Urenco figures spiral upwards
Urenco's 2007 performance saw it grow net profits by 14% and break the €1 billion mark in turnover. The uranium enricher spent €43 million on a new US facility and expanded its European plants by 7% during the year
Urenco's 2007 performance saw it grow net profits by 14% and break the €1 billion mark in turnover.
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| Cascades of Urenco centrifuges |
Urenco is jointly owned by the governments of Germany, The Netherlands and the UK and has facilities in all three countries. In the last year Urenco has expanded capacity by 7%, boasting that the expansion project at the Springfields, UK plant was its fastest yet. The company is constructing a new uranium enrichment plant called the National Enrichment Facility (NEF) in New Mexico, USA, which will increase its capacity by about one third. Pre-tax investment costs for NEF for 2007 were €43 million in 2007. Urenco said there had been 'major progress' on the project and it remains on target for first production next year.
Annual capital expenditure jumped from €351.5 million to €527.1 million and the company took on array of new lines of credit: a European private placement of €100 million, a European Investment Bank loan of €200 million, two US private placements totalling $300 million and a $500 million US Commercial Paper program.
With an order book of €18 billion ($28 billion) stretching 25 years ahead, Urenco proudly estimated it has a market share of 23%.
