6th Dec 2023 10:08
(Alliance News) - Yellow Cake PLC on Wednesday reported a rise in its net assets and said it swung to a half-year profit on increased uranium demand.
The investor in uranium founded by Bacchus Capital Advisers based in the Channel Islands said net asset value at September 30 was 7.54 US cents per share, up 22% from 6.18 US cents at March 31.
Yellow Cake swung to a pretax profit of USD458.8 million in the six months to September 30 from a loss of USD145.5 million the year before. Diluted earnings per share also swung to 2.31 US cents from a loss of 0.79 US cents per share a year ago.
It also swung to a gain in uranium investments of USD462.9 million from a loss of USD142.0 million the year before. "The uranium price has recently hit a 15-year high, driven by the same supply-demand characteristics that we have consistently highlighted since our listing. Specifically, we are seeing higher demand as nuclear energy is increasingly accepted as the critical choice to meet our future net-zero ambitions," said Chief Executive Andre Liebenberg.
Looking ahead, Liebenberg said: "We have continued to deliver against our stated strategy to buy and hold physical uranium giving our shareholders the opportunity for direct exposure to the commodity. Our ten-year framework agreement with Kazatomprom, which allows us to acquire USD100 million of uranium every year until 2027, is key to our investment case.
"We recently raised funds through an oversubscribed share placing and purchased a further USD100.0 million of [triuranium octoxide] at a price of USD65.50 [per pound] boosting our holding to nearly 22 million pounds of uranium. We remain very confident in our strategy, and the long term outlook for uranium."
Shares in Yellow Cake fell 0.3% to 585.00 pence each in London on Wednesday morning.
By Sabrina Penty, Alliance News reporter
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