- Seadrill (NYSE:SDRL) +1.3% premarket after increasing dividends and forecasting earnings to show "meaningful improvement” in Q2 and increase further for the rest of the year as utilization rates rise (Q1 results).
- The dividend raise is a mere $0.02 (to an even $1.00) but SDRL had warned in February that it saw “limited value” in paying out more than $0.98 because of slowing growth in the rig market in 2014-15.
- SDRL says the market still "suffers from limited exploration drilling and delays in field developments,” bit it has seen "increased inquiries” in recent weeks.
- Q1 net income rose to $3.1B from $440M in the year-ago quarter on financial gains of $2.2B from the deconsolidation of Seadrill Partners; consolidated EBITDA was $788M, beating estimates of $740M.