The St Barbara Ltd (ASX: SBM) share price was a strong performer on Wednesday.
The ASX 300 gold share ended the day almost 6% higher at 56 cents.
That's all the more impressive considering its shares were down 1.5% more most of the day.
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Why did this ASX 300 gold share charge higher?
Investors were scrambling to buy St Barbara's shares on Wednesday after the company released a business update.
According to the release, St Barbara finished FY 2023 with a cash balance of $294 million.
This followed the completion of the sale of its Leonora Assets and a strong performance from all three operations in the fourth quarter of FY 2023. The latter saw the company deliver production in the mid to upper end of its guidance range for the year.
Another positive is that the company is now debt free. St Barbara used the proceeds from the sale of the Leonora Assets to close out its debt facility with a payment of $159 million.
Importantly, this is reflected in its cash balance. Though, a tax liability of approximately $33 million on the sale of the assets and transaction costs of approximately $12 million were still to be paid at 30 June.
Swimming in cash
It is also worth noting that this ASX 300 gold share now has a market capitalisation of approximately $450 million. This means that it has almost two-thirds of its valuation in cash at present.
In addition, the company will soon proceed with the in-specie distribution of all of the 205 million Genesis Minerals Ltd (ASX: GMD) shares received as part consideration for the asset sale.
However, today was the final trading day to acquire St Barbara shares on market to be recorded on the St Barbara share register by the record date for the distribution. If you're one of these eligible shareholders, then you can look forward to receiving this distribution on 11 July.
