Atome losses widen in first half

(Sharecast News) - Atome reported a wider first-half loss on Friday, but said it had made "considerable progress" on its flagship Villeta low-carbon fertiliser project as it moved towards a final investment decision before the end of 2025. For the six months ended 30 June, the AIM-traded company posted a loss of $3.1m, compared with $2.8m a year earlier, with $6.6m of costs capitalised on the 145MW Villeta project.

Operationally, the period saw Hy24 agree to invest $115m as lead equity investor, while Atome signed a $465m fixed-price EPC contract with Casale and began detailed engineering work.

A new Atome Power division was also created to advance plans for a 400MW solar facility in Paraguay.

Post-period, the European Investment Bank gave in-principle approval for $135m of senior debt financing, while the Green Climate Fund agreed to provide $50m of concessional finance.

Final agreements with offtaker Yara and equity investors were expected in September, paving the way for a final investment decision and construction start by year-end.

"The Villeta project is expected be the largest low-carbon fertiliser production facility in the world when it comes on stream," said chief executive Olivier Mussat.

"With news of signing the definitive offtake agreement with Yara, constitution of the project equity club and of the multilateral lenders in the Project Financing expected in the coming weeks, we will then be well set to navigate our course for FID and commencement of construction by the end of the year."

He added that Atome was "uniquely positioned to expand its platform" once construction begins, supported by its project pipeline, government backing in Paraguay and growing financing commitments.

At 1211 BST, shares in Atome were up 9.38% at 49.22p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.