Interest payment delay adds to Afren’s troubles
THERE was yet another twist in the Afren tale today, much to the dismay of bondholders.
Shares in the embattled African oil and gas group fell 0.08p, or 3%, to 2 .47 pasit revealed it would use another 30-day grace period to delay an $11.9 million (£7.7 million) interest payment due yesterday.
Worse still, it warned the extended deadline for the fee, due on its 2020 bonds, is unlikely to be met, “given the terms of the consensual restructuring that has been agreed with its principal creditors”.
The company, whose shares crashed 98% in 2014 as the oil-price slump heaped pressure on its creaking balance sheet, has already defaulted over the non-payment of $12.8 million on its 2019 bonds amid its financial restructuring.
Afren said it has received assurances from a committee of creditors holding 39% of its 2020 notes that it “has no current intention to take enforcement action” over the late payment.
The FTSE 100 again lacked conviction, climbing 10.75 points to 6764.55. Uncertainty in the Greek-debt debacle and the timing of a US interest-rates rise is keeping buyers at bay.
“Every time there is talk of a possible Greek deal, as new proposals are submitted, we get a little surge of optimism followed by the inevitable feeling of another let down,” CMC Markets’ Michael Hewson explains. Shares in Argos owner Home Retail
Group rose 5p to 156p ahead of tomorrow’s first-quarter update. They have been in steady decline since January when they reached 219p.
Investors cheered boohoo.com’s first-quarter trading update, which showed a 35% jump in sales for the online clothes retailer to £41.3 million. The AI M- listed company watched its share price advance by 1p to 26.98p, although that is still almost 20p shy of Investec’s 46p target price. “In our view the valuation is not reflective of the longer-term brand opportunity in the UK & overseas,” its analysts claimed.
Shoe Zone, another retailer listed on AIM, leapt 14.5p to 177p despite a 5.7% f al l in revenues. The decline was flagged in April’s profit warning.
The spark has gone from LED-lighting specialist Dialight, which blamed the oil and gas sector’s troubles for a sharp slowdown in orders. Its shares tanked by 263p, or 35%, to 482.35p as the company unveiled a strategic review of the business.
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Toumaz, up 1p to 4.8p. The tech behemoth’s Cast-for-Audio technology is to be included in Toumaz’s connected audio solutions — technology that powers speakers controlled by a mobile device via wi-Fi or Bluetooth.