Australia's Iluka sinks on 'less favourable than desired' refinery funding

Iluka Resources

06/12/2024 03:33

** Shares of critical minerals miner Iluka Resources  ILU.AX 
tank as much as 15% to A$4.660, the worst performer in the
ASX200 index  .AXJO , which is down 0.6%
    ** Stock set for biggest intraday pct drop since late March
2020
** Australian government grants additional A$400 mln ($257.5
mln) on top of A$1.25 bln loan already committed to developing
co's Eneabba refinery
    ** ILU will have to fork out additional A$214 mln over the
A$200 mln already earmarked
    ** Eneabba is estimated to cost between A$1.7 bln and A$1.8
bln
    ** Sandstone Insights analysts say revised deal is "less
favourable" than ILU would have desired; flag debt concerns,
project ILU's debt to peak at just over A$1 bln in FY27
** ILU had net cash of A$154.2 million as of June 30
    ** More than 7.6 mln shares shares change hands, vs the
30-day average of 1.8 mln shares
    ** ILU down 26% this year, including the day's moves
     
    ($1 = 1.5535 Australian dollars)

(Reporting by Sameer Manekar in Bengaluru)
((Sameer.Manekar@thomsonreuters.com; Twitter: https://twitter.com/sameer_manekar))