(Alliance News) - Capital Drilling Ltd on Thursday said profit rose significantly in the first half of the year due to lower depreciation and a slight increase in revenue.
Shares in Capital Drilling were up 4.5% at 58.00 pence in London in morning trade.
The drilling solutions firm's pretax profit for the six months to June 30 totaled USD7.6 million, up from USD5.0 million a year ago.
This was predominantly due to 30% a drop in depreciation charges to USD4.7 million from USD6.7 million, as well as a small 0.6% rise in revenue to USD54.8 million from USD54.5 million.
Capital Drilling also recorded a rise in interest income to USD168,966 from USD59,866 and a drop in finance charges to USD391,899 from USD533,081. The company additionally made a USD259,262 fair value gain on FVPTL investments.
The company will pay a 0.7 US cents per share interim dividend, up 17% from the 0.6 cents per dividend paid the year before.
Executive Chair Jamie Boyton said: "The recent announcement of six new contract awards, together with ongoing strong performance at existing long-term operations, places the group in a strong position for the second half of 2019. We continue to grow and consolidate our presence in the high growth region of West Africa and remain confident this will provide further growth opportunities for the remainder of the year."
Capital (CAPD)