KUALA LUMPUR (March 31): Sapura Energy Bhd has made its first settlement in relation with the slew of winding-up petitions filed since February against the group by vendors over non-payment issues.

Sapura Energy’s unit Sapura Fabrication Sdn Bhd (SFSB) has reached a settlement with Sun Hardware Enterprise Sdn Bhd, who served a petition on Feb 18 for RM70,597.63 owed by SFSB.

SFSB owed the amount for the purchase of materials including compacted steel wire ropes, bulldog clips, aluminium tags and magnetic filter.

“The board of directors of Sapura Energy wishes to announce that SFSB has agreed to a settlement with the petitioner,” Sapura Energy said in its filing on Thursday (March 31).

Details of the settlement were not disclosed in the filing.

“On March 4, 2022, Sapura Fabrication received a notice of discontinuation of the winding-up petition taken against Sapura Fabrication by Sun Hardware. The winding up hearing on March 10, 2022 has been discontinued,” it said.

Separately, Sapura Energy announced it has received two more winding-up petitions, this time for an aggregate sum of RM834,582.

Its wholly-owned subsidiaries, Sapura Offshore Sdn Bhd and Sapura Geosciences Sdn Bhd, were served the petitions by VKI Marketing Sdn Bhd and Tumpuan Megah Development Sdn Bhd respectively.

Sapura Offshore is alleged to have failed to pay RM210,443 in relation to a contract for the provision of goods sold and delivered.

The petition against Sapura Geosciences is with regard to the failure to pay RM624,139 under a contract for the supply of marine gas oil.

Based on Sapura Energy’s audited financial statements for the financial year ended Jan 31, 2021, the group’s total investment in Sapura Offshore and Sapura Geosciences is RM2.62 million and RM71.6 million respectively.

Sapura Energy and its subsidiaries are currently given a three-month restraining order by the court from March 10 to give it time to engage with creditors for a proposed scheme of arrangement (SOA) as part of its debt restructuring plan. A total of 22 Sapura Energy subsidiaries are involved in the SOA, as well as Sapura Energy itself.

“Pending the outcome of the orders, there will be no financial and operational impact and expected loss from the petitions,” it said.

Sapura Energy’s share price closed half a sen or 12.50% lower at 3.5 sen on Thursday (March 31), giving the group a market capitalisation of RM559.27 million.