Schlumberger Ltd, on Thursday, reported a net loss of $1 billion for the last three months ending December 31, 2015. On a per share basis, the net loss amounted to $0.81. The company also said that it has axed 10,000 additional employees, as an effort to adjust its resource and cost base.
The oil field service company said that the fourth quarter income from continuing operations, excluding credits and charges, was $819 million, down 58% from $1.9 billion reported last year. Earnings per share from continuing operations, excluding credits and charges, decreased 57% to $0.65 from $1.50 in the previous year.
The company's operating income before tax totalled $1.3 billion for the fourth quarter, a decrease of 54% from $2.8 billion a year ago. Revenue for the fourth quarter ending December 31, 2015, fell 39% to $7.74 billion from $12.6 billion recorded in the previous year. On a sequential basis, Schlumberger's sales dropped 9% from $8.5 billion.
The company said that the sequential decrease in revenue was mainly due to the continuing fall in rig activity and stubborn pricing burden throughout its worldwide operations, which suffered from project cancellations and activity disorders.
Schlumberger CEO Paal Kibsgaard, said, "Among the business segments, Production Group revenue declined by 10% on lower pressure pumping services in North America. Reservoir Characterization and Drilling Group revenues declined sequentially by 7% and 8%, respectively, on lower demand for exploration-related products and services in the International Areas as customer budgets were exhausted."
For the full year 2015, the company reported net income of $2.07 billion or $1.63 per share, down from $5.6 billion or $4.31 per share last year. Revenue declined 27% to $35.5 billion from $48.6 billion reported in 2014. The company recorded an annual cash flow of $5 billion, which denoted 114 percent of earnings.
Previously in 2015, the company had announced job cut of at least 20,000 and presently employs nearly 105,000 staffs. The downturn in crude prices and natural gas prices has forced many energy companies like Southwestern Energy to trim several workforces over the previous year, according to abcNews.
Paal Kibsgaard said that he expects to complete the acquisition of Cameron International by March end.
BBC said that the profit numbers were better than analysts' expectation and were assisted by strong cuts to counterweight the fall in oil prices. According to the economists at RBS, the oil price could drop to $16 per barrel while the economists at Standard Chartered expects oil prices could hit $10 per barrel. The company's share price dropped nearly 20% in 2015 and reflected the investors' concern about the project cancellations.
In addition, Schlumberger said that its Board has approved a fresh stock repurchase program of about $10 billion and a quarterly cash dividend of $0.50 per share, which is payable on April 8, 2016, to shareholders with the record on February 17.
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