BHGE upbeat on outlook despite plunging profits

Baker Hughes, a GE company, reported a year-on-year decline in profit despite higher revenues, orders and an active LNG market. 

The company said on Wednesday, its net profit for the first quarter of the year plunged 55 percent to $39 million, while the decline compared to the previous quarter was even bigger at 75 percent.

Compared to the first quarter of 2018, BHGE’s revenue was up 4 percent, reaching $5.6 billion, however, it was still 10 percent below the figures from the previous quarter.

Commenting on the results, Lorenzo Simonelli, BHGE chairman and CEO said, “BHGE delivered a solid first quarter against a backdrop of stabilizing global oil and gas markets.”

He added that the LNG market is very active, however, the speed of recovery varies across markets, but the company is “positioned to benefit from multiple growth drivers.”

“In the first quarter, we booked $5.7 billion in orders, driven by year-over-year growth in three of our four segments. We delivered $5.6 billion in revenue and adjusted operating income in the quarter was $273 million,” said Simonelli.

The company’s Turbomachinery & Process Solutions (TPS) segment saw continued activity in the LNG market, with further progress on several major projects.

“In the first quarter, we secured contract awards to provide turbomachinery equipment for the Golden Pass LNG export facility and BP’s Tortue floating LNG project,” noted Simonelli.

He further added the company has a positive outlook across a number of end markets.

“Strengthening international markets will have the largest positive impact on our business, while operators in North America will continually re-evaluate their spending plans. The next wave of LNG projects will be positive for us, and we continue to see encouraging signs in the offshore market,” he said.