Adelaide, April 13, 2006 AEST (ABN Newswire) - An 80% take-up by converting option holders in Beach Petroleum Limited (ASX: BPT) has boosted the mid tier oil and gas producer's cash-in-bank by more than A$38 million.
Beach Petroleum announced today that almost 57 million of the 80 million 60 cent options eligible for conversion on 31 March, 2006, had been converted to ordinary shares.
The A$0.60 conversion price compares with Beach Petroleum's closing price on the Australian Stock Exchange last night (Wednesday 12 April 2006) of A$1.375 per share.
"The exceptionally high conversion rate is an endorsement by shareholders of the success of the current growth strategy installed three years ago," Beach Petroleum's Managing Director, Mr Reg Nelson, said today.
"This strategy has seen an expansion of Beach's exploration and production assets to achieve a highly balanced and diverse portfolio with measurable growth in earnings and dividends, not just as a consequence of the high oil price environment," Mr Nelson said.
"Significantly, our success is continuing to underpin and advance on track the Company's clear long-term aim to build Beach into a billion dollar-plus petroleum entity."
Beach Chairman, Mr Bob Kennedy, said that the issue of the bonus options was part of a conscious effort by Directors to deliver tangible benefits to shareholders in addition to the continued stream of dividend payments instituted by the Company over the past 3.5 years.
The option take-up has resulted in Beach issuing approximately 57 million new ordinary shares to take its total number of shares on issue to 508.5 million.
The Company has 23 million 60 cent options still outstanding, convertible by 30 June 2006 and will now issue a further 50 million new $1.00 options which are convertible by 30 September 2006.
This offer, on a 1 for every 10 shares held basis, was announced on 1 March this year when Beach reported a record net profit of A$31.3 million for the opening half of 2005-2006.
Mr Nelson said a full conversion of all of these outstanding options would add a further A$64 million to Beach Petroleum's cash position by 30 September 2006.
Contact
Reg Nelson
Beach Petroleum Limited
TEL: +61 8 8338 2833
Kevin Skinner
Senior Consultant
FIELD PUBLIC RELATIONS
231 South Road
MILE END SA 5031
Tel: (08) 8234 9555
Fax: (08) 8234 9566
Mob: 0414 822 631
kevin@fieldpr.com.au
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