Cal Dive Reports First Quarter Earnings of 36 Cents

Cal Dive International

FlashResults
                     Cal Dive International, Inc. (CDIS)
                        (Numbers in Thousands, Except
                               Per Share Data)

                1st quarter ended           1st quarter ended
                     3/31/2004       YTD         3/31/2003           YTD
    Sales             $120,714     $120,714        $88,900         $88,900
    Net Income         $13,645      $13,645         $6,038          $6,038
    Average Shares      39,150       39,150         37,601          37,601
    EPS                  $0.36        $0.36          $0.16           $0.16


Cal Dive International, Inc. (Nasdaq: CDIS) reported record first quarter net income of $13.6 million, or $0.36 per diluted share, an increase of 125% over year ago net income of $6.0 million or $0.16 per diluted share. Approximately 3 cents of current quarter earnings per share are attributable to a portion of the Q4000 construction costs qualifying for the Research & Development tax credit. First quarter revenues of $120.7 million increased 36% over the year ago quarter due to improved levels of oil and gas production and DP vessel utilization.

Owen Kratz, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Cal Dive, stated, "Record oil and gas production of 10 BCFe reflects three aspects of our strategy to grow the scope of our oil and gas business: well exploitation to enhance production from mature properties, successful PUD developments, and initial production from CDI's interest in the deepwater Gunnison field. We are aggressively pursuing a fourth element of this strategy: exporting the ERT model to other basins of the world.

"Our Marine Contracting people did a great job securing 87% utilization for the four large DP vessels added to the fleet in 2002 (the Q4000, Seawell, Intrepid and Eclipse). This utilization enabled our contracting business to generate positive returns in a quarter when weather typically limits activity in our two major markets."

Mr. Kratz continued, "The record earnings in the first quarter were achieved without any contribution from our new business segment, the ownership of production facilities. Mechanical completion of the Marco Polo TLP was established March 13. This event triggers the monthly fixed demand charge in the second quarter, with tariff-related income expected around the end of June. A binding Memorandum of Understanding has been signed to process production from the nearby K2 field and we are actively involved in negotiations to tie back production from other fields in the vicinity."

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