Rowan Companies PLC (NYSE:RDC) will no longer pay quarterly dividends. The suspension is as of now indefinitely. The company has also renegotiated fresh terms for its credit facility, primarily pushing maturities back. The elimination of dividends and amendment of credit terms are all geared towards strengthening the company’s liquidity position.
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Rowan is a smaller player in the oil and gas industry, which is undergoing quite a baptism of fire as crude prices have collapsed. The situation is so tough that some companies in the industry risk going out of business, but Rowan believes its latest internal adjustments will enable it to survive the pressures.
Rowan used to distribute $0.10 per share to its Class A ordinary shareholders as a quarterly dividend. The company is now seeking to preserve cash to try to weather the storm. Management says that elimination of dividends will boost Rowan’s liquidity by at least $50 million annually.
Rowan has not provided an update on when it might restore the dividend payment.
New credit terms
In another adjustment, Rowan has been able to push the maturity of its revolving credit facility to 2021 from 2020. That gives it an extra one-year, which should also help alleviate the company’s financial pressures. Rowan has access to $1.5 billion until January 23, 2019 under the credit facility, which falls to $1.44 billion on January 23, 2020 and later to about $1.29 billion until maturity in 2021.
Note retirement
In yet another measure to bring more flexibility to its balance sheet, Rowan said it retired about $98 million worth of senior notes, which were due to mature in the next four years. If the notes ran their full course, they would have added $21 million of interest burden for the company.