Strong 1Q14 results to begin the year. Mermaid announced a strong set of first quarter results with service income generation of US$83.8m and net profit of US$13.2m. The company has met 28% of both our top and bottom‐line forecast for FY14 and is en‐route to complete a strong comeback.
Subsea division achieved overall higher profitability. The Subsea group achieved higher operating profitability of US$7.2m vs a loss of US$0.2m in 1Q13. This higher profitability was primarily due to the Saudi Aramco diving services contract which resulted in vessel utilization at 85.9% this quarter vs 50.6% in 1Q13. The Surveys group registered lower operating profits of US$1.4m vs US$2.1m a year ago as some ROV vessels came off‐hire.
MTR‐2 contributes to higher drilling profitability. MTR‐2 which is currently on a