Barnwell Industries Inc. said its strong liquidity has positioned the company to declare its first quarterly dividend in nearly 14 years.
The Honolulu-based company reported Friday that strong oil and natural gas operations fueled a 57% increase in revenue to $8 million in its fiscal third quarter that ended June 30. That compared with $5.1 million in the year-earlier period. For the nine-month period, revenue soared 49.4% to $20.2 million from $13.5 million.
Barnwell said it will pay a dividend of 1.5 cents a share payable on Sept. 6 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on Aug. 23. The last time Barnwell paid a dividend was on Sept. 4, 2008, when it paid 7.5 cents a share. The company then omitted quarterly dividend payouts before announcing on May 29, 2009, that it was discontinuing its dividend.
Barnwell CEO Alex Kinzler said the company ended the quarter with $12.3 million in working capital, including $12.6 million in cash and cash equivalents.
“Our oil and natural gas revenues have more than doubled in both the three months and nine months ended June 30, 2022, as compared to the prior year periods,” Kinzler said in a statement. “This is due to higher prices for all products.”
Barnwell engages in oil and natural gas development, production, acquisition and sales in Alberta, Canada, and in Oklahoma.
In the third quarter, oil increased 71% from the year-earlier period while natural gas jumped 137% and natural gas liquids rose 47%. Over the past nine months, oil increased 82%, natural gas rose 99% and natural gas liquids jumped 59% from the prior-year period.
Despite the higher revenue, Barnwell’s net income fell 49.2% in its fiscal third quarter to $2.5 million from $5 million in the year- earlier period because there were no lots sold through its Hawaii island ownership interest in Kukio Resort Development Partnerships at Kaupulehu in North Kona as compared with six lots in last year’s third quarter. The company, which owns a 77.6% interest in Kaupulehu Developments, did receive $385,000 in net cash distributions in its third quarter.
But those distributions were more than offset in the third quarter of 2021 by the company recognizing a $2.3 million gain on the termination of its post-retirement medical plan. There was no such gain last quarter.
Over the nine-month period, Barnwell’s net income rose 20.2% to $5.7 million from $4.7 million in the year-earlier period.
Separately, Barnwell announced on Tuesday that Vice Chairman Kenneth Grossman was removed from the board of directors due to his “unfortunate pattern of unprofessional and disruptive behavior, which has included ad-hominem attacks and threats against other members of the Board.” Grossman, whose position has been eliminated, also was removed as a member of the Audit Committee, Compensation Committee and Nominating Committee.
Director Francis Kelly has been placed in the committee positions previously held by Grossman, and Kelly is now the chairman of the Nominating Committee.
Barnwell’s stock, which trades in the NYSE American market, rose 21 cents to $3 on Friday after the earnings were announced.