LONDON (Alliance News) - Sound Energy PLC on Thursday said its loss narrowed slightly in its most recent year as it continued to develop its Moroccan assets.
In 2018, the upstream oil and gas company posted a pretax loss of GBP11.7 million, marginally narrowed from GBP12.3 million in 2017.
This was largely a result of foreign exchange gains, which totalled GBP3.4 million versus a GBP914,000 loss the year before.
The company is still in its exploration phase and consequently recorded no revenue for the year.
In 2018, Sound's focus was on development work in Morocco, culminating in the recommencing of exploration drilling at its Tendrara licences in eastern Morocco. During the year, the company was also awarded a 25-year production concession for the Tendrara TE-5 discovery.
Moreover, Sound also disposed of its interest in its Italian portfolio to Saffron Energy PLC, the sale of which was completed in April with Sound receiving 183.9 million Saffron shares, equivalent to around GBP8.0 million, based on the completion date share price of 4.3 pence per Saffron share.
As at December 31, Sound's cash and short term deposits stood at GBP20.5 million, down 3.3% from GBP21.2 million.
"2018 was a very active year for Sound Energy delivering on our priorities to de-risk and advance our existing discovery and unlock our significant exploration potential," said Non-Executive Chair Richard Liddell.
"The company is now well advanced in the execution of its Moroccan strategy which includes early options for monetisation," Liddell added.
Shares in Sound Energy were down 2.2% at 22.10 pence on Thursday morning.
Sound Energy (SOU)