At a time when many oil and gas companies have closed shop, Sapura Energy Berhad however has bucked the trend and continues to stand tall.
AT a time when crude oil prices are challenging, Sapura however continues to clinch contracts one after another compared with its peers which are struggling just to remain afloat.
Malaysia too has been scrapping or postponing projects such as the East Coast Rail Link and the high speed bullet train project to Singapore. But not Sapura who on the converse is soaring and consolidating its growing clout and reputation.
All this can be attributed to the dynamic leadership of its President and Chief Executive Officer Tan Sri Shahril Shamsuddin who has defied the odds and continues to steer the company with a steely determination.
It is no secret that Sapura aims to be one of the world’s top five oil and gas companies in the world and Shahril is determined to make the aspiration a reality.
“Many have lost confidence in the firm but Shahril refused to back down and soldiered on as he had faith in the company and confident that he will turn it around,” said an analyst at Maybank Investment Bhd.
And true enough, the company surprised the market and analysts when it rebounded to make a net profit of RM208 million for the full financial year ended January 2019 against a staggering net loss of RM2.5 billion in 2018.
This is no mean feat against the backdrop of challenging crude oil prices and shrinking contracts. Even the giant oil major Murphy Oil Corp left Malaysia last week selling its stake to Thailand’s PTT Exploration and Production Public Co Ltd for RM8.6 billion.
But Sapura continues to persevere and trudge forwad ignoring all the doomsayers confident that the oil and gas sector will be rejuvenated in the future.
Sapura is determined to be a major global player and in Malaysia, Sapura is second only to Petronas. Sapura shares have also been sizzling consistently for the past few weeks stamping its mark either among the most active stocks or among the top gainers.
Malaysian Association of Technical Analysts adviser Nazarry Rosli told an English daily recently that Sapura shares are back into the radar screens of investors because of the potential improvement in the future profitability of the company as well as better earnings growth due to more projects in the pipeline.
“Oil and gas stocks still have an upside potential due to the uptrend movement of world crude oil prices,” said Nazarry recently.
Sapura is also wary that it has to forge alliances to expand such as its partnership with Austria OMV AG and it also has the solid backing of Permodalan Nasional Bhd which supported its cash call to raise RM4 billion.
And now, with a warchest of RM8 billion, there is now way for Sapura to go but march forward. Sapura’s prospects are bright as it has a total of RM18 billion orderbook under its belt and its net gearing has also dwindled to 0.6 times.
“This provides the company with the financial flexibility for the group to bid and execute higher value projects. Sapura will remain focused on grow its order book as well as delivering strong operational performance,” Shahril said in a statement on Monday while unveiling its 2018 financial results.
Let’s not forget that more goodies are in store as Sapura is one of the contenders set to clinch one of the long term agreements with Saudi Aramco which has the world’s biggest oil reserve. With operations spanning from New Zealand all the way to Mexico, Sapura is set to return as Asia’s largest provider of oil and gas services by market capitalisation.
Sapura is on its way to become one of the world’s top five oil and gas services provider elevating Malaysia’s name higher and higher. Sapura has made Malaysia proud and it will continue to beam the country as it expands to more than 20 countries around the world.
