Companies: LDP   

Loss-making Leed Petroleum has moved strongly into the black in the first quarter of the current financial year.

Based in Louisiana and floated on AIM last year, Gulf of Mexico–focused Leed saw its losses surge 170 per cent to $19.9 million (£10.8million) in the year to last March on turnover nearly 70 per cent to $12.8 million. The company, which pursued a policy of making strategic acquisitions of producing assets, increased its most probable reserve estimate 43 per cent to 8.7 million barrels of oil equivalent between floating on AIM in August 2007 and last April, with the less sure ‘2P’ estimate rising 30.3 per cent to 20.6 million barrels.

Since then, in the three months to June, Leed made a pre-tax profit of $3.2 million on $15 million turnover. The company, where the entrepreneurial IB Daiwa group has a big stake, has completed drilling the A-78 well at its key Eugene Island project, raised nearly £9 million from selling 25 per cent of its Eugene Island interest and £15 million in a secondary fundraising at 60p in August.

Chief executive Howard Wilson proclaims, ‘we are now poised expand our development and exploration programmes to other areas of our inventory’. He speaks of a ‘tremendous’ 2009 for Leed.

Floated at 47p, the shares hit 69.75p before falling back all the way to 27.25p recently. Now 29p, they value the company at £80 million and could prove an active market.

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Leed Petroleum	AIM	£49.68m	18.00p	-0.50p
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Other company articles:
Leed moves into profit			01/10/2008
Leed Petroleum raises £15m			30/07/2008
New Issues Examined			01/10/2007
Newcomer - Leed Petroleum			15/08/2007