Oceaneering narrows loss in fourth quarter

Subsea engineering specialist Oceaneering has narrowed its loss in the fourth quarter of 2020, despite revenue drop of close to 25 per cent.

The Houston-based company has reported a net loss of $25 million on revenue of $424 million for the fourth quarter 2020.

Adjusted profit was $1.8 million, reflecting the impact of $9.8 million of pre-tax adjustments and $9.6 million of discrete tax adjustments. Analysts projected some $20 million in adjusted loss.

Compared to a year-ago period, Oceaneering booked net loss of $263 million on revenue of $561 million and impairments of some $170 million.

Sequentially, Oceaneering reported a net loss of $79.4 million, or $80 cents per share, on revenue of $440 million.

Adjusted net loss was $17.6 million, specifically due to impact of $68.7 million of pre-tax adjustments.

For the twelve months of 2020 the company recognised net loss of close to $496.7 million and revenue of $1.83 billion.

This compares to net loss of $348 million and revenue of $2.05 billion in 2019.

Full year 2020 impairments were approximately $415 million, versus $175 million in 2019.

At the end of December 2020, Oceaneering ROV fleet size was 250, unchanged from the third quarter.

For the fourth quarter, utilization was 54 per cent, down from 59 per cent in the quarter ended 30 September 2020.

Also, as of 31 December 2020, Oceaneering had ROV contracts on 75 of the 129 floating rigs under contract. This results in a drill support market share of 58 per cent.

The company’s backlog at 31 December 2020 was $266 million, against $548 million same time last year.