Saipem reports 31% rise in first-quarter core profit, confirms guidance

MILAN (Reuters) -Italian energy contractor Saipem said on Wednesday its first-quarter core earnings jumped 31% year on year driven by the group's offshore engineering and construction activities.

Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) came in at 351 million euros ($398.00 million), beating an analyst consensus of 339 million euros compiled by LSEG.

The Milan-based group, which in February announced plans to merge with Norwegian rival Subsea 7, confirmed its core profit guidance of 1.6 billion euros for this year despite a fall in oil prices and trade tensions between the United States and its commercial partners.

With Brent crude prices below $70 a barrel, analysts say oil and gas majors may reduce capital expenditures and become more selective in the development of upstream projects that require the products and services of energy contractors.

Saipem said in a statement that new contracts it won in the first three months amounted to 2.1 billion euros, slightly up compared with new orders recorded in the same period last year.

U.S. oil service group Halliburton warned on Tuesday of a second-quarter earnings impact from tariffs and lower oilfield activity in North America, sending its shares down about 6%.

($1 = 0.8819 euros)

(Reporting by Francesca Landini, editing by Gavin Jones)