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Spain-focused Berkeley Energia lists on Main Board
Spain-focused Berkeley Energia graduated to the London Stock Exchange's Main Board and updated investors on its plans to list on Spain's four major bourses on Wednesday.
According to Berkeley, the Spanish stockmarket regulator has approved its prospectus, with trading of the shares on the stock exchanges of Madrid, Valencia, Bilbao and Barcelona now left pending only the finalisation of the banking arrangements for custody and settlement of the shares traded in Spain.
The uranium miner's flagship Salamanca project is located roughly three hours' drive west by southwest from the Spanish capital, Madrid.
Commenting on the company's planned new Spanish listing, Berkeley chief Paul Atherley highlighted how Berkeley was set to become the only listed miner in Spain.
Atherley also highlighted the economic stimulus and contribution to creating jobs that the company would make in a region that was sporting one of the highest rates of unemployment in Europe.
More importantly, while in the Commonwealth, Australia, Canada and South Africa have uranium deposits, at present in the European Union what few supplies are available come from the Czech Republic and Romania.
With Salamanca, Western Europe will now have another source of the prized silvery-white metal - which is both high-quality and likely in a more secure jurisdiction - needed to fuel the newest generation of nuclear plants.
At an 8% discount rate, management pegged the project's net present value at $531.9m, for an internal rate of return of 60%.
Key to Salamanca's feasibility according to the company were its low production costs, with total cash costs when up and running and at its so-called 'steady state' estimated to be at $15.06 a pound, versus a then current price of uranium of $20/lb..
Indeed, Berkeley touts the project's profitability, even at the low point of the cycle for uranium prices, as one of its key selling points.
Unusually for a company of its market value, of roughly £118m, it enjoys good analyst coverage, with Berenberg, Numis and WH Ireland among some of the research shops following the company.
Berkeley, which until Wednesday had been listed on AIM, would retain that on Sydney's ASX.