Schoeller-Bleckmann Oilfield Equipment AG: Annual General Meeting resolves to adopt dividend payment of EUR 0.75 per share – Further capacity adjustments to substantially changed market environment – Bookings sharply declining
Ternitz/Vienna, 30 April 2009. This year’s Annual General Meeting of Schoeller-Bleckmann Oilfield Equipment AG (SBO), listed on the ATX segment of the Vienna Stock Exchange, adopted all items on the agenda by a large majority. Shareholders agreed to a dividend distribution of EUR 0.75 per share (2007: EUR 1.10) suggested by the Executive Board for fiscal 2008. The ex-dividend day and dividend payment date were set at 14 May 2009. The Executive Board and Supervisory Board were given formal approval of their actions. Ernst & Young Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft m.b.H. were appointed as group auditors for the current fiscal year.
At the Annual General Meeting, the Executive Board gave an overview of the current market environment in the oilfield service industry. Demand for oil is on the decline, the oil price remains at a low level. According to recently revised IEA forecasts, oil consumption in full 2009 will drop to an average of only 83.4 million barrels a day (2008: 85.8 million barrels a day). Consequently, international oil companies postpone their spending for exploring new oil reservoirs to a later date.
This development has left its marks also on SBO. The number of bookings received in the first months of the current fiscal year was extremely low. As further economic development remains highly uncertain many customers of SBO reduce their inventories and hesitate to place orders. In the wake of sharply declining drilling activities following plummeting demand for oil and oil prices, negotiations with customers on delivery postponements, order cancellations and price adjustments have started. As a result, SBO will verify with particular caution the order backlog in the first quarter for its validity. Nonetheless, the current order backlog secures basic capacity utilisation for the large part of 2009.
The Executive Board announced further flexible adjustments of production capacities. In addition to already reduced manufacturing hours at all production sites, further workforce adjustments will be made in the coming weeks. Their actual extent will depend on the development of bookings in the second quarter.
Moreover, a programme to achieve annual costs savings in the double-digit million Euro range is being implemented. SBO is constantly conducting intensive negotiations with key customers to optimize the order situation for both sides.
Schoeller-Bleckmann Oilfield Equipment AG is the global market leader in high-precision components for the oilfield service industry. The business focus is on non-magnetic drillstring components for directional drilling. SBO employs a workforce of 1394 worldwide (31 December 2007: 1222), 409 in Ternitz/Austria and in 638 in North America (including Mexico).
Further inquiry note:
Gernot Bauer, Head of Investor Relations
Schoeller-Bleckmann Oilfield Equipment AG
A-2630 Ternitz, Hauptstraße 2
Tel: +43 2630/315 ext 250, fax: ext 101
e-mail: g.bauer@sbo.co.at
Mick Stempel, Martin Keitel / Hochegger|Financials
Tel: +43 1/504 69 87 0
e-mail: m.stempel@hochegger.com / m.keitel@hochegger.com
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