Two days after S&P Global Ratings announced it had changed their economic outlook to negative from stable, the agency has said its view on Trinidad Petroleum Holding Ltd was not affected.S&P said “Our rating on TPHL continue to reflect our view that there’s a very high likelihood of timely and sufficient extraordinary support to the company from its owner, T&T, in the event of financial distress. This is because TPHL holds a very important role in the country’s energy and infrastructure policy and a very strong link given it’s fully-owned by T&T.”
S&P continued, “ Therefore, ratings on TPHL continue to benefit from a four-notch uplift over its ‘b-’ stand-alone credit profile (SACP). The negative outlook reflects our view that TPHL will remain highly leveraged with adjusted debt to EBITDA above 5x for the next 12-18 months. This, while the company completes the divestment of Petrotrin’s non-core assets and reduces short-term debt pressures, which also continue to impair its liquidity position.”
The agency said it could lower the ratings on the company “in the next 12-24 months if we lower the long-term local currency rating on the sovereign, and/or if we conclude that TPHL’s leverage metrics weaken to the extent that the company’s capital structure is unsustainable or its liquidity position weakens beyond our expectations.”