Seadrill Q3 Profit Rises; Hikes Quarterly Dividend - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Offshore drilling services provider Seadrill Ltd. (SDRL) reported that its third-quarter 2013 net income attributable to the parent increased to $286 million from last year's $189 million, with earnings per share improving to $0.60 from $0.40 in the prior year.

Total operating revenues for the third quarter grew to $1.280 billion from $1.092 billion in the prior year quarter.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.68 per share and revenues of $1.26 billion for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

The Board has resolved to increase the regular quarterly dividend by 4 cents to $0.95 per share. The ex-dividend date has been set to December 3, 2013, record date is December 5, 2013 and payment date is on or about December 20, 2013.

The Board believes that the new dividend is sustainable long-term and can be further increased as EBITDA is expected to grow significantly over the next eight quarters.

Based on the performance so far in the quarter and with a solid operation for the remainder of the quarter the company anticipates EBITDA growth for the fourth-quarter in excess of 15% compared to third-quarter. This strong growth creates a solid cash flow foundation for further organic growth as well as strong support for continued dividend increases, the company said.

The Board expects the company, assuming current market rates, to reach a fully consolidated annualized EBITDA of $4.5 billion in 2016.