Bristow Group Inc. 2007 Annual Report Going Places Bristow Group Inc. 2000 W Sam Houston Pkwy S Suite 1700, Houston, Texas 77042 t 713.267.7600 f 713.267.7620 www.bristowgroup.com 2007 Annual Report BOARD OF DIRECTORS OFFICERS CORPORATE INFORMATION Thomas C. Knudson William E. Chiles Corporate Offi ces Chairman, Bristow Group Inc.; President, Chief Executive Offi cer Bristow Group Inc. Retired Senior Vice President of and Director 2000 W Sam Houston Pkwy S ConocoPhillips Suite 1700, Houston, Texas 77042 Perry L. Elders Telephone: 713.267.7600 Thomas N. Amonett Executive Vice President and Fax: 713.267.7620 President and CEO, Chief Financial Offi cer www.bristowgroup.com Champion Technologies, Inc. Richard D. Burman Common Stock Information Charles F. Bolden, Jr. Senior Vice President, The company’s NYSE symbol is BRS. Major General Charles F. Bolden Jr., Eastern Hemisphere U.S. Marine Corps (Retired); Investor Information CEO of JACKandPANTHER L.L.C. Michael R. Suldo Additional information on the company Senior Vice President, is available at our web site Peter N. Buckley Western Hemisphere www.bristowgroup.com Chairman, Caledonia Investments plc. Michael J. Simon Transfer Agent Senior Vice President, Mellon Investor Services LLC Stephen J. Cannon Production Management 480 Washington Boulevard Retired President, Jersey City, NJ 07310 DynCorp International, L.L.C. Patrick Corr www.melloninvestor.com Senior Vice President, Jonathan H. Cartwright Global Training Auditors Finance Director, KPMG LLP Our Values Caledonia Investments plc. Mark B. Duncan Senior Vice President, William E. Chiles Global Business Development President & Chief Executive Offi cer, Bristow’s values represent our core beliefs about how we conduct our business. They are: Bristow Group Inc. William H. Hopkins Vice President, • Safety – Safety fi rst! Michael A. Flick Human Resources, Quality and Safety • Quality and Excellence – Set and achieve high standards in everything we do. Private Investor, Retired Executive Vice President and Randall A Stafford • Integrity – Do the right thing. Chief Administrative Offi cer, Vice President, First Commerce Corporation General Counsel and Corporate Secretary • Fulfi llment – Develop our talents and enjoy our work. • Teamwork – Communicate openly and respect each other. Ken C. Tamblyn Joseph A. Baj Retired Executive Vice President & Vice President, • Profi tability – Make wise decisions and help grow the business. Chief Financial Offi cer, Tidewater, Inc. Treasurer Robert W. Waldrup Elizabeth D. Brumley Private Investor, Vice President, Retired Vice President of Operations, Chief Accounting Offi cer and Controller Newfi eld Exploration Company Gavin Sinclair Vice President, Compliance Mark H. Frank Vice President, Planning Certain disclosures in this Annual Report may be considered “forward-looking” statements. These are made pursuant to “safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The information under the caption “Forward-Looking Statements” on our annual report on Form 10-K for the fi scal year ended March 31, 2007 should be read in conjunction with such statements. The company has fi led the required certifi cations under Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 regarding the quality of our public disclosures as Exhibits 31.1 and 31.2 to our annual report on Form 10-K for the fi scal year ended March 31, 2007. After the fi scal 2007 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, the Company intends to fi le with the New York Stock Exchange the CEO certifi cation regarding its compliance with the NYSE’s corporate governance listing standards as required by NYSE Rule 303A.12. Last year, the company fi led this CEO certifi cation with the NYSE on September 5, 2006. Design: Pennebaker.com Going Places. Safely. We are a world leader in helicopter transportation services, operate in 22 countries and have the world’s largest number of aircraft serving the offshore energy industry. William E. Chiles President and Chief Executive Offi cer To Our Shareholders: safety” to complement our proven safety structure In fi scal 2007 your company recorded the highest rev- and processes. Target Zero enues and profi ts in its history while continuing to invest underscores the personal in new helicopters that are essential to long-term growth. responsibility that every We ended the year with a strong balance sheet and the Bristow employee has for safety. Simply said, we need fi nancial fl exibility to seize more opportunities in fi scal every employee to think of safety as a primary job respon- 2008 and beyond. sibility as well as our #1 core value. Flight hours increased by 4 percent during the year, In fi scal 2007 we completed a survey of employees to while the key fi nancial measures of earnings before determine their attitudes about safety. We then construct- interest, taxes, depreciation (EBITDA) grew 28 percent ed a companywide Target Zero awareness campaign and and return on capital employed (ROCE) improved to developed a safety-training program that is being cas- approximately 14 percent. caded throughout the company. Target Zero is an ongoing part of Bristow business strategy and culture that we Introducing Target Zero believe will lead to a step-change in safety performance. Financial success is great, but it and our long-term suc- cess depend on safe and effi cient operations. I’m pleased Excellent business conditions continue to report that our measure of ground safety, Total Reported Our customers continued to expand their exploration, Injury Rate (TRIR), decreased 46 percent in fi scal 2007. drilling and production activities, refl ecting the strong Our Air Accident Rate was consistent with 2006’s rate, demand for oil and gas worldwide. Our 4,100-plus which was one-fourth the rate just four years ago. We are employees worked diligently to support our customers’ among the safest operators in both helicopter services and growing requirements for Bristow helicopter services production management. Still, we strive to do better. and production management services. Our employees and customers expect zero accidents The North Sea and Gulf of Mexico remained our largest in the air, on the ground and offshore. They expect zero markets for helicopter services. In most parts of the world, harm to people. They expect that we do zero harm to the we operate directly with our own helicopters – primarily environment. And we expect no less. However, the main as Bristow in the Eastern Hemisphere and Air Logistics reason that we strive for this goal is because it is the right in the Western Hemisphere. Joint venture companies, in- thing to do. cluding FB Heliservices (UK), Norsk Helikopter (Norway), To meet these expectations, we launched Target Heliservicio Campeche (Mexico) and Petroleum Air Zero, a corporate-wide effort to introduce a “culture of Services (Egypt), also play a key role in our success. 1 Our fi ve-year strategy This training is critical to developing the skilled pilots Long-term shareholders will remember that the key focus in needed to replace the large number of pilots nearing retire- fi scal 2006 was reorganizing Bristow as a single team with ment age. The Global Training division will also develop a one vision, mission and a cohesive brand identity. These training program for helicopter engineers and mechanics, efforts continue as part of our fi ve-year company strategy. which already are in short supply in most parts of the world. That strategy, summarized on page 3, was formalized in fi scal 2007. As part of that process, we conducted exten- Board, key personnel changes sive meetings with each business unit and were assisted Ken Jones was a founder of our predecessor company, by a leading energy consulting fi rm. In those meetings we Offshore Logistics, the company that created Air Logistics. identifi ed strategic alternatives, their capital requirements, Ken retired as chairman of Bristow Group early in the return on investment potential, likelihood of success and year, after several Board terms and 37 years of incredible much more. We then prioritized and risk-weighted the service to the industry. I want to thank him for his leader- alternatives to determine which ones best fi t our near- and ship and willingness to play so many important roles in the long-term plans. growth of Air Logistics and Bristow. He has turned over Implementing our people, internal process and custom- the chairmanship to Tom Knudson, whose leadership and er strategies will help us accomplish the following fi nancial great skills will take the company to the next level. strategies by 2011: In other Board news, we welcomed former NASA space • Double 2006 revenues to $1.5 billion shuttle astronaut Charles Bolden, who replaced Dr. Pierre • Deliver an average ROCE of 20 percent Jungels. Pierre contributed signifi cantly to Bristow, and we • Maintain a strong and conservative balance sheet thank him. • Deliver industry-leading shareholder return In management, Bill Donaldson, president of Grasso One element of our customer strategy is a commitment Production Management and senior vice president of to maintaining industry-leading responsiveness. To meet Bristow Group, retired effective March 31, 2007. Bill that commitment we need a modern helicopter fl eet and deserves our thanks for 12 years of leadership, during which well-trained workforce. Grasso doubled in revenue. Mike Simon, who joined the Bristow added 26 helicopters to its fl eet in fi scal 2007. company in 2006 from a customer, succeeded Bill. Currently, we have purchase commitments for 31 helicopters, including 14 “heavy” helicopters that can Why invest in Bristow carry from 18 to 25 passengers and their gear. We have Our business fundamentals and our strategy for options to purchase 52 more helicopters over the next six accelerating growth and profi tability make Bristow an years. Purchase options – instead of fi rm commitments attractive investment. – allow Bristow to support customers in an era of unprec- • Energy exploration and production continue to increase edented high demand and preserve our fi nancial fl exibility.