Cameco Q2 results: strong financial performance reflecting positive momentum for nuclear power; uranium average realized price benefitting from long-term contracting strategy; Westinghouse opportunities driving improved 2025 outlook
Cameco (TSX: CCO; NYSE: CCJ) today reported its consolidated financial and operating results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2025, in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).
“The solid second quarter and first-half financial performance across our uranium, fuel services, and Westinghouse segments demonstrates the resilience of our strategy and the constructive outlook for nuclear power, significantly improving our overall 2025 expectations,” said Tim Gitzel, Cameco’s president and CEO. “Despite the uncertainty-driven volatility throughout the capital markets during the first half of the year, the need for clean electrons has remained on the critical path to addressing global energy security, national security, and climate security concerns. As a result, we believe nuclear energy, and in turn Cameco, with our tier-one assets in stable jurisdictions and strategic investments across the entire nuclear fuel cycle, is on the critical path to global energy security.
“Our integrated strategy that aligns our marketing, operational, and financial decisions continues to serve us well in a market that is shifting its focus toward security of supply. From a marketing perspective, we are capturing value with continued patience and discipline as we layer-in long-term contracts for both uranium and conversion services – contracts that protect us from weaker market conditions while retaining exposure to the price improvements needed to support investments in future supply. That portfolio informs our operational plans, ensuring the timing of our supply is aligned with market demand because history has shown us that the overhang created by unencumbered supply – or even an expectation of supply, credible or not –hinders contracting momentum. So, in addition to having a contract book to underpin the coordinated marketing and operational aspects of our strategy, we also maintain a strong balance sheet and the financial discipline that allows us to confidently invest where required and be patient as the market evolves, ensuring our actions are deliberate and our decisions add value.
“As expected, the second quarter timing of planned maintenance at the Key Lake mill this year resulted in lower uranium production and higher unit cost of sales compared to the second quarter and first six months of last year. However, aside from a slight increase in our expected annual average realized price thanks to a rise in market prices, the only other notable shift in our full-year expectations is from our Westinghouse investment. We now expect our 49% share of Westinghouse’s adjusted EBITDA to be between $525 million (US) and $580 million (US), driven by the $170 million (US) increase in our share of Westinghouse’s second quarter revenue, tied to its participation in a construction project for two nuclear reactors at the Dukovany power plant in the Czech Republic. We believe that the Czech project, which was announced in June, evidences the growing support for nuclear power, support that is expected to have a positive impact on our uranium and fuel services businesses while creating significant future growth opportunities for Westinghouse.
“We believe that supportive government policies, the tangible actions of energy-intensive industries, and positive public conversations are all pointing to a global convergence: nuclear energy is a critical solution for providing clean, constant, secure and reliable power to electrify global economies. As a proven and reliable supplier with decades of experience, Cameco, along with Westinghouse, is uniquely positioned to power a safe, secure energy future.”
Second Quarter Highlights
- Strong consolidated financial performance in Q2 and for the first six months of 2025: Net earnings of $321 million, adjusted net earnings of $308 million, and adjusted EBITDA of $673 million were all significantly higher than in the second quarter of 2024, largely due to increased equity earnings from our investment in Westinghouse and strong performance in our uranium and fuel services segments. During the first half of the year, net earnings of $391 million, adjusted net earnings of $378 million and adjusted EBITDA of $1.0 billion were also significantly higher than the first six months of 2024 for the same reasons. Quarterly results are impacted by normal quarterly variations in the timing of contract deliveries in our uranium and fuel services segments, and the timing of customer-driven reactor life cycle activities in the Westinghouse segment.
- Uranium: In our core uranium segment, second quarter earnings before income taxes and adjusted EBITDA increased by 46% and 43% respectively compared to the same period in 2024; earnings before income taxes and adjusted EBITDA for the first half of the year increased by 14% and 17% respectively compared to the first six months of 2024, all mainly as a result of higher sales volumes and average realized prices. Average realized price continued to show improvements as prices from fixed price contracts increased and the US dollar was stronger than in the second quarter of 2024. Total cost of sales (including depreciation and amortization (D&A)) increased due to an increase in the average unit cost of sales and an increase in sales volume. In addition, cost of sales was higher than in the second quarter of 2024 due to the costs of the planned annual maintenance shutdown at the Key Lake mill which were expensed directly to cost of sales. The shutdown took place in the second quarter compared to the third quarter in 2024. See Financial results by segment – Uranium in our second quarter MD&A for more information. Cash cost per pound is a non-IFRS measure.
- Fuel Services: In our fuel services segment, second quarter earnings before income taxes and adjusted EBITDA increased by 33% and 36% respectively compared to the same period in 2024 mainly due to higher sales and a decrease in cost of sales. Earnings before income taxes for the first half of the year increased by over 100% while adjusted EBITDA increased 97% compared to the first six months of 2024 due to higher sales, a higher average realized price and a decrease in cost of sales. See Financial results by segment – Fuel services in our second quarter MD&A for more information.
- Westinghouse: Westinghouse reported net earnings of $126 million (our share) for the second quarter and $64 million (our share) for the first six months, improving considerably from net losses in comparable periods in 2024. The improvement over last year is primarily due to Westinghouse’s participation in the construction project for two nuclear reactors at the Dukovany power plant in Czech Republic, which, as previously disclosed, resulted in a $170 million (US) increase in our share of Westinghouse’s 2025 second quarter revenue. We use adjusted EBITDA as a performance measure for Westinghouse and in the second quarter and first six months of 2025, adjusted EBITDA increased to $352 million and $445 million respectively, compared to the same periods in 2024, which was mainly the result of the increased revenue in the second quarter as noted above. Once Westinghouse receives the cash associated with the increased revenue, it will be considered, by the partners, in determining distributions payable. Westinghouse is expected to receive the cash in the fourth quarter of 2025. See Our outlook for 2025 and Our earnings from Westinghouse in our first quarter MD&A for more information. Adjusted net earnings and adjusted EBITDA are non-IFRS measures.
- Improved 2025 financial outlook: Our annual expectations for consolidated financial metrics remain unchanged. However, the outlook for our Westinghouse segment has improved significantly.
- Uranium and Fuel Services production outlook: In our uranium segment, we continue to expect 18 million pounds of production (100% basis) at each of McArthur River/Key Lake and Cigar Lake operations in 2025. However, potential risks to our 2025 production outlook at McArthur River/Key Lake include the expected timing of ground freezing and development schedules in new mining areas, access to adequate skilled labour, and the timing of new equipment commissioning. We now expect our uranium average realized price to be approximately $87.00 per pound (previously $84.00 per pound) due to the higher uranium spot price. In our Fuel Services segment, our annual production expectation, which includes UF6 conversion, UO2 conversion, and heavy water reactor fuel bundles, remains between 13 million and 14 million kgU of combined fuel services products.
- Westinghouse outlook: We now expect our share of adjusted EBITDA from our equity investment in Westinghouse to be between $525 million and $580 million (US) (previously $355 million to 405 million (US)) due to the approximately $170 million (US) increase in our share of Westinghouse’s 2025 second quarter revenue tied to Westinghouse’s participation in the Dukovany construction project in the Czech Republic. Over the next five years, we expect our share of adjusted EBITDA, excluding the impact of the $170 million (US) increase in the second quarter of 2025, will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 6% to 10%. The 2025 outlook for our share of Westinghouse’s net earnings is also impacted by the increased revenue net of income taxes and is now $30 million to $80 million (US) (previously a net loss of $20 million to $70 million (US)). Adjusted EBITDA attributable to Westinghouse is a non-IFRS measure.
- Joint Venture Inkai (JV Inkai) production: JV Inkai continues to target 2025 production of 8.3 million pounds (100% basis) of uranium of which our purchase allocation is 3.7 million pounds. We expect shipments of our remaining share of 2024 production (approximately 900,000 pounds) and the majority of our share of 2025 production from JV Inkai to begin in the second half of 2025.
Disciplined long-term contracting: As of June 30, 2025, we had commitments requiring delivery of an average of about 28 million pounds per year, from 2025 through 2029, which includes deliveries made year to date in 2025, with commitment levels higher than the average in 2025 through 2027, and lower than the average in 2028 through 2029. Long-term uranium contracting slowed during the first half of the year due to global macro-economic uncertainty related to trade policy issues, and customers’ focus on downstream services, driven by continuing geopolitical tensions. However, we continue to have a large and growing pipeline of business under discussion, and as the pace of contracting improves, we expect to selectively continue layering in long-term volumes that capture greater future upside and downside protection using market-related pricing mechanisms. - Maintaining financial discipline and balanced liquidity to execute on strategy:
- Strong balance sheet: As of June 30, 2025, we had $716 million in cash and cash equivalents and $1.0 billion in total debt. In addition, we have a $1.0 billion undrawn revolving credit facility.
- Additional financial flexibility: To broaden the ratings coverage on our debt and provide a tool for future flexibility, we initiated a public rating with Moody’s, which has assigned an issuer rating of Baa2 with a stable outlook (effective July 30, 2025). Obtaining a rating from Moody’s allows us to engage with an additional rating agency about the dynamics in our market at a time when our industry is in the headlines on a regular basis, demonstrating the supply and demand fundamentals that differ from others in the mining sector.
- Dividend from JV Inkai: In April, we received a cash dividend of $87 million (US), net of withholdings, from JV Inkai based on its 2024 financial performance. From a cash flow perspective, we expect to realize the benefit from JV Inkai’s 2025 financial performance in 2026 once the dividend for 2025 is declared and paid.
- Changes to the executive team: consistent with prudent succession planning and with Cameco’s ongoing commitment to execution of its balanced and disciplined strategy, effective September 1, 2025, the following changes will be made to the executive team:
- Tim Gitzel will continue in his role as chief executive officer
- Grant Isaac will be appointed president and chief operating officer
- Heidi Shockey will be appointed senior vice-president and chief financial officer
- Liam Mooney will be appointed senior vice-president and chief legal officer
- Sean Quinn will assume the role of senior advisor, special projects until March 31, 2026, at which time he is retiring
- Brian Reilly will assume the role of senior advisor, operations until March 31, 2026, at which time he is retiring
With these changes in the senior leadership team, we expect to continue to have the right people in the right positions, with the appropriate experience to help the company achieve its vision of powering a secure energy future.
Source: Cameco