12:44 PM EST, 11/06/2019 (MT Newswires) -- (Updates with dividend increase.)

Kirkland Lake Gold (KL.TO) on Wednesday said it third-quarter profit more than tripled, topping expectations, on higher production and lower costs as it raised its dividend by 50%

The company earned US$176.6 million, or US$0.83 per share, in the period, above the US$0.75 per share profit consensus estimate from analysts polled by Capital IQ. It earned US$55.89 million, or US$0.26, in the third quarter of 2019 while revenue rose 71% to US$381.43 million.

The increase came as the company's gold production rose 38% to 248,000 ounces as it resumed operations at its Holloway mine in the first quarter and output from its Fosterville mine in Australia and Macassa mine in Ontario rose.

All-in sustaining costs dropped by 13% to US$562 per ounce.

"Q3 2019 was our best quarter to date driven by exceptional results at Fosterville and a solid quarter of performance at Macassa," chief executive Tony Makuch said in a release.

Kirkland left its 2019 production guidance of between 950,000 and 1-million ounces unchanged.

The company raised its quarterly dividend to US$0.06 per share from US$0.04, payable in January to shareholders of record at year end.

The company's shares were last seen up C$1.71 to C$61.63 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Price: 61.99, Change: +2.07, Percent Change: +3.45