Profit boost for Independence

Higher gold sales and lower exploration spending have boosted diversified miner Independence Group’s full-year net profit by 58 per cent, to $77 million.

Independence posted record revenue of $498.6 million for the 2015 financial year, up 25 per cent on the previous year, with free cash flow also at a record high of $115.8 million, up 283 per cent.

The company declared a total fully franked dividend of 11 cents per share, with a final dividend pool of $13 million established. 

“Contributing to the result was a full-year contribution of gold sales from Tropicana as against nine months production in FY14,” the company said in a statement.

“Segment contribution increases arose from both Tropicana and the Jaguar operations, with a reduction at the Long operation.

“Payments for exploration expenditure fell by 15 per cent to $25.7 million in FY15,” it said.

Chief executive Peter Bradford said the company succeeded in meeting or beating all of its production and cash cost guidance for the Tropicana, Jaguar and Long mines.

“Tropicana continues to operate as one of Australia’s best gold mines in terms of its scale, grade, cost profile, and cash flow, and this is expected to continue," he said.

“Significant progress has been made on value enhancing work streams aimed at further outperforming market expectations going forward."

In May, Independence announced its intention to acquire gold miner Sirius Resources for $1.8 billion, with the transaction supported by local investment prospector Mark Creasy.

Independence said the acquisition remained on track, with Sirius shareholders expected to approve the acquisition early next month.

Shares in Independence were 6.4 per cent lower to $3.07 each at 11:45am.