Aminex's half-year loss may have nearly trebled year on year, but that was overshadowed by news in the period of the Ntorya discovery in Tanzania's Ruvuma Basin - containing around 1.17 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas. The scale of that discovery has increased the likelihood of Aminex successfully de-risking its African assets through farm-out agreements in the coming months - suggesting scope for share price upside.
First-half exploration work reduced net cash by $15.6m (£9.9m) since the year-end and Aminex has a busy seismic survey programme planned for the Nyuni and Ruvuma production sharing areas (PSAs) for the second half. There's actually an estimated 11.4 tcf of gas within these PSAs. Aminex intends to initially fund that programme through a $15m loan agreement that's expected to be finalised in the next few weeks and will be repaid on receipt of funds from the US divestment programme.
Operationally, meanwhile, the first-half revenue fall was largely attributable to a reduced contribution from the oil services business and a fall in realised gas prices from Aminex's non-core US assets - which are being gradually hived off.
| AMINEX (AEX) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 4.2p | MARKET VALUE: | £34m | |
| TOUCH: | 4.1-4.3p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 7.48p | LOW: 2.61p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | NIL | PE RATIO: | NA | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 11.5¢ | NET CASH: | $5.4m | |
| Half-year to 30 June | Turnover ($m) | Pre-tax profit ($m) | Earnings per share (¢) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 4.51 | -0.90 | -0.13 | nil |
| 2012 | 2.55 | -3.26 | -0.40 | nil |
| % change | -43 | - | - | - |
£1=$1.58 | ||||
