Saipem Sticks to Guidance as Q1 Beats Forecasts

Italian oil services group Saipem stuck to its guidance for the year on Wednesday as first-quarter operating profits beat forecasts thanks to growth in its construction business.

 

Saipem, controlled by oil major Eni and state lender fund FSI, said its earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) came in at 179 million euros ($203 million) compared to a Thomson Reuters SmartEstimate of 154 million euros.

 

Saipem CEO Stefano Cao said the group had identified 200 million euros of additional savings and raised its overall target to 1.7 billion euros by 2017.


($1 = 0.8833 euros)

(Reporting by Stephen Jewkes, editing by Isla Binnie)