Vancouver, British Columbia, December 13th, 2024. Newport Exploration Ltd (“Newport” or “the Company”) is pleased to announce that the nominees listed in the management Information Circular for the 2024 Annual General Meeting (“AGM”) of Shareholders were re-elected as directors of Newport. These AGM results indicate strong support for the management and Board of Directors (the “Board”) of the Company.
Subsequent to the AGM, the Board re-appointed Ian Rozier, as Chief Executive Officer and Barbara Dunfield, as Chief Financial Officer. The Board thanks Mr. Rozier and Ms. Dunfield for their continued support and expertise.
Dividend
In December 2019, the Company’s Board approved a quarterly fixed dividend distribution commencing in March 2020. On February 12, 2024, the Company announced it had amended the fixed distribution from $0.01 per share, to $0.005 per share due to the uncertainty and potential volatility of cash flows derived from the Company’s 2.5% Gross Overriding Royalty (“GOR”) licences due to production data, as well as world economic factors.
On August 9, 2024, due to continued downward pressure on Brent Crude, the global oil benchmark (and price at which the Company’s oil royalties are based) and, lack of drilling and/or further development plans by Beach Energy Ltd (“Beach”) on the Company’s GOR licences, the Company announced the postponement of its next dividend payment pending the announcement of Beach’s future plans.
Since August 9th, the Company has reviewed public correspondence by Beach on its GOR licences (with their latest report disseminated on October 18, 2024) and noted that it did not provide any specific plans outside of the continued rework of existing data sets while exploration inventory would be refreshed for potential exploration and appraisal drilling activity in Beach’s FY26.
As a result of the lack of specific plans by Beach, decreased oil production and depressed Brent Crude oil prices, the Directors made the decision to terminate the Company’s quarterly fixed dividend distribution and revert back to its previous policy of paying Special Dividend Payments. The Board and Management believe reverting back to Special Dividend payments is the most prudent way to preserve the Company’s treasury and long-term shareholder value.
About Newport
Newport has a 2.5% GOR over licences in the Cooper Basin, Australia, operated by Beach. There is no time limit or expiry date on the GOR assets, and no cost to the Company to retain them.
Newport has no control over operating decisions made by Beach. Accordingly, this prevents the Company from commenting on Beach’s operating plans going forward. The Company recommends that shareholders and potential investors access material information relevant to the Company as released independently by Beach and Santos Ltd in order to keep current during exploration, development and potential production of all the licences subject to the Company’s GOR. The Company receives its GOR from Beach which is not a reporting issuer in Canada, therefore Newport is not able to confirm if the disclosure satisfies the requirements of NI 51-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Oil and Gas Activities, or other requirements of Canadian securities legislation.
The Company currently has 105,579,874 common shares issued and outstanding.
For further information contact;
Ian Rozier, M.Sc.,
P. Eng (Non-Practising)
Director and Chief Executive Officer
+1 604 685 6851