Mermaid Maritime Swings to Loss

Mermaid Maritime, a provider of subsea and drilling services to the offshore oil and gas industry, has recorded a net loss $15.9 million for the three months period ended 31 March 2015.

Compared to the last year, the Group’s net profit decreased for US$21.1 million from net profits of US$5.2 million.

Mermaid generated revenues of US$60.8 million, a decrease in service income by US$2.9 million or approximately 4.6% from US$63.7 million for the corresponding period.

Revenues from subsea services were US$60.8 million, an increase of US$6.0 million, or 10.9%, compared to the same period as last year, backed by the new cable laying projects in middle east region. However, three vessels were off-hire for dry docking, leading to a gross loss of US$10.1 million for the period.

“Subsea business continues to be generally short-term and remain subject to changes in client requirement on short notice basis. The Group continues to focus on executing its current subsea contracts profitably and will continue its product and geographical expansion plans to move up the value chain with focus on the South East Asian and Middle East markets which are comparatively more stable. The Group is tendering aggressively for contracts, and the Group is cautiously optimistic to deploy our vessels. It is encouraging that the Group has since secured contracts for all three high performing vessels that was off-hire last quarter due to the periodical dry dock maintenance program,” the company said in a statement.

Mermaid also approved dividend of USD 5.7 million, payable on May 20 this year and scooped USD 443 million in orders (excluding Asia Offshore Drilling contract) for work stretching to 2018.