July-September 2015
* The Company did not recognise any sales or operating income.
* The Group did not have any operating income during the quarter. Operating expenses for Q3 totalled SEK -1,975 thousand
* (-1,417), consisting primarily of employee expenses and other external costs. Operating expenses correspond to the Company’s operating loss.
* Third quarter loss totalled SEK -2,418 thousand (-4,520) after tax, corresponding to SEK -0.04 per share (-0.16).
* Investments in intangible non-current assets for Q3 amounted to SEK 2,491 thousand (563).
January-September 2015
- The Company did not recognise any sales or operating income.
- The Group did not have any operating income between January and September. Operating expenses totalled SEK -6,283 thousand (-6,078), consisting primarily of employee expenses and other external costs. Operating expenses correspond to the Company’s operating loss.
- YTD loss totalled SEK -11,844 thousand (-15,416) after tax, corresponding to SEK -0.29 per share (-0.52).
- YTD investments in intangible non-current assets amounted to SEK 7,891 thousand (3,315), excluding investments in the form of acquisitions.
- In Q1 2015, the Company took over the shares of the British company Simbo Petroleum No.2 Ltd, which holds 40.5% of the Block 2B licence in South Africa. The acquisition increased the Company’s intangible assets in the form of licences by a total of SEK 55,487 thousand.
CEO STATEMENT
Dear shareholders and investors,
Q3 has been fast-paced and productive to say the least, and this has continued to date. Unfortunately, we failed to close out any of the processes we worked on as hoped. However, we can report that we are in discussions on one or more extremely interesting potential transactions. I hope to have some news in the near future. What we can say now is that the transactions are both on the asset level and on the company level. We are also looking forward to soon being able to announce the results of the technical work and the updated asset report for Block 2B in South Africa.
After an exciting trip to Cape Town in South Africa, we are also pleased to report that we have received an extension of our licence Manja Block 3108 in Madagascar. It is basically a four-year extension that creates enough time and flexibility in the production programme to be highly attractive to a partner. As a result, we were able to resume several discussions with potential partners who for one reason or another had previously held off on making a decision, but who now can analyse the asset again, with fully upgraded and improved conditions. In South Africa, we were also able to meet existing and potential partners from our other Africa-based projects during Africa Oil Week, the largest conference for oil companies operating in Africa.
Business decisions that affected the Company’s performance
The activities undertaken with respect to our capital structure in Q2 enabled us to continue our efforts to take the next step in strengthening the Company’s financial position going forward. Having a strong financial position will be extremely important in times of uncertainty surrounding the oil price and when the appetite from major oil companies has been low over the past one to two-year period, but we are beginning to see certain changes in attitude now. It is too soon to call it a trend reversal, but we have already seen a couple of interesting transactions in close proximity to our assets and soon we will feel sufficiently confident in an increased level of activity in the future. We will be on the scene when things get moving again, as we have positioned ourselves accordingly now.
Outlook
Crown Energy is well positioned with a balanced portfolio of exciting projects that have great potential for development. We have commenced some change processes with cost cuts where we see they are possible, but we are also picking up the pace in areas which may lead to potential financiers or partners. It is important to meet companies in our sphere of interest, as they are the ones who will farm in or invest in our projects to improve them and realise their potential value. We continue to be well equipped with assets located in geologically attractive areas with more reasonable development costs than many other projects around the world.
We are currently conducting several processes in parallel which should be capable of leading to substantial financial breakthroughs for Crown Energy. This is also necessary in light of the Company’s current financial position. We will work on wrapping up one or more of these ongoing processes and thus create solid prospects for a long-term and robust Crown Energy. We hope to have some concrete news for the market and our shareholders in the near future. As with all business, nothing is a done deal until it is on paper and money is in the system.
Overall, this gives us reason to believe in our assets and that we will be able to capitalise on them. This is how we will create value for you, our shareholders.
Andreas Forssell
CEO, Crown Energy AB (publ)
Crown Energy AB (publ) discloses above information pursuant to the Swedish Securities Market Act and/or the Swedish Financial Instruments Trading Act. The information was released for publication on 11 November 2015, 12:50 PM.
MORE INFORMATION
Please contact Andreas Forssell, CEO, Crown Energy AB
+46 8 120 66 150
+46 760 15 15 95
ABOUT CROWN ENERGY
Crown Energy is an international oil and gas company engaged in exploration in Africa and Middle East. Growth is created by developing assets in early stages and then maximising value by introducing appropriate industry partners in the development and production stages. For more information please visit www.crownenergy.se.