Honolulu-based company raising its dividend 50 percent
Barnwell authorizing stock buyback
STORY SUMMARY »
Barnwell Industries Inc.,
which historically generates more than two-thirds of its revenue from its oil and natural gas operations in Alberta, Canada, said yesterday it was raising its dividend 50 percent and authorizing a stock buyback of up to 150,000 shares after higher prices for oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids boosted earnings 376 percent in its fiscal third quarter.
The Honolulu-based company had net income of $3.5 million, or 42 cents a share, compared with $743,000, or 9 cents a share, a year earlier.
Revenue jumped 72 percent to $20.4 million from $11.8 million.
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Barnwell Industries Inc. said yesterday it was boosting its dividend 50 percent and authorizing a stock buyback of up to 150,000 shares after net income spiked 376 percent in its fiscal third quarter due to a jump in prices for oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids.
Third-quarter net:
$3.5 million
Year-earlier net:
$743,000
|
The Honolulu-based company, which historically generates more than two-thirds of its revenue from its oil and natural gas operations in Alberta, Canada, posted earnings of $3.5 million, or 42 cents a share, compared with $743,000, or 9 cents a share, a year earlier.
Revenue jumped 72 percent to $20.4 million from $11.8 million with oil and natural gas revenue increasing $5.3 million, or 57 percent.
Morton Kinzler, chairman and chief executive of Barnwell, said prices in the quarter ended June 30 rose 98 percent for oil, 68 percent for natural gas liquids and 52 percent for natural gas.
The quarterly dividend, increased to 7.5 cents a share from 5 cents a share, will be payable Sept. 22 to stockholders of record on Sept. 8. The stock buyback on the open market can begin as early as next Monday and is authorized to last through Dec. 31 because the board believes "the current market price for the common stock does not adequately reflect (its) intrinsic value" and the company wants "to take advantage of the disparity."
Barnwell's stock rose 18 cents, or 1.7 percent, to $11 yesterday on the American Stock Exchange.
The company said yesterday it also recorded a $608,000 bad-debt reserve last quarter against oil and natural gas receivables due to the bankruptcy filing of SemGroup LP on July 22. Barnwell said it immediately terminated its sales contract with SemGroup's Canadian subsidiary upon the filing and estimates its financial exposure for July oil and natural gas sales processed by SemGroup is about $550,000.
Barnwell said its oil and natural gas segment invested $3.9 million in oil and gas exploration and development last quarter and participated in the drilling of 10 gross wells during that period. Of those wells, nine wells were considered to be successful or are currently being evaluated, Barnwell said.
The company, which also has real estate holdings on the Big Island, said Kaupulehu Developments, its 77.6 percent-owned land development partnership, received $2.2 million in the third quarter. That total was comprised of $1.8 million for a portion of the eighth payment due on Dec. 31, 2008, of the 10 scheduled option payments relating to the development rights within Hualalai Resort in North Kona, and $428,000 in percentage-of-sales payments related to an adjacent project. In the year-earlier period, Kaupulehu Developments received $428,000 in percentage-of-sales payments and no development rights option payments.
"The company continues to move forward in its construction of two residential homes at Kaupulehu, and in June sold its investments in two of its three remaining rights to purchase lots in the Kaupulehu area for a pretex gain of $443,000," Kinzler said.
