Petrofac Limited (LSE:PFC) is one of very few companies providing a financial update in the week before Christmas, with a trading statement coming amid North Sea strikes and hot on the heels of news that chief executive Sami Iskander is leaving in March.
Iskander took over from the FTSE 250-listed group’s longstanding boss Ayman Asfari in January last year as the company continued to repair a reputation soiled by a Serious Fraud Office bribery probe that concluded with a US$106mln penalty imposed in the courts.
Last year the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company also suspended the engineer from competing for contract awards until further notice, before reinstating it early this year.
The company has been appointed Tareq Kawash to replace Iskander on 1 April, joining from rival energy industry engineer McDermott.
Chairman René Médori said Iskander had “reshaped the business and put it firmly on a path to growth” and said his replacement has “30 years’ international EPC leadership experience and an impressive business development track record”.
Also last month, workers downed tools for 48 hours due to a dispute over pay, with union Unite saying Petrofac failed to meet its promise of reviewing a 10% pay cut for staff in 2020.
The last financial update from the company was in August, when a half-year net loss of US$14mln was reported, narrowing from US$89mln a year earlier, but earnings before interest and tax plunged 96% to US$2mln as revenue dropped to US$1.2bn from US$1.6bn.
Covid-related industry challenges were blamed, as the company said it was working towards completion on many ‘legacy’ engineering and construction projects.
Order intake in the first half was US$1.1bn and the 18-month pipeline stood at US$57bn, with the order backlog at US$3.7bn.