Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) executives said fiscal 2025 was a “transformational year,” highlighted by record financial results, multiple portfolio-changing acquisitions, and several development and exploration updates across its royalty and streaming assets.
Record full-year results and dividend increase
President and CEO Bill Heissenbuttel said the company set records for revenue, operating cash flow, and earnings in 2025, citing the impact of a strong gold price environment, low and stable cash G&A, and the addition of new assets through acquisitions.
Heissenbuttel said gold contributed 78% of total revenue for the year and that the company maintained an adjusted EBITDA margin of 82%. Royal Gold paid more than $118 million in dividends during 2025 and raised its annual dividend to $1.90 per share for 2026, marking its 25th consecutive annual dividend increase. Management said the company has returned approximately $1.2 billion to shareholders since initiating a dividend in 2000.
Acquisitions reshape the portfolio
Management pointed to a series of acquisitions completed during 2025 as key drivers of portfolio growth and diversification. Heissenbuttel said Royal Gold acquired Sandstorm Gold and Horizon Copper, completed a gold stream acquisition on the producing Kansanshi mine from First Quantum, and added or expanded positions at Warintza, Xavantina, and the Lawyers project.
Heissenbuttel also said Royal Gold achieved full repayment of advanced stream deposits on Rainy River, Pueblo Viejo, and Andacollo—interests acquired in 2015 that “remain an important contributor” to the portfolio. He added that integration of the Sandstorm and Horizon portfolios is “largely complete,” with further work underway to rationalize and simplify those assets.
The company plans to provide 2026 guidance and longer-term direction at an Investor Day on March 31, noting that several unusual financial items in 2025—particularly in the fourth quarter—were tied to acquisition activity and were one-time in nature.
Fourth-quarter performance and notable asset updates
Senior Vice President of Operations Martin Raffield said fourth-quarter portfolio performance was “solid,” with 90,800 GEOs and record revenue of $375 million. The quarter included $32 million of revenue from the Kansanshi gold stream and $49 million from Sandstorm/Horizon interests; the Sandstorm/Horizon transaction closed on October 20, so contributions did not reflect a full quarter.
Raffield said royalty revenue rose 42% year over year to $111 million, while stream revenue increased by more than 110% to $265 million, with higher sales from Pueblo Viejo, Oyu Tolgoi, Rainy River, and Mount Milligan. He also noted strong revenue from the Cortez CC zone in Peñasquito, partially offset by weaker revenue from the Cortez Legacy Zone.
Raffield also outlined a range of updates across the portfolio, including:
- Mount Milligan: Centerra continues engineering and studies to support permitting for a life-of-mine extension to 2045.
- Pueblo Viejo: Barrick reported progress on the life-of-mine extension and provided 2026 guidance for its share of gold production of 350,000 to 400,000 ounces.
- Cortez: Barrick reported exploration success at Four Mile and 2026 production guidance of approximately 700,000 to 780,000 ounces (100% basis). Royal Gold expects an average blended royalty rate of 3.5% to 4% over this production in 2026, versus 2.6% in 2025.
- Xavantina: Ero filed an updated technical report showing a four-year life-of-mine extension to 2032 and expects 2026 gold production of 40,000 to 50,000 ounces. Ero disclosed fourth-quarter sales of approximately 15,000 ounces of gold and gold concentrate, with concentrate sales expected to continue through mid-2027; those concentrate sales are not included in Ero’s guidance.
- Fruta del Norte: Lundin Gold reported continued exploration success and described a growing understanding of an emerging porphyry belt adjacent to the mine, including a corridor extending to at least 10 kilometers.
- Mara: Glencore reported feasibility work is ongoing, with a final investment decision targeted for the second half of 2027 and first production expected in 2031 from the Agua Rica deposit.
- Kansanshi: Royal Gold received its first stream delivery in early October and is receiving regular monthly deliveries. First Quantum declared commercial production at the S3 expansion in December. Based on First Quantum guidance and timing from production to deliveries and sales, Royal Gold expects 2026 attributable gold sales of 26,000 to 31,000 ounces, rising to 38,000 to 43,000 ounces in 2028.
- Khoemacau: MMG approved an expansion feasibility study and expects concentrate production in the first half of 2028. MMG is targeting annual silver production of 4.0 to 4.5 million ounces, with Royal Gold expecting its share at about 60% of that level. Royal Gold expects 2026 silver production to its account of 1.45 to 1.5 million ounces, subject to a 90% payable factor.
- Platreef: Ivanhoe Mines reported development continues on schedule; first concentrate sales from Phase 1 were completed late in the fourth quarter, and Phase 2 is targeted for completion in Q4 2027. Royal Gold expects first revenue from Platreef in the first half of 2026.
- Hod Maden: SSR announced a feasibility study for a 10-year mine life, with annual average production of 159,000 ounces of gold and 21 million pounds of copper, and development capital costs of $910 million.
Fourth-quarter “noise,” debt paydown, and 2026 early view
CFO Paul Libner said fourth-quarter revenue increased 85% year over year to $375 million, driven by acquisitions and higher metal prices. He cited price increases versus the prior-year quarter of 55% for gold, 74% for silver, and 21% for copper. Gold represented 78% of fourth-quarter revenue, followed by silver at 11% and copper at 8%.
Libner said G&A expense rose to $17.6 million, about $9 million higher than the prior year, largely due to integration-related corporate costs tied to Sandstorm and Horizon, including nearly $4.5 million of integration costs that management characterized as mostly one-time. The company estimates total 2026 G&A expense will range from $50 million to $60 million, reflecting expected cost synergies from the acquisition.
DD&A increased to $80 million from $34 million, driven by additional depletion associated with producing interests acquired from Sandstorm and the new Kansanshi stream, which were stepped up under purchase accounting rules. Libner also highlighted $14 million of acquisition-related costs in the quarter and a one-time $48 million loss tied to the sale of Versamet Royalty shares acquired with Sandstorm. He said the accounting loss reflected the difference between the sale price and the fair market value on the acquisition date, while the sale price was higher than the company’s valuation at the time the Sandstorm transaction was announced.
Net income for the quarter was $94 million, or $1.16 per share, down from $170 million, or $1.63 per share, in the prior year due to those one-time items. Adjusted net income was $155 million, or $1.92 per share. Operating cash flow was a record $242 million, up from $141 million a year earlier, driven by higher stream and royalty revenue and proceeds from the first delivery of deferred gold under the Mount Milligan Cost Support Agreement, partially offset by acquisition-related costs.
Libner said Royal Gold drew an additional $450 million on its revolver in October to close the Sandstorm and Horizon transaction, bringing debt to $1.225 billion, then reduced debt to $900 million by year-end and to $725 million after further repayments in early 2026. The company now has $635 million available under the revolver and total liquidity of $757 million including working capital. Based on current metal prices and absent further significant acquisitions, Royal Gold expects to fully repay the revolver balance in early 2027, earlier than its prior forecast of mid-2027.
For the first quarter of 2026, Libner said the company expects GEO sales to be in line with the fourth quarter, while noting Q1 is expected to be the lowest quarter of the year and “not reflective of the full year.”
Q&A: deal pipeline, Pueblo Viejo recovery, and Hod Maden strategy
During the question-and-answer session, Royal Gold’s business development lead, Dan Breeze, said the deal pipeline looks “pretty strong,” adding that market volatility has not slowed activity and that the company continues to see opportunities in third-party royalties, base metal producers selling non-core precious exposure (citing the company’s Kansanshi and Warintza deals as examples), and development-stage primary gold projects.
On Hod Maden, Heissenbuttel said management was “happy” with SSR’s technical report and noted capital cost increases were known during due diligence. He said Royal Gold is involved in discussions as a joint venture partner and reiterated a preference to convert its joint venture interest into a more familiar structure that reduces operating and cost overrun risk, though he cautioned that would take time and could play out over the rest of the year.
On Pueblo Viejo, management addressed questions about silver recovery and incentives, with Heissenbuttel saying he does not believe Barrick lacks incentive to prioritize silver and noting the economics are effectively shared among partners and government royalties and taxes. Raffield said Barrick has focused on improving throughput and has made progress, while recovery issues have been influenced by variability in highly weathered stockpile feed. He said Royal Gold does not expect a material change to silver recovery in the short term and expects more detail when a technical report is released in March.
Heissenbuttel also said the company is not prioritizing debt repayment over new investments, and described the typical transaction size environment as reverting toward historical levels, generally in the $100 million to $500 million range, while acknowledging that higher metal prices can make transactions more expensive on a per-GEO basis.
About Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD)
Royal Gold, Inc, headquartered in Denver, Colorado, is a leading precious metals streaming and royalty company. Through its business model, Royal Gold provides upfront financing to mining operators in exchange for the right to purchase a percentage of future metal production at predetermined prices. This structure allows the company to participate in production upside while minimizing exposure to the operating and capital-intensive aspects of mine ownership.
The company’s portfolio encompasses interests in over 200 streams and royalties on projects across North America, South America, Europe, Africa and Australia.
