A sign of the times, perhaps? NetCentric, an internet software developer, made its market debut during the dog days of the dot-com boom by reversing into a shell company. Six years later, with investors drawing parallels between the small-cap mineral prospectors and the internet bubble, NetCentric finds itself being reversed into by The Oil Mining Company (TomCo).
TomCo is an investment vehicle run by Howard Crosby, who has founded and managed more than a dozen publicly traded companies. The group proposed to raise £1.28 million before expenses through a share placing to fund the purchase of producing US oil wells and shallow-water sites, and to develop land in Utah estimated to contain 230 million barrels.
Oil explorers have raised £1 billion this year on AIM, even though few are close to starting production. It remains to be seen whether TomCo will be involved in a sector implosion to match the dot-com crash, but investors found encouragement in the track record of Mr Crosby and his business partner John Ryan.
The pair’s successes include Cadence Resources, a US explorer whose value rose 450-fold in five years.
NetCentric shares reached 1.87p after coming out of a six-month suspension — up 0.85p on the day, but below the group’s placing price of 2½p.
Nci Building Systems stock quotes
Nci Building Systems stock charts
Follow this thread
