Helix Energy Solutions has seen its fourth-quarter 2020 profit almost cut in half on lower well intervention activity, slightly offset by its robotics unit.
The Houston-based company reported net income of $4.2 million, or $0.03 per diluted share, for the fourth quarter 2020 compared to $8.1 million, or $0.05 per diluted share, for the fourth quarter 2019 and $24.5 million, or $0.16 per diluted share, for the third quarter 2020.
Adjusted EBITDA was $35.3 million for the fourth quarter 2020 versus $33.3 million for the fourth quarter 2019 and $52.7 million for the third quarter 2020.
For the full year 2020, Helix reported net income of $22.2 million, or $0.13 per diluted share, compared to $57.9 million, or $0.38 per diluted share, for the full year 2019.
Adjusted EBITDA for the full year 2020 was $155.3 million compared to $180.1 million for the full year 2019.
Helix generated close to $160 million revenues in Q4 2020, down from $171 million same time last year, and from $193 million in the prior quarter.
Full-year 2020 revenues stood at $733 million, against $752 million in 2019.
Owen Kratz, president and CEO of Helix, stated:
“The COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on the global economy and energy industry has resulted in unprecedented challenges for our business, with the decline in activity due to the erosion of demand for oil and gas.
“We have continued to reduce our cost structure relative to our activity levels, and we have protected our balance sheet and reduced our debt levels.
“With customer focus on green energy, we continued to expand our footprint in the renewables market during 2020 with the Robotics renewables site clearance project in the North Sea and the trenching project offshore Virginia. We also expanded and diversified our Well Intervention business with the addition of the Q7000, which commenced operations in West Africa.
“We expect the challenges of 2020 to persist into 2021. However, we remain committed to de-levering our balance sheet and executing our goals in this market while keeping our employees and our customers safe.”
Helix Well Intervention revenues fell from $142 million in the fourth quarter of 2019 at $112 million in Q4 2020, due to lower utilisation in the North Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. Full year revenue declined some 9 per cent at $539 million.
Sequentially, well intervention revenues fell from $140 million.
Helix Robotics revenues increased 20 percent year-over-year at $42 million, but decreased sequentially from $50 million. Full-year revenue was up from $171 million in 2019 at $178 million.