Lamprell shines in 2010

2010 was a year of strong recovery for Lamprell, the provider of engineering services to the international oil and gas industry, with the strength of the oil price contributing to unprecedented levels of enquiries.Revenue rose 18.4% to $503.8m from $425.5m in 2009. Underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) soared 90.3% to $78.4m from $41.2m in 2009 while the EBITDA margin improved to 15.6% from 9.7%.Adjusted net profit leapt to $66.6m from $28.4m the year before, a gain of 134.5%. Adjusted net margin virtually doubled to 13.2% from 6.7%.The debt free company had cash of $210.2m at the end of 2010, up from $67.8m at the end of 2009. The order book at the end of February 2011 was worth $962m, up from $725m at the end of 2009.Nigel McCue, chief executive officer of Lamprell, said an unexpected bonus for the group was a turnaround in the new build jack-up market in the second half of the year, triggered in part by a "post-Macondo effect" but mostly "by a continuing drive for more modern, cost-effective and efficient drilling units designed to meet the ever increasing technical demands of the drilling industry.""Building upon the success in 2010, 2011 has started encouragingly," McCue said. The company has proposed a final dividend of 9.5 cents (5.88p), up from 3.80 cents last year. The full year dividend therefore rises to 13.30 cents, versus 3.80 cents in 2009. The company only paid one dividend in 2009.--- jh