The release of Aminex's (AEX) half-year report was overshadowed by news that the oil & gas explorer had acquired privately-owned Canyon Oil and Gas through an issue of 80 million new Aminex shares, or the equivalent of £1.76m at current prices.
Jay Bhattacherjee and Philip Thompson, co-founders of Canyon, will join Aminex as chief executive and chief operating officer, respectively, along with a handful of Canyon insiders. Canyon has an interest in the Valeni field in Moldova, and the new directors have a track record of developing assets: Jay Bhattacherjee was involved in the early days of Longreach Oil & Gas, while Philip Thompson founded San Leon Energy (SLE).
For the half-year, Aminex revealed a 26 per cent increase in net losses to $4.11m (£2.65m) and ended the period with net debt of $7.66m, while comparative finance costs ballooned to $1.78m from $114,000 due to an $8m working capital loan taken out in January. Total production from Aminex's US assets fell by over half to 23,500 barrels of oil equivalent (boe).
Post the half year-end, Aminex sold its 25 per cent interest in gas wells at the South Weslaco Field, Texas, to Northcote Energy for $450,000, while negotiations for the farm-out agreement linked to the group's Ntorya-1 discovery in Tanzania's Ruvuma Basin are still ongoing.
| AMINEX (AMX) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 2.2p | MARKET VALUE: | £18m | |
| TOUCH: | 2.15-2.25p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 5.9p | Low: 1.925p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | nil | PE RATIO: | na | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 11¢ | NET DEBT: | 9% | |
| Half-year to 30 Jun | Turnover ($m) | Pre-tax profit ($m) | Earnings per share (¢) | Dividend per share (¢) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 2.55 | -3.26 | -0.4 | nil |
| 2013 | 1.46 | -4.12 | -0.5 | nil |
| % change | -43 | - | - | - |
£1:$1.56 | ||||
