Urenco reports first-half 2007 results
Urenco, the uranium enrichment company,reported a Eur19 billion ($26 billion) order book with contracts extending beyond 2025 in its first-half results for 2007. It is investing in new capacity to meet demand for enrichment.
The company announced a 6% increase in turnover during the first six months of 2007 to Eur406 million ($554 million), compared with 2006. This was despite a drop in the proportion of Separative Work Unit (SWU) deliveries made during the first half of 2007 and a weaker US dollar. Urenco said the impact of these was more than offset by increased sales of surplus stocks of uranium hexafluoride feed, leading to an overall growth in turnover.
Pre-tax profit during the six-month period totalled Eur129 million ($176 million), a 3% drop, while net profit in the first half of 2007 was Eur76 million ($104 million), a 2% increase.
Urenco said that the uranium enrichment market has grown significantly in the past five years and that its share had increased from 15% in 2001 to 23% at the end of 2006. As of 30 June 2007, Urenco's forward order book stood at over Eur19 billion ($26 billion), a 26% increase compared with the end of 2006. Urenco said its contractual commitments now extend beyond 2025.
Investment in property, plant and equipment totalled Eur200 million ($273 million). Eur22 million ($30 million) of this large went on construction work at the National Enrichment Facility (NEF) in New Mexico, USA, while some was used in implementing an enrichment capacity expansion program in Europe, with new capacity being installed at Capenhurst, UK; Almelo, the Netherlands; and, Gronau, Germany.
The company's chief financial officer, Bart le Blanc, told Bloomberg that Urenco will sell bonds to help pay for a Eur3.3 billion ($4.5 billion) expansion in the USA and Europe. He said the company planned to sell Eur1.5 billion in debt before 2012 to fund a program to boost output by 80% to meet increasing demand. Le Blanc said, "It's like orange juice: Utilities are asking us to squeeze more out of the same orange." He said that Urenco's enrichment capacity will increase from 10.2 million SWU in 2007 to 18.5 million SWU in 2014.
Urenco's CEO, Helmut Engelbrecht, said, "The first six months of 2007 saw our existing operations deliver another period of safe, reliable and financially strong performance, supporting our program of capacity expansion, which is now well under way both at our European plants and at the NEF. Our capacity expansion plans continue to be driven by long-term demand from our customers."
Further information
WNN: First high-grade concrete poured for NEF
WNN: EIB to provide loans to nuclear projects
WNN: Uranium price driving SWU demand
