Tag Archives: uk oil & gas

ISDX 
Leni Gas Cuba (CUBA) starts trading on the ISDX Growth Market on 2 November, having raised £200,000 at 5p a share. Directors Donald Strang and Jeremy Edelman invested £50,000 and £25,000 respectively, while a further £50,000 was raised via the Teathers app. This cash paid for part of the £326,000 of admission and fundraising costs. LGC had already raised £4.525m prior to the flotation. Most of this cash was raised at 2p a share but the majority of shares in issue at the end of July 2015 were issued at 0.01p a share. Pro forma cash is £3.29m and investments of £829,000 give a NAV of £4.1m, compared with a market value of £24.7m at 5p a share. The board have total annual salaries of £340,000.

Another Lenigas company Rare Earth Minerals (REM) has gained an ISDX quotation on top of its AIM quotation, while UK Oil & Gas, where Rare Earth chief executive Kiran Morzaria is finance director, is expected to join on 12 November.

Via Developments (VIA1) is raising up to £3.5m via an issue of 7% debenture stock, which lasts for five years, and trading should commence on 5 November. Manchester-based Via, which is a 100% owned subsidiary of Pyramid Court Investments, will focus on residential developments and has already identified two development sites. The strategy is to acquire projects with planning permission.

Additional contracts in the energy to waste area have more than offset the cyclically weak revenues from the water sector for Field Systems Designs Holdings (FSD). In the year to May 2015, revenues improved from £12m to £14.4m, while pre-tax profit increased from £157,000 to £207,000. There is £1.32m in the bank and net assets are £2.34m. At 15.5p (14p/17p) a share, Field is valued at £900,000 – less than cash in the bank.

Energy efficiency products supplier Sandal (SAND) reported a 14% increase in annualised revenues in the year to May 2015.  Sandal made a loss of £317,000 on revenues of £3.34m. Overheads have been cut but marketing and development spending has increased. There was £348,000 in the bank. Sandal has introduced a 20% discount scheme for shareholders.

Trading in BWA (BWAP) shares has been suspended ahead of a potential logistics acquisition. It appears that the acquisition will require much more cash than BWA currently has so additional funds will be required.

Social media software developer Ganapati (GANP), which switched from GXG to ISDX, has reported figures for the year to July 2015. The loss of £178,000 was slightly lower than the year before. Puzzlingly, Ganapati claims to have net assets of £12.2m, but this does not include non-current liabilities/loans of £12.6m so there are really net liabilities.

All Star Minerals (ASMO) has relinquished its remaining exploration asset and 55.21%-owned Blue Doe Gold is being liquidated. All Star will receive its share of Blue Doe’s stake in ISDX-quoted NQ Minerals, which is 5.521 million shares. This is currently worth £704,000. At 0.15p (0.1p/0.2p) a share, All Star is valued at £1.2m. All Star has amended the terms of the £20,000 convertible loan note provided by Valiant Investments so that the loan matures in May 2016 and has an annual interest charge of 20% and a conversion price of 0.14p a share. All Star subsequently issued 4.55 million shares (at 0.1p and 0.14p a share) to Valiant in lieu of £5.565 interest.

Former Globo boss Konstantinos Papadimitrakopoulos resigned as a director of Hellenic Capital (HECP) soon after his departure from Globo, following revelations about its accounts. It is unclear whether he still owns 16.2% of Hellenic, which floated as a shell in April 2008 but has never managed to secure a reverse takeover deal. The remaining director is Sanlam Securities corporate finance director Gavin Burnell, another former director of Globo. There was £86,000 in the bank at the end of June 2015 – Hellenic raised £419,000 after expenses when it floated. At 0.3p (0.2p/0.4p) a share, Hellenic is capitalised at £186,000.

AIM 
Cancer drugs developer Sareum (SAR) had £1.48m in the bank at the end of June 2015 and this will be enough to finance operating costs and the phase I trials for potential cancer treatment Checkpoint Kinase 1 (CHK1). Two clinical trials are planned to assess the safety and determine dose levels. The first trial will assess the effectiveness in combination with chemotherapies and the other will assess the compound on its own as a treatment for various cancers. Prior to the start of the clinical trials, Sareum will pay £797,500 to cover their cost. There are two other programmes which are not as advanced. A £140,000 grant has been obtained for a one year project based on the TYK2 inhibition-based potential cancer treatment.

Residential property developer Telford Homes (TEF) is raising £50m at 360p a share so that it can finance the acquisition of additional development sites. The cash should be spent over the next two years. In the six months to September 2015, a profit of around £19m is expected. The new shares will dilute short-term earnings and Telford says that it will pay more than one-third of earnings as dividends to offset dilution. The plan is to be making a profit of £45m a year by 2018-19.

Pantheon Resources (PANR) has successfully completed its flow testing of the VOBM#1 well in Polk County, east Texas. Pantheon has a 50% working interest in the well, which flowed natural gas at a stabilised rate of 6,145 Mcf per day and 504 barrels of oil per day. This equates to gross production of more than 1,500 barrels of oil equivalent per day. Pantheon believes that the prospective resource could be higher than the current estimate of 1.4MM barrels of oil equivalent. Environmental and other permissions are required before any sales are made and this could take until next February. Operating costs are relatively low so this should be a good cash generator.

Skin cancer treatment developer Biofrontera AG (B8F) intends to launch a one-for-four open offer and placing at a maximum price of €2.50 a share. This will raise up to €14.7m. The final share price will be determined by the volume-weighted average price through the XETRA electronic trading system between 28 October and 4 November, minus a discount. The cash will be used for clinical studies and marketing.

MAIN MARKET 
Oil and gas shell Upland Resources (UPL) has joined the standard list, having raised £1.3m at 1p a share. This raised £1.11m net of £190,000 expenses. Upland had previously raised nearly £400,000 after expenses and there was £169,000 left in the bank at the end of March 2015. Derbyshire-based Upland has already applied for UK onshore exploration blocks and is seeking acquisitions. Chief executive Dr Stephen Staley previously founded Fastnet Oil & Gas and Independent Resources. He receives a salary of £125,000 a year based on 108 hours worked each month. The share price rose to 1.3p but ended the week at 1.08p, which values Upland at £2.3m – slightly less than twice the cash pile.

ANDREW HORE