Hunting Shares Tumble After H1 Results Reveal Profit Slide and Middle East Delays

Shares in Hunting PLC (LSE: HTG) slumped as much as 16.6% on Friday, changing hands around 395p, after the London-listed precision engineering group posted weaker first-half results and trimmed its full-year guidance.

The oilfield services and subsea equipment specialist reported revenue of $497.0m for the six months to 30 June 2026, down 6% year-on-year, while EBITDA fell 12% to $62.1m as margins slipped to 12%.

Adjusted profit before tax dropped 21% to $34.5m, and the group swung to a $27.8m free cash outflow from a $66.2m inflow a year earlier, pushing it into a net debt position of $51.4m versus net cash previously.

The decline was largely attributed to the absence of last year’s lucrative Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) orders and softer Advanced Manufacturing activity.

Investors were further unsettled by news that KOC will now re-run its OCTG tender process — originally issued in April — following instability in the Middle East, pushing any new contract recognition into 2027. Hunting cut its 2026 EBITDA guidance to $138-141m, citing a roughly $10m hit from the tender delay.

Elsewhere, the group flagged strength in its Subsea Technologies and Perforating Systems divisions, record international sales, and $63.5m of new titanium stress joint orders for ExxonMobil’s Guyana project. Chief Executive Jim Johnson, who is retiring, said the results demonstrated the benefits of Hunting’s portfolio transformation despite near-term Middle East disruption.

The board nonetheless raised the interim dividend 13% to 7.0 cents per share and reiterated plans for continued annual dividend growth, alongside its ongoing $40m share buyback programme.