
29 Aug 2025
Hunting : Uncertain outlook, despite solid H1 - Hold
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Hunting : Uncertain outlook, despite solid H1 - Hold
Hunting PLC (HTG:LON) | 328 -18 (-1.6%) | Mkt Cap: 538.4m
- Published:
29 Aug 2025 -
Author:
Joel Spungin, CFA -
Pages:
7 -
Guidance reiterated, despite an uncertain market. We were concerned that Hunting might struggle to maintain its full year EBITDA guidance of $135-145m, given weakening oil & gas prices and the decline in the rig count in Q2. However, a particularly strong performance in OCTG, driven not just by the last tranche of the KOC order, but also by good demand in North America, as well as a material improvement in the profitability of Titan, helped the company deliver a c13% EBITDA margin in H1.
Drivers of H2 profitability will be different. We expect significantly lower OCTG volumes in H2, given most of the KOC contract has now been delivered; however, this will likely be offset by improvements in Subsea and Advanced Manufacturing, both of which had a relatively weak H1. In addition, the acquisition of Flexible Engineered Solutions (FES), which did not contribute to H1, should add c1ppt to revenue at accretive margins.
Risks remain. Management was open that there are still material risks for the balance of the year, although they remain very confident about the longer-term drivers for the business. There has been some deferral of major tenders (including the next tranche from KOC) because of high levels of global uncertainty and the actions of OPEC+. The resilience of the US market has helped offset these headwinds in H1, but there are no guarantees this will continue.
Forecasts & valuation. Our FY25E EBITDA forecast is broadly unchanged, but we raise EPS by c11% for FY25E and FY26E, reflecting lower expected interest expense, tax rate and share count, thanks to the buyback. We raise our TP to 330p, or 10x CY26E PE / 5x EBITDA, which is a small discount to the international peer group.