Sale of Shares

30 Sep 2005 11:15

Westmount Energy Limited30 September 2005 30 September 2005 Westmount Energy Limited Regulatory Announcement Westmount Energy Limited raises £8 million from the sale of shares Westmount Energy Limited ("Westmount"), the AIM quoted energy investmentcompany, announces that it has realised £8 million before expenses from the saleof 40 million ordinary shares in Sterling Energy plc ("Sterling"). Thisrepresents a net surplus of approximately £3.2 million, after taking intoaccount the cost of the shares in September 2003 and the expenses associatedwith the sale. Commenting on the sale Derek Williams, Chairman of Westmount said "I have beenvery pleased with the progress of Sterling and have every confidence in itsprospects and management. However, our total holding of 70 million ordinaryshares acquired on the sale of our West African assets to Sterling in 2003 hasbecome too dominant in our portfolio, being almost equivalent to our entirecurrent market capitalisation. Our policy has always been to invest at an early stage in a companys'development and to realise part of our financial investment when appropriate, aswe have in the past. We intend to hold our remaining 30 million ordinary sharesin Sterling, representing 2.15% its the issued share capital, for theforeseeable future. With such a large cash balance, Westmount will now examine ways to return fundsto shareholders, whilst retaining the flexibility to make further investments". Further details of such arrangements will be announced in due course. Westmount Energy Limited Tel: 01534 814 209Derek G Williams, Chairman Oriel Securities Limited Tel: 020 7710 7600Andrew EdwardsScott Richardson Brown This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange