USEC suffered a net loss of $28 million during the second quarter of this year, the company announced yesterday. Much of the loss stems from activities related to the transition at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant as the company prepares the facility for an anticipated return to the Department of Energy in October, as well as expenses for USEC’s reorganization efforts, workforce reductions, advisory costs and advanced technology costs related to demonstration of the American Centrifuge technology. For the six months of 2014, USEC reported a loss of $78.8 million compared to $42.9 million in the same period of 2013. The company brought in a revenue of $121.2 million, a decrease of $163.6 million or 57 percent compared to the same quarter of 2013. USEC did however increase its gross profit by $50.4 million in the three months and by $16.2 million in the six months, mainly due to decreases in non-production expenses partially offset by lower SWU sales volume in its LEU segment.
USEC attributed the net loss to the transition at the Paducah GDP and the company’ ongoing bankruptcy reorganization. “During the second quarter, we continued to execute our Paducah transition plan to return the facility to DOE in October, we delivered LEU to our customers on time and in specification, and we earned a gross profit,” USEC President and CEO John K. Welch, said in a statement. “Over the past year, the non-production costs related to preparing the Paducah GDP for return have weighed on our profitability, but we are nearing the conclusion of this process.” Welch added on the status of the bankruptcy proceedings: “Voting results are being certified and will be filed with the Bankruptcy Court in advance of a confirmation hearing that is scheduled for September 5. We anticipate emerging from bankruptcy protection shortly thereafter,” Welch said.