Noble suffers from wider loss of $1.59b in Q3

Noble's losses for 2017 have piled up to $4.15b (US$3.05b).

Noble Group Limited’s (Noble) loss widened to $1.59b (US$1.17b) in Q3 from $38.21m (US$28.10m) in the previous year.

According to its financial statement, Noble's losses for the nine months of 2017 have piled up to $4.15b (US$3.05b).

Revenue for nine months crashed by 23% YoY to $6.84b (US$5.03b) and fell by 18% YoY to $1.99b (US$1.46b) for the quarter.

It has been trying to repay its debts through the disposal of assets and cash flows from the sale of its hard commodities, Freight, and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) businesses. Noble also sold its global oil liquids and North American gas and power businesses.

As a result, net debt for the quarter decreased by $152.31m (US$112m) from $5.19b (US$3.82b) to $5.05b (US$3.71b). However, it continued to increase for nine months from $3.9b (US$2.87b) to $5.05 (US$3.71b), primarily due to the operating environment and a reinvestment in Harbour Energy.

The firm blamed challenging operating conditions hampered their chance to make profits.

"Conservative liquidity management and constraints placed on the Group’s access to trade finance lines led to disruption costs and prevented the Group from taking advantage of profitable trading opportunities," it said.

Moreover, Noble also plans to reduce headcount to 400 as part of its cost reduction.

Underlying trading results from the global oil liquids and North American gas & power businesses, classified as discontinued operations, were also adversely impacted by capital constraints as the businesses focused on reducing trading positions.