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LONDON (Alliance News) - Beowulf Mining PLC shares fell on Monday as the company continues to wait for the all-important concession for its flagship project in Sweden, but said its cost cutting efforts in 2015 led to a narrower loss in the year.
Beowulf shares were down 8.5% to 3.66 pence per share on Monday morning.
The miner operating within Scandinavia reported a narrower pretax loss of GBP1.8 million in 2015, compared to the GBP3.1 million loss in 2014, after making severe cuts to costs, mainly through reducing director fees and accelerating the settlement of its equity swap agreements.
Beowulf, which does not currently generate any revenue, slashed its administrative expenses to GBP647,268 from GBP1.0 million, whilst the company's finance costs dropped to GBP139,000 from GBP2.0 million.
Partly offsetting those cuts was a rise in impairments amounting to GBP1.1 million compared to only GBP3,187 the year before.
"A year ago we were suffering from a low share price, difficult image, weak cash position, limited project portfolio, and the fact that our key project, Kallak, had a lack of support from Swedish stakeholders. A year on we are in a much stronger position," said Non-Executive Chairman Bevan Metcalf, who took over the role during 2015.
"We have worked hard to rebuild the company's reputation in Sweden to one which is based on respect and to ensure Beowulf is seen as a responsible local partner," Metcalf added.
The Kallak North project will remain the key focus this year, with the primary aim of securing the exploitation concession for the project. Metcalf said the company is confident about the quality of its application but said it was also "frustrated" by how long it is taking authorities to make a decision.
Metcalf said Beowulf has "tried to make it as easy as possible for the government to say 'yes' to our application," but said the firm is "definitely not sitting idle while we wait".
The mining inspectorate of the country recommended the concession for the project should be awarded to the company over seven months ago, but neither the Swedish government nor the minister for enterprise and innovation has issued any response to the company since.
Once the concession for Kallak North has been secured, Beowulf plans to find a partner to introduce to the asset.
Beowulf also hopes to develop a resource and a commercial opportunity at its five early-stage graphite projects in Finland, four of which were acquired in 2015 through the purchase of Fennoscandian.
By Joshua Warner; joshuawarner@alliancenews.com; @JoshAlliance
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