Nabors Industries Ltd., an oil and gas drilling company, on Tuesday blamed a one-time charge due to a tax adjustment for a 15 percent drop in its second-quarter income.
Nabors, based in Hamilton, Bermuda, said net income was $194.4 million, or 67 cents a share, for the quarter that ended June 30. That compared with $228.3 million, or 79 cents a share, in the year-ago quarter.
Operating revenue and earnings from unconsolidated affiliates rose to $1.28 billion from $1.14 billion in the second quarter of 2007.
Gene Isenberg, Nabors' chairman and chief executive, said the most recent quarter includes charges totaling 6 cents per share including: a tax-related charge of 3 cents; an accounting-related charge of 1 cent; and a mark-to-market loss of 2 cents on certain forward hedges.
Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial forecast, on average, a quarterly profit of 69 cents per share. The estimates typically exclude one-time items.
"Our second quarter saw a dramatic and rapid turnaround in activity and in the outlook for our North American businesses, although non-operational items obscured bottom-line results," he said in a statement. "It is now clear that our operating income bottomed out in the second quarter and the outlook for the second half and beyond is improving more rapidly than we had anticipated."
In the first six months, net income was $424.9 million, or $1.48 per share, compared with $490.5 million, or $1.71 per share, in the comparable period of 2007. Operating revenue and earnings from unconsolidated affiliates in the first six months were $2.57 billion, up from $2.39 billion for the first six months of 2007.
The company released its earnings after the market closed Tuesday. Its stock closed down $1.80 at $41.91 a share Tuesday.
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