Ensign Energy Services posts Q1 beat as it digests Trinidad acquisition

Drilling firm Ensign Energy Services Inc. is reporting a 72 per cent increase in revenue in its first full quarter since buying Trinidad Drilling Ltd. late last year.

The Calgary-based company says revenue came to $445 million in the first three months of 2019, up from $258 million in the same period a year earlier, mainly due to its winning the battle for Trinidad over larger rival Precision Drilling Corp.

Ensign lost $22.3 million or 14 cents per share in the quarter, down from a loss of $26.7 million or 17 cents the year before.

Analyst on averaged expected a loss of 31 cents, according to Thomson Reuters Eikon.

Trinidad's U.S. oilfield operations were seen as the biggest attraction for its suitors. Ensign says the companies' combined U.S. operations in the first quarter accounted for $274 million or 61 per cent of its revenue.

Its Canadian arm contributed just 24 per cent of revenue and its 56 per cent increase in operating days compared with the year-earlier period was dwarfed by activity in the U.S. which more than doubled.