Topaz's net profit for 2009 rises 38% to hit $65m

Topaz Energy and Marine yesterday announced that it earned a revenue of $448 million (Dh1,645m), an increase of seven per cent compared to the previous year.

The company's net profit stood at $65m demonstrating year on year growth of 38 per cent. The growth in these difficult times clearly demonstrates a resilience that sets Topaz apart said Fazel A Fazelbhoy, CEO of Topaz Energy and Marine, one of the leading oil and gas, focused marine services and engineering companies.

In 2009, Topaz achieved record results for the ninth consecutive year and brought its total asset base on the balance sheet to $874m while maintaining a comfortable gearing ratio of 0.89, confirming the company's strong capital structure.

"This is an outstanding achievement in a volatile economic climate and reflects the inherent strengths of our business. Facing great adversity, we have demonstrated our business to be one that grows shareholder value in a measured and responsible fashion in any economic cycle. Topaz's recession resilience is a result of a considered blend of long and short-term contracts, exposure to geographies of strategic importance to global energy markets and our refusal to jump on the bandwagon of speculative vessel new-buildings at the peak of the market," said Fazelbhoy.

With global exploration and production spend projected to rise by approximately 10 per cent in 2010, the company expects this year to present a visibly firmer market but still with continued weakness in the first six months.

The company operates through two business divisions – Topaz Engineering, that provides marine and energy engineering services and Topaz Marine, an offshore support vessel owner and operator with more than 100 vessels serving the oil and gas industry exclusively.

With oil prices having stabilised, Topaz said it sees strong growth prospects for 2011 and beyond. This optimism arises from the firm's view that major investments will have to be made by global and national oil companies in offshore E&P and general hydrocarbon infrastructure, not only to replace the ageing infrastructure but also to keep pace with the growing energy demand driven principally by China and India. Topaz is well placed to capitalise upon this development and its strategic plan includes investments in modern assets in the growing offshore support vessel sector.