Petrofac lifts profit target
OIL services company Petrofac yesterday raised its profit growth forecast for the full year to 20 per cent.
The British company, which designs and builds oil and gas infrastructure and also invests with producers in oil fields, said a $10.6bn (£6.8bn) order backlog gave it the confidence to predict strong growth in 2012.
It said it expected to report like-for-like 2011 net profit growth of at least 20 per cent.
Petrofac had predicted growth of at least 15 per cent in a trading update issued on 20 October.
Chief executive Ayman Asfari said yesterday: “Operations continue to perform in line with expectations.
“Given our excellent earnings visibility, we expect to deliver strong growth in 2012.”
A strong pipeline meant the company was confident it could achieve a target of more than doubling recurring 2010 group earnings by 2015, he added. Petrofac said its order backlog was expected to be about $10.6bn at the end of the year compared with $11.7bn a year earlier.
The company is expanding in Nigeria, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia. Petrofac has this year won contracts in Mexico and for North Sea storage upgrade projects.
Petrofac shares closed up 5.1 per cent yesterday.