Precious metal products manufacturer XRF Scientific (ASX: XRF) has unveiled its financial results for FY23, revealing substantial growth in several key financial indicators. The Company’s strategic positioning to meet the growing demand for precious metals, particularly within the mining and industrial sectors, has been central to its performance.

XRF’s Managing Director, Vance Stazzonelli, commented, “FY23 was a positive year, with all divisions contributing to the results and achieving a record profit. The mining industry was the main driver of activity, and our base of industrial revenue continued to grow. The Consumables division had a strong year, generating a profit before tax of $5.2 million.”

XRF Scientific reported an increase of 38% in sales revenue, marking a rise from $40 million to $55.2 million within the fiscal year. This impressive expansion in revenue was accompanied by a 36% surge in Profit Before Tax (PBT), which reached $11.1 million, up from $8.2 million in the preceding period. Net Profit After Tax (NPAT) also exhibited a significant gain of 26%, reaching $7.7 million from the previous $6.1 million. Furthermore, Operating Cash Flow surged by an impressive 167%, reaching $8.4 million from $3.2 million.

The Precious Metals division delivered a profit before tax of $3.6 million, which was driven by a mixture of customers in the mining and industrial sectors. The Company experienced high levels of reoccurring orders from mining customers, as increased sample testing requires regular recycling of spent platinum labware products. XRF’s base of industrial revenue continued to grow, with the office in Germany achieving revenue of $7.3 million compared to $5.5 million in FY22. 

Stazzonelli added, “The mining sector remained the key driver of activity, in which our products are consumed for sample testing processes across production and exploration. Lithium chemicals are a key production input and increased in price during the year due to demand from the EV sector. As a result, revenue and costs increased with no negative impact to gross margins. Working capital requirements from the lithium price increases began to stabilise during the second half.” 

XRF’s financial position remained favourable, boasting a cash reserve of $10.4 million and a debt of $2.1 million as of June 30, 2023. In H2 FY23, XRF diminished its outstanding platinum loan balance to $1.5 million by acquiring an extra $900,000 worth of platinum metal, which was then accounted for as an asset within the company’s inventory. The inventory breakdown included $6.8 million in precious metals at their original cost, comprising $1.5 million under loan arrangements and $5.3 million owned outright.

For FY24, the Company’s key focus areas include elevating the sales strategy on xrTGA (a weight-temperature measuring device), international sales growth, increasing Orbis crusher sales and additional new product releases.

McGrath announced a special dividend of 2.5 cents per share, fully franked. In addition, a fully franked interim ordinary dividend of 1 cent per share was paid in March and a fully franked final ordinary dividend of 1 cent per share has been declared.