SHARES in SeaEnergy, the offshore services company, have plunged by nearly 17 per cent after it warned investors that it will post a “significant loss” in its current financial year.
The company has taken debt-funding worth £1 million
to address a short-term funding gap, and admitted that the continuing lower price of oil was having a severe impact on its core R2S subsidiary, as well as other parts of the group.
Aberdeen-based SeaEnergy, which developed out of the Ramco oil and gas business, issued the profits warning after revising its revenue forecast for the year.
The company now expects to deliver revenue of between £2.6m and £2.8m from continuing business this year, “resulting in a significant loss”.
It booked sales of £7.4m in 2014.
SeaEnergy reported in June that it is pursuing more work for R2S, a visual asset management (VAM) subsidiary producing 360 images of offshore installations, to reduce its reliance on the North Sea.
It reported that software licence income has held up well and that forensic activities are ahead of forecast.
But it conceded the reduction in oil companies’ operating budgets following the Crude price collapse has “severely impacted new capture and recapture activities and levels of digital media work”.
Looking further ahead, though, it predicted a recovery in its core R2S business in 2016 as offshore activity picks up, “and efforts to grow the business through internationalisation and diversification start to bear fruit”.
SeaEnergy noted that the group has recently won R2S capture projects worth around £150,000 in total in the UK, alongside a number of licence renewals – “despite the operational downturn”.
“This further demonstrates the value of the R2S software/service in driving down overall supply chain costs,” the company said.
SeaEnergy said its board had considered a range of options to address its shortfall in working capital, which arose from reduced R2S business levels, including equity fundraising.
It declared that it opted to take a short-term debt-based approach to minimise long-term dilution to shareholders.
Davies Newman Property, a Scottish company with interests in property and oil and gas, and LC Capital Master Fund have each provided secured facilities of £500,000 to the company.
LC, a US-based hedge fund, holds a seven per cent stake in SeaEnergy. It is controlled by Steven Lampe, who is a non-executive director in the Scottish company.
SeaEnergy announced yesterday that it expects to have completed its exit from ship management by the end of the year.
Shares in SeaEnergy closed down 0.75p at 3.75p.
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