Cabot Energy Plc (LON:CAB) chief executive Scott Aitken described himself as “encouraged” by the record positive cash flow from its Canadian operations.
The company, which this summer changed management, reported a sharp rise in first-half revenue up to $7.5mln from $1.8mln. Gross profit was stated at $0.8mln, improving from a $0.3mln loss in the comparative period of 2017, while earnings (EBITDA) rose to $1.4mln, from a $0.8mln loss, before some $3.6mln of net exceptional costs.
It reported a $4.2mln net loss and ended the first half with $6.2mln.
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Cabot highlighted that its six new horizontal wells performed in line with expectations, while crude sales increased to an average of 767 bopd in the first half, compared to 233 bopd.
Aitken said: "When I joined the group in June I made it a priority to significantly improve the financial planning, reporting and controls processes in order to improve cost control and shareholder returns.
“We are encouraged by the record positive cash flow from our Canadian operations despite the net loss for the period after $3.6mln of non-recurring items.
“We anticipate continued predictable production and cash flow growth from the company's 100% owned and operated Canadian land position, where there is significant potential for incremental production increases at a low operating cost.”
He added: “The potential for future shareholder returns is further amplified through creating three high-impact exploration events from the company's licence position in Italy, where we have already secured drilling funding from Shell for one well and are in negotiations to fund drilling of two additional prospects.”