Evolution Mining Limited

Thank you for standing by and welcome to the Evolution Mining Limited full year 2024 financial results. All participants are in listen-only mode. There will be a presentation followed by a question and answer session. If you wish to ask a question, you will need to press the star key followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Jake Klein, Executive Chair. Please go ahead.

Thanks, Kayleigh. Good morning, everyone, and thank you all for joining us. We do really appreciate your interest in our company. I will make some very brief introductory comments, which will be starting on slide three, which we've titled, Position for Success, before handing over to Laurie and Barry to take you through our FY24 annual results and our FY25 guidance. Any set of results that headline record net profits, record underlying EBITDA, record earnings per share, and a more than doubling of our final dividend are a pleasure to present. I think this is the 13th set of annual results for the company that we are presenting, and I honestly feel that Evolution has never been better positioned to benefit from the very favorable markets that we find ourselves in. Gold and copper prices are very high, and as I articulated in my Diggers and Dealers presentation last week, I believe there is very good reason to believe they will go even higher. The acquisition of North Parks in December last year has exceeded our expectations in almost every aspect in the first seven months of our ownership, and it adds to the outstanding portfolio of gold and copper assets we have assembled. Our balance sheet is strong, and we are particularly pleased that our investment grade rating was reaffirmed last month. We continue our track record of being a dividend payer with our 23rd consecutive dividend, I declared today, noting that as our cash generation increases as planned, so will our dividends. Our team is well positioned and in place. The introduction recently of Matt O'Neill as Chief Operating Officer and Nancy Gee, Chief Technical Officer, mean that all our key leadership positions are filled with highly talented individuals. And finally, we know all eyes are on us to deliver FY25 guidance. I want to assure you, we are absolutely focused on delivery will not be distracted, and are looking forward to the challenge. With that, I'll hand over to Laurie.

Thank you, Jake, and good morning, everyone. It's a pleasure to present the FY24 results and where we are heading into FY25. The past year, through a number of challenges at us and the way the team has responded to deliver right across the business is a credit to all involved. Even in the past week, where we experienced a cyber incident, Our team has been able to respond quickly to contain the incident while protecting the health, safety and privacy of our people together with the company systems and data. We do not anticipate this incident to have any material impact on operations. As Jake mentioned, we've laid the foundations for more consistent delivery in FY25 and with the outlook on metal prices, this is only going to reward our shareholders further. As shown on slide four, There were many highlights and records during the past year. In the sustainability area, we saw improvement in all key metrics, which I will touch on soon. Our low-cost production of 717,000 ounces at a sector-leading all-in sustaining cost of $1,477 per ounce delivered over $1.5 billion and $580 million of operational and net mine cash flow, respectively. The operational performance resulted in a record underlying net profit which was up 135% to $482 million. There were multiple financial records achieved in the year and Barry will be taking us through these very shortly. We said last June that the cash generation would build through the year and we delivered that. We committed to deleverage the balance sheet even while investing in our organic projects which we also delivered. Our gearing is now down to 25% and expected to move below our next target range of 20%. We also said last year we would start to see improved returns for our shareholders. Our full-year dividend is up 75% to $0.07 per share. As we continue to deleverage the balance sheet and maintain a disciplined approach to our capital investment, we expect to see further improvements in our dividends. Turning to slide five and our sustainability performance. To enable us to operate safely and effectively, sustainability has to be integrated in everything we do. We have seen our total recordable injury frequency reduced by 13% in the last year and 28% in the last two years. At the same time, the team have done a great job in managing all the material and critical risks that can have a far greater impact on our business. We continue to make great progress on our commitment to reducing our carbon footprint with a 14.3% reduction in emissions as at the end of FY24 against the target of 30% reduction by 2030. So with six years to go, we are already nearly halfway to the target. We also focus heavily on leaving lasting legacies in the communities in which we operate. I've highlighted one here because it has had a profound impact not only on our team at Mingari, the Kalgoorlie community. Last year we committed funding to support the development of housing for women and children affected by domestic violence or homelessness. This is up and running now and what leaves me a little sad is that the number of people needing to use the facility has increased which correlates to increased abuse. We remain committed to the cause providing further funding in FY25 as well as continuing to advocate against domestic violence. Moving into FY25 and slide 6. Having laid the foundations in FY24 for high margin, high cash generation, we expect this to continue in FY25. Our production guidance is 710,000 to 780,000 ounces of gold and 70,000 to 80,000 tons of copper. Our all-in sustaining costs will continue to be one of the lowest in the sector at $1,475 to $1,575 per ounce. This cost guidance is for our continuing operations as it reflects the position going forward where Mount Rawdon will cease operations this year. Further details of our guidance are provided in the appendix of the presentation and our release. The guidance is fully aligned to all information that we have publicly released in the last few months. The guidance for FY25 will deliver high cash flows as evidenced on the charts on the right of this slide. These charts, I think, are the most important part of today's presentation. Assuming the midpoint of guidance and a range of metal prices from what we achieved in FY24 to current spot prices, the operating and mine cash flow before major capitals, can be significantly higher up to $1.8 and $1.6 million respectively. This means we will continue to leverage the balance sheet, be able to invest in our organic major projects in the same disciplined approach we have for the past few years and increase our dividends all at the same time. The cash flow we are now generating out of the portfolio will continue to provide us with great flexibility in these three areas of capital management. Lastly, on slide seven, for a little bit more detail on FY25. In terms of production, which I reiterate aligns to all previously released information, we will have a full year of north parks, but with a higher proportion of gulf production due to the mining of the E31 open pits. The planned major shaft maintenance was successfully completed in July, which now sets up the shaft for the current life of mine. Cowl underground will ramp up to 2 million tonnes during the year. The margin on these ounces will continue to improve as the operation ramps up to its full production rate of 2.4 million tonnes in FY26. Red Lake is expected to have higher production, building on the consistency established over the past three to six months. Importantly, our planned metal price assumptions, pardon me, at our planned metal price assumptions, the operation will be cash positive this year. As in prior years, the two largest operations in Cal and Ernest Henry will complete their planned major shutdowns in August and March. As outlined during the Cale site visit, the March shutdown is a longer shutdown at 28 days as we refurbish the mill for the next phase of mine life. Thus, the March quarter will be our lowest production quarter. In terms of major capital, we maintain the discipline of only investing in the projects when they are needed. We have not approved any new major projects in execution for FY25. The 4.2 project at Mungaree remains on schedule and budget, as does the project to establish the new mining centres for the increased tonnage required post-expansion. Studies at Ernest Henry and North Parks will continue as planned this year, while at Red Lake, as previously announced, we will be consolidating to one tailings facility over the next 18 months to both plants being utilised at near capacity going forward. On our cost and revenue sensitivities to cash flow and all in sustaining costs, they are well known and this allows us to focus on the right things to ensure that we maintain a low-cost position. I'll now hand over to Barry to go through the financial results.