Pengrowth cuts debt with asset sales

Article Excerpt

PENGROWTH ENERGY CORP. $0.90 (Toronto symbol PGF; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares o/s: 552.2 million; Market cap: $497.0 million; P/S ratio: 0.8; Dividend suspended in January 2016; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative; www.pengrowth.com) produces oil and natural gas in Western Canada and off the coast of Nova Scotia. The company has sold roughly $1 billion of its non-core properties since the start of 2017. As a result, revenue in the fourth quarter of 2017 fell 22.9%, to $130.5 million from $169.2 million a year earlier. Due to low gas prices, Pengrowth wrote down its Groundbirch gas property in northern B.C. That saw its losses balloon to $0.38 a share from $0.17. Pengrowth has used the proceeds from its asset sales to cut its long-term debt, from $1.0 billion at the end of 2016 to $610.5 million on December 31, 2017. The remaining debt is a high 1.2 times its market cap. Pengrowth is still a hold. hold…