# Ascent Resources Plc Q&A with Chief Executive Officer Colin Hutchinson (LON:AST)

- Link: https://www.directorstalkinterviews.com/ascent-resources-plc-qa-chief-executive-officer-colin-hutchinson-lonast/412723861
- Published: 2017-02-14T12:20:59+00:00
- Author: Amilia Stone

**Ascent Resources Plc** (LON:AST) Chief Executive Officer Colin Hutchinson caught
up with DirectorsTalk for an exclusive interview to discuss the successful fundraising
of £3 million via PrimaryBid, whether they’re on track to bring gas to market in
the near future and plans to settle the loan notes

 

**Q1: Colin, you’ve announced the completion of a £3 million fundraise through PrimaryBid
this morning, can you tell us a little bit more about the fundraise and what the
proceeds are going to be used for?**

**A1**: The fundraise we announced Friday afternoon after the market closed and 
we gave investors the weekend to come and invest to raise the £3 million, we were
really pleased with the response we got from private investors and institutional
investors, existing shareholders and new shareholders. That money is very important
to Ascent Resources, we obviously raised £4.5 million back in October, we spent 
£900,000 repaying some debt at the time, the balance was the cash we needed to get
into production, we spent a bit on PG-10 so far but I still have the majority of
that money in the bank and could still get into production with that cash.
   The
additional funds are important because it really gives us more options, it allows
us to move more quickly, instead of choosing the cheapest supplier, we can choose
the best supplier, instead of waiting to do PG-11 once PG-10’s producing, I can 
move straight ahead to PG-11 straight away. That’s important for two reasons, I 
can supply the minimum contract with INA from PG-10 but it’s always better to have
two wells, I can produce more gas, if I have more gas I can sell more gas, producing
more gas also gives me data on what the reservoir does. So, the extra cash is hugely
important, it wasn’t desperately needed, I wasn’t out searching for the money, the
opportunity has arisen to take it and I think what it gives the company is hugely
significant.

 

**Q2: Now, it seems like things are progressing well, are you still on track to 
bring gas to the market in the near future?**

**A2**: Yes, my goal is to deliver gas before the end of March and then working 
every day to try and secure that, it’s very important to keep the company moving
from an exploration company to a production company and to start to bring some revenue
in. That’s really what I’m working for now and hopefully the new funds will help
us to do that more quickly and we’ll get producing by the end of March. That’s not
the end of the story, once we get producing in March it’s all about securing the
next phase for the company, we need to get the IPPC permit to allows us to build
our own plant and start to put gas in to the Slovenian grid. So, this is the beginning
of what’s hopefully a very exciting journey.

 

**Q3: Ascent Resources still have a number of loan notes on the balance sheet, is
the intention to pay these in the near future?**

**A3**: Yes, I get quite a lot of questions about the loan notes, there’s obviously
quite a lot of conversions of them recently and shareholders are justifiable concerned
about the dilution that that brings. I’ve had it suggested to me that I go out and
get a bank loan and repay these convertible debts, I’d ideally love to do that but
unfortunately the banks aren’t too keen to lend to company’s when they’re pre-revenue
and pre-profitability. Once the field is producing and generating cash and we’re
positive, I think then that becomes a different proposition of going out and getting
debt to potentially repay CLN’s and we’ve obviously got some extra cash at the minute
as well which could supplement that. So, there’s no immediate plans to do that but
it’s something I can see the benefit of doing that in the future if that was an 
option.

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