EnCore has investors shouting for more
From the queue of shareholders snaking onto the street to the deep blue hue that engulfed the decadent setting of Glaziers Hall, the anticipation was palpable.
For Thursday's annual general meeting came in the wake of a rapid rise to success for EnCore Oil (EO-)
Chairman Christine Wheeler took to the stage to welcome the attendees to the company's meeting and promptly hailed the past 12 months a "brilliant and exciting year".
And what a difference a year can make.
Aside from the fact that the board welcomed countless more attendees through its doors forcing it to change location, its share price sits today some 691% above where it was 52 weeks ago.
"In the last year we've made an effort to get the market to understand the value of our assets," chief executive Alan Booth told his enraptured audience.
"And on the whole we've had a reasonable stab at finding oil."
And a reasonable stab it has been with the company now boasting the lucrative Catcher and Cladhan discoveries to its name.
The widely publicised Catcher discovery has opened up a whole new play fairway for the company in North Sea waters, housing up to 300 million barrels of oil and sending its share price over 200% in the past three months.
But the fun doesn't stop here.
AIM-listed EnCore, which was first set up in April 2005, hopes to drill another four wells on the discovery by the end of this year.
"A lot of people were surprised by what we found at Catcher... I'll admit we were surprised too," Booth joked to rapturous laughter from his audience.
"We're lucky that we've appeared to catch most of this play already," he added.
The company is surely hoping for a repeat performance at its Caldhan discovery, offshore Shetland, which has become a major focal point for the group after it reported finding further oil just earlier this month.
EnCore has singled the discovery out for further attention, revealing that it was keen to go back and drill more wells.
However, it wasn't quite so keen to put a precise figure on how large the discovery might be, despite prying shareholders.
"If you were the operator, what would you say the figures are?" one shareholder shouted out from the audience.
"I'm not the operator," Booth dryly responded.
Others attempt to coax out of him what the company viewed as an acceptable asset value per share were equally unsuccessful.
Booth's calm and collected demeanour remained in perfect tact even when one shareholder declared that the company's shares were undervalued because it wasn't "exciting enough" to analysts.
But there was little doubt that this flock of shareholders found EnCore's story particularly exciting.
Private investor Lionel Mills stood to say that the group had been so successful of late, that it had "the bit between your teeth," and wouldn't give up until it had notched up further coups.
"We will continue to be opportunistic," Booth answered, "and will strive to get the market to realise the value of our assets."
The company couldn't answer whether it would consider a farm-out agreement further down the line when it explores new prospects Tudor Rose and Buffalo, but would say that it would do everything in its power to avoid looking "vulnerable to cash".
Oh and on the subject of cash, Booth was keen to point out that the company's recent office move was not to exercise its new found status, but simply to have a boardroom that could comfortably sit its guests.
"It's not plush don't worry - we got the furniture courtesy of Ikea," Booth declared jovially.
After all the resolutions were passed, Booth thanked his audience for attending the meeting.
"Thank you... we may or may not be here next year," Booth finished as he wrapped up the group's 2010 meeting.
But there's little doubt that if this year's momentum continues, shareholders will be crying out "Encore!"
RUMOURS CIRCULATING, TAKE OVER TALKS MOUNT
We here at STG can now tell you that Large Institutions are now Buying these shares at these very Low prices, Encore is Very Undervalued at this level. We also believe this stock to be of one of the most sound Investments on the AIM markets today
WE RATE THIS STOCK A VERY STRONG BUY, FORECAST 180p Target
http://www.sharetipsgalore.co.uk/encore-oil An der Börse ist alles möglich, auch das Gegenteil.
André Kostolany
MfG
Palaimon