30th Apr 2020 07:00
30 April 2020
Yellow Cake plc ("Yellow Cake" or the "Company")
Share Buyback Programme
Yellow Cake, a specialist company operating in the uranium sector with a view to holding physical uranium for the long term, is pleased to announce a three month extension of its share buyback programme, which commenced on 22 January 2020, to purchase up to US$2 million of the Company's Ordinary Shares (the Programme").
At the Programme's inception, the Company's shares were trading at a material discount to its underlying net asset value. The Yellow Cake Board therefore took the decision to implement a share buyback programme as a means of effectively acquiring exposure to uranium at a discount to the commodity spot price and delivering value to its shareholders.
As at 29 April 2020, the Company had purchased 413,067 shares (held in treasury) at a volume weighted average price of £1.87 per share and at a volume-weighted average discount to NAV of 16%. The Company has incurred US$985,868 on the purchase of its shares to date (inclusive of those purchases made to date).
Given that the Company's shares continue to trade at a significant discount to net asset value, the Yellow Cake Board has decided to extend the Programme to the earlier of 21 July 2020 or the date on which US$2 million has been incurred in the purchase of the Company's shares.
Purchases pursuant to the Programme will be made under the authority the Company has in place to make market acquisitions in accordance with the Jersey Companies Law (the "Existing Authority"). The Existing Authority permits the purchase of a maximum of 8,821,572 Ordinary Shares at a maximum price (excluding expenses) of 105 per cent. of the average market value of an Ordinary Share as derived from the AIM Appendix to the London Stock Exchange Daily Official List for the five business days immediately preceding the date of purchase. The Programme will be conducted in compliance with the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014 and Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No. 2016/1052. The Company intends to hold those Ordinary Shares purchased under the Programme in treasury.
Purchases will be carried out in compliance with the relevant conditions for trading, restrictions regarding time and volume, disclosure and reporting obligations, and price conditions. The Ordinary Shares will be repurchased at a price (excluding expenses) that does not exceed the last independent trade or the highest current independent bid on the relevant trading platform.
Yellow Cake has entered into an agreement with the Company's Joint Broker, Numis Securities Limited ("Numis"), to carry out on-market purchases of its Ordinary Shares. The agreement grants Numis the authority to enact purchases and make trading decisions concerning the timing of the purchases under the Programme independently of the Company.
Details of any purchases made under the Programme will be provided via RNS announcements and published on the Company's website.
Andre Liebenberg, CEO of Yellow Cake said: "By extending the successful buyback programme, we are able to take advantage of current market dynamics to acquire further uranium exposure at a discount to the spot price. The discount to NAV widened at the start of the coronavirus pandemic but has since been narrowing. Given the expected tightening of supply, the rising uranium price and our asset value, we would expect this to continue. A combination of further coronavirus-related supply side pressures, together with the long awaited publication of the US Nuclear Fuel Working Group's report, which brought to an end a long period of uncertainty for the uranium market, means we continue to believe the longer-term supply and demand characteristics of uranium make it a compelling investment opportunity."
ENQUIRIES:
Yellow Cake plc |
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Andre Liebenberg, CEO | Carole Whittall, CFO |
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Tel: +44 (0) 153 488 5200 |
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Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker: Numis Securities Limited |
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John Prior | Paul Gillam |
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Alamgir Ahmed |
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Tel: +44 (0) 207 260 1000 |
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Joint Broker: Berenberg |
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Matthew Armitt | Jennifer Wyllie |
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Detlir Elezi |
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Tel: +44 (0) 203 207 7800 |
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Financial Adviser: Bacchus Capital Advisers
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Peter Bacchus | Richard Allan | |
Tel: +44 (0) 203 848 1640 |
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Investor Relations: Powerscourt |
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Peter Ogden | Linda Gu |
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Tel: +44 (0) 7793 858 211 |
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ABOUT YELLOW CAKE
Yellow Cake is a London-listed company, headquartered in Jersey, which offers exposure to the uranium spot price. This is achieved through its strategy of buying and holding physical triuranium octoxide ("U3O8"). It may also seek to add value through the acquisition of uranium royalties and streams or other uranium related activities. Yellow Cake seeks to generate returns for shareholders through the appreciation of the value of its holding of U3O8 and its other uranium related activities in a rising uranium price environment. The business is differentiated from its peers by its lower cost base and ten-year Framework Agreement for the supply of U3O8 with Kazatomprom, the world's largest uranium producer. Yellow Cake currently holds 9.62 million lb of U3O8, all of which is held in storage in North America.
FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS
Certain statements contained herein are forward looking statements and are based on current expectations, estimates and projections about the potential returns of the Company and the industry and markets in which the Company will operate, the Directors' beliefs and assumptions made by the Directors. Words such as "expects", "anticipates", "should", "intends", "plans", "believes", "seeks", "estimates", "projects", "pipeline", "aims", "may", "targets", "would", "could" and variations of such words and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward looking statements and expectations. These statements are not guarantees of future performance or the ability to identify and consummate investments and involve certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict, qualify or quantify. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed in such forward looking statements or expectations. Among the factors that could cause actual results to differ materially are: uranium price volatility, difficulty in sourcing opportunities to buy or sell U3O8, foreign exchange rates, changes in political and economic conditions, competition from other energy sources, nuclear accident, loss of key personnel or termination of the services agreement with 308 Services Limited, changes in the legal or regulatory environment, insolvency of counterparties to the Company's material contracts or breach of such material contracts by such counterparties. These forward-looking statements speak only as at the date of this announcement. The Company expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to disseminate any updates or revisions to any forward looking statements contained herein to reflect any change in the Company's expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statements are based unless required to do so by applicable law or the AIM Rules.
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Yellow Cake