PARKMEAD, the oil and gas explorer headed by Dana Petroleum founder Tom Cross, yesterday announced a maiden full-year profit and reiterated it was well-placed to become a key player in the North Sea.

The Aberdeen-based company swung to an annual profit after tax of £1.2 million in the 12 months to 30 June compared with a loss of £5.6m last year.

Executive chairman Cross said it had been “another excellent year of progress”.

“Parkmead has significantly increased its production base, providing major growth in revenue and cash flow.” He said moving into a profit at the full year stage represented an “important milestone”.

This year the company announced new gas discoveries in the UK and Netherlands and was awarded six licences in the recent UKCS 28th licensing round.

“Parkmead now has a strong platform from which to become a key exploration and production player in the North Sea, and we look forward to updating shareholders as we continue to grow into 2015 and beyond,” added Cross.

Revenues increased 506 per cent to £24.7m helped by a number of acquisitions and total assets grew 139 per cent to £127.4m. The shares advanced by 8.3 per cent, or 13p, at 169.5p on the news.

Analysts at house broker Charles Stanley revised their target price to 347p, more than twice the current level.

“We believe Parkmead is head and shoulders above the pack in terms of its management team, assets and strategy. The quality of Parkmead’s management team should be given more relative weight because … in challenging periods not all management teams can turn adversity into opportunity. In our opinion, the pace with which Parkmead is increasing its value per share is unrivalled amongst its European peers,” said the note.

l Xcite Energy, which is developing the Bentley field in the North Sea, swung to a nine-month net loss of £2.2m from a profit of £9.2m previously. The result was blamed on unrealised foreign exchange losses caused by a strengthening dollar.

http://www.scotsman.com/business/energy/parkmead-unveils-maiden-full-year-profit-1-3612944