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- A one-percent increase in overall revenue from flying services was attributable to growth in CHC’s business in the Western North Sea region. Third-party sales by Heli-One – which provides helicopter maintenance, repair and overhaul services (MRO) – were up 25 percent.
- CHC’s consolidated Q3 adjusted EBITDAR margin, excluding special items, was 29 percent.
- EBITDAR for Helicopter Services, CHC’s oil-and-gas and search-and-rescue flying business, declined three percent to $118 million, driven in part by costs associated with returning Airbus EC225 aircraft to service, as well as expenses to initiate new operations in Nigeria, a key growth area for CHC.
- Heli-One’s EBITDAR declined 11 percent to $16 million, mostly as a result of the timing of helicopter maintenance projects, increased maintenance expenses for EC225 aircraft as they returned to service, and costs to improve the efficiency of the company’s supply chain.
- Proceeds from CHC Group’s initial public offering of its ordinary shares were $322 million (net of underwriting fees). This is composed of $294 million from the base offering in January, and $28 million from the underwriters’ February exercise of an over-allotment option to purchase additional ordinary shares.
- Those net proceeds, along with existing cash, were used in January to pay down all of CHC Helicopter’s outstanding revolver balance of $225 million, and in February to redeem $130 million of senior secured notes. Liquidity at the end of the quarter was $775 million.
- Third-quarter contract wins from oil-and-gas customers illustrated the leading global reach of CHC’s flying operations. The agreements were for services in places as wide-ranging as Azerbaijan, Australia, Brazil, Kenya, Malaysia, Mozambique and Norway.
- CHC’s retention rate of existing contracts continues to exceed 90 percent.
- The company’s return to strategically important Nigeria took a significant step forward in February when Atlantic Aviation, CHC’s joint-venture partner, initiated regular commercial flights for Shell.
- New contracts recorded during the quarter included agreements with Lufttransport (Norway) to upgrade and modify Airbus (formerly Eurocopter) AS332L1 aircraft for all-weather search-and-rescue services, and with Erickson Helicopters (United States) to maintain specific Airbus and Sikorsky aircraft.
- In February, the U.K. Ministry of Defence’s Military Aviation Authority certified Heli-One to provide maintenance support services for the agency’s Makila 1A1 engines.