Saipem runs on the stock exchange after the 2018 accounts and above all after a fourth quarter to frame in which it brought home new orders for 8,753 billion euros from 7,4 billion in the previous year.
At Piazza Affari the title it opened up 3% and in mid-morning it leads the blue chips of the Ftse Mib, gaining 4,96% to 4,573 euros.
As for the numbers, in the last three months of 2018, the company led by Stefano Cao recorded a adjusted ebitda equal to 242 million euros, a sharp increase compared to 169 million in the same period of 2018, and a adjusted net profit of 8 million euros compared to the 105 million loss of the previous year. On also i revenues, which reached 2,47 billion euros (+16%) against the 2,16 expected by analysts.
Speaking of the whole of 2018, i revenues consolidated amounts to 8,52 billion, a decrease of 5% compared to the previous year, theebitda stood at 848 million, while theadjusted ebitda it grew from 964 million to one billion. L'ebit it dropped to €37 million from €126 million.
La net loss of the oil services group instead discounted "write-downs and reorganization charges for a total of 497 million" and thus stood at 472 million from 328 million in 2017. The adjusted net result instead saw a profit of 25 million (from 46 million in 2017). The net debt it fell again, reaching 1,159 billion (-10,6%).
The guidance for 2018 was "fully confirmed in a still challenging market context" thanks to "a robust and constantly improving operating performance": the accounts already include an amicable settlement of thearbitration with South Stream which could arrive by the end of March, underlines the CEO, Stephen Cao.
As regards the 2019, Saipem expects revenues of approximately 9 billion euros, an adjusted Ebitda of more than 10% and net debt of 1 billion.
“The results for 2018 – comments the CEO – are beyond expectations: guidance widely confirmed, Ebitda higher than forecasts and net debt down also thanks to cash generation”.
""During the year we redefined the corporate repositioning objectives which are already demonstrating the adequacy and timeliness of the strategic choices made with particular reference to the reorganization process which now makes us ready to take advantage of future market opportunities with due flexibility. We have won a substantial number of new contracts across all business sectors, particularly in offshore E&C and onshore E&C,” he added.
It should be emphasized that the company has received many favorable reports by Morgan Stanley, Barclais, Bernstein and SocGen which raise the target price to values 50 to 80% higher than the current share prices.
