Bowleven flexes financial muscle as losses widen

Africa-focused oil and gas explorer Bowleven has highlighted its debt-free financial strength and said it is 'well positioned' to ride out the current industry malaise.

Bowleven said it was making 'steady progress' in Cameroon. Picture: Contributed

Announcing its full-year results, the Edinburgh-based group said it was also well placed to “exploit opportunities as they arise” and had been eyeing a number of potential deals.

The latest results revealed a wider loss of $129.3 million (£104.6m) for the year to 30 June, including a $122.3m impairment charge and $11.8m in unsuccessful exploration costs. That compares with a $90m deficit and $76m impairment a year earlier.

Chief executive Kevin Hart highlighted a strong balance sheet of about $100m with no debt and no outstanding work programme commitments.

He told investors: “We have continued to make steady progress towards our objective of converting resources to reserves in Cameroon, despite the challenging macro environment.

“The group’s strong balance sheet including $100m in cash and no debt or outstanding work programme commitments means it is well positioned to manage the challenges faced by the industry and to exploit opportunities as they arise.

“We have extensively screened multiple opportunities and the search is continuing. This is a time-consuming exercise that demands proper rigour be applied to the evaluation of any potential transaction to ensure value is created for shareholders whilst protecting our key differentiating feature of balance sheet strength.”

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