SDRL Seadrill Limited

By Dominic Chopping

Seadrill Ltd. (SDRL) posted a bigger-than-expected fourth-quarter net loss on Tuesday, but said that the offshore drilling market is continuing to improve with more tendering and better contracts.

Seadrill, which operates a fleet of 35 drilling rigs and manages a further 18, reported a net loss of $362 million in the three months to Dec. 31 compared with an expected net loss of $207 million in a FactSet-provided forecast.

Revenue came in at $292 million compared with a forecast of $262 million, while adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization totaled $73 million.

Seadrill expects adjusted Ebitda for the first quarter of 2019 will be lower than the fourth quarter, at around $60 million.

"The offshore drilling market continues to show signs of improvement with increased tendering activity and better contract economics," Chief Executive Anton Dibowitz said. "We expect more activity in 2019 to lead to a tighter supply-demand balance and improved pricing in 2020 as the recovery progresses."

The company said its backlog as of Feb. 26 stood at around $2 billion, having gained $89 million since November.

Write to Dominic Chopping at dominic.chopping@wsj.com; @domchopping @WSJNordics

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 26, 2019 02:25 ET (07:25 GMT)

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