Helix sinks to red due to impairment charges

Helix Energy Solutions Group, an oil and gas services company, has posted a loss for the fourth quarter of 2015 impacted by impairment charges. 

Helix reported a net loss of $403.9 million for the fourth quarter of 2015 compared to net income of $8.0 million for the same period in 2014.

According to the company, fourth quarter 2015 results were impacted by $503.1 million of non-cash pre-tax charges:

– Impairment charges of $256.2 million associated with the company’s production facilities assets;
– Impairment charge of $205.2 million associated with the Helix 534;
– Impairment charge of $6.3 million associated with other well intervention assets;
– Goodwill impairment charge of $16.4 million associated with well intervention business in the U.K.;
– Unrealized losses of $19.0 million associated with ineffectiveness of the company’s foreign currency derivative contracts.

For the fourth quarter of 2015, Helix posted revenues of $ 157.7 million, a drop when compared to $ 207.2 million in the corresponding period in 2014.

Owen Kratz, President and Chief Executive Officer of Helix, stated, “The near term outlook for our industry remains even more challenging given the recent additional stepdown in oil prices. However, we were able to exceed our prior EBITDA outlook for Q4 on the strength of better utilization of both the Q4000 and the Q5000 for well intervention activities in the Gulf of Mexico. We continue to manage our cost structure to align to the current market environment.”

Offshore Energy Today Staff