Energy services group Petrofac has warned it expects growth to flatten in 2014, despite closing in on its highest-ever order backlog.
The British services firm had a £8.9billion backlog at the end of October, with more than £3.6billion worth of orders over the year so far, including the recent £400million deal for the Alrar gas field in Algeria.
North Sea contract wins and a maintenance contract with Gazprom for the Badra oil field in Iraq have also boosted the company’s progress.
But after seeing its debt widen to £310million over the last quarter, the company warned it expects to see an increase in costs due to interest charges in 2014.
“We expect group net income in 2014 to show flat to modest growth year-on-year reflecting the rephasing of both the Upper Zakum project in Abu Dhabi and the second stage of the Berantai project in Malaysia,” said chief executive Ayman Asfari.
“We remain confident of the long-term growth trajectory for Petrofac given our record backlog, the robustness of our contract portfolio and the strength of our bidding pipeline, underpinned by our disciplined approach to business development and our relentless focus on project execution.”
However, achieving post-tax earnings of more than £534million in 2015 – double their 2010 figure – will depend on the company landing key contracts next year, warned Asfari.
“We continue to deliver good operational performance across our portfolio of projects and are on track to achieve our guidance of modest growth in net profit in 2013,” he said.
“The group has continued to secure new awards during the second half and we expect to exit 2013 with our highest ever year-end backlog.”
Petrofac said it expects the new floating production FPF1 facility to be deployed on the Greater Stella field soon, ahead of production starting next year, after completing dry dock work on the vessel.
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