Daily Brief Utilities: China Oil And Gas and more

COG’s FY 2023 results were acceptable in our view. Importantly, the audit issues resulting in the belated publication of results appear to be minor, with auditor PwC giving a clean audit opinion overall. Leverage was largely stable despite the soft earnings, thanks to debt reduction. In addition, we view positively that the guarantees provided to associate Shandong Shengli (which we classify under debt) have largely fallen away. COG’s liquidity is adequate, as the company is poised to refinance the bridge loan using a new syndicated loan facility.

We move our recommendation to “Buy” from “Hold” on the CHIOIL 4.7 ’26s.