Metgasco sells more shares

Metgasco has recently raised $6 million capital through a share placement and has extended its share purchase plan until next Tuesday, July 26, as a result of shareholder requests. The company sold new shares at 26c. They had been trading at around 33c. Managing director Peter Henderson bought 300,000 shares at 30.5c on the market.

Financial commentator David Tomlinson, who can be heard regularly on ABC North Coast, said that showed there was confidence in the company.

“They’ve been trying to raise money and found some big investors so now they are offering the same terms to small shareholders, so they can also buy the shares at the same price,” Mr Tomlinson said. “You should be worried if a director wants to sell, but buying looks like a good thing for investors. There has been a lot of movement in the gas sector at the moment, partly because of the carbon tax because gas is seen as cleaner energy than coal. BHP recently made a huge purchase of gas in the US, for instance.”

The news that big energy player Santos’s takeover bid for Eastern Star gas (one of the smaller players that had former national party leader John Anderson as chairman and had the Petroleum Exploration Licences west of the Northern Rivers) had been accepted meant stockbrokers were recommending buying shares in coal seam gas companies.

Peter Henderson said they had extended the share purchase plan due to shareholder requests.

“Previously we’d said ‘make a decision by July 21’ but the extension meant the news about Santos’ takeover of Eastern Star for well above what it was trading showed that Santos was keen, and Eastern Star undervalued, and that had an important impact on us. Our shareholders asked for more time and so we’ve extended the deadline until next Tuesday,” Mr Henderson said.

The Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association chief executive Belinda Robinson recently put out a statement complaining about the carbon price, despite liquid natural gas producers receiving up to a 66% reduction of their permits initially, which will then fall to 50%.

“While the government is frequently willing to laud the role gas can play in reducing Australian greenhouse gas emissions, it is clear that this acceptance does not extend to export gas,” the statement read.

Mr Henderson said, “on the whole the direction of the carbon tax looks like it should help the gas industry, as Australia moves from coal to less polluting industries, which is in the gas industry’s favour.”