i3 Energy to pay maiden dividend as court approves capital reduction

UK and Canada-focussed oil and gas company i3 Energy updated the market on Wednesday, reporting that the final confirmation hearing in England’s High Court approved the cancellation of its share premium account on 29 June.

The AIM-traded firm said the court order, together with the court-approved statement of capital, had been delivered to the Registrar of Companies, and as such, the capital reduction would finally become effective on registration of the court order by the registrar, expected in the coming days.

“The ex-dividend date, record date and payment date will be announced immediately following confirmation of the registration,” the board said in its statement.

“With the predicted timing of the above registration by the Registrar of Companies, i3 expects the ex-dividend date to be during the week commencing 12 July.”

The company also announced that it had now executed a binding sales and purchase agreement to acquire 230 barrels of oil equivalent per day of Wapiti production - a non-core asset to the seller.

It said it intended to conduct six well reactivations to bring next-12-months production to an estimated 310 barrels of oil equivalent per day at a total acquisition and capital cost of $0.41m, which translates to an acquisition cost of 0.56x expected next-12-months net operating income.

“This production acquisition is expected to complete early in the third quarter, with a 1 April 2021 effective date,” the directors added.

At 1608 BST, shares in i3 Energy were up 11.28% at 13.69p.