Hamilton, Bermuda (August 14, 2018)
Second quarter highlights 2018
- Revenue $224.4 million.
- EBITDA of $18.0 million before exceptional items.
- Revenue and margin increase for all segments in Eastern Hemisphere relative to first quarter.
- Award of four additional Equinor platforms to commence in fourth quarter 2018.
- Depreciation of the Argentine Peso reduced Land Drilling revenue (reported in USD) by 8% in the quarter.
John Lechner, CEO Archer comments:
“I’m pleased to see that the recovery is starting to build in most of our operating areas. We continue to see growing activity offshore Norway, as well as increased activity in Asia Pacific. This resulted in a revenue increase of $6 million relative to the first quarter of 2018.
We remain on track in our preparations to mobilize to the four additional platforms awarded by Equinor, which we will begin operating at the beginning of the fourth quarter. The addition of these platform crews, along with increased personnel coming on board to support growing activity across our other Eastern Hemisphere divisions, will see our Norwegian headcount increase by about 30% to 2,000 by year end.
Our efforts to improve our financial performance in the South of Argentina have so far not yielded the results we have planned for and were also negatively impacted in the second quarter by the winter season. We are still in discussions with our unions to reduce our headcount as planned and we still have too many employees for our activity level. However, with a new management team now in place, a lower cost base, and improved incentive terms, I am confident we will see improved financial results during second part of the year.
I also want to thank our management and field organization for their consistent and effective QHSE focus, which resulted in our Total Recordable Incident Frequency (TRIF) dipping to 0.41 as at the end of Q2, an all-time low for Archer as a company.”
A conference call will be held at 08:00 London time, 09:00 Oslo time on August 14, 2018. To listen to the conference call, the following options are available:
A. Webcast
To register for the webcast please go to https://edge.media-server.com/m6/p/7gkjtofg
B. Conference call
To access the call, which is open to the public, please contact the conference call operator at the participant telephone numbers listed below. Please call in 10 minutes prior to the scheduled start time, and ask for the “Archer Second Quarter 2018 Earnings release.”
Participant Telephone Numbers:
| UK: | +44 (0)330 336 9125 |
| Norway: | +47 2100 2610 |
| USA: | +1 929-477-0448 |
| Confirmation Code: | 1283258 |
The operator will ask for your name, company and the confirmation code. Following the presentation there will be a Q&A session. Information on “how to ask questions” will be given at the beginning of the Q&A session.