UK-based pipeline technology specialist STATS is expecting a steady revenue growth for 2020 despite the Covid-19 impact mainly due to its string of contract wins in the core Middle East markets of UAE, Oman, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
The UK group's milestone achievements in 2019 included completing a key project in Saudi Arabia utilising the company’s patented BISEP technology, establishing an operational facility in Muscat to support work with Petroleum Development Oman, and successfully delivering a technically challenging large-diameter isolation project in Qatar.
Despite the impact low oil and Covid, STATS said it was confident its 2020 performance and activity levels would be broadly consistent with those of 2019.
STATS said had generated revenues of £39.1 million ($51.5 million) and Ebitda earnings of £5.6 million ($7.3 million) according to its annual accounts as of December 31, 2019.
Based in Kintore, near Aberdeen, UK, STATS’ principal activity is the provision of pressurised pipeline isolation, hot tapping and plugging services to the global oil, gas and petrochemical industries.
It had also completed subsea hot tapping workscopes in the UAE and in Egypt, and towards the end of 2019, its Abu Dhabi branch moved to new larger facilities.
While revenues dropped by 10%, down from £43.4 million, the accounts noted that the largest ever contract completed by STATS, for a major Abu Dhabi client, had made a significant contribution to its 2018 results.
The company’s success in recent years of internationalising its business continued, with 85% of revenues derived from projects executed outside of the UK, a rise of 5% on 2018.
STATS Group CEO Leigh Howarth said: "As Covid-19 evolved into a global pandemic in the early part of 2020, this had an impact on our trading performance."
"Not surprisingly, several significant contracts which had been a long time in planning were postponed by our clients until later this year or 2021 but on the positive side there is a healthy programme of work ahead of us," he stated.
Elsewhere, STATS increased its market presence in the US where revenues grew by 176% on the previous year, and relocated to larger facilities in Canada which allowed the ramping up of the in-house design and manufacture of pipeline fittings for North American clients.
