1 October 2021

Gulf Marine Services PLC

('Gulf Marine Services', 'GMS', 'the Company' or 'the Group')

2021 Interim Financial Results Release Date &

Trading Update

GMS, a leading provider of advanced self-propelled, self-elevating support vessels serving the offshore oil, gas and renewables industries, is pleased to confirm that it will be releasing its 2021 interim financial results the week commencing 11 October 2021 and that the underlying trading performance of the business remains in line with management expectations.

H1 2021 Highlights

·    H1 revenue increased 3% to US$ 51.4 million (H1 2020: US$ 49.8 million).

·    H1 EBITDA increased by 16% to US$ 26.5 million (H1 2020: US$ 22.9 million) with EBITDA margin increasing to 52% (H1 2020: 46%).

·    G&A administrative expenses reduced to US$ 4.9million (H1 2020: US$ 6.6million).

·    EBITDA 2021 guidance of US$ 63-67 million underpinned by secured utilisation of 92% in second half

·    Significant reduction in interest costs in 2021 / 22 through new bank deal.

·    Net debt¹ reduction to $376m supported by successful US$ 27.8m equity raise in June 2021.

·    7 contract awards announced in 2021, with a combined total charter period of 3.4 years. 

·    A return to profitability, the first time since 2016.

Outlook

·    Secured backlog is US$ 215.4 million as at 30 June 2021, (H1 2020 US$ 238.6 million).

·    Strong pipeline of long-term contracts currently being tendered.

The improvement in GMS's secured utilisation, coupled with the overall improvement in utilisation experienced in the wider market, is leading to a reduction in the oversupply of vessels that we have seen in recent years. We believe this positions the Company well to benefit from an improvement on day rates, as contracts from our strong pipeline of current tender opportunities are awarded.

Market demand is being supported by commodity prices, driving renewed interest in capex work, combined with ongoing maintenance activity. It is also being driven by windfarm installation and maintenance, particularly in China, which is drawing capacity away from regional markets, including our own. In the Middle East, there appears to be no new capacity coming into the market, with constraints being driven by legacy issues resulting from the downturn in the commodity cycle, which we are now coming out of.

We expect costs incurred to date as a result of COVID-19 to reduce as governments ease quarantine requirements and border restrictions allowing our crews to join vessels more efficiently. 

The high level of revenue already secured for the remainder of 2021 is expected to drive a significant improvement to the H1 2021 EBITDA, underpinning GMS's Full Year EBITDA guidance of US$ 63-67 million.

Mansour Al Alami, Executive Chairman, GMS said:

"This solid performance in the first half, combined with higher rates of utilisation already secured to date, give us confidence for the remainder of the year. The first half performance is a reflection of legacy contracts. As we progress into the second half of the year and beyond, these contracts will increasingly unwind and we will realise the benefits of improved dayrates achieved on more recently awarded contracts that better reflect the improved market conditions. This, combined with our continued focus on operational efficiency, on costs and the benefits of the new debt deal and equity raise, is expected to drive an improved performance in the second half and beyond and support the accelerated deleveraging of the company's balance sheet."

¹Net Debt is total bank borrowings less cash

Notes to Editors:

Gulf Marine Services PLC, a company listed on the London Stock Exchange, was founded in Abu Dhabi in 1977 and has become a world leading provider of advanced self-propelled self-elevating support vessels (SESVs). The fleet serves the oil, gas and renewable energy industries from its offices in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The Group's assets are capable of serving clients' requirements across the globe, including those in the Middle East, South East Asia, West Africa, North America, the Gulf of Mexico and Europe.

The GMS fleet of 13 SESVs is amongst the youngest in the industry, with an average age of eight years. The vessels support GMS's clients in a broad range of offshore oil and gas platform refurbishment and maintenance activities, well intervention work and offshore wind turbine maintenance work (which are opex-led activities), as well as offshore oil and gas platform installation and decommissioning and offshore wind turbine installation (which are capex-led activities).

The SESVs are categorised by size - K-Class (Small), S-Class (Mid) and E-Class (Large) - with these capable of operating in water depths of 45m to 80m depending on leg length. The vessels are four-legged and are self-propelled, which means they do not require tugs or similar support vessels for moves between locations in the field; this makes them significantly more cost-effective and time-efficient than conventional offshore support vessels without self-propulsion. They have a large deck space, crane capacity and accommodation facilities (for up to 300 people) that can be adapted to the requirements of the Group's clients.

Gulf Marine Services PLC's Legal Entity Identifier is 213800IGS2QE89SAJF77

www.gmsuae.com

Disclaimer

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Cautionary Statement

This announcement includes statements that are forward-looking in nature. All statements other than statements of historical fact are capable of interpretation as forward-looking statements. These statements may generally, but not always, be identified by the use of words such as 'will', 'should', 'could', 'estimate', 'goals', 'outlook', 'probably', 'project', 'risks', 'schedule', 'seek', 'target', 'expects', 'is expected to', 'aims', 'may', 'objective', 'is likely to', 'intends', 'believes', 'anticipates', 'plans', 'we see' or similar expressions. By their nature these forward-looking statements involve numerous assumptions, risks and uncertainties, both general and specific, as they relate to events and depend on circumstances that might occur in the future.

Accordingly, the actual results, operations, performance or achievements of the Company and its subsidiaries may be materially different from any future results, operations, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, due to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors. Neither Gulf Marine Services PLC nor any of its subsidiaries undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or other information. No part of this announcement constitutes, or shall be taken to constitute, an invitation or inducement to invest the Company or any other entity and must not be relied upon in any way in connection with any investment decision. All written and oral forward-looking statements attributable to the Company or to persons acting on the Company's behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements referred to above.