Tidewater's 2024 Net Income Jumps
February 28, 2025
Tidewater has announced that its net income for the 12 months ended December 31, 2024 was $180.7 million, compared to $97.2 million for the previous year.
The company’s revenue for the three and 12 months ended December 31, 2024 of $345.1 million and $1,345.8 million respectively, compared with $302.7 million and $1,010.0 million, respectively, for the previous year.
Quintin Kneen, Tidewater’s President and Chief Executive Officer, said: “2024 proved to be a successful year by all measures. Revenue, gross margin, earnings and free cash flow all increased significantly as the fundamental supply and demand imbalance in the offshore vessel market persisted.
“Day rate progression realized during the year is the most substantial we’ve experienced since the offshore recovery began and well-beyond the historical rate of annual day rate progression we’ve seen in prior cycles.”
He attributes the financial successes realized during 2024 to a multi-year effort to high-grade the fleet through the disposal of older, smaller vessels and through the acquisition of younger, higher-specification vessels, along with a short-term contracting strategy that has allowed the company to realize the day rate benefits of vessel scarcity in a healthy demand environment.
“Free cash flow for the year was $331.0 million, a significant increase from the prior year, driven by improving day rate realization and the full year’s benefit of the acquisition completed in 2023. During the year, we used $103.0 million of cash to pay down the required amortization on our outstanding debt and $119.4 million to reduce the number of shares outstanding, inclusive of both open market repurchases and the reduction of shares in exchange for payment of employee taxes on the vesting of equity compensation,” said Kneen.
The fourth quarter of 2024 came in slightly better than anticipated, with revenue of $345.1 million driven by an uptick in utilization and gross margin cresting the 50% threshold for the first time in nearly 16 years. Adjusted EBITDA of $138.4 million and net income of $36.9 million were both adversely impacted by the $14.3 million foreign exchange loss due to the strengthening of the U.S. dollar.
Free cash flow of $107.0 million improved nearly 60% sequentially primarily through a combination of an increase in gross margin and a reduction in drydock spend.
“Visibility for 2025 has improved and can be characterized by a relatively slow start to the year, with improving demand fundamentals as we progress towards the end of the year. We anticipate revenue, gross margin and free cash flow for 2025 to look similar to or slightly better than 2024.
“We are encouraged by the nature of conversations with our customers as it relates to their longer-term plans for continued growth in offshore activity. Offshore vessel supply remains in a favorable position, with only modest additions to the newbuild orderbook and no new deliveries expected during 2025.
“We are confident that the fundamental supply and demand forces that have propelled our financial performance over the last few years remain intact and that as the anticipated growth in offshore activity resumes, we will be well positioned to continue to drive material improvements in the financial performance of the business.”
