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The short-term positives could be seen in the company's diluted earnings per share at $0.86, which beat the consensus estimate of $0.63.
Seadrill CEO Peter Wullf said that while the company's March quarter this year had been solid, reducing its $251 million loss made in the preceding quarter to a loss of just $197 million, indications suggested that the rest of 2015 would continue to see "subdued" market conditions, with the "challenging" market continuing into next year.
Other upside could be seen in the company's operating profit for Q1 2015 rising to $703 million from $452 million in the preceding quarter, which Seadrill put down to the gain on deconsolidation of SeaMex, a full quarter of operations for the West Saturn, West Jupiter, and West Neptune partially offset by idle time on the West Navigator and the loss on impairment of goodwill recognised in the previous quarter.
Net financial and other items for the quarter showed a loss of $197 million compared to a loss of $251 million in the previous quarter, primarily related to interest expense and losses on the mark to market of derivative financial instruments, partially offset by interest income and foreign exchange gains.
Income taxes for the first quarter were $58 million, an increase of $7 million from the previous quarter, which Seadrill said was due to an increase in the relative components of estimated 2015 earnings generated in various tax jurisdictions.
As of March 31, 2015, total assets were $25.819 billion, a decrease of $687 million compared to the previous quarter.
Total current assets decreased to $3.022 billion from $3.415 billion over the course of the quarter, primarily driven by a decrease in the value of marketable securities and the deconsolidation of SeaMex, partially offset by an increase in amounts due from related party.
Total non-current assets decreased to $22,797 million from $23,091 million primarily due to the deconsolidation of SeaMex, partially offset by the final yard instalment on the West Carina.
Total current liabilities decreased to $3.37 billion from $4.574 billion, mainly due to loan repayments and normal quarterly debt instalments.
