Last close As at 05/08/2026
USD4.02
▲ 0.07 (1.77%)
Market capitalisation
USD1,742m
Research: Metals & Mining
Progress to an exploitation licence and commercialisation of The Metals Company’s (TMC’s) deep-sea assets is unchanged. The development of a strategy to leverage the group’s knowledge and capabilities in the deep sea to provide services to third parties offers the potential of a new and earlier revenue stream.
The Metals Company |
Updated strategy offers commercial upside |
Q3 update |
Metals and mining |
15 November 2024 |
Share price performance
Business description
Analyst
The Metals Company is a research client of Edison Investment Research Limited |
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Progress to an exploitation licence and commercialisation of The Metals Company’s (TMC’s) deep-sea assets is unchanged. The development of a strategy to leverage the group’s knowledge and capabilities in the deep sea to provide services to third parties offers the potential of a new and earlier revenue stream.
Year end |
Revenue (£m) |
PBT* (£m) |
EPS* |
DPS |
P/E |
Yield |
12/22 |
0 |
(170) |
(71) |
0 |
N/A |
N/A |
12/23 |
0 |
(62) |
(20) |
0 |
N/A |
N/A |
12/24e |
0 |
(50) |
(17) |
0 |
N/A |
N/A |
12/25e |
0 |
(40) |
(14) |
0 |
N/A |
N/A |
Note: *PBT and EPS are normalised, excluding amortisation of acquired intangibles, exceptional items and share-based payments.
TMC reported a net loss of $20.5m for the third quarter and net loss per share of $0.06. Cash outflow in the period was $5.7m (nine months $29.7m). Current liquidity available from cash and credit facilities at the period end was c $63m. The company also stated that it expects future cash burn of c $5m a quarter. TMC announced it is raising €17.5m through a direct share offering. This is being led by external institutional investors and involves the issuance of 17.5m shares at $1.00. Each two new shares come with a warrant, exercisable immediately, convertible into one new share at $2 and exercisable if the common shares for each trading day in a 30-consecutive trading day period exceeds $5.00.
TMC recently announced that it plans to issue its application for a mining exploitation licence on 27 June 2025. This date has been chosen post consultation with parties including the sponsoring state, the Republic of Nauru. It reflects that the next meeting of the legal and technical council of the governing body, the International Seabed Authority, to review the latest mining code regulation will be in March 2025 with the subsequent meeting in July. Hence management’s view that this provides the best runway to expediate the application.
Management is looking to develop a services business to utilise the expertise gained through its many years of research and exploration in the deep sea, including 22 offshore campaigns and successful sea trials of its collector system to retrieve nodules from the ocean floor. There is increasing interest in development of the Clarion-Clipperton Zone deep-sea deposit as well as countries looking at developing their own resources (including Japan and Norway). The TMC team and its knowledge base could clearly assist and accelerate research and development programmes of other companies and states as opposed to developing their own capabilities. The company intends to hold a capital markets day in December 2024, where it will provide greater clarity on this strategy.
Management is positive on the outcome of the US election and the ‘America first’ policy, believing there will be a greater drive to self-sufficiency in critical minerals such as nickel, and that it provides a positive backdrop, particularly for material processing, in the US.
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Research: Metals & Mining
Alphamin announced record quarterly tin production of 4,917t (+22.1% quarter-on-quarter) in Q324 and EBITDA of US$91.6m (+68.8%) after the Mpama South mine completed its first full quarter of production at (or near) steady state. Alphamin’s consolidated annual financial statements and accompanying management discussion and analysis (MD&A) for FY24 will probably be released in early March. In the meantime, we are forecasting that EPS will continue to advance into FY25 and beyond under the influence of continued strength in the tin price and increasing efficiencies as both Mpama North and Mpama South develop (in particular) along strike.