Norway: Sevan Marine Announces 4Q 2010 Results

Operating revenue for the quarter amounted to USD 74.5 million (USD 73.4 million). EBITDAFX was USD 31.7 million (USD 18.5 million). Operating profit was USD 1.8 million (loss of USD 19.5 million), and net loss was USD 68.6 million (net loss of USD 66.4 million).

Operating revenue was USD 1.1 million higher than the previous quarter mainly as a result of improvement in Commercial Uptime on Sevan Driller and compensation received from the Oilexco Administration for loss in revenue under the original Shelley charter contract. These effects were partly offset by lower other revenue from FPSO Sevan Voyageur.

Operating expense was USD 12.0 million lower than the previous quarter mainly due to a partial reversal of accrued decommissioning cost relating to the departure from the Shelley field as well as lower other operating expense on FPSO Sevan Voyageur. These effects were partly offset by an increase in operating expense in the Corporate segment.

A net foreign exchange gain relating to financing of USD 1.3 million (loss of USD 35.4 million) was mainly a result of unrealized agio on NOK-nominated bonds following a strengthening in USD compared to NOK of 0.3% during the quarter.

Financial expense through profit and loss increased by USD 31.0 million to USD 60.1 million (USD 29.1 million) mainly due to expensing of non-recurring items including call premiums and changes in amortization schedules for financing fees following refinancing of debt during the quarter.

As of December 31, 2010, total assets amounted to USD 2,587.4 million (USD 2,450.6 million), of which USD 2,145.6 million (USD 2,080.7 million) was capitalized as ‘Sevan Capital Assets’. Cash and cash equivalents amounted to USD 116.1 million (USD 67.7 million).

As of December 31, 2010, the Group had an undrawn long term vendor credit facility relating to Sevan Driller II of approximately USD 80 million. In addition, the Group has undrawn USD 525 million on a bank facility to fund the construction of Sevan Driller II and USD 52.1 million on a bank facility to fund the upgrade of FPSO Sevan Voyageur which is not reflected on the balance sheet as per December 31, 2010.

Jan Erik Tveteraas (CEO), Birte Norheim (Vice President Finance) and Oskar Mykland (CFO) will at 2:00 p.m. today give a presentation of the results at Shippingklubben, Haakon VII`s gate 1, Oslo. The presentation will be in English.

The presentation will also be broadcasted LIVE at https://www.sevanmarine.com/.

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Source: Sevan Marine, February 15, 2010;