C.A.T. oil AG increases revenues and earnings substantially in first half of 2006
- Revenues up by 29.8 % - EBIT almost doubled to EUR 19.9 million - Earnings per share of EUR 0.32
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Austria-based C.A.T. oil AG (O2C, ISIN: AT0000A00Y78), one of the leading providers of oil- and gasfield services in Russia and Kazakhstan, today published its interim report for the first half of 2006. Persistently high demand from oil and gas producers for services to improve output enabled the Company to substantially increase consolidated revenues and earnings in the first six months of the year. Following a successful first quarter despite difficult weather conditions, the second quarter saw C.A.T. oil AG perform the highest number of service jobs in its history. The Company also further increased average revenues per service job in the first half of the year.
On this basis, C.A.T.oil increased consolidated revenues in the first six months of 2006 by 29.8 % to EUR 89.4 million (half year 2005: EUR 68.9 million). EBITDA rose from EUR 14.6 million in the first half of 2005 to EUR 24.2 million - up 65.8 %. C.A.T.oil also increased EBIT by 98.4 % to EUR 19.9 million, compared with EUR 10.0 million in the prior-year period. The Group thus almost doubled its EBIT and improved the EBIT margin from 14.6 % to 22.3 %.
Growing demand for gas fracturing jobs
Manfred Kastner, Chief Executive Officer of C.A.T. oil AG, is pleased with the Company's results: "We achieved new records in all regions and business areas, especially in the second quarter. Despite a further sharp increase in demand for oil fracturing jobs we also performed more sophisticated specialized activities, such as coiled tubing or inclined drilling, than ever before. The increase in gas fracturing jobs also deserves special mention: In the second quarter of 2006, we performed three times more services on our customers' natural gasfields than in the previous year. The strategic partnership with Burgaz (OOO Drilling Company of OAO Gazprom) that we agreed in July will help us further expand these services in the future."
As in the first quarter, C.A.T. oil AG was also able to further enhance the efficiency of operations. As a result, the cost of sales rose more slowly than revenues in the first half of 2006 to EUR 59.8 million, compared with EUR 51.7 million in the first half of 2005 (+15.6 %). Gross profit therefore improved by 72.6 % in the first six months to EUR 29.7 million, as against EUR 17.2 million in the prior-year period.
Net profit for the period up by 86 %
The Company's successful performance is also reflected in the substantial growth in its profit after taxes and minority interest. Net profit for the period increased by 86 % year-on-year to EUR 13.8 million (previous year: EUR 7.4 million). Earnings per share were EUR 0.32.
The sharp increase in net profit for the period and a lower change in net working capital resulted in net cash provided by operating activities of EUR 9.2 million in the first half of 2006. In the prior-year period, the Group recorded net cash used in operating activities of EUR 3.4 million. Net cash used in investing activities amounted to EUR 10.2 million in the first six months of 2006, compared with net cash provided by investing activities of EUR 5.4 million in the previous year. The 2006 figure includes the acquisition and upgrading of the used fleet commissioned in the second quarter. C.A.T. oil AG recorded a significant improvement in cash flows from financing activities as a result of its IPO on May 4, 2006. The Company received proceeds from the IPO amounting to EUR 121.0 million; on this basis, net cash provided by financing activities improved to EUR 122.2 million (previous year: net cash used in financing activities of EUR 0.7 million).
The Company's cash and cash equivalents also increased due to the IPO, from EUR 10.9 million at the end of the 2005 financial year (December 31, 2005) to EUR 132.1 million at the end of the period under review. The number of employees was approximately 2,209 in the first half of the year. Most of these are deployed locally at the oil- and natural gasfields in Russia and Kazakhstan.
Further revenue and earnings growth expected in the second half year
C.A.T. oil AG's Board of Management is convinced that the continual increase in demand for oil- and gasfield services, as well as the Company's strong strategic position, will enable sustainable growth. It expects significant growth rates in the number of jobs and average revenue in all business activities. C.A.T.oil intends to put into operation three new fleets by the end of 2006 that will increase its existing capacity by 33 %. The equipment required to upgrade these new fleets to withstand the extreme weather conditions in Siberia and Kazakhstan has already been delivered to the Company's field headquarters. In addition, C.A.T.oil's strategic partnership with the Gazprom subsidiary Burgaz represents a promising basis to achieve further significant growth in this area. Kastner: "We are expecting above-average results in the second half of the year as well. Demand from the Eurasian oil and gas industries for stimulating methods and other additional services to increase well output is growing continually, and we are excellently positioned - not least due to the proceeds from our IPO - to exploit the major growth potential offered by this market."
www.catoilag.com
Press contact: A&B Financial Dynamics
Dr. Lutz Golsch phone.: +49 (0)69 92037-110 e-mail: l.golsch@abfd.de About C.A.T. oil AG: Austria-based C.A.T. oil AG (O2C, ISIN: AT0000A00Y78) is one of the leading providers of oil- and gasfield services in Russia and Kazakhstan. C.A.T.oils core business is hydraulic fracturing, a process which helps to open up oil- and gas-bearing rock formations in order to increase or even enable oil and gas production. The C.A.T.oil crews use state-of-the-art methods and technologies to generate high pressure in the oil or gas reservoirs concerned. This pressure causes cracks to appear in the rock through which oil or gas can be produced in larger quantities from the production well, and hence efficiently boosts extraction, particularly in the case of deposits that are difficult to develop or low-output wells. In addition, hydraulic fracturing can be used to revitalize wells that have previously been idle.
The Company has its headquarters in Baden near Vienna and employed 2,230 people at the end of 2005, most of whom are based in Russia and Kazakhstan. Customers include leading oil and gas producers such as Gazprom, KazMunaiGaz, LUKOIL, Rosneft, and TNK-BP.
end of announcement euro adhoc 29.08.2006 08:56:28
Further inquiry note:
A&B Financial Dynamics
Dr. Lutz Golsch
phone.: +49 (0)69 92037-110
e-mail: l.golsch@abfd.de
Branche: Oil & Gas - Upstream activities
ISIN: AT0000A00Y78
WKN: A0IKWU
Börsen: Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse / official dealing