Thanks very much, Nathan, and welcome to Perseus Mining's webinar to discuss our annual report for the financial year ending 30 June 2026. I am joined today on the call by our Chief Financial Officer, Lee-Anne de Bruin. Lee-Anne and her team have been working very hard to produce the large number of financial documents that have been released today. So a big thank you to her and her team members and the people across Australia and Africa that have helped pull all these results together. I also want to thank Mel Pollard, our Chief Sustainability Officer, and her team for the work that they have done on preparing our inaugural climate report, which is part of our annual report and our sustainable development report, which was also released today.
In just a moment, I will ask Lee-Anne to take you through the details of the financial report, but I will share a few thoughts with you first, and then we will conclude and go to questions and answers. Today we have released a number of important announcements that continues to demonstrate the strength of our business and the commitments to our stakeholders. Firstly, with sustainability, our continued and relentless focus on safety of our people is reflected in our industry-leading safety performance. This extends to our Nyanzaga project, which just passed 9 million work hours lost time injury-free, which is a fantastic outcome. Those statistics aside, we are ever conscious that we must continue to improve our safety programs across the business to make sure that our people go home safely every day.
Today, we released our first publication of our climate report under the new AASB S2 standard, which is an important step in how we continue to manage climate-related risks and further build resilience in our business. We delivered against our production and cost guidance again this year and had a very strong year in financial performance with operating cash flow up 24% and earnings per share up 17%. Along with our financial results, we released our annual mineral resource and reserve update, which contains an increase of our mineral resources by 37% and our ore reserves up by 40%. We achieved first production at the CMA Underground, which commenced in April, and the Nyanzaga Gold Project remains on track for first gold production in January 2027.
This consistent performance, along with strong gold prices, has enabled us to update our capital management framework, which was released today. This includes increased sustainable dividend, an upsized buyback, and a proposed special dividend to shareholders. Our final dividend was declared at AUD 0.09 per share, bringing the full-year dividend to AUD 0.14 per share, which along with our buyback program, brings the total returns to shareholders for the year to $218 million. Lee-Anne will talk to the details of what is a significant increase in shareholder returns shortly. Looking at our operational performance for the 2026 financial year, as reported last month, we produced 405,000 ounces of gold at an all-in site cost of $1,750 per ounce. The average realized gold price across the year was $3,693 per ounce, which was $1,150 per ounce more than last financial year.
Our average cash margin for the year was $1,943 an ounce, which was $635 an ounce higher than the last year. And a record operational cash flow of $769 million ann ounced from our operations, which is $119 million higher than the financial year 2025. We closed the year with a net cash and bullion of just over $1 billion, up $170 million, and we remain debt-free with $400 million of undrawn debt capacity available to us. I will hand over now to Lee-Anne , and she will take us through the financial results for FY26.
Thanks, Craig, and good morning, everybody. Our financial results for FY26 were the culmination of the effort of all our teams and contractors across the globe. To be able to sit here as CFO and speak to such strong results is a great pleasure, and it is not without the team effort of everyone that these are achieved. Turning to reflect on our key financial metrics, revenue for the group was up 19% on financial year 2025 at $1.5 billion. This was a result of high gold prices, offset by a decrease in gold production arising at Yaouré and Edikan due to planned transition from ore sources at both those operations. Cost of sales were higher, primarily driven by the higher royalty prices. Sorry, royalties, which was impacted by the higher gold prices.
In addition, as previously reported to you, we had a 2% increase in royalty rates in Côte d'Ivoire and a scaled royalty regime implemented by the government of Ghana, which was affected on March 10, 2026. Further, the primary ore sources for Yaouré and Edikan transitioned during the year to the Yaouré open pit and the Nkosuo open pit respectively, both of which have higher concentrations of waste and lower overall grades, which increased the total cost to produce each ounce at the Edikan and Yaouré operations. Despite this increase in cost of sales, EBITDA was up 16% at US$860 million. Overall, the group delivered a profit before tax of US$716 million, up 27% on FY25. Profit after tax was up 14%, with a year-on-year increase in taxes paid in our host countries due to increased profitability.
In addition, Yaouré's tax holiday, which we had for five years, ended in December 2025. There was a 24% decrease in depreciation amortization compared to last year, and this was due to the decrease in deferred stripping. The increase in profit after tax delivered a basic earnings per share of US 31.73 cents for the group, up 17% on FY25, and delivering an earnings per ounce of $1,204, up 41%. Importantly, the group delivered a strong operating cash flow of $666 million, up 24% on FY25. This has allowed the board to today declare a FY26 final dividend of AUD 9 cents per share, up AUD 4 cents on the FY25 final dividend. The Perseus culture of ensuring continued operational and financial performance has further strengthened our balance sheet, well-positioning Perseus for growth.
We ended the financial year with a net cash in bullion of over $1 billion, up $107 million on FY 2025. This increase was on top of significant investment in our growth projects at Nyanzaga and the CMA Underground during the year. Total liquidity now sits at $1.4 billion, and that is taking into account our $400 million of undrawn debt, which was refinanced in December 2025. We will continue to hold our listed investments in Predictive and Aurum, which were valued at $233 million at 30 June 2026. One of our key focuses as a tea m is our operating cash flow per ounce was up 54% at $1,670 per ounce. The financial strength and resilient balance sheet have allowed the board to declare record returns to shareholders in FY 2026.
This is being delivered via an increased dividend per share through the declaration of a final dividend of AUD 0.09 per share, totaling AUD 119 million. This takes the FY 2026 dividend to AUD 0.14, or a total of AUD 187 million, up 87% on FY 2025. In addition, the Perseus board has also approved to upscale the buyback to AUD 315 million. Sorry, AUD 350 million. This follows the completion of the buyback in FY 2026, where we put away AUD 126 million as part of that buyback program. The Perseus board is also considering an additional distribution of AUD 100 million out of the excess proceeds received from the recent sale of the Meyas Sand Gold Project in Sudan. This may include a further special dividend and/or return of capital.
The split between the capital reduction and special dividend is still to be determined and will be confirmed through our consultations with the Australian Taxation Office. Any capital reduction will be subject to any required shareholder approval, and the company will update sha reholders on the proposed distribution together with the split between the capital reduction and/or special dividend when finally determined. Taking into account the record returns to shareholders, it is important to reflect on the disciplined capital allocation of Perseus in FY 2026. As mentioned, Perseus generated $666 million in operating cash flow in FY 2026. To support the safe, sustainable operations and asset integrity, we invested nearly $30 million in sustaining capital across the group.
A further $360 million was invested in our growth projects, Nyanzaga and CMA Underground, with a further $41 million allocated to growth exploration. $129 million have been returned to shareholders through our dividends, which I have mentioned, including the AUD 0.09 final dividend declared and $89 million equivalent through the share buyback. Overall, we have returned $218 million to shareholders in FY 2026, and this excludes the AUD 100 million proposed dividend I just spoke to. Beyond our shareholders, we continue to ensure we meet our obligations to all our stakeholders who are critical to our social license to operate and our desire to make meaningful contributions in the countries in which we are fortunate to be working. We distributed $1.2 billion in economic contributions more broadly, which included local procurement, employee wages and benefits, taxes, royalties, and community contributions.
Having spoken now to our strong financial performance, resilient balance sheet, and ongoing commitment to returning sustainable returns to shareholders, Perseus has in addition enhanced its capital allocation framework going into FY 2027. The framework sets out five key priorities. Firstly, as always, reliable operating cash flow underpinned by disciplined operational performance across our asset base and maintaining our commitment to our employees, our governments, communities, suppliers, and lenders. Secondly, investing adequate sustaining capital to protect the integrity and safety of our existing operations, underpinning our reliable operating cash flow generation. Then balance sheet resilience. Perseus strives to maintain strong balance sheet capacity through the cycles to ensure we are able to position ourselves well for strategic growth opportunities.
We have set a target of maintaining a minimum liquidity position of $500 million, with the current liquidity sitting at just over $1.4 billion. Another key pillar is funding our growth. We want to continue to grow production at our existing sites, extend the life of our existing mines for resource and reserve growth, and to position ourselves to execute capital investment which delivers high yield returns. For FY 2027, we are guiding around $530 million to be allocated to growth capital funding. The final stages of the Nyanzaga development as we go towards first gold pour, continued ramp up at the CMA underground at Yaouré, and the strategic cutbacks at Edikan. USD between $70 million and $80 million is allocated to various exploration programs focused on extending mine life through brownfields and greenfields exploration.
The final key pillar to our enhanced capital allocation framework is allocating capital to sustainable returns to our shareholders. The board have approved a revised dividend policy which commits to a sustainable dividend of a minimum of 20% of net cash flow from operating activities, and this is after however dividends paid to our non-controlling interest, which is our government shareholders. In addition, where the balance sheet has capacity beyond the growth objectives, the board retains discretion to declare supplemental returns through additional dividends, buybacks, or capital returns. Our framework looks to fund the business safely and sustainably first, keep the balance sheet resilient, invest in growth that extends mine life, and return capital to shareholders in a way that is meaningful and yet sustainable to a longer-term growth strategy. Thanks very much for your time and listening today.
It has been a year of change and tradition at all our assets and all made possible by hard work and dedication of our Perseus team. I will now hand back to Craig to discuss our other announcements today and an update on our Nyanzaga project.
Thank you, Lee-Anne . As I mentioned earlier, we are also pleased to announce today our updated annual updated mineral resources and ore reserves as of June 30, 2026. Our group measured and indicated resources increased 37%, which is about 2.9 million ounces from our June 2025 release to 10.6 million ounces. Our proven probable ore reserves increased 40%, which is 2 million ounces to 7 million ounces. Importantly, alongside the increases in Nyanzaga, which we announced in February, we have increased ore reserves at the Yaouré open pit and at Edikan and Sissingué we have successfully replaced mining depletion, maintaining reserve life at both operations.
Nyanzaga alone now accounts for around 4.1 million ounces of proved and probable reserves and 4.7 million ounces of measured and indicated resources, which is a reminder of the scale of that asset as we continue to advance towards first gold in January 2027. Our mineral resources also increased significantly at both Yaouré and Edikan as we focus on life extension of those assets. We have given guidance for our exploration spend this coming year, which doubles the exploration spend from last year, targeting further growth at all our mines, including significant drill programs at Yaouré and Edikan, which aim to further increase mineral resources and to complete test work and studies to demonstrate the organic growth that exists within our current portfolio. Nyanzaga remains on budget and schedule for first gold in January 2027.
There is significant activity at site with progress at the end of June at 67%, with materials and equipment deliveries at its peak. As it stands today, we have over 3,800 people on site delivering this project for us. We are continuing with our pre-stripping of the Kilimani and Tusker deposits with 1.2 million BCMs moved as of the end of June. We expect to move over 7 million BCMs before first gold production, which is higher than the original plan of 4.6 million BCMs. As a result, we expect to spend an additional $20 million-$30 million on pre-production mining. You will see that in the way we have presented the cost numbers for Nyanzaga. To be clear, the capital development of the mine is within the original budget amount.
Once Nyanzaga reaches commercial production, it adds a fourth cash-generating asset to our diversified portfolio, significantly expanding group production and cash-generating capacity. We are looking forward to bringing the project to conclusion and into operations. To that end, the operations team at Nyanzaga are well established and preparing to transition from a development project into a stable operation. Turning to our FY 2027 group guidance. Production and cost guidance is unchanged from what we have previously told the market. We are guiding to 420,000-480,000 ounces at an all-in site cost of $1,835 per ounce to $2,070 per ounce. This guidance is based on $4,000 gold price, which sets government royalty rates of 8% in Côte d'Ivoire and 11% in Ghana at that gold price.
At this stage, the cost guidance covers our three operating mines only excluding Nyanzaga, which we will update once commercial production is reached. We have also, for the first time, included sustaining capital and exploration cost guidance to enhance the information that we provide. These are detailed in the appendix of this presentation. I spoke earlier of our safety performance, and whilst we have exceptional statistics, we are constantly aware that we need to work every day to make sure that our people go home safely each day. We continue to build our economic value to our host communities and countries. We distributed $1.2 billion in economic value this year, including $714 million in local procurement and close to $385 million in government payments. We also contributed over $5 million directly to community initiatives and livelihood development programs.
The improvements of community roads, health and education infrastructure around the Nyanzaga Gold Project also reflects our commitment to establishing ourselves as a long-term partner in the country. Finally, this year, we published our first climate report, which I mentioned earlier, under the new Australian Accounting Standards, and this includes a climate risk and opportunity assessment incorporating climate scenario analysis to better understand the potential physical and transitional impacts of climate change on our business. Together, these results reflect on our priorities to our people and our communities and our long-term resilience. I will close by why we believe Perseus represents a compelling investment proposition. With a diversified African asset portfolio backed by a proven track record of development and operating execution capability, which we are demonstrating again right now through Nyanzaga as it moves through construction.
We deliver peer-leading return on capital employed, driven by our cost-focused culture and a genuine track record of growing our ore reserve inventory, both organically and through M&A. Our growth prospects are underpinned by $1.4 billion of liquidity and above all, we have built a reputation on proven execution and doing what we say we are going to do. Putting this together, this is a company set for solid growth and stable returns to shareholders and a solid balance sheet and a track record of discipline to deliver it. Before we move to questions, just one more item. We welcomed Tommy McKeith to our board as non-executive director in July 2026, and we are looking forward to his contribution. We also welcomed Wade Bickley to the organization as Chief Operating Officer. Again, we are excited to have Wade on board.
Thank you all for your time this morning, and Lee-Anne and I are happy to take questions.
Thanks, Craig. Just a reminder, if you would like to ask a question to the company, please use the raise hand function within Zoom. Your first question comes from Levi Spry at UBS. Please go ahead, Levi.
Yeah. Good day. Thanks, mate. Good day, Perseus team. A couple of questions just around the guidance, please. Just in terms of the CapEx at Edikan, can you just talk us through and I haven't, sorry, I haven't been through the reserve and resource statement yet, but just talk us through what that cutback buys us in terms of mine life.
Hi. Thanks, Levi. Yeah, I think initially when we, Edikan's life of mine was ending in about FY 2028. What we've done through the optimization of the pits and through the ongoing drilling program and now the cutbacks that we're doing is Edikan will run out to 2031. So it's basically added on an additional four years to the life of mine, on the current cutbacks and the current development capital included in the guidance.
Perfect. Thank you. I'll go through that later. Thank you. Just a reminder on the royalty piece. So the scaled royalties at Ghana and the extra 2% at Côte d'Ivoire, can you just remind us how we should be thinking about them going forward, please?
Yeah. Côte d'Ivoire has increased its royalty above $2,000 an ounce, so it took it from below $2,000 at 6% and now above $2,000 it's 8%. So that's how you should be thinking about it in the context of Côte d'Ivoire. The Ghana scaled royalty is slightly more complicated, but it starts at 5% and goes all the way up to 12%, I think above $4,000 an ounce. I can send you that scale. Yeah. It goes up every $500 per ounce.
Perfect. Thank you. Last one, just on Nyanzaga. Just understanding the piece around the capital bring forward. Is that how I should think about it?
That's part, yeah. That's precisely how you should think about it. It's not additional capital, it's just we're bringing mining forward.
Okay. Just in terms of physically what is happening on the ground, can you just give us a quick picture of how things are going as we work towards commissioning?
Yeah. I think, well, physically on the ground, I was there, what, two weeks ago. There is a lot of activity, obviously, construction in the mill area, getting that ready for production. There is well advanced around the infrastructure. The tailings dam is progressing well. The line is going down now as we speak. The waterline from the lake for water is nearly completed. The main power lines are well and truly underway with all the substations and those sorts of things. So it is just bulk construction at this point in time. Deliveries to site are really at their peak. It is just down to putting everything together. But it is an impressive facility. A lot of people working very hard to create a fantastic outcome for the business.
Yeah, great. Thanks, Craig and Lee-Anne . Maybe just one special one on the extra $100 million proceeds. When do you expect to get resolution on that from the ATO or just working out how to manage it from your outcome?
Yeah. So, we are already in consultation with the ATO, but as you know, their process can take between three to four months. Ideally, we are hoping to have clarity before we send out all the AGM papers. So that is the intent but I am sort of governed by how long it takes the ATO. So it is in progress, and so hopefully in the next couple of months and hopefully before the next AGM.
Awesome. Thanks, Lee-Anne . Thanks, Craig.
No problem, Levi. Thank you.
Thank you. Your next question comes from Richard Knights at Barrenjoey. Please go ahead, Richard.
Hi, Craig and Lee-Anne . Thanks for the call. Just one on capital returns. Obviously, a big final dividend, but no news of continuing buyback. Just wondering how you're thinking about the mix between dividends and buybacks going forward. Obviously, your dividends aren't going to be franked, but now, with the new capital gains tax regime, potentially investors are getting penalized for capital gains as well. So just wondering how you're thinking about the mix there going forward.
Yeah. I think, well, we obviously have announced that we are upsizing to the AUD 350 million. I think in terms of our share buybacks, we will continue to consider that, but that is always going to be giving consideration to our growth agenda. I think the board and the management have sat down and said over the next 12 months that we can have a look at AUD 350 million, and we will just give a consideration to that each year in terms of what is available. That will be, as you say, always balancing as much as we possibly can to be as tax effective for our shareholders as we can within the constraints that are available.
Yeah. Sure. Okay. Then maybe, I know you get asked this pretty much every result, but it is interesting that you have now got a minimum liquidity position that you are seeking to keep your sort of cash and available facilities above. Just wondering how you think about your maximum liquidity position.
Oh. Yeah. Well, we will address that next time. I suppose, importantly from us, Richard, we have got a lot of capital going into Nyanzaga this year. We have got the underground. I think the minimum liquidity is there just to demonstrate to the market that we are sort of taking a very balanced approach. I think going forward, in terms of maximum liquidity, we will just continue to look at our supplemental funds. But it is a changing world, and we have got lots of growth objectives in front of us that we want to allocate capital to as well.
So yeah, we obviously don't have a maximum liquidity position, but that's looked at every time we meet as a board, and we make decisions appropriately.
No worries. All right. Thanks, guys.
No worries, Richard. Thanks.
Thank you. Your next question comes from Regan Burrows at Macquarie.
Hi, Craig and Lee-Anne . Thanks for taking my questions and congratulations on the result. On Nyanzaga, you mentioned obviously quite a lot of supply chain issu es that you are experiencing there. Can you just elaborate on that? And of that, I guess 33% of the project remaining yet to be completed, how exposed to that is changing conditions in the supply chain?
Yeah. I mean, i n terms of supply chain, I think we are in pretty good shape. We have basically equipment coming to site constantly now, and so it is feeding the construction teams the way you would expect it to. So, there is no real major concerns there. Supply chains are always things that you have to manage, and it has been a little bit more complicated than normal over the last probably three to six months, as everyone is aware. But, I think we are navigating that okay. So as we stand today, no major issues.
Great. And just in terms of those increase in the pre-production mining costs, just sort of elaborating on that a bit more. Bringing forward that development capital, I mean, does that allow you to tap different parts or potentially better parts of the ore body earlier on? Is there any sort of impact to production or grade or anything that you can talk to?
Look, not at this stage. I think it's really, like all mining, you mine as quickly as you can to get to the grade, and that's what we're doing. No material changes in terms of the guidance that we've given the market around production for next year. But certainly it just sets us up to be in the best position we can possibly be in.
Great. Thanks. I'll leave it there. Thanks, guys.
Thank you. Your next question comes from David Radclyffe at Global Mining Research. Please go ahead, David.
Hi. Good morning, Craig and Lee-Anne. Just one last one then on Nyanzaga. Do these additional costs here, do they cover also the period to commercial production? And should we assume that some of the $50 million-$60 million of sustaining capital will be applied to Nyanzaga for the year? And if so, what's the quantum?
Yeah. You think about it, those costs don't only cover up to first gold. Some of those costs in terms of those material movements are brought forward from that period moving into commercial production. We haven't provided any guidance on costs, at this point in time for operations. We'll do that as we move closer to commercial production. In terms of the sustaining capital, you'll see in the appendices of this release, we've offered guidance of $2 million to $4 million of sustaining capital for Nyanzaga.
Oh, perfect. Thank you. I haven't quite got there yet.
There's a lot of information we put out there. Understandably.
There certainly is. Maybe if I could have a follow-up. It's really a question about the thought process of returning a portion of the Meyas Sand proceeds here in addition to the buyback or the renewed buyback and the new dividend policy, which is great to see a really clear policy now, by the way. How are you thinking about the balance here of cash returned relative to growth opportunities within the portfolio or inorganic opportunities overall? For example, I didn't see any additional growth capital for Sissingué or anything additional at Yaouré apart from the CMA, which had already been announced. The next round of organic opportunities, are they relatively scarce, and that's why we're not actually seeing capital applied to it when there's so much capital this year? Oh, sorry, so much cash generation.
On the contrary, I think we've doubled our exploration budget. What's in that exploration budget is significant drilling programs at Yaouré, Edikan and Sissingué, along with the studies and the test work required to bring additional material into the production profile. That's very much the strong focus for our organic profile. You'll see that, we've increased our resource base at both Edikan and Yaouré this year. There's more work we're doing to further increase that position or hopefully increase that position. That's the focus for our organic growth plan. There's quite an exciting piece of work that we're undertaking there, which should go to increasing the life of those assets.
Okay, thanks. You just need some more time to obviously do some drilling and then get these studies done, and then you'll come back to us then?
Precisely. Yeah. I mean, it's pr obably two years of drilling, but we'll be releasing results as we go. This year we're the first sort of real big focused, drilling, particularly around the Yaouré pit, that we see opportunity there. Then there's certainly opportunity around the AG pit at Edikan and beyond. There's plenty left to work through there. We are limited somewhat by data and that's what we're firming up this year.
Perfect. That's really clear. Thanks. I'll pass it on.
No worries. Thank you, David.
Thank you. There are no further questions at this time, so I'll now hand back to Craig for closing remarks.
Okay. Great. Thanks, Nathan. A lot of information went out this morning, so appreciate that'll take some time to go through. It also took a lot of effort from the team here at Perseus and, not only in preparing the documents but producing the fantastic results that sit within the documents. I really do want to thank the Perseus team for their hard work and dedication to producing the outcomes that they have and being able to support us in being able to make record returns to our shareholders and also contribute meaningfully to the countries in which we operate and the communities with which we operate. So, thank you all, and thank you very much for your attendance on the call today.