Brisbane-base State Gas continues to burn through cash but investors are betting on a breakthrough
A Brisbane resources explorer has rustled up another $8m as it aims to develop one of Queensland’s biggest and best gas fields.
City Beat
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The gas is still a long ways off but the money continues to roll in.
Brisbane-based resources player State Gas announced Friday that it had rustled up another $8m from sophisticated and institutional investors.
The company, chaired by industry pioneer Richard Cottee, continues to drill and explore across its flagship Reid’s Dome project in the Bowen Basin, which is considered one of the Queensland’s biggest and most promising natural gas fields.
Cottee hopes to bring the first gas to market in 2023, just in time to meet an expected uptick in demand.
But, before then, State Gas continues to burn through cash and has piled up more than $8m in accumulated losses as auditors warn about a “material uncertainty’’ about its ability to keep trading.
Yet investors clearly continue to have faith in the long-term prospects for the business, which raised nearly $15m alone in the half-year to December. Among those having a punt is Rich Lister energy titan Trevor St Baker.
END OF AN ERA
It’s the end of an era for one of Queensland’s wealthiest and most successful female CEOs.
Maxine Horne’s Vita Group revealed Friday that it would offload its network of mobile phone shops and Sprout accessories arm, with Telstra set to pay $110m for the lot.
The telco’s decision earlier this year to take control of its branded retail network by 2025 sent the stock into a nosedive and forced Vita to accelerate its diversification into health and wellness clinics.
Horne saw about $9m wiped off the value of her Vita share portfolio in less than four hours on the day when Telstra made its shock announcement in February.
Her Vita holding of just under 30 million shares fell in value to about $24m. It has recovered only slightly since then and was worth just under $26m at the close of trade Friday.
Meanwhile, Horne has also had no joy in the real estate game.
In the same month that Telstra dropped its bombshell, she stuck a “for sale’’ sign outside her 1920s-era Ascot home. But no deal eventuated and it’s now off the market.
Records show Horne forked out $4.25m for the renovated five-bedroom dwelling in 2014.
YOUFOODZ COMES CLEAN
Well, it’s about time.
Ready-made meal maker Youfoodz finally acknowledged this week what City Beat first revealed last month.
The loss-making company, which has recently been acquired by rival HelloFresh for $125m, is in the process of developing a new 13,700 sqm production facility at the Berrinba Logistics Hub in Logan.
For reasons that remain unknown, Youfoodz boss Lance Giles and his team had stubbornly refused to reveal details about the location despite having long-flagged plans for the project.
Assuming it wins development approval from the local council, the plant will be built by the LOGOS Property Group, the owner and operator of the hub.
Youfoodz, which will lease the complex, expects to tip in about $15m for equipment, money sourced from its disastrous $70m float late last year.
Construction is expected to start late next year and wrap up in the second half of 2023.
When completed, it will replace three existing production sites and be able to crank out up to 1.2 million meals week.
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