Friday 29 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 28): Sapura Energy Bhd, which is undergoing a recapitalisation exercise, reported its fourth consecutive quarterly loss for its second quarter ended July 31, 2018 (2QFY19). 

The company posted a net loss of RM126.06 million and a loss per share of 2.12 sen for the quarter, according to its filing with Bursa Malaysia today. 

This compares with a net profit of RM28.93 million and earnings per share of 0.49 sen in the previous year’s second quarter (2QFY18).
 
Sapura Energy’s quarterly revenue dropped 23.94% to RM1.26 billion, from RM1.66 billion a year earlier. 

The company, which is divesting 50% of its upstream business, said it incurred lower revenue from both its drilling business, as well as engineering and construction business in the quarter, compared to last year.  

For the first half of its financial year ending Jan 31, 2019 (1HFY19), Sapura Energy booked a net loss of RM261.79 million, against a net profit of RM56.46 million the year before.  

Half-year revenue was also lower by almost a third to RM2.31 billion, from RM3.43 billion a year earlier (1HFY18), “in line with lower activities during the current period”.  

Sapura Energy said its exploration and production (E&P) business made a pre-tax profit of RM36.8 million in the six months, albeit 21.7% lower on-year, despite a 22.8% jump in revenue to RM437.4 million.  

Drilling business remained a drag with revenue declining 34.2% on-year to RM436.9 million, while pre-tax losses near doubled to RM127 million from RM54.2 million previously.  

On its performance, Sapura Energy explained lower utilisation seen in the second quarter is because some projects have been completed. 

It also noted its assets are in pre-mobilisation stage for the recently-secured work, which is in early phases of execution. 

On prospects, Sapura Energy said it is “well-positioned” to capitalise on the oil and gas sector's recovery.  

“The group has seen an upward trend in bidding and prospective opportunities globally, which has translated to increased contract wins during the year,” it said.  

“For the financial year to-date, the group has won RM5.3 billion of new contracts,” the filing added, increasing orderbook to RM16.9 billion.  

Looking forward, Sapura Energy said it has entered into a binding principal sales agreement with Austrian-listed O&G firm OMV Aktiengesellschaft (OMV AG) for the sale of 50% stake in its E&P unit Sapura Upstream Sdn Bhd. 

Sapura Energy announced OMV AG’s proposed entry into Sapura Upstream on Sept 12, which would value the unit at an enterprise value of US$1.6 billion (RM6.64 billion). 

The principal agreement is “subject to signing of the share purchase agreement and shareholders’ approval”, Sapura Energy said.   

“The strategic partnership has provided the group with certainty in timing and valuation,” it added.  

Shares of Sapura is currently the most actively-traded across Bursa Malaysia. At 3.45pm, the counter was two sen or 4.71% lower at 40 sen, with 132 million shares traded, giving it a market capitalisation of RM2.43 billion.

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