Join our community of smart investors

Bowleven: sum of its parts?

The Cameroon-focused oil and gas ‘explorer’ remains in stasis
November 8, 2017

Nominally, Bowleven (BLVN) is listed as an oil and gas explorer. But without producing assets or a revenue stream to its name, the Cameroon-focused group’s main business lines now appear to be cost-cutting, outsourcing the stewardship of its two main assets, and sitting on a pile of cash. Also gone are plans to, er, explore for oil and gas.

31p

There’s a logic to all of this, as existing investors well know. Earlier this year, 26 per cent shareholder Crown Ocean Capital successfully agitated for a management shake-up and a pivot to holding company status. Since March, headcount has been slashed, the head office has moved from “a large prestigious Edinburgh building” to London Bridge, and discussions have continued over how to best develop the Etinde field.

We also have a jargon-laden commitment to “[leverage] partner relationships in de-risking Bomono”, via passing the responsibilities and timetable for asset operatorship to Victoria Oil & Gas (VOG). That farm-in agreement has resulted in a non-cash impairment of $46m (£35m), which explains the pre-tax loss. On average, analysts expect another loss of $2.6m and flat EPS in the 12 months to June 2018.

BOWLEVEN (BLVN)   
ORD PRICE:31pMARKET VALUE:£102m
TOUCH:31-33p12-MONTH HIGH:38pLOW: 23p
DIVIDEND YIELD:nilPE RATIO:na
NET ASSET VALUE:93¢*NET CASH:$86m
Year to 30 JunTurnover ($m)Pre-tax profit ($m)Earnings per share (¢)Dividend per share (¢)
2013nil-11.1-4.0nil
2014nil-13.6-4.0nil
2015nil-90.0-28nil
2016nil-129-39nil
2017nil-53.7-17nil
% change----
Ex-div:na   
Payment:na   
£1=$1.31. *Includes intangible assets of $173m, or 53¢ a share.