If you'd invested in: Hunting and Exillon Energy

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.

Alice is now Consumer Editor at The Sun and covers everything from energy bills to Social Security.