Polarcus Loss Widens, Expects ‘Significantly Stronger’ Q3

Seismic contractor Polarcus has posted quarterly loss on revenue drop of some 47 percent when compared to same time last year.

The Oslo-listed company has seen its net loss widened by $22.5 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2017, versus loss of $11.2 million in Q2 2016.

Polarcus also recognised negative EBITDA of close to $9 million against positive EBITDA of $23 million in the corresponding period in 2016.

For the first six months of 2017, Polarcus recorded loss of close to $72 million, compared to close to $135 million profit in 1H 2016.

Revenues for the quarter dropped to $36 million from $68 million in the prior-year comparable period. Half-year revenues also declined some 37 percent to $83 million. Sequentially, revenues fell 23 percent.

According to Polarcus, revenue drop was driven by a change in the business mix towards long-term bare boat charters and a decrease in vessel days on highly prefunded multi-client projects replaced with utilization on proprietary contracts.

“While our Q2 revenues were impacted by lower than expected fleet utilization and delays on turnkey projects, primarily related to environmental conditions, we expect to achieve a significantly stronger Q3 driven by fleet utilization of 90%. There are a number of imminent tender awards for projects commencing in Q4 for which Polarcus is well positioned. Our sales and marketing teams are working hard to secure additional booked capacity for Q4 2017 and in to 2018,” said Duncan Eley, chief executive officer of Polarcus.

Backlog as at end-June 2017 was estimated at $200 million.

Subsea World News Staff