Monday 1st November 2004
Fluids group ponders AIM move
Rheochem, acquisitive Ofex-traded Australian supplier of drilling fluids and engineering and consulting services to the oil and gas industry, is poised to move to AIM. The company, based in the resource-rich state of Western Australia, is already working on a £6.6 million project for Australian oil major Santos and pushed up profits nearly 300 per cent to £317,000 in the year to June. Rheochem recently raised £600,000 with a ten per cent loan note convertible into its shares at either 15p or a 40 per cent discount to its AIM float price, whichever is lower, and is in the process of completing an internal restructuring. That compares with its Ofex price of 22p, itself little changed from last year’s Ofex launch price of 20p. The company, whose smaller mining services arm works for major groups such as BHP Billiton, Anglogold and Anaconda, is keen to line up equivalent clients in oil and gas. To help with this, Rheochem is anxious to establish ‘mud plants’ to produce appropriate drilling fluids and hopes to fund this with the proceeds of an AIM float. Chief executive officer Haydn Gardner says the company is pitching for major projects in Nigeria and is happy to challenge sector giants such as Schlumberger and Halliburton. Rheochem has been using Carmichael First Capital of Perth, WA, as adviser, but is now close to appointing a UK nominated adviser and broker for AIM. 1/11/04
Comments [0]
User Comments
There are currently no comments on this post.
Related Articles
People who read this article also read ...
Related sections
Interesting links
|
