Union Jack Oil (LSE:UJO) has appointed three independent non-executive directors with immediate effect and said its annualised general and administrative costs are now almost half the level of 2025. The AIM-quoted company also confirmed that Reabold Resources' all-share offer has lapsed and that a full asset review is under way.

What was announced

Union Jack Oil plc announced on 29 October 2026 that Simon Flatt, Peter Brailey and Stuart Watson have joined the board as independent non-executive directors, effective immediately. The appointments come about two months after a new board took control of the company in late August 2026.

Simon Flatt, 61, becomes Senior Independent Director. According to the announcement, he brings operational risk and project management experience in international upstream energy, often in difficult environments. He spent seven years at ExxonMobil and was chief executive of Rahmat Siddiqi Transportation & Logistics Group, an Afghanistan-based logistics business. He was recently on the mobilisation team for a greenfield drilling project in Kurdistan with WesternZagros. He holds 2,418,734 ordinary shares, about 1.65% of total voting rights.

Peter Brailey, 63, will chair the Remuneration Committee. He has more than 40 years' experience as a consulting engineer on energy and infrastructure projects, is a former partner at Hoare Lea and earlier worked at Enterprise Oil and Bechtel. He is a Chartered Engineer and holds 150 shares.

Stuart Watson, 67, becomes Chair of the Audit Committee. He has 35 years in financial services, having built and sold two financial advisory businesses, and is a member of the Chartered Insurance Institute. He holds 1,043,879 shares, about 0.68% of total voting rights.

The numbers

The headline operational figure in the update concerns overheads. The board said it had prioritised "right-sizing" the central cost base and that annualised general and administrative costs are now almost 50% lower than in the financial year to 31 December 2025. It attributed the reduction to lower director pay, fewer consultants and ending advisory relationships it considered did not add value. The announcement does not give absolute cost figures, so the size of the saving in pounds is not disclosed.

The company also said that settlements have been agreed with former executive directors, which the board considers favourable to the company and its shareholders. The terms were not disclosed.

Background

David Bramhill, Joseph O'Farrell and Dr Zac Phillips were removed as directors on 24 August 2026 and, the company said, have no continuing involvement with the business. The current board is led by Executive Chairman Craig Howie, alongside Executive Director John Americanos.

Union Jack also confirmed that the all-share offer from Reabold Resources has lapsed under the Takeover Code. The announcement does not elaborate on the reasons for the lapse.

On strategy, the board said capital will only be committed to projects that are demonstrably accretive to shareholder value. A full review of the asset portfolio is under way and is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2026. Discussions with partners on certain interests are continuing, and any resulting rebalancing of the portfolio will be reported when appropriate.

Craig Howie said the board had acted on administrative costs, governance and the asset portfolio, and that the company would invest only in projects with "a clear commercial rationale and realistic prospect of success". He also pledged better investor communication.

What to watch next

The next milestones flagged by the company are the conclusion of the portfolio review in the fourth quarter of 2026 and the outcome of discussions with partners on certain interests, which could lead to changes in the asset mix. Union Jack also said it will begin publishing quarterly corporate updates from January 2027, in addition to its routine financial reporting. Those updates may provide detail on the cost base in absolute terms and on which assets the board intends to keep, develop or exit.