Petrofac looks to 2015 for return to strong growth

26th Feb 2014 07:54

Oil services group Petrofac posted lacklustre full year numbers showing modest earnings growth and flat revenue. The company anticipates a muted performance for its current 2014 year before a return to strong earnings growth in 2015. Net profits for its year to December 2013 rose 3% to £650m on revenue ahead 1% to $6.3bn. Earnings per share grew 3% to 189.10 cents. Ayman Asfari, Petrofac's Chief Executive conceded that while the group's operational performance over the year was good earnings growth was "modest". Still, management believes Petrofac has kicked off its 2014 in an "encouraging position", with a record backlog of $15bn, up 27% on last time. Good visibility going forwardOther positives going forwards include a project portfolio that is in "excellent shape" and a strong bidding pipeline. Revenue visibility for 2014 and beyond is good thanks to $3bn of new awards already secured in the year to date. The group is confident of delivering on significant long-term growth potential.Near term however, and in line with previous guidance, Petrofac expects flat to modest growth in net profit in 2014 before a return to strong earnings growth in 2015.On outlook the group has high hopes of further growth in backlog for its engineering, construction, operations and maintenance businesses. Its onshore engineering and construction arm is expected to maintain sector-leading net margins of around 11% over 2014. There is a final dividend of final dividend of 43.80 cents (26.2p) per share, up from 43.00 cents last time, giving a full year payout of 65.80 cents, up 3% on 64 cents last time. Petrofac shares opened this morning on 1367p, valuing the company at £4.73bn. KP