S&P cuts GulfMark to B-, notes to B

Standard & Poor's said it lowered its corporate credit rating on GulfMark Offshore Inc. to B- from B+.

The outlook is stable.

At the same time, the agency lowered the issue-level ratings on the company's unsecured notes to B (one notch above the corporate credit rating) from B+. The recovery rating was revised to 2 from 3, indicating an expectation of substantial (high end of the 70% to 90% range) recovery in the event of payment default.

"The downgrade on Gulfmark reflects our expectation that the company's utilization and dayrates will remain very weak through at least 2016 due to a global oversupply of offshore support vessels as well as weaker demand for the vessels due to decreased offshore drilling given the rapid decline in oil prices," S&P credit analyst Stephen Scovotti said in a news release.

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