Technip has flagged up a slow start in the first quarter of 2014 for the subsea sector, although the picture will brighten considerably over the remainder of the year and into 2015.

The French contractor unveiled its forecasts for its subsea and onshore/offshore segments for 2014 and 2015, saying it continues to see good near- and medium-term opportunities to win new projects. Focusing on subsea, it began by saying it expects 2014 revenue of between €4.35 billion and €4.75 billion and – after a slow start in the first quarter 2014 – a robust margin performance from the second quarter 2014 onwards.

“Technip targets, in particular, strong revenue growth on higher margins in 2015 for Subsea revenue well above €5 billion and operating margins between 15% and 17%,” it stated.

In 2014 it said that before a “substantial improvement from the second quarter onwards”, subsea operating margins would be “exceptionally low” in the first quarter 2014 at around 5% on similar revenues to the first quarter of 2013.

The last three quarters of the year, however, will all show substantially better margins, with normal seasonality. “The margin performance from the second quarter 2014 onwards will prepare for strong growth in 2015. At this point, we target 2015 subsea revenue to be well above €5 billion and 2015 subsea operating margins between 15% and 17%,” it stated.

Thierry Pilenko, Technip’s Chairman and CEO, pointed out that the company’s order backlog currently stands at a record level, while opportunities for new project awards near- and medium-term continue to be widespread.