Premier appeals for support

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THE DAILY TELEGRAPH(LONDON)
  September 14, 2000, Thursday

Premier appeals for support

By Roland Gribben


PREMIER Oil, the independent oil explorer on the Government's
"black list" because of its investment in Burma, is attempting to
persuade its biggest shareholders to do more to help accelerate the
company's recovery.

Charles Jamieson, Premier's chief executive, said yesterday:
"We are working hard to come up with ways to take the company
forward to narrow the gap between the share price and asset value."

Premier shares have been out of favour since the group decided to
gamble on Asian expansion to provide a new lease of life and 50pc
shareholders Amerada Hess and Petronas of Malaysia made an
expensive oil price hedging deal a condition of providing more equity
funding.

The shares continued to languish at 14 1/4 p yesterday after interim
results for the six months to end June showed higher oil prices had
turned losses into profits. Operating profits were pounds 17.8m,
against a loss of pounds 3.3m but heavy interest charges meant
net profit came out at pounds 2.5m (pounds 12.5m loss).

Mr Jamieson acknowledged investment sentiment had been
affected by the shareholding structure. He said everyone was
trying to unlock more value. Analysts put Premier's net asset
value at 25p to 35p a share.