Fred Olsen Energy Q3 pretax beats consensus on 41 mln nkr forex gain UPDATE

Fred Olsen Energy Q3 pretax beats consensus on 41 mln nkr forex gain UPDATE

	Published : Thu, 25 Oct 2007 08:15 By : Agencies Print this Story

(Updates with additional detail on performance, outlook)

OSLO (Thomson Financial) - Fred Olsen Energy ASA posted third-quarter profits ahead of expectations at the pretax level amid a 41 mln nkr gain on foreign exchange transactions, and said it remains confident that high demand for offshore drilling services is set to continue.

For the third quarter, FOE posted pretax profits of 485.6 mln nkr, up from 351.2 mln last time, and ahead of the 463 mln consensus forecast of analysts polled by TDN Finans.

According to FOE's income statement, the pretax figure was influenced by the net financing result, which came to a gain of 24.9 mln nkr during the quarter, compared to last year's 11.5 mln loss.

At the EBITDA level, earnings came in at 584.8 mln nkr, up from 519.0 mln last year, but below the 624 mln consensus forecast.

Sales, meanwhile, were 1.160 bln nkr, up from 1.119 bln last year and marginally ahead of the 1.143 bln figure penciled in by analysts.

In terms of divisional performance, the Norwegian offshore services firm said its offshore drilling division contributed EBITDA of 582.5 mln nkr, up from 505.2 mln last time, while its engineering and fabrication unit saw EBITDA fall to 3.3 mln from 5.8 mln.

FOE said the quarterly performance was driven by increased revenues from its 'Bredford Dolphin' rig, which operated for the full quarter, while higher dayrates for 'Belford Dolphin' and 'Byford Dolphin' also helped the results.

'The increase in revenues was partly offset by 'Bulford Dolphin' which has been off-hire for most of the quarter following a termination of contract offshore Nigeria,' the company said.

Looking ahead, FOE said it remains confident in the outlook for the market.

'Globally, the balance between supply and demand for offshore drilling units continued to be tight in all segments,' it said.

'The high demand for offshore drilling services is expected to continue.'

alastair.reed@thomson.com

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