If you'd invested in: Hunting and Exillon Energy

published 11 May 2018

If only...

Hunting (LSE: HTG) is an energy services provider to upstream oil and gas firms. It has benefited from the increasing oil price following a three-year downturn. Revenues increased by 59% to $722.9m in 2017, compared with $455.8m in 2016. This led to an underlying profit before tax of $10.9m, compared with a loss of $93.2m in 2016. In April, Hunting said revenues in the first three months of the year had been growing at a similarly strong monthly rate to that enjoyed in the fourth quarter of last year, while activity levels in North America remained strong.

Be glad you didn't buy...

Exillon Energy (LSE: EXI) is an oil exploration and production firm with assets in two regions of northern Russia. The firm struggled during the oil-price downturn, but reported increasing revenues for 2017 to $136.8m from $127m in 2016 thanks to the increasing oil price. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation rose by 14% from $70.8m to $80.5m, with a net profit of $47.6m, compared with $40.5m in 2016. This was offset by a drop in production, which decreased by 23% from five million in 2016 to 3.9 million barrels.

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Alice grew up in Stockholm and studied at the University of the Arts London, where she gained a first-class BA in Journalism. She has written for several publications in Stockholm and London, and joined MoneyWeek in 2017.