S&P downgrades Era Group to B-

S&P said it lowered its corporate credit rating on Era Group Inc. to B- from B.

The outlook is negative.

At the same time, the agency revised the recovery rating on the company's senior unsecured debt to 3 from 5. The 3 recovery rating indicates an expectation for meaningful (50%-70%; rounded estimate: 55%) recovery in the event of default. The issue-level rating remains B-.

"The downgrade reflects our revised assessment of Era's financial risk profile, based on assumptions for lower utilization and pricing as helicopter service providers continue to experience weakness in the offshore oil and gas line of service," S&P credit analyst Kevin Kwok said in a news release.

Operating revenues from the oil and gas line of service account for over 80% of Era's total revenues, with the remaining coming from the search and rescue, dry leasing, air medical and flightseeing lines of service, the agency explained.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.