ARCON International has increased its pre-tax losses from £284,000 to £475,000 in the year ended August 31st 1995. The bulk of this was due to an exceptional depreciation charge of £270,000.
The chairman, Mr Brendan Gilmore, says this reflects the write off of its 0.5 per cent interest, in the Claymore Field in the North Sen. Group turnover fell marginally from £1.46 million to £1.42, million. There was a loss per share of 0.30p compared with earnings of 0.09p.
The balance sheet has been strengthened considerably following the rights issue which raised £41.5 million. Shareholders funds stood at £51.5 million at the end of last August. This compares with shareholders' funds of just £9.9 million a year earlier.
Arcon is on schedule to ship the first ore from its Galmoy mine, in Kilkenny, in the last quarter of this $ year. The group has extended the life of the mine through further drilling. As part of its two year £1.5 million exploration programme, exploration drilling in the immediate Galmoy started last September and the results are described as "excellent" by Mr Gilmore.
Arcon says it continues to enjoy positive production cash flow from its hydrocarbon activities in Britain. It is continuing to achieve progress on the development of the Argo gas field in the North Sea and the Helvick oil field in the Celtic Sea.
