Good morning, and welcome to the Perseus Mining Webinar for its Full Year Financial Results. All attendees are in a listen only mode. If you would like to ask a question, please enter it into the Q and A panel within Zoom. I will now hand over to Perseus Mining's Managing Director and Chief Executive, Jeff Quartermaine. Thanks, Geoff.
Thanks very much, Nathan, and welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to this webinar. I'm joined here today by Lianne Bruin, our Chief Financial Officer, and Lianne is going To work with me to provide a little more detail on the results that we've announced today. However, before I pass to the end, let me just put a bit of context around the results that we have published. I think it's fairly clear from the results that you've had an opportunity to glance through them at this stage. And what we published today really does present Further compelling evidence of the transition of Perseus into a high quality mid tier international gold company.
Fiscal 2021 has been quite a transformational year for us. We successfully brought out our 3rd operating margin. You're already on stream. I think it's important that we've managed to convert our group's strong dollar reduction into improved earnings and cash flow. Looking to the future, we do expect this trend of improved earnings and cash flow to continue as we close in on the objective of Producing around the GBP 500,000,000 per year mark.
This year for the first time, we've also been able to implement a program of returning capital Shareholders, we made an announcement today of an initial capital return of $0.015 a share And a dividend policy to go with that, and I'll speak more about it in just a moment. But just to put the financial results into context, I'll just remind you that in terms of production, it has been a strong year for us. So we produced around 328,000 6 hundred analysis for the full financial year, which was slightly above the top end of the market guidance range. At the same time, our costs were well and truly contained during the COVID year, so we averaged an all in site cost of $10.16 which was slightly below the midpoint of the guidance range. We were assisted by the gold price.
Our weighted average sales price During the year was $16.42 an ounce. So between strong production, contained costs and strong gold price group have been able to generate very healthy financial results. And I'll now pass to Leanne to take you through those in more detail. And then when she's finished that, we'll she'll return back to me and we'll talk a little more about the dividend policy that we implemented today. Leanne?
Thanks, Jeff, and hello, everybody. It's with great pleasure that I am able to present Perseus' Financial results for the 12 months ended June 2021. As you would have seen, Perseus has had an exceptional year despite the challenges of COVID-nineteen, Deliverance across most of its financial metrics. Revenues obviously up 15% up to AUD678 1,000,000. Stock after tax is up 47.6 percent to $139,000,000 and these indeed have generated $302,000,000 of operating cash flow and our net tangible assets are up 10%.
And as Jeff mentioned, we've got the exciting news about our dividend policy, She will talk to you later today. To go in a little bit more and focus on our growth and earnings, revenue as we've said is up And that has largely been aided by the average gold price. But definitely, the contribution of the Sissingi gold mine, great Successfully bringing on the RA gold mine on schedule and on budget and also slightly offset by the expected lower production at EDCAD this year. That high revenue delivered an increase in the 11% increase year on year in EBITDA. And this was obviously just with an associated increase in cost of sales, which is linked to the increased production and the inclusion of the Yara Gold Mine costs From the commercial production commencing on 1st April 2021.
Gross profit from operations was up 42% due to the impact of the Zebra And a 22% decrease in depreciation and amortization. And this is as a result of less or more in both EDCAD and Sissingue and resulting in the decreasing of the amortization charge when compared to the previous year. And then if you focus on the profit after tax, This delivered an exceptional 47.6% increase and included a reduction in taxation at EDICAN due to slightly reduced taxable profits there. It was also there offset by a write down on impairment expense of $6,800,000 which is largely in relation to exploration And a foreign exchange loss of about $4,400,000 versus a gain $13,700,000 in the previous year, which is just on our RGI intercompany loan structures. That growth in earnings has culminated in a basic earnings per share increase of 18.4% on the previous year, giving us A0.957 dollars per share despite a 4% increase in the weighted average number of shares.
And likewise, our earnings guidance continued its upward trajectory increasing by 25% to AUD 4.58 With Yara only contributing for the last quarter post commercial production in 1 April. If we move on to the cash flow, operating cash flow from operations increased by 42% to $302,000,000 on the back of the increased production, Increased average sale price and our continued focus on maintaining low costs. The cash flow generation was invested in the finalization of the Yara Gold project, Continued exploration on key targets and aligned with our capital allocation focus, we made 2 accelerated repayments of debt totaling US50 50,000,000 during the year. We also then saw an increase in the operating cash flow from operations, which resulted in a 36.5¢ in our operating cash flow per share of A0.2487 dollars And a 20% increase in the operating cash flow per ounce of $9.94 And Our growth in net tangible assets at the overall balance sheet of purchase is strong with cash and volume balance of AUD208 million and interest bearing liabilities of AUD 153,000,000 moving the group into a net cash position 75,000,000 was $7,500,000 at financial year end. With the Yarae development project completed, the required capital expenditure is significantly reduced and And we're focused on strategic capital allocation with future reduction of interest bearing debt and strategic organic growth opportunities.
Our net tangible assets increased by 10% with key contributions being a reduction in interest bearing liabilities due to the repayments of $50,000,000 of U. S. Dollar debt and investments in the ramp up and commissioning of the IRI gold mine and obviously acquisition of the Exor which is finalized in Overall, you can see that we've delivered a solid set of financial results and we're really looking forward to an exciting 2022. And on that, I'll hand over to Jeff Montmore to talk us through the guidance.
Okay. Thanks, Leanne. So yes, The financial results we reported are very strong. And as I said earlier on, we do expect that to continue into the next Reporting periods. We have provided math guidance with our quarterly report and certainly for this December half year, We're expecting to be producing in the range of 225,000 to 255,000 ounces, so that's an increase certainly on where we've been in the past.
And the costs will range in the order of $925,000 to $10.20 Given all that for the year, for the calendar year, Something in the order of 416, 446,000 ounces at a range of costs in the $975,000 to 1035, Mark. So certainly, this upward trajectory that we have spoken of is well drilling in train. And our target of achieving the 500,000 ounces per year level is well within our grasp. Now in terms of the dividend policy that we have spoken of All ready now. And also the capital allocation policy, as Leanne mentioned, We will be generating a lot of cash coming forward over the future years as we can maintain our production forecast and cost, which we expect to do.
And principally, there are 3 areas where we'll be deploying capital. 1 is in managing our balance sheet. 2 is managing our future Great. But the third is that we're very keen to start return capital to our shareholders. By the way, I would do that now.
In this particular year, we would do some construction considerations with the company. We have declared this return, the year of capital return, a shareholder approved capital return, in fact, and shareholders will be asked To approve this reduction at the Annual General Meeting, that will be held in late in November this year. We will be publishing fairly shortly a full timetable for this. We do hope to have a interim ruling From the Australian Tax Office around any tax implications that apply to the return. This will all come out to shareholders in the next month or so as material comes to head.
Now in terms of the policy itself, what we have decided to do is the return that we've announced today represents Approximately 1% annual yield this year and we will continue to have this level in future years, Making semiannual dividend payments along the way, but ultimately amounting to 1% during the course of the year. We those announcements will be made to coincide with half year and full year financial results, of course. Now what we do do is we do reserve the right at various times to increase that amount returned to shareholders either through A special dividend or potentially through share buybacks. If we feel that we do have cash that serves to our requirements And we'll certainly share that with shareholders. We have started the policy.
We've started the distribution at a relatively low level. But what this should be seen to represent is a very strong level of confidence by the company in our future cash flows and our ability to maintain, at the very least, this level of return to shareholders. We would Certainly, we're expecting, given the projected cash flows, to be able to increase the same time. But where we sit today and what our cash balances are today, We think that an allocation representing a 1% yield to say is a fair and sensible distribution to be made to shareholders. So, you know, it's an exciting time for Perseus, having it's been quite a journey and a number of our shareholders have So I think that they will be pleased to verbally receive a return from the company.
But So with that, I think, I'll bring our commentary to a close and open the floor to Any particular questions? And as I say, I'm very pleased to be joined by Leanne, who will answer all the really hard questions and all the easy ones you'll leave from there. And so Anyway, thank you very much for attending and happy to take questions.
Thanks, Jeff. If you would like Your first question comes from Reg Spencer at Canaccord. He's congratulated Are you on the financial result? And then he's asked, when might we expect results from the Begoli DFS?
Okay. There was not one in the financial results range, but just to address your question, We have actually completed the feasibility study, and what we're doing at the rest of the time is, as a standard we're not Developing Bagway is a standalone operation. We're developing it as part of the overall Sissingue complex. So what we need to do is to work out how to Optimally in process all from Sissingue, Phibeth, Phibeth, Phibeth, and Bagway, and we're well advanced on that exercise. And later in this quarter, we'll Coming up with an updated life of mine plan for the Sissimi complex per se, which incorporates all three of Those properties, I think that the astute readers of our updated life of our reserve resource Safe and earlier this week would have noted a fairly material increase in the resource reserve at around Sissingue Associated with Sissinghi, and you can see we're back from that and see that when we do announce the we'll publish the updated life of mine plan Later this quarter, there will be a fairly material increase in the life of that operation.
We're very pleased about that. But anyway, the details will come out Fairly shortly as we put the phone on the touch on that work.
Thank you. Your next question comes from Patrick Collier at Credit Suisse. He says, are you able to comment on the decision to link the dividend policy to the share price. Were other measures considered?
Yes, we looked at the full spectrum of processes that people use, and we decided that this was The most sensible for us at this particular time. Yes.
I think we did do a detailed analysis and I mean obviously, Our cash flows are very dictated by gold price and production profile and obviously that has an impact on our share price. Our view was generally our share price is Doing well. We're going to be doing well, which would mean that we're in a
position to
pay it in.
I think the other thing I'd just like to add on this is that what Chris Aims to do is to tell its shareholders that they can rely on receiving the dividend promise. What we did not want to do was to declare a dividend 1 year based on a high gold price and in the following year if the gold price fell, I have to reduce that dividend. Some people are quite happy doing that, but that's not what we want to do. What we want to do is be able to represent to our shareholders that they can rely on us Hi. This is going to be over a period of time.
So it's just a matter of choice. This is what we think works best for us right now. We're obviously open to reassessing the situation if they if it becomes compelling to do something different, But we think that this search persists very well.
Thank you. Your next question comes from Adam Baker at Global Mining Research, he's asked if you could outline details on the tax holiday at Sissingue and Yaiori.
Yes. Well, I mean, we have a mining convention with the state covering both of those operations. And And in each instance, we have well, actually, in the mining convention, what it does is it locks It locks in the fiscal terms that apply at the time of writing for the duration of the project. It also allows or provides for a Tax holiday on corporate tax for a period of 5 years from commercial production. So in the case of Sissingue, we've been producing this since, what was that, January 2018, I think it was.
So it was in the Q1 2018 that kicked in. So 5 years from then, so at 23, we will not be paying tax debt. And with the Yaurav, we declared commercial production in So it's from their 5 years taking up now. It doesn't mean to say that we pay 0 tax
Thank you. Just one more from Adam as well. He's asked are you able to provide FY 2022 D and A guidance?
Yes. Matt, I mean, if you're talking about our corporate office, we're running around, it's about $12,000,000 a year, a USC is something that That audit's not very far from that. In terms of I think when in the accounts, It picks up corporate costs associated with our regional offices as well. So if you look at the amount that's in the financial statements, I can assure you that is not what we've spent on our Perth office. It's what we spent here is a fraction of that.
So You know, going forward, I'm not exactly sure about the budget for the 2 regional offices, but it wouldn't be We wouldn't be anticipating any kind of material increase over and above where we currently are to be frank. If anything, we'll be looking to bring it down.
Thank you. And then your last question comes from Peter at Reuters. He wants to know, Is this a record profit for the company?
I think it must be very close to it, but going back in In terms of subsets, it certainly is a record. I mean, this is by far and away the best year of production and cost. And in terms of real meaning, this is The one that I think marks us the transition of us from now becoming a successful mid tier gold producer.
Thank you. There are no further questions at this time. So I'll hand back to you, Jeff, for closing remarks.
Okay. Thanks very much, Nathan. And once again, thank you very much, Nathan, for joining us today. Clearly, you know, we're pleased by the result. We certainly hope that The US interested parties are also impressed by it.
But as I said, this is the start of a new era in a sense. And With 3 months, they are running very, very well. We do expect to be able to announce similar results in future periods, Subject to gold price, etcetera, etcetera. But certainly in terms of fundamentals, I think the company is in excellent condition, And we look forward to bringing you further news of that in the coming reporting periods. Thank you very much.