Paul Whiley, Mermaid Maritime’s COO and executive director, says the pandemic was all about survival, sharing that Mermaid Maritime signed any contract that came its way to maintain fleet and manpower utilisation.
“You got a [sales] number that was sort of half what it needed to be, but it covered selling, general and administrative expenses and kept the vessels at sea,” Whiley tells The Edge Singapore. “A lot of companies sort of believed they were going to get a better price [but] I believed it was just going to get worse, so I committed early, which was what kept us going.”
In addition, Whiley says that the pandemic also caused operational challenges for the business. These included finding quarantine accommodation for hundreds of employees and ensuring they were not infected with Covid-19 before they could be deployed to provide subsea services.
For example, to take on a project in Saudi Arabia, the company had to first move its workers to Tanzania, a country on the “yellow” or low-risk list that required a shorter quarantine period than if they had been sent directly from other higher-risk locations, recalls Whiley.
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Comparing the recent down cycle to what happened during the pandemic, the company is in a better shape. From a net loss of US$15.5 million ($19.7 million) in 1HFY2025 ended June 30, Mermaid Maritime reversed into the black for the full-year ended Dec 31, with earnings of US$7.4 million. Revenue for 2HFY2025 hit US$259.7 million, a 13.1% h-o-h increase from the US$229.6 million in 1HFY2025. As at Dec 31, 2025, its total order book stood at US$726 million, up from US$688 million as at end June 2025.
However, investors seemed reluctant to take the plunge with Mermaid Maritime. Last year, the company conducted a rights issue that was not fully subscribed. Nonetheless, it generated net proceeds of approximately $56.1 million, enabling Mermaid Maritime to move forward with its plans. On March 3, Mermaid Maritime’s share price closed at 13.4 cents, which is 13.5% above the rights issue price of 11.8 cents.
The enduring business segments
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Mermaid Maritime aims to capture more of the better-performing business segments and reduce exposure to those that are not performing comparatively well. The Middle East is a major market for the company, which is operating under long-term annual service contracts with its largest customer, Saudi Aramco. For FY2025, Middle East markets Saudi Arabia and Qatar contributed more than US$198.1 million or 40% of revenue.
In the same period, Southeast Asia markets (Thailand and Malaysia), its home ground, contributed revenue of more than US$239.5 million or 49%. Angola, the UK, Nigeria, India and “others” contributed US$21.8 million, US$20.9 million, US$3.9 million and US$1.28 million, respectively.
On a segmental basis, revenue contributions from IRM, cable-lay, transportation and installation (T&I) and decommissioning amounted to around US$187.8 million, US$48.7 million and US$252.8 million, respectively. According to Mermaid Maritime, the Middle East remains its largest growth region, underpinned by sustained IRM and cable-lay demand, as well as strong vessel utilisation. As at Dec 31, 2025, Middle East projects accounted for 79% of Mermaid Maritime’s US$726 million order book.
From a segmental perspective, subsea IRM accounted for 72% of the order book, or US$525 million, with cable-lay at US$89 million, or 12%, and the T&I and decommissioning segments making up the remaining US$112 million, or 15%. The order book comprises short- and long-term contracts through FY2036, according to the company’s FY2025 results presentation deck.
Mermaid Maritime’s cable-lay division, including flexibles, umbilicals and subsea cables, is the operational segment with the highest margins. Having expanded rapidly in the Middle East, cable-lay is now a key contributor to Mermaid Maritime’s business, supporting diversification and spreading risk.
Whiley says that Millennium 3, a construction support barge which Mermaid Maritime had acquired a 50% stake in 2021, is vital to the company’s presence in the Middle East. He says that the vessel is the only one in the world with dynamic positioning that can work in waters shallower than 10m.
As such, Mermaid Maritime says that it is the region’s only provider with shallow-water cable-lay capability. The company adds that, having upgraded the Millennium 3 for cable operations, Mermaid Maritime is well-positioned to capture the rising investment in subsea cable projects.
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“This segment is where you can make a lot of cash and it’s not going away,” says Whiley, who alludes to the defensive nature of the cable-laying business. “If the oil and gas business died or stopped tomorrow, there would still be that segment.”
Besides cable-laying, IRM is Mermaid Maritime’s bread and butter. “It’s kind of a river that always flows because it never goes away,” says Whiley, who believes that IRM is the “backbone” of the company. “It isn’t a great opportunity in terms of profits, but it certainly creates cash.”
Mermaid Maritime observes that Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia have sustained their offshore energy investment, with the focus shifting further toward deepwater development, life extension and infrastructure integrity. This is driving consistent demand for specialised subsea vessels and integrated field-support services, in line with Mermaid Maritime’s strong vessel fleet and manpower.
For context, the number of diving support vessels (DSVs) has been decreasing over the last 15 years. As of February 2024, the global DSV fleet comprises only 112 vessels and 44 specialist remotely operated vehicle (ROV) support vessels. Approximately 50 DSVs have been scrapped over the preceding decade, while only three new vessels have been delivered since 2023, with just one additional unit on order.
In terms of saturation-diving vessels, the numbers are starker. According to Whiley, the number of such vessels has dropped from more than 100 in 2018 to less than 50 currently. Saturation diving vessels are DSVs equipped with pressurised saturation system chambers and a diving bell, enabling divers to live and work at depths up to 300m for extended periods.
According to Whiley, Mermaid Maritime’s fleet comprises 20 ROVs and six saturation-diving vessels (three owned and three chartered-in), representing a significant share of the global supply. “Demand [for the vessels] has gone up and not down,” says Whiley.
Mermaid Maritime believes that the supply of DSVs will not increase in the near future due to constraints, including time and funding constraints. It notes that converting offshore supply vessels to DSV capability takes eight months and requires approximately US$35 million in investment. This does not include newbuilds, which require more time and a higher investment.
In addition to its fleet, Mermaid Maritime runs the “biggest” diving company in the world, according to Whiley. “We got more divers than any other company on Earth,” he says. “Of course, the large portion of those are air divers for the routine inspection, repairs and maintenance [jobs].”
Besides Mermaid Maritime’s fleet and human capital, Whiley reckons that the company’s ability to take on jobs in “compromised” geographies is a competitive advantage. Citing certain countries on the African continent, Whiley says that it is a “tough space to get paid”, but his team is familiar with the areas. He adds, “Where there’s adversity, there’s opportunity.”
Mermaid Maritime’s established saturation diving and IRM track record in Angola has generated incremental work scope and new bid opportunities across Nigeria, Mozambique, Equatorial Guinea and Ghana. “Africa is definitely a big opportunity in the future,” says Whiley.
“I think another big strength of the company is obviously the CV of the company,” says Whiley, referring to its track record. “Once you’ve got a good CV as a business, as a company, then it becomes much easier to be considered for big and small opportunities sustainably, and they’re all there.”
With global rig utilisation expected to remain robust through 2028, according to various sources, Mermaid Maritime, with its proven capabilities, is positioned to seize IRM opportunities in the offshore oil and gas sector across the diverse markets in which it operates.
New opportunities in its roots
After exiting the drilling business in 2020, the company recognised it needed to diversify for growth. By this time, environmental sustainability had become too significant for hydrocarbon exploration and production businesses to ignore, and the decommissioning of oil and gas fields gathered pace.
Spotting the opportunity, Mermaid Maritime diversified into the T&I and decommissioning segments. Since 4QFY2021, this segment has contributed at least 14% to quarterly revenue, reaching a peak of 63% in 3QFY2025. In 4QFY2025, this segment contributed 34% of revenue.
Correspondingly, with the progressive recognition of revenue, Mermaid Maritime’s order book for this segment decreased from a peak of US$520 million in 4QFY2023 to US$112 million as at Dec 31, 2025.
However, Mermaid Maritime is optimistic about the segment’s prospects. In Asia Pacific, Wood Mackenzie estimates the market is worth around US$100 billion with some 2,600 platforms and 35,000 wells requiring decommissioning. For the UK continental shelf, the market is estimated at around GBP27 billion ($46.2 billion) with around 1,300 platform wells and 70 subsea wells.
“There’s no doubt that, like over the next 50 years, decommissioning will become the biggest segment,” says Whiley. “From a sort of intermediate-term perspective, it’s probably the best single opportunity in the business.”
