Petrofac has reported that trading and contract awards have been “materially impacted” by the Covid-19 pandemic and a sharp fall in oil prices.
The energy company issued pre-closing trading statement outlining its response to the turbulent economic climate ahead of publishing its half year results on 11 August 2020.
The group’s order backlog was $6.4bn (€5.6bn) on 31 May 2020, compared to $7.4bn six months previously, with new order intake of $1bn in the year to date.
Net debt stood at $139m at 31 May 2020.
Petrofac said it was on track to deliver $125m of cost savings in 2020 and up to $200m in 2021.
Petrofac group chief executive Ayman Asfari said: “The health and wellbeing of our people, suppliers and our communities continues to be our top priority.
“Nevertheless, despite all of our efforts, the Covid-19 pandemic and sharp fall in oil prices have materially impacted financial performance and new orders in the first half of the year.
“In these unprecedented times, we are doing everything within our control to protect the long-term health of the business.
“We have taken swift, decisive action to structurally reduce costs, preserve cash and maintain our competitiveness. In doing so, we have preserved core capability whilst continuing to invest in digitalisation and our client relationships.”
Asfari said it is unclear how long market conditions will continue to disrupt business activity and delay awards.
“Notwithstanding this, we have a tendering pipeline of $48bn of opportunities scheduled for award by the end of 2021 and an order book that gives us good near-term revenue visibility,” Asfari added.