Europa Oil swings to loss after first-half revenue record

Europa Oil & Gas reported its highest-ever interim revenues in its half-year results on Monday, alongside record operational figures.

The AIM-traded UK and Ireland-focussed explorer, developer and producer achieved revenue of £3.7m in the six months ended 31 January, an increase from the £2.2m recorded in the first half of 2022.

Its gross profit for the period totalled £1.5m, up from £0.9m a year earlier.

However, the firm reported a pre-tax loss of £1.3m for the half-year, swinging from a pre-tax profit of £0.7m year-on-year.

The board said that was due to an exploration impairment charge of £1.7m, in contrast to an impairment reversal of £0.4m in the first half of the 2022 financial year.

Despite the pre-tax loss, Europa Oil generated £1.7m in net cash from operating activities, making for a significant increase from the £0.9m it reported at the same time last year.

The company also reported an unrestricted cash balance of £5.1m as of 31 January - a significant increase from the £1.4m recorded on 31 July.

“I am pleased to report my first set of interim results as CEO showing record operational numbers which resulted in Europa continuing to be in a strong financial position,” said chief executive officer Will Holland.

“These numbers were all generated whilst Simon Oddie was CEO and are a testament to the excellent job that he has done at Europa since 2018.

“The Wressle oilfield's continued excellent performance has underpinned our significant growth in revenues during the period, and a number of projects are underway to enable increased oil production and gas monetisation from the field.”

Holland noted that the first phase of the gas utilisation project was completed in January, when three microturbines were connected to provide site power which resulted in a 10% increase in oil production.

The second stage was the installation of a gas engine to generate 1.4 MW of electricity into a local private power network, the CEO added.

“In addition to building on our corporate environmental, social and governance (ESG) framework, the cornerstone of our long-term commitment to the global energy transition, we initiated a farm-out process for our Irish offshore licence FEL 4/19.

“Within the licence is the extensive Inishkea gas prospect containing an estimated 1.5 trillion cubic feet of gas, and we recognise the significant potential of FEL 4/19 to help alleviate Ireland's energy security concerns by providing the nation with a dependable source of gas produced with low carbon emissions.

“Europa remains a highly cash generative business, and our robust financial foundations will enable us to continue to work towards optimising our existing assets in the second half of the year, whilst we also pursue potential UK offshore and onshore opportunities to add to our well-balanced portfolio and deliver further value for shareholders.”

At 1245 BST, shares in Europa Oil & Gas Holdings were down 4.35% at 1.1p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.