Ferrexpo Restores London Listing as Ukrainian Pellet Production Crawls Back to Life

Ferrexpo relisted on LSE after $100M raise, restarts one pellet line in Ukraine, shifts exports to Europe amid Black Sea risks.

The regulatory machinery that froze Ferrexpo's shares in early May has finally been reversed. Britain's Financial Conduct Authority readmitted the iron ore pellet producer to the Official List on Monday at 7:30 GMT, ending a suspension that had left shareholders locked out of their positions for months and triggering a sharp relief rally in the stock on its first day back.

What separates this resumption from a purely administrative event is the operational news that accompanied it. Over the weekend, Ferrexpo mobilised production at its Ukrainian sites, with a single pellet line now running — a deliberately cautious first step back into operations. The restart is not cosmetic: it is the tangible proof that the company's freshly raised capital is being put to work rather than parked on the balance sheet.

A £100 million rescue, structured in two tranches

The return to the Official List was contingent on closing a roughly $100 million equity raise, a process that saw Ferrexpo issue 448.8 million new ordinary shares in total. Of those, 269,309,091 were placed through an accelerated bookbuild while a further 179,539,393 were subscribed for directly, all at 16.5 pence per share.

The shareholder register has shifted accordingly. Ukrainian entrepreneur Andriy Verevskyi, who anchored the raise with a $50 million commitment, now holds 224.4 million of the new shares. Fevamotinico Sarl, already the company's largest existing shareholder, subscribed for an additional 179.54 million new shares at the issue price. The proceeds are earmarked for balance sheet repair, restarting Ukrainian production, catching up on deferred spending and preserving jobs.

The transaction remains technically subject to shareholder approval. An extraordinary general meeting is scheduled for 21 September at 11:00 at Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer LLP in London, with the new shares expected to begin trading on 22 September. The 2025 annual report is due to reach shareholders around 10 September.

A strategic pivot away from the Black Sea

The production restart comes with a notable shift in export strategy. Ferrexpo said it will now concentrate deliveries on European customers, a direct response to the continued attacks on ports and vessels in the Black Sea that have made its traditional export corridor increasingly untenable.

This is more than a logistical footnote. It signals that management is adapting to the security environment rather than waiting for the Black Sea route to normalise. For investors, the shift offers some supply chain predictability, even if transport costs are likely to rise as a consequence.

The financial hole the raise is meant to fill

The capital injection lands against a backdrop of deepening losses. For the fiscal year ended 31 December 2025, Ferrexpo reported a loss of $224 million — more than four times the $50 million deficit recorded the previous year. The deterioration underscores how severely the war in Ukraine and months of halted production have hit the company's finances.

Despite the restart, management is unwilling to commit to a forecast. Ferrexpo said it cannot provide reliable production and cost guidance for 2026 under current conditions — a hesitation consistent with a company that is only now regaining its footing, both operationally and on the exchange.

The first-day share price surge is best understood as a relief rally. Months of untradeable positions have given way to renewed liquidity, and the combination of a restored listing and an actual production restart provides the fundamental anchor for the move. Yet the loss figures and the absence of guidance serve as a reminder that Ferrexpo remains a long way from normalisation. For now, the stock is a bet on continued stabilisation in an operating environment that remains deeply hostile.