Mermaid Maritime swings into the red for Q1

Mermaid Maritime slipped into the red with a loss of US$15.9 million for the first quarter ended March 2015 from a profit of US$5.2 million a year ago due to low subsea vessel utilisation and dry docking maintenance of three of its highest-performing vessels.

The mainboard-listed provider of subsea and drilling services for the oil and gas sector saw revenue fall 4.6 per cent to US$61 million from US$64 million.

It made a loss per share of 1.1 US cents from an earnings per share of 0.4 US cents.

"We entered 2015 well aware of the formidable industry challenges resulting from the combination of lower oil prices, customers' cutback in E&P (exploration and spending) and excess industry capacity," said the firm's chief executive Chalermchai Mahagitsiri.

The group said it remains cautiously optimistic on its overall competitive position underpinned by a net order book of US$443 million (excluding Asia Offshore Drilling contract) for work stretching to 2017.