Brokers remained upbeat on Sound Oil (LON:SOU) as it looks to ramp up activity in the second half of the year.
FinnCap added: “The outlook for Sound remains extremely positive with a major ramp-up in operational activity in the remainder of this year.”
The company is working towards first gas, expected later this year, from the Nervesa project in Italy.
The company’s portfolio has grown, with assets acquired onshore Morocco adding to its Nervesa project in Italy.
Meanwhile, Sound has acquired a 55% interest in the Tendrara licence and is currently in a period of exclusivity to acquire a 25% interest in the Sidi Moktar licence.
Cantor Fitzgerald, said: “We see the next six months as a period of significant activity, with the larger of two existing discoveries on Tendrara to be appraised in November 2015, with a second appraisal well following in 2016.
In the final interim results before Sound Oil is renamed Sound Energy, sales were roughly flat at £478,000, (£490,000 in 2014).
Losses widened to £3.9mln from £2mln in the same period the year before, mainly due to a £2mln forex loss.
Stripping out this foreign exchange headwind, Cantor Fitzgerald said the loss was below its £2.6mln expectation.
The broker added: “The company is well funded with a cash balance of £17.5mln at the end of the half, underpinning the company’s planned expansion of its portfolio of assets outside of Italy over the past few months.”
Shares eased 1.8% to 14.3p in early deals.