CLB Q4 2012: DEEPWATER DRIVES MOST PROFITABLE QUAR
CLB Q4 2012: DEEPWATER DRIVES MOST PROFITABLE QUARTER EVER; ALL-TIME QUARTERLY AND ANNUAL HIGHS FOR REVENUE, NET INCOME, EPS & FCF; 2012 FCF TOPS $206,000,000
AMSTERDAM (30 January 2013) - Core Laboratories N.V. (NYSE: "CLB US" and NYSE Euronext: "CLB NA") posted its most profitable quarter in Company history, with earnings per diluted share (“EPS”) of $1.17 for the fourth quarter of 2012. The effects of a lower than expected share count used to calculate fourth quarter guidance was offset by currency translation losses in the quarter. Excluding year-ago one- time items, quarterly EPS increased 7% year-over-year as net income increased to an all-time quarterly high of $54,801,000. Revenue increased to a quarterly record of $254,455,000, and operating income reached $75,868,000, yielding operating margins of 30%. Free cash flow (“FCF”), defined as cash from operations less capital expenditures, for the fourth quarter of 2012 also established an all-time quarterly high at $78,055,000, eclipsing the quarter's net income by over $23,000,000, while the Company's average diluted share count for the quarter fell to 46,857,000, nearing a 15-year quarterly low. Core repurchased approximately 894,000 shares during the fourth quarter at an average share price of approximately $103.32.
The Company's improved year-over-year and sequential quarterly results reflect Core's continued focus on international crude-oil developments, especially those in deepwater, unconventional oil plays in North America and high-grading international unconventional opportunities. An industry leading 13% sequential quarterly increase in international revenue underpinned results.
The fourth quarter of 2012 saw record demand for Core's Reservoir Description reservoir fluids and advanced reservoir-rock properties technologies, especially for projects in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, North Sea, Iraq, Africa, including offshore Gabon and Angola, the Middle East, and Asia Pacific. Production Enhancement operations recorded its highest revenue quarter ever because of increased market penetration by its patented and proprietary field-flood and fracture-stimulation diagnostic services, coupled with increased demand for the Company's HTD BlastTM and HTD BlastXLTM technologies. The Reservoir Management segment continued to add participants and expand projects in unconventional reservoirs in North America, especially liquids-rich plays in the Duvernay, Cardium, Bakken, Niobrara, Eagle Ford, and Mississippi Lime formations, and unconventional stacked reservoirs in the Permian Basin. The Company also initiated a new joint industry project in the Pearsall shale in South Texas. Several international unconventional plays in Europe, Russia, North and South Africa, China, Australia, and especially in the Middle East continue to be evaluated by Core.
Compared with full-year 2011 results, Core's 2012 revenue increased 8% to $981,080,000; net income increased 17% to $216,071,000; and EPS was up 19% to $4.54, all of which establish historic annual highs for the Company. Operating margins set an annual high of 30%, up 300 basis points over year- earlier levels. FCF also reached an historic annual high of $206,051,000, turning more than one in five revenue dollars into free cash flow.