Peter Klinger, The West AustralianMay 30, 2013, 10:14 am
Nido Petroleum chairman Bill Bloking says unrest among some of its shareholders will not prove a distraction as the Perth junior tries to transform its South East Asian exposure.
Shareholders on Friday voted overwhelmingly in favour of the incumbent board, including Mr Bloking's re-election and the issue of performance rights to chief executive Phil Byrne. Although Nido attracted a second strike against its remuneration report, a subsequent spill motion was comprehensively defeated.
A motion to elect Michael Pope, a top 20 shareholder who is among a group of dissident investors, failed after attracting only about 23 per cent of votes in favour. However, Mr Pope had indicated in the lead-up to Friday's annual meeting that his group would requisition another shareholder gathering to vote on Nido's board composition.
Speaking yesterday on the sidelines of the APPEA conference, Mr Bloking said Nido's strategy under Mr Byrne was solid and its execution would not be affected by the distraction of the shareholder unrest.
"It's not getting in the way of what we are doing," Mr Bloking said.
Nido's shares, at 2.6¢, are languishing in line with the rest of the small-cap oil and gas sector.
Mr Byrne said the pending completion of the Galoc oil field expansion off the Philippines, which would give Nido production of about 2700 barrels a day by late this year, would transform the company's cash flow and enable it to comfortably meet repayment commitments for its $US30 million debt facility.
A further boost could come from the release shortly of an independent resource certification for the West Linapacan oil field, in which Nido has a 22.3 per cent stake. Nido and partners want to make a final investment decision on re- starting the old oil field, also off the Philippines, later this year.
