LONDON (Alliance News) - Engineering and contracting services business Lamprell PLC Wednesday said it swung to profit in the full-year, driven primarily by strong jackup rig activity and a reduction in facility and corporate overheads costs but warned revenue will be lower in 2014 and 2015.
The company posted pretax profit of USD31.8 million for 2013, compared with a loss of USD115.4 million, as revenue crept to USD1.1 million from GBP1.0 million a year earlier.
Lamprell attributed the increase in revenue to its new build oil and gas and renewable divisions, which reported revenue of USD580.2 million up from USD493.6 million and USD95.1 million up from GBP66.4 million respectively.
The company said its offshore construction arm also performed well with five projects under construction and three delivered to clients during the year. As a result the segment reported revenue of USD195.6 million up from USD179.7 million.
These revenue increases were partially offset by lower revenues from the upgrade and refurbishment division of USD122.5 million up from USD176.9 million, which was impacted by delays in the timing of clients' maintenance schedules as well as increased competition in the market.
Despite swinging to a profit, and with a lower recent order intake, revenues for 2014 and 2015 are expected to be slightly lower than in 2013 as its rebuilds its order book, said the company.
At the end of the period, the company order book was valued UISD900 million compared with USD1.1 billion a year earlier.
Lamprell said liquidity improved significantly in 2013 with unrestricted cash increasing to USD277.1 million up from USD126.4 million.
Given the restrictions under the group's debt facility Lamprell said it will not be paying a dividend for the period.
"The board is acutely aware of the importance of dividends to investors and we will review the group's dividend policy when its financial position improves further and the constraints have been removed," it added.
The stock was trading at 140.00 pence Wednesday, down 9.00 pence or 6.0%.
By Anthony Tshibangu; anthonytshibangu@alliancenews.com; @AnthonyAllNews
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