NMS - Neptune Marine Services

son of baglimit said:

in an advert nms placed searching for divers worldwide, they said the pay was about $1100 per day - but i think its a long day too.

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Been a little quiet on the NMS front, still, do you think they are getting resources in place for hurricane season starting next month? :

Santoro said:

Been a little quiet on the NMS front, still, do you think they are getting resources in place for hurricane season starting next month? :

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hardly !!! - as per langes ann's recently, they hurricane season, and any poor weather, can upset their income due to delays with vessels, the employer etc.
obviously if another katrina/rita event occurs, nms are in a good position to gain, but that was an extraordinary year.

bring on the fine, clear weather to enable the work to be done, and therefore targets be met.

Two vessels purchased and at least one more to come. Tendering for BP (and the like) contracts without our own vessels is like asking a fine lady on a date and turning up on a BMX to pick her up.

"locked and loaded" may soon be realised.

Jarrah Tree said:

Two vessels purchased and at least one more to come. Tendering for BP (and the like) contracts without our own vessels is like asking a fine lady on a date and turning up on a BMX to pick her up.

"locked and loaded" may soon be realised.

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I agree that bigger contracts should now be forthcoming & find it hard to beleive that they wouldn't have some sort of agreements in place with larger companies seeing as they are investing millions in their own vessels. One thing that concerns me slightly though is the manning for these vessels. There is a distinct shortage of skilled offshore workers at the moment with all the activity up in the NW Shelf & in other parts of Australia. Getting crews for 2-3 vessels in todays workforce market could prove as difficult as getting the actual contracts in the first place. Still, I feel more confidant now they have their own vessels & am looking forward to bigger & better things.

NMS should get a bit of work out of this:

Blast at Apache's WA gas plant
By AAP

Western Australia faces days of disruption to its energy supply after an explosion ripped through an offshore gas plant which supplies 30 to 40 per cent of the state's domestic gas.

Major disruptions to domestic residential electricity supplies are considered unlikely, as the company, US-based Apache Energy, does not supply gas to Verve Energy, the state's principal power station operator.

But Apache lists itself as the second biggest supplier of gas to the WA domestic market, and it was unclear how gas supplies to WA homes would be affected.

The company said in a statement that the explosion occurred around 1.40pm (WST) near one of the plant's gas export pipelines on tiny Varanus Island, about 100km off Karratha in the gas-rich North West Shelf.

"The explosion and fire have affected gas export pipelines that deliver gas from Varanus Island to the domestic gas market," the statement said.

"It is anticipated that gas supply will be affected for a number of days."

Verve Energy spokesman Peter Winner said gas supplies to the company would not be affected.

"There won't be any impact on gas supplies to Verve Energy, and there won't be any impact on electricity supplies," Mr Winner told AAP.

An Apache spokesman said later it would take "a few hours at the very least" for the company to ascertain how long the gas supply would be disrupted.

But it is understood major consumers of gas such as Alcoa and Burrup Fertilisers have already approached Woodside Petroleum requesting it to fill any potential gap in energy supplies.

Apache said there were no casualties in the incident and all personnel had been evacuated from the island.

"We're concerned about what happened obviously but we're just grateful that there are no injuries and everyone is safely accounted for," managing director Tim Wall said.

He gave no indication of any damage to the plant.

"We have notified government authorities and also gas customers who will be affected by the disruption in gas supply," Mr Wall said.

The state's largest gas supplier Alinta, which is a client of Apache, was not immediately available for comment.

Woodside spokesman Roger Martin said the company had offered to assist Apache in dealing with the incident.

"The North West Shelf Venture will do what it can to make up some of the shortfall in pipeline gas supply," Mr Martin said.

A spokesman for Energy Minister Fran Logan would not be drawn on the likely impact of the incident on domestic residential supplies.

He said the minister and his staff were being briefed on the issue and had no further comment at this stage.

All gas from Varanus Island goes into the WA domestic market, delivering between 325 and 375 terrajoules of natural gas plus some condensate, a light crude oil.

An expansion project aims to increase the amount of energy that can be delivered from the island above 400 terrajoules per day.

The Varanus Island facility takes gas from the John Brookes field and oil and gas from the Harriet joint venture.

Wow, 2million traded in less than half an hour, but going south. A tough market, NMS are only 2million dollars short on profit, from 14 to 12million. The jobs are still there, the money is still coming in. Maybe Engo's above article had something to do with the delay? Wasn't some of this june scheduled Nepsys work for Apache? I'd say Apache WA would be dropping everything to fix the gas line damaged. And who knows, Neptune may get that job, you'd think there is a good chance.

Oil service companies in the US have gone up on average 11% this year and we are battling to stay afloat?? In time though potential will be realised and SP will soar, hopefully soon. Maybe this is a good thing today, and will shake out alot of the more nervous investors.

Hi Sophie
I still like NMS but in this skittish market a profit downgrade is still a profit downgrade, even if it's only about 14%, and it gets punished.
There will be better times for this company!

oldblue said:

Hi Sophie
I still like NMS but in this skittish market a profit downgrade is still a profit downgrade, even if it's only about 14%, and it gets punished.
There will be better times for this company!

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I agree.

Long-term fundamentals will prevail.

This company is still new and the areas its targeting are cash-rich and desperately need the services that NMS can provide.

Just hang in, 5 years+ time NMS will be worth over $2 billion in stead of $2m IMO.

WorleyParsons took as much time and was as volatile as NMS when it first floated but a full order book and risk tolerance went to the patient and victorious investors who are laughing with $40 worth shares.

Looks like BP is UNlocked & UNloaded! (courtesy of HC)

BP (LSE: BP.L - news) has signed three companies, including Amec (LSE: AMEC.L - news) (Advertisement)





The move is part of a drive by Tony Hayward, BP's chief executive, to simplify the company's structure and standardise its operations in an effort to improve efficiency and cut costs.

The group has chosen just three groups to provide its offshore engineering and project management services: Amec, KBR (NYSE: KBR - news) of the US and Worley Parsons of Australia.

Neil Bruce, chief operating officer of Amec's natural resources division, said: "If you are switching contractors all the time, you don't learn from one development to the next, and even if you don't mean to, you can repeat the same mistakes that other people have made."

The deal is a significant success for Amec, which has been restructuring to focus on the fast-growing energy industry. The news sent Amec's shares up more than 4 per cent to 884p.

Amec has been working for other big international oil companies including ExxonMobil and Royal Dutch Shell (Amsterdam: RDSA.AS - news) , but is now working with BP on just one development, in Azerbaijan. The deal puts it in a prime position to work with BP anywhere in the world, focused on the company's seven main growth areas: Angola, Asia-Pacific (002790.KS - news) , Azerbaijan, Egypt, Gulf of Mexico, the North Sea and Trinidad.

Neither BP nor Amec would give details of the value of the agreement, which will depend on how many projects Amec is selected for, but it is likely to run into hundreds of millions of dollars.

BP plans to invest about $22bn this year, most of it in its upstream business, and most of that will be offshore. The front-end engineering and project management components of a project typically comprise about 20 per cent of its cost, so Amec will be aiming for a share of a total spend worth billions of dollars.

I wouldn't worry about BP awarding those huge contracts, there's no way in the world NMS could handle them at this early stage, in any case they have full order books, are still on a massive recruitment drive, and still to expand their services globally to the acquisitions in Asia, Europe and the USA. Worley and the others should subcontract out relevant work though, at some stage, especially anything that would suit NEPSYS. Just like Caldive has done.

It would seem a very strong likelihood that the gas explosion in WA affected the june Apache work, the NMS announcement was almost immediately after the news. And it was the right thing to do, they laid their cards on the table, 6million shares traded and now we are onwards and upwards again, and everyone knows where the company stands for 08 and looks like heading for 09. Maybe a major holder update shortly, with that volume. Bring on 09 quarterlies and results, with ROVS and vessels, as well as all other services picking up a gear and expanding globally. I think more ROVs and vessels will be coming.

I was wrong on the gas explosion connection, a BRR interview is out now with the full explanation on the work delayed, not lost. Lange's mention of future profit forecasts, sounds very interesting. And no dilution for anymore spending, earnings and debt will incur the cost, with no problem getting the money. As usual all sounds good.....

my highlights of todays brr audio :

wasnt aware of any new nepsys work for apache in india.
revenues still expected to be at the top of the range previously forecast, despite the delays from these 2 apache jobs.
exceptional used to describe ross deeptechs performance, and we have heard zero about them - normal ongoing work or new work associated with being a neptune subsidiary ?
diving services up +100%
project management creating $10-12m in new revenues, from scratch.
greenfields & brownfields revenues split 50/50 - now that is new, as early as 1 year ago brownfields was the entire focus, but new developments have really taken hold. though this could also be as a result of the revs from acqs.
27 enquiries about the ROV's coming onboard (as per todays ann)
expecting ROV's to be working immediately once received.
further acqs expected (no surprise), but fully funded thru cashflows & debt, and not dilution thru more placements etc.

onwards & upwards.

OIL INDUSTRY NEWS BLOG - maintained by staff at Hogan Oil

11 June 2008
Japan's INPEX Holdings Inc has submitted a proposal to build a $19.6 billion floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in Indonesia, a senior energy watchdog official said on Monday.INPEX estimates there are more than 10 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves in its Abadi field in the Timor Sea, potentially one of Indonesia's biggest fields. If confirmed, it would make the project the second-biggest new gas field after the Tangguh project in Papua, which has combined reserves of 14.4 tcf.
Same company that NMS has just won a contract with 400km north of Broome.
Could be further work in the pipeline for Neptune.
Good to see the SP heading north again.

Interesting write-up in today's Melbourne Age. Very optimistic about the future of NMS. Then it also has a very ugly graph next to the article. Hopfully it jumps on Monday a la VMG in last weeks Melbourne Age! I have a feeling we won't see anything great in the financials for a couple of years though which may put people off who are looking for value stocks as opposed to growth stocks in the 'current market environment'.

Fleeta said:

I have a feeling we won't see anything great in the financials for a couple of years though which may put people off who are looking for value stocks as opposed to growth stocks in the 'current market environment'.

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I don't know about that Fleeta, they have 3 jobs to be done perhaps in the 1st quarter,worth minimum 20.5million and the margins in those jobs are supposed to be high. It might be a longshot that they are all paid for in the 1st quarter, but will definitely be done in the first 6months. And there is all their other sectors also earning, as well as all the other international businesses. Now that Lange has an incentive plan going, might be some indication that they are expecting good results??

Hopefully the SP will pick up after the end of financial year. And Asset Management acquisition should be finalised soon, and maybe another announced? Also we should hear how the new vessel is to be financed as well as maybe news of more vessels and ROVs. I'd imagine with the apparent ROV demand/inquiries they'd be wanting to do as much ROV business as they can and will buy more.

And maybe it's about time USUS is renamed Neptune and reflect the new service offerings, on a new website specifically for the american market. They've been around long enough now and, and we should start seeing evidence of expansion there, offering other NMS services.

Here's the link to the article from last weekend's paper on NMS and i will copy the part about NMS below also, sounds good, shame again about the SP though-

http://www.moneymanager.com.au/articles/2008/06/14/1213321677151.html

Neptune Marine

This is another offshore oil and gas services company that has benefited from expanding into international markets. Having acquired and integrated eight new businesses over an 18-month period for a total consideration of nearly $100 million, Neptune's emergence from an unprofitable minnow to a serious competitor in the offshore oil and gas services market has been impressive.

Neptune's size is better measured by the range of services it can offer than by the market capitalisation figures that a company like WorleyParsons boasts. Furthermore, Neptune should be considered a medium to long-term investment proposition, as this year's net profit of about $10 million should grow substantially in 2008-09.

Neptune's earnings per share are expected to rise from 3.3? in 2007-08 to 8? in 2008-09, according to consensus forecasts. This represents a P/E ratio of about six relative to 2008-09 estimates, suggesting the market has not factored in the company's growth profile.

Revenue from two contracts involving Neptune's higher margin businesses was unexpectedly deferred, resulting in a transfer of some of the anticipated 2007-08 profits to the 2008-09 financial year. While this may have contributed to a downturn in Neptune's share price it should be remembered that the company's substantial maiden profit will represent a strong turnaround from the previous year's loss of $6.7 million.

Neptune's suite of sub-sea services, including its patented underwater welding technology, is the main point of difference between the company and its competitors. It is this "cradle to grave" offering that should continue to attract new customers and strengthen existing relationships.

Poor old Neppy is getting hammered. I'm starting to feel sorry for the stock which is crazy as I should feel sorry for myself with 1 parcel bought at 73 cents last year and 2 parcels bought at 1.17 in Feb; still holding. I've been trading in and out of them lately in the 50's & 60's.
Hey remember those days, can you remeber 1.30, those were the days.

I think people expecting a stock as small as Neptune to go up are expecting far too much.

If you're buying what is a small, risky plan then you really do need to be patient.

The company IS making money and HAS a clogged order book.

In a market where there is essentially a "flight to quality" (large caps) or a flight to cash - people are getting SCARED of smaller plays.

It takes a frustratingly long time for funds/investors to realise the good value some of these plays have, WorleyParsons pretty much shoveled around the 50c to $2 range for years and years till people realised the company was a gem.

I am sure Neptune is too.

But if you're going to play in small, riskier plays (Neptune IS making money), be patient, its no use complaining as it'll probably take many more months if not years.

But don't worry, once it takes off, the ones like us who invested at 50c/$1 will be the first in line for the best gains.

3 contracts announced over the past 3 weeks totalling 17.5 million, this is the organic growth that should it continue regularly will see this sp start to recover lost ground.

Lots of contcracts being picked up thats for sure.

Just out of interest, what sort of margins do they have?

IE - how much of that 17 mill can be expected to become profit?