Vessel Acquisition
Summary by AI BETAClose X
January 26, 2026
Gulf Marine Services PLC
('Gulf Marine Services', 'GMS', 'the Company' or 'the Group')
Acquisition of a new vessel
Gulf Marine Services ("GMS" or the "Company"), a leading provider of self-propelled, self-elevating support vessels ("SESVs") to the offshore energy industry, is pleased to announce that it has entered into an agreement to acquire a new mid-class vessel.
This vessel is expected to join the Group's 14 vessels fleet in the coming two weeks and will enable GMS to capitalise on the current strong market demand. The acquisition also supports the Group's stated strategic objective of doubling its 2024 adjusted EBITDA by 2030.
The acquisition has been partially financed through a USD 37.4 million 90-day interim loan provided by a local Middle Eastern bank that is part of the Company's existing lending syndicate, pending the completion of participation by the remaining lenders. The cost of funding and covenant package are consistent with those agreed with lenders and completed on 30 December 2024. The balance of the acquisition cost has been funded from the Company's own cash resources. Following completion of the acquisition, the Group's net leverage remains below 2.0x, excluding any EBITDA contribution from the acquired vessel.
The vessel has been earmarked for a number of identified commercial opportunities. Further announcements relating to backlog and revised adjusted EBITDA guidance for 2026 will be made in due course.
Mansour Al Alami, Executive Chairman of GMS, commented:
"We are delighted to announce this acquisition and would like to thank all those involved. This represents the first vessel acquisition by GMS in a decade and marks an important milestone for the Company. The addition of this vessel supports our growth ambitions, while preserving our financial strength and operational flexibility. Subject to market conditions, we look forward to pursuing further acquisitions, and to commencing our shareholder reward programme in the coming months."
Alex Aclimandos, Chief Financial Officer of GMS added: "We are very pleased with the lenders' response, which reflects our shared view of the industry and their confidence in GMS's management. This support is a strong endorsement of the successful turnaround the Company has delivered over the past few years. We now look forward to returning to shareholders 20 to 30 percent of adjusted net income."
This announcement contains inside information and is provided in accordance with the requirements of Article 17 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014 (as it forms part of UK law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, as amended).
-ENDS-
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Enquiries: Mansour Al Alami Executive Chairman
Alex Aclimandos Chief Financial Officer |
Tel: +44 (0)20 7603 1515 |
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Celicourt Communications Philip Dennis Mark Antelme Kristine Qevani |
Tel: +44 (0) 208 434 2643 |
Notes to Editors:
Gulf Marine Services PLC, a company listed on the London Stock Exchange, was founded in Abu Dhabi in 1977 and has become a world-leading provider of advanced self-propelled self-elevating support vessels (SESVs). The fleet serves the offshore energy industries from its offices in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar. The Group's assets are capable of serving clients' requirements across the globe, including those in the Middle East, South East Asia, West Africa, North America, the Gulf of Mexico, and Europe.
The GMS fleet of 15 SESVs is amongst the youngest in the industry. The vessels support GMS's clients in a broad range of offshore platform refurbishment and maintenance activities, well intervention work, and offshore wind turbine maintenance work (which are opex-led activities), as well as offshore platform installation and decommissioning and offshore wind turbine installation (which are capex-led activities).
The SESVs are categorised by size - K-Class (Small), S-Class (Mid), and E-Class (Large) - with these capable of operating in water depths of 45m to 80m depending on leg length. The vessels are four-legged and are self-propelled, which means they do not require tugs or similar support vessels for moves between locations in the field; this makes them significantly more cost-effective and time-efficient than conventional offshore support vessels without self-propulsion. They have a large deck space, crane capacity, and accommodation facilities (for up to 300 people) that can be adapted to the requirements of the Group's clients.
Gulf Marine Services PLC's Legal Entity Identifier is 213800IGS2QE89SAJF77
www.gmsplc.com
Disclaimer
The content of the Gulf Marine Services PLC website should not be considered to form a part of or be incorporated into this announcement.
Cautionary Statement
This announcement includes statements that are forward-looking in nature. All statements other than statements of historical fact are capable of interpretation as forward-looking statements. These statements may generally, but not always, be identified by the use of words such as 'will', 'should', 'could', 'estimate', 'goals', 'outlook', 'probably', 'project', 'risks', 'schedule', 'seek', 'target', 'expects', 'is expected to', 'aims', 'may', 'objective', 'is likely to', 'intends', 'believes', 'anticipates', 'plans', 'we see' or similar expressions. By their nature these forward-looking statements involve numerous assumptions, risks and uncertainties, both general and specific, as they relate to events and depend on circumstances that might occur in the future.
Accordingly, the actual results, operations, performance or achievements of the Company and its subsidiaries may be materially different from any future results, operations, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, due to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors. Neither Gulf Marine Services PLC nor any of its subsidiaries undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or other information. No part of this announcement constitutes, or shall be taken to constitute, an invitation or inducement to invest the Company or any other entity and must not be relied upon in any way in connection with any investment decision. All written and oral forward-looking statements attributable to the Company or to persons acting on the Company's behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements referred to above.
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