3rd Oct 2013 09:21
LONDON (Alliance News) - Quoram PLC Thursday said it is confident about the prospects for AIM-listed Plant Health Care PLC, its first investment since making the transition from oil-and-gas explorer to investing company.
Quoram said Plant Health Care, which makes products that increase crop yields, could benefit from the rise in the world's population to over seven billion people and the subsequent increase in demand for food.
Quoram's new focus is to deliver growth in its net asset value per share and said Thursday it is monitoring potential new investments.
Quoram bought 1.2% of Plant Health Care in April.
Quoram said the importance of its holding in Wessex Exploration PLC had diminished because of the decline in the Wessex share price and the additional capital raised. Quoram said its uncertainty on the value of its Wessex stake meant it was cautious about investing on the assumption of any realisation from ever selling Wessex.
Quoram made a GBP2.0 million pretax loss for the year to June 30, compared with a loss of GBP728,000 last year.
It had net assets of GBP3.2 million on June 30, down from GBP4.5 million last year. These included GBP2.0 million in cash, up from GBP1.3 million last year.
Quoram said its results were hurt by the decline in the Wessex share price and impairments to the US oil and gas portfolio. Wessex shares have plummeted from a 52-week high of 8.88 pence to its current price of 0.810p Thursday morning.
Quoram became an investing company after it exited its US oil-and-gas portfolio. It was known as Bluebird Energy PLC before its name-change in March.
Quoram shares were Thursday quoted at 0.157 pence, up 0.022 pence, or 16%, making it a top-ten AIM gainer. Plant Health Care shares were untraded at 64.25p.
By Samuel Agini; [email protected]; @samuelagini
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