South African Nuclear Energy Corporation (Necsa) group CEO Loyiso Tyabashe has credited the group’s R125-million profit (and total comprehensive income of R145-million) in the 2022/23 financial year (which ended on March 31) to the strong group strategy adopted by the Necsa board in August 2021 and vigorously implemented by management. In an exclusive interview with Engineering News Online, he expressed delight that the strategy had delivered such strong results in such a short period.

The strategy has five pillars. The first of these is financial recovery and sustainability, which involves keeping control of costs and diversifying the income streams. He stressed that Necsa had not disposed of, or closed down, any of its operations, to achieve financial recovery, nor were there any job losses.

The second pillar is the pursuit of research and innovation. This is part of Necsa’s mandate.

The third pillar is directed at those Necsa group enterprises which have a commercial nature (NTP Radioisotopes, or NTP, and Pelchem). These are being refocused to really concentrate on profitability.

Fourth is a focus on business efficiency and continuity. Business functions that could be shared were consolidated centrally and are now shared, but those that were best decentralised have been kept decentralised.

Finally, there has been a focus on talent excellence and a high-performance culture. “Our Necsa staff have moved from a silo mindset to a group mindset,” he highlighted. He praised the contribution of the employees and their representative organisations to the turnaround strategy. “They have really come on board, contributing to a stable working environment.”

“We’re seeing strong financial performance in all aspects of the business,” he reported. The group is composed of Necsa SOC (including the SAFARI-1 nuclear research reactor, the advanced manufacturing division and the Necsa Learning Academy), NTP and Pelchem.

Necsa SOC recorded a profit of R26.7-million, while NTP’s profit came to R113-million. Pelchem continued to be a loss-maker, but its loss has been stabilised, at R62-million.

“Pelchem is the one that still requires focus,” he observed. “Our intention is to pull it back to at least break-even. A study has confirmed that there is a business case for Pelchem. We have strong customer support to keep it going and we’re seeking to diversify its markets. The other two [entities] are performing positively.”

He thanked Necsa’s shareholder ministry (the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy) and the board for their support and guidance in creating an enabling environment for recovery.