Wednesday, 21 March 2012

Oil & Gas Sector - Transforming into SapuraKencana Overweight


- We recently met up with Kencana Petroleum (Kencana) and came away reaffirmed in our conviction that its merger, likely to be completed before the end of May this year, with SapuraCrest Petroleum (SapCrest) into the new entity SapuraKencana Petroleum (SapuraKencana) will transform the playing field of the industry. We maintain BUYs for both Kencana and SapCrest as their merger will enhance their capabilities in securing larger order prospects and reenergize earnings growth momentum. Besides additional contract newsflow, the group is eager to secure two additional risk-sharing marginal field contract, similar to Berantai in which the merged entity will have a 50% stake.

- The merger will transform Malaysia’s O&G services as the resulting entity will have a dominant 70% market share of offshore installation work with stakes in four derrick lay vessels (excluding five pipelay/derrick vessels under construction), sole tender rig owner/operator with a fleet of 6 units, one of two current marginal field contract concessionaires and one of only two major fabrication yard (the other being Malaysia Marine & Heavy Engineering Holdings) in the country. Other services which provide a complete integrated solution for oil majors include marine services via a fleet of diving/support vessels, survey vessels, remote-operated vessels, accommodation workboats and anchor handling tug supply vessels. 

- SapuraKencana’s order book of RM13.5bil remains the largest in the country, larger than Bumi Armada’s RM10bil which includes RM3bil renewable options. With a yard utilisation of only 50% currently, Kencana’s order book is still set to grow with a tender book of RM5-6bil of which over 55% stems from Australia’s huge offshore gas fields and the rest from Malaysia. Additionally, both SapCrest and Kencana are jointly bidding for over RM1bil tenders for engineering, procurement, construction, installation and commissioning (EPCIC) projects in Southern China. 

- SapuraKencana’s potential market capitalisation of over RM10bil rivals Bumi Armada and will likely lead to its inclusion in theFBMKLCI and MSCI indices. As foreign institutional funds are still in the low teens for the two companies, the inclusion in themajor indices will naturally likely retain the group’s premium valuations of over 20x despite a proforma net gearing of 0.4x (compared to 0.5x for Bumi Armada). We expect its net gearing to be manageable at 0.3x-0.5x despite the US$1.5bil capital expenditure programme for both SapCrest and Kencana as the spending will be progressive over the next three years while Seadrill will bear half of SapCrest’s commitment to build three flexible pipelaying support vessels in Brazil. 

- We have upgraded Kencana’s FY12F-FY14F net profit by 11%-15% by incorporating the contributions of Allied Marine & Equipment, which was acquired in July last year. We have also raised SapCrest’s FY12F-FY14F earnings by 7%-11%, largely due to the turnaround in the group’s marine operations which have been suffering losses until 3QFY11.

- The higher earnings forecasts translate to a 15% increase in our fair value to RM2.68/share (from RM2.43/share previously) for SapuraKencana, which is still pegged to an unchanged CY12F PE of 22x, at parity to Kencana’s 2007 peak (See our report dated 12 July 2011). This translates to the raising of our fair value for Kencana to RM3.86/share (from RM3.54/share earlier) and SapCrest to RM5.94/share (from RM5.44/share earlier). But our top pick remains MMHE - a laggard with muted expectations - but expected to surprise on fresh order newsflows.   

Source: AmeSecurities

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