Interims:
https://www.investegate.co.uk/petrofac- ... 0039EOCMJ/First half highlights
- H1 financial performance in line with guidance with good momentum in AS and IES, offset by challenges in E&C’s mature portfolio
- Business performance EBIT of US$2 million(1)(2)
- Reported net loss of US$(14) million(2) inclusive of separately disclosed items
- Group order intake of US$1.1 billion(3) with book-to-bill of 0.9x
- Healthy 18-month Group pipeline of US$57 billion
- High levels of bidding activity in E&C with opportunities expected to be awarded evenly over the second half
- Backlog of US$3.7 billion
- Net debt of US$341 million(6) and liquidity of US$511 million(7)
- Free cash flow in second half expected to be broadly neutral
“Our performance in the first half continues to reflect the COVID-19 related industry challenges, as we work towards completion on many of the projects in the legacy E&C portfolio. Moving into the second half of 2022, a significant increase in bidding activity has put us firmly on the path to grow backlog over the full year. Supported by a strong commodity price environment and an increasing focus on energy security, the outlook for the industry is robust and the work we have done over the past 18 months means that Petrofac enters this important period in a strong competitive position.
“We made good progress on our new energies strategy having entered into a collaboration with Hitachi Energy, a leading player in HVDC and HVAC technology, to provide joint grid integration and associated infrastructure for the rapidly growing offshore wind market. This collaboration strengthens our market position and the large pipeline of opportunities supports our US$1 billion revenue ambition from new energies in the medium term.
“Our priorities in the second half of the year are clear. First, we will continue to safely deliver the existing backlog for our clients, while maintaining cost discipline. Second, we will focus on closing out the delayed commercial settlements, to unwind working capital and return to positive free cash flow from 2023. Lastly, we will make progress in securing awards in E&C to deliver growth in full year backlog. Our recent US$200 million provisional award in Algeria, while small, is evidence of our competitiveness and marks the beginning of a multi-year upcycle.”
Not brilliant, but seems to be what was expected as the share price is little moved this morning.