Image source: © Bashta | Megapixl.com

Highlights

  • Northern Star is a gold producer and explorer with operations in North America and Australia
  • In FY24, NST expects to register gold sales of 1,600 - 1,750 Koz at an AISC of AUD 1,730 – 1,790/oz
  • Van Eck Associates Corporation has the maximum stake in NST with shareholding of 6.83%

Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX: NST) is an Australian gold producer that has created a five-year profitable growth pathway to record 2Mozpa of annual production by the financial year 2026 (FY26). The company delivered its sales and cost guidance in FY23 with gold sales of 1,563koz at an AISC of AUD 1,759/oz. During the stated year, AUD 752 million was spent on growth capital and AUD 130 million on exploration.

Top 10 shareholders of NST

The top 10 shareholders of the company form approximately 30.29% of NST’s total shareholding. The maximum stake is held by Van Eck Associates Corporation and BlackRock Investment Management (UK) Ltd, with a shareholding of around 6.83% and 5.33%, respectively.

Recent business update

The company release dated 25 July 2023 informed that the sale of the Millrose project by Strickland Metals Limited (ASX: STK) to NST has been completed.

The company released its quarterly activities report in another update dated 19 July 2023. In the June 2023 quarter, the company sold 426koz of gold at an AISC of AUD 1,700/oz. The annualized production rate was 1.7 million ounces per annum.

The company manages three production centres – Kalgoorlie, Pogo and Yandal. During the June 2023 quarter, 224,386oz of gold was sold from the Kalgoorlie production centre, 121,872oz from Yandal and 80,092oz from Pogo production centres. The annualized production rate in the June quarter was 1.7Mozpa.

Financial metrics

NST revenue grew by 4.5% annually to AUD 1,948.7mn in the first half of FY23. The growth was underpinned by a 5% surge in the average gold realized price of gold.

During the stated period, EBITDA declined by 34.3% to AUD 622.9mn, mainly because of cost challenges, whichoffset higher gold prices.

Here’s the historical financial trend of NST –

Outlook

The company expects to register gold sales of 1,600 - 1,750 Koz at an AISC of AUD 1,730 – 1,790/oz in FY24. The predicted growth capital and exploration budget are AUD 1,150 million – AUD 1,250 million and AUD 150 million, respectively.

NST share’s performance

The shares of NST closed 0.26% higher at AUD 11.620 per share on 25 July 2023. In the last nine months, NST shares have gained 40.51%, and in the last year they have surged by 58.96%. However, the share price has dropped by 14.49% over the past three months and by 13.09% in the last week.

The 52-week high of NST is AUD 14.44 apiece, recorded on 14 April 2023, 19.53% lower than the current share price. The 52-week low is AUD 6.93, recorded on 27 September 2022, 40.36% lower than today’s closing price.

Note 1: Past performance is neither an Indicator nor a guarantee of future performance. 

Note 2: The reference date for all price data, and currency, is 25 July 2023. The reference data in this report has been partly sourced from REFINITIV.