KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 1 — Sapura Energy Bhd emerged as one of the most actively traded stocks on Bursa Malaysia in the early session today, as the group announced that it had secured contracts worth RM2.64 billion.
At 10.31am, the counter saw 100.67 million shares changing hands, although the shares eased half-a-sen to 11 sen.
In a filing with Bursa Malaysia yesterday, the group said the contracts were for works in Australia and Brazil.
Meanwhile, Kenanga Research said Sapura Energy is faced with project execution delays, primarily in Taiwan and India due to the current impact of the pandemic on its operations,
“This is further exacerbated by liquidity concerns with the group’s vendors and clients, further hampering its job execution ability.
“Management is expecting these challenges to continue to persist throughout the second half of 2022.
“Additionally, during the second quarter of financial year 2022 (Q2 2022), all of its long-term debt was reclassified into short-term debt — amounting to RM10.9 billion — due to breach of financial covenants.
“Its net-gearing ballooned to 1.3 times during the quarter, from 1.1 times in Q2 2021,” it said in a research note today.
It noted that Sapura Energy is hopeful of receiving a waiver from lenders for the breach, which will see the borrowings reclassified as long-term debt in the coming quarter. — Bernama
