Lightbridge Reports Financial Results for the Third Quarter of 2018 and Provides Business Update on Enfission and Other Developments
Mon November 12, 2018 8:00 AM|GlobeNewswire|About: LTBR
RESTON, Va., Nov. 12, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Lightbridge Corporation (NASDAQ: LTBR), a U.S. nuclear fuel technology company, today provided a business update and reported financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2018. The Company also plans to host a third quarter conference call; however, the time and date have not been finalized and will be announced separately.
Seth Grae, President & Chief Executive Officer of Lightbridge Corporation, commented, “Enfission, our joint venture with Framatome, is making tremendous progress towards validation and commercialization of Lightbridge’s metallic nuclear fuel. During the quarter, we announced several key progress updates for Enfission. We announced that we began preparatory work at the Framatome fuel fabrication facility in Richland, Washington, which will be used to manufacture fuel assemblies for nuclear power plants based on our patented metallic fuel. We are also preparing the facility licensing package for review and approval by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). On August 15th, we met with representatives of the NRC, where we discussed the development and regulatory licensing of Lightbridge Fuel for the U.S. market. We look forward to working closely with the NRC staff throughout the licensing process.”
ENFISSION R&D ADVANCEMENTS THIS QUARTER
Fabrication:
Completed several studies on key fabrication steps, particularly relating to the co-extrusion process modeling, billet preparation conditions, and material flows
Established purchasing process for equipment
Continued further refinement of fabrication process steps, material flows, and equipment needs and specifications
Researched material properties and prepared material data manual
Fuel Design:
Prepared product requirements document and data sheet
Initiated next phase of neutronics code modifications to model Lightbridge Fuel™ geometry
Developed 3D model for Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis
Developed fuel assembly CFD model to investigate Critical Heat Flux (CHF) performance
Regulatory Licensing:
Established regular interaction with the NRC, with the first Enfission project kickoff meeting held in August 2018
Continued development of fuel design limits in support of licensing activities
Balance Sheet Overview
Our balance sheet remains strong and we ended the quarter with approximately $25.3 million of cash and cash equivalents as of September 30, 2018. We had approximately $4.5 million of cash at December 31, 2017. The $20.8 million increase in cash and cash equivalents resulted from the net proceeds from the sale of approximately $27.6 million of common stock and $3.9 million of preferred stock during the nine months ended September 30, 2018. This amount of cash inflow from financing activities was offset by net cash used in operating activities of approximately $5.3 million and our cash used in investing activities, which was primarily capital contributions for our capital investment in Enfission of approximately $5.2 million in 2018. Cash used in operating activities for the nine months ended September 30, 2018 was primarily related to fund our ongoing research and development activities and general and administrative expenses. We had a working capital surplus of approximately $24.6 million. Stockholders' equity at September 30, 2018 was approximately $26.8 million compared to stockholders’ equity of approximately $5.8 million at December 31, 2017.
Operating Results – Third Quarter of Fiscal 2018 Compared to Third Quarter of Fiscal 2017
Net losses incurred for the three months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017 amounted to approximately $4.2 million and $1.7 million respectively. Total operating expenses incurred for the three months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017 amounted to approximately $2.8 million and $1.6 million respectively. For the third quarter ended September 30, 2018, total general and administrative expenses increased by $0.8 million as compared to the three months ended September 30, 2017 and total research and development expenses increased by $0.4 million for the three-months ended September 30, 2018, as compared to the three months ended September 30, 2017. The increase was primarily due to an increase in employee compensation expense and the issuance of performance-based stock options issued in 2018. Total equity in loss from our Enfission joint venture was $1.7 million, which was primarily research and development expenses.
About Lightbridge Corporation
Lightbridge (LTBG) (NASDAQ: LTBR) is a nuclear fuel technology development company based in Reston, Virginia, USA. The Company develops proprietary next generation nuclear fuel technologies for current and future reactors, which significantly enhances the economics and safety of nuclear power, operating about 1000° C cooler than standard fuel. In January 2018, Lightbridge and Framatome, Inc. formed a 50-50 joint venture, Enfission, LLC, to develop, license, manufacture, and sell nuclear fuel assemblies based on Lightbridge-designed metallic fuel technology and other advanced nuclear fuel intellectual property. Enfission has the exclusive rights to this technology and is responsible for the development of manufacturing processes and fuel assembly designs for pressurized water reactors (PWRs), boiling water reactors (BWRs), water-cooled small modular reactors, and water-cooled research reactors developed around this intellectual property. PWRs and BWRs constitute the most widely used reactor types in the world. Four large electric utilities that generate about half the nuclear power in the US already advise Lightbridge on fuel development and deployment. In addition to distributions from Enfission based on the parties’ ownership interest in the joint venture, Lightbridge anticipates receiving future licensing revenues in connection with sales by Enfission of nuclear fuel incorporating its intellectual property. Lightbridge also provides comprehensive advisory services for established and emerging nuclear programs based on a philosophy of transparency, non-proliferation, safety and operational excellence. For more information please visit: www.ltbridge.com.
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Mon November 12, 2018 8:00 AM|GlobeNewswire|About: LTBR
RESTON, Va., Nov. 12, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Lightbridge Corporation (NASDAQ: LTBR), a U.S. nuclear fuel technology company, today provided a business update and reported financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2018. The Company also plans to host a third quarter conference call; however, the time and date have not been finalized and will be announced separately.
Seth Grae, President & Chief Executive Officer of Lightbridge Corporation, commented, “Enfission, our joint venture with Framatome, is making tremendous progress towards validation and commercialization of Lightbridge’s metallic nuclear fuel. During the quarter, we announced several key progress updates for Enfission. We announced that we began preparatory work at the Framatome fuel fabrication facility in Richland, Washington, which will be used to manufacture fuel assemblies for nuclear power plants based on our patented metallic fuel. We are also preparing the facility licensing package for review and approval by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). On August 15th, we met with representatives of the NRC, where we discussed the development and regulatory licensing of Lightbridge Fuel for the U.S. market. We look forward to working closely with the NRC staff throughout the licensing process.”
ENFISSION R&D ADVANCEMENTS THIS QUARTER
Fabrication:
Completed several studies on key fabrication steps, particularly relating to the co-extrusion process modeling, billet preparation conditions, and material flows
Established purchasing process for equipment
Continued further refinement of fabrication process steps, material flows, and equipment needs and specifications
Researched material properties and prepared material data manual
Fuel Design:
Prepared product requirements document and data sheet
Initiated next phase of neutronics code modifications to model Lightbridge Fuel™ geometry
Developed 3D model for Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis
Developed fuel assembly CFD model to investigate Critical Heat Flux (CHF) performance
Regulatory Licensing:
Established regular interaction with the NRC, with the first Enfission project kickoff meeting held in August 2018
Continued development of fuel design limits in support of licensing activities
Balance Sheet Overview
Our balance sheet remains strong and we ended the quarter with approximately $25.3 million of cash and cash equivalents as of September 30, 2018. We had approximately $4.5 million of cash at December 31, 2017. The $20.8 million increase in cash and cash equivalents resulted from the net proceeds from the sale of approximately $27.6 million of common stock and $3.9 million of preferred stock during the nine months ended September 30, 2018. This amount of cash inflow from financing activities was offset by net cash used in operating activities of approximately $5.3 million and our cash used in investing activities, which was primarily capital contributions for our capital investment in Enfission of approximately $5.2 million in 2018. Cash used in operating activities for the nine months ended September 30, 2018 was primarily related to fund our ongoing research and development activities and general and administrative expenses. We had a working capital surplus of approximately $24.6 million. Stockholders' equity at September 30, 2018 was approximately $26.8 million compared to stockholders’ equity of approximately $5.8 million at December 31, 2017.
Operating Results – Third Quarter of Fiscal 2018 Compared to Third Quarter of Fiscal 2017
Net losses incurred for the three months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017 amounted to approximately $4.2 million and $1.7 million respectively. Total operating expenses incurred for the three months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017 amounted to approximately $2.8 million and $1.6 million respectively. For the third quarter ended September 30, 2018, total general and administrative expenses increased by $0.8 million as compared to the three months ended September 30, 2017 and total research and development expenses increased by $0.4 million for the three-months ended September 30, 2018, as compared to the three months ended September 30, 2017. The increase was primarily due to an increase in employee compensation expense and the issuance of performance-based stock options issued in 2018. Total equity in loss from our Enfission joint venture was $1.7 million, which was primarily research and development expenses.
About Lightbridge Corporation
Lightbridge (LTBG) (NASDAQ: LTBR) is a nuclear fuel technology development company based in Reston, Virginia, USA. The Company develops proprietary next generation nuclear fuel technologies for current and future reactors, which significantly enhances the economics and safety of nuclear power, operating about 1000° C cooler than standard fuel. In January 2018, Lightbridge and Framatome, Inc. formed a 50-50 joint venture, Enfission, LLC, to develop, license, manufacture, and sell nuclear fuel assemblies based on Lightbridge-designed metallic fuel technology and other advanced nuclear fuel intellectual property. Enfission has the exclusive rights to this technology and is responsible for the development of manufacturing processes and fuel assembly designs for pressurized water reactors (PWRs), boiling water reactors (BWRs), water-cooled small modular reactors, and water-cooled research reactors developed around this intellectual property. PWRs and BWRs constitute the most widely used reactor types in the world. Four large electric utilities that generate about half the nuclear power in the US already advise Lightbridge on fuel development and deployment. In addition to distributions from Enfission based on the parties’ ownership interest in the joint venture, Lightbridge anticipates receiving future licensing revenues in connection with sales by Enfission of nuclear fuel incorporating its intellectual property. Lightbridge also provides comprehensive advisory services for established and emerging nuclear programs based on a philosophy of transparency, non-proliferation, safety and operational excellence. For more information please visit: www.ltbridge.com.
To receive Lightbridge Corporation updates via e-mail, subscribe at http://ir.ltbridge.com/alerts.cfm.
Lightbridge is on Twitter. Sign up to follow @LightbridgeCorp at http://twitter.com/lightbridgecorp.
https://seekingalpha.com/pr/17329988-lightbri...-enfission
