LONDON (Alliance News) - Obtala Resources Limited Monday said it swung to a pretax loss in its first half as share buy-backs and lower sales hit the company.
The natural resource investment-and-development company said it made a pretax loss of GBP7.0 million for the six months ended June 30 compared to a pretax profit of GBP18.0 million the previous year.
Obtala said its revenue fell 15% to GBP148,000 from GBP175,000 but that it expects first sales from a sun-dried tomato project in November to bolster its revenue.
The company said it suffered a non-cash loss of GBP4.9 million in respect of buying back shares from Bushveld Minerals Limited and GBP300,000 from its share of losses from Bushveld. The prior-year comparison benefited from GBP20.2 million in one-off incomes from pre-IPO services provided to London main-board-listed Bushveld.
The company said its operating loss narrowed to GBP1.8 million from GBP2.2 million during the period
Obtala shares were up 1.5% at 10.15 pence Monday afternoon. Bushveld Minerals was quoted at 7.38 pence per share, up 1.8%.
By Tom McIvor; tommcivor@alliancenews.com; @TomMcIvor1
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Bushveld Minerals (BMN)