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Neptune Marine Services (NMS) 55c

SHARES in the provider of sub-sea services to oil and gas producers have sunk 12 per cent over the past three days, on fears Neptune will need an equity raising to fund this week's purchase of a $31 million ship to service its bloated order book.

However, Neptune chief Christian Lange told Criterion a raising wasn't planned, with the purchase to be funded by a mix of cash and debt (the company has an ungeared balance sheet and cash of $20-25 million).

Neptune recently reported a March quarter surplus of $518,000, on revenue of $24.5 million, taking the surplus for the first nine months to $4.8 million, on turnover of $48 million.

Lange also reported revenues of $5.3 million for the first two weeks of April. He also cautions that Neptune is "still in the early days of corporate development".

Criterion had the stock as a hold at $1.02 in January but we'll upgrade to a speculative buy.