Prospex Energy (LSE:PXEN) — Investor Update

0:00 Good afternoon, and welcome to the PROSPEX ENERGY PLC Investor Presentation. Throughout this recorded presentation, investors will be in listen only mode. Questions are encouraged and can be submitted at any time by the Q and A tab situated on the right hand corner of your screen. Simply type in your questions and press send. The company may not be in a position to answer every question received during the meeting itself. However, the company can review all questions submitted today and publish responses where it's appropriate to do so. Before we begin, I'd like to submit the following poll. And I'd now like to hand you over to Bill Smith, nonexecutive chairman. Good afternoon,

0:32 sir. Well, thank you, Lily, and thank you all for attending this. As you may know, this is the first time I presented in an investor meet, and so I'm gonna stumble along. Luckily, we've got Mark here who's going to be able to give us a short presentation. And then we'll as Lily said, we'll take some questions. So thank you again for attending. We appreciate your support. Over to you, Mark.

0:56 Thank you very much, Bill. So I we have a short presentation here for what's going on currently at PROSPEX. So so here's Bill Smith and myself I'm presenting today. So the overview of the company, we have the three normally producing assets, Selva Malvezzi in Northern Italy, Vallero in Northern Spain, El Romero in Southern Spain, we have applications for licenses in Poland, and we have an exploration license in the South Of Spain, Tesarillo Tesarillo, which is a suspended exploration concession at the moment. But we're gonna talk about the three normally producing assets. Unfortunately, two of them are shut in at the moment as you might have seen from the r and s that we recently published.

1:48 So the Vallora gas field in the North Of Spain successfully repaired the leak in the production tubing, which was identified in April. However, there is a unexpected blockage of residual drilling mud in the tubing, which currently is being bailed out using wireline conveyed balers, but that's a rather slow process. I'm told that there's some 30 meters to go, but that that changes by the day. They can't bail up bail out very much on each run. Ideal equipment to clear such blockage is a cold tubing unit. These are fairly large and expensive units to mobilize. There are none available in Spain, and so one is being mobilized from Poland, and there are various permits required to get it across Europe to get it to Spain.

2:41 That's being done, but in the meantime, the wireline bailing continues in case there are any other delays, and we might get the blockage cleared by mid August before the cold tubing unit arrives. So resumption of production is expected very shortly after the cold tubing unit arrives or it could be before if the if the wireline bailing is successful. Obviously, that is our our largest producing number on our producing gas field, and that would be very welcome to get that back into production. It has been frustrating that we've had a whole quarter without production from. So the it should be stressed that it it's been a very good investment.

3:31 We own 7.24% working interest. It's operated by HAECO ENERGY Iberia, a subsidiary of HAECO ENERGY Group in Dallas, Texas. The Vira one bill one b well, which was drilled and finished in December 24, produced some 1.1 BCF of gas. That's a 154,000,000 cubic feet net to PROSPEX. You've got the metric numbers there on the screen. The Viro acquisition significantly increased prospects' proven reserves by 6.5 BCF net to prospects. So for the money that we paid for the asset, this is a very good deal. The gross proven two p most likely reserves in the viral field, the gross number is 90 BCF, and we own a 7.24% share of that. So it has boosted our reserves, and it it just needs the wells to produce and further wells to be drilled to get that gas out of the ground to the benefit of the company and the shareholders.

4:36 So on to Seldom Malvetsi in Northern Italy. We have a 37% working interest in this field. It is operated by POVALLY ENERGY listed on the ASX PVE, and and we sell the gas to BP Gas Marketing. That's a picture of the wellhead and the gas processing plant. It's a small affair, but it produces very steadily at some 80,000 standard cubic meters per day. And, obviously, we are 37% of that of that number. So you've got the the quarterly report that was published last week and the revenues. As you can see, by quarter, we shall be providing more information on we'll come to that later.

5:22 This is a map of the concessions. You can see in red labeled the Silver Field, the P M 1 well as it's called. It's a 13 BCF reserve, which has been producing since July 23. And we have four prospects, two two of them contingent resources and two of them prospective resources, which we're going to be drilling up, getting preparation for that toward the end of this year for drilling in the following year or possibly early twenty twenty seven depending on when permits are granted. There was a there was a resubmission of the permits required because of the top hole locations had to be had to be changed because of the the recent flooding that happened in the Po Valley.

6:12 So that's ongoing. It's an ongoing process. It is run by the operator. We were with the operator just recently, and we're very supportive. And we're very impressed with the work that they're doing locally and talking to the landowners to get the agreements to build the well pads and lay the pipelines to tie the well back to the SLAM grid pipeline. So on to El Romarell in Southern Spain. That's an aerial picture of the power plant, which we've hybrid we've hybridized it by putting solar panels on the roof. This is this is normally producing from the gas that we produce, and we generate electricity from that gas in the in the power station, and we sell that on the spot market.

7:00 While the transformer's being replaced, the the rental transformer was changed out, and there's been an issue with that. And the change out has been delayed, which is another frustrating thing. However, we are getting compensation from that, which is now up to €4,000 per day. So that's like an insurance policy. But a new transformer is expected soon. I don't have an absolute firm date for that. Again, rather frustrating, but we we're not we're not producing our gas, so we're saving that for later production. So that's necessarily the best thing. So the other investments I've mentioned already, Poland, we have license applications which are with the ministry, and we have test in Southern Spain, which is a suspended exploration project.

7:49 So here we've got a summary of our net resources and and reserves. This is on my presentation on the website, which Nanny is updating, and that'll be done that'll be done soon. So the message is that the portfolio has got, when they get back into production, three producing assets of natural gas in Europe where demand for natural gas remains strong.

8:17 We have significant volumes of proven, contingent and prospective gas resources to be drilled from up to 11 wells on the concessions that we have the right to produce hydrocarbons from. All we need to do is permit each individual well. In Spain and Italy that can take some time and that can be frustrating, But we're going to be unlocking this reserve and get into production as soon as we can.

8:45 That's all I wanted to share with you at the moment. So I think we can head into the q and a session. Mark, Bill, thank you very much for your presentation this afternoon. Ladies and gentlemen, please do continue to submit your questions just by using the q and a tab situated on the top right hand corner of your screen. Just while the company take a few moments to review those questions submitted today, I'd like to remind you that recording of this presentation, along with a copy of the slides and the published Q and A, can be accessed via investor dashboard.

9:11 Mark, Bill, as you can see, we received number of questions throughout today's presentation. Could I please ask you to read out the questions and give responses where appropriate to do so? And I'll pick up from you at the end. Thank you. Shall I read the first question, Bill? Sure. So first question is the share price is the lowest in three years. Anyone who bought in the past three years is down. Can you explain a CEO who is responsible for the share price and what what plan to do? What do you plan to do? Well, maybe, Mark, I'll I'll answer. I'll try to answer that one. I think that as you said in your presentation that if you look at the the longer term, the medium term, over the last couple of years, the company's made significant progress. What we haven't seen is any reflection of that progress in the share price.

9:59 You know, the management and the board hold about 40 over 40,000,000 shares. That's almost nine nine and a half percent of the shares of the company. So we too are quite focused on the share price. What we are doing is we are increasing the communications lines. We're attempting to be responsive to shareholders in in all ways. And we're gonna follow the corporate strategy, which Mark just outlined. But, basically, it's to become what is probably a unique onshore gas in Europe company, small, but growing with a lot of activity and a lot of positive results. Sometimes it feels like three or four steps forward and a couple steps sideways.

10:50 And we have had, as we have just said, some delays here. But the share price is not reflective. We don't think of the underlying value, and we're trying to get the word out through our brokers through these presentations, through the RNS system. And any other suggestions that people have in terms of better communication into the market, we we'd be happy to listen to. Very good. So on to question number two. Do you consider Selva your most successful investment to date given its consistent production, favorable fiscal environment, and stable offtake agreement with BP? The good response to that is absolutely yes. It has been a very good investment.

11:37 It did come at a cost. We had to we had to pay for the well. We had to pay for the gas processing equipment, and we had to raise money to do that. However, it has been a very stable, well run operation by Poe Valley Energy. So, yes, it it it has been a successful investment because it continues to deliver a steady cash flow from a very stable well. So question three. There have been a number of problems with the Vira one b since acquisition. Do you still see the Vaira acquisition as positive for shareholders, particularly as it resulted in further dilution?

12:22 The answer to this is the the Vaira the Vira deal was an extremely good deal for the company. The Vira has feels there's a potential to transform PROSPEX. It has produced 1.1 BCF growth since December 2024. That should have continued throughout the second quarter of this year, but unfortunately we had that setback. Two further wells should unlock the 90 Bcf of 2P reserves that's proven for us probable reserves in the field. And that's worth a further €11,000,000 to the company unrisked, net to prospects. So Vairo is set to contribute some 3,000,000 net revenues to prospects in 2025, growing to 11,000,000 in 2028 once all three wells are caught on stream.

13:11 So, yes, the the answer to this question is the the the Viro acquisition was a extremely positive move for shareholders, and continuing to fund it was the right thing to do rather than dilute the share we have in the asset for the future. That was the that was the considered wisdom at the time, and I stick by that as the right decision.

13:39 The next question is, is the company looking at any further investments? The answer to this is that as an investment company, we are always looking for opportunities where we feel we can add shareholder value. But we only do that if shareholder value is to be accretive. Our focus is still on Europe, and it sets us a far apart from many other companies because we are focusing not only on Europe, but on the product that we sell, which is natural gas. The companies we operate in have favorable fiscal regimes, both Italy and Spain, and there's no extraordinary oil and tax oil and gas tax like there is in UK, especially in The UK and in Norway. So we have the appetite to build energy independence, and there is a demand for natural gas in Europe. There's a continuing demand.

14:31 So the answer is yes, but we won't just invest in anything. It's got to be something that we believe as a board will be accretive to shareholders. So question five here is I don't think that the company provides shareholders with enough clarity on the financial position of its subsidiaries and funds coming into PROSPEX. How do you plan to address this? Now Bill has already addressed some of this, and I'll hand this question over to you, Bill, because you you answered some of this already. Thanks again, Mark. Excuse me. The current thinking is that we will be producing a quarterly update such as the update we've had today, but an update on the operations over the last quarter.

15:21 We're targeting to have something in the fall, put out an RNS describing the basic operational details along with some selected unaudited financial information, including the what what people are calling the consolidated cash position. Not all of the cash

15:45 in the system is actually accessible to us. For example, cash generated in Viera stays in Viera in in, the HEICO, energy subsidiary, whereas shareholder of that company, and that company is holding money for future operations. So we'll have to continue to support that as well. That's the commitment that we've made in terms of future drilling. But we are planning on having quarterly meetings, up investor update type meetings largely on this platform, sometimes perhaps in person or a hybrid, and providing some financial information. It's been suggested by a few shareholders that we should be able to publish some consolidated audited financial statements.

16:35 And and that presents a number of challenges, some of which are,

16:40 as I just mentioned, the Vayera situation. We're not in a position to consolidate the Vayera results. And but what we will do is we'll start a program and and and provide information because we understand the shareholders are looking for additional information about the progress that we're making and and the plans. Back to you, Mark.

17:05 Thank you.

17:07 So next question we've got is why do you think shareholders should continue to support the company despite the share price? Well, all I can say is that, we believe that the the the company is significantly undervalued at this share price. And and the current, assets, when they get back into production, underpin the current share price with significant upside with the undeveloped reserves and resources that we have from the, from the wells that we're going to be drilled. We are unique, I think, on AIM as being a company focused on European gas, and that puts us aside to from some other companies.

17:45 So if somebody wants exposure to the upside of European gas, PROSPEX ENERGY is the place to be. So for that reason, I believe that shareholders should continue to support us. The the the board of directors and the the management team certainly believe that as well.

18:07 So I've got another question coming here. It's a fairly long question. Thanks for the update. Funding is gems to help us prove shareholder return. So how does the loss of production and cash flows from Enviro affect the wider CapEx plans and investments? Well, the that aspect of the Viro investment has been a challenge, but it's actually it means that the CapEx that is was from Viro was going to be allocated to drill the next wells. So the next wells have have shifted to the right, so so they will be drilled later than initially planned. So this loss of production has had the effect of meaning that the future wells of Barrio will be drilled a bit later, which means that further cash can be accrued so that we can fund those wells from production income. It also allows the operator to invoke a debt facility in order to fund the the new wells because a debt facility would be achievable by the operator on behalf of the investment

19:23 owners of HEICO Energy Iberia because it's a larger resource and the and there's a consortium of banks which is talking to the operator about a credit facility for that, but we need to get back into production before that can happen. So the second part of the question here is market warriors often focus on prospects as cash needs, and this has heavily hurt share price. Yes. I think that's I think that's a fair fair point. Surely, there's a better way for investors to understand the ongoing cash levels and see got growing cash flows as we secure success from our investments. So, Mark, can I just address that part? Yes. You can. And that So the there has been or appears to have been a focus on the cash position of the company. I addressed that a moment ago.

20:14 I I can say that if you look at the history of this company and, frankly, of a lot of very small companies, the way to grow the company is by making investments in in assets, by drilling wells, by acquiring land, by acquiring productive fields, such as what we did in in the Vallera situation.

20:36 Those things take capital, and small companies, do need to access capital and need to access capital regularly. The one of the big shifts that we've had over the last couple of years is we have cash flow to support the operating expenses. And many small companies, and this company when it first started as an investment company in this area, required capital just to pay for the operating expenses. Those are now covered, but I don't think it's reasonable to expect that we're gonna be able to generate enough cash to grow the company with no further investments whatsoever.

21:23 The timing of those, we don't know. As Mark just mentioned, sometimes projects get pushed out further. Sometimes

21:31 there's there's additional costs which we hadn't anticipated, such as the workover in Myera. What we're trying to do is invest the money continuously on continual improvement and asset growth and revenue growth. Back to you, Mark. Next question. Yes. Thank you for that, Bill.

21:55 Okay. I'm just trying to get the questions in order. Okay. A question here. I know you have been asked for consolidated accounts, but I don't think this is required. That that is true as an investment company. However, it says here, you you have you have an easily audited cash position and debtor book, which can be published with comparative past period, but also highlighting the CapEx reinvestment spend in the period between

22:24 two reference time points. This is what will give the shareholder shareholders a feel for cash generation before CapEx. Surely, this would be good and easy comps to produce half yearly. Think we've addressed I think we've addressed that point, though. Well, other than the very end of it, which was we agree that providing some more information is good. I don't personally think it's as easy as as as could be expected as anybody knows who's who's been involved in running businesses. It's a complex process. So we are proceeding. We will provide some additional information. And over time, we'll try to refine that and and make it as meaningful as possible for the investors.

23:13 Right. Next question here. You get into full production, what will the annual free cash flow attributable to the company? I'm not going to attempt to answer that question because it's gonna depend on what the production is and more moreover, it's gonna depend on what the gas price and electricity price is. So this this number will be visible on our quarterly updates as to what the cash flow is going to be, and we are we we've committed to to to do that. It'll be unaudited quarterly updates followed by an investor presentation. So we can we can improve the communication,

23:54 but I'm not going to try and pick a number to say what the annual cash flow is gonna be because I don't have a full picture on what the commodity prices are going to be. Well, just to add to that, Mark, I think that we're all familiar with guidance given by some of the major companies who have large financial staffs and and also have very steady production from assets. And even they don't get the the their forecast correct all the time as we're constantly seeing. It's just not it it's not an endeavor that that we propose to undertake in a company of this size.

24:34 Okay. The next question I have here is the Poe Valley share price is up over 100% year to date. Kevin Bailey appears to be very bullish and pushes a more confident outlook of his company. What lessons can you take or learn from him? Well, yes, that's an interesting thing. Kevin Bailey owns about 24% of the Poe Valley Energy, and other board directors own a further 30 or so percent between them. The liquidity on the Poe Valley share price is very, very low. There's not nearly as many trades done per day as there are in PROSPEX. So

25:14 the the fact that the share price has increased in Poe Valley is not necessarily reflective of the value of value of Poe Valley. However, they have got 63% of an asset, so we have we we have half their share at 30 just under just over half their share of 37%. So

25:36 this is a question of markets. The ASX market is one thing. The AIM market is another. The AIM market is generally quite quite low at the moment, especially in the resource sector in upstream oil and gas.

25:53 As for what lessons you I can learn from him, well, he has a communication strategy, and I I can only learn from him because he has a he has a very good way of talking to his shareholders.

26:09 Okay. Next question. HEICO seem to be a very experienced operator who should know what they are doing. Would you comment on PROSPEX's relationship, and is it continuing to work well? Well, yes, HEICO are a very experienced operator. They are using expertise and equipment from Dallas, Texas, and they also have a subsidiary called Egdon Resources in The UK, and they use the technical team there. My technical team are in communication with both Haco and Egdon. We are just today talking to them about the seismic reprocessing that's happening on on Viura, and we have a very good working relationship

26:52 with HEICO. So it's an extremely good working relationship. However, it is not a joint venture. We are an investing company investing in the company which owns the asset. So we don't have the same rights as a joint venture partner would have in auditing their accounts or joining operating committee meetings. It is more a relationship with the operator who is, as as you point out, is highly competent and is doing the best job they can. They're hurting as we are that the production has been shut in for a quarter. So they're working hard, and I'm in communication with them all the time. Maybe I'll take the next question, Mark. Yep. The question is bonus was paid out, which we don't know how much in total the whole group, but cash was needed recently to be raised soon after.

27:45 At some point, the cash has to be let run way ahead of spend and communicated to shareholders in a way that they can get a sense that cash will go faster than overheads so that the investors can arrive day, get a return. I'm not sure exactly what that means. Otherwise, what's the point of covering overheads, which is a terminology you used to use? So I I agree certainly that, ultimately, as the company grows, there needs to be an excess of cash more than to cover overheads. And in fact, for the most part, that's the case now. However, there's ongoing requirements for cash, some large and some small. And as I mentioned a couple of minutes ago, in order to fund growth to drill wells and to get ready to drill wells, including seismic programs, that sort of thing, and to meet some unexpected costs, There will be a necessity from time to time to raise money.

28:45 I think that it's a very positive thing when a company gets past the point where it needs to spend its capital on covering its overheads and can first pay the overheads and then can generate excess amounts of cash in order to pay that. And, again, most companies that are growth oriented, large and small, require additional capital from time to time, and that's where we are. Next question. Okay. Next question is how much money has been spent on Poland to date? Over the past two, two and a half years that we've been actually working on Poland, I think I don't have the exact number here in front of me, but the the the order of magnitude is is about £200,000 in those in those two two and a half years.

29:44 We shall see where that gets to. We we hope to see the public gazetting of our license applications within the next two to three months. It's been with the ministry for a while now. So the next question here, how is your cash situation? Is a raise imminent? Well, we we will be as Bill has been saying, we'll we'll be we'll we'll we'll be publishing the cash situation on a quarterly basis. Is a rain is a raise imminent? No. Not imminent, but define define imminent. If we have to if we have to raise money to to keep going, then then we'll have to do that. But at the moment, there's no there's no firm plans to do that.

30:37 I've lost the question. Where's it going? Okay. Sorry. The numbering system's confusing me slightly. Okay. Here we go. Please could you explain to the market that the board of directors feels that the company is materially undervalued and that you are actually considering ways of addressing the issue, which might involve buybacks when cash flows might allow it. Yes. Yes. You want to fill that one, Bill? Sure. The board of directors feels the company is materially undervalued. That is correct. A share buyback, is an interesting way of going about, providing cash, out to shareholders who want to exit And then reflects the the question of the the undervaluation to some extent.

31:35 Part of the challenge, however, is whether it's really growing the asset base. Our focus up till now, And I think we'll continue to be on growing the asset base and going to production. And the as we've discussed previously in this call, I think it's obvious to everyone, we don't have sufficient cash in order to allocate some to buybacks and some to growing the asset base. So I think that I can confidently say that in the short term and probably in the medium term, share buybacks will not be something which we see as an appropriate use of what cash we have available in the company. Back to you, Mark. Okay. Fine.

32:24 Right. I've got a question here. Thanks for the update. Could I ask whether the income generated from Selvium Alvetsu is treated with a restricted cash balance that is held back at the subsidiary level for future drilling too? If not, is there visibility around the quantum of CapEx required given the near term drilling, I. Early next year, and hence, required to be raised to support the drilling? Well, I'm afraid to say that the drilling on Silver Malvetsi is not early next year. It's going to be late next year on account of the fact that we've had to reapply for the permits because the top hole location of the wells has has changed. Now that's a bad thing and it's and and that it's delayed, but it's also a good thing that it allows us to accrue cash in order to fund the wells.

33:11 So is it the age old problem? How much cash will it be? When are they going to be drilled? Are they going to be drilled all back to back, or are they going to be drilled two and then two with a gap? And what is the gas price going to be while we accrue the cash from the asset? It's this is where scheduling the drilling and scheduling the the the money for the drilling is quite hard to manage. But, yes, we will be accruing as much as we can from from the production income to fund the future drilling. But I don't want to be in a position where we have to dilute in the asset rather than rather than not raise the money on on the market when we need it. But the the fact of raising money on the market when we need it will diminish as the drilling is delayed and as the as as we know when it's going to when it's going to happen.

34:11 I can't answer that answer answer that question fully, I'm afraid. Maybe I'll just take the next one or two there, Mark. Yeah. Next question is shareholders who will only be truly happy when the share price reflects the true intrinsic value of the company. And I can say that I fully support that statement. It's not a question. And they will not mind dilution at all when a fair value has been established. So, I think no question there, and I think that we're a 100% in agreement on that. It's a question of, when the when the market comes around to giving us a more decent, share price reflecting the underlying values. And the final question, so far is once you have achieved decent positive cash flow, will you pay a dividend?

34:57 And I would say, I think that we will answer that question when we have received and are receiving sufficient cash from operations that we can pay for the growth in assets. That's always the challenge, reinvesting in the company a portion or all of the money generated. However, unfortunately, it's some time away, and I'm not gonna make any projections one way or the other about what will happen when that happy day arrives. Yeah. Can I just add to that, Bill? I'm told by my accounting colleagues that a dividend, from a company is only payable, when the company is not declaring a loss on its on its accounts.

35:44 At the moment, the investments that PROSPEX ENERGY has made in its subsidiary companies in through which it holds its investments. They have they have done intercompany loans down to those subsidiaries. And while those subsidiaries are indicating a loss on their accounts, it is actually against the accounting rules to pay a dividend for while there is a a loss declared in the subsidiaries. So there's an accounting reason why we can't do that. But from a if if there is an opportunity where we have sufficient cash flow from the assets that a dividend can be paid when we're we're in profits, then the answer would be absolutely yes. This is something that I would love to be in a able to be in a position where we have where where we can do that.

36:33 As would we all. It's just a it's more a question of when. And, unfortunately, it could be quite some time before we're in that happy position. I don't think there's any more questions. There's actually, there's a couple popped up. Oh. I'll just address them because it's a quick one. Is it worth the company buying its own drilling equipment bearing in mind the many wells are shallow? This is an interesting question, and I've been there before in previous companies, and the answer is almost definitely not. It is better to hire in drilling equipment than to buy your own. It is not an asset which you need to have hanging around your neck with all the overheads that come with it and all the people that you need for it. Okay. Will you make a statement to the market stating that you believe the company to be materially undervalued?

37:31 The answer to that, I think, is no. We won't because it's the statement of the stand astonishingly obvious. I think people would laugh at us if we just said we're undervalued because everybody knows that. Well and in fact, there's two research reports outstanding, which strongly support not just the management and board's view of that. I don't think it's a secret. Yeah. Okay. Much of the others aren't aren't questions, but thanks for answering, mister Ralph. All the best. Hope you'll turn the share price headache soon. Keep adding value, and it will be achieved even quicker. I'm sure. Good luck to the team. Well, that's nice. Thank you.

38:20 I think that's a great place to end. Yeah. Mark Thank you very much. Thank you for answering all those questions you can from investors. And, of course, the company can review all questions submitted today. We'll publish those responses on the investor meet company platform. Just before redirecting investors to provide you their feedback, which I know is particularly important to the company, Bill, could I please just ask you for a few closing comments? Well, as I mentioned at the beginning, this was my first time in this kind of a platform. I've attended many shareholder meetings in the past live and in person, all pre COVID. This is an extremely helpful to have an opportunity to have direct communication with shareholders and to present our our views on and an update on where we are, and we're looking forward to future such updates.

39:10 Mark, Bill, thank you for updating investors today. Can I please ask investors not to close this session as you'll now be automatically redirected to provide your feedback in order that the management team could better understand your views and expectations? This will only take a few moments to complete, and I'm sure be greatly valued by the company. On behalf of the management team of PROSPEX ENERGY PLC, we'd like to thank you for attending today's presentation, and good afternoon to you all.