POSH's Q4 loss widens on massive impairments

FOURTH quarter net loss for PACC Offshore Services Holdings (POSH) widened to US$345.44 million from US$149.67 million on lower revenue and huge impairments to goodwill and vessels.

Loss per share was 19.06 US cents compared to 8.25 US cents for a year-ago period.

For the quarter ended Dec 31 2016, revenue fell 49 per cent to US$36.67 million mainly due to lower utilisation and charter rates across its major business segments.

POSH booked US$111.18 million and US$198.95 million of impairments for Q4 on goodwill and vessels, respectively.

Full year loss is US$371.45 million compared to US$130.96 million.

POSH said that the outlook for the oil and gas sector continues to remain depressed and the timing of recovery is uncertain.

"Whilst Opec (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) had reached an agreement to cut oil production in November 2016, supply and demand balances are still slow to return to equilibrium.

"The group will continue to focus on managing costs and maximising the utilisation of its fleet," it said.

The listed group has US$269.11 million of unsecured and secured borrowings and debt securities payable in one year or less as at Dec 31, 2016. Unsecured borrowings and debt securities repayable after one year stood at US$439.23 million.

Cash and cash equivalents as at Dec 31, 2016 were US$15.06 million compared to US$13.78 million a year ago.