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Hunting PLC on Thursday raised its interim dividend by 10%, as profit doubled, and it announced new contracts with North Sea oil operators. Shares in the London-based manufacturer of equipment for the energy industry were down 4.3% to 410.44 pence on Thursday morning. Hunting said pretax profit more than doubled to $36.2 million in the six months that ended June 30 from $15.7 million a year before. Revenue grew by 3.3% to $493.8 million from $477.8 million, while cost of sales declined by 1.4%, sending gross profit up 18%. Hunting declared a 5.5 US cents interim dividend, up 10% from 5.0 cents a year before. Diluted earnings per share were 15.5 cents in the first half, up from 6.2 cents a year before. Looking ahead, the company said a ‘record order book’ underpinned continued growth. The sales order book was $699.5 million on June 30, up 32% from $529.7 million a year before. Additionally, Hunting on Thursday said it has won organic oil recovery contracts with ‘major North Sea operators’, which it didn’t name. The work is worth up to $60 million over five years. Hunting’s organic oil recovery technology aims to optimise the reservoir performance of existing wells, improving recoveries with a lower carbon footprint than other enhanced oil recovery methods. Hunting said it is ‘comfortable’ with current market consensus for its 2024 results. Last month, Hunting raised its guidance for full-year earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation to a range of $134 million to $138 million. This will be up at least 30% from $103.0 million in 2023. Ebitda in the first half of 2024 was $60.3 million, up 23% from $49.1 million in 2023. Copyright 2024 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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