DOF Group is looking ahead to bigger earnings following the completion of its $1.1bn takeover of Maersk Supply Service (MSS) on 1 November.
The final quarter without the Danish owner’s fleet was a positive one, the company said.
Net profit in the three months to 30 September was $69m, up from $27m a year ago, boosted by a currency gain of $17m as the Brazilian real strengthened against the US dollar.
Ebitda was $141m, against $123m in 2023.
Chief executive Mons Aase said: “After completion of the MSS acquisition, we look forward to further developing the DOF Group with an advanced fleet of CSVs [commissioning service operation vessels] and high-end AHTS [anchor-handling tug supply] vessels and the combined competence and capabilities in DOF and MSS.
“Our main focus now is to ensure a good integration process of the two companies with a common target to deliver world-class services to our customers,” he added.
Revenue grew to $340m from $283m last year.
Net interest-bearing debt has been reduced from $1.37bn to $1.14bn over the same period.
The average utilisation of the fleet was 92% in the quarter, versus 85% in 2023.
“The performance has been good in the APAC, North America and the Atlantic regions, and stable in Brazil,” DOF said.
The fleet now consists of 57 vessels, including 14 ships under management or hired in.
Of these, 31 are subsea units, but there are also AHTS ships and PSVs.
New contracts swell backlog
The company added $500m of new contracts in the third quarter. This took the backlog to $2.75bn.
Aase said he was optimistic that the group’s subsea project activity will continue to grow due to the recently awarded contracts and ongoing tenders.
“The activity in the North Sea spot market for AHTSs and PSVs has slowed down the last two months especially in the UK sector, but we see the opposite in Brazil where Petrobras is out with several tenders, and also in Asia-Pacific where we recently were awarded another very good PSV contract,” he added.
Aase said the group has now started a refinancing process to position it to pay dividends from the second quarter of 2025 and onwards.
“The progress is good and there is indication of interest from banks to participate in the refinancing,” Aase said.
Looking ahead, DOF added: “The markets have continued to improve, especially within the subsea and AHTS segment and the group is well positioned towards an expected increased demand for the group’s assets and services both in the oil and gas market and the renewable markets.”
