Steady earnings at Cameco (August 12, 2002)

Uranium producer Cameco (CCO-T) posted second-quarter net earnings of $12 million, or 22 per share, on revenue of $195 million, as increased sales volumes and improved uranium and gold prices bulked up the top line.

The profit was close to that of last year’s second-quarter, when Cameco made $12 million on revenue of $138 million. For the first six months of 2002, the company showed a $17-millon profit on revenue of $319 million, compared with earnings of $13 million on revenue of $209 million in the first half of 2001.

Uranium revenue in the first half of the year totalled $206 million, almost double last year’s figure; sales volume was up 84% and spot prices for U3O8 increased to $9.83 from $8.26 per lb.

Revenue decreased in Cameco’s gold unit, which took in $51 million in the first half on average realized prices of US$295 per oz. The decline is attributed to lower production from Cameco’s Kumtor gold mine in Kyrgyzstan.

In the same period, conversion services accounted for revenue of $36 million, and power generation (from Cameco’s share in Bruce Power, which operates the Bruce nuclear generation station in southwestern Ontario) left the company with a pretax loss of $4 million.