Weatherford Int'l Q3 Profit Tops View, But Revenues Miss, Names New CFO, COO

(RTTNews) - Oilfield services provider Weatherford International Ltd. (WFT) reported Monday a profit for the third quarter that plunged from last year, hurt by higher charges and flat revenues. Stripping down the charges, adjusted earnings per share topped analysts' expectations, while quarterly revenues missed their estimates.

Separately, the company announced the appointment of Krishna Shivram as executive vice president and chief financial officer, and the promotion of Dharmesh Mehta to executive vice president and chief operating officer, effective November 6, 2013. Mehta will succeed Peter Fontana, who retires on December 13, 2013.

Shivram, age 51, brings more than 25 years of financial and operational management experience in the oilfield service industry, working for Schlumberger Ltd. (SLB) in a variety of roles across the globe. He will report directly to Chairman, President and CEO Bernard Duroc-Danner.

The Zug, Switzerland-based company posted net income of $22 million or $0.03 per share for the third quarter, lower than $70 million or $0.09 per share in the prior-year quarter.

Results for the latest quarter include net after tax charges of $0.20 per share, while the year-ago quarter results included $0.09 per share of the same.

Excluding special items, adjusted net income for the quarter was $177 million or $0.23 per share, compared to $140 million or $0.18 per share in the year-ago quarter.

On average, 32 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.22 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude one-time special items.

Net revenues for the quarter remained flat with the same quarter last year at $3.82 billion, and missed twenty-four Wall Street analysts' consensus estimate of $4.10 billion.

On a geographical basis, Weatherford's revenues from North America dropped 7 percent to $1.60 million from $1.73 billion, while Middle East, North Africa and Asia region revenues increased 17 percent to $819 million from $700 million in the prior-year quarter.

Europe, West Africa and CIS revenues for the quarter increased 10 percent to $691 million from $626 million in the comparable quarter a year ago, while Latin American region revenues decreased 7 percent to $713 million from $768 million in the same quarter last year.

Looking ahead, the company said it expects to continue to show sequential improvements in revenue and operating income in North America, with the U.S. benefiting from a lower operating cost structure and higher activity levels in Canada. Latin America will be flat sequentially.

The company added that better operating performance in the fourth quarter coupled with further cost reductions and improvements in capital efficiency measures point to a positive outlook.

WFT closed Monday's regular trading session at $16.46, up $0.09 or 0.55% on a volume of 12.75 million shares.