Diamond Offshore Beats Street on Cost Cuts

Rig contractor Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc's quarterly profit beat analysts' estimates as the company kept a tight leash on costs.

The company, which operates in the Americas, Europe, Australia and Asia, earned an adjusted profit of 27 cents per share for the fourth quarter, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Analysts on average had expected 13 cents per share.

Diamond Offshore's total operating expenses plunged nearly 68 percent in the three months ended Dec. 31.

The company's results were driven in part by "continuing cost controls and improving rig efficiencies," Chief Executive Marc Edwards said in a statement on Monday.

Offshore drilling activity is yet to benefit from a recent stability in oil prices due to the formidably higher costs of operating fields in deep waters, even as North American onshore drilling has picked up.

Diamond Offshore posted a net income of $73.1 million, or 53 cents per share, for the quarter, compared with a loss of $245.4 million, or $1.79 per share, a year earlier, when it recorded a charge of $499 million.

Net income in the latest quarter included a benefit of 26 cents per share attributable to a contract dispute settlement with a client in the North Sea, the company said.

The Houston-based company's total revenue fell 29.5 percent to $391.9 million, but beat analysts' average estimate of $358.3 million.

Reporting by Vishaka George