Having acquired full ownership of its UK coal bed methane assets, and raising a gross £20.6m in February, IGas is accelerating the rate of drilling and development across its acreage in north west England. Management plans to drill two additional wells at Doe Green, where its first pilot plant continues to flow reliably and supply electricity to the grid. IGas now needs to prove that its wells can flow at commercial rates over sustained testing.
Furthermore, the company needs to prove it can flow gas commercially from projects across its acreage, to which end it will start drilling at Barton to develop a potential production site. The Keele test site has suffered mechanical issues but will also be developed along with other sites at Ellesmere Port and Ince Marshes.
Longer term, IGas is targeting 15 to 20 producing sites by 2015, with four to eight wells at each site. However, this will only consume a third of the company's total gas resources of 1.7 trillion cubic feet, which allows plenty of scope for further growth.
Numis Securities is forecasting a pre-tax loss of £1m and loss per share of 0.7p for 2011.
| IGAS ENERGY (IGAS) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 74p | MARKET VALUE: | £119m | |
| TOUCH: | 73-75p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 87p | LOW: 63p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | nil | PE RATIO: | na | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 18p* | NET CASH: | £12.1m | |
| Year to 31 Dec | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 0.58 | 0.08 | 0.10 | nil |
| 2007 | 0.81 | -2.01 | -3.60 | nil |
| 2008 | 0.99 | -0.39 | -0.64 | nil |
| 2009 | 0.83 | -0.50 | -0.76 | nil |
| 2010 | 0.66 | -1.54 | -1.69 | nil |
| % change | -20 | - | - | - |
*Includes intangible assets of £4.64m, or 5p a share | ||||
Guide to the terms used in IC results tables.
