New Gold Announces 2015 Financial Results with Record Gold Production Leading to Strong Cash Flow

"Our robust cash flow, coupled with the additional liquidity generated from the Rainy River stream sale and El Morro transaction that we completed in 2015, provides us the opportunity to continue to invest in the future of our business. Rainy River, which is now less than a year and a half from starting production, provides New Gold with the potential to increase production, reduce costs and increase average mine life. Thereafter, we will look to the New Afton C-zone and Blackwater as future opportunities for long-term value creation," added Mr. Oliphant.

2015 FINANCIAL RESULTS

Fourth quarter revenues increased by $11 million, or 6%, relative to the prior-year quarter, as higher gold sales volumes offset the impact of lower realized metal prices⁽⁶⁾. Relative to the fourth quarter of 2014, the company's gold sales increased by 28% to 133,005 ounces, the benefit of which was partially offset by lower metal prices. When compared to the prior-year quarter, the average realized price⁽⁶⁾ decreased by $94 per ounce of gold, or 8%, $0.76 per pound of copper, or 26%, and $1.29 per ounce of silver, or 8%. Revenues in the fourth quarter of 2014 included a non-cash accounting charge of $7 million related to the company's monetization of its legacy hedge position in 2013. New Gold's 2015 revenues of $713 million remained in line with the prior year as increased gold and silver sales volumes largely offset the combination of lower copper sales volumes and lower realized metal prices⁽⁶⁾. The $13 million, or 2%, decrease in revenues in 2015 was attributable to the net impact of a $78 million decrease driven by lower metal prices which was offset by a $65 million increase due to higher metal sales volumes. 2014 revenues included a non-cash accounting charge of $27 million related to the company's monetization of its legacy hedge position in 2013.

New Gold's fourth quarter operating margin⁽⁵⁾ increased by $18 million, or 27%, relative to the prior-year quarter despite lower realized metal prices⁽⁶⁾. The increase was attributable to the combined benefit of higher revenues and lower operating expenses resulting from the depreciation of the Canadian and Australian dollars relative to the U.S. dollar as well as the company's ongoing cash flow optimization initiatives. The company's 2015 operating margin⁽⁵⁾ decreased relative to the prior year as a result of lower revenues, resulting from lower metal prices, and slightly higher operating expenses. New Gold's 2015 operating expenses increased despite a $42 million decrease in the company's total production spending as fewer expenses were capitalized in 2015 than in 2014.

New Gold generated adjusted net earnings⁽⁴⁾ of $3 million, or $0.01 per share, in the fourth quarter of 2015 relative to $13 million, or $0.03 per share, in the prior-year quarter. Quarterly net earnings were impacted by the combination of a $15 million increase in depreciation and depletion expense resulting from higher production, a $2 million increase in exploration and business development expenses and a $2 million increase in finance costs as interest is no longer being capitalized against Blackwater. These items were partially offset by the increase in operating margin⁽⁵⁾ and a $2 million decrease in corporate administration expenditures. The company reported a net loss of $10 million, or $0.02 per share, in the fourth quarter. The net loss included the impact of a non-cash $14 million after-tax impairment charge related to the Peak Mines, a non-cash $13 million inventory write-down at Cerro San Pedro and a $26 million pre-tax foreign exchange loss, which was partially offset by a $9 million pre-tax unrealized gain on the company's gold stream obligation.

In 2015, New Gold had an adjusted net loss⁽⁴⁾ of $11 million, or $0.02 per share, relative to adjusted net earnings⁽⁴⁾ of $45 million, or $0.09 per share, in the prior year. The adjusted net loss⁽⁴⁾ was driven by a decrease in operating margin⁽⁵⁾, a $23 million increase in depreciation and depletion expense resulting from higher production and a $12 million increase in finance costs as interest is no longer being capitalized against Blackwater. These items were partially offset by an aggregate $10 million decrease in corporate administration and exploration and business development expenditures. The company's 2015 reported net loss of $201 million, or $0.40 per share, was impacted by the non-cash $14 million after-tax impairment charge related to the Peak Mines, the non-cash $13 million inventory write-down at Cerro San Pedro, a $98 million pre-tax foreign exchange loss and a non-cash $99 million after-tax loss associated with the sale of El Morro. These items were partially offset by a $6 million pre-tax unrealized gain on the company's gold stream obligation.

The company's fourth quarter cash generated from operations before changes in non-cash operating working capital⁽³⁾ of $77 million was $7 million, or 10%, higher than the prior-year period. The increase was primarily a result of the $18 million increase in operating margin⁽⁵⁾ noted above, which was partially offset by a $2 million increase in exploration and business development expenditures. Cash generated from operations before changes in non-cash operating working capital⁽³⁾ in the prior-year quarter included $7 million in cash proceeds from the sale of gold associated with the accounting charge related to the company's monetization of its legacy hedge position in 2013. Cash generated from operations in the fourth quarter of 2015 was $85 million relative to $70 million in the prior-year quarter.

New Gold's 2015 cash generated from operations before changes in non-cash operating working capital⁽³⁾ of $265 million was impacted by the $22 million decrease in operating margin⁽⁵⁾ in 2015 and the fact that cash generated from operations before changes in non-cash operating working capital⁽³⁾ in 2014 included $27 million in cash proceeds from the sale of gold associated with the accounting charge related to the company's monetization of its legacy hedge position in 2013. These negative differences between 2015 and 2014 were partially offset by a cumulative $10 million decrease in corporate administration and exploration and business development expenditures. Full-year cash generated from operations of $263 million remained in line with the prior year despite lower metal prices.

FINANCIAL UPDATE

New Gold's 2015 year-end cash and cash equivalents were $336 million. The company also has a $300 million revolving credit facility, of which $116 million has been used as at December 31, 2015 to issue letters of credit, with the balance remaining undrawn. In addition, as part of the company's July 2015 streaming transaction with RGLD Gold AG, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Royal Gold Inc. ("Royal Gold"), the remaining $75 million of the stream deposit is scheduled to be paid once 60% of the estimated Rainy River project development capital has been spent, which is expected to be in mid-2016, and other customary conditions precedent have been met.

New Gold regularly reviews its expected financial commitments and financial resources. Based on prevailing spot prices of gold, copper and silver and the prevailing exchange rate for the Canadian dollar to the U.S. dollar, the company believes that New Gold has sufficient liquidity and capital resources to complete the construction of Rainy River as currently contemplated and within the Net Debt to EBITDA ("Leverage Ratio") covenant of 3.5 to 1.0 initially provided in the revolving credit facility. However, in order to provide the company with additional financial flexibility in the event of a decline in metal prices and/or appreciation of the Canadian dollar, on February 17, 2016, New Gold amended the revolving credit facility to increase the maximum Leverage Ratio to 4.0 to 1.0 at the September 30, 2016 measurement date and to 4.5 to 1.0 for the three subsequent quarter-end measurement periods. Thereafter, the maximum Leverage Ratio will return to 3.5 to 1.0.

The leverage ratio contained in the company's agreement with Royal Gold has also been adjusted to match the revised maximum Leverage Ratio under the revolving credit facility. 

At the end of 2015, the face value of the company's long-term debt was $800 million (book value – $788 million). The components of the debt include: $300 million of 7.00% face value senior unsecured notes due in April 2020 and $500 million of 6.25% face value senior unsecured notes due in November 2022. The company currently has approximately 509 million shares outstanding.

"The combination of our year-end cash, the remaining stream deposit and the amount available on our credit facility provides us with total liquidity of $595 million," stated Brian Penny, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. "Combining this liquidity with our expected free cash flow, based on the prevailing gold and copper prices and foreign exchange rates, leaves us well positioned to fund the remaining development of Rainy River."

2015 OPERATIONAL RESULTS

The fourth quarter of 2015 was New Gold's strongest operational quarter of the year, delivering record gold and copper production. As all of New Gold's operations delivered higher gold production in the fourth quarter of 2015 relative to the prior-year quarter, quarterly gold production increased by 24% to 131,719 ounces, which resulted in a 15% increase in full-year production to 435,718 ounces. As a result, 2015 gold production exceeded the high end of the company's guidance range of 390,000 to 430,000 ounces. The increase in full-year gold production was driven by higher production at three of the company's four operating mines, with particularly notable increases at Mesquite and Cerro San Pedro.

New Gold's fourth quarter copper production increased by 18% to 29 million pounds relative to the prior-year quarter. The strong finish to the year resulted in full-year copper production of 100 million pounds, which was in line with prior-year production and at the low end of the company's 2015 guidance range of 100 to 112 million pounds. Full-year silver production increased by 28% relative to 2014 to 1.9 million ounces which was within the guidance range of 1.8 to 2.0 million ounces. Cerro San Pedro produced 1.5 million ounces of silver while New Afton and the Peak Mines together contributed an additional 0.4 million ounces.

As planned, the company's fourth quarter all-in sustaining costs⁽¹⁾ of $613 per ounce, including total cash costs⁽²⁾ of $389 per ounce, were the lowest of the year and well below the prior-year quarter. All of New Gold's operations delivered production at all-in sustaining costs⁽¹⁾ below $900 per ounce in the fourth quarter of 2015 and the consolidated quarterly all-in sustaining costs⁽¹⁾ of $613 per ounce were the lowest ever for the company since New Gold began reporting this metric in the second quarter of 2013.

The company's record setting fourth quarter operating performance contributed to New Gold's 2015 all-in sustaining costs⁽¹⁾ of $809 per ounce, including total cash costs⁽²⁾ of $443 per ounce. Full-year total cash costs⁽²⁾ increased relative to 2014 due to a $69 million, or $278 per ounce, decrease in by-product revenues primarily resulting from lower realized copper and silver prices. The negative impact of lower by-product revenues was approximately 50% offset by the combined benefit of higher gold sales volumes, increased operational efficiencies, decreased local currency operating costs and the depreciation of the Canadian and Australian dollars and Mexican peso relative to the U.S. dollar. At the same time, New Gold's cumulative sustaining capital, exploration, general and administrative and amortization of reclamation expenditures decreased by $16 million, or $101 per ounce. As a result, all-in sustaining costs⁽¹⁾ increased by only $30 per ounce relative to 2014, despite the significant decrease in by-product revenues.

As first indicated in New Gold's 2015 second quarter results, the company's full-year costs were expected to be, and ultimately were, above the guidance range set at the beginning of 2015. This was due to the combined impact of realized copper and silver prices being below the prices of $2.75 per pound of copper and $16.00 per ounce of silver when guidance was set, copper production being at the low end of the guidance range and the increased relative gold production from the company's higher cost mines. When compared to the updated cost outlook provided by the company as part of its third quarter results, New Gold's 2015 all-in sustaining costs⁽¹⁾ of $809 per ounce were below the range of $840 to $860 per ounce and the total cash costs⁽²⁾ of $443 per ounce were within the range of $430 to $450 per ounce.

For additional detail on the changes in production and costs at New Gold's four operations in the fourth quarter and full year, refer to the company's January 20, 2016 news release, New Gold Exceeds Guidance with Record Gold Production and Provides 2016 Operational Outlook.

NEW GOLD SUMMARY OPERATIONAL RESULTS
	Three months ended December 31		Twelve months ended December 31
	2015	2014	2015	2014
GOLD PRODUCTION (thousand ounces)
New Afton	30.2	25.3	105.5	104.6
Mesquite	43.4	36.2	134.9	106.7
Peak Mines	34.8	21.9	89.9	99.0 Werbung Mehr Nachrichten zur New Gold Aktie kostenlos abonnieren E-Mail-Adresse Bitte überprüfe deine die E-Mail-Adresse. Benachrichtigungen von ARIVA.DE (Mit der Bestellung akzeptierst du die Datenschutzhinweise) -1 Vielen Dank, dass du dich für unseren Newsletter angemeldet hast. Du erhältst in Kürze eine E-Mail mit einem Aktivierungslink. Hinweis: ARIVA.DE veröffentlicht in dieser Rubrik Analysen, Kolumnen und Nachrichten aus verschiedenen Quellen. Die ARIVA.DE AG ist nicht verantwortlich für Inhalte, die erkennbar von Dritten in den „News“-Bereich dieser Webseite eingestellt worden sind, und macht sich diese nicht zu Eigen. Diese Inhalte sind insbesondere durch eine entsprechende „von“-Kennzeichnung unterhalb der Artikelüberschrift und/oder durch den Link „Um den vollständigen Artikel zu lesen, klicken Sie bitte hier.“ erkennbar; verantwortlich für diese Inhalte ist allein der genannte Dritte. Andere Nutzer interessierten sich auch für folgende News 11:30 - PR Newswire KR1 Plc - Investment: Mode Network 09:12 - PR Newswire UK Commercial Property REIT Ltd - Final Results for the Year Ended 31 December 2023 Auf zur INVEST am 26.+ 27.04.2024    Foto: Landesmesse Stuttgart GmbH - Jetzt kostenloses Ticket sichern! weiterlesen» Anzeige wo-site-teaser-box-16688_site-teaser-box_2024-04-17_09%253A00%253A00_2024-04-22_09%253A00%253A59