Petrofac Regulatory News (PFC)

25 Jun 2007 07:03

Petrofac Limited25 June 2007 PETROFAC LIMITED ("Petrofac") TRADING UPDATE Petrofac, the international oil & gas facilities service provider, issues thefollowing pre-close trading update ahead of the announcement of its interimresults for the six months ending 30 June 2007, expected to be on 6 September2007. We are pleased to be able to report that the Group's strong operationalperformance, highlighted in the recent AGM statement, is continuing and theoutlook for the rest of the financial year is viewed with increasing confidence.In the absence of unforeseen circumstances, it is anticipated that the Group'snet profit for 2007 will be towards the higher end of current marketexpectations (see note below). During the year to date, order intake across the Group amounted to, inaggregate, approximately US$600 million. Total backlog at the end of June 2007is expected to be approximately US$3.8 billion (31 December 2006: US$4.2billion; 30 June 2006: US$3.3 billion) comprising approximately US$2.0 billionfrom our Engineering & Construction division (31 December 2006: US$2.2 billion;30 June 2006: US$1.6 billion) and approximately US$1.8 billion from ourOperations Services division (31 December 2006: US$1.9 billion; 30 June 2006:US$1.7 billion). Note:The current market expectations for Petrofac's net profit for the year ending 31December 2007, referred to earlier in this announcement, are based on forecastsprovided to Petrofac by nine equity analysts. The range of those forecasts isfrom US$146.0 million to US$162.0 million. Ends For further information, please contact: Petrofac Limited +44 (0) 20 7811 4900 Ayman Asfari, Group Chief ExecutiveKeith Roberts, Chief Financial OfficerJonathan Low, Head of Investor Relations Bell Pottinger Corporate & Financial +44 (0) 20 7861 3232 Ann-marie WilkinsonOlly Scott Notes to Editors Definition of backlog and order intake Backlog consists of the estimated revenue attributable to the uncompletedportion of lump-sum engineering, procurement and construction contracts andvariation orders plus, with regard to engineering services and facilitiesmanagement contracts, the estimated revenue attributable to the lesser of theremaining term of the contract and, in the case of life-of-field facilitiesmanagement contracts, five years. To the extent work advances on thesecontracts, revenue is recognised and removed from the backlog. Where contractsextend beyond five years, the backlog relating thereto is added to the backlogon a rolling monthly basis. Order intake comprises new contracts awarded, growth in scope of existingcontracts and the rolling increment attributable to contracts which extendbeyond five years. Backlog and order intake include only the revenue attributable to signedcontracts for which all pre-conditions to entry have been met and only theproportionate share of joint venture contracts that is attributable to Petrofac.Backlog and order intake do not include any revenue expected to arise fromcontracts where the client has no commitment to draw upon services fromPetrofac. Backlog and order intake are not audited measures. Other companies in the oil &gas industry may calculate these measures differently. Petrofac Petrofac is a leading international provider of facilities solutions to the oil& gas production and processing industry, with a diverse customer portfolioincluding many of the world's leading integrated, independent and national oil &gas companies. Petrofac is quoted on the London Stock Exchange (symbol: PFC) andis a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. Through its three divisions, Engineering & Construction, Operations Services andEnergy Developments, Petrofac designs and builds oil & gas facilities; operates,maintains or manages facilities and trains personnel; and, where return criteriaare met and service revenue synergies identified, co-invests with clients andpartners. Petrofac's range of services allows it to help meet its customers'needs across the life cycle of oil & gas assets. With more than 9,000 employees, Petrofac operates out of four strategicallylocated international centres, in Aberdeen, Sharjah, Woking and Mumbai and afurther 16 offices worldwide. The predominant focus of Petrofac's business is onthe UK Continental Shelf (UKCS), Africa, the Middle East, the Commonwealth ofIndependent States (CIS) and the Asia Pacific region. For additional information, please refer to the Petrofac website at www.petrofac.com. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange