French-Canadian drilling contractor Foraco International has ended FY21 with a beefed-up order book of nearly US$429 million after reporting “remarkable” full-year revenue of $269.7m and EBITDA of $43m.
Foraco said $216.5m of its record backlog was scheduled for delivery in 2022.
Fourth-quarter revenue of $68.9m was up 27% on the same time last year, with rig utilisation at 56% compared with 53% in the last three months of 2020.
“2021 is definitely an important milestone in the life of Foraco with all the indicators showing positive,” said Foraco CEO Daniel Simoncini.
“It is worth noting that we largely exceeded the pre-Covid levels of activity both in terms of volume and profitability.”
Revenue and EBITDA in the 2019 pre-COVID fiscal year were $205.4m and $29.3m, respectively.
Foraco CFO Jean-Pierre Charmensat said the company’s net debt was cut by $55.9m during 2021 to $85.7m at the end of 2021.
Simoncini said he was “deeply concerned by the recent events” in Ukraine.
“Although the company does not have any direct or indirect interest in Ukraine, the conflict may affect its activity in the region and the company is currently assessing its potential economic impact,” he said.
“To date, continuity of operations is not affected.”
Foraco’s Toronto Stock Exchange-traded shares (TSX: FAR) are up about 8.5% year-to-date, giving the company a market cap of circa-C$201m.