GC Rieber strong in 2013 despite Reef Subsea loss

The profit comes despite a NOK73.5m loss in the fourth quarter due to the company offloading its stake in Reef Subsea.

GC Rieber lost NOK 155.5m in 2013 from its stake in Reef Subsea, the sale of which it announced in February 2014. The deal with Private equity fund HitecVision is expected to be completed by the end of February 2013.

The sale will not affect the charters GC Rieber currenly has with Reef, which employ two of the company's three subsea vessels until December 2014 and February 2015. The subsea fleet is due to expand by one vessel at the end of February 2014 , when the newbuilding will embark immediately on a five year contract with Ceona Services.

In the company's marine seismic segment utilisation fell as the Polar Marquis is undergoing modifications, due to be finished by April 2014, ahead of a 3.5 year charter with Dolphin Geophysical. GC Rieber's two other vessels are both on charter to Dolphin into 2016 and 2017, and when the company's newbuilding is delivered from Kleven Werft in 2015 it will also embark on a five year charter with Dolphin.

Despite a cut in E&P spending at the oil majors, which usually impacts the seismic sector first, Rieber reported that the sector's outlook has improved since the third quarter 2013.