Noble cut its 2026 profit guidance by about $92m at the midpoint, kept the dividend, and blamed two rigs in Brazil and a reshuffled schedule
Offshore drilling had a bad quarter and a worse forecast.
Noble Corporation plc, the Houston-based drilling contractor, reported total revenue of $720 million for the second quarter on Monday, down from $849 million a year earlier and from $786 million in the first three months of this year. The company recorded a net loss of $37 million, a diluted loss per share of $0.23, and adjusted diluted earnings per share of one cent. Adjusted EBITDA was $212 million. Operating activities generated $144 million of cash, and free cash flow was negative $59 million.
The full year guidance moved further than the quarter did. Adjusted EBITDA for 2026 is now expected at $850 million to $925 million, against $940 million to $1,020 million previously, a reduction of roughly $92 million at the midpoint. Revenue guidance came down only at the upper end, to a range of $2,800 million to $2,900 million from $2,800 million to $3,000 million. Guidance for capital expenditure was left where it was, at $615 million to $665 million.
Robert Eifler, the chief executive, gave two reasons in the release. He said the revision primarily reflects reduced revenues for the company's two rigs operating in Brazil, together with re-sequenced backlog in the second half of the year for the Noble Viking and for the Noble Innovator and Noble Intrepid. Neither reason is a statement about demand, and the release does not offer one.
What the company says about next year is more cheerful, and it is a forecast rather than a result. Eifler said the market outlook continues to look promising in 2027 and beyond for both deepwater and harsh environment rigs, and pointed to recent contract fixtures at increasing dayrates as the evidence. Two of those fixtures are in the release. The Noble Claus Bachmann took a three-well contract with bp in the UK North Sea, expected to start in March 2027 for an estimated 150 to 210 days at a dayrate of $320,000 plus a $5 million mobilisation fee, after which its three-year campaign with Aker BP begins. The Noble Viking took a six-well contract. Together with other awards these add roughly $200 million of new contract value since the April fleet status report.
Backlog as of Monday stands at $6.8 billion.
Capital returns were left alone. The board declared a cash dividend of $0.50 per share for the third quarter. The company also refinanced the notes it inherited from Diamond Offshore, which it says simplifies the capital structure and produces $35 million of annual cash benefits, mostly interest and tax.
One footnote in the backlog disclosure is worth carrying forward. Noble says discussions over proposed administrative solutions following the operational suspension of the Noble Courage and the Noble Faye Kozack remain uncertain, and that actual revenues earned by those two rigs may differ from the disclosed backlog.
The call is Tuesday at 8:00 a.m. central.
