Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2: Barrack reported earnings this morning the minor, announcing it bought
Speaker 2: back nearly three million shares in the second quarter maintained
Speaker 2: its quarterly dividend. You can see the shares are up
Speaker 2: more than six percent in a down market. Joining us
Speaker 2: to talk about this more is the CEO, Mark Bristow.
Speaker 2: Mark great to have you on the program. Thanks for
Speaker 2: joining us. I wonder if you know the buy back
Speaker 2: and the earnings beat, all this positive news is enough
Speaker 2: to catch up with your rivals in terms of your
Speaker 2: share price performance because you've lagged the biggest competitors out there.
Speaker 1: I met aus to chat to you again. Yes, it's
Speaker 1: always easier to come from behind.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 1: It's a good shitt of results.
Speaker 3: Nos, margins.
Speaker 1: We were able to really deliver the login from the
Speaker 1: rising gold pros into the bottom line, which is which
Speaker 1: is good.
Speaker 3: Margins on gold.
Speaker 1: Were up a lot, even more so for copper. Prices
Speaker 1: were flat and those prices will start coming down on
Speaker 1: the back end of this year as we address some
Speaker 1: of our investments in sustainable production and at the same
Speaker 1: time bring.
Speaker 3: Up the production on some of our core assets.
Speaker 1: And I think what's really starting to resonate to the
Speaker 1: market is the fact that we've got real growth. That
Speaker 1: we did our deals back in twenty nineteen, twenty twenty
Speaker 1: embedded in that there were no premiums paid, and now
Speaker 1: we've got some world class assets that are starting to
Speaker 1: show themselves for what they are and supportive of our
Speaker 1: announced thirty percent growth by the end of the decade.
Speaker 4: Mark elsewhere, this morning, there was a one point six
Speaker 4: billion dollar deal announced in your industry of gold Fields
Speaker 4: and buying a Canadian company here giving them control of
Speaker 4: a full project in Canada. Wondering about your reaction, your
Speaker 4: competitive reaction. Is this the time now for more M
Speaker 4: and A and can you see yourself pursuing deals to
Speaker 4: be expanding?
Speaker 1: So Sonali and asked to chat to you as well.
Speaker 1: You know, this is a deal at Goldfields bought half
Speaker 1: of the asset just a little while ago. It's buying
Speaker 1: the whole company now, you know it fits maybe with Goldfields,
Speaker 1: definitely doesn't fit with the barrack size and return that
Speaker 1: we look for. It's you know, it's very interesting some
Speaker 1: of these transactions. You've seen the BHP landin transaction on
Speaker 1: copper in Argentina. You know, we're very cautious on doing
Speaker 1: big M and A transactions that are long dated, on
Speaker 1: the delivery in a hot market luck we've got today.
Speaker 1: I think what we're showing is that we've got lots
Speaker 1: to deliver from the transactions we did five years ago,
Speaker 1: and they are real value, creative transactions, not just relying
Speaker 1: on an increasing commodity process.
Speaker 2: Mark, I'm curious as to your take on the value
Speaker 2: of gold as a hedge against inflation. As you mentioned,
Speaker 2: your margins are stronger, and you know, cost inflation for
Speaker 2: you has peaked, really I think for consumers as well,
Speaker 2: and yet gold continues in terms of price. It's march
Speaker 2: ever higher, not really on the back of weakening dollar either.
Speaker 2: What's driving this rally if not inflation or weakness in
Speaker 2: the green back.
Speaker 1: You know, Matt, I've spoken to you about this before.
Speaker 1: The risk of a hard landing is still real and
Speaker 1: we saw that little anxiety come through the markets a
Speaker 1: week ago.
Speaker 3: And what's what.
Speaker 1: The dollar is weaker relative to the goal press. That's
Speaker 1: the ultimate measure, because the dollar is the strongest of
Speaker 1: all the paper currencies. But what it's showing is that
Speaker 1: and the developed economies are all having to deal with
Speaker 1: very large amounts of debt relative to their GDP. So
Speaker 1: the global economy is not in good shape. China is
Speaker 1: not where it was just a few years ago, and
Speaker 1: neither are any of the developed Western world economy.
Speaker 3: So and the goal Press is telling you that. So,
Speaker 3: and what's.
Speaker 1: Interesting just recently is that we saw a big focus
Speaker 1: on buying physical gold, which drove the goal Press up,
Speaker 1: you know, to the twenty two hundred and above.
Speaker 3: But now we're seeing move back into.
Speaker 1: The ETFs and and it's nice to see the reaction
Speaker 1: in the in the equities. And this is what we
Speaker 1: invest in Barrick as we invest in high quality assets,
Speaker 1: and ultimately the market recognizes that and you'll get.
Speaker 3: The left up and the equities.
Speaker 1: And at the same time, our returns to our shareholders
Speaker 1: through dividends, capital returns, etc. Has been on a level
Speaker 1: with our peer group. We've got embedded value in our
Speaker 1: business and we don't have to go and do M
Speaker 1: and A, although we never give up on M and A,
Speaker 1: but we don't have to go and do it at.
Speaker 3: A level where it's not easy to see value creation. Mark.
Speaker 4: I'm equally interested here to talk about copper. If you
Speaker 4: think that a risk of a hard landing is still
Speaker 4: real and copper had slumped nineteen percent from its May peak,
Speaker 4: you do see a rebound now. But do you think
Speaker 4: that there's a bigger floor of copper prices that you
Speaker 4: have to be aware of.
Speaker 3: Here, Yes, CINCINALI absolutely.
Speaker 1: I mean we've all talked about a very volatile next
Speaker 1: two years in copper. You know, copper really gets driven
Speaker 1: by many factors. One of them is the global economy,
Speaker 1: the perception of economic health in the world today. At
Speaker 1: the same time, we saw a sudden tightening on the
Speaker 1: supply side earlier in the year last year as well
Speaker 1: with the Panama situation. But we haven't seen the pool
Speaker 1: on the bar side yet. But ultimately that will come.
Speaker 1: Because the copper industry is ex growth, it will come.
Speaker 1: I've always said, you know, our expansion and Barrick into
Speaker 1: the copper business comes in twenty twenty eight. It's a
Speaker 1: great time to bring new copper production into the world,
Speaker 1: and so we're very comfortable with our investments. We do
Speaker 1: believe ultimately copper is in short supply and it's going
Speaker 1: to get shorter and shorter, and so that's good for
Speaker 1: the copper price, but in the next eighteen months to
Speaker 1: twenty four months is going to be very volatile.
Speaker 2: We get some time with you, thanks so much for
Speaker 2: joining us.
Speaker 3: Mark Bristo there
Speaker 2: Is the CEO of Barrick Gold and the shares are
Speaker 2: on a tear today