Helicopter - CHC checks itself - Curt Lewis

CHC Reviewing Business Model Amid Downturn

“We don’t have the luxury of not looking under every rock,” said CHC Group CFO Lee Eckhert Wednesday while explaining that the company is scrutinizing its entire operation amid an oil-market downturn that promises to be even more protracted than was envisioned just three months ago. 

 

Eckhert and Karl Fessenden, CEO of the Vancouver, British Columbia-headquartered helicopter firm, briefed analysts this morning on the company’s financial performance for the second quarter of its 2016 fiscal year (which ended Oct. 31). 

 

CHC reported a net loss of $42 million for the quarter, but its performance was aided by aggressive cost reductions in the face of falling demand for offshore support from oil and gas firms. By comparison, the company lost $177 million in the same quarter last year. 

 

Cost cuts combined with renegotiated aircraft lease and purchase agreements and other steps to improve CHC’s earnings margin to 37.3% from 30.1% a year ago. 

 

“We are continuing to reassess what our business model looks like,” said Eckhert. “We’re questioning all assumptions: how we go to market, how we provide those services and how we manage the company.”