Saipem, Italy's Saipem, lowers its earnings forecast for 2026 due to the Middle East crisis
Saipem, an Italian oil and gas contractor, revised its expectations for core earnings in 2026 to take into account additional costs relating to the Middle East crisis.
Saipem said that the recent sale of its shallow water drilling business had also affected the estimate for full year.
The Milan-based company now expects to earn adjusted earnings before taxes, depreciation and amortisation this year of EUR1.75 billion ($1.9 billion), down from an earlier estimate of EUR1.9billion.
The company stated that it had included in its new forecast both extra costs already incurred as a result of the conflict in the Middle East, and an estimation?of future expenditures which could affect the second half of this year.
In a recent statement, Saipem said that the recoverability of extra costs is not quantifiable at this time. It depends on the outcome of discussions with clients.
The group, which counts Saudi Aramco and QatarEnergy as well as Abu Dhabi's ADNOC among its clients, spent about EUR70 million in the first half to improve security for its employees and overcome logistical problems due to the war with Iran.
It confirmed an earlier forecast of EUR1 billion for its operating cash flow for the full year.
The 'group's adjusted EBITDA?fell by nearly 3% to EUR402million in the second quarter, falling short of LSEG's analyst consensus estimate of EUR464million. ($1 = 0.8792 euro) (Reporting and editing by Gavin Jones, Francesca Landini)
(source: Reuters)
