Centrus Energy reaped far more revenue in the first quarter of 2018 than it did during the same period of 2017, but still reported a net loss during for its latest earnings period.
The Rockville, Md.-based uranium fuel provider reported $35.7 million in revenue for the first three months of 2018 compared to $7.2 million in the same period in 2017. Its net loss for the quarter was $25 million ($2.97 per common share), a steep dive from net income of $7.6 million (about $0.72 per common share) for the first quarter of 2017. The 2017 figures, however, benefited from a $33.6 million gain from early retirement of debt, Centrus noted.
The latest earnings period benefited from settlement of recent litigation with the Energy Department over work done by Centrus on various past contracts. The company said in a January financial filing it had settled a breach of contract suit brought against the federal agency in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. That resulted in $9.5 million of revenue being recognized in the latest earnings report.
The company also noted during a Wednesday conference call that decommissioning is essentially complete at its American Centrifuge uranium enrichment demonstration project at DOE’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio. Just $1 million of decontamination and decommissioning costs remained, according to the company.
“We are focused on growing the company in a difficult market by expanding our core business, diversifying our business offerings, and mitigating risks,” said Centrus President and CEO Daniel Poneman. “We have made important progress over the last several months. The long-term supply contract with Orano that we announced last week supports our commitment to supply diversity and will support new sales opportunities through 2030.” The supply agreement with Orano would supply Centrus with the equivalent of more than 50 reactor-years of nuclear fuel.
Centrus says it typically gets more than half of its annual revenue in the fourth quarter.
The company expects to end this year holding $100 million to $125 million in cash. While it’s much less than the $208 million Centrus had on hand at the end of 2017, the company is using the cash to buy inventories of products such as low-enriched uranium, which are later sold, said company spokesman Jeremy Derryberry.
