Hunting beat its earnings expectations in full-year 2023, as high activity in the Middle East and offshore South America saw orders grow to record levels.
The London-listed engineering group (LON:HTG) reported pre-tax profits of $50 million for 2023 on revenues of $929m.
EBITDA increased by 98% to $103m over the year – beating previous guidance of up to $100m – while its order book grew by 19%, reaching “record” levels of $565m.
The firm pointed to “major development cycles” offshore South America and south west Africa as continued drivers for growth last year and in 2024.
That includes a major subsea order bound for Guyana, as well as solid results from its OCTG (oil country tubular goods) units – buoyed by activity in South America and stable demand in the US and Canada.
Hunting said its Subsea Spring and Stafford will deliver a further year of strong results as orders for ExxonMobil and other major operators across South America continue.
A beneficiary of the boom in orders is the group’s Enpro business in the north east, which secured a stream of subsea wins in the second half of 2023.
Hunting snapped up the Aberdeenshire subsea production firm for £26m in 2020, along with its staff of 40 employees and subsidiaries in Ghana, Norway and the US.
However, it confirmed in its update that as of January 2024 Enpro had moved into Hunting’s Badentoy facility after its lease at premises in Westhill ended.
Hunting said the move formed part of a “consolidation of our footprint and cost base” in the UK, but confirmed there was no impact on jobs as a result.
The outturn positions the firm well on its plans to grow its dividend by an average of around 10% per year until the end of 2030 and reach $2 billion in annual sales by the same date.
Group finance director Bruce Ferguson last year told Energy Voice further M&A could also be on the cards.
Commenting on the group’s full year results, chief executive Jim Johnson said: “Our offshore and international businesses have delivered robust growth as we continue to build a more balanced and diversified business, underpinned by the strong technology and intellectual property that makes Hunting a market leader in precision engineered products across our markets.
“The growth and composition of our record order book demonstrates how much Hunting has evolved in terms of more diverse revenue and better visibility on earnings, and provides confidence in our near and longer-term outlook, as we deliver the Hunting 2030 Strategy.”
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