Independent production and growth company Ithaca Energy posted a strong operational performance for 2025 on Thursday, with average production hitting 119,000 barrels of oil per day, in-line with previously upgraded guidance.
Ithaca delivered preliminary adjusted underlying earnings of $2bn, reflecting the group's significantly enhanced cash generation capacity, and cut net unit operating costs to $19 per barrel, while keeping leverage low at 0.56x and maintaining $1.5bn of liquidity.
The FTSE 250-listed firm said its hedge position provided it with "strong coverage" going into 2026 as it took advantage of upside market volatility to build a hedge position of 43.8m barrels of oil equivalent at 31 January, with average oil swap pricing of more than $66 per barrel and average gas swap pricing of 92p per therm, protecting 2026 cash flows in an anticipated weaker commodity price environment.
Ithaca also continued to invest heavily in its Rosebank development to the West of Shetlands, with capex of roughly $224m during the year.
Chairman Yaniv Friedman said: "2025 was a year of great progress as we continued to deliver on our value creation strategy. We fully integrated a number of accretive acquisitions, increased our financial firepower for growth and built on our robust hedge book to secure future investments and distributions.
"We also delivered meaningful increases in production, revenue and EBITDAX whilst reducing costs, all of which drove increased free cashflow, supporting our $500m dividend commitment. We're excited by our prospects for the year ahead and beyond, and we enter the year with a significantly increased production rate."
Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com