Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) felt a pinch from the failed tilt at rival Baker Hughes, though the oil services group’s quarterly results still came in slightly better than the market expected.
Analysts had anticipated a 19 cents per share loss for the three month period, but, the actual figure stood at 14 cents.
The company took a US$3.5bn hit from a termination fee when the proposed US$28bn Baker Hughes takeover fell through.
There was some guarded positivity though as the group flagged expectations for a ‘modest uptick’ in the American rig count, an industry measure of new activity in the sector.
It comes after the slump in crude prices wiped out previously burgeoning growth particularly among US shale projects.
America is particularly important to Halliburton as opposed to its rivals Schlumberger and Baker Hughes which both have broader geographical exposure. Halliburton derives some 40% of all revenues from operations in the United States.
Halliburton reported US$3.8bn of revenue for the quarter, down 9% from the comparative period of 2015, and it reported a US$3.2bn loss from continuing operations.
Dave Lesar, Halliburton chief executive, said: “Our second quarter results showed resilience in the face of another challenging quarter marked by lower activity levels and continued pricing pressure around the globe.”
“North America revenue declined 15% sequentially, significantly outperforming the average US rig count, which was down 23%.”
Lesar highlighted that the US rig count had dropped 78% from the 2014 peak and reached a “landing point” during the second quarter.
“Since reaching the bottom, the rig count has improved by 26 over the last several weeks, reflecting operator confidence in stabilizing commodity prices,” he added.