Goldplat FY 2025: Profits Plunge 73% Amid Ghana Business Model Shift, But Cash Generation Remains Strong

Goldplat FY 2025: what happened, what changed, and why the cash still looks solid

Goldplat’s audited FY 2025 numbers are a mixed bag. The topline and earnings have taken a clear hit, largely because Ghana forced a change in how the business operates. Yet the group still threw off cash, strengthened the balance sheet, and lined up a potentially meaningful tailings reprocessing opportunity in South Africa. Here’s the detail in plain English.

Headline results and the key moving parts

Metric	FY 2025	FY 2024	Change
Revenue	£56.7m	£72.7m	-22.0%
Operating profit	£3.7m	£9.8m	-61.8%
Adjusted profit before tax*	£2.7m	£6.0m	-55.2%
Profit for the year	£1.2m	£4.3m	-73.2%
EPS	0.60p	2.51p	-76.1%
Gross margin	14.4%	not disclosed	–
Net cash from operating activities	£6.0m	£3.9m	up strongly
Cash and cash equivalents	£6.1m	£3.9m	up
Average gold price (US$/oz)	$2,812	$2,076	higher

*Adjusted PBT excludes the £714k impairment of the Kilimapesa royalty receivable.

Ghana forced a business model pivot – that’s the core driver

The big swing factor was Ghana. Authorities stopped the export of gold-bearing material, pushing miners and processors toward “local beneficiation” – in practice, producing dore bars locally and exporting those instead. Goldplat invested circa £763,000 in new milling, gravity and flotation circuits to enable that shift.

What does that mean financially? Less revenue and profit in the short term, but a healthier cash cycle. Concentrate sales used to take 4-6 months to settle; dore now settles in around 8 days. That change helped drive a £12.5 million reduction in trade receivables in Ghana and underpinned the group’s £6.0 million operating cash inflow, despite thinner margins.

South Africa steady-but-squeezed; South America still helpful

In South Africa, supply from the traditional sources (woodchips and by-products) remains under pressure as the domestic gold industry consolidates and gets more efficient. Goldplat retained all contracts but noted weaker value from by-products and woodchips. The team is pushing to win share with major groups they do not yet service and to source from neighbouring countries, though volumes there are limited.

On the positive side, supply from South America remains strong, albeit still concentrated with one major client. The group invested £78,000 to add initial plant capacity in Brazil to handle lower-grade material locally; the first phase is due to complete by December 2025, subject to licences before operations can start.

Tailings opportunity with DRDGOLD is a 2026+ catalyst

Goldplat’s tailings storage facility (TSF) in South Africa carries a JORC-compliant resource of 1.43 million tonnes at 1.78 g/t for 81,959 ounces of gold. A new lined TSF is now in use, which frees up the existing facility for reprocessing via DRDGOLD – subject to landowner consent, a water use licence over certain areas for a pipeline, and final commercial terms.

If those pieces fall into place, the TSF could be a meaningful, visible feed source and margin contributor. Management continues to work through the regulatory steps and commercials with DRDGOLD.

Operational resilience: power, licences and processes

• Power stability improved markedly in South Africa: only 1.9% of production hours were lost to outages (2024: 11%). Backup generators installed last year (£812,000, financed over 36 months) provide further assurance.
• Licences: the South African water use licence (12-year validity) is in place, enabling deposition on the new TSF. In Ghana, the Environmental Protection Authority licence renewal was applied for and expected by mid-December (per year-end timing).
• Process capability remains a differentiator, spanning roasting, leaching, CIL, flotation, gravity and smelting – useful in a market where feed types and grades move around.

Costs, FX and tax: the other drags

Personnel expenses rose 7.5% to £5.7 million on annual increases. Net finance costs reduced to £1.8 million (2024: £3.8 million), helped by lower FX losses, though currency still played a role: Ghana’s Cedi appreciated against sterling at year-end, while the rand weakened, resulting in a £1.4 million translation loss in the income statement, offset by a £2.2 million gain in other comprehensive income.

The effective tax rate stepped up to 41.3% (2024: 27.9%), driven by mix effects in South Africa and Ghana and a 5% withholding tax on dividends from South Africa to the UK. That higher rate pinched bottom-line earnings.

Balance sheet and working capital: the quiet win

Despite the profit squeeze, cash generation was robust. Cash and cash equivalents increased to £6.1 million, with operating cash flow at £6.0 million. Trade receivables fell sharply due to the Ghana shift to dore sales. Inventory rose to £14.9 million, mainly precious metals on hand in South Africa, which management expects to work down as they process low-grade CIL materials and improve cycle times under the DRDGOLD arrangement on raw material removal.

Dividends are back, with a cautious start

Goldplat has started returning cash to shareholders where surplus to operating and development needs. Two interim dividends were declared post year-end: 0.0878 pence per share on 4 August 2025, and 0.01171 pence per share on 14 November 2025, with the latter payable on 19 December 2025. The Board will review capital returns quarterly and use buybacks or dividends as appropriate.

Outlook and what to watch in 2026

• Ghana ramp-up: sustaining local beneficiation at improved economics after the capital investment.
• TSF processing: securing landowner consent, water use licence for the pipeline, and finalising terms with DRDGOLD to unlock the 81,959 oz JORC resource.
• Feedstock in South Africa: replacing declining woodchips and by-products with new supply, improving CIL cost per tonne, and pushing into PGMs.
• South America: diversifying the customer base beyond the major client and bringing the Brazil unit into operation once licences are granted.
• Tax rate and FX: any normalisation in the effective tax rate and continued discipline on currency exposures would aid EPS.

My take: short-term earnings pain, long-term optionality

This is not a pretty earnings print – EPS at 0.60p and profits down more than 70% will sting. That said, the Ghana pivot was externally forced, the capex to adapt is done, and the cash conversion is already better. The balance sheet is clean, cash is up, and the group is sensibly returning capital while still funding compliance and growth.

The big swing factors for upside are the TSF with DRDGOLD and broadening supply lines in South Africa and South America. The risks are clear too: reliance on short-term supply contracts, continued decline in SA gold mining by-products, regulatory shifts in West Africa, and margin variability by batch. On balance, operational resilience, a tangible TSF catalyst, and revived dividends argue for patience if you can live with the inherent volatility of a recovery business tied to gold and regulatory frameworks.

Glossary

• TSF: Tailings storage facility – where processing residues are stored. Old TSFs can be reprocessed to extract remaining gold.
• Dore: A semi-pure gold-silver alloy poured at site, refined later by third parties.
• Beneficiation: Upgrading ore or concentrates locally before export, typically by further processing.
• CIL: Carbon-in-leach, a gold extraction process for lower-grade material.