Hunting sees profit jump by half, opens door to acquisitions

(Sharecast News) - Hunting saw its full-year profits jump by half, saw its free cash flow swing sharply back into the black and opened the door to potential acquisitions. "I would like to thank our workforce and senior leadership team for delivering a further year of revenue, EBITDA and adjusted earnings growth, despite the volatile energy markets reported in 2024," chief executive officer Jim Johnson told investors.

"Hunting continues to deliver on its 2030 strategic objectives, supported by strong offshore and international markets. Our cash generation in the year has also been outstanding, and we now look to deploy this to acquisitive growth and investments to enhance productivity and stronger dividend distributions."

The equipment manufacturer for the global oil and gas industry reported a 12.8% jump in revenues to reach approximately $1.05bn.

That resulted in a 51.2% jump in its adjusted profit before tax to reach $75.6m and a similar improvement in earnings per share to US 31.4 cents.

Free cash flow meanwhile swung from -$0.8m in 2023 to $104.7m and its return on capital employed rose by three percentage points to 9%.

Total cash and bank deposits at period end stood at $104.7m, having finished the previous year at -$800,000.

The final dividend proposed by the company's board was increased by US 1 cent to 6 cents.

As of 1215 BST, shares of Hunting had fallen by 8.79% to 280.0p.