Whether or not Hunting Plc (LON:HTG) achieves its guidance for 2019 will hinge on December’s trading.
The oil and gas contractor, in a statement, told investors that activity levels within North America continue to slow, especially onshore.
Clients are exhausting capital budgets and seasonal declines are also negatively impacting fourth quarter performance, it added.
“These market dynamics continue to adversely impact the results of Hunting's US onshore focused businesses including the Hunting Titan, Specialty and Drilling Tools business units,” the company said.
READ: Hunting warns are profits under pressure
“Elsewhere across the group, offshore and international market activity is showing modest improvement, which has supported the performance of Hunting's businesses outside of the North American region.”
Presently, the company expects full year earnings (EBITDA) to remain in range of current market expectations but that view is dependent on results for the month of December.
Hunting said it continues to trade profitably and generate cash. It expects to have around US$110mln of cash at the end of the year – with US$45mln of lease liabilities, giving a US$65mln net cash position.
Looking to 2020, the company said: “Commentary on the group's trading outlook for 2020 will be provided within the 2019 full year results when published in February 2020.
“However, at this time early announcements from Hunting's publicly quoted clients indicate that capital spend in the year ahead will be lower than 2019, as the oil and gas industry endeavours to improve returns and increase cash generation for investors.”