Newcleo, auditors alert: 'Business continuity at risk'

The auditors' alarm over the continuity of the company, 'in the absence of commitments on capital contributions' from new investors. A 2024 balance sheet with losses doubled to 110 million - against personnel costs jumped to 69 million (the board of directors alone 1.9 million) - at a rate of 13 million burnt per month. To slow down the haemorrhaging, the adoption of a conservative plan that, if it continues, 'could jeopardise the timing' of the industrial objectives to 2030, considered in any case optimistic by insiders, with doubts and stomach aches creeping in among the historical shareholders.

Newcleo is one of the world's most famous start-ups on fourth-generation nuclear power. This is thanks to a potentially revolutionary idea in terms of technology and cost (it promises lead-cooled mini-reactors and fuel made from the 'recycling' of waste from old plants dating back to the early 1930s), as well as to a 90% Italian shareholding, more than 700 holding companies, entrepreneurs and prominent families such as Agnelli-Elkann and Malacalza. However, today the company, led and founded by physicist Stefano Buono, can be said to be at a crossroads. In the absence of 'industrial' breakthroughs or the entry of strong shareholders, the road is, to say the least, uphill. This is borne out by the 2024 balance sheet, which still bears the British 'stamp', even though the group has recently moved to France, where the atom is at home and Newcleo is planning to invest EUR 3 billion over the next few years.

While revenues increased to EUR 70 million, thanks to the consolidation of several acquired companies, the loss 'in line with expectations' is EUR 110 million. For a start-up committed to an innovative project - and crucial given the growing demand for decarbonised electricity - fund raising is more crucial than liabilities in the short term. At the end of 2023 the net liquidity was 282 million, but it fell to 190 million at the end of 2024 and to 160 million last 25 April, despite the last tranche of fundraising almost a year ago that brought the total to 537 million. "Newcleo is preparing a capital injection, against several letters of intent, for 163.5 million, is working to obtain various subsidies in Europe, and obtained over 30 million with a bond at the end of April," reads the balance sheet, which specifies that there are resources in the till for at least 12 months as of 1 June. However, it warns, if liquidity does not come in within this timeframe 'there is asignificant risk' to the company's ability to continue as a going concern. In this regard, Pwc's auditors are more clear-cut, even with respect to the 2023 financial statements, and speak of 'substantial uncertainty' and potential 'significant doubts' about the company's ability to continue as a going concern, reiterating the need to raise funds within 12 months, even if 'at the time of writing there are no commitments' for new funding. Moreover, over the past year and a half, rumours about potential investors have abounded: the French state, Cdp and Cdp Venture Capital (no from both), the Italian government (there was talk of 200 million). So many hypotheses which, despite some political pressure, have never been followed by facts. Recently, Buono spoke of an IPO starting in 2027, but with these assumptions - for Newcleo there is talk of over 4 billion to finance before positive cash flows - it is a mirage.

The alarm on the financial front, common to other companies in the Buono galaxy, goes hand in hand with difficulties in the development of lead technology. Collaboration agreements with large Italian companies and European governments are not lacking, but the market's focus is on the projected roadmap - the first reactors and fuel plant in France at the beginning of the next decade - at risk of slippage with the conservative plan decided by the board of directors (pending new capital), which envisages a reduction in recruitment and some investments and, in fact, the stop to activities in the United Kingdom. In general, there is concern among experts about both the overall final costs and the development timeframe promised by Newcleo, which is almost more optimistic than the still water-cooled advanced third-generation nuclear power plant, a more established technology.

For insiders, the test of nine will be the test at the Enea Research Centre in Brasimone, in the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines. There Newcleo promises to run, by the end of 2026, the electric simulator of a liquid-lead nuclear reactor. Success would open up new horizons, also relevant on the capital-raising front. Without a technological breakthrough, however, according to some, Newcleo's real value would be its over 1,000 employees, given the great 'hunger' for nuclear expertise on the Italian and European markets.