Beowulf losses widen in first nine months of year

Minerals explorer and developer Beowulf reported a wider loss for the first nine months of the year on Friday, of £0.59m, compared to £0.44m year-on-year.

The AIM-traded firm said put the result down to a share-based payment expense of £0.13m in the first three quarters, and finance costs of £15m attributable to its bridging loan.

Underlying consolidated administrative costs for the nine months ended 30 September totalled £1.07m, down £0.05m compared to a year earlier.

It said the fall in costs was due to a decrease in its foreign exchange loss of £0.15m, and a no options gain expense of £0.1m being incurred in the current period.

That decrease was “largely offset” through an increased spend on downstream processing costs of £0.12m, and an increase in professional fees of £0.08m.

Consolidated basic and diluted losses per share widened to 0.07p for the first nine months, from 0.05p year-on-year, while the company said it held £2.76m in cash at period end, down from £3.88m a year earlier.

The board said cumulative translation losses held in equity attributable to holders decreased by £0.03m in the period ended 30 September, to £1.19m, which it put down to the strengthening of the euro since the end of 2021.

As of 30 September, there were 632,393,876 Swedish depository receipts issued, representing 76.04% of Beowulf’s issued share capital.

The remaining issued share capital of the company was held in the UK.

“Since the last quarterly update, we have seen substantial progress by the company, we raised finance, Ulla Sandborgh took charge of the Kallak project, we made a discovery in Kosovo, we strengthened our positioning in the anode space in Finland, with a new and established partner, Hensen, to help us achieve our downstream ambitions, and Johan Röstin joined the company as chairman,” said chief executive officer Kurt Budge.

“The discovery of the large polymetallic epithermal system at Majdan Peak was an exciting find and represents a fantastic opportunity for Beowulf, warranting further exploration.

“The Majdan Peak South intersections also add to the significant potential of the Mitrovica licence, and it speaks volumes about the Vardar team, their discovery, and their exploration capabilities.”

Budge said the advancements made with Grafintec's portfolio, especially the new memorandum of understanding signed with Hensen, and exploration findings at Rääpysjärvi, were encouraging.

“Beowulf and Hensen first established contact in 2015 and I am delighted that we have joined forces to work on the GigaVaasa project, combining Hensen's 37 years of knowledge and experience in the graphite industry, and almost 20 years in the anode market, with Grafintec's strong position in the anode space of the Finnish battery cluster, and the company's natural flake graphite resources, which represent a potential secure and sustainable supply of raw materials for Finland to achieve its self-sufficiency ambitions in battery raw materials.

“Finally, I am looking forward to working with our new chairman.

“Johan's knowledge and experience will be of significant benefit to the company and support for Ulla, as the company progresses with project development studies, permitting, and attracting finance for the Kallak project, positioning Kallak as a future source of secure and sustainably produced high-grade iron ore for fossil-free steelmakers in the Nordic region.”

At 1236 GMT, shares in Beowulf Mining were up 7.27% at 4.72p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.