Shares in Caledonia Mining Corporation PLC (AIM:CMCL, NYSE-A:CMCL, VFEX:CMCL) rose 2.3% to 1,800p on Monday as investors weighed a first-quarter update in which record gold prices delivered strong financial results.
Revenue rose 18.3% year-on-year to $66.43 million, EBITDA jumped 50.2% to $33.87 million and profit after tax climbed 69.4% to $18.91 million, all driven by an average realised gold price of $4,816 per ounce, up 66.3% on the same period last year
Gold production fell 20.9% to 14,767 ounces due to constrained access to higher-grade areas, pushing on-mine costs to $1,740 per ounce and the all-in sustaining cost to $2,765 per ounce. However, grade improved month-on-month through the quarter and has continued to recover into April, underpinning the company’s reiterated full-year production guidance for Blanket of 72,000 to 76,500 ounces, weighted towards the second half. Cavendish, which carries a ‘buy’ rating and a 4,050p target price on the stock, raised its adjusted earnings per share estimate for the financial year 2026 to 304.2 cents from 264.8 cents following the results, noting that unit costs came in better than forecast.
The broker views the Bilboes gold project in Zimbabwe as potentially transformational, arguing it could roughly quadruple annual attributable production to around 200,000 ounces, attracting a new class of institutional investor and supporting a materially higher market capitalisation. A quarterly dividend of 14 cents per share was declared alongside the results