28 Apr Final Results for period to 31 December 2022

Final Results for period to 31 December 2022

Kendrick Resources Plc (LSE: KEN), a mineral exploration and development company with vanadium, nickel and copper projects in Scandinavia is pleased to report  ts full year results for the year ended 31 December 2022.

The Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2022 will shortly be available on the Company’s website at https://www.kendrickresources.com. A copy of the Annual Report and Financial Statements will also be uploaded to the National Storage Mechanism where it will be available for viewing at: https://data.fca.org.uk/#/nsm/nationalstoragemechanism.

Please note that page references in the text below refer to the page numbers in the Annual Report and Financial Statements.

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation 2014/596/EU which is part of domestic UK law pursuant to the Market Abuse (Amendment) (EU Exit) regulations (SI 2019/310).

Further information on the Norwegian projects can be found on the Company’s website at: https://www.kendrickresources.com/nickel/

Financial highlights:

·    £1.04m loss before tax (2021: £325K)

·    Approximately £1.818m cash at bank at the period end (Dec 2021: £17k).

·    The loss per share of 0.68 pence (2021: loss 2.90 pence) has been calculated on the basis of the loss of £1,043,466 (2021: loss £325,000) and on 153,882,205 (2021: 11,190,363) ordinary shares, being the weighted average number of ordinary shares in issue during the year ended 29 December 2022.

·    The net asset value as at period end was £5.57m (29 December 2021 (£236k))

CHAIRMAN’S STATEMENT

Dear Shareholder

Kendrick Resources (the Company) despite strong global headwinds has made significant progress during the period under review and post reporting period.

Our main task post Admission to the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange (“Admission”)  was to assemble all of the reports and raw data generated by others during the history of the projects. This systematic data review often reduces the need for some expenditure and often one encounters work, which whilst relevant at the time, under new conditions could assume new relevance. This was the case in all of our projects and the Company has entered 2023 with many more opportunities, than immediately after Admission.

A review of our portfolio led to a potential contribution reranking, and it is evident that our nickel positions have short term opportunities and thus we carried out a full review of our nickel projects in Norway. The results of this review were that all of our nickel projects, without exception, present significant opportunity for extension, leading to resource increase and short-term mining potential.

The ownership of nickel sulphide licences can be considered a premium asset in a world of reducing sulphide availability against metallurgically very complex and financially challenging laterite projects. Our position is enhanced by a nickel price which is some three times higher than when the last serious nickel exploration occurred in our project area. We have carried out a drilling programme and by the time of this Chairman’s report is disseminated, the results will be in the public domain.

Our vanadium activities in Sweden, were subjected to review and soil and grab sampling programmes were carried out and the prognosis is that the area, which now includes an additional two licences, may also be highly prospective for copper and graphite along with the known vanadium resource. The work carried out has given us high confidence that our proposed Spring drilling programme has the potential to double the current known resource of 44 million tonnes.

During the period under review, samples were sent to metallurgical laboratories in the UK, with a view to assessing whether the concentrate quality can be maintained, whilst increasing the actual recovery of the product. The results of this work to date, have been very encouraging and a full report should be available for market dissemination during the second quarter of 2023.

Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries continue to gain importance in the battery storage world, no loss of capacity over time, longer lifespan, cost effective  and versatile, they offer a compelling alternative for static battery storage. Vanadium use in steel manufacturing is also increasing due to global implementation of new standards.

It is considered that the Airijoki Project in Northern Sweden, located in a well-established mining district that includes the largest underground iron ore mine in the World,   justifies intense focus if the Company wishes to be a serious player in the rapidly emerging battery storage arena. The vanadium projects in central Sweden, whilst continuing to have potential, will not be so actively pursued for now mainly due to their relatively early stage of development when compared to the known resources at Airijoki.

Our activities in Finland have been of a more desktop review in nature, with the objective being the identification of targets and rationalisation of existing information.

We have assembled a team of professionals who have the country and commodity experience to fast track our projects and consequently, since listing we have reduced our dependency on local consultants and to a large degree are independent in our project management.

We feel as we advance our project base, Kendrick will assume a position where its full market potential is realised. The projects, commodities and position in Scandinavia are unique and should gain the necessary recognition as the demand for new age metals advances as predicted. We have made few attempts to seek new acquisitions, since our current project base is considered to be of high quality, with the potential to significantly enhance shareholder value. In this regard, we have examined a number of opportunities consistent with our mission and I have little doubt that our presence in the region will give us advantage over others, as global commodity needs increase.

I would like to thank my fellow directors and team for their diligent work, in reviewing a massive data base, formulating a mid-term plan and implementing the initial components of the plant. We look forward to 2023 to be a year of positive advancement, which will reposition Kendrick in the eyes of the trade and investment market.

Results for the year

The Company reported a loss before taxation for the year of £1,043,000 (2021: £325,000) mainly due to administrative costs of £418,000 (2021: 289,000), including professional, consulting and directors’ fees. And Listing related costs of £607,000 (2021:Nil). Net assets at 29 December 2022 amounted to £5,567,000 (2021: Net liabilities £236,000) including exploration and evaluation assets of £3,933,000 (2021: Nil) and cash of £1,818,000 (2021: 17,000).

AGM and Resolutions

The resolutions for the forthcoming Annual General Meeting will be contained in a separate Notice which will be made available to shareholders and on the website www.kendrickresources.com. The Directors will recommend shareholders to vote in favour of all the resolutions and a form of proxy will be dispatched to all shareholders for this purpose.

Colin Bird

Chairman

28 April 2023

The full Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2022 is available in our Financial Reports section.