Hunting holds guidance on strong order book, product sales

Precision engineering group Hunting held annual guidance as energy-related and non-oil and gas product sales helped to deliver solid top line growth in the year.

In a trading update on Wednesday, the company confirmed forecasts of core profit for 2023 of between $96m and $100 million, with group revenue estimated to range from $925m – 930m.

Sales into South America were strong as drilling in Guyana and Brazil increased, while activity across Asia Pacific accelerated as drilling momentum in India and the Middle East improved, said chief executive Jim Johnson.

The group's sales order book continued to strengthen through the final quarter of the year and was now approaching a record level of $575m, following a further large order win for titanium stress joints and OCTG Accessories for clients operating in the Black Sea and South America respectively, he added.

Hunting added that given the record sales order book, the board believed that 2024 will see further growth to EBITDA with the projected outcome in line with current market expectations of $125-$135m.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com