Thalassa Holdings' pretax losses widen amid rising costs

Thalassa Holdings on Wednesday reported that its annual pretax loss widened as increasing administrative expenses and cost of sales eclipsed revenue gains.

The surveying services outfit's loss before tax for the year ended 31 December came in at $6.5m, a 156% increase over the year before, after administrative expenses increased by 189% to $4.4m and cost of sales jumped by 215% to $0.1m.

However, the company made £13.4m from its disposal of WGP Group assets, resulting in a final profit of $7.2m, up from $1.4m the year before.

"In the event that WGP secures a second specific contract, THAL stands to receive a further earn out payment of $4m. The THAL board is confident that, subject to relatively stable oil price around the $50/$60 per bbl and no project development delays, that WGP should be awarded this contract within the 5-Year time limit agreed with the buyer, which expires 1 January 2023," said a statement from Thalassa.

Meanwhile, the London-listed company generated maiden revenue of $3,188 during the year, while its share of losses from associated entities increased from $0.3m to $2.4m.

A statement from Thalassa said the company has agreed terms with Local Shopping REIT, in which it currently holds a 25.5% stake, to acquire the remaining stake it does not hold in the company.

The agreed offer consists of 14.64 pence per Local Shopping share plus 0.26 Thalassa "consideration shares", valuing the firm at £9.0m in cash and 16.0 million consideration shares, according to Thalassa.

Thalassa Holdings' shares were unchanged at 70.00p at 1625 GMT.