Pengrowth cuts its debt

Article Excerpt

PENGROWTH ENERGY $1.37 (Toronto symbol PGF; Shares outstanding: 547.4 million; Market cap: $750.4 million; TSINetwork Rating: Average; No dividends paid; www.pengrowth. com) has agreed to sell part of its Swan Hills properties in northern Alberta for $180 million. It expects to complete the sale by May 31, 2017. The cash will let Pengrowth repay $100 million U.S. (or $134 million Cdn.) of notes due July 2017. That would cut its total debt (net of cash outstanding) to $970 million. Even so, that’s still a high 114% of its $850.4 million market cap. As a result of this sale, Pengrowth now expects to produce around 48,000 barrels a day for all of 2017, down from its earlier forecast of 51,000 barrels. The sale will also reduce its projected cash flow for the year by 12.8%, to $170 million from $195 million. Pengrowth is still a hold. hold…