Magseis Swings to Loss

Norwegian seabed seismic services player, Magseis, has seen red ink at the end of the second quarter 2016, on 53 percent revenue drop, but said it anticipates better days backed by the recently started Red Sea survey for Saudi Aramco.

The Oslo-listed company has seen its revenue decline to USD 7.7 million from USD 16.6 million same time last year. The Q2 2016 revenue is mainly a result of Bokor field survey for Petronas. Revenue for the first half ended June 30, 2016, increased by USD 3.5 million at USD 25.8 million.

Second-quarter EBITDA came at negative USD 1.6 million, against positive USD 3.8 million in 2015.

The company recognized quarterly loss of USD 4 million or 25 cents per share, versus profit of USD 1.6 million or 5 cents per share in the prior-year quarter. Net loss widened from USD 5 million to USD 7.9 million 1H 2016 vs. 1H 2015.

Westcon Group AS is the company’s largest shareholder with 14.1 percent, followed by Anfar Invest with 11.4 percent and Geo Innova with 10.3 percent.

As at June 30, 2016, Magseis reported a total of 80 employees including a seismic crew of 43.

“The company is still in an early phase of comercialisation and expects to optimise the cost base and generate economies of scale we grow and capitalise on the experience gained over the past three years.

“With the Red Sea survey well underway, Magseis is also experiencing a positive development in tender activity and with a significant volume of ongoing tenders, we are optimistic that the conditions for further growth will soon fall into place, enabling us to continue the development towards our goal of becoming the leading global provider of OBS services,” Magseis said in its earnings report.

Subsea World News Staff