30th Jun 2015 17:28
LONDON (Alliance News) - New World Oil and Gas PLC Tuesday said its pretax loss remained broadly flat in 2014 after a whirlwind of a year, but said it is now well-placed and well-funded to implement a revised strategy after raising funds from an open offer and placing earlier in 2015.
The company, which has operations in Belize and Denmark, reported a USD11.7 million pretax loss in 2014, slightly narrower than the USD11.9 million loss in 2013. New World booked a USD10.5 million impairment of intangible assets, compared to none a year earlier.
However, that impairment was partially offset by USD7.1 million of dry-well write offs and a USD2.0 million expense on project management in 2013 that did not repeat themselves in 2014. New World also booked a USD1.9 million gain on a contract settlement in 2014.
"The future has been dependent on the company's ability to secure capital. We and the industry have had a turbulent period, which has been extremely difficult, especially with the issues surrounding the funding and share volatility," said acting Chairman Christopher Einchcomb.
"With the new capital secured by the open offer and placing, we intend to implement a revised strategy to build long-term growth and value for the company," he added.
New World raised GBP3.5 million earlier in June through a new share placing and open offer, after an earlier GBP1.5 million placing was rejected by shareholders at a May extraordinary general meeting.
That placing had been plagued by confusion over the size of shareholdings in the company, including those of Judith Williams and her son, and of fellow-listed Metal Tiger PLC.
The new offer, made on the basis of 5.534 new shares for each one existing share, will see the issue of up to 3.89 billion shares at a price of 0.09 pence, a 65% discount to New World's closing price on May 18, the last day prior to the stock's suspension, but only a 5.3% discount to its price on April 28, the last day before the announcement of the original placing.
That new offer is being made as a cash box placing, which does not need shareholder approval.
New World currently has over 702.7 million shares in issue, meaning it will be enlarging its share capital by around 5.5 times its current size. The 0.09 pence price is also considerably higher than the 0.055p price that was proposed for the placing that was rejected at the extraordinary general meeting in May, which would have resulted in only 2.73 billion shares being issued.
New World shares are currently suspended.
By Joshua Warner; [email protected]; @JoshAlliance
Copyright 2015 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Related Shares:
New World Oil And Gas