Sector News

Hunting has been forced to shed nearly 2,000 jobs as it battles to right its financial scales.

The firm today reported $29.5million loss for the first half of this year – a significant drop from last year’s $44.1million profit.

The energy service group’s turnover for the first six months was $228.4million – less than half of last year’s $463.6milion.
The drop into the red has forced the company to cut its workforce by 46%, going from 4,003 positions to 2,145. It also closed three manufacturing facilities and seven distribution centres.

However, the company has successfully revised the terms of its revolving credit facility.

Chief executive Dennis Proctor said: “While industry sentiment reached a low point during the early months of the reporting period, the improved US rig count data seen through Q2 indicates that the global energy markets are adjusting to the lower oil price environment. The combination of lower operating costs and production efficiency gains has led to increased enquiry levels as operators focus on those projects which provide the strongest returns. However, given the inherent uncertainty within the industry at this time, the current market estimates for the 2016 full year will remain dependent on an improved trading environment in the latter part of the year.

“While the Group’s performance has suffered, we are pleased to have concluded the renegotiation of our bank covenants to enable Hunting to continue with strong, liquid resources to respond to an improving market environment. At the period end our net debt position has been reduced to $87.5m following ongoing cost cutting and the receipt of tax refunds, which indicates the strength of our balance sheet and the resilience of our business model.”

By Rita Brown

Source: Energy Voice