Seacor Marine said it called off a bond offering as the New York-listed offshore vessel owner reported its first operating profit in seven quarters.
Chief executive John Gellert announced the bond move less than two weeks after the company said it was exploring an offering of five-year senior secured bonds.
“The company has determined not to pursue the bond offering at this time as the indicative terms and conditions were not sufficiently attractive for the company,” he said.
Seacor Marine said on 21 April that it hired Clarksons Securities and DNB Markets to arrange the bonds for investor meetings that were slated to commence three days later. The company did not say how much it was aiming to raise, but it aimed to use the funds to refinance other secured debt, among other purposes.
Meanwhile, the offshore vessel owner reported $185,000 in operating income in the quarter. That is up from an operating loss of $17.1m a year earlier and the first time the income statement line was in positive territory since the second quarter of 2021.
But Seacor Marine’s bottom line still showed a loss of $9.59m in the first quarter, better than the $14.8m logged a year earlier.
That was fuelled by a surge in revenue, which grew to nearly $60m from $45.6m in the first quarter of 2022.
“The company’s first quarter demonstrated the building momentum in this cyclical recovery and was our fifth consecutive quarter of improved average day rates,” Gellert said.
Surge in direct vessel profits
Direct vessel profit rose to $22.7m from $6.1m a year earlier as the company saw an average utilisation rate of 76%, the highest for a first quarter since 2014, and average day rates of $14,300, the highest since the fourth quarter of 2015.
Gellert said lower operating expenses also boosted direct vessel profit.
| Q1 2023 | Q1 2022 | |
| Operating revenue | $60m | $45.6m |
| Costs and expenses | $63.4m | $64.9m |
| Operating income | $185,000 | -$17.1m |
| Other income (expenses) | -$9.15m | -$5.81m |
| Net loss attributable to Seacor Marine | $9.59m | $14.84m |
| Diluted net loss per share | $0.30 | $0.56 |
“This improvement demonstrates our ability to execute on the repricing opportunities in the market as contracts roll off from prior cycle commitments,” he said.
“All business segments and asset classes made positive contributions, despite the seasonally lower levels of activity in the first quarter and one of our premium liftboats in the US remaining offhire for previously reported extended repairs.”
