SBM Offshore's revenue boosted by Liza Unity vessel sale
By Stephanie Hamel
(Reuters) - Dutch oil and gas services company SBM Offshore on Thursday reported a 38% jump in annual revenue, driven by the sale of its floating production, storage and offloading vessel (FPSO) Liza Unity to ExxonMobil in November.
The company, which leases, operates, builds and sells FPSO vessels to produce and transport crude and gas, generated record-high revenue of $4.53 billion last year, compared with $3.29 billion in 2022.
That was slightly ahead of its $4.4 billion forecast from November.
SBM Offshore's shares were 2.3% higher at 13.17 euros ($14.27) at 1134 GMT.
The Amsterdam-based company said it expects directional revenue of $3.5 billion for 2024, with around $1.3 billion from its turnkey business, which builds and sells the FPSO vessels.
"We have a positive outlook on the market given the economics and low emission qualities of deepwater resources," CEO Bruno Chabas said.
Analysts were expecting a directional revenue of $3.16 billion for 2024, a company-compiled consensus showed.
SBM Offshore calculates its results using a method of "directional reporting" that records payments made during the construction phase and prior to a lease's execution as revenue.
The group attributed the strong performance last year to its turnkey business, as revenues from turnkey supply contracts and after-sales services rose by 69% in 2023, mainly due to the Liza Unity sale.
The start of work on FPSO vessel Jaguar and "additional variation orders" on FPSO vessel Prosperity - also in Guyana - further boosted annual turnkey revenue, it said.
Degroof Petercam said in a research note that it sees good opportunities for more FPSO contracts.
It said the guidance showed SBM Offshore can continue to generate "very healthy" core earnings even without a contribution from sales of vessels like the Liza Unity.
The group's directional core profit increased by 31% to $1.31 billion in 2023, in line with its earlier guidance.
($1 = 0.9231 euros)
(Reporting by Stéphanie Hamel in Gdansk; editing by Milla Nissi and Jane Merriman)