Lansdowne taps market

Ireland-focused Lansdowne Oil and Gas has raised fresh funds through a share placing at a mild discount to the current share price so it can continue to develop its Barryroe project in the North Celtic Sea Basin.Lansdowne placed 18.2m new ordinary shares with institutional investors at a price of 55p each, raising £10.0m. The newly issued shares represent around 12.9% of the enlarged issued share capital of Lansdowne.The company needs the funds to continue the evaluation of the Barryroe play."We thank our existing shareholders for their continued support and welcome our new shareholders at this exciting time in the company's development," said Steve Boldy, Chief Executive Officer of Lansdowne.The stock jumped 3% in morning trading in response to the news and has now gained 62.5% since the start of the year.BS