Hunting cuts workforce by a quarter

Energy services group Hunting cut its workforce by 25% on Monday as a result of lower oil prices due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Hunting said trading within most of its businesses declined during the second quarter, following modest trading results in the first, with year-to-date underlying earnings now expected to be in the range of $22m-23m.

In addition to cutting a quarter of its staff, Hunting also said it had sought to cut costs by shuttering three distribution centres and two manufacturing facilities in North America. Annualised cost savings from these actions were estimated to be roughly $60m.

In terms of liquidity, the FTSE 250-listed group said it had a "healthy cash position" and did not currently anticipate having to draw down on its $160m revolving credit facility.

"Should the economic downturn resulting from Covid-19 be protracted and place additional pressure on liquidity, Hunting continues to have access to this facility, as and when required, subject to the limits and restrictions imposed by the existing covenant regime," said the group.

In terms of the effect of the outbreak on trading, Hunting anticipates that all of its facilities will be operating in "a more normalised manner" for the remainder of 2020.

As of 1035 BST, Hunting shares were down 1.54% at 204.40p.