2021 Year End Trading Update

RNS Number : 7898V

Hunting PLC

16 December 2021

 

For Immediate Release

16 December 2021

Hunting PLC

("Hunting" or "the Company" or "the Group")

2021 Year End Trading Update

Hunting PLC (LSE : HTG), the international energy services group, today issues a year-end trading update. The Group will be reporting its 2021 Full Year Results on Thursday 3 March 2022.

Trading during the final quarter of 2021 has remained in line with management's expectations, with a broadly break-even EBITDA result anticipated for the full-year.

US onshore activity continues to strengthen, benefiting the Hunting Titan operating segment whose results remain ahead of expectations. Within the North America operating segment, the US Manufacturing, Subsea and Trenchless businesses have reported improving revenues which has led to a higher absorption of fixed costs and stable operating profits during the quarter. The EMEA operating segment continues to report subdued trading, however, cost management measures implemented earlier in the year are now significantly narrowing trading losses. In Asia Pacific, the segment has also seen an improvement in sales leading to a broadly break-even result being reported in November.

The Group's order book has strengthened by c.20% in the three months to 30 November 2021 with a significant uptick reported in North America and Europe. The order book will increase further in December following strong contract wins by Hunting's Subsea business, coupled with a general increase in successful bidding within the Group's US and Asia Pacific businesses.

Overall, management believe that the Group has seen a notable improvement in its trading performance during the quarter, supported by the current pricing of oil and natural gas, which is anticipated to continue to the year-end and into 2022.  Trading momentum is further supported by the ongoing drive to secure non-oil and gas sales.

The Group's balance sheet remains strong, with a cash and bank position of $77.2 million as at 3 December 2021. Capital expenditure outflows remain low and management continues to closely manage working capital as market conditions stabilise. Further, the Group is now likely to conclude the arrangements for its new Asset Based Lending facility in the coming weeks, as due diligence is completed by the lending group.

Following further due diligence, the Board has also decided to postpone its plans to launch a level two American Depositary Receipt programme, however, this decision may be revisited at a later date.

Jim Johnson, Chief Executive of Hunting, commented:

"While the speed of the oilfield services recovery during the year has been hindered by COVID-19, strong capital controls by our end user clients and geopolitical volatility, the Group exits 2021 with a more stable trading outlook, supported by the strong pricing of oil and gas, coupled with management's ongoing actions to address Hunting's cost base.

"We expect 2022 to show further improvements to revenue and profitability with our technology, service offering and quality assured products being in demand by clients, as new projects commence and activity levels improve."

For further information please contact: Hunting PLC Jim Johnson, Chief Executive Bruce Ferguson, Finance Director Tarryn Riley, Investor Relations	Tel: [phone]
Buchanan Ben Romney Jon Krinks	Tel: [phone]

Notes to Editors:

About Hunting PLC

Hunting PLC is an international energy services provider to the world's leading upstream oil and gas companies. Established in 1874, it is a premium listed public company traded on the London Stock Exchange. The Company maintains a corporate office in Houston and is headquartered in London. As well as the United Kingdom, the Company has operations in Canada, China, Indonesia, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, United Arab Emirates and the United States of America.

The Group reports in US dollars across four segments: Hunting Titan, North America, Europe, Middle East and Africa ("EMEA") and Asia Pacific.

Hunting PLC's Legal Entity Identifier is 2138008S5FL78ITZRN66.

 

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