Tidewater (TDW $46.48 -4.08) announced that second quarter financial
results for the three months ending September 30, 2011, are currently expected
to reflect vessel revenues that are below the $255 million to $260 million range
provided by the company during its August 4, 2011, earnings conference call and
actual vessel revenues of $253 million that were reported for the June quarter.
Tidewater does not provide its own earnings forecast or endorse forecasts
prepared by others, but notes that the Thomson First Call consensus estimate for
the Sept 2011 quarter is currently $0.52 per share.
Most significantly, the company has experienced delays in acceptance of the
initial vessels that form a part of a nine vessel package that were committed to
multi-year term charters with Saudi Aramco, largely because the vessels have yet
to meet certain performance standards. In addition, start up delays on other
projects are expected to result in unanticipated vessel downtime and lower
vessel revenue than originally anticipated in the September quarter. These two
items are expected to cumulatively result in lower than previously expected
vessel revenue in the September quarter of $6 million to $8 million.






