Saipem announces 31% increase in core profit for the first quarter, and confirms its guidance

Saipem, an Italian energy contractor, said that its core earnings for the first quarter of 2013 increased 31% compared to last year due to the group's offshore engineering & construction activities.

The adjusted earnings before interest taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA), came in at $398.00 million, beating the analyst consensus of 339 millions euros compiled by LSEG.

The Milan-based company, which announced in February plans to merge its Norwegian competitor Subsea 7 with its own group, confirmed its core profit forecast of 1.6 billion euro for this year. This is despite the fall in oil prices as well as trade tensions between America and its trading partners.

Analysts say that with Brent crude below $70 per barrel, oil and gas companies may reduce their capital expenditures. They will also be more selective when developing upstream projects which require energy contractors' products and services.

Saipem announced in a press release that the new contracts won by the company in the first quarter amounted to approximately 2.1 billion Euros, a slight increase compared to the new orders recorded during the same period of last year.

Halliburton, a U.S. oil services group, warned Tuesday that tariffs and reduced oilfield activity in North America would have an impact on its second-quarter earnings. This sent the company's shares down by about 6%. ($1 = 0.8819 euro) (Reporting and editing by Gavin Jones, Francesca Landini)

(source: Reuters)