LAM.L Regulatory News (LAM)

11 Jun 2007 07:02

Lamprell Plc11 June 2007 LAMPRELL PLC ("Lamprell" or the "Company") LAMPRELL AGM - STATEMENT FROM THE CHAIRMAN AND CEO Lamprell (symbol: LAM), a leading provider of specialist engineering services tothe international oil & gas industry based in the UAE, is holding its AnnualGeneral Meeting at 12.00 pm UAE time (9.00 am UK time) today at the LamprellGroup offices in Jebel Ali Free Zone, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. At themeeting, Chairman and CEO, Peter Whitbread, will make the following statement: "The Company was listed on the London Stock Exchange Alternative InvestmentMarket ("AIM") in October 2006. Lamprell has just completed another verypositive year, both financially and operationally. Strong earnings, robust cashflows and a healthy balance sheet with zero debt at the year end have enabled usto implement the planned increase in development expenditure and to review newbusiness opportunities that can add real value and future growth. For the year 2006 we have seen revenues increase to US$330 million, animprovement of 57.5% over 2005, with net profits of US$33.8 million, animprovement of 13.5% over 2005, and that is after the one-off exceptionalcharges (US$23.1 million), arising from the IPO process and share gifts tosenior management from the principal shareholder. This improvement is theresult of sustained growth in all of the primary areas of our businessactivities; jackup and land rig upgrade and refurbishment; new build offshorestructures and process production modules. During the year we have increased our client base while retaining all of ourcore clients and we have continued to deliver client satisfaction and timelyproject delivery. We have increased the scope and size of our new buildconstruction activities and in 2006 we undertook the refurbishment of 26offshore jackup rigs and our first upgrade of a semi-submersible drilling rig.We have also witnessed a significant growth in our land based drilling rigactivity with a total of 10 land rigs having been refurbished during the sameyear compared to 4 land rigs that were refurbished during 2005. This increase in workload and growth has been achieved while maintaining ouroutstanding safety awareness statistics. In Jebel Ali alone we saw a period ofproductivity of 7.5 million man-hours without a lost time incident resultingfrom accidents and on the Kashagan Flash Gas Compression project for SBM, theentire project was completed with over three million man-hours of continuousproduction without any lost time incidents. During 2006 we have invested US$24 million in capital expenditure to furtherincrease capacity and efficiency. The largest acquisition was the 22,000 toncapacity semi-submersible barge, the "Hamriyah Pride", which was acquired togive us self sufficiency for the launching and dry docking of marine units.This acquisition enabled us to take on what has proven to be the largest jackuprig refurbishment project for Lamprell to date, the rebuilding of the stormdamaged Nabors rig 660, due for completion in December 2007. 2007 to date has proven to be one of unprecedented high activity, with a recordnumber of rigs being upgraded in our yards and the award of two new build liftboats for Seajacks International, valued at US$224 million, with optionsavailable for three additional lift boats. We have also witnessed the largestproject load-out ever undertaken by the Company with the completion of over5,000 tonnes of process decks for British Gas, India's Tapti project. Newproject awards have also been supported by substantial growth on ongoingcontracts. The Aker Kvaerner Process System contract for the SMART 1 FPSOtopside process modules was awarded to Lamprell in late 2006 for US$5.1 million.Our scope of work has subsequently been increased to include additional modulesand the final value of this contract will now exceed US$25 million oncompletion. We continue to expand and grow our business with the primary focus being on thecreation of our new facility in the Hamriyah Free Zone. This is being createdwith the principal objective of maintaining our leading position in the jackuprepair and refurbishment market and to expand the range and size of the newbuild projects that we can undertake. This will be done whilst maintaining ourfocus on our existing repeat business clients and selectively expanding ourclient base. We will continue to expand the capacity and quality of the services we providethrough investment in infrastructure, equipment and most importantly in people.All of which will ultimately be reflected in providing shareholder value andsatisfaction. This has been an exceptional year for Lamprell. The excellent results have beenachieved during a period of significant corporate restructuring and developmentand I am confident that we will continue to deliver the highest standard ofservice to our customers, win new business and ultimately reward ourshareholders for their support." Peter Whitbread 11 June 2007 For further information contact: Lamprell plc (+44 20 7638 9571)Peter Whitbread, Chairman and Chief Executive OfficerDavid Moran, Chief Operating Officer JPMorgan Cazenove, London (+44 20 7588 2828)Nick GarrettMalcolm Moir Citigate Dewe Rogerson, London (+44 20 7638 9571)Media enquiries: Martin Jackson/George CazenoveAnalyst enquiries: Nina Soon This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange