Shares in Hunting PLC (LSE:HTG) fell 4% despite the energy industry engineer posting interim results showing improved profits, hiking the half-year dividend 10% and announcing the winning of "significant" North Sea contracts.
The FTSE 250-listed group reported revenue up 3% at $493.8 million and a 23% increase in underlying profits (EBITDA) to $60.3 million, as the order book swelled by a third to just shy of $700 million. Reported profit before tax leapt 131% to $36.2 million.
An interim dividend of 5.5 cents per share was declared, up from 5.0 cents a year ago.
Hunting's Perforating Systems results have been impacted by a challenging onshore market in the US, said chief executive Jim Johnson, but he said the technology the division offered "remains compelling for clients, and will see improvements as and when market conditions recover".
Last month, Hunting raised its full-year EBITDA guidance to circa $134-138 million on the back of orders from the Kuwait Oil Company, offsetting trading headwinds seen in Perforating Systems.
Johnson hailed strong performances from the OCTG (drill pipes), Subsea and Advanced Manufacturing segments, and said the results "demonstrate the strength of offshore and international markets and steady progress in energy transition markets".
Alongside the results, the company announced $60 million of contracts over a five-year period from what it called "major North Sea operators" for organic oil recovery (OOR) technology, a process it says is a proven enhanced oil recovery technology that optimises reservoir performance, improves recovery rates and reduces in-situ hydrogen sulphide levels for operators.
Johnson said the contract shows the acceleration of commercialisation of the licensed OOR technology is "another great milestone to report and showcases Hunting's ability to leverage its industry leading IP to deliver value adding solutions to our global clients".