TechnipFMC (FTI 0.24%) continues to feel the impact of the oil market downturn, which is hampering demand for its offshore equipment and services. That kept the pressure on its financial results since the company is winding down several major projects. However, on a more positive note, the offshore service company did have a couple of bright spots, including a big uptick in new orders, which suggests better days could be ahead.

TechnipFMC PLC results: The raw numbers

Metric

Q2 2018

Q2 2017

Year-Over-Year Change

Revenue

$2.96 billion

$3.85 billion

(23%)

Adjusted net income

$131.9 million

$211.9 million

(37.8%)

Adjusted earnings per share

$0.28

$0.45

(37.8%)

Data source: TechnipFMC PLC

Oil platform and tanker ship on offshore area at sunset.

Image source: Getty Images.

What happened with TechnipFMC PLC this quarter? 

The quarter was a mixed bag:

  • Subsea revenue dove 29.6% to $1.2 billion while operating profit in the segment plunged 67.9% to $75.9 billion because projects in Asia Pacific, Africa, and North America moved toward competition. The company wasn't able to offset those projects with enough new orders due to the continued downturn in the offshore drilling market. On a more positive note, its vessel utilization rate for the quarter was 71%, which was an improvement from both the first quarter and the year-ago period.
  • TechnipFMC's onshore/offshore segment continued its decline as revenue slumped 26% to $1.3 billion while operating profit slipped 16.2% to $171.3 million. The main driver was that the company moved toward completing its major project, the Yamal LNG facility in Russia. That more than offset a moderate increase in project activity in Asia Pacific as well as the Europe, Middle East, India, and Africa region.
  • Revenue from the surface technologies segment was the lone bright spot this quarter, surging 33.7% to $401.1 million. Meanwhile, the segment generated $51.1 million in operating profit, which was a vast improvement from the year-ago period's $1 million loss.
  • TechnipFMC recorded strong inbound orders during the quarter of $4.2 billion, up 34.2% year over year, which was a record for the company and the second straight quarter that new orders outpaced sales, setting it up for future revenue growth. However, the total backlog fell 2% year over year to $14.9 million.

What management had to say 

CEO Doug Pferdehirt, commenting on the company's results, said: "Our second quarter results reflect strong operational performance across all business segments. The strong sequential recovery in Surface Technologies margin serves as a good example of our execution focus."

While TechnipFMC's results declined sharply versus the year-ago period, they compared more favorably to the first quarter. Revenue only fell 5% while adjusted earnings per share were flat. That's because the subsea segment showed notable sequential improvement as sales rose 3.2% and operating earnings jumped 39.5% while surface technologies, likewise, delivered increases in both sales and operating profit versus the first quarter.

Looking forward 

Pferdehirt said that "Our second quarter results provide a solid foundation to achieving our full-year financial objectives." In fact, the company increased its full-year sales guidance to a range of $12.1 billion-$12.8 billion, which is up from its prior guidance of $11.8 billion-$12.6 billion due to an improved outlook for its onshore/offshore business where it also sees higher margins.