EANS-Adhoc: Adhoc Release pursuant § 15 WpHG: C.A.T. oil AG releases preliminary unaudited financial results for fiscal year 2008
ad-hoc disclosure pursuant to section 15 of the WpHG transmitted by euro adhoc with the aim of a Europe-wide distribution. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
annual report/Preliminary results fiscal year 2008
17.04.2009
Vienna, April 17, 2009 - C.A.T. oil AG (O2C, ISIN: AT0000A00Y78), one of the leading providers of oil and gasfield services in Russia and Kazakhstan, today released preliminary unaudited financial results for fiscal year 2008. The Company attained a 24% growth in revenues to approximately EUR 276 million (2007: EUR 222.6 million) and thus slightly outperformed its revenue target of EUR 270 million which had been revised on November 28, 2008. The increase in revenues reflected a strong demand for C.A.T. oil´s core services, hydraulic fracturing and sidetrack drilling, despite the global economic slow-down and a steep downturn in energy prices in the second half 2008. By offering integrated and reliable services and by deploying its new operating capacities successfully, C.A.T. oil managed to meet customers´ growing demands amid the challenging market conditions.
C.A.T. oil´s strong sales, however, were offset by a combination of downward pressures on prices for the Company´s hydraulic fracturing services as well as an upward pressure on the Company´s operating costs, in particular employee costs and expenses for fuel and transportation. C.A.T.oil´s preliminary EBITDA amounted to approximately EUR 47 million (2007: EUR 49.7 million).
C.A.T. oil´s preliminary net profit was approximately EUR 2 million (2007: EUR 22.7 million). The decline in net profit in 2008 over the 2007 level was mainly caused by a steep rise in depreciation, material unrealized foreign exchange losses due to the Russian rouble devaluation relative to the euro, one-off fi-nancial losses related to the impairment of fair value of long-term investments and a substantially higher effective tax rate.
The Company´s cash flow from operating activities was approximately EUR 25 million in 2008 compared to EUR 21.1 million in 2007. Cash flow from investing activities declined to approximately EUR 48 million during the reporting period from EUR 89.4 million a year ago on lower capital expenditures. Cash flow from financing activities increased to approximately EUR 28 million (2007: EUR 8.0 million). The increase in cash flow from financing activities was mainly due to a draw down of EUR 30 million from a three-year EUR 50 million committed credit line.
C.A.T oil´s financial situation in fiscal year 2008 continued to remain solid: Cash and cash equivalents stood at approximately EUR 14 million at 31 December 2008 (31 December 2007: 15.0 million). C.A.T. oil´s equity ratio remained at a strong level and was above 70% (2007: 82.3%).
C.A.T. oil will present its full and audited results for fiscal year 2008 on Thursday, 30 April 2009.
C.A.T. oil AG Kaerntner Ring 11-13 A-1010 Vienna Austria Ticker symbol: O2C ISIN: AT0000A00Y78 Common Code: 025162498 Listing: Official Market / Prime Standard, Frankfurt Stock Exchange www.catoilag.com
End of Adhoc Release
Additional information:
In the particularly challenging market environment characterized by a lower demand for oil and reduced oil prices efficient deployment services become even more important for oil producers. Due to its strong operative track record and its reliable and efficient service performance C.A.T. oil has continued its successful order book filling for 2009. By the first quarter 2009 the Company had filled about 80% of its 2009 order book with orders. C.A.T oil has thus strengthened its customer relationships and maintained its competitive market position.
Additional information on C.A.T. oil´s operative business in 2009 will be pre-sented as part of the presentation of the Company´s Results for fiscal year 2008 on Thursday April 30, 2009.
Press contact:
A&B Financial Dynamics Carolin Amann Tel.: +49 (0)69 92037-132 Email: c.amann@abfd.de
Lucie Kimmich Tel.: +49 (0)69 92037-183 Email: l.kimmich@abfd.de
Retail Investor´s contact:
C.A.T. oil AG Herbert Doile Tel. +49 (0)421 79282860 Email: herbert.doile@catoilag.com
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 and is listed in the Prime Standard of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. One of C.A.T. oil´s core businesses 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. Hydraulic fracturing is a method 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 which have previ-ously been idle. Since its IPO in 2006 C.A.T. oil has also increasingly invested in sidetrack drilling and thus built up a second core business. Sidetrack drilling is a method which uses an already existing well-bore to create another one and is used to either avoid irreparable damages of the wellbore or the equipment or to reach further parts of the reservoir. Over the past few years demand for the high-margin sidetrack drilling service has continuously increased. The method allows to effi-ciently build up additional production capacities and to further exploit the potential of a well. In the field of sidetrack drilling, C.A.T. oil is already number 2 in Russia. The Company has its headquarters in Vienna and employed an average of 3,621 people by the end of 2008, 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. C.A.T. oil has been a member of the SDax since September 18, 2006.
end of announcement euro adhoc
Further inquiry note:
Lucie Kimmich
Tel.: +49 (69) 920 37-183
E-Mail: l.kimmich@abfd.de
Branche: Oil & Gas - Upstream activities
ISIN: AT0000A00Y78
WKN: A0IKWU
Index: SDAX, Classic All Share, Prime All Share
Börsen: Börse Frankfurt / regulated dealing/prime standard