A decidedly growing 2022 for Saipem which, presenting the accounts for the first nine months of the year, shows a continuation of the improvement in performance both compared to the first nine months of 2021 and compared to the second quarter of 2022, with revenues and margins growing double figure. The industrial plan presented in March was “more than confirmed” by the results achieved during the period and will remain so “in all its main guidelines”, announces the group’s CEO, Alessandro Puliti. In the first nine months of the year, the Group achieved revenues of 7,441 million euros, including revenues from discontinued operations, and registering + 47% compared to the first nine months of 2021. Revenues from continuing operations amounted to 7,043 million euros (+ 46%), while the adjusted Ebitda amounted to 536 million euros including discontinued operations, equal to 7.2% of revenues, compared to a loss of 291 million euros in the first nine months of 2021. Adjusted Ebitda from continuing operations amounted to € 445 million, or 6.3% of revenues. As for the net result, the loss dropped to 138 million euros compared to 1,121 million euros in the first nine months of 2021. The numbers for the third quarter of 2022 recorded revenues of 3,006 million euros, up 21% compared to the second quarter and an adjusted EBITDA of 215 million euros, + 22% compared to the second quarter. In the first nine months of 2022, orders of € 8.6 billion were placed, in addition to around € 4.6 billion acquired in October, for a total of over € 13 billion. About 70% of the acquisitions were made in offshore businesses. The total order backlog thus rises to € 22,707 million including discontinued operations and € 23,252 million including the order backlog of unconsolidated companies. If we consider the order backlog of continuing operations, the backlog amounts to 20,937 million euros (21,482 million euros including the order backlog of non-consolidated companies). The total amount of the order backlog of unconsolidated companies was reduced, during the third quarter, by a total of 800 million euros following the cancellation of the activities that fall within the scope of sanctions, by the European Union, against of the Russian Federation. For 2022, Saipem has revised the guidance, which does not include Onshore Drilling. Revenues are expected to exceed € 9 billion, while adjusted EBITDA will be over € 550 million. The new guidance also provides for net financial debt post IFRS-16 at the end of the year of approximately € 300 million, including the collection of the sale of the Onshore Drilling. These results exceeded the estimates of the Bloomberg consensus: “We had an excellent third quarter of the year, a positive quarter that improved significantly and with the equally positive prospect of a very important order acquisition focused on the offshore sector, which gives us the best margins, “says Puliti. The industrial plan presented in March is “more than confirmed by the results we achieved in the first 9 months of the year and I would say that it remains confirmed in all its main guidelines. even in advance of certain results “. To achieve these results, says the manager, Saipem “squared around its core competencies, its DNA and its key resources”, but “the help received from Eni and Cdp shareholders was also” fundamental “. we have put our own and Eni and Cdp have put a lot of theirs into it. The combination of these two factors is what has allowed us to reach these results “. ‘commitment in Mozambique: “We work for the Lng plant on the ground for the customer Total and we have been informed that the customer will make a decision regarding the restart of the project in the first three months of 2023, when he will have been able to verify that there are the necessary safety conditions “. Furthermore “Saipem is fully qualified and has such a history that if we are required we will be able to build further new regasification units in Italy”. The Livorno regasification terminal, for example, “was designed and built by Saipem” and therefore “our ability is evident”. To confirm this, the CEO recalls the current completion of a “very important” regasification terminal in Thailand. Above all, remarks Puliti, “we are equipped for supply diversification” and therefore “we can basically work everywhere. Already today Saipem works in about 70 countries around the world, we are able to serve our customers in every location in the world”. “Of course. – the manager stresses again – we have our own focus and geographies where we are best positioned “. Therefore, “if we want to define our geographical focus, we must certainly list areas such as West Africa and North Africa, the Middle East, Northern Europe and the Americas and I would not forget East Africa too, where we are present in Mozambique. . These are the most important areas. ” And there is also the challenge of wind power: “We are recording good progress on the execution of the projects in order, all essentially located in France and the United Kingdom – says Puliti -. There has been an acceleration of our execution capacity which had undergone a series of problems in 2021, which then led to the revision of the orders “. In any case, he concludes, “we have put the operational machine back on the right track and it is a point on which we will capitalize in the future, because we are gaining an enviable experience on many types of installations, which in the future will be a strong point for our competitiveness when we will participate in new tenders for this type of installations “.
