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LONDON (Alliance News) - Serica Energy PLC on Wednesday reported a steep jump in annual profit due to a significant purchase gain from its four BKR acquisitions.
Shares in the company rose 13% on Wednesday, trading at 129.20 pence each.
For 2018, Serica posted a pretax profit of USD59.2 million compared to USD10.8 million a year prior.
The main bulk of the profit was generated from USD52.9 million realised from bargain purchase gains on the BKR acquisitions, which were completed in November, the company said.
The bargain purchase gain represents the difference between provisional fair valuations of assets acquired and the consideration paid for those assets, Serica explained.
Revenue meanwhile increased to USD45.7 million from USD32.0 million. Total product sales volumes for the year comprised 47.1 million therms of gas, 96,000 lifted barrels of oil, and 11,400 metric tonnes of NGLs.
"2018 has been a year of incredible achievement. Serica has established itself as one of the leading independent UKCS operating companies and has assembled a talented and motivated operating team," Chief Executive Officer Mitch Flegg said.
Looking ahead, Serica said it has continued to see strong income flows since the turn of the year, with net production from four of its fields totalling over 30,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in the first quarter of 2019.
