The French company GTT announced on Thursday that it expects its activity to increase in 2023 thanks to a strong order book, after a decline last year that penalized the net profit.
Results for 2022
In 2022, the company reported a net profit of 128.3 million euros, down 4%, linked to a decrease in revenues. Sales fell by 2.4% to 307.3 million euro. CEO Philippe Berterottière explains this “limited decline” by “an unfavorable base effect”. However, this effect is gradually disappearing thanks to the momentum of orders, which increased sales by 14% year-on-year in the fourth quarter.
According to Mr. Berterottière, it is the “additional needs for LNG carriers” caused by “the continuing strong demand for LNG, particularly in Europe” that have enabled this exceptional commercial performance by GTT. In fact, during the year 2021, more than 200 orders totaling 162 LNG carriers have been placed with GTT.
Targets for 2023: 385 – 430 million euros and between 190 and 235 million euros of EBITDA
430 million for the year 2023 while the operating result (EBITDA) should reach between 190 and 235 million against 161 million (-6.4%) in 2022 and this despite the announced withdrawal from the Russian market whose order book is reduced to 81 million for 15 icebreaking LNG carriers. The finalization of the terms and conditions for the design of the GBS subsea tanks is still in progress while other projects for Asian shipyards for Russian Arctic projects are proceeding normally.
Dividend unchanged at 3.10 euros per share
The Board of Directors is proposing an unchanged dividend for the year compared to the previous dividend of 3.10 euros per share, without taking into account the difficult circumstances since 2020.