Thursday, Helmerich & Payne Inc. (HP), a drilling company with offshore platform rigs, said its first-quarter net income decreased from the previous year quarter.
The company stated that its net income for the quarter dipped to $63.23 million or $0.59 per share from $145.27 million or $1.36 per share last year.
On average, nineteen analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings per share of $0.50 for the quarter. Analysts' estimate typically excludes one-time items.
The company noted that last year's first quarter net income are less than $0.01 per share of gains from the sale of drilling equipment and involuntary conversion of long lived assets.
Revenues for the recent quarter was $399.84 million compared to $623.75 million during last year's first fiscal quarter. Eleven analysts estimated revenues of $378.62 million for the quarter.
Segment operating income for U.S. land operations recorded $91.52 million for the current quarter, compared to $194.05 million for last year's quarter. The decline was primarily a result of significantly lower activity levels in the U.S. land drilling market.
Additional revenue of approximately $19 million corresponding to new build early terminations and to requested delivery delays are expected to be recognized during the last three quarters of fiscal 2010. The company expects almost 50% of this amount to favorably impact revenue during the second fiscal quarter, and the remainder to favorably impact the last two quarters.
Rig utilization for the company's U.S. land segment was 62% for this year's first fiscal quarter, compared to 95% for last year's first fiscal quarter.
Segment operating income for the company's offshore operations was $15.106million for the first fiscal quarter of 2010, compared to $14.71million for last year's first fiscal quarter.
The company's international land operations recorded segment operating income of $8.403million for the quarter, compared with operating income of $22.628million for the last year quarter. The operating income decline is mostly attributable to the reduction in the company's level of activity in Venezuela from 11 to no active rigs.
The company expects the recent devaluation in Venezuela to result in a currency exchange loss of approximately $20 million to be recorded in the second fiscal quarter ending March 31, 2010.
HP is traded at $44.21 down $0.98 or 2.17% on the NYSE.
For comments and feedback: editorial@rttnews.com