Halliburton misses profit estimate, buyback target as cyber attack hurts
Adds details on results from call, updates shares
By Arunima Kumar
Nov 7 (Reuters) -Halliburton HAL.N's third-quarter profit missed Wall Street estimate on a previously disclosed cyber hack that forced the oilfield services provider to pause a share repurchase program, executives said on Thursday.
The company's shares fell 5.3% to $28.87 in late-morning trade on the miss and a tepid outlook for next year.
Halliburton in August disclosedan unauthorized third-partyaccessed and removed data from its systems, causingdisruptions and limited access to portions of its business applications.
Reuters was the first to report on the incident.
The attack "had an impact on our free cash flow during the quarter due to delayed billing and collections and caused us to pause our share repurchase program," Halliburton CEO Jeff Miller said on a post-earnings call.
Halliburton plans to catch up on uncollected receivables and the share buybacks in the current quarter, CFO Eric Carre said on the call. It spent less than $200 million on share buybacks in the third quarter, down from a prior $250 million per-quarter target.
The company recorded a pre-tax charge of $35 million in the quarter linked to expenses from the attack and weather disruptions in its Gulf of Mexico operations. The charge reduced its adjusted profit by 2 cents per share.
The Houston-based firm posted an adjusted profit of 73 cents per share for the three months ended Sept. 30, missing analysts' average estimate of 75 cents, according to data compiled by LSEG.
Halliburton's North America revenue fell 8.5% to $2.39 billion.
The decline was primarily driven by decreased pressure pumping services in U.S. land, in addition to lower activity across product service lines in the Gulf of Mexico partly due to hurricanes Francine and Helene.
Halliburton expects full-year North America revenue to decline at the low end of its prior outlook. It had earlier expected North America revenue to decline 6% to 8% for the year.
Exploration and drilling in international markets such as the Middle East and Asia have driven increased demand for oilfield services, as producers seek to secure new oil and gas deposits.
Miller said he expects "outsized" international growth in 2025 and beyond, but cautioned that the industry has been in a downturn for 18 months.
Customers "are clearly planning to work, but they're also planning to be more efficient and improve recovery at the same time," he noted.
Halliburton's rivals, Baker Hughes BKR.O and SLB SLB.N, posted third-quarter profit beat on sustained demand from international markets.
Reporting by Arunima Kumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila and Maju Samuel
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