Northern Star climbs to record high as first-half profit surges 49%

Australia’s Northern Star Resources reported a 49% surge in its first-half profit on Thursday, boosted by higher realized gold prices, sending its shares to a record high.

Shares of the company rose as much as 6.7% to an all-time high of A$30.16, and were among the top gainers in the benchmark index, which was up 0.6% by 00:44 GMT.

Northern Star announced an interim dividend of 25 Australian cents, unchanged from the previous year.

The gold miner reported a 19% rise in half-year revenue to A$3.41 billion, driven by a 31% increase in its average realized gold price, despite lower sales volumes during the period.

Gold sales totalled 729,000 ounces for the half year, down from 804,000 ounces a year earlier.

The company also posted a non-cash impairment charge of A$77.6 million following its half-year review of the exploration portfolio.

The miner’s cost of sales rose 9% in the reported period, driven by increased mining activity, higher crushing and maintenance expenses, and inflationary pressures on labour and contractor rates.

That brought its underlying net profit after tax to A$759.8 million ($541 million) for the half-year period ended December 31, compared with A$511.5 million a year earlier.

Last month, the miner lowered its fiscal year 2026 group production outlook to 1.6-1.7 million oz. from 1.7-1.85 million oz., citing weaker gold sales across all three production centres in the December quarter.

($1 = 1.4043 Australian dollars)

(By Sherin Sunny; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila and Sherry Jacob-Phillips)