Bristow Group Inc
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THE BUSINESS OF DELIVERING Bristow Group Inc. 2000 W Sam Houston Pkwy S Suite 1700, Houston, Texas 77042 t 713.267.7600 f 713.267.7620 bristowgroup.com 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 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. Patrick Corr Additional information on the company Senior Vice President, is available at our web site Peter N. Buckley Global Safety, Training & Standards bristowgroup.com Chairman, Caledonia Investments plc. Mark B. Duncan Transfer Agent Senior Vice President, BNY Mellon Shareowner Services OUR Stephen J. Cannon Western Hemisphere 480 Washington Boulevard VALUES Retired President, Jersey City, NJ 07310 SAFETY: Safety fi rst! DynCorp International, L.L.C. Meera Sikka melloninvestor.com Vice President, QUALITY AND EXCELLENCE: Set and Jonathan H. Cartwright Global Business Development Auditors achieve high standards in everything we do. Finance Director, KPMG LLP INTEGRITY: Do the right thing. Caledonia Investments plc. Randall A. Stafford Vice President, FULFILLMENT: Develop our talents and William E. Chiles General Counsel and Corporate Secretary enjoy our work. President & Chief Executive Offi cer, TEAMWORK: Communicate openly and Bristow Group Inc. Hilary S. Ware respect each other. Vice President, PROFITABILITY: Make wise decisions Michael A. Flick Global Human Resources Private Investor, and help grow the business. Retired Executive Vice President and Joseph A. Baj Chief Administrative Offi cer, Vice President, First Commerce Corporation Treasurer Ken C. Tamblyn Elizabeth D. Brumley Retired Executive Vice President & Vice President, Chief Financial Offi cer, Tidewater, Inc. Chief Accounting Offi cer 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, 2008, 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, 2008. After the fi scal year 2008 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 August 23, 2007. Design: Pennebaker.com DELIVERING William E. Chiles ON PROMISES President and Chief Executive Offi cer EVERY DAY BRISTOW EMPLOYEES ARE CALLED ON TO DELIVER SAFE AND EFFICIENT HELICOPTER TRANSPORTATION TO CUSTOMERS AROUND THE WORLD. THEIR ABILITY TO MEET THIS COMMITMENT IS ALSO HELPING THE COMPANY DELIVER OUTSTANDING RETURNS TO SHAREHOLDERS. To Our Shareholders: safety behavior, supported by proven safety management By every important fi nancial measure, Bristow delivered its systems, advanced safety technology and excellent best results ever in fi scal year 2008. procedural training. Still, we are all impatient for progress Revenue increased 20 percent over the same period when lives and health are at stake. last year, exceeding $1 billion for the fi rst time. Operating Please see page 4 for more about our effort to deliver income increased 34 percent, and net income increased zero accidents, zero incidents and zero harm to the 40 percent. Return on capital employed (ROCE) improved environment. to 16 percent from 14 percent in fi scal year 2006. Overall, the company is ahead of its fi ve-year goal of Unprecedented demand for energy achieving $1.5 billion in annual revenues by fi scal year The majority of our business is directly related to the 2011. Supported by outstanding business conditions, the energy industry. We continue to benefi t from our clients’ strategies we put in place three years ago are having even efforts to satisfy increasing worldwide energy demands. better than expected results. Increasing demand for energy requires more exploration The addition of 36 new helicopters during the year production programs in deeper waters and farther from further supported our ability to meet customers’ demands shore, boosting demand for offshore transportation. The and increase our revenues and profi tability. need for our services and our ongoing fl eet modernization shows no sign of diminishing anytime soon. Our goal is zero accidents While new aircraft are expensive, they are more effi cient Bristow safety performance remains far ahead of industry to operate, environmentally more friendly and generally averages yet below our aggressive plan as two air accidents pave the way for greater profi tability. The rates we can occurred during the fi scal year. We deeply regret that one charge for larger and more modern aircraft are higher of those accidents claimed the life of a passenger. than for smaller, older aircraft. Amplifying the need for Our goal is to make helicopter transportation as safe as new helicopters are safety benefi ts and the increased fl ying in a commercial fi xed-wing airplane. Frankly, some requirement to carry more people and go to fi elds that are in our industry don’t believe this goal is achievable. We being explored and developed farther offshore. do, and we’re working hard every day to make it happen. Our Target Zero initiative is building a culture that changes 1 Standardization adds fl exibility, appeal senior vice president of the Western Hemisphere Division. No matter where our customers fl y, they expect to receive Following the close of the fi scal year, Meera Sikka joined the same high level of quality service. In fi scal year 2008, Bristow as vice president of Global Business Development. we improved our ability to meet that expectation. A key Her 20 years of experience in the energy business includes ingredient is upgrading equipment and operations to a 10 years with affi liates of Royal Dutch Shell. worldwide standard. This helps us qualify our aircraft to the highest standards, which also enables them to be rapidly Fiscal year 2009 focus on safety and people deployed anywhere in the world as needed. Beyond the continuing need to improve safety, the most Another focus in fi scal year 2008 was addressing the important task for the new year is enhancing our ability industrywide shortage of pilots, engineers and mechanics. to attract, retain and develop employees. It’s a big job At the beginning of the fi scal year, we acquired Florida- involving an overhaul of our Human Resources (HR) based pilot training school Helicopter Adventures organization and processes. Leading the charge is Hilary Incorporated (HAI), and subsequently renamed it Bristow Ware, who joined the company in August 2007 as Vice Academy. The Academy is helping fi ll our own needs President, Global Human Resources. Hilary brings valuable for quality pilots while also training private students and senior-level HR experience from some of the world’s most the employees of other helicopter operators, foreign successful energy companies. governments and oil companies. We further strengthened the Academy’s training Prospects for the future capabilities later in the year with the acquisition of Vortex The same strong market conditions that fostered excellent Helicopters Inc., a fl ight training school in New Iberia, results in fi scal year 2008 remain in place today. In fact, Louisiana. A key incentive for purchasing Vortex was the some conditions appear even more favorable. Through recruiting opportunities it afforded our operations in the our customer relationships, we are aware of business U.S. Gulf of Mexico. opportunities in a broad range of markets roughly double what we can supply (even considering our recently Production management business sold completed sale of common stock and senior convertible To focus on our core helicopter transportation business, in notes), causing us to be very optimistic about our ability to November 2007 we sold Grasso Production Management, continue to achieve our robust growth objectives. a contract operator of oil and gas production facilities in the I hope these fundamentals and our track record over U.S. Gulf of Mexico. While Grasso had been an important the past three years encourage your continued confi dence part of our business for many years, it had only indirect and investment in Bristow. While we’re just over halfway to benefi t to our core business. achieving the goals in our fi ve-year strategic plan, I believe Several important executive changes also occurred we’ve demonstrated our sound approach and ability to during the year. Mike Suldo and Bill Hopkins announced execute our plan. their retirements. Mike led our Western Hemisphere operations, while Bill headed up our safety and global standards organization. These outstanding individuals and Sincerely, close friends left big shoes to fi ll. I’m very pleased we were able to fi nd replacements within the company. Senior Vice President Patrick Corr added safety and global standards to his training leadership role. Mark Duncan transitioned William E.