South African State-owned nuclear technology company, NTP Radioisotopes (NTP), has received an unqualified audit for a second year in a row. NTP is part of the South African Nuclear Energy Corporation (better known as Necsa) group, but its finances are managed independently of the group and submitted separately to the Auditor-General.
NTP manufactures and processes radioisotopes, mainly for medical applications. Three years ago, it was shut down because of regulatory noncompliances, and ceased production for 18 months.
For both the two years since, NTP has operated at a loss. But the company was able to maintain production throughout the whole of last year, despite the Covid-19 pandemic, and met all its orders. NTP is now set to make a turnaround.
"We can't say it is a return to profitability, but certainly it is a return to sustainability," affirmed NTP Group MD Tina Eboka. "This shows that we are on the right track with our customers, that we have been able to meet our safety and regulatory compliance issues, and that we have been able to meet the good governance standards that should be expected of a State-owned company."
NTP itself has subsidiary companies. They are AEC-Amersham, Gammatec and NTP Logistics.
"To receive another unqualified audit is a tribute to the integrity of the decisions and policies that we have made and implemented as a company and shows that this is something every State-owned enterprise can and should aspire to," she highlighted. "As custodians of public funds, and a State-owned asset, the onus is on us to manage these resources ethically, transparently and sustainably for our country's future benefit." Eboka specifically commended NTP group finance executive Precious Hawadi and her team for setting the benchmark for good governance.