REG - Baker Steel Res.Tst. - Investment Update and 30 June 2025 NAV

Baker Steel Resources TrustAnnouncement

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RNS Number : 8958Q  Baker Steel Resources Trust Ltd  14 July 2025

THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONTAINS INSIDE INFORMATION FOR THE PURPOSES OF ARTICLE 7 OF
REGULATION (EU) NO 596/2014 WHICH IS PART OF UK LAW BY VIRTUE OF THE EUROPEAN
UNION (WITHDRAWAL) ACT 2018 ("MAR"). UPON PUBLICATION OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT,
THE INSIDE INFORMATION IS NOW CONSIDERED TO BE IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN FOR THE
PURPOSES OF MAR.

 

BAKER STEEL RESOURCES TRUST LIMITED

(Incorporated in Guernsey with registered number 51576 under the provisions of
The Companies (Guernsey) Law, 2008 as amended)

 

14 July 2025

Investment Update and 30 June 2025 Unaudited NAV

June Highlights

·      NAV per share increased by 12.2p, 13.2%

 

·      NAV increased by 14.7p, 16.4% during the  first 6 months of 2025
compared to a 3.6% rise in the MSCI World Mining & Metals Index in
Sterling terms over the period

 

·      Sale by Polar Acquisitions Ltd ("PAL") of the Prognoz silver
royalty for US$11 million

 

·      Tungsten West and Nussir (Blue Moon) projects selected as 2 of the
13 Strategic Projects located outside the EU by the European Union

 

Net Asset Value

Baker Steel Resources Trust Limited (the "Company") announces its unaudited
net asset value per share as at 30 June 2025.

Net asset value per Ordinary Share: 104.4 pence. Total NAV £ 111.2 million.

The NAV per share at 30 June 2025 increased by 12.2p, up 13.2% from the last
published NAV at 30 May 2025. Key contributors were the 153% increase in the
listed share price of Tungsten West Plc and the revaluation of PAL following
the sale of its Prognoz silver royalty.  The Company has reviewed the
carrying values of its unlisted holdings as described below.

The Company had a total of 106,462,502 Ordinary Shares in issue with a further
700,000 shares held in treasury as at 30 June 2025.

 

Investment Update

The Company's top 10 investments were as follows:

 

                                     30 June 2025  30 June 2025  31 December 2024  31 December 2024

                                     £m            %             £m                %
 Cemos Group plc                     32.3          29.1%         30.0              31.4%
 Futura Resources Ltd                28.9          26.0%         31.9              33.4%
 Bilboes Royalty                     9.8           8.8%          8.4               8.8%
 Tungsten West Plc                   9.5           8.5%          3.2               3.3%
 Blue Moon Metals Inc                8.6           7.8%          6.9               7.2%
 Metals Exploration Plc              5.2           4.6%          3.3               3.5%
 Caledonia Mining Corporation Plc    4.6           4.1%          3.2               3.4%
 Polar Acquisition Limited           3.8           3.4%          1.0               1.0%
 First Tin PLC                       2.8           2.5%          2.6               2.8%
 Silver X Mining Corporation         2.4           2.2%          2.1               2.3%
 Other Investments                   2.2           2.2%          2.6               2.6%
 Net Cash, Equivalents and Accruals  1.1           1.0%          0.3               0.3%
 Total                               111.2         100%          95.5              100%

 

 

Tungsten West Plc ("Tungsten West")

As highlighted in the May NAV Statement, on 30 May 2025, Tungsten West
announced that it had concluded its development and economic plan to restart
mining operations at the Hemerdon Mine in Devon, UK (the "Plan"), and released
the associated summary economics, resources and reserves ahead of the
completion of a full updated feasibility study.

The total financing requirement for restarting mining operations at Hemerdon
is estimated by Tungsten West at US$93 million, benefitting from approximately
US$300 million of previously invested capital. The economic model estimates an
NPV (7.5%) of US$190 million with an IRR of 29.3%. Tungsten West's addition to
the EU Strategic Projects list will undoubtedly be a significant help in
Tungsten West's efforts to finance the restart of the Hemerdon Mine.

The Company holds shares and convertibles in Tungsten West. During June 2025
the share price of Tungsten West on the AIM Market of the London Stock
Exchange rose by 153%.

Half Year Review of Unlisted Investments

The Company has carried out its usual half yearly review of general market
movements in mining equities, taking into consideration company-specific
factors, as well as an assessment of whether these should impact the carrying
values of its unlisted holdings.

 

The Investment Manager maintains an index of comparable listed companies for
each unlisted investment for comparison purposes and as a benchmark against
which the valuation of a particular unlisted stock might have moved during the
period had it been listed which it terms "IndexVal". In addition, the
Investment Manager has updated its royalty models for the royalty interests it
owns in Futura Resources and Bilboes Holdings to take account of the latest
estimated production profiles of the underlying projects and consensus
commodity prices. The net present values produced by these royalty models are
then discounted for development risk to arrive at a valuation.

 

Significant Movements:

Futura Resources Limited ("Futura")

Notwithstanding the potential exercise of the option by International
Resources Holdings RSC at A$3.15 per share announced on 9 May 2025, and the
start of production of its second mine, the Fairhill Mine, the carrying value
of the equity of Futura has been reduced by 19% to A$1.80 per share. This
reflects the potential financing risk during the ramp up stage and the
decrease in valuations of listed coal companies following the weakness in
coking coal prices during the first half of the year. The valuation in the
gross revenue royalty is broadly unchanged with the start of production of
Fairhill Mine, balancing the near-term lower coal price forecasts.

 

Cemos Group plc ("Cemos")

The carrying value of Cemos was increased by 7.7% with the new compact
calcination plant expected to commence commissioning in August 2025. This will
not only provide security of supply of clinker but should materially reduce
costs as well as enabling the potential to lower the carbon footprint
associated with cement production in due course.

 

Polar Acquisition Limited ("PAL")

As announced on 2 July 2025, PAL agreed to sell its net smelter royalty
related to the Prognoz silver project ("Prognoz Royalty") for US$11 million,
with the cash consideration received on 11 July 2025 Accordingly, the
Company's carrying value has been adjusted to approximately US$5.16 million,
its share of the expected distribution by PAL in the next few weeks. This is
approximately 4.1 times the US$1.24 million carrying value of its holding in
PAL as at the last published NAV on 30 May 2025.

Bilboes Royalty

The valuation of the Bilboes Royalty was increased by 27.4% in US Dollar terms
in line with the increase in the gold price over the first half of the year
albeit this translates to a 16.1% rise in Sterling terms as result of the
depreciation of the US Dollar over the period.

 

Trevor Steel, Chief Investment Officer of the Investment Manager, Baker Steel
Capital Managers LLP commented:

 

"The increase in the Company's net asset value in the first half of the year
in both absolute and relative terms is pleasing. It is reflective of the
concentrated nature of the portfolio where specific investee companies are
capable of generating high returns as inherent value gets recognised by the
market, which seems to be starting to be more willing to pay for development
projects. The spread of the Company's commodity exposure also provides good
optionality with precious metals being the highlight so far this year but with
the investment case for strategic metals such as tungsten and tin building
momentum. Our two largest holdings Cemos and Futura should complete ramp-ups
of production in the second half of the year and will then have the potential
to unlock significant further value, notwithstanding the current challenging
coal price environment in the case of Futura."

 

Further details of the Company and its investments are available on the Baker
Steel Capital Managers website www.bakersteelcap.com
(https://url.avanan.click/v2/___http:/www.bakersteelcap.com___.YXAxZTpzaG9yZWNhcDphOm86MjdlZGQ1NzE1MDA2OWIwMWI0NzUxYWYwYjc5OWUzNTk6NjpiYzEwOjkzMDBjNGMzNDY1MGVhOGQwZjg2Yjk0OWEzY2U2ODYwZDI0MDYxY2Y3MmU3MDM0OWJkOTAyZWZhZWViMDM0NTI6cDpUOk4)

 

Enquiries:

Baker Steel Resources Trust Limited             +44 20 7389 8237

Francis Johnstone

Trevor Steel

 

Shore Capital
     +44 020 7408 4050

Henry Willcocks (Corporate Broking)

Gillian Martin, Daphne Zhang (Corporate)

Adam Gill (Sales)

 

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of
MAR. Upon publication of this announcement, the inside information is now
considered to be in the public domain for the purposes of MAR. The person
responsible for arranging the release of this announcement on behalf of the
Company is Lucy McDowall of Aztec Financial Services (Guernsey) Limited, the
Company Secretary.

 

The Net Asset Value ("NAV") figure stated is based on unaudited estimated
valuations of the underlying investments and not necessarily based on
observable inputs. Such estimates are not subject to any independent
verification or other due diligence and may not comply with generally accepted
accounting practices or other generally accepted valuation principles. In
addition, some estimated valuations are based on the latest available
information which may relate to some time before the date set out above.

 

Accordingly, no reliance should be placed on such estimated valuations and
they should only be taken as an indicative guide. Other risk factors which may
be relevant to the NAV figure are set out in the Company's Prospectus dated 26
January 2015.

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