Northern Offshore Declares Profit, Dividend
Bermuda holding company Northern Offshore today [May 21] announced that the cash dividend of US$0.03 per share referred to in the first quarter 2011 earnings report dated May 18, 2011 has been declared.
The shares of the company will be trading ex-dividend from May 27, 2011. Shareholders of record on May 31, 2011 will be entitled to receive the dividend, which will be paid on or around June 17.
Northern Offshore operates offshore oil and gas production and drilling vessels in various markets around the world, including the North Sea, the Indian Ocean, offshore Russia, the Mediterranean and Southeast Asia.
The company’s fleet consists of one floating production facility and five drilling units — a drillship, a semisubmersible and three jackup drilling rigs.
The company also provides rig management services, and is currently operating in this capacity on two semi-submersibles in the Caspian Sea.
Earlier this week Northern Offshore announced the company had recovered from a substantial fourth quarter 2010 loss to post a net income of $2.4 million in the first quarter of 2011. The $186.9 million loss from the fourth quarter was in turn a significant fall from the first quarter of 2010, where the company recorded a profit of $23.2 million on revenues of $68.1 million.
Northern recorded revenues of $40.5 million in the March quarter of 2011, with the decrease primarily due to a loss of revenue from its “Energy Searcher” drillship which was undergoing repairs during the period. Lower utilisation and dayrates of the jackup fleet also contributed to this.
“Drilling and production expenses for the first quarter of 2011 were $3.7 million higher as compared to the same period of 2010 due primarily to contract start-up costs for the jackup Energy Enhancer and rig move costs for the semisubmersible Energy Driller, partially offset by lower operating expense for the jackup Energy Endeavour which was idle for the full current quarter,” the company said.
Northern will issue an initial dividend to shareholders this quarter, with company chief executive Gary Casswell saying the company had reached a significant milestone.
