At the general meeting of shareholders of Technip-Coflexip held on June 20, 2002, all 17 resolutions proposed by the Management Board were approved. The shareholders approved a dividend of €3.30 per share (to which is attached the tax credit of €1.65 per share) to be paid on June 28, 2002.
The shareholders also approved the merger of ISIS into Technip-Coflexip, which already owned 99.09 percent of ISIS. Shareholders of ISIS (apart from Technip-Coflexip) will receive 11 shares of Technip-Coflexip for each 10 shares of ISIS. The effective payout date for the share exchange is June 20, 2002. Consequently, ISIS shareholders will receive the dividend noted above.
Chairman of the Management Board Valot noted that the company is working on improving its earnings forecasting procedures in order to enable management to communicate with the market more promptly. With respect to the outlook for 2002, Valot noted that EBITDA for the second quarter of 2002 would be stronger than that of the first quarter of 2002, but not as strong as second quarter 2001 pro forma EBITDA, which was particularly high.
Recalling that the company's backlog at March 31, 2002, reached a record high at €5.5 billion, or 14 months of revenue, Valot also pointed out that, in addition to the backlog, the company has one billion euro in "pre- backlog" (signed contracts awaiting entry into force).
The Chairman of the Management Board also noted that the accessible market for Technip-Coflexip has continued to expand especially with respect to projects for large deepwater floaters, since the company is now very often pre-qualified by operators to tender for such projects in Brazil and West Africa.
These potential revenue synergies will be complemented with cost synergies, (on procurement, information technology, fixed costs and tendering costs) a portion of which will be achieved in 2003 given the delays in the start-up of several large projects.
Also announced was the program to dispose of non-strategic assets, valued at over €100 million, during the coming 12 months. The corporate offices of the former Coflexip will figure among these disposals.
With a workforce of about 18,000 and annual revenues of about five billion euros, Technip-Coflexip ranks among the top five in the field of oil and petrochemical engineering, construction and services. Headquartered in Paris, the Group is listed in New York and in Paris.
The main engineering and business centers of Technip-Coflexip are located in France, Italy, Germany, the UK, Norway, Finland, the Netherlands, the United States, Brazil, Abu-Dhabi, China, India, Malaysia and Australia. The Group has high-quality industrial and construction facilities in France, Brazil, the UK, the USA, and Finland as well as a fleet of offshore construction vessels. — (menareport.com)
© 2002 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
