Northern Star shares drop as RBC flags soft FY26 guidance
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More news: Northern Star was the worst performing ASX 200 company in early trade after the gold miner reported full-year gold sales at the lower end of guidance and set a weaker-than-expected forecast for fiscal 2026.
Shares were were down 5.1% to $17.45 at 11:10am AEST, having advanced around 36% over the last 12 months.
What they said: RBC Capital Markets analyst Alex Barkley noted that Northern Star's "weak FY26 guidance across key metrics is the key result takeaway".
"[Northern Star] states the FY26 cost increases come from industry-wide inflationary pressures, and an increase in infrastructure and development costs, which should provide some benefit in future periods," Barkley said.
"However, we expect this is unlikely to mitigate the headline blow to FY26 cash flow. We expect [Northern Star] trades lower today."
Northern Star Resources reports gold sales within revised FY25 guidance
The news: Northern Star Resources has reported gold sales for financial year 2025 that comes in at the lower end of the guidance range that was revised down in April but flagged an improved outlook for financial year 2026.
The numbers: The gold miner reported gold sales of 444 kilo ounces for the June quarter, which is about 15.3% higher than the March quarter. This brings sales for the financial year to 1,634 kilo ounces, which is within the revised group guidance range of 1,630 to 1,660 kilo ounces.
Sales from the company’s Kalgoorlie project came in below guidance, from its Yandal project came at the mid-point of guidance, and at its Pogo project came in above guidance
All-in sustaining costs are also expected to be within the revised cost guidance range of $2,100 to $2,200 per ounce. June quarterly results will be released on 24 July.
The company has said it is forecast to deliver 1,700 to 1,850 kilo ounces of gold sold in FY26 while all-in sustaining costs is forecast to be in the range of $2,300 to $2,700 per ounces, improving throughout the year.
Overall growth capital expenditure for FY26 is expected to be in the range $2,125 million and $2,270 million. Exploration expenditure is forecast to be about $225 million.
What they said: “Northern Star continues to advance major growth projects to achieve its goal of being a long-life, high margin, returns-focused global gold producer (bottom half of the global cost curve),” the company’s statement to the exchange said.
“The [Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines (KCGM)] Mill Expansion is one of the key enablers to achieving this goal and with mill commissioning on track for early FY27, ancillary projects are required in readiness.
“The positive step-changes in performance in the June quarter, particularly increased productivity at KCGM, has led the company to provide FY26 guidance now.”
The source: ASX
