Orders backlog boosts Petrofac shares

A STRONG backlog of orders helped oil services group Petrofac report a sharp rise in first-half profits which saw its shares hit a record high.

The first half order backlog stood at $6.9 billion (4.5bn) and a further $1.1bn of new contracts has been secured.

It grew operating profit by 54 per cent to $262.6m on a 34 per cent rise in revenue to $2.1bn. EBITDA rose 55 per cent to $321.3m.

Turkmenistan could yield a further $4bn in orders and the company made a gain of $125.6m on the demerger of its North Sea assets to EnQuest.

The interim dividend has been raised by 29 per cent to 8.91p.

Ayman Asfari, chief executive said: "We believe our strong operational performance will enable us to maintain our historical sector-leading net margins."

The shares closed up 48p, or 3.5 per cent, at 1,410p.