Barrick Gold Corporation company’s annual general meeting in Toronto on Tuesday, April 28, 2015. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette) · The Canadian Press
Shares of Barrick Mining (ABX.TO)(B) climbed on Monday after the company raised its dividend and expanded its share buyback program. The Canadian firm says higher realized gold prices significantly padded its cash flows in the third quarter.
Toronto-listed Barrick shares gained as much as 7.6 per cent on Monday, adding to a more than 120 per cent year-to-date advance fuelled by bullion’s rapid rise in 2025. The yellow metal is on pace for its best year since 1979, according to research compiled by financial services firm Carson Group.
Barrick reported financial results for the three months ended Sept 30 before the start of trading on Monday. The company says its average realized gold price rose to US$3,457 from US$2,494 at the same time last year. This helped offset the financial impact of lower production on an annualized basis, and a slight increase in costs in the quarter.
The company says it earned US$0.58 per share on an adjusted basis in the third quarter, up 23 per cent from the prior quarter.
On Monday, Barrick, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, declared a 25 per cent rise in its quarterly dividend to 125 cents per share. Barrick says its board also approved a US$500 million increase to the existing share repurchase program.
“Third quarter financial performance was exceptionally strong, setting company records for operating cash flow, free cash flow and adjusted net earnings,” chief financial officer Graham Shuttleworth told analysts on a conference call Monday morning. “We continued to fund our growth projects with disciplined budgets, resulting in cash flow more than tripling from quarter two.”
Barrick says it is working with an executive search firm to replace Mark Bristow, who abruptly left the CEO role in September. Chief operating officer Mark Hill is currently leading the company on an interim basis.
“Since assuming this interim CEO responsibility, it has become increasingly clear to me that the most significant opportunity is at our gold assets in North America, particularly through improved performance at NGM (Nevada Gold Mines), coupled with our gold discovery at Fourmile,” Hill said on Monday’s call. “Fourmile is arguably this century’s most significant gold discoveries.”
Barrick’s operations span 18 countries and four continents.
“We’re undertaking a review of our operations from the bottom up to ensure we have the right teams and processes in place to safely, most importantly and consistently deliver fee going forward,” Hill added.