San Leon back in the black after one-off payment

30th Sep 2011 08:20

San Leon Energy, the oil and gas exploration and development company focusing on projects in Poland and Morocco, has swung back into the black.The return to profit came after a €3.5m payment from OMV when San Leon relinquished its interest in the Rockall license in March. Revenue for the six months to the end of June grew significantly from €0.1m to €0.5m, while pre-tax figures stood at €1.48m compared to a loss of €1.7m the same period the previous year. Oisin Fanning, Chairman of San Leon, talked up the firm's prospects in Poland. "No single well result in Poland or any analysis of data across a number of our assets has changed our view. In fact very much the opposite; in both Poland and elsewhere we are more convinced than ever that San Leon is on the cusp of proving what the board has always believed that our assets are world class."Whilst we are in very difficult macro-economic and market conditions we are still well placed to deliver results for our shareholders as we have both the team and the funding in place and are at that all important inflexion point of creating value through the drill bit."Administrative expenses were reduced to €1.74m from €2.4m in the corresponding period last year. This reduction includes the effect of €0.48m costs relating to the acquisition of Island Oil and Gas in the 2010 period. Cash at the end of period stood at €42.2m. NR