Arc Minerals Narrows Loss but Takes Handa Cash Charge

Arc Minerals Limited (LON: ARCM), the AIM-listed explorer targeting Tier 1 copper deposits in Africa, reported today an operating loss of £965,000 for the six months to 30 June, down sharply from £2,117,000 a year earlier. The board approved the unaudited interim results on Friday.

The improvement was partly offset by a new £774,000 non-cash loss recognised after Arc Minerals corrected the carrying value of a restricted cash balance held by Handa Resources Limited, one of its group subsidiaries. That balance, now carried at £520,000, came to light after Handa’s bank account restrictions were lifted during September, following a Settlement Agreement announced on the 27th of May.

Taken together, the overall loss for the period narrowed to £1,739,000 from £2,277,000 a year earlier, while net assets nearly doubled to £4,960,000 at 30 June from £2,556,000 at the end of 2025. Basic loss per share fell to 0.10p from 0.16p.

The balance-sheet rebuild came largely from a £2,878,000 net cash inflow from financing activities, driven by an April placing of 750,000,000 new shares at 0.4p that raised £3,000,000 gross, alongside a further 261,479,051 shares issued to creditors in lieu of payment. Total shares in issue rose to 2,459,587,314 at 30 June from 1,448,108,263 at the start of the year. Cash and cash equivalents strengthened to £1,861,000 from £635,000 at year-end, and the company also placed £500,000 into a JPMorgan short-duration bond ETF, fair valued at £504,000, for treasury management.

In post-period developments announced on the 9th of July, Arc Minerals granted 59,000,000 share options, exercisable at 0.8p and vesting equally over three years, alongside 61,000,000 restricted stock units subject to performance-based vesting, both with five-year terms.