KUALA LUMPUR: Sapura Energy Bhd’s share price was lower this morning despite clinching RM1.3bil worth of new jobs.

The oil and gas counter fell 2.9%, or one sen to 33.5 sen. It is the second most actively traded counter, with 49 million shares changing hands.

In total, there were five new contracts worth a combined sum of about RM1.3bil that Sapura Energy had won for its engineering and construction and drilling segments.

The company said the new wins included a submarine rescue service contract for the Royal Australian Navy. And marking its foray into Egypt, the group’s unit Sapura Offshore Sdn Bhd won a subcontract from Pan Marine Petroleum Services Company for the installation of six new subsea pipelines in the Gulf of Suez.

In the drilling segment, Sapura Energy’s unit, Sapura Drilling Asia Sdn Bhd, secured two contracts for the provision of drilling rigs from ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Malaysia Inc and Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd respectively.

PublicInvest Rsearch said the latest win marks the first set of contract wins for FY20, with more expected to come in the ensuing months.

“Our order book replenishment target is RM7bil. We believe this is achievable given its successful track record in CY18 where a total of RM9.3bn worth of contracts were clinched against our initial order book assumption of RM6bil,” it said, adding that tenderbook remained strong at circa RM45.1bil.

“We make no adjustment to our earnings estimates, assuming these contracts as part of our orderbook replenishment target for FY19.

“Our outperform rating is retained on the back of its improving outlook with an unchanged target price of 43 sen,” PublicInvest said.