Hunting Regulatory News (HTG)

21 Dec 2009 07:00



Hunting PLC

("Hunting" or "the Company")

Trading Update

Hunting PLC (LSE:HTG) today issues a trading update in advance of entering its close period.

Dennis Proctor, Hunting's Chief Executive, said:

"The Company anticipates a trading performance for 2009 toward the high end of market expectations despite recessionary global markets, volatile commodity prices and depressed drilling activity, primarily in natural gas. Trading in the Middle East and South East Asia has remained steady with contracts in these regions continuing into 2010. Elsewhere, in Canada and the United States, drilling and exploration for natural gas remains depressed relative to prior year activity, with smaller operators continuing to experience difficulty in obtaining adequate credit to commence new projects.

The Well Construction and Completion Divisions are both expected to experience a lower performance compared to last year, while the newly created Well Intervention Division will see an improvement as a result of acquisitions made during the year. Exploration and Production, due to commodity prices and production, will report results well below the prior year and Gibson Shipbrokers, with low pricing in global shipping markets are also expected to report results well down on the prior year. Field Aviation is having an excellent year and should report results well ahead of those in 2008.

In addition to the acquisitions of PT SMB Industri in Indonesia and National Coupling Company in Houston announced earlier in the year, the acquisition of Welltonic completed on 10 December 2009, will further strengthen the Group's Well Intervention operations. We continue to review potential acquisitions and hope to make further announcements when appropriate.

Early sector forecasts anticipate an approximate 6% increase in exploration and production activities during 2010. Much of this improvement is due to oil demand growth in China, India and other South East Asian countries, while the rest of the world may see only modest, if any, growth. However, the acquisitions made in the second half of 2009 combined with completed capital projects should position the Company to take advantage of growth opportunities in 2010."

The full year results for 2009 will be reported on Thursday 25 February 2010.

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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 fully 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 principal operations in Canada, China, France, Holland, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Mexico, Singapore, United Arab Emirates and the United States of America.