Enquest shares tumble company swings to loss

Enquest swung to a loss in the first half of this year, posting a first pre-tax loss of $36.4m from a profit of $78.6m in the same period last year.

Shares in the oil company were down by 5.26% to 31.50p at 0849 BST.

First half revenues were down to $414.6m from $503.6m, which the North Sea oil focused producer said was due to material reductions in oil prices.

The company said its blended average price of oil sold was $77.5 per barrel for the period, compared to $109.98 per barrel in the first half of last year.

During the period Enquest wrote down the value of its reserves, which along with other impairments reduced earnings by $46m.

First half production was up by 17.3% to an average of 29,665 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

Enquest reiterated its forecast for average production to for the full year to between 33k boepd and 36k boepd. Net debt came in at $1.28bn from $932.8m the year before.

Westhouse analyst Mark Henderson said Enquest had produced solid results in what had been a difficult period for the sector.

Henderson said investors should keep a close eye on cash flow performance because the net debt was higher than forecast.