UMW Oil & Gas expects to be ebitda positive by middle of October

KUALA LUMPUR: UMW Oil & Gas Bhd (UMW-OG), whose mega merger deal lapsed early this month, is expected to be cash flow and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) positive after the completion of its rights issue by the middle of October, said president Rohaizad Darus.
This will also be supported by the group's 100% utilisation rate following the latest award of two contracts from Petronas Carigali announced this morning for its two jack-up drilling rigs - UMW Naga 3 and 4 with a total value of US$34.81 million (RM151.08 million).
However, speaking at a press conference after UMW-OG's AGM here today, Rohaizad said it is still difficult to forecast when the group could return the black given the suppressed daily charter rate.
UMW-OG incurred a widened net loss of RM1.18 billion in 2016 versus RM368 million in 2015.