Energy service group Petrofac this morning announced that net losses widened to £147million last year, compared to a deficit of £144.75million in 2020.
A big chunk of the latest losses follow a Serious Fraud Office (SFO) investigation into bribery in the Middle East.
Petrofac also said today that its revenues slipped to £2.304billion in 2021, as against £3.076billion previously.
The firm’s order backlog fell to £3billion at the end of last year, compared to £3.77billion at the close of 2020.
The group has 8,500 employees worldwide at locations including Aberdeen.
Chief Executive Sami Iskander said: "Our 2021 results demonstrate a resilient performance, thanks to the hard work and perseverance of our people and a renewed focus on service quality, bringing us closer to our clients.
"We continued to manage the challenges of CV19, while delivering our significant cost-reduction targets to enhance our competitiveness.
"Our relatively-mature portfolio has shielded us from the current inflationary environment.
"Significant strategic progress made in 2021 under our plan to rebalance, reshape and rebuild Petrofac saw us resolve the SFO investigation and establish a long-term capital structure for the group. Furthermore, we recently achieved a significant milestone through our reinstatement to the ADNOC (Abu Dhabi National Oil Company) bidding list, which is a major step forward as we look towards rebuilding the backlog.
“We are now in a stronger position, having created the right environment to pursue future growth.
"Looking forward, we are focused on securing the backlog that will deliver profitable growth whilst retaining a strict approach to bidding discipline. While clients continue to prioritise cash preservation over new investments, we expect the increasingly-supportive energy price environment to improve the outlook for awards as the year progresses.
“Market fundamentals are strong in our traditional markets, particularly in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region where Petrofac has a leading position, and in new energies, underpinning the medium-term performance objectives that we are confident will drive significant shareholder value over the coming years."
Last October, the SFO said it had secured the conviction of Petrofac for seven separate counts of failure to prevent bribery between 2011 and 2017.
The company pled guilty to failing to prevent former senior executives of the group from using agents to systematically bribe officials, to win oil contracts in Iraq, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Petrofac admitted that senior executives paid £32million in bribes to corrupt the awarding of contracts worth around £2.6billion.
The company was ordered to pay confiscation of nearly £23million, was fined more than £47million and the SFO's costs of £7million.
The UK's main share index, the FTSE 100, was up 21 points at 7,498 shortly after opening this morning, after finishing yesterday ahead 34 points.
Brent crude futures have risen 0.94% to $116.57 a barrel.
Companies reporting today
Full-year results: Henry Boot, Dignity, Judges Scientific, KRM22, Pendragon, Petrofac, Pittards, Saga, SigmaRoc, Surgical Innovations Group, Ultra Electronics
Trading statement: Halma
Economic announcements
ONS - consumer price inflation data for February