The share price of Petrofac (LSE: PFC) — a provider of integrated facilities services to the oil, gas and energy production and processing industries — is down almost 1% so far today, following publication of its final results for the year ending 31 December 2013.
The company reported net profit up 3%, to $650m, on revenue that increased just 1%, to $6.3bn. However, the company had also incurred net debt of $0.7bn as of 31 December 2013, compared with $0.2bn net cash at the end of 2012.
Diluted earnings per share increased by 3%, to 189.1 cents, and the board is recommending a final dividend of 43.8 cents, bringing the full year dividend to 65.8 cents per share, up 3% on 2012.
Commenting on the results, Petrofac’s group chief executive Ayman Asfari said:
“Having delivered modest earnings growth and good operational performance in 2013, we begin 2014 in an encouraging position with record backlog, a project portfolio in excellent shape, a strong bidding pipeline and US$3 billion of new awards already secured in the year to date.
“We see significant long-term growth potential for Petrofac and the depth of capability, skills and talent across the Group gives me confidence that we will continue to build on our proven track record this year and beyond. In line with our previous guidance, we expect flat to modest growth in net profit in 2014 and remain confident of a return to strong earnings growth in 2015.“
At 1,354p, Petrofac’s share price is down almost 15% on this time last year, compared with an 8.5% rise in the FTSE 100. But over five years the story is rather different, with Petrofac’s 217% gain far outstripping the index’s 58% in that time.
