The firm recently called 2011 a "transformational" year when it disposed of its windfarm business -  SERL - and refocused strategy on building an energy services business.

"SeaEnergy’s 2011 results were dominated by the gain of £32.8 mln generated from the disposal of its holding in Sea Energy Renewables Limited (SERL)," said Edison analyst Graeme Moyse, who added that the headline numbers had been broadly in line with his expectations.

Following the SERL disposal, the company has decided to return £6.9 million, or 10 pence per share, to shareholders.

Beyond this return, expected later this summer, said Moyse, the firm's future depended on its ability to develop its offshore wind service business.

In a three pronged strategy, it will first attempt to leverage its design for an offshore wind farm support vessel by reaching agreement with a large owner of vessels.

Secondly, it will seek to buy small profitable businesses that offer O&M (operations and maintenance) services, which complement SeaEnergy’s activities, while the third leg is to develop businesses that offer consulting services to the offshore wind market, said the analyst.

"Successful execution of this strategy will be crucial in the development of the share price," said the analyst. 

Recently, the strong performance of Celtic Sea explorer Lansdowne Oil & Gas (LON:LOGP), in which SeaEnergy holds a 24.68 per cent stake, has supported the firm's share price, says Moyse.

However, there was still a significant gap between the market price of SeaEnergy (29 pence a share), and the value of its cash balance (32 pence a share) and its stake in Lansdowne (17pence a share), he said.

"No value is being accorded currently to SeaEnergy’s activities in the offshore wind market."

Sea Energy posted a profit of £25.3 million last year after making a loss of £5.7 million in 2010, while EPS stood at 37.08 pence compared with losses per share of 7.65 pence in the previous year.

SeaEnergy (LON:SEA) called 2011 a “transformational” year as it saw the Aberdeen-based group dispose of its windfarm business and refocus its strategy to build and energy services business.

SeaEnergy ended the year with £21.9 million in the bank after selling its windfarm business SeaEnergy Renewables Limited (SERL) for £30.7 million.

As a result of the sale, the group posted a profit of £25.3 million last year after making a loss of £5.7 million in 2010, while earnings per share stood at 37.08 pence compared with losses per share of 7.65 pence in the previous year.

Following the divestment, the company has decided to return £6.9 million, or 10 pence per share, to shareholders.

The group currently holds a 24.68 percent stake in Celtic Sea explorer Lansdowne Oil & Gas (LON:LOGP). During the year, LOGP acquired 3D seismic and drilled the recent appraisal well on the Barryroe structure, which was then tested at commercial flow rates of 4,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd).

According to SeaEnergy, the results and the 3D data should “greatly enhance” the prospects for a farm-out of its exploration acreage.

SeaEnergy aims to sell the LOGP stake and build energy services businesses providing operations and maintenance service vessels, acquire existing profitable services businesses and develop additional services for the energy industry.

The group told investors that it is currently negotiating a joint venture with a large vessel owner and operator to market, build and operate vessels in support of offshore wind farms in Northern European waters.

“2011 was a notable year for SeaEnergy as it realised considerable value by selling SERL - a significant proportion of which is to be returned to shareholders,” said chairman of SeaEnergy David Sigsworth.

“We are continuing to pursue opportunities for the supply of specialist vessels and associated services in operations and maintenance for offshore wind, as well as the acquisition of complementary businesses and the in-house development of additional services.

“At the same time, we continue to manage the value of our legacy investments.  SeaEnergy is at an exciting stage in its development, and looks forward to updating the market further on our continuing progress.”

SeaEnergy (LON:SEA) announced this morning that it has secured further funding support to the tune of £88,500 from Scottish Enterprise to advance its plans to establish an offshore wind farm support business.

The funding is supplementing £345,000 invested by SeaEnergy itself into the detailed design and tank testing for the firm’s X-Bow vessel, which is intended for use in operations and maintenance connected to offshore wind farms.

The funding support is made up of three separate grants from Scottish Enterprise: £21,600 to support strategic development costs; a £40,000 research and development ‘optimum hull’ grant; and a £26,910 grant to support intentional marketing.

“We’re very grateful to Scottish Enterprise for its support of our emerging SeaEnergy Marine business,” said Steve Remp, SeaEnergy’s chairman. “These grants have helped to de-risk investment, drive development and allowed us to pursue near term commercial opportunities for our vessel system.”

The firm also said today that it had recently enjoyed success at the Carbon Trust Offshore Wind Accelerator Access competition, with its entry being placed in the top 20 of more than 450 and was commended by the competition’s judges for its potential to increase the availability of access to offshore wind farms.

Shares in SeaEnergy were down 1.3 per cent at 27.75 pence each in early-morning trading today.

SeaEnergy (LON:SEA) is “poised to capture” a number of opportunities within both the renewable energy and oil & gas sectors following the disposal of its SeaEnergy Renewables (SERL) offshore wind power subsidiary earlier this year, the firm said today.

Announcing interim results for the six months to June 30, SeaEnergy’s executive chairman, Steve Remp, said: “SeaEnergy is in a strong position.  Following the successful and highly value accretive disposal of SERL to Repsol, we have a strong balance sheet and no debt and are poised to capture a number of opportunities within both the renewable and oil & gas sectors of the energy market. This is an industry in which the team has successfully built businesses in the past and have the vision and energy to create a unique energy ventures business of scale.”

SeaEnergy said that it has engaged with “many potential customers” for its new business that is focused on specialised operations and maintenance vessels for the offshore wind power industry. It said that converting that support to a firm charter is a priority for the company.

The company’s specifications for its vessels are designed for the challenging wave, tide and weather conditions encountered in the North Sea, where the requirement for the first such vessels is expected to emerge in 2014. SeaEnergy said it is actively preparing to participate in the first of such tenders for the North Sea, which are expected to be issued next month.

Remp added that SeaEnergy’s oil and gas investments are “at an interesting stage”. In particular, he highlighted the firm’s increased holding in Lansdowne Oil & Gas – which “continues to make good progress”. Lansdowne has completed this year’s 3D seismic acquisition programme in the Celtic Sea “ahead of schedule and on budget”, and the interpreted results of that programme are expected to be available before the end of the year.

In July, SeaEnergy participated in a fundraising at Lansdowne that saw it invest an additional £1.7 million at 15 pence per share. SeaEnergy pointed out in its statement today that Lansdowne’s closing price yesterday was 24.75 pence.

In terms of results for the first half, Sea Energy made an operating loss of £6.1 million (H1 2010: £2.6 million), although it posted a pre-tax profit of £27 million (H1 2010: £4.2 million loss) for the period thanks to proceeds from the sale of SERL.

At the end of June, SeaEnergy had £27 million cash on its balance sheet.

SeaEnergy said its subsidiary Ramco Hibernia Limited is buying 11,42 million shares in Lansdowne at 15 pence per share - representing a total investment of £1.71 million.

This is part of a larger placing by Lansdowne to raise £6.13 million, which it says fund its portion of the drilling costs of the Barryroe Field off the coast of Ireland.

In addition, Lansdowne said it had the option to raise a further £1 million from the LC Master Fund and Sea Energy to participate in the possible side-track of the well, which is expected to cost Lansdowne around £2 million in total.

The group issued almost 41 million shares at 15 pence each, a modest discount to last night’s closing price of 16 pence.

Lansdowne owns 20 per cent of Barryroe, which is in the North Celtic Basin, while operator Providence Resources has 50 per cent. The remainder is held by San Leon Energy (LON:SLE).

SeaEnergy's chairman Steve Remp said: "We are pleased to be able to support the funding of Lansdowne's participation in the Barryroe appraisal well. I have high hopes that the results from this appraisal well, coupled with the recently acquired 3D seismic in the region, will begin to unlock the full potential of the Celtic Sea Basin."

The wind-farms are owned by the wholly-owned Sea Energy Renewables Ltd (SERL). Back in mid-2010 SeaEnergy Plc took the decision to sell the SERL division and since then it has been marketing the business.

This afternoon this process was boosted by government-led research. This was done to ‘determine the most appropriate locations for placing wind energy devices in the sea, around the entire Scottish coast’. 

Both Beatrice and Inch Cape were identified as being ‘suitable for developing offshore wind power under the short term option (2010 - 2020)’.

"We were always confident that the SEA (Strategic Environmental Assessment) would not have adverse findings for Beatrice and Inch Cape, but securing that confirmation is a significant step forward and de-risks the projects,” SeaEnergy managing director Steven Bertram said.

“I hope this important milestone will help us move closer to closing the SERL sale process."

SERL chief executive Joel Stardecker added: "We are delighted that the strategic environmental assessment has confirmed that the Beatrice and Inch Cape sites are suitable for development. 

“Together they represent almost 2 GW of renewable power, which will make a significant contribution to meeting the UK's targets for carbon-free electricity generation."

Headquartered in Aberdeen, SeaEnergy used  be known as Ramco Energy  and was an oil exploration firm. But in 2009 the group announced its intention to focus on renewable energy, specifically offshore wind.

In mid-2010 it said it would concentrate on marine services for the offshore wind power industry, following an assessment of the equity markets, investor sentiment and the funding environment.  

The shareholding in MPC represents a non-core part of the offshore wind-power group.

In September’s interim results it said that MPC was still in talks with a ‘leading Middle Eastern group’ over the assets, however this morning it revealed that the discussions have been unsuccessful.

MPC has subsequently reached agreements with its creditors to defer claims so that MPC can continue in business while it waits for the situation in Iraq to improve, as well as the financial markets generally. 

It has also scaled back it activity and spending while it continues to monitor the situation.

“The MPC Board continues to believe that there will be tangible opportunities for MPC as those improvements occur and at that time MPC will seek to raise sufficient funding both to secure its future plans and repay the creditors claims,” the company said.

In the meantime SeaEnergy, and separately some of its directors and other MPC shareholders, have agreed to support MPC with a new cash injection.

A total of £50,000 is being invested with the issue of new MPC shares. Consequently SeaEnergy’s equity stake will increase from 32.7 percent to 40.21 percent.

SeaEnergy (AIM:SEA) this morning revealed its joint venture company Moray Offhsore has signed a lease agreement with the Crown Estate to develop three sites in the Moray Firth in Scotland.

The project is expected to have a combined capacity of 1,000-1,140MW, which is expected to supply power for around 750,000 homes. 

The area is the first of a two-phase development plan for the zone which, together with the Western Development area, should deliver around 1,500MW of capacity.

Moray Offshore is 25 per cent owned by SeaEnergy Renewables SERL and 75 per cent by EDP Renewables. In turn SERL is an 80 per cent  subsidiary of SeaEnergy. 

Headquartered in Aberdeen, SeaEnergy used  be known as Ramco Energy  and was an oil exploration firm. But in 2009 the group announced its intention to focus on renewable energy, specifically offshore wind.

In mid-2010 it said it would concentrate on marine services for the offshore wind power industry, following an assessment of the equity markets, investor sentiment and the funding environment.  

It is in the process of selling SeaEnergy Renewables which currently has interests in three offshore wind farm projects in development, totalling 3,125GW of capacity.

The IDA formalises the Heads of Terms agreement announced in September 2010, stating that The Crown Estate will directly invest up to £1.4 million in key surveys and reports for the Inch Cape project, which will be directly contracted and managed by SERL.

The Inch Cape site was awarded to a consortium comprised of RWE npower renewables (npower) and SERL in February 2009 as a part of the Scottish Territorial Waters leasing round conducted by The Crown Estate in association with the Scottish government.

Following the site award, the consortium entered into an exclusivity agreement with The Crown Estate to negotiate a lease deal once the Scottish government had concluded the environmental assessment process.

Npower notified SERL and The Crown Estate earlier this year of its desire to exit the Inch Cape project. This was due to the considerable size of its other onshore and offshore renewable generation commitments.

SERL has a stake in three UK offshore wind farm projects and earlier this year SeaEnergy decided to sell the business. The decision was influenced by funding challenges. It was thought to be too difficult for SeaEnergy to raise the necessary funds to take the huge wind power development forward alone.  Instead it hopes to sell the business to a large power generation company.

In September, SeaEnergy said it hoped to agree a deal by the end of 2010.

Shares in the company rose 4.5 percent on today's news.