S&P: Nabors still on watch

Standard & Poor's said that the ratings on Nabors Industries Inc. (A-/Watch negative) would remain on CreditWatch with negative implications, following the disclosure in the company's 2006 SEC Form 10K that dating irregularities in stock option and other incentive awards resulted in a non-cash charge of $51.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2006.

These latest revelations compound existing concerns about Nabors' governance and disclosure policies, S&P said, noting that it initially placed the Nabors ratings on CreditWatch with negative implications on May 18, 2006.

At that time, the agency's concerns focused on Nabors' financial profile because of its plan to issue $2.5 billion of senior exchangeable notes, which was subsequently increased to $2.75 billion.

Investigations into potential options backdating during 2006 and the resulting discovery of inaccurate "measurement date(s)," raised additional concern, S&P added.

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