Winners and Losers: How SA’s listed companies performed in FY25
Investors in South Australian speculative critical minerals and gold companies would’ve come out on top in the financial year, as one standout performer skewed the broader index.
A copper and critical minerals explorer that uncovered significant concentrations of titanium rich heavy mineral sands in South Australia rose a whopping 1929.41 per cent over the course of the 2025 financial year.
Petratherm had a stellar run on the ASX, with investors salivating at the prospects of its potentially transformative project that’s high-grade, high-value and located near key railway infrastructure.
It was the biggest Winner of the financial year; a tumultuous period for the ASX which weathered global unrest, international political and economic challenges and a Federal Election campaign.
The broader ASX200 benchmark closed the year just 1 per cent below its yearly highs to finish up 10 per cent in price returns.
The largest gains were driven by financials (up 24 per cent), communications (up 23 per cent), industrials (up 22 per cent) and consumer discretionary stocks (up 18 per cent).
The major detractors were energy (down 13 per cent) and materials (down 6 per cent) stocks, impacted by a sluggish Chinese property recovery and ongoing tariff uncertainty.
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According to Baker Young analysts, the SA stock skew tracked by this column varied “significantly to that of the broader market”.
“In a state that’s rich in natural resources (Materials 26 stocks and Energy 10 stocks) and ‘above ground’ Agricultural (Consumer Staples 5 stocks) this was double (65 per cent of stocks exposure) to those laggard sectors versus the ASX200 that has 32 per cent (64 stocks of 200),” analysts said.
“Meanwhile, SA stocks were significantly underweight those market-leading sectors namely Financials, IT, Communications and Consumer Discretion so that was another headwind.”
From a size perspective, Baker Young analysts categorised the year’s Winners as follows:
- >$1bn market cap (7 stocks) – Codan Limited (CDA) +69 per cent – supported by record gold prices for its Minelab metal detection business and growing demand for military and communications technology
- >$100m mkt cap but <$1bn (10 stocks) – Petratherm (PTR) +1929 per cent & Barton Gold Holdings (BGD) +200 per cent
- >$20m mkt cap to <$100m (23 stocks) – Iondrive Limited (ION) +333 per cent, Resolution Minerals (RML) +225 per cent, Koonenberry Gold (KNB) +129 per cent
- <$20m mkt cap – Spacetalk -3.33 per cent
“On an equal weighted basis looking at the SA stocks of the 63 stocks there were 16 up and 47 down (3:1 negative) versus the ASX200 135 up and 65 down (2:1 positive),” analysts said.
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“The average (mean) returns of the SA stocks was 22 per cent while the mean average of the ASX200 was 17 per cent. However, the median return (the middle value in the data set) for the ASX200 was +11 per cent (much closer to the average) while the SA stocks was -24 per cent which highlights the magnitude of the largest outlier winner Petratherm (PTR) +1929 per cent performance; a clear standout for the year.
“While it’s broad based to say the Materials sector (stocks) underperformed there were pockets of outperformance particularly amongst speculative critical minerals and gold companies that were largely this year’s top 5 winners.
“For example, the S&P/ASX All Ordinaries Gold (sub industry) (XGD) index rose a whopping +57 per cent this past year (+37 per cent the past 6 months) as central banks continue to diversify away from the USD while speculative interest remains strong. Higher gold prices are encouraging further exploration and drilling programmes from juniors and once unprofitable projects are again looking more attractive should the good times last.”
M&A and shrinking investment universe
A surge in merger activity, a lack of new floats and a consistent flow of companies delisting shrunk the market more broadly, and the SA index suffered too with six changes in the year and potentially more to come.
The six changes to the list:
- 3 takeovers (ABC, PNX and RXM)
- 1 reverse takeover (KTG) & name change
- 2 name changes (COE and LBT).
“In February, a $7.40 per share cash takeover of Mayne Pharma by US Cosette Pharmaceuticals valuing the company at $672m was announced and has passed a shareholder vote however, this being contested in the courts if an adverse change is valid and the deal be terminated,” analysts said.
“In June, Santos granted due diligence to XRG a consortium of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company and US Private Equity firm Carlyle which have proposed $8.89 per share cash takeover valuing the company at $30bn. Santos shares at trading at a significant 13 per cent discount to the offer on concerns the deal may get blocked on national interest grounds.”
The Winners and Loser for FY25 on a year-on-year percentage change basis:
Data via Baker Young Limited analysts.
