This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on April 11, 2016.

KUALA LUMPUR: Had crude oil prices not dived to the lowest in six years and forced international oil corporations to slash their budgets, Cekap Technical Services Sdn Bhd would have made its shares available for public trading by now.

But executive chairman and 50%-owner Sofiyan Yahya still yearns to get the 22-year-old oil and gas (O&G) project management firm listed on Bursa Malaysia, and raise its profile internationally.

In an interview with The Edge Financial Daily, he said it is pointless to have Cekap Technical go for listing now when O&G companies all over the world are spending less, which means less jobs to go around.

“We feel we are financially strong [now] and are able to continue as we are [without the listing]. Our goal for listing is to take the company to the next level.

“If you want to grow the company and go global, you need bigger teams and more expertise. We are already working internationally, but by listing, we can establish a stronger footing to go global,” he said.

“When oil companies decide the time is good enough to ramp up activities [again], we will be very keen to revisit listing the company again,” he added.

Likening Cekap Technical to a set of Lego bricks that are “integratable and versatile”, Sofiyan said the company is a knowledge-based firm, unlike many of the O&G-related listed companies that are asset-heavy. Tapping its 500-plus engineers’ skills, Cekap Technical provides project management consultancy and asset integrity services.

While most of the jobs it has undertaken were contracted by Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas), the company has also experienced working overseas. In 2007, Cekap Technical provided project management services and conducted conceptual studies for Shell Philippines Exploration BV’s Malampaya gas field’s asset integrity and de-bottlenecking project.

“Our modus operandi or strategy as a project management company is to use all our resources and put [them] together, similar to a Lego set, and offer a total solution for the project we are managing.”

Cekap Technical also provides integrated operation solutions that allow oil companies to operate their businesses remotely.

“The collaboration centre we built for Petronas is a high-tech operation room with sophisticated screens and visualisation equipment, which allow Petronas to manage its entire operation and business remotely, and in real time. This also means there will be less people in the field and more expertise situated at the centre, thus making the operational and management processes more effective,” Sofiyan said.

Had it been listed, he said, Cekap Technical would have expanded its non-O&G project portfolio. It had previously obtained a grant by the science, technology and innovation industry to conduct research on improving solar cell efficiency.

“Malaysia has signed the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference. The green industry is now back in vogue and we are very keen to look into it now, such as mini hydro [plants] and [providing] ‘green’ consultancy [services].”

Though Cekap Technical’s financials are not publicly available, it had previously revealed, during its proposed reverse takeover (RTO) of Ideal Jacobs (M) Corp Bhd with Mecip Global Engineers Sdn Bhd in 2014, that it was ready to guarantee a net profit of RM7.4 million in the financial year ended Dec 31, 2014 (FY14).

The profit guarantee would have formed part of the consideration for its shares to be sold to a special-purpose vehicle for the now-aborted RTO bid, which was mutually terminated due to the protracted slump in crude oil prices.

That would indicate a 34% rise from its FY13 profit after tax of RM5.49 million on a revenue of RM88.28 million. Save for the first year of operation, Sofiyan said, Cekap Technical had always been in the black, even during the earlier economic downturns, and that “we expect to maintain our profitability even during the current challenging times”.

He said just like any other O&G-based company, Cekap Technical’s margins are squeezed by Petronas’ contract revisions and capital expenditure cuts. Still, being an asset-light company, he said, Cekap Technical would not be as heavily affected because of little-to-no impairment charges.

Still, to be prudent, Sofiyan said the company is looking to cut its expenditure by 30% this year through increasing efficiency and streamlining roles within the company.

“Our plan is not to retrench anyone if we can help it. We have a fantastic team [and] they have been with us for a while. We have been successful because of them,” he said.