Bourbon 2007 Profits Top Forecasts, Shares Rise

By Benjamin Mallet and Marie Maitre

PARIS (Reuters) - Bourbon (GPBN.PA: Quote, Profile, Research), a French supplier of service ships to the offshore oil industry said 2007 net profit more than doubled, buoyed by capital gains on disposals and strong investments from oil and gas groups.

Bourbon, a medium-sized company with a market capitalization of 2 billion euros ($3.07 billion), proposed a 1 euro per share dividend that includes an exceptional dividend of 0.30 euro.

Bourbon said net profit rose to 390.8 million euros from 152.9 million in 2006, lifted by capital gains of 229 million euros, mainly from the sale of its harbour towage business.

Operating profit came in at 214.2 million euros, up 35 percent, on sales up 27 percent to 769.7 million euros, bolstered by strong growth in both its core offshore division, and its smaller bulk division.

The figures topped the average forecasts of 259 million euros for net profit and 182 million for operating profit from analysts polled by Reuters Estimates.

"The good operating results, the prospects for more solid growth and the good visibility on Bourbon's cash flow generation do not appear to us as being reflected in the current stock price," said analyst Jean-Luc Romain at CM-CIC Securities.

Bourbon shares were 3.6 percent higher at 37.95 euros by 1430 GMT, outpacing both the European energy sector and the wider French blue-chip CAC 40 index .FCHI. The stock has lagged energy peers by 2.6 percent since the start of the year.

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