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Friday, April 26, 2024 4:46 GMT
Gulf Helicopters Company (GHC), an associate entity of the Qatar Stock Exchange-listed Gulf International Services (GIS), has made inroads into Angola, Oman and South Africa and is hopeful of playing a key role in the international oil and gas aviation services sector. "The international segment affirmed its strategy of penetrating into new territories and expanding its market share away of the domestic market through successfully winning new short term contracts in Angola, Oman and South Africa," a GIS spokesman said, adding the international segment of the GFH reported a 21% growth in revenue compared to the same period last year.Moreover, the Turkish subsidiary, witnessed improved financial performance, amid growth in commercial flying hours. GHC has a 49% equity stake in Turkey's Redstar Havacilik Hizmetleri. "Going forward, the aviation segment will continue to focus on the key international markets, which provide opportunities in oil and gas aviation services sector," the GIS said. GHC is focused on tapping opportunities for its inorganic growth potential across the world. GHC’s recent acquisition of a 49% stake in Air Ocean Maroc is also set to spur growth, as the Moroccan joint venture explores new opportunities in Morocco, Western Africa and Southern Europe. GHC’s another subsidiary is India’s United Helicharters in which it has a 90% stake. It also has a 49% investment in Malta's Gulf Mediterranean Aviation Services.Moreover, the segment is well-positioned to "unlock additional growth" opportunities in Qatar, as increased demand is anticipated from the NFE (North Field Expansion) project which will drive greater exploration activities leading to higher flying hours. Through NFE, Qatar’s LNG production capacity is expected to be raised to 126 million tons per year (tpy) by 2027, representing a huge increase of 64% on the current 77 million tpy. The GIS group's aviation segment – with global footprints extending from Europe, Africa, Middle East and South Asia – had seen more than quadrupling of its net profit in the first nine months of this year, mainly lifted by domestic and overseas segments.The domestic segment was successful in revising contract rates, along with an addition of one new aircraft within the Qatar’s oil and gas operations. This has resulted in an increase in the domestic revenue by 7% compared to same period last year. The aviation segment witnessed strong improvement in terms of financial performance. The year-on-year performance of the segment was aided by strong revenue growth, as the segment maintained margins year-on-year, on the back of consistent operating costs. The aviation segment continued the expansion of its MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul) business, with a new contract won during the year. Although, on an overall basis, the current year’s flying hours were on the lower side compared to that in the last year, due to lowered economic activity since the outbreak of Covid-19, the fixed charges "remained unaffected" and supported the overall revenue growth.