Prospex Energy, the AIM quoted investment company, has announced its audited Final Results for the year ended 31 December 2023 and Notice of Annual General Meeting on 12 June 2024.
Corporate and Financial Highlights
- Exemplary safety performance by our operators, contractors and partners with just one minor lost time incident at our Spanish asset and no environmental issues or incidents.
- Two operating and revenue generating onshore natural gas investments situated in stable European countries.
- The Company recorded a loss for the year of £1,231,400 (2022: profit: £7,136,907). This was caused by the re-adjustment of commodity prices to more normal levels, following the unsustainable and inflated high prices of 2022 attributable to the commencement of the Russian-Ukraine conflict. This resulted in the revaluation of investments at fair value leading to a reduction of 2.9% to £15,594,931 from £16,064,640 in 2022 and the unrealised loss of £469,709 compared to an unrealised gain in 2022 of £9,367,435 (which was largely due to the Company's increased working interest in Selva from 17% to 37% in April 2022).
- By September 2023, all of the convertible loan notes issued in July 2022 were converted to equity at 4.25p per share. The £1.87 million raised through the issue of these convertible loan notes helped to fund the Selva development project to first gas.
- In April 2023, the Company strengthened the board with the appointment of Mr. Andrew Hay as Non-Executive Director.
- Significantly strengthened the balance sheet as a result of the conversion or repayment of the bulk of its interest-bearing debts.
Post period highlights
- All remaining interest-bearing debt outstanding plus accrued interest, was repaid by 31 March 2024.
- No further debt or equity raises have occurred between the reporting date and the date of this report.
- The Company is debt free, cash generative and well positioned for growth.
Operational Highlights
Selva Field - Northern Italy
- 18-month gas sales contract with BP Gas Marketing ("BPGM") signed by Po Valley Operations Limited ("PVO"), on behalf of the Joint Venture in February 2023.
- In May 2023, construction of the gas processing facility at the Podere Maiar-1 wellsite at the Selva field was completed on schedule and within 3% of budget with successful connection to the Italian National Transmission System Operator ("SNAM") gas grid.
- PVO successfully recovered the €757,000 performance bond (€280,090 net to PXEN) previously deposited with SNAM.
- In June 2023, Italian Energy Ministry issued the formal documentation to enable the commencement of gas production from the Selva field.
- First gas was achieved from the Selva field on 4 July 2023.
- · By year end, following completion of the commissioning of the new gas processing facilities at Selva, production has steadily increased to a stable rate of ≈ 80,000 scm/d.
El Romeral - Southern Spain
- In 2023, the El Romeral power plant generated gross revenues from electricity production of €1.8 million (≈€0.9 million net to PXEN).
- In May 2023 through Tarba Energía Srl ("Tarba") the operating company, 20 hectares of land adjacent to the El Romeral power plant was leased for 25 years for Project Helios a 5MW solar photovoltaic project.
Notice of Annual General Meeting
The Company also gives notice that its AGM will be held at the offices of Shakespeare Martineau LLP, 6th Floor 60 Gracechurch Street, London, United Kingdom, EC3V 0HR at 11.00 a.m. on 12 June 2024.
The Financial Results for the year ended 31 December 2023 together with the Notice of AGM will be available to download from the Company's website: https://prospex.energy/ and will also be posted to shareholders on or around 15 May 2024.
Commenting on the results, Mark Routh, Prospex's CEO, said:
'It has been an extremely successful year for Prospex, with the Company having reached a number of significant milestones. Perhaps the most noteworthy being the start of gas production from the Selva Field in Italy, further de-risking our business with two onshore producing and revenue generating investments in two European countries.
'Despite having strengthened the balance sheet during the year, the Company is reporting a loss for the period. This in my view, is in no way reflective of the performance of the Company but attributable to events outside of our control, mainly an adjustment of the inflated and unsustainable commodity prices attributable to global tensions in 2022 and the subsequent revaluation of our assets.
'Nevertheless, we remain well positioned for growth. The Company is debt-free, has no warrants outstanding and is self-sustaining on a business-as-usual basis. Prospex is in a much stronger financial position than it was at the end of the prior year. None of this would have been possible without the continued support of our existing and new shareholders and importantly the debt holders, who demonstrated continued belief in our vision by converting their debt into equity, having funded the development and transition of Selva into a producing field.'
Source: Prospex Energy
