19th Sep 2023 11:37
(Alliance News) - Chariot Ltd on Tuesday said that it has continued to progress across all workstreams, despite reporting comprehensive losses for the first half of the year.
For the six months ended June 30, the Africa-focused transitional energy company reported a loss from operations of USD7.8 million, widened from a loss of USD7.4 million a year prior.
The firm's loss before and after taxation was USD7.7 million, narrowed from USD7.8 million. Loss per share was USD0.01, unchanged year-on-year.
Costs varied over the period. Hydrogen and other business development expenses amounted to USD900,000, lower than USD1.5 million the previous year. Other administrative costs came to USD3.5 million, lower than USD5.0 million a year earlier, which Chariot attributed to "a lean cost foundation".
While the company has assets in Morocco, it said operations have not been affected, adding that it has supported the funding of relief efforts and ongoing aid in the country.
As at June 30, Chariot had a cash balance of USD2.7 million, lower than USD12.1 million at December 31. It told investors this has since increased, following an equity fundraise in August which raised gross proceeds of USD19.1 million.
The firm also noted good progress at several of its projects.
Front end engineering and design was finished at the Anchois gas development project, while progress was made across all Anchois development workstreams in Morocco.
Negotiations on partnering for Anchois and the wider Lixus and Rissana offshore licences are in their final stages, while a partnership has been agreed with Vivo Energy PLC to develop the Moroccan domestic gas-to-industry market.
"We continued to progress all workstreams across the business throughout the period and further enhanced our portfolio with the award of the Loukos licence onshore Morocco and the acquisition of our water desalination business. In each pillar of transitional gas, renewable power and green hydrogen, we have the opportunity to deliver a range of tangible benefits and drive real value," said Chief Executive Adonis Pouroulis.
"Long term scalability is a shared theme across all of our projects, but we are fully focused on executing our core objectives to de-risk the business, enable further growth and deliver near term production."
Chariot shares were trading 5.0% higher at 14.57 pence each in London on Tuesday late morning.
By Holly Beveridge, Alliance News reporter
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