Webinar and conference call. All attendees are in a listen-only mode. There will be a presentation followed by Q&A. If you would like to ask a question, please enter it in the Q&A panel within Zoom. I will now hand over to Perseus Mining Managing Director and CEO, Jeff Quartermaine, who is joined by Chief Financial Officer, Lee-Anne de Bruin. Thank you, Jeff.
Good. Thank you. Welcome everybody to this webinar to run through the December half-year financial results that were released to the market earlier today. Looking at these results, I think that it's fairly clear on reading that they provide further evidence of the continuing transition of Perseus from a junior explorer to a multi-mine, multi-jurisdictional business. I'm very pleased to welcome my colleague, Lee-Anne de Bruin, our new CFO, here in our Perth office, who is going to make a presentation, take you through the results. When Lee-Anne's finished, I'll have a few comments and then we will open the floor for questions. Without any further ado, Lee-Anne, would you take it away, please?
Thanks so much, Jeff. Thanks everyone for joining us today. It's great, Jeff and I, that I'm able to present these results for the December 2020 half year. I point out, obviously, the normal cautionaries with regards to any forward statements made in this presentation. Overall, we've had a fantastic solid half year performance during what has been a difficult, obviously, period with the global pandemic, and this has been supported by a strong gold price environment. Perseus has had a solid operational performance during the six months, producing 137,386 ounces, and this is 2% more than the corresponding six months last year.
This was comprised of 55,900 ounces from Sissingué, 78,790 ounces from Edikan, and then a very exciting step for us with 2,687 ounces from our newly commissioned Yaouré mine. The group all-in site cost was sitting at $1,000 per ounce for the six months to September, and this was 6% up on the December 2019 half year and achieved during a very challenging year. This achievement no doubt positions Perseus well in relation to our guidance for the six months and for our full year guidance to June 2021. Our gold price achieved was $1,643 per ounce as we focused on leveraging the current high spot prices whilst maintaining a focus on increasing the average price of the overall hedge book as part of our short to medium-term risk management.
We are also extremely proud of the project and operational teams at Yaouré who succeeded in delivering Perseus' third gold mine during the challenges of a global pandemic. They did this ahead of schedule and on budget. We are now positioned for growth, in all aspects with the exciting step of Yaouré ramp-up and Perseus is excited about the future. I move on to the next slide. These are our financial highlights. We talk about the revenue. The revenue, we sold 127,085 ounces of those 137 odd ounces we produced in six months. This resulted in a 4.5% increase over our previous six months in 2019. This sustained revenue was a result of a 15% reduction in the production at Edikan, which was largely due to the lower recovery rates primarily caused by the planned feed of ore from the Bokitsi Pit.
The reduction at Edikan was, however, offset by an exceptional 31% increase in gold produced at Sissingué. This was due to an increase in the head grade from 1.57 grams per tonne to 2.78 grams per tonne gold. We also obviously were aided by an increased weighted average gold price for the year or for the six months, should I say, of 18% increase. A positive, obviously, was our profit after tax, which we achieved, which had a 61% increase from the same period last year, at AUD 49.1 million. To just give a little bit of color to that. What aided that was we had a period-on-period decrease of AUD 32.5 million in the depreciation and amortization expense relating to gold production. This was largely due to the decreased ore mined at Sissingué and Edikan in the period and as a consequence, the deferred waste amortization in the period.
We also had a foreign exchange loss of AUD 13.2 million against the previous period, which recorded a AUD 7 million profit. The loss occurred due to an appreciation in the value of the Australian dollar against the US dollar and obviously an impact on the revaluation of all of our company loans. The taxation expense decreased by AUD 4.5 million, and this is largely due to the decreased profits in Edikan due to the reduced production when compared to the six months to December 2019 .
Further on that slide, it's probably worth noting, is that obviously we are not obviously paying a dividend at this stage, but we are considering future dividend policies now that we are positioned with a strong balance sheet and with broad asset diversification. Moving on to our growth and earnings slide. If we focus on the EBITDA number, which is obviously in line with December 2019. This is obviously assisted by the revenue number, which I have already spoken to. There was an increase in cost of sales, which was largely due to the all-in sustaining cost or production cost per ounce of Edikan increasing due to the decreased recovery.
Our gross profit from operations achieved AUD 80.5 million, an exceptional 68.3% increase on the same period last year. As mentioned previously, this is largely due to a period-on-period decrease of AUD 32.5 million in the depreciation and amortization expense relating to gold production due to the decreased ore ton mined in the period. This has allowed us to report a basic earnings per share increase of 18% and importantly, a focus for us, a strong earnings per ounce, which was up 59%. Obviously, key for us is obviously cash flow generation, this slide sort of sets out our operating cash flow per share.
It was up 36% and is obviously a key focus to ensure good shareholder returns. Perseus has continued to deliver a positive trend in operating cash flow from operations comparing the last four December six-month reporting periods, and this has been supported by strong operational performance as well as increasing gold prices. The introduction of Yaouré, Perseus's third gold mine, adds further exponential growth to this trend and further diversification of the asset portfolio and risk of the organization. Focusing on our growth in net tangible assets. On hand, at the end of December, we had $118 million or AUD 153 million of cash and bullion. In terms of the borrowings, Perseus continues its focus on building a strong balance sheet to support its growth aspirations.
During the six-month period, we made an accelerated payment of $20 million on the current corporate facility. We will focus over the next coming months and years on accelerating this debt reduction. This left us with a net debt position at the end of the six months of AUD 15.7 million. With the end of the development of our Yaouré, our third gold mine, Perseus is expected to move into a net cash position in the coming months. Overall, that's an exciting set of results and I'm going to pass on to Jeff Quartermaine to focus on the looking forward.
Okay. Thanks very much, Lee-Anne. I think it's fairly evident that the results that we've released today are quite strong, but they are just part of an overall trend of steadily increasing earnings and cash flow that we believe is going to continue very strongly in the coming periods, particularly boosted by the material contribution that'll be coming from our third mine, Yaouré, starting in this half year. As you're aware, the construction of Yaouré was completed late in the December half, and the operations are steadily ramping up to optimal performance levels as we speak. Now, heading into 2021, Perseus is in a very strong financial position to continue the growth of the business through both organic means and also to be positioned to take advantage of any M&A opportunities that may present and offer attractive returns on our investment.
Although I should say that at this point in time, our focus is very much on organic growth. Given that we will have a significant reduction in capital expenditure going forward, we will be funded well to fund that organic growth, as well as to look at our balance sheet management initiatives such as debt reduction that Lee-Anne spoke to a few moments ago. Of course, prepared for the implementation of a dividend policy, which we are working on at the present time and expect to be in a position, at the end of this current half year, to look very closely at dividends for shareholders. As a result, the results today are quite strong. We are in a very good position. We are very well focused for the future.
I have to say that it does reflect the very focused efforts of our teams, both here in our corporate office and also on each of our sites in West Africa. All of our people have worked with great dedication and commitment during a period of significant uncertainty and challenge brought about by COVID. With that, of course, too, has put a bit of a load on their families. I thank all of our employees and all of their families and their support teams for their efforts during the half year in making these results that we've released today possible. Thanks very much. That ends the presentation. If there are any questions relating to the releases or any of the documentation that's in the market, Lee-Anne and I are more than happy to respond. We'll open the floor for questions now.
Thanks, Jeff. Just a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please enter it in the Q&A panel within Zoom. Your first question comes from Reg Spencer. He asks, "Are there any further updates on likely timing of commercial production at Yaouré?
Not a specific date on that particular one, but I can say that you'll recall that in our quarterly report, we mentioned that we needed to replace the transformer. That is actually going in as we speak. It arrived on site last Friday night and is being installed now. The commissioning has gone exceptionally well so far on the SAG mill. From the end of this month, we'll be running the SAG and ball, and I think the acceleration from here is going to be quite rapid.
We said originally that we were targeting the end of this quarter. That certainly remains our target. Whether we're able to achieve it or not will depend on how things go over the next couple of weeks. If it isn't the end of this quarter, it will be the end of April, I would think. We're well and truly on track. Everything is going very well on the site.
Thank you. Your next questions come from Kate McCutcheon at Citi. There's three accounting questions. The first one is regarding the reduced DD&A at Sissingué. Can we expect similar dollar per ounce rate going forward, or is it the deferred waste amortization are transient?
No. You can't expect that to persist. This is obviously a function of the reduced mining at Sissingué for the period.
Yeah. Bear in mind, we will be opening up the satellite deposits shortly, so Pimbua South and the like, and then there is some stripping associated with that. Over the remaining life, we'll see some fluctuations up and down. I think this is just part of the ebb and flow. For instance, we expect to see the Yaouré production significantly higher than what it was in the last half year going forward as well. There will be ups and downs. With Sissingué, in particular, we will be moving into that Pimbua South deposit later this year.
Thank you. Next one. Trying to reconcile the COGS, which are lower than consensus. Are there any inventory write-ups included in that or anything else material?
Sorry, can you repeat the question? Is that around cost of sales?
COGS.
Cost of-
Yeah. If you go to note two in the financials, there is included in the December 2019 financials. There were considerable write-ups in that which obviously haven't occurred in the current financial or the current six months. Does that answer Kate's question?
Sure. Third one, the payments to the non-controlling interest, can you talk through that uplift and how we should model that going forward?
Yes. During the six-month period, obviously, it's a function of the income at Sissingué. I'm just trying to have a look at the number that you're referring to. Obviously, during the period, we also have paid a dividend to TMCI out of Sissingué. They paid a dividend to the PML operation. Yes, we'll obviously consider to that non-controlling interest to stay consistent with that number.
The way we repatriate cash from these operations is through two means. One is through paying the company debt, and the other is through dividends to our minority shareholder. The debt from Sissingué is largely repaid. There is a small amount outstanding, and that'll be repaid in due course. That doesn't appear on the accounts, the repayment for that in the company debt as it's consolidated. Once that is repaid, then we will be using that mechanism to the dividend stream to repatriate money to the parent company. Of course, when a dividend gets declared, the government of Papua receives 10% of that dividend. I think, in terms of modeling part of the cash that does come from Sissingué in future years will be going to the government.
Thanks. In terms of upcoming news, can we expect updated life of mine plan from Yaouré and feasibility study for Bagoé in early June quarter?
Yes. Look, both of those exercises are underway. We have been delayed. We originally were targeting the end of March for the release of those. The turnaround of assays from the lab in Yamoussoukro has been quite slow in the early part of the year. We're now thinking that both of those documents will be released in the June quarter. Hopefully end of April, maybe early May. It just depends on how quickly we can get these drill assays back. That's all well in hand. The results from both places are looking reasonably strong.
Certainly, the results coming from Bagoé, which represents the opportunity to extend the life of Sissingué, are very good and certainly confirm everything and then some on what we expected to see when we made that acquisition last year. That's particularly encouraging, and we're looking forward very much to getting that feasibility study done and getting an application for a mining lease in front of the government.
Thank you. Your next question is from Adam Sames. He asks, "Can you please provide some advice around the company's forward sales hedging policy?
Yeah. Look, the hedging policy that we have is fairly clear. It has been very clear for a very long time. Our policy provides for us to forward sell up to 30% of our production on a three-year horizon. That's the upper limit of it. At the present time, we're hedged to the tune of about 20%. The thing is that we manage that hedge position quite actively. As opportunities provide, we sell into the lower price hedges. We replace with higher price hedges. We won't be going above the 30% level without a change in policy. That's not something we're contemplating. We may increase the hedging a little above 20% in coming periods, depending on what the opportunity is.
For instance, if we were to go ahead with the Esuajah South underground development, which is actually looking more interesting than it was at the end of last year, we may well take the opportunity there to do a small amount of hedging to ensure that we can lock in that margin of $400 an ounce that we target as part of our overall corporate strategy. We sit at about 20% hedge at the present time. As I say, we won't be going over 30. I guess if anyone really wonders about the wisdom of it, well, I would just simply refer to you to the torrid, the gold price in the last week. The consensus view has been that the gold price is going to stay stronger for longer, and we certainly hope that is the case.
We can't decide on the fact that from time to time, the market does retrace, and we have seen quite a sharp fall in the last week or so. If anyone needed any reminding about the fact that gold goes up and down, we've had that reminder quite recently. This hedging is in place to provide us with certainty in an uncertain environment. It is something that we have used very carefully over time, and it certainly put this company in a very good stead when the gold prices haven't been as strong as they are today.
The fact of the matter is that while our average hedge price is, I think it's about $1,540 at the end, something like that. We are selling 80% of our production at spot price. It's not like we're giving away very much on the upside. We're very comfortable with the policy. It's served us very well over time, and we'll be continuing to deploy that as we go forward.
Thank you. Your final question comes from Adam Baker. He asks, "What type of dividend policy is under consideration, e.g., percentage of revenue or percentage of free cash flow?
Sorry, could you just repeat that? I missed it.
From Adam Baker, and he asks, "What type of dividend policy is under consideration, for example, percentage of revenue or percentage of free cash flow?
Look, we're considering all possibilities right now. In fact, we had a board meeting last night at which we had a sensible discussion around a way forward. I guess the thing is this: we haven't made a decision as to precisely what the mechanics is going to be. What we would say is this, that when we do pay a dividend, it's going to be paid with the intention of being in a position to sustain that into the future without any concern from fluctuations of gold prices or et cetera. We won't be declaring a super large dividend initially. I think what we would like to do over a period of time is to grow that dividend stream.
The one thing that we do want to do is to make sure that when investors buy, if investors buy our stock for that dividend flow, that they will be assured of getting it come what may. There is a very careful examination going on right now, where we're looking at all possibilities, basically, in terms of how we can return money to shareholders. We're looking at conventional dividends. We're also giving thought to whether share buybacks make more sense, et cetera. There are a number of variations on the theme.
Bear in mind that our shareholding base is an international base. About 40% in the U.S., roughly 30% in Europe, and 30% here in Australia. The tax implications for each of those shareholding groups are different. In coming up with a policy, we're going to work towards coming up with something that is beneficial to the majority of our shareholders. We'll let the market know more details as we are able to do that.
Thank you. There are no further questions at this time, so I'll hand back to Jeff Quartermaine for closing remarks.
Okay. Thanks, Nathan. Well, thanks once again, ladies and gents, for joining us today. It is a fairly solid result, and I can assure you that Perseus is in a very strong position now to move forward now that we have the three mines up and running. We're looking very much forward to bringing further results to the market, not only financial results, but obviously operating results. The next one of those, of course, will be the March quarter results, which will be published in April. Thank you very much, and wish you today, and we look forward to chatting again soon.