Subsea 7 said yesterday that market indicators continued to be positive in the medium to longer term.
The subsurface oil and gas engineering and construction company said tendering activity remained at high levels, with major contracts expected to be awarded in the remainder of 2010 and the first half of 2011.
It said the North Sea was particularly active with several significant projects being progressed for execution in 2012 and 2013. It added that activity in the Gulf of Mexico had been affected by the accident in the Macondo field but it was expected that activity would recover over the next year.
Subsea 7 said the third quarter of 2010 had been marked by strong project execution in all regions, and it had gained contracts valued at £254million during the period besides obtaining anti-trust clearance from the relevant US and Norwegian authorities in respect of the proposed combination of the company with Acergy.
The worldwide order book of the group at September 30 stood at about £1.84billion, comprised of about £1.2billion of day-rate contracts and £640million of lump-sum deals.
The company reported revenue of £343.47million for the three months to September 30 compared with £419.8million a year earlier.
It said the decrease was mainly as a result of reduced activity in Brazil in the third quarter 2010 compared with the previous year when there had been several significant projects in their offshore phases.
In addition, there were lower activity levels in the North Sea during the period than the year before.
Third-quarter pre-tax profits were £49.92million, down from £77.04million the previous year.
Extraordinary meetings of Subsea 7 and Acergy to approve the all-share acquisition of Subsea 7 by Acergy are scheduled for November 9 and the companies expect completion of the deal by January.