REG - Great Eastern Energy - Half Year Results

Great Eastern EnergyAnnouncement

11/11/2021 07:00

For best results when printing this announcement, please click on link below:
http://newsfile.refinitiv.com/getnewsfile/v1/story?guid=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20211111:nRSK9971Ra&default-theme=true

RNS Number : 9971R  Great Eastern Energy Corp Ltd  11 November 2021

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to
constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations
(EU) No. 596/2014 ('MAR') which has been incorporated into UK law by the
European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018.  Upon the publication of this
announcement via Regulatory Information Service ('RIS'), this inside
information is now considered to be in the public domain.

11 November 2021

 

Great Eastern Energy Corporation Limited

("Great Eastern" or "the Company")

 Half Year Results for the six months ended 30 September 2021

 

Great Eastern Energy Corporation Limited (LSE: GEEC), the fully integrated,
leading Indian Coal Bed Methane ("CBM") Company, is pleased to announce its
reviewed half year results for the 6 months ended 30 September 2021.

 

Abridged Financials for H1 FY 2022:

 

                          H1 FY 2022                           H1 FY 2021
                                   On constant currency basis
 Revenue                  $13.42m  $13.21m                     $12.25m
 EBITDA                   $6.75m   $6.65m                      $6.38m
 PAT / pre MTM / DTE*     $1.52m   $1.50m                      $0.82m
 Cash Profit              $3.56m   $3.51m                      $2.80m
 EPS** pre MTM / DTE      $1.28c   $1.26c                      $0.69c
 Cash EPS**               $2.99c   $2.94c                      $2.35c
 Net Debt                 $47.96m  $48.26m                     $56.43m
 Net Debt : Equity Ratio  0.53     0.53                        0.64
 Price ($/mmbtu)***       $9.84    $9.69                       $9.69
 Sales (mmscfd)           8.09                                 7.26

 

* MTM (Mark to Market) is on account of the restatement of the foreign
currency loans; DTE (Deferred Tax Expense) is on account of difference in
depreciation rates used for financial accounts and tax accounts and other
expenses like exchange fluctuation / MTM

** Per GDR

*** Pricing is based in Indian rupee ("INR")

$ - U.S. Dollar

 

·    The full set of the reviewed half year financial statement is
available at the following link: https://www.geecl.com/financials.php
(https://www.geecl.com/financials.php)

 

·    FY 2021 was an unprecedented year with the COVID-19 pandemic
impacting global supply chains, amidst the biggest global health crisis ever
faced.

 

·    As announced on 14 July 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic had an adverse
impact on Sales that were further compounded by the subsequent national
lockdown that occurred in India.  However, to mitigate this impact, the
Company has taken appropriate measures to optimize costs and increase
efficiencies.

 

·    Although sales volumes were impacted by the economic impact of the
COVID-19 pandemic, reassuringly, the average gas sales prices received held up
and remained strong, and the Company remained profitable.  Encouragingly,
operations continue to grow with gas production increasing from a full year
average of 15.20 mmscfd to an average of 15.87 mmscfd in October 2021,
including choked production.

 

·    As announced on 14 July 2021, the Company continues to focus on
optimising its debt coupon rate and had been able to reduce the same from
10.32% in FY 2021 to 9.58% in the ongoing FY 2022.  This has now further been
reduced to 9.48% in the ongoing FY 2022.  Due to this, there will an annual
saving, in FY 2022, of ~ $0.51m.

 

·    The Company is profitable and cash generative and continues to
maintain sufficient liquidity to meet all of its financial obligations on
time.

 

·    Shale gas and CBM reserves and resources in the Raniganj (South)
block (as previously announced on 15 November 2018):

 

o  OGIP of 6.13 TCF (best estimate) / 9.25 TCF (high estimate)

 

o  3P + 3C + 3U is 2,988.40 BCF (2.99 TCF)

 

·    Undiscounted value of $13.78 billion

 

·    Discounted value of $4.31 billion

 

·    As announced on 14 July 2021, for the Shale exploration program, the
Company continues to be in the process of obtaining the balance of final
approvals which are expected later this year.

 

·    As announced on 14 July 2021, GAIL (India) Limited partially
commissioned the "Jagdishpur - Haldia & Bokaro - Dhamra pipeline" on 6
February 2021.  Further work on laying the pipeline section to Kolkata is
underway and has made progress. The transportation tariff of this pipeline has
been fixed at INR 71.08/mmbtu ($0.96/ mmbtu) including 12% of Goods and
Services Tax.

 

·    India's cumulative LNG imports for the current year till September
2021 was lower by 0.8% compared with the corresponding period of the previous
year.  As per the publicly available data, the current average long term
delivered LNG price in India is $13.41/mmbtu.  Transporting this gas to the
eastern region via the above-mentioned pipeline would entail additional
transportation costs mentioned above and other costs to customers in eastern
India.  Great Eastern believes the resulting gas sales price ex pipeline to
customers in eastern India will be in sync with its current average selling
price and, together with the pipeline, will allow Great Eastern to sell
additional gas sales volumes to new customers that will be financially
attractive.

 

Prashant Modi, Managing Director & CEO of Great Eastern, said:

 

"Despite the impact of the Global COVID-19 pandemic, and a slowdown in the
growth rate of the Indian economy, gas sales prices, revenue and sales volume
have largely remained resilient.  The Board would like to reiterate that the
Company's business and balance sheet has been able to comfortably withstand
the severe impact of these unprecedented events.

 

"In response to the pandemic, we had implemented a focused plan of optimising
production, cutting costs and increasing efficiencies which have yielded
results.

 

"Encouragingly, during the current financial year, energy prices have exceeded
pre-pandemic levels with international oil prices currently above $80 per
barrel and also strong gas prices world wide.

 

"We are pleased to see the progress on the GAIL pipeline which, on completion,
will allow us to pursue further material growth into the large and untapped
industrial market of the wider State of West Bengal.  We also look forward to
progressing our Shale exploration and appraisal project that represents
another excellent growth opportunity once all approvals are in place.

 

"With the steps being taken by the government to accelerate the growth of the
Indian economy, demand for hydrocarbons in India is and will continue to grow,
where development of indigenous gas reserves like those held by Great Eastern
can make a meaningful contribution."

 

 For further information please contact:

 Great Eastern Energy Corporation Limited      www.geecl.com (http://www.geecl.com)

 Yogendra Kr. Modi      Executive Chairman                                           +44 (0) 20 3470 0470
 Prashant Modi          Managing Director & CEO
 Jonathan Keeling       VP - Investor Relations                                      +44 (0) 7717 559 522

 SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP                                                      +44 (0) 20 3470 0470

 Rob Rees
 Richard Hail
 Caroline Rowe

 

About the Company

 

A fully integrated gas production, development, and exploration Company in
India. Gas is being produced from the Raniganj (South) block in West Bengal,
which covers 210 sq. km with 9.25 TCF of Original Gas-in-Place.  The
Company's second license is the Mannargudi block in Tamil Nadu, which covers
667 sq. km with 0.98 TCF of Original Gas-in-Place.

 

 

This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact
rns@lseg.com (mailto:rns@lseg.com)
 or visit
www.rns.com (http://www.rns.com/)
.

RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services. For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange use the personal data you provide us, please see our
Privacy Policy (https://www.lseg.com/privacy-and-cookie-policy)
.   END  IR ZZMMMVGNGMZM