LONDON, (Reuters) – Oil services firm Petrofac said it was confident of meeting its target for profit growth of at least 15 percent in 2011 after contract wins in Algeria and Iraq boosted its backlog of orders.
Petrofac, which generated around three quarters of its revenues in 2010 from building oil and gas infrastructure in countries such as Oman and Saudi Arabia, said on Friday its operations performed in-line with expectations in the period from January 1 to May 13.
The company, which in March shrugged off the impact of unrest in its key Middle East market, said contract wins in Algeria and Iraq helped its backlog of orders grow to $12.3 billion at the end of April from $11.7 billion at the end of 2010.
“We have made a good start to the year and we are increasingly confident that we will deliver like-for-like net profit growth in 2011 of at least 15 percent,” said chief executive Ayman Asfari in a statement.
“We anticipate group backlog to remain relatively stable over 2011,” he added.
FTSE 100-listed Petrofac also said its training services business experienced a significant improvement in demand across the majority of its geographic markets.
Shares in the company closed at 1,449 pence on Thursday, valuing the company at 5 billion pounds ($8.14 billion).