Sirius Minerals reported its preliminary results for the year on Tuesday, causing shares to fall.

The fertiliser development company said that total funds at the end of December totalled £290.4 million.

Nevertheless, the company reported an annual loss of £12.5 million, widening on a £78.9 million loss the previous year.

Sirius Minerals attributed the loss to fair value re-assessment of the derivatives linked to the convertible loans.

Alongside publishing the results, the company announced the launch of a ‘markets-led’ stage 2 project financing plan.

This will involve an underwritten firm placing, an open offer and Convertible Bond Offering.

Sirius Minerals is aiming to raise approximately US$3.8 billion to finance its Yorkshire mine and to generate positive cash flows.

Sirius has now agreed for JP Morgan (NYSE:JPM) to underwrite the placing, providing $2.5 billion of revolving credit facility.

Chris Fraser, Managing Director and Chief Executive of Sirius Minerals, commented:

“It has been another year of exceptional progress for the business as we continue to increase our customer base around the world and develop the Woodsmith Mine and its associated infrastructure.

The ongoing development of our world class project will see Sirius become a major global producer of our multi-nutrient fertilizer product POLY4 and the launch of our stage two financing transaction today sets the pathway for delivering our polyhalite Project.”

Shares in Sirius Minerals (LON:SXX) are currently down -15.62% as of 10:38AM (GMT).