see if the magic can work in Papua New Guinea too, where the Porgera mine is sitting dormant. Work with the government is still ongoing to get licences sorted so operations can resume.
Global uncertainty is currently helping keep the gold price well above Barrick's costs per ounce. This helps the gold miner considerably but there are no guarantees. We view Barrick's large, diversified footprint as one of the better options in the sector.
Barrick Gold key facts
All ratios are sourced from Refinitiv. Please remember yields are variable and not a reliable indicator of future income. Keep in mind key figures shouldn't be looked at on their own - it's important to understand the big picture.
Full Year Results
Gold revenue was down 8.0% to $10.7bn as production fell 7% to 4.4m ounces, with sale volumes down 8%. The realised gold price was broadly flat at $1,790 per ounce and all-in sustaining costs, which includes capital expenditure, rose 6% to $1,026 an ounce.
Copper revenue of $962m was up 38%. An increased realised copper price of $4.32 per lb, up 48%, more than offset a drop in production of 9.2% to 415m lbs. All-in sustaining copper costs rose 17.5% to $2.62 per lb.
Capital expenditures for the year came in at $2.0bn, 18.2% higher than the previous year. That was largely due to additional spending at the Pueblo Viejo and Luolo-Gounkoto mines.
Free cash flow of $1.9bn was down from $3.4bn last year, largely due to lower cash flow from operations and increased capital expenditure. The group ended the period with net cash of $130m, compared to net cash of $33m the prior year.
This article is original Hargreaves Lansdown content, published by Hargreaves Lansdown. It was correct as at the date of publication, and our views may have changed since then. Unless otherwise stated estimates, including prospective yields, are a consensus of analyst forecasts provided by Refinitiv. These estimates are not a reliable indicator of future performance. Yields are variable and not guaranteed. Investments rise and fall in value so investors could make a loss.
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