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(Alliance News) - Starvest PLC on Tuesday said it swung to full-year profit, despite reporting that the trading environment for natural resources firms was "subdued" for much of its financial year.
For the 12 months ended September 30, revenue came in at GBP287,655, against none the year prior.
The mineral exploration-focused investor reported a pretax profit of GBP386,850, swinging from a GBP316,242 loss the year prior.
Its net asset value surged 25% year-on-year to GBP2.3 million from GBP1.8 million. Per share, it was 21% higher at 4.03 pence from 3.33p.
Starvest shares were 5.6% higher at 6.60p each in London on Tuesday afternoon.
Starvest said: "The trading environment for natural resources focused companies was subdued through most of the fiscal 2019 period due to a stagnant market largely influenced by global market sentiment and Brexit negotiations. But the latter parts of 2019 saw a marked improvement following UK elections and a jump in the gold price which refocused the attention of investors and we noted improved share prices in many of our investee companies."
Greatland Gold PLC was its best performing investment, the gold explorer's share price surged 75% during the period.
Among the companies other gold exploration investments are Ariana Resources PLC, Cora Gold Ltd and Kefi Minerals PLC.
"Despite the adverse setting, several investee companies in our portfolio have weathered the poor market conditions and delivered strong exploration and operational results," Starvest explained.
By Eric Cunha; ericcunha@alliancenews.com
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