Yellow Cake PLC on Wednesday said net asset value per share was up as uranium prices rose in the first quarter.

The Jersey, UK-based specialist investor in uranium said it estimates net asset value per share was £4.23 per share on March 31, up 1.9% from £4.15 at December 31. The firm said the improvement was due to the increase in the uranium price, partly offset by the rise in the value of sterling against the dollar during the first quarter.

Yellow Cake said the spot price of uranium increased by 5.5% to $50.65 per pound from $48.00 per pound the previous quarter.

The company estimated its proforma NAV per share on Monday was £4.46, assuming that 20.16 million pounds of U3O8 was valued at a spot price of $53.50 per pound.

In February, the firm raised $74.3 million in an oversubscribed placing, before purchasing 1.4 million pounds of U3O8 at $48.90 per pound, or $66.0 million overall, from JSC National Atomic Co Kazatomprom.

Yellow Cake said it expects to take delivery of the uranium in the second of half of 2023, brining its total holding to 20.16 million pounds of U3O8.

The company has retained its option to buy an additional $100 million of uranium in 2023.

Chief Executive Andre Liebenberg said: ‘Our confidence in the outlook for uranium is unchanged. In the first quarter, the price of uranium has continued to rise, in contrast to other commodities, highlighting the low correlation of the uranium price to other asset classes.

‘More significantly, there is a considerable positive shift in global sentiment towards nuclear, with governments worldwide recognising the need for clean base-load capacity. We continue to see rising demand, driven in part by higher contracting activity, which coupled with constrained supply, leads us to believe that this marks a generational opportunity for investors in uranium.’

Yellow Cake shares rose 2.4% to 366.40 pence each in London on Wednesday morning.

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