ABERDEENSHIRE pipeline technology specialist STATS (UK) Ltd saw revenues drop 10% from £43.4 million to £39.1 million last year according to its annual accounts for 2019.
The group’s pre-tax profits for 2019 were £0.2 million compared to £2.5 million in 2018, while EBITDA earnings decreased from £7.6 million in 2018 to £5.6 million.
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However, despite the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the fall in the price of oil, STATS chief executive officer, Leigh Howarth, said he was confident its 2020 performance and activity levels would be broadly consistent with those of 2019.
Based in Kintore STATS principal activity is the provision of pressurised pipeline isolation, hot tapping and plugging services to the global oil, gas, and petrochemical industries.
Milestone achievements in 2019 included increasing its market presence in the US where revenues grew by 176% on the previous year, completing a major isolation campaign in Malaysia, and progress on long term contracts in the Norwegian North Sea and Nigeria.
The company’s success in recent years of internationalising its business continued, with 85% of revenues derived from projects executed outside of the UK, a rise of 5% on 2018.
Relocating to larger facilities in Canada had allowed the ramping up of the in-house design and manufacture of pipeline fittings to North American clients, while a move to larger premises in the United Arab Emirates and the opening of a new operational site in Oman had strengthened STATS presence in the Middle East.
In addition, a Memorandum of Understanding with Sakhalin Energy Investment Company and INTRA was signed in 2019 for a long-term frame agreement covering isolation works in Russia.
Mr Howarth, said: “As Covid-19 evolved into a global pandemic during the early part of 2020, this had an impact on our trading performance.
“Not surprisingly, several significant contracts which had been a long time in planning were postponed by our clients until later this year or 2021, but on the positive side, there is a healthy programme of work ahead of us.
“As a result, and notwithstanding the impact of Covid-19 and the resulting lower demand for oil and the subsequent drop in price, we are optimistic that activity levels in 2020 will be broadly consistent with those of 2019.”
