KUALA LUMPUR: Shares in Sapura Energy Bhd
jumped 22% in early trade after the company returned to the black in the first quarter ended April 30 (1Q23).
The oil and gas service provide rose one sen, or 22.22% to 5.5 sen. It is currently the second most active counter on Bursa Malaysia with 62.58 million shares done.
Sapura Energy posted a net profit of RM91.93mil in the first quarter ended April 30 (1Q23) from a net loss of RM97.07mil in the same quarter last year, on favourable foreign exchange gains following the strengthening of the US dollar.
Its revenue, however, fell 39.7% to RM886.1mil against RM1.47bil a year ago.
Hong Leong Investment Bank said Sapura Energy recorded 1Q23 core net loss of RM203mil was within expectations based on the house/consensus full-year net loss forecast of RM758m/RM580.1mil.
As at end-April 2022, Sapura’s orderbook stood at RM8.3bil with RM23bil of bids in progress.
“We continue to expect current hurdles and uncertainties to continue in FY23. The group’s net debt continued to deteriorate, which ballooned to RM10.2bil as of 1Q23 from RM9.9bil at end-FY22.
“We think that it will be an uphill task for Sapura Energy to turnaround its operations in the near-to-medium term due to heightened cost overruns in its projects; liquidity issues from difficulties to obtain funding due to its balance sheet distress a s it is now officially a PN17 company; job delivery and execution risks as Sapura has yet to display a satisfactory track record in recent years; and inability to win jobs due to its challenged balance sheet,” it said.
Hong Leong has maintained its “sell” on Sapura Energy with an unchanged target price of one sen based on 0.5x FY22 P/B.
Kenanga Research said Sapura Energy’s 1Q23 core loss of RM84mil (arrived after stripping-off net forex gains) came in better than expectations at only 14% of the house and consensus full-year loss estimates, mainly due to the better-than-expected E&C contributions.
“The stock was recently classified under PN17, with their auditors highlighting material uncertainty related to its going concern status. The group still carries an unsustainably high debt of RM10.7bil – all of which are classified as short-term borrowings in its balance sheet, with the group having recently written off 99% of its equity book value in FY22.
“The group is still finding access to credit facilities incredibly challenging given its dire financials. As such, it is continuing its restructuring efforts in order to remain afloat, which includes renegotiation of its legacy contracts and with lenders over its debts, as well as the implementation of a divestment plan,” it said.
On a more positive note, Kenanga said the group had recently managed a successful drawdown of an RM300mil working capital loan, securitised against the proceeds of disposal of its Sapura 3000 asset, which is expected to be completed in July. This is expected to help ease its liquidity issues at least for the next couple of months.
“As such, with its financials looking highly unsustainable and outlook remaining bleak, we maintain our ‘underperform’ call and target price of RM0.005,” Kenanga said.
