Petrofac plummets on cautious guidance for 2014, 2015

18th Nov 2013 09:08

- 'Modest growth' expected in net profit in 2013- 'Flat to modest growth' predicted in 2014- 2015 targets dependent on contract timingA cautious outlook from Petrofac saw its share price take a tumble on Monday morning as the oilfield services provider predicted "flat to modest growth" in net income next year. The company said this reflects the rephasing of both the Upper Zakum project in Abu Dhabi and the second stage of the Berentai project in Malaysia.Meanwhile, it also said that targets for 2015 were dependent on the timing of certain contracts during 2014.The stock was down 14.94% at 1,224p by 09:16 in morning trade.In the near term, the firm reiterated guidance given in May for "modest" net profit growth in 2013 after seeing good operational performance so far this year."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," said Chief Executive Ayman Asfari.The backlog stood at $14.3bn at October 31st, in line with last year, comprising $11bn from Engineering, Construction, Operations & Maintenance contracts and $3.3bn from Integrated Energy Services work.Asfari said: "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." BC