Magseis Sees Deficit Grow

Norwegian seabed seismic services player, Magseis, has seen red ink at the end of the third quarter 2016 as it booked impairment of asset related to the conversion of seismic node technology. 

The Oslo-listed company has seen its revenue up to USD 13 million from USD 12.8 million same time last year. The Q3 2016 revenue is mainly a result of the Saudi Aramco Red Sea survey. Revenue for the first nine months ended September 30, 2016, increased by USD 3.8 million at USD 38.9 million.

Third-quarter EBITDA came at USD 3 million, against USD 4.2 million in Q3 2015.

The company recognized quarterly loss of USD 8.8 million or 23 cents per share, versus loss of USD 330K or 1 cent per share in the prior-year quarter. Net loss widened from USD 5.3 million to USD 16.7 million 9M 2016 vs. 9M 2015.

As mentioned above, Magseis’ bottom line was hurt by impairment of asset values of USD 6.7 million associated with the conversion from G1 to G2 seismic node technology.

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 of September 30, 2016, Magseis reported a total of 81 employees including a seismic crew of 43.

Magseis said that tender activity is ‘significantly’ higher during the same period last year which supports its view that the OBS market should return to growth during 2017.

“The company is awaiting feedback on several important tenders in the weeks and months  to come, which may provide the foundation for further growth,” Magseis noted in its Q3 earnings report.

Anticipating better days

Engineering work is ongoing to optimize the layout of our next cable vessel. The new node deployer and ROV assisted deployments are also well under way to give Magseis the opportunity to offer a wide range of options well suited for a variety of different survey designs.

We are also developing and strengthening our organisation to prepare for the next stage in our development.

Subsea World News Staff