OMV Petrom's global depositary receipts have been delisted from the London Stock Exchange

OMV Petrom's global deposit certificates (GDRs) were delistered from the London Stock Exchange, a process that had started in August, as it appears from the reports of the oil and gas producer published on the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB).

Basically, the certificates were delistered yesterday from the official list of the Financial Conduct Authority and the trading of GDRs on the main market of the London Stock Exchange has ceased, according to the company. One GDR was equivalent to 150 OMV Petrom shares, with the last trading price at US$18.4 per certificate, according to London Stock Exchange data.

The delisting of global deposit certificates had been approved by OMV Petrom shareholders in April this year. "The GDRs were admitted to trading on the Main Market (n.r. of the London Stock Exchange) on October 20, 2016. At that time, the listing on the London Stock Exchange was considered for the company to have access to a base higher by investors and also due to low liquidity and accessibility limitations on the Bucharest Stock Exchange," the company's August report states.

The document added: "Since then, there has been a steep reduction to around 5% of the initial volume of GDRs issued on the listing date, which the company interprets as showing low investor interest in GDRs, particularly since with 2019, which also corroborates with an increase in investor interest in the Bucharest Stock Exchange".

According to the report, compared to 2018, the traded value of GDRs decreased by 97% in 2022, down to $0.3 million or $1,250/day on average. On July 31, 2023, the volume of GDRs in circulation represented only 0.03% of the company's share capital, with a capitalization of GDRs of only 2.3 million dollars.

For the first half of the year, OMV Petrom reported a net profit down 80%, to 944 million lei, compared to the net result of 4.646 billion lei recorded in the same period last year. The Austrians from OMV own 51% of OMV Petrom, while the Romanian State, through the Ministry of Energy, has 20.64% of the oil and gas producer.