Hunting books revenue growth as demand for oil and gas remains robust
Oil and gas engineer Hunting has ridden the wave of continued oil and gas drive from supermajors to a near 30 per cent revenue uplift.
The London-listed group posted a return of $929m (£733.4m), a 28 per cent uptick on last year, underpinned by a 19 per cent growth in orders.
Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) soared by 98 per cent to $103m (£81.3m) and the group declared $81m (£63.9m) in previously unrecognised deferred tax assets.
Gross margins for the firm improved to 25 per cent from 24 per cent while total dividends rose to 10 cents (8p) from 9 cents (7p) the year prior.
Hunting’s solid 2023 comes on the back of sustained oil and gas supermajor profits for the same trading period, despite oil prices returning to parity from the start of the energy crisis in 2022.
The group counts only three operating locations in Europe, with several off the coast of Scotland in the North Sea, one in the Netherlands and one in Norway.
Elsewhere, the group has a strong presence across the U.S. and the Middle East as well as China and Australia.
Company chief executive Jim Johnson said: “Hunting has delivered a strong year of growth across most of its product groups, demonstrating the underlying strength of our market drivers, with security of supply and affordable energy remaining key investment themes.
“The growth and composition of our record order book demonstrates how much Hunting has evolved in terms of more diverse revenue and better visibility on earnings, and provides confidence in our near and longer-term outlook, as we deliver the Hunting 2030 Strategy.”
In early trading, the group’s share price was up 3 per cent.