Xcite energy sinks to 2014 loss on weak income and FX losses

Xcite Energy failed to match its 2013 income last year, finishing on a pretax loss as the company took a foreign exchange hit on its senior secured bonds.

The oil appraisal and development company’s profits declined significantly from 2013’s £9.5m profit, swinging to a £5m pretax loss in 2014.

Income also faltered, a far cry from the £11.4m made in 2013 from a non-exclusive, binding sale and purchase agreement for technical data related to the UK North Sea.

Furthermore, a £3.5m annual gain on foreign exchange from a £496,732 loss in 2014 was wiped out by a £6.8m foreign exchange loss on senior secured bonds issued in 2014.

"Despite yet another challenging year across the oil industry, we have continued to make significant progress with the Bentley development project in those areas within our control. We believe that this work supports our commercial discussions with the contractor group and ongoing funding discussions with potential co-venturer partners,” said chief executive Rupert Cole.

Xcite’s cash balance stood at £32.5m at the end of December.

Shares were down 6.84% to 27.25 at midday on Wednesday.