Shares in Petrofac dipped 4.8% this morning before rallying slightly, after the company reiterated it expected ‘modest growth’ with net profit weighted towards the second half of the year.
The oil services firm said in a trading update it had taken in orders worth $2.6billion (£1.7billion) this year already, with the order backlog standing at $11.9billion, compared to $11.8billion in December 2012.
The company said that it also expected to recommence full operations at the previously evacuated In Salah gas site in Algeria during the second half of the year, following the terror attack in Al Amenas in January.
“We have made good progress in the year to date, achieving a number of key milestones,” said group chief executive Ayman Asfari
“We have secured US$2.6 billion of order intake and our portfolio of active projects is in excellent shape. We continue to see strong demand for our services, which, together with our competitive positioning, should see us grow our Onshore Engineering & Construction backlog over the course of the year.
“We are actively progressing our strategy for delivering long-term sustainable growth, which is based on three key drivers: geographic expansion, developing our leading EPC offering offshore and delivering on our plans for Integrated Energy Services. In 2013 we expect to achieve modest net profit growth and, looking further ahead, remain on track to more than double our 2010 Group earnings by 2015.”
Onshore project backlog amounted to $5.7billion, which as augmented by the $400million deal for the Bab projects in Abu Dhabi, with continued growth in the Middle East and Africa expected over the rest of the year.
Net debt stood at $300million, with the company noting cash outflow was largely down to investment in integrated energy services projects and and cash advances on onshore projects.
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