Tidewater reports Q4 results and year end earnings for fiscal 2008

Tidewater Inc. announced yesterday fourth quarter net earnings for the period ended March 31, 2008, of $85.4 million, or $1.63 per share, on revenues of $331.4 million. For the same quarter last year, net earnings were $87.6 million, or $1.56 per share, on revenues of $293.5 million. For fiscal year ended March 31, 2008, net earnings were $348.8 million, or $6.39 per share, on revenues of $1,270.2 million. For the fiscal year ended March 31, 2007, net earnings were $356.6 million, or $6.31 per share, on revenues of $1,125.3 million.
Included in the prior fiscal year ended March 31, 2007, results is an after-tax gain of $20.8 million, or $.37 per common share, (recorded in the second and third fiscal quarters), related to the sale of 14 of its offshore tugs for a total cash price of $43.7 million.
Also included in the prior fiscal year 2007 results (recorded in the fourth fiscal quarter), is a $3.5 million pre-tax charge to vessel operating costs for the company’s share of a deficit in an industry-wide multi-employer retirement fund in the United Kingdom, the Merchants Navy Officers Pension Fund (MNOPF). This charge, which relates primarily to the employment of certain U.K. employees in prior years, was the result of information presented in the fund’s valuation reports issued during fiscal year 2007.