Maersk Drilling has upgraded its guidance for 2021.

The company now expects an operating result before interest, taxes, depreciations and amortizations of USD 290-330m against the previously announced USD 260-310m.

In a press release issued Thursday, the company informs that the upgraded guidance stems from a "strong operational performance."

"Particularly, the four deepwater floaters reactivated during Q1 and Q2 2021 have, since contract commencements, continued to outperform original operational expectations in terms of higher financial uptime and lower costs," the company writes in the press release.

At the same time, Maersk Drilling reports that it expects adjusted expenditure for investments in the range of USD 110-130m against 120-140m.

Profit in the first half

The upgraded guidance from Maersk Drilling occurred before the company presented its financial results for the first half of 2021, which came out Friday morning.

The results showed black figures on the bottom line with USD 41m in profit before taxes. This was a marked improvement from the loss of USD 1.5bn in the same period last year when the results were negatively influenced by impairments of the fleet. The operating result before special items (EBITDA) came to USD 163m in the first six months of the year.

Most recently, revenue increased to USD 350m in the second quarter from USD 264m in the same period last year.

"I am very pleased with our financial performance in the first half of 2021, building on exemplary efficiency and service delivery across our rig fleet and supported by a strong commercial performance in a market that is showing signs of an impending recovery," says Maersk Drilling CEO Jørn Madsen in the earnings release.

In the second quarter, Maersk Drilling secured new contracts valued at USD 129m. By the end of the first half, the order book comprised USD 1.6bn against 1.8bn at the end of March.

In the second quarter, Maersk Drilling divested its jack-up rig Inspirer for a price of USD 373m.

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