British oil and gas exploration and production company Capricorn Energy lost more than 10% on the London Stock Exchange on Thursday, after announcing that it had fallen into the red last year, during a year marked by several aborted merger projects.
Heavy losses in 2022
Capricorn posted a net loss of $51 million in 2022, compared with a profit of $894.5 million a year earlier, despite a fourfold increase in revenue to $229.6 million. The group’s shares were down 10.14% at 218 pence on Thursday around 13:30 GMT on the London Stock Exchange.
The year 2022 saw “unprecedented” upheaval at Capricorn, the company noted in its statement, with an aborted merger with oil group Tullow Oil because of shareholder opposition, and another with NewMed Energy, abandoned for the same reasons.
New Board of Directors
These events led to the renewal, last February, of almost all the members of the Board of Directors of this group based in Scotland, which has, in addition to the North Sea, operations in Mauritania and Egypt but also in Mexico and Suriname. Capricorn’s (formerly Cairn energy) result was penalized in particular by a negative comparison effect as India refunded in February 2022 more than a billion dollars to the group to close a long tax dispute, a gain that the company says it has booked for 2021. The new board of directors says it wants to generate more returns for its shareholders, reduce costs and improve the group’s business in Egypt. Capricorn also announced Thursday the appointment of a new general manager, Randy Neely, who will take over on June 1.
