Marine seismic company Shearwater Geoservices reported a decline in total revenue to $120.6 million for the first quarter of 2026, down from $189.4 million during the same period in 2025.
This decrease was driven by a lack of contract activity, which resulted in a net loss of $19.1 million for the three months ended March 31, 2026.
Operating profit fell to $2 million from $23.9 million in the prior-year quarter, while earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation dropped to $35.7 million. At the end of the quarter, the company's backlog stood at $271.7 million, representing a decline from $316.3 million at the end of December 2025.
During the period, fleet utilisation averaged 73 per cent across an average of 8.7 active vessels, compared to 94 per cent across nine active vessels in the first quarter of 2025.
"While current market activity remains low, the long-term fundamentals for marine seismic are strengthening," Chief Executive Officer Irene Waage Basili commented.
Active vessels included the SW Tasman, which completed the Shell Malakai survey in Malaysia, and the Amazon Warrior, which began a five-month survey for ExxonMobil in Trinidad and Tobago. Additionally, the SW Duchess completed a two-month survey offshore Nigeria, while the SW Empress operated in the Pelotas Basin in Brazil.
To align active capacity with demand, the company placed the Oceanic Vega into a cold-stacked state at the end of March, and sold the cold-stacked vessel SW Baret in April 2026. Basili attributed the muted marine acquisition performance in the quarter to a "slow contract market".
Shearwater indicated that the leverage ratio reached 5.3 at the end of the quarter, prompting the company to secure a covenant waiver from its banking syndicate.
The company then proposed debt amendments to bondholders on May 19, 2026, to defer $25 million of scheduled repayments to the maturity of its bank facility.
These restructuring measures are projected to generate more than $61 million in immediate liquidity, which will be supplemented by a $40 million equity contribution from ultimate parent RasmussenGruppen.
Looking forward, the company stated it is focused on managing capacity and costs while the market conditions are expected by the business to remain soft before improving toward the end of the year.
The business said it expects to conclude a memorandum of agreement for the potential sale of a further vessel into another market segment during the second quarter of 2026.