Precision looks overseas for growth

Gary Park

Having surged to third place among global drilling companies, Precision Drilling has its eye on further international expansion.

The Calgary-based company plans to step up its efforts to expand having tasted the benefits of recent acquisitions, including the US$316.5 million purchase of GlobalSantaFe’s land business and the US$165 million takeover of Reeves Wireline.

Chief Financial Officer Dale Tremblay told a conference call July 29 that the company’s entire second-quarter revenue growth was due to improvements outside of Canada totaling C$37.3 million.

Key contributions came from the United States, Asia/Pacific, the Burgos operations in Mexico and the Middle East. Second-quarter revenue was C$179.6 million, cash flow was C$29.4 million and profits were C$16 million. Capital spending dropped to C$55.25 million from C$91.66 million in the same period last year.