Torchlight Energy down 8% after upsized stock offering (updated)

Meta Materials

22/06/2021 15:07

(Updates shares)
    June 22 (Reuters) - Shares of Torchlight Energy Resources
Inc  TRCH.O  gave up premarket gains to trade down more than 8%
on Tuesday, after the oil and gas producer raised its share
offering to $250 million to take advantage of a 74% surge in its
stock price.  
    Small-time investors have been piling into Torchlight, the
latest social media-hyped stock, which hit a record high of
$10.88 on Monday. 
    Torchlight said late Monday it was planning to raise $150
million more, on top of a $100 million stock offering it
announced last week. 
    The company last week also declared https://bit.ly/3zVN4Sb a
special dividend of preferred stock to be issued to shareholders
who held its shares as of market close on June 24.
    Torchlight is being acquired by industrial materials maker
Metamaterial Inc  MMAT.CD  in a deal that analysts say will
likely see its current main business sold or hived off.    
    The stock, which has risen more than 10 times in value since
the start of the year, was trading at $9.56 in early trading. 
    Torchlight was also the top traded stock for a second
straight day, with more than 54 million shares changing hands by
10:00 a.m. ET.
    Plano, Texas-based Torchlight traces its roots back to Pole
Perfect, incorporated in 2007 in Nevada to develop and market
feminine fitness dance studios utilizing the advantages of pole
dancing. 
    In November 2010, Pole Perfect bought Torchlight Energy and
abandoned all of its previous business plans within the health
and fitness industries before formally changing its name to
Torchlight in 2011. 
    Torchlight, which had a net loss of $2.1 million in the
first three months of this year, has warned repeatedly that it
had substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going
concern. 
    The company produced 28 barrels of oil and 711,000 cubic
feet of gas with total sales of $2,471 in the quarter to March
30. 

 (Reporting by Arathy S Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika
Syamnath and Anil D'Silva)
 ((arathys.nair@thomsonreuters.com; +1 646 223 8780 (Extn 2726);
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ArathySom;))