OIL and gas entrepreneur Tom Cross has said the Parkmead Group he runs has built a strong platform from which to become a key player in the North Sea and underlined its appetite for more acquisitions,

OIL and gas entrepreneur Tom Cross has said the Parkmead Group he runs has built a strong platform from which to become a key player in the North Sea and underlined its appetite for more acquisitions,

After Aberdeen-based Parkmead posted a maiden full-year post tax profit of £1.2 million for the 12 months to June 30, Mr Cross said the company has established a production base that could support an ambitious growth strategy.

While the oil price has fallen sharply since June, Mr Cross said he believed Parkmead has built up strong momentum in its attempt to build a North Sea business of scale.

Mr Cross took charge at the company in 2010 after growing Dana Petroleum into a £1.9 billion business with big North Sea interests. He netted around £57m from the sale of his holding in Dana when the company was bought by Korea National Oil Corporation in that year.

Parkmead's house broker Charles Stanley said the fall in the price of Brent crude, from $115 per barrel in June to around $80/bbl, could create opportunities for Mr Cross to cut more deals.

Charles Stanley told clients in a note: "Parkmead keeps a long-term perspective on crude oil prices and sees a subdued crude oil market as an opportunity to exploit its relative strength through opportunistic acquisitions."

Aim-listed Parkmead raised $66m from investors in January through a share placing, giving the company what it described as considerable financial firepower.

Mr Cross said Parkmead had reaped big rewards from the acquisitions it has made, including two in the year to June. The company completed the £14.5m ­acquisition of North Sea-focused Lochard Energy.

It bought an additional 20 per cent working interest in the Athena oil field from EWE for about £7m.

"These two acquisitions provided Parkmead with a substantial increase in production, revenue and cash flow," said Mr Cross.

Parkmead, which has bought a series of producing assets under Mr Cross, increased revenues to £24.7m in the year to June, from £4.1m last time. It lost £5.6m after tax in the year to June 30, 2013.

Mr Cross noted recent work on the undeveloped Perth, Dolphin and Lowlander finds off north-east Scotland increased confidence they could one day be brought onstream together.

He described the scheme as one of the largest undeveloped oil projects in the North Sea.

Parkmead is working on the project with Faroe Petroleum, in which it has a stake valued in its accounts at £4.8m. Faroe span out of Dana when Mr Cross was running its former parent.

Parkmead is active across the exploration and production cycle.

The company made the Pharos gas discovery in the UK North Sea last November. It found gas onshore the Netherlands in September, after the year end.

Parkmead was awarded six licences covering nine blocks this month.