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LONDON (Alliance News) - Gulf Marine Services PLC said Tuesday it sunk to a half-year loss as revenue dipped and expenses rose sharply but it continues to see opportunities in an improving market.
For the six months ended June, the engineering support vessel provider sunk to a USD2.5 million pretax loss from a USD2.3 million profit the year prior. This was after revenue fell to USD56.1 million from USD58.5 million the year before.
Profit performance was also hurt by a rise in expenses during the period. General & administrative costs rose to USD9.1 million from USD7.8 million the year before and finance expenses rose to USD15.0 million from USD11.1 million the year prior.
Gulf Marine does not pay a dividend as it continues to focus on reducing net debt levels. Net debt dropped to USD416.1 million from USD420.7 million six months earlier.
"We expect to see increasing opportunities for GMS against the backdrop of a more stable oil price environment and with the continued development of the renewable energy sector," Gulf Marine Chief Executive Officer Duncan Anderson said.
"We will continue to maximise utilisation as effectively as possible and this is already proving successful for our Large and Mid-Size Class vessels," Anderson added. "We are now focused on improving the utilisation of our Small Class vessels, and on securing improved day rates across the fleet; both of these should be addressable as a sustained higher oil price feeds through to increased levels of maintenance and capex activity and the markets we operate in start to tighten overall."
Anderson emphasised it was continuing to manage costs and had deleveraging as a "priority." For 2018, the firm expected earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation to be between USD59.0 million from USD65.0 million.
In 2017, Gulf Marine generated USD58.5 million in adjusted Ebitda on revenue of USD112.9 million.
"I am confident we are well-placed to provide the efficient and cost-effective offshore support solutions that suit our clients' evolving needs and to secure new longer term contract opportunities in a recovering market," Anderson said.
Shares in Gulf Marine were 6.1% lower at 42.20 pence on Tuesday.