ALO.L Regulatory News (ALO)

30 Sep 2009 07:00



30 September 2009

Alecto Energy plc

 ('Alecto Energy' or 'the Company')

Interim Results for the period ended 30 June 2009

Chairman's Statement

The first 6 months of the year were a period of re-orientation for Alecto. The ability to attract the required funding to continue to develop the PEM Technology had become extremely difficult and as reported in late January the Company terminated the CSIRO Agreements in order to preserve the remaining cash in the Company and allow it to continue to pursue alternative investment opportunities in line with its investing policy. 

The Company's investing policy is to make investments in the energy sector, which may include exploration, development or production projects in oil and gas, coal, uranium and renewable energy. Alecto will primarily focus on investment and acquisition opportunities in Southern Africa, the former Soviet Union, Latin America, Southern Africa, Australasia and South East Asia. Alecto's interest in a proposed investment may range from a minority position to 100 per cent ownership. The proposed investments may be a direct interest in an energy project or an indirect interest through partnerships, joint ventures or either quoted or unquoted companies.

Subsequent to the period end and as part of this process, I was appointed as Non-Executive Chairman in place of Mr Martin Thomas. At the same time, Mr Damian Conboy joined the board as Executive Director.

On 28 August 2009 the Company completed a placing of 657,523,869 new Ordinary Shares at a price of 0.11p per share, with certain new and existing shareholders to raise £720,000.

This placing along with the appointment of Mr Conboy to the Board is an important step towards delivering on our strategy as we look to acquire projects and interests in the mining and energy sectors. We believe that there are some excellent opportunities available at the moment whereby we can utilise our new Board's strengths in these sectors and its deal structuring abilities to build an exciting future for the Company.

Results

During the six months to 30 June 2009, the Group made a loss of £89,528 (30 June 2008: £2,176,702). 

Malcolm James

Chairman

Condensed Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity

Notes to the unaudited financial statements

1. General information

The principal activity of Alecto Energy plc ('the Company') and its subsidiaries (together 'the Group') is to make investments and/or acquire projects in the energy sector, which may include exploration, development or production projects in oil and gas, coal, uranium and renewable energy.

The address of its registered office is 200 Strand, London WC2R 1DJ.

2. Basis of preparation

The interim financial information set out above does not constitute statutory accounts within the meaning of Section 435 of the Companies Act 2006. It has been prepared on a going concern basis in accordance with the recognition and measurement criteria of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) as adopted by the European Union. The accounting policies applied in preparing the financial information are consistent with those that have been adopted in the Group's 2008 audited statutory accounts. Statutory accounts for the year ended 31 December 2008 were approved by the Board of Directors on 29 June 2009 and delivered to the Registrar of Companies. The report of the auditors on those accounts was unqualified, did not include a reference to any matters to which the auditors drew attention by way of emphasis without qualifying their report, and did not contain a statement under section 237(2) or 237(3) of the Companies Act 1985.

The financial information for the 6 months ended 30 June 2009 and the 6 months ended 30 June 2008 has not been audited. As permitted, the Group has chosen not to adopt IAS 34 "Interim Financial Statements" in preparing this interim financial information.

The unaudited interim results of the Group for the period ended 30 June 2008 have been restated in these interim results. The unaudited results for the period ended 30 June 2008 accounted for the acquisition of Oreion Australia Energy PTY Ltd using the deemed value of the consideration shares of 2p resulting in a purchase consideration of £1,000,000. In accordance with IFRSs, the purchase consideration in these interim statements is the fair value of the shares issued based on the published share price at the date of issue. As a result, the value of the shares issued during the period ended 30 June 2008 has been restated to £440,000. The loss for that period has also been restated from £2,736,702 to £2,176,702 as a result of the adjustment to the impairment of goodwill. Retained Losses at 30 June 2008 have been restated from £3,738,336 to £2,773,336 partly as a result of the change in the impairment of goodwill of £560,000 referred to above. The remaining difference of £405,000 results from a transfer of part of the reduced impairment charge from Retained Losses, where it was previously stated, to the Merger Reserve. 

The 2009 interim financial report of the Company has not been audited but has been reviewed by the Company's auditor, Littlejohn LLP, whose independent review report is included in this Interim Report.

3. Accounting policies 

Except as described below, the same accounting policies, presentation and methods of computation are followed in this condensed consolidated financial information as were applied in the preparation of the Group's annual financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2008. 

Change in accounting policies

The following new amendments to standards are mandatory for the first time for the financial year beginning 1 January 2009.

IAS 1 (revised), 'Presentation of financial statements'. The revised standard prohibits the presentation of items of income and expenses (that is 'non-owner changes in equity') in the statement of changes in equity, requiring 'non-owner changes in equity' to be presented separately from owner changes in equity. All 'non-owner changes in equity' are required to be shown in a performance statement. Entities can choose whether to present one performance statement (the statement of comprehensive income) or two statements (the income statement and statement of comprehensive income).

The Group has elected to present two statements: an income statement and a statement of comprehensive income. The interim financial statements have been prepared under the revised disclosure requirements.

4.  Dividends

No dividend is proposed for the period. 

5.  Loss per share

The calculation of loss per share is based on a retained loss of £89,528 for the period ended 30 June 2009 (30 June 2008: £2,176,702; 31 December 2008: £2,282,168) and the weighted average number of shares in issue in the period 30 June 2009 of 280,207,901 (30 June 2008: 260,152,956, 31 December 2008: 270,235,223). No diluted earnings per share is presented as the effect on the exercise of share options would be to decrease the loss per share.

6.  Events after the balance sheet date

On 28 August 2009 the Company announced that it had raised approximately £720,000 through the placing of 657,523,869 new Ordinary Shares ('Placing Shares') at a price of 0.11p per share, with certain new and existing shareholders. One warrant was issued for every seven Placing Shares, exercisable at 0.5p per share for a period of two years from the date of admission of the Placing Shares to trading on AIM.

Contacts

  Independent Review Report to Alecto Energy plc 

Introduction

We have been engaged by Alecto Energy plc to review the condensed set of Financial Statements in the half-yearly financial report for the six months ended 30 June 2009 which comprise the consolidated income statement, consolidated statement of comprehensive income, consolidated balance sheet, consolidated statement of changes in equity, consolidated cash flow statement and related notes. We have read the other information contained in the half-yearly financial report and considered whether it contains any apparent misstatements or material inconsistencies with the information in the condensed set of Financial Statements.

Directors' Responsibilities

The half-yearly financial report is the responsibility of, and has been approved by, the Directors. The Directors are responsible for preparing the half-yearly financial report in accordance with the AIM Rules for Companies.

The annual Financial Statements of the Group are prepared in accordance with IFRSs as adopted by the European Union. The condensed set of Financial Statements included in this half-yearly financial report has been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the AIM Rules for Companies.

Our Responsibility

Our responsibility is to express to the Company a conclusion on the condensed set of Financial Statements in the half-yearly financial report based on our review. This report, including the conclusion, has been prepared for and only for the Company for the purpose of the AIM Rules for Companies and for no other purpose. We do not, in producing this report, accept or assume responsibility for any other purpose to any other person to whom this report is shown or into whose hands it may come save where expressly agreed by our prior consent in writing.

Scope of review

We conducted our review in accordance with the International Standard on Review Engagements 2410 "Review of Interim Financial Information Performed by the Independent Auditor of the Entity" issued by the Auditing Practices Board for use in the United Kingdom. A review of interim financial information consists of making enquiries, primarily of persons responsible for financial and accounting matters, and applying analytical and other review procedures. A review is substantially less in scope than an audit conducted in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK and Ireland) and consequently does not enable us to obtain assurance that we would become aware of all significant matters that might be identified in an audit. Accordingly, we do not express an audit opinion.

Conclusion

Based on our review, nothing has come to our attention that causes us to believe that the condensed set of Financial Statements in the half-yearly financial report for the six months ended 30 June 2009 is not prepared, in all material respects, in accordance with the AIM Rules for Companies.

Littlejohn LLP

Chartered Accountants and Registered Auditors

1 Westferry CircusCanary WharfLondon

E14 4HD

29th September 2009