Perseus stands out as a compelling investment opportunity. It is trading at less than 9x P/E even though it has gained over 350% in 5 years, is one of the few gold miners to have strived in Africa, and is the 4th largest pure-play gold miner behind Newmont, Northern Star and Evolution.

This said, it trades at a big discount to the above 3 companies despite generating 9-figure profits and not suffering cost inflation and profit downgrades in the same way that companies with projects closer to home have.

Perseus has 3 projects. The Edikan mine in Ghana as well as the Sissingue and Yaoure mines in Cote d’Ivoire. Twenty years ago, it was another small cap explorer but by 2012 had successfully bought the Edikan Gold Mine into development. Sissingue and Yaoure were bought into production in 2018 and 2021 respectively.

In 2022, it acquired the Meyas Sand Gold project in Sudan and seems all but certain to pick up the Nyanzaga project in Tanzania.

These assets produced over 500,000/oz in CY23 with an AISC of under US$1,000 and average sale price of US$1,913/oz. Perseus holds US$642m in net cash. It recorded just over $1bn in revenue, up 16%, and a US$349.3m profit, up 41%. Despite forecasting a slight rise in costs, it is still anticipating ~500k ounces of production in CY24. Its total ore reserves are 3.4m ounces of gold. Edikan and Sissingue may be soon to pass their use by dates with Edikan only scheduled to operate until FY27 and Sissingue set earlier than that.

But Nyanzaga is expected to be in operation in the 2nd half of CY25 and produce 250koz over 8 years. There’s a capex bill of US$474m but a 2.6Moz resource, an NPV (using a discount rate of 5%) of US$926m and IRR of 31%. The AISC is US$954/oz. These estimates were from two years ago when gold prices were lower.

Inghams (ASX:ING) is a poultry company that listed in 2016. The company is trading at 11x P/E for FY25. Despite a difficult pandemic with higher input costs and supply chain issues, it closed FY24 with a profit 68% above FY23. Investors have been spooked by warnings that its earnings might be flat due to cost of living pressures.

Nonetheless, Inghams is in a good position for the future. The company renewed its multi-year supply agreement with Woolworths and told shareholders it progressed or completed several important investments, including in its automation capabilities.

NIB is one of Australia's top health insurers, trading at 13x P/E for FY25. It has been hit with the depature of its CEO who had served for 20 years. There is also concern over competition in the sector and government pressure for insurers to put more money into private hospitals.NIB is one of Australia's top health insurers, trading at 13x P/E for FY25. It has been hit with the depature of its CEO who had served for 20 years. There is also concern over competition in the sector and government pressure for insurers to put more money into private hospitals.