Energy service giant Petrofac said yesterday its net profit growth fell after January’s terrorist attacks in Algeria.
Petrofac had surprised analysts and investors earlier this year when it declined to give a growth forecast for 2013.
Yesterday, the firm said revenue from an Algerian project had been deferred after it was asked to stop work and evacuate staff from the In Salah facility following the attack at neighbouring In Amenas.
Two workers with Scottish connections were among 37 hostages killed during the attack on the In Amenas gas plant in the Sahara Desert.
Petrofac said a significant part of revenue and margin from its work on the Statoil-operated gas project at In Salah had been put back to 2014.
The firm expects full operations at In Salah, about 360 miles east of the In Amenas plant, to restart in the second half of 2013.
Petrofac said overall project margins remained in line with expectations, with the group still on track to meet its 2015 earnings target.
Chief executive Ayman Asfari added: “We have made a good start to the year, with positive progress across our portfolio of active projects, which remains in excellent shape.
“We expect to deliver modest growth in net profit in 2013 reflecting the In Salah rephasing, but remain on target to more than double our 2010 group earnings by 2015.”
The company, which designs and builds oil and gas infrastructure and also invests alongside operators in oil fields, said its backlog of work at April 30 was worth £7.9billion, up by 3% from the end of last year.
Petrofac’s growth was given a lift earlier this year when its engineering and consulting service business won a subsea contract with Pemex for £720million.