29th Sep 2015 09:48
LONDON (Alliance News) - Zoltav Resources Inc on Tuesday said its pretax profit fell in the first half of 2015 but the company generated its first positive cashflow in the period following its move from a development to a production company.
The oil and gas company focused on Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States said it swung to a USD2.5 million pretax loss in the first six months of 2015 from the USD27.5 million profit reported a year earlier despite revenue rising to USD14.4 million from only USD1.6 million.
The main cause for the profit in the first half of 2014 was a USD35.0 million gain on an acquisition, which was not repeated in the most recent half.
In the first half of 2015, the company made a USD3.8 million gross profit compared to only a USD414,000 profit a year ago. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation came in at USD2.7 million, swinging from a USD6.8 million loss as it made its first positive operating cashflow of USD4.7 million compared to negative cashflow of USD7.1 million a year ago.
Zoltav produced 46.6 million cubic feet of gas per day in the half and 544 barrels of oil per day.
"I am pleased to report that Zoltav has continued to operate the Bortovoy Western gas plant at or near full capacity and maintained a positive operating cash flow throughout the period. Following its successful transformation in 2014 into a producing Russian/CIS-focused oil and gas company, Zoltav produced over 8,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in the first half of 2015," said chairman Alastair Ferguson.
"Our focus at Bortovoy continues to be on efficiency and maintaining full plant capacity; while also developing an appraisal strategy to capitalise on the undeveloped Eastern fields of the licence. At Koltogor, we are continuing to develop our planned appraisal programme," said Ferguson.
"In line with the company's objective to grow the business through acquisition as well as organically, we continue to review a number of interesting opportunities in the CIS. We have strict acquisition criteria to ensure that future acquisitions will maximise shareholder value," he added.
Cash at the end of June stood at USD9.9 million, down from the USD15.9 million balance at the end of June 2014.
Zoltav shares were up 9.3% to 41.0 pence per share on Tuesday.
By Joshua Warner; [email protected]; @JoshAlliance
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