CGGVeritas Announces First Quarter 2008 Results

Revenue up 12% in $ Year-on-Year



PARIS, May 14  /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- CGGVeritas (ISIN: 0000120164 - NYSE: CGV) today announced its first quarter 2008 unaudited financial results(1). All comparisons are made on a year-on-year basis with first quarter 2007 figures unless otherwise stated.

  During the first quarter of 2008:

  - Group revenue was stable in EUR and up 12% in $ at EUR585
    million ($873 million).

  - Group operating income was down 14% in EUR but stable in $
    at EUR123 million ($184 million). Services and Sercel delivered robust
    performance, resulting in a Group operating margin of 21% including a
    2% unfavorable currency impact.

  - Sercel delivered a revenue of EUR189 million ($282 million),
    down 8% in EUR and up 5% in $, with a 32% operating margin.

  - Services revenue grew 2% in EUR and 16% in $ to EUR433
    million ($647 million) with a 21% operating margin and a stronger
    contract vs. multi-client sales mix.

  - Net income of EUR64 million ($96 million) represented 11% of
    revenue, corresponding to EUR2.28 earnings per share (EPS) and $0.68
    per ADS.

  - Backlog as of May 1st 2008 stood at $1.7 billion.


  CGGVeritas Chairman & CEO, Robert Brunck commented:


"I am pleased to report that CGGVeritas delivered robust results thanks to our unique and balanced portfolio as well as our leading technology. These results were achieved despite a less favorable currency environment as we operate in a dollar denominated market. This quarter particularly benefited from the strong performance of Sercel and our Services contract business. I am also pleased to confirm our 2008 objectives with a strong outlook for the second half of the year, supported by a strengthening equipment market, increasing interest in our wide-azimuth programs, and the timing of licensing rounds in the GoM and Brazil. Our longer term outlook for the seismic market continues to be healthy, driven by strong E&P fundamentals and the growing requirement for advanced seismic technology."

First Quarter 2008 Overall Performance and Highlights

Group Revenue was EUR585 million ($873 million), compared to EUR592 million ($777 million). This 12% growth in $ was driven by sustained sales of Sercel equipment and a high level of land and marine contract activity in Services.

Group Operating Income was EUR123 million ($184 million), down 14% in EUR and stable in $, with a 21% operating margin, compared to EUR144 million ($188 million) and a 24% margin last year. Group operating income includes EUR26 million ($39 million) of elimination of margin mainly related to Sercel internal sales and corporate general administration expenses. Without the adverse effect of the $/EUR exchange rate during the quarter, the operating margin would be 23%.

Group EBITDAs(1) was EUR230 million ($343 million) compared to EUR258 million ($339 million), EBITDAs margin was 39%.

Net Income was EUR64 million ($96 million) compared to EUR69 million ($91 million), resulting in an EPS of EUR2.28 per ordinary share and $0.68 per ADS.

The Effective Tax Rate not including deferred tax on currency translation and before share based compensation was 37%.

The Group Net Debt was stable over the quarter at EUR1,028 million ($1,626 million), representing 45% of total shareholders equity of EUR2,301 million ($3,639 million).

Industrial Capex was EUR51 million ($77 million) while multi-client Capex reached a peak EUR97 million ($145 million) to develop our offshore library, particularly our two concurrent leading wide-azimuth programs in Garden Banks and Walker Ridge in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Net Book Value of the multi-client library closed at EUR447 million ($707 million) distributed respectively with EUR325 million ($514 million) for our marine library and EUR122 million ($193 million) for our land library. The multi-client amortization rate was 50%.

  Comparison with First Quarter 2007

  Consolidated Statement of Income    First Quarter         First Quarter
                                  (in million euros)  (in million dollars)

                                      2008      2007        2008      2007

  Exchange rate                      1.492     1.313       1.492     1.313
  Operating revenue                  585.0     592.2       872.8     777.3
               Sercel                188.7     204.3       281.6     268.3
              Services               433.3     425.7       646.5     558.9
            Elimination              -37.0     -37.8       -55.3     -49.9
  Gross profit                       200.4     206.4       299.0     270.9
  Operating income                   123.4     143.5       184.0     188.3
               Sercel                 60.1      69.0        89.7      90.6
              Services                89.1     101.3       132.9     133.0
     Corporate and Elimination       -25.8     -26.8       -38.6     -35.3
  Income from equity investments       2.9       0.5         4.3       0.6
  Net income                          64.0      69.0        95.5      90.5
  Earnings per share (EUR)            2.28      2.65         n/a       n/a
  EBITDAs                            229.8     257.8       342.9     338.5
               Sercel                 66.1      73.7        98.6      96.8
              Services               190.4     210.2       284.1     276.0
  Industrial Capex & development      51.4      73.3        76.7      96.2
   costs
  Multi-client Capex                  97.3      61.8       145.1      81.1
  Net Debt / Equity gearing ratio       45%        -          45%        -


  First Quarter 2008 Business Review
  Sercel


Total revenue for Sercel was EUR189 million ($282 million), down 8% in EUR and up 5% in $. Internal sales were especially high during the quarter representing 19% of Sercel total sales.

Operating Income was EUR60 million ($90 million), with a 32% operating margin, compared to EUR69 million ($91 million) and a 34% margin a year ago. Without the adverse effect of the $/EUR exchange rate during the quarter, the operating margin would be 35%.

EBITDAs was EUR66 million ($99 million), with a 35% EBITDAs margin, compared to EUR74 million ($97 million) and a 36% margin last year.

Services

Revenue for Services was EUR433 million ($646 million), stable in EUR and up 16% in $ supported by strong contract performance and an 84% fleet utilization rate partially offset by lower multi-client sales.

Operating Income was EUR89 million ($133 million), with a 21% operating margin, compared to EUR101 million ($133 million) and a 24% margin a year ago based on stronger contract sales and lower contributions from the high margin multi-client business. Without the adverse effect of the $/EUR exchange rate during the quarter, the operating margin would be 22%.

EBITDAs was EUR190 million ($284 million), with a 44% EBITDAs margin compared to EUR210 million ($276 million) and a 49% margin last year.

- Marine contract revenue reached EUR159 million ($238 million) up 17% in EUR and up 33% in $ in an undersupplied market. We operated 66% of our high-end 3D fleet on contract, mainly in the Eastern Hemisphere. During the quarter, the Alize was upgraded to a 14 Sercel Sentinel solid streamer configuration.

- Land contract revenue reached EUR103 million ($154 million) up 23% in EUR and up 40% in $ with seasonally high activity in North America and increased demand for high resolution seismic. We operated 25 crews in select locations with 9 crews in the Eastern Hemisphere and 16 crews in the Western Hemisphere, including 2 in Alaska.

- Processing & Imaging revenue was EUR65 million ($97 million) down 4% in EUR and up 9% in $ based on increased data volumes and our strengthening position in high-end imaging technologies.

- Multi-client revenue was EUR105 million ($157 million) down 32% in EUR and 23% in $ from a strong first quarter last year. This trend illustrates the uneven pattern of multi-client revenues which by nature will be subject to quarterly fluctuations. The amortization rate for multi-client sales was 50% distributed respectively 48% for marine multi-client and 56% for land multi-client.

Multi-client marine revenue was EUR79 million ($118 million) down 31% in EUR and 21% in $. Marine multi-client Capex reached EUR86 million ($129 million) with 61% prefunding as two wide-azimuth projects ran concurrently. The Vision and the Vanquish pursued work on the Garden Banks multi-vessel wide-azimuth survey in the GoM while the Viking completed the acquisition phase of the Walker Ridge survey with promising preliminary results. Prefunding was EUR53 million ($78 million). After-sales revenue was EUR27 million ($40 million).

Multi-client land revenue was EUR26 million ($39 million) down 36% in EUR and down 27% in $. Land multi-client Capex was EUR11 million ($16 million) with 86% prefunding and 2 crews operating in the US. Prefunding was EUR9 million ($14 million). After-sales revenue was EUR17 million ($25 million).

2008 Outlook

In Q2 we plan to demobilize our Arctic crews as every year. We also expect a lower marine utilization rate based on various factors. These include planned shipyard maintenance during seasonal transits, a return of vessels for defective maritime equipment and a loss of propulsion incident on the Symphony offshore Australia at the end of April that is still under assessment. At this time, we estimate that the impact of the Symphony incident on operating income could be above $25 million.

We confirm our 2008 objectives based on strengthening activity in the second half of the year. Seismic equipment deliveries will continue to increase throughout 2008, fueled by Sercel's record backlog. In Services, the marine utilization rate is expected to return to high levels in Q3 and Q4 and we expect library sales to increase particularly in Q4, driven by the timing of licensing rounds.

Looking forward we expect the seismic market for equipment and services to grow along with increasing E&P spending of the oil and gas companies.

Other information

The quarterly financial information including press release, 6K and presentation are available on our website at http://www.cggveritas.com/.

Robert BRUNCK, Chairman and CEO, will comment on the results during a public presentation today May 14th 2008 at 10:00 am - at Maison du Barreau - 2 & 4 rue de Harlay - Paris 1st.

An English language conference call is also scheduled today Wednesday May 14th at 3:00 pm (Paris time) - 2.00 pm (London time) - 8:00 am (US CT) - 9:00 am (US ET).

  - International call-in: [phone]

  - US call-in: 1-888-241-0558

  - Replay: [phone] & [phone] - code 35066969




To take part in the conference call, simply dial five to ten minutes prior to the scheduled start time to register for the call and to check your connection is working properly. You will be asked for the name of the conference: "CGGVeritas 2008 Q1 results".

CGGVeritas will also provide a streaming audio webcast of the conference call accessible for two weeks following the conference call on our website.

About CGGVeritas

CGGVeritas (http://www.cggveritas.com/) is a leading international pure-play geophysical company delivering a wide range of technologies, services and equipment through Sercel, to its broad base of customers mainly throughout the global oil and gas industry. CGGVeritas is listed on the Euronext Paris (ISIN: 0000120164) and the New York Stock Exchange (in the form of American Depositary Shares, NYSE: CGV).

The information included herein contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the securities act of 1933 and section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These forward-looking statements reflect numerous assumptions and involve a number of risks and uncertainties as disclosed by the Company from time to time in its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Actual results may vary materially.

  Investor Relations Contacts
  Paris:
  Christophe Barnini
  Tel: [phone]
  E-Mail: 

  Houston:
  Hovey Cox
  Tel: [phone]
  E-Mail: 

DATASOURCE: CGGVeritas



CONTACT:  Investor Relations Contacts: Paris: Christophe Barnini, Tel:

[phone], E-Mail: ; Houston: Hovey Cox,

Tel: [phone], E-Mail: 

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