Tidewater has posted a jump in profits for the seasonally quiet first quarter that beat its own expectations.
The Houston company, which owns one of the world’s largest offshore vessel fleets, reported net income of $47m for the first three months of the year, a $9.4m improvement compared to the same period of 2023.
Revenue at the company, which expanded through the acquisition of 37 platform supply vessels from Solstad Offshore last year, jumped to more than $321m from just $193m a year earlier. The top-line figure was also above Tidewater’s own forecasts.
“First-quarter results came in nicely above our expectations, especially for a period that is typically the slowest quarter of the year due to seasonality in certain markets and a front-loaded dry-dock schedule,” chief executive Quintin Kneen said in an earnings statement.
“Our consolidated global average day rate continued the upward trend we saw throughout 2023, with the average day rate increasing nearly $1,500 per day sequentially, an increase of over 8%.”
Kneen said each of the company’s vessel classes saw day rate expansion during the year’s first quarter, with particular strength in anchor-handling tug supply vessels of 16,000 bhp or more.
A gross margin of 47.5% was also above New York-listed Tidewater’s predictions.
Despite beating its first-quarter expectations, Tidewater left its full-year guidance unchanged, with a forecast of $1.4bn to $1.45bn in annual revenue.
That represents growth on 2023’s $1.01bn in revenue, driven by Tidewater’s optimism for offshore activity acceleration this year.
“We remain encouraged by the outlook for demand over the coming years and by the persistent tightness in vessel supply,” Kneen said.
“Newbuilding vessel orders still have not materialised in any meaningful way, providing for a significant runway of time before new vessel supply can enter the market.”
