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Monday, August 7,
2000
Halter
reports more losses
In second quarter 2000 results
announced today, Friede Goldman Halter, Inc. reported continuing
losses. It also announced that John Alford, previously president
and chief operating officer, is replacing J.L. Holloway as CEO.
Holloway, the company's largest shareholder, with 21% of the
equity, will remain as chairman of the board.
In another management change, CFO Rick
S. Rees resigned. His duties will be assumed by Emile J. Dumesnil,
senior vice president-finance and treasurer.
FGH also announced it plans to undertake
a private placement of term-debt securities aimed at raising
$150 million.
For the quarter ended June 30, 2000 the
company reported a net loss of $18.1 million, or $0.44 per fully
diluted share, on revenue of $194 million. The second-quarter
results were affected by an adjustment related to expected future
costs of the Ocean Rig Bingo 9000 project. Friede Goldman Halter
says it expects to deliver the Bingo 9000-1 and Bingo 9000-2
rigs in the fourth quarter of 2000 and the first quarter of 2001,
respectively. A report issued on July 30 by Umoe Olje og Gass
AS estimates delivery of Bingo 9000-2 during the second quarter
of 2001 and says "only major efforts at this stage of the
project may bring the delivery date back into the first quarter
of 2001." Umoe Olje og Gass AS is the independent organization
reviewing the BINGO 9000 program as part of a settlement reached
by Friede Goldman Halter and Ocean Rig,
Excluding the effects of the Ocean Rig
adjustment , the results would have been a loss of $0.15 per
fully diluted share.
Backlog for the company totaled $450.8
million at June 30, 2000 and consisted of $221.6 million in the
Offshore segment, $135.0 million in the Vessels segment and $94.2
million in the Engineered Products segment. Backlog at June 30
does not include approximately $31 million in vessel and engineered
products contracts signed during the third quarter.
Kvaerner
makes offer for Aker Maritime
Kvaerner ASA today announced a
proposed all-share offer for Aker Maritime ASA. Simultaneously,
the Kvaerner board said it was executing a previously announced
decision to consolidate its A and B shares into new ordinary
shares.
Under the terms of the offer shareholders
of Aker Maritime will receive 0.79 new ordinary share in Kvaerner,
for each Aker Maritime share. This values each Aker Maritime
share at approximately NOK 80 (about $9) and the whole of the
issued share capital of Aker Maritime at approximately NOK 4.5
billion (about $506 million) Kvaerner says the offer to Aker
Maritime shareholders represents a premium of 39% based on the
last five days of trading in both shares.
The offer comes after last month's news
that Aker Maritime had acquired 26.39% of Kvaerner. Aker Maritime
is 63% owned by Aker RGI. Aker RGI is 100% owned by Kjell Inge
Røkke.
Kvaerner chairman Christian Bjelland called the offer for Aker
Maritime "a value-enhancing opportunity for shareholders
in both Kvaerner and Aker Maritime." President and CEO Kjell
E Almskog said the rationale for this proposal "is to create
a strong, truly global player with a complete range of products
and services for the most attractive segments and regions of
the oil and gas services industry worldwide."
He added "combined with Aker Maritime,
Kvaerner will be second to none in the oil and gas products and
technology area with a particularly strong position in
the sub-sea and deep-water sectors. " He noted that "given
the current ownership situation in Kvaerner, a combination of
the two businesses will also assist in neutralizing potential
conflicts in the market-place.".
According to a Kvaerner statement, the
principal activities of a combined oil and gas organization would
be offshore field development, modifications, maintenance and
operations, as well as technology-based products and solutions.
"A combination of the two businesses will add strength particularly
in terms of the technology and product portfolio through Kvaerner's
prominent position in sub-sea products, and Aker Maritime's recognized
deep-water technology." said the statement.
Kvaerner expects to achieve annual cost
savings in excess of NOK 250 million per year from combining
the two organisations. This will be derived from a co-ordinated
effort in technology development, procurement economies, reduced
tender costs and overheads. Within Norway, an acquisition will
facilitate the necessary restructuring of the fabrication capacity
required to adjust to the changes in the market-place.
Kvaerner said its offer will be conditional
on acceptances from shareholders representing more than 90 per
cent of the shares in Aker Maritime. It will also be conditional
on Aker Maritime retaining its ownership interests in Kvaerner.
Aker Maritime commented that, since April
1999, it had been in regular contact with Norwegian and international
players in the oil and gas sector with the aim of assessing how
development of the group's operations could best be carried forward.
These soundings it said, had "produced indications of Aker
Maritime's value which exceed by far the price offered by Kværner
today.
"As soon as Kværner's formal
bid for the purchase of Aker Maritime's shares is received, the
Aker Maritime board will evaluate the proposal and make a statement
to shareholders," concluded the statement.
The Kvaerner offer follows Aker Maritime's
announcement of a second quarter loss of NOK 77 million. In its
second quarter report, Aker Maritime noted several significant
new contracts taking its order backlog at the end of June to
NOK 8.3 billion. The two largest contracts awarded in the period
were for
the delivery of Spar platform hulls to Kerr-McGee and Vastar
for U.S.Gulf fields. Since the end of June further contracts
worth nearly NOK 1 billion
have been added to the backlog. The largest include the Kvitebjørn
jacket structure for Statoil in Norway.
American
Commercial Lines reports second-quarter results
"Our second-quarter results are disappointing, and reflect
a spike in fuel prices as well as soft demand in grain export
markets during the quarter,'' Michael Hagan, president and CEO
of American Commercial Lines commented on the announcement that
the company's second-quarter operating income was $16.5 million,
compared with $20.0 million for the second quarter of 1999. Year-to-date
operating income increased to $24.5 million from $24.3 million
in the first half of 1999. "Looking forward to the second
half, we expect fundamentals in the North American covered hopper
market to improve significantly," said Hagan. "With
ACL's recent acquisition of Peavey Barge Line's covered hopper
fleet, we are well positioned to take full advantage of the USDA's
strong export grain demand forecast of 2.25 billion bushel."
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