McDermott International reported second-quarter results before the market on Wednesday: $2.3 billion of revenue, $143 million of adjusted EBITDA, and $41 million of net income. The number that says more about where the Houston contractor sits is $15.8 billion, the backlog at June 30.
The rights offering closed at 97%
The subscription period for the rights offering McDermott announced on June 30 closed August 17 at 4:59 p.m. Eastern, and preliminary reports show roughly 97% of rights for Class A ordinary shares exercised. The company expects to issue those shares at the same time it closes a proposed credit facility refinancing, which it has guided to the third quarter.
A 97% take-up on a rights issue is a straightforward signal. Existing holders put more money in rather than let their stakes dilute, which is not what happens when a shareholder base is looking for the exit. For a firm that went through Chapter 11 in 2020 and has been privately held since, the recapitalization and refinancing sequence is the substantive event of the quarter, not the earnings line.
Cash is the caveat
The company used $76 million in operating activities during the quarter. Trailing-twelve-month adjusted EBITDA reached $519 million. Both of those figures are worth holding together rather than separately: an energy EPC contractor can post good accounting earnings while its working capital moves the wrong way, and on lump-sum work the cash line usually tells you about milestone timing before the income statement does.
Adjusted EBITDA is non-GAAP and company-defined here, and McDermott’s private status means there’s no SEC filing to check it against. CEO Michael McKelvy framed the quarter as running ahead of the 2026 annual business plan. The earnings call is Friday.
Where the backlog sits
McDermott does engineering and construction for the energy industry across more than 30 countries, heavy on offshore, LNG and downstream. That mix has been the right one to hold for the past two years, and $15.8 billion of backlog against $2.3 billion of quarterly revenue is a little under two years of cover.
The broader U.S. marine and industrial construction market is tightening in the same direction. Naval and energy work is drawing the same crews, the same heavy-lift equipment and the same dredging capacity, and projects like Pearl Harbor Dry Dock 5 are locking multi-year commitments from the small number of contractors that can execute at that scale. Backlog is easier to book than to staff.