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FIRST URANIUM CORPORATION - Financial results for the twelve months ended 31 March 2013

Release Date: 28/05/2013 16:05
Code(s): FUU     PDF:  
Wrap Text
Financial results for the twelve months ended 31 March 2013

First Uranium Corporation
(Continued under the laws of Ontario, Canada)
(Registration number 2082276)
(South African registration number 2007/009016/10)
Share code: FUU ISIN: CA33744R5087

28 May 2013

First Uranium announces financial results for the three and twelve months ended
March 31, 2013.

For the Management Discussion & Analysis and Financial Statements please refer to
the Corporation's website at www.firsturanium.com. All amounts are in US dollars
("$"), except where otherwise indicated.

Toronto and Johannesburg  First Uranium Corporation (NEX:FIU.H) (JSE:FUU)
(ISIN:CA33744R5047) ("First Uranium" or "the Corporation") today announced its
financial results for the three and twelve months ended March 31, 2013.

Abbreviation   Period                                Abbreviation   Period
Q1 2012        April 1, 2011 - June 30, 2011         Q1 2013        April 1, 2012 - June 30, 2012
Q2 2012        July 1, 2011 - September 30, 2011     Q2 2013        July 1, 2012 - September 30, 2012
Q3 2012        October 1, 2011 - December 31, 2011   Q3 2013        October 1, 2012 - December 31, 2012
Q4 2012        January 1, 2012 - March 31, 2012      Q4 2013        January 1, 2013 - March 31, 2013
FY 2012        April 1, 2011 - March 31, 2012        FY 2013        April 1, 2012 - March 31, 2013

Overview

The Corporation disposed of its principal assets in Q2 2013.

On July 20, 2012, the MWS tailings recovery project was sold to AngloGold Ashanti
Limited ("AGA") for cash proceeds of $335 million. The 7% secured convertible notes
(the "Canadian Notes") (Cdn$110 million), 11% secured convertible notes (the "Rand
Notes") (ZAR418.6 million) and loan with Gold One International Limited ("Gold One")
($10 million plus accrued interest) were settled out of the proceeds. From the cash
proceeds received from AGA, a deferred payment of $25 million (the "AGA Deferred
Payment") was deposited with a warranty escrow agent pursuant to terms and
conditions of an escrow agreement in accordance with the AGA sales agreement for a
period of six months (the "AGA Escrow Period") ending on January 20, 2013. No
claims were made during the AGA Escrow Period and consequently, on January 21,
2013, the Corporation received the AGA Deferred Payment (including interest).

On August 1, 2012, the Ezulwini Mine was sold to Gold One for cash proceeds of $70
million. A total of $65 million from the proceeds was paid directly to First Uranium.
The remaining $5 million (the "Gold One Deferred Payment") was held by the
warranty escrow agent pursuant to the terms and conditions of an escrow agreement
in accordance with the Gold One Agreement for a period of six months (the "Gold
One Escrow Period") ending on February 1, 2013. No claims were made during the
Gold One Escrow Period and consequently, on February 1, 2013, the Corporation
received the Gold One Deferred Payment (including interest).

Following the successful implementation of the Gold One transaction on August 1,
2012, 95% of the principal amount of the 4.25% unsecured convertible debentures
(the "Debentures") owing as of April 30, 2012 together with the unpaid interest on
100% of the principal amount of the Debentures accruing from December 31, 2011 to
March 2, 2012 (inclusively) (together, the "95% Payment Amount") was paid to the
Debenture holders. In addition, 2% of the principal amount of the Debentures owing
as of April 30, 2012, was distributed on a pro rata basis to those Debenture holders
who agreed in writing on or before May 30, 2012, to vote in favour of the
extraordinary resolution to approve the Supplemental Indenture in relation to the
Debentures. The Corporation repaid the remaining principal amount (Cdn$4.5 million)
due under the Trust Indenture for the Debentures on January 28, 2013.

Upon the disposal of First Uranium's principal assets, the Corporation effected a
change of business according to the rules of the TSX. As a result of such change in
business, the Corporation no longer met the original listing requirements, and
decided to voluntarily delist from the TSX; however, to maintain liquidity in the Units
and to ensure that it remained a "public company", it applied for listing on the NEX
Exchange (the "NEX"), a separate board of the TSX Venture Exchange that provides a
trading forum for listed companies that have low levels of business activity or have
ceased to carry on an active business. The Units were delisted from the TSX at the
close of the market on August 31, 2012 and the Units commenced trading on the NEX
(FIU.H) on September 4, 2012.

After the Corporation's Units were listed on the NEX and upon meeting the
requirements for notice of record dates and payment dates of the NEX and the JSE
Limited, the Corporation made an initial distribution (the "Initial Distribution") on
October 1, 2012 of Cdn$0.125 (ZAR1.05) per unit to shareholders of the Corporation,
totaling $30.3 million, in the form of a redemption of 12.5 Class A Special Shares at a
price per share of Cdn$0.01 (ZAR0.08402).

Following the release of the escrow funds to First Uranium, the Corporation made a
second distribution (the "Second Distribution") on March 18, 2013 of Cdn$0.102
(ZAR0.88899) per unit to shareholders of the Corporation, totaling $23.5 million, in
the form of a redemption of 10.2 Class A Special Shares at a price per share of
Cdn$0.01 (ZAR0.087156).

Each Unit is currently comprised of 77.3 Class A Special Shares and 1 Class B
Common Share. The number of Units outstanding was unchanged following the
Initial Distribution and Second Distribution.

The Corporation is now considering the most efficient and orderly way in which to
distribute to the shareholders all remaining property of the Corporation (after
payment of the Corporation's remaining creditors), as well as investigating
alternatives, which may include the prospect for a business combination or sale of the
Corporation. If no viable alternatives are available to the Corporation, the
Corporation may then proceed to be wound up and dissolved. However, the Board
has not made any decisions with respect to the windup and dissolution at this time.

Summary of Financial Results

The Corporation reported losses from its continuing operations of $0.8 million in Q4
2013 (Q4 2012: $5.6 million) and $21.6 million in FY 2013 (FY 2012: $48.0 million).

Prior to the disposal of its discontinued operations in Q2 2013, the Corporation
reported profits from its discontinued operations of $108.6 million in FY 2013
compared to losses of $117.1 million in FY 2012. The primary drivers for the
improvement in the results of the discontinued operations over the comparative
period were the $80.3 million profit on disposal of the Corporation's principal assets
in Q2 2013 along with the derivative income related to the discontinued operations'
gold stream transactions of $31.0 million recognized in FY 2013 compared to a
derivative expense recognized in FY 2012 of $14.2 million.

The Corporation (including discontinued operations) utilized $1.4 million and $12.3
million of cash from its operations in Q4 2013 (Q4 2012: $4.5 million) and FY 2013 (FY
2012: $15.5 million), respectively. Prior to the disposal of its discontinued operations
in Q2 2013, the Corporation utilized $6.9 million during FY 2013 (FY 2012: $29.4
million) on capital projects at its discontinued operations. During Q2 2013, the
Corporation raised $388.4 million cash proceeds from the disposal of its principal
assets and used a substantial portion of the cash proceeds raised ($317.3 million) to
settle the Cdn$110 million Canadian Notes ($109.0 million), the ZAR418.6 million
Rand Notes ($51.5 million), the $10 million Gold One loan facility and the Cdn$150
million ($151.3 million) of Debentures. During Q3 2013, the Corporation utilized $30.3
million of the remaining proceeds to pay the Initial Distribution to the Corporation's
shareholders. A further $23.5 million was used for the Second Distribution to the
Corporation's shareholders during Q4 2013.

As at March 31, 2013, current assets were $4.6 million (March 31, 2012: $4.2 million
excluding assets classified as held for sale of $656.1 million).

The Corporation's current liabilities amounted to $1.3 million at the end of FY 2013
(March 31, 2012: $268.8 million) and consisted of a $1.1 million tax payable provision
and $0.2 million of trade and other payables.

Headline Earning Reconciliation                                                                         
                                                                                March 31,   March 31,   
(in thousands of dollars)                                                            2013        2012   
Total income (loss) for the year                                                   88,536   (165,099)   
Loss from continuing operations for the year                                     (21,559)    (48,018)   
Profit (loss) from discontinued operations for the year                           110,094   (117,081)   
Add back:                                                                                                        
Profit on disposal of discontinued operations                                    (80,319)           -   
Impairment of assets included in profit (loss) for the year from discontinued       (542)     178,171   
operations                                                                                              
Total headline earnings for the year                                                7,675      13,072   
Headline loss from continuing operations for the year                            (21,559)    (48,018)   
Headline profit from discontinued operations for the year                          29,234      61,090   

Headline and Diluted Headline Earnings per Common Share                                        
                                                                       March 31,   March 31,   
                                                                            2013        2012   
Total headline and diluted earnings per share ($)                           0.03        0.06   
Headline loss from continuing operations                                  (0.09)      (0.20)   
Headline profit from discontinued operations                                0.12        0.26   
is calculated based on the headline income for the year of ($'000)         7,675    (13,072)   
Headline loss from continuing operations for the year ($'000)           (21,559)    (48,018)   
Headline profit from discontinued operations for the year ($'000)         29,234      61,090   
and a weighted average number of common shares outstanding of ('000)     238,193     237,703   

Non-IFRS Measures

The Corporation believes that in addition to conventional measures prepared in accordance with IFRS,
the Corporation and certain investors and analysts use certain other non-IFRS financial measures to
evaluate the Corporation's performance including its ability to generate cash flow and profits from its
operations. The Corporation has included certain non-IFRS measures in this document. Non-IFRS
measures do not have any standardized meaning prescribed under IFRS, and therefore they may not
be comparable to similar measures employed by other companies. The data is intended to provide
additional information and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of
performance prepared in accordance with IFRS. Readers are advised to read all IFRS accounting
disclosures presented in the Corporation's Financial Statements for more detail.

For further information, please contact:
Mary Batoff, +1 416 306 3072 or mary@firsturanium.ca

Cautionary Language Regarding Forward-Looking Information
This news release contains and refers to forward-looking information based on current expectations.
All other statements other than statements of historical fact included in this release are forward-
looking statements (or forward-looking information). The Corporation's plans involve various
estimates and assumptions and its business is subject to various risks and uncertainties. For more
details on these estimates, assumptions, risks and uncertainties, see the Corporation's most recent
Annual Information Form and most recent Management Discussion and Analysis on file with the
Canadian provincial securities regulatory authorities on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. These forward-
looking statements are made as of the date hereof and there can be no assurance that such
statements will prove to be accurate, such statements are subject to significant risks and
uncertainties, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in
such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements
that are included herein, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

www.firsturanium.com
Date: 28/05/2013 04:05:00 Produced by the JSE SENS Department. The SENS service is an information dissemination service administered by the JSE Limited ('JSE'). 
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