By Stephanie Hamel
(Reuters) - Dutch oil and gas services company SBM Offshore on Thursday reported a 38% jump in annual revenue, driven by the sale of its floating production, storage and offloading vessel (FPSO) Liza Unity to ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM) in November.
The company, which leases, operates, builds and sells FPSO vessels to produce and transport crude and gas, generated record-high revenue of $4.53 billion last year, compared with $3.29 billion in 2022.
That was slightly ahead of its $4.4 billion forecast from November.
SBM Offshore's shares were 2.3% higher at 13.17 euros ($14.27) at 1134 GMT.
The Amsterdam-based company said it expects directional revenue of $3.5 billion for 2024, with around $1.3 billion from its turnkey business, which builds and sells the FPSO vessels.
"We have a positive outlook on the market given the economics and low emission qualities of deepwater resources," CEO Bruno Chabas said.
Analysts were expecting a directional revenue of $3.16 billion for 2024, a company-compiled consensus showed.
SBM Offshore calculates its results using a method of "directional reporting" that records payments made during the construction phase and prior to a lease's execution as revenue.
The group attributed the strong performance last year to its turnkey business, as revenues from turnkey supply contracts and after-sales services rose by 69% in 2023, mainly due to the Liza Unity sale.
The start of work on FPSO vessel Jaguar and "additional variation orders" on FPSO vessel Prosperity - also in Guyana - further boosted annual turnkey revenue, it said.
Degroof Petercam said in a research note that it sees good opportunities for more FPSO contracts.
It said the guidance showed SBM Offshore can continue to generate "very healthy" core earnings even without a contribution from sales of vessels like the Liza Unity.
The group's directional core profit increased by 31% to $1.31 billion in 2023, in line with its earlier guidance.
($1 = 0.9231 euros)