Savannah Energy PLC (AIM: SAVE) reported unaudited cash collections of US$247.9 million for the seven months to 31 July 2026 on 25 August 2026, a 13 percent increase on the US$219.2 million collected in the same period of 2025, and said the Uquo 13 well achieved first gas in July after testing at approximately 50 MMscfd. The update was published while trading in the company’s shares was suspended.

What the seven-month update reported

Revenue for the period rose 10 percent to US$160.6 million from US$146.0 million. Cash balances stood at US$62.0 million at 31 July 2026 against US$42.7 million at 31 December 2025, while net debt rose to US$672.0 million from US$658.8 million. Gross debt was US$734.0 million, of which the company said only US$55.7 million, or 8 percent, is recourse to the parent, with the balance sitting in subsidiaries on a non-recourse basis. The trade receivables balance was US$394.6 million, a 22 percent reduction on the US$508.5 million reported at the end of 2025, and relates mainly to amounts due under gas sales agreements in Nigeria.

Group average gross daily production was 16.3 Kboepd over the seven months, against 18.8 Kboepd for the whole of 2025, with gas at 77 percent of the mix against 83 percent in 2025. Savannah expects production to exceed 20 Kboepd over the remaining five months and guides to a full-year average of 18 to 20 Kboepd. At Stubb Creek, acquired through the SIPEC transaction completed in March 2025, average gross daily production rose 29 percent year on year to 3.7 Kbopd and exceeded 5.0 Kbopd in July. The expansion programme there is expected to take up to 24 months and to lift annual gross production to as much as 4.7 Kbopd, with an engineering, procurement and construction contract expected to be signed by the end of 2026.

Drilling of Uquo 13 began in early April 2026 and finished at the end of May. The Uquo South exploration well was spudded in early August 2026 and was being completed at the date of the update, with gas confirmed in most targeted reservoirs. That well was targeting an unrisked gross gas initially in place figure of 131 Bscf, and the company said the resource implications will only be assessed after testing.

Debt, hedging and the Chad claims

Savannah’s subsidiary Savannah Energy SC Limited amended the Stubb Creek reserve based lending facility, increasing it to US$130.0 million, extending final maturity to August 2031 and cutting the margin to 7.5 percent per annum. The Standard Bank of South Africa Limited and Stanbic IBTC Capital Limited are mandated lead arrangers. In May the company had announced a separate unsecured loan facility of £32 million from NIPCO plc, its largest shareholder.

For the second half of 2026 the company has hedged 325,000 barrels of oil production with put options at a weighted average strike of US$52 per barrel, and a further 215,000 barrels with collars at a weighted average floor of US$59 and a weighted average ceiling of US$83. It states that over 80 percent of forecast oil production for the next twelve months retains unlimited price upside, and that it does not use swaps or other fixed price instruments.

The arbitration position is unchanged in substance. Subsidiaries SCI and SMIL are claiming in excess of US$775 million, plus interest currently estimated at in excess of US$215 million and costs, over the March 2023 nationalisation of rights and assets in Chad. SMIL has a further claim valued at approximately US$330 million, plus interest estimated at in excess of US$67 million, relating to COTCo, the Cameroonian company that owns the Cameroon section of the Chad-Cameroon pipeline. Savannah expects those proceedings to conclude in the second half of 2026. Separate proceedings in which designates of Societe des Hydrocarbures du Tchad allege breaches of the Doba fields joint operating agreement are expected to conclude in the first half of 2027.

Shares suspended since 1 July

Trading in the ordinary shares was temporarily suspended on AIM from 7:30am on 1 July 2026 at the company’s request, pending publication of its annual audited accounts. Savannah had said on 30 June 2026 that the FY 2025 annual report would be released during August 2026 and that the audit process was significantly advanced. The August update moved that date, stating the company then expected to publish in September 2026 and that the suspension will continue under AIM Rule 19 until it does.

A second process runs alongside. The board announced on 22 October 2025 a review of whether admission to trading on AIM remains appropriate, including alternative listing venues or structures. The company said the review remains ongoing with no decision taken.

Analysis: the collections rate slowed after April

The 13 percent headline covers seven months that were uneven within the period. In its pre-AGM update of 29 May 2026, covering the four months to 30 April, Savannah reported cash collections up 48 percent year on year and revenue up 17 percent. Across seven months those rates are 13 percent and 10 percent. The comparison base changes, but the direction is clear: the strong collections came early in the year, and the three months from May to July did not repeat them.

The receivables line points the same way. Savannah reported a 22 percent reduction since year end in the four-month update and a 22 percent reduction since year end in the seven-month update. The same reduction measured three months apart against the same starting point means the receivables balance moved little between the two dates, even as production and revenue continued. For a producer whose central operating problem is being paid for gas sold into the Nigerian domestic market, that is the number the year turns on, and the company itself names improving collections as a key focus.

Balance sheet direction is worth separating from the cash figure. Cash rose from US$42.7 million to US$62.0 million, but net debt also rose, from US$658.8 million to US$672.0 million, so the increase in cash did not come from deleveraging. The RBL amendment adds capacity and pushes maturity to 2031 at a lower margin, and the recourse split, US$55.7 million of US$734.0 million gross debt, describes where risk sits rather than reducing the total.

The production mix carries a tension the update does not resolve. Gas fell from 83 percent of output in 2025 to 77 percent over the seven months, and the growth engine described in most detail, Stubb Creek, is oil. Oil is hedged and sells into an international price; gas is where the receivables are. Uquo 13 pushes the mix back towards gas at roughly 50 MMscfd, which means the collections question gets larger rather than smaller as production recovers towards the 18 to 20 Kboepd guided range.

The 2025 comparatives, published unaudited in June, set the bar the audited accounts must meet. Cash collections of US$278.0 million against US$248.5 million, revenue of US$234.8 million against US$227.0 million, and adjusted EBITDA of US$124.2 million against US$181.2 million, with cost of sales rising to US$109.5 million from US$75.0 million and a gain on acquisition and revaluation of US$155.3 million in the year. Those figures remain unaudited, the annual report date has moved from August to September, and the shares cannot be traded until it appears.

That sequencing is what a reader should hold onto. An operational update showing first gas, higher oil production and a larger credit facility arrived during a suspension that the company requested pending publication of its annual audited accounts, with a review of the AIM listing itself still open. The audited FY 2025 accounts, the resumption of trading, the outcome of the Chad arbitrations expected in the second half of 2026, and the Uquo South test results are the four items that will each settle a different part of the picture.