Shares in Lamprell (LAM) dipped after the oil-rig contractor confirmed that revenues would fall this year and next, as it continues to rebuild its order book following the problems experienced in 2012. Nevertheless, the company managed to beat the consensus of forecasts on earnings by booking an operating profit of $53m (£32m), against a loss of $95m in the previous year.
The turnaround is being engineered by chief executive James Moffat, who took over the reins after Dubai-based Lamprell booked an $115m pre-tax loss in 2012. That loss was the culmination of a series of profit warnings linked to Lamprell's move into the production of wind-turbine vessels. The problems didn’t end there, as the company was subsequently fined £2.4m by the UK Financial Services Authority (as it was then) for failing to report the problems to the market in good time.
Lamprell expects revenues of around $1bn in 2014, but will need to demonstrate that it has the ability to generate new business; the order book had dropped to $0.9bn (2012: $1.1bn) by the end of 2013. Mr Moffat confirmed that Lamprell was down to the final stage of negotiations on three major new bids.
Prior to these figures, JPMorgan was forecasting revenues of $1.05bn for 2014 and adjusted EPS of 17¢ a share, rising to 25¢ in 2015.
| LAMPRELL (LAM) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 139p | MARKET VALUE: | £363m | |
| TOUCH: | 139-140p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 183p | LOW: 120p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | NIL | PE RATIO: | 16 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 170¢* | NET CASH: | $184m | |
| Year to 31 Dec | Turnover ($bn) | Pre-tax profit ($m) | Earnings per share (¢) | Dividend per share (¢) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 0.4 | 28 | 13 | 3.5 |
| 2010 | 0.5 | 65 | 30 | 12.3 |
| 2011 | 1.2 | 64 | 27 | 8.0 |
| 2012 (restated) | 1.0 | -115 | -43 | nil |
| 2013 | 1.1 | 32 | 14 | nil |
| % change | +6 | - | - | - |
Ex-div:- Payment:- £1 = $1.65 *Includes intangible assets of $213m, or 82p a share. | ||||
