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LONDON (Alliance News) - Enteq Upstream PLC Friday said its pretax loss widened significantly during its full year as strong revenue figures were offset by a jump in administrative expenses, partly due to a major impairment charge.
The oil and gas drilling technology company said its pretax loss widened to USD11.5 million for the twelve months ended March 31 from a pretax loss of USD745,000 the previous year.
The company said its revenues increased by 60% to USD24.6 million from USD15.4 million as market conditions stabilised in North America, where drill utilisation is expected to increase throughout 2014 and new customers made up 25% of its total sales.
However, Enteq said its administrative expenses almost tripled to USD21.4 million from USD7.3 million, as general administrative expenses increased to USD8.5 million from USD7.0 million, the company was hit by a USD9.8 million impairment charge, and the company's gain from the release of contingent consideration fell to USD3.4 million from USD7.5 million.
The impairment charge related to the company's acquisition of manufacturing business KMS.
The company said at the end of the period it had cash balances of USD18.8 million, down from USD23.9 million at the same point in the previous year.
Enteq added that it has now completed the acquisition of some drilling motor technology assets, which will be for a total consideration of USD2.2 million dependant on performance criteria.
It also said that it has now appointed Shanghai SK Petroleum & Chemical Equipment Corp, as an exclusive distributor for China and noted that an initial order of roughly USD2 million has been placed for its demonstration systems and initial inventory.
The company said it expects further market penetration in China, Middle East and Russia, and its overall outlook remains in line with expectations.
Enteq Upstream shares were up 6.6% to 35.71 pence on Friday.
By Tom McIvor; tommcivor@alliancenews.com; @TomMcIvor1
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