TGS sinks on bottom line, cuts costs and investing

TGS saw profits slashed in the first quarter due to impairments and lower revenue amid challenging seismic market conditions.

Norwegian seismic player reported net loss for the first quarter 2020 of $56 million, against $4 million profit same time last year.

The Oslo-listed firm has generated revenues of some $52 million, down close to 48 per cent from proir-year comparable period.

Segment net revenues were $152 million, down 3 per cent versus Q1 2019.

Segment revenues base on percentage of completion, while the IFRS accounts recognise revenues after project delivery.

Amortization and impairment of the multi-client library amounted to $142 million in Q1 2020, up from $66 million in Q1 2019.

The increase is mainly due to higher sales amortization resulting from increased sales of projects-in-progress.

TGS’ backlog amounted to $160 million at the end of Q1 2020.

This compares with $181 million at the end of Q4 2019 and $112 million at the end of Q1 2019.

TGS said it expects a very challenging market in 2020.

Data licensing and precommitments to new projects could defer until clients have more visibility of an improvement in market conditions.

To that end, TGS will cut 2020 multi-client investments to approximately $325 million from original guidance of $450 million.

Further, the company has taken actions to reduce operating cost.

Through centralization of offices, a global salary freeze, temporary cessation of employee bonuses and right sizing of the organization, TGS expects a reduction in cash operating cost of approximately 35 per cent compared to 2019.