Earnings fell for Centrus Energy, based in Bethesda, Md., in the first quarter, which the uranium broker and enrichment technology developer attributed to an increase in advanced technology costs and paying off debt.
Net earnings for the first quarter ended March 31 were $10 million, or $0.51 a share, compared to $27.2 million, or $1.60 a share, in the year-ago quarter. Quarterly revenue was $76.7 million, up year-over-year from $73.1 million, according to Centrus’ Tuesday earnings report. The company saw an increase in advanced technology costs of $15.9 million and a drop in paying off long-term debt of $11.8 million.
The revenue from its flagship low-enriched uranium (LEU) segment, which includes uranium fuel and natural uranium sales, was $44.6 million, down from around $51.3 million about a year ago. According to the report, separative work units (SWU) revenue declined by $9.7 million as a result of 47% decrease in volume of SWU sold. It was slightly offset by a 52% increase in the average price of SWU sold.
Centrus had a uranium revenue of $3 million, which last year was not accounted for in the first quarter.
The company did see an increase in its technical solutions segment, going from $32.1 million this year, a $10.3 million or a 47% increase from last year’s $21.8 million. This jump in revenue was attributed to its high-assay low-enriched uranium – or HALEU – production contract with the Department of Energy, which was signed in 2022.
During a Wednesday earnings conference call, Centrus CEO Amir Vexler said that the company is preparing for HALEU as the advanced reactor side of the market is beginning to mature. Through many administrative actions, such as executive and emergency orders, to address licensing and regulatory matters, it has opened up the reactor developers to turn their focus to the fuel side, Vexler said.
Vexler said many advanced reactor developers are getting to the point where they are seriously committing and procuring nuclear fuel. From a value perspective, Vexler said LEU still drives the market, but with Centrus leading the market in HALEU through its DOE contract, HALEU will have a lot of advantages for the company.
Earlier this year, Vexler said that LEU drove the current enrichment market and that the HALEU had no market at the time.
Vexler also mentioned that hyperscalers are beginning to enter the enriched uranium market as buyers as well.