The sale is subject to shareholder approval, with shareholders also being asked to extend the company's accounting period to end on April 30, rather than March 31.

The company said the changes would lead to a "fundamentally less complex balance sheet with much reduced liabilities and which will assist with the future financing".

Pickstone Peerless and Eureka contributed a profit before tax of US$3.1 million on revenue of US$19.2 million in Vast's consolidated accounts for the six months to September 30, 2018. 

Vast has had a difficult 2019 so far, announcing in January it would not be getting a long-planned $5.5 million financing from Mercuria Energy Trading. It then raised £896,000 (US$1.15 million) to pay off a December loan and keep the business running while it looks for long-term project financing options.

CEO Andrew Prelea said the sale of the Pickstone Peerless interest would allow management to focus its efforts on the Heritage concession and Baita Plai.

"The Heritage concession will require significant investment, not only financial but in human resource to enable near-term positive cash flow for the business," he said.
 
Prelea said the deal would also open up significant funding opportunities to Vast for its Romania projects that had been delayed "due to historic financial structures and arrangements that in turn hampered the company's ability to progress our near-term goals".

The market was relatively pleased with the news, with Vast shares (AIM:VAST) rising 3.13% Monday to 0.16p. The share price is 72.9% lower than six months ago.