Helix Energy Solutions (HLX) 8-K Helix Reports Fourth Quarter Results and 2008 Outlook

Exhibit 99.1

PRESSRELEASE

www.HelixESG.com

Helix Energy Solutions Group, Inc.• 400 N. Sam Houston Parkway E., Suite 400• Houston, TX 77060-3500• 281-618-0400• fax: 281-618-0505

For Immediate Release		08-004
	Contact:	Wade Pursell
Date: February 28, 2008	Title:	Chief Financial Officer

Helix Reports Fourth Quarter Results and 2008 Outlook

HOUSTON, TX — Helix Energy Solutions (NYSE: HLX) reported fourth quarter net income of $120.4 million, or $1.25 per diluted share. These results included a $151.7 million pre-tax gain ($1.02 per diluted share) related to our majority owned investment in Cal Dive. This non cash gain results from the acquisition by Cal Dive during the fourth quarter of Horizon Offshore using cash and shares of Cal Dive common stock, resulting in an adjustment in our investment in Cal Dive. During the quarter we also recorded oil and gas impairments / dry hole costs totaling $91.0 million and other net non-recurring charges of $3.4 million (see details on slide 7 of attached presentation). These impairments included $20.9 million pre-tax for the write-off of Devil’s Island as a result of drilling a well in Q1 2008 which found no additional hydrocarbons (the additional $13 million cost of drilling the well will be expensed, as required, in Q1 2008). The net result of these unusual items in Q4 2007 is $0.38 per diluted share. Absent these items, net income for the fourth quarter of 2007 was $83.2 million, or $0.87 per diluted share. This compares to $0.71 per share generated in the fourth quarter of 2006 before the $1.02 per share gain realized in that quarter from the carve-out IPO of our Shelf Contracting segment (“Cal Dive”).

Summary of Results

(in thousands, except per share amounts and percentages)

	Fourth Quarter						Third Quarter			Full Year
	2007			2006			2007			2007			2006
Revenues	$	500,243		$	395,839		$	460,573		$	1,767,445		$	1,366,924
Gross Profit		70,058			150,980			166,318			513,756			515,408
		14	%		38	%		36	%		29	%		38	%
Net Income		120,412			162,479			82,828			316,762			344,036
		24	%		41	%		18	%		18	%		25	%
Diluted Earnings Per Share	$	1.25		$	1.73		$	0.88		$	3.34		$	3.87
Adjusted EBITDAX	$	233,106		$	182,400		$	227,212		$	823,576		$	674,032

Owen Kratz, President and Chief Executive Officer of Helix, stated, “We are very pleased with the strength in our business units and the value creation inherent in the company. Helix personnel continue to handle the growth with continued quality improvements. We look forward to 08 as a settling out year during in which the value that has been created can begin to be unlocked.”

Financial Highlights

• Revenues: The $104 million increase in year-over-year fourth quarter revenues was driven by both Oil and Gas production and Contracting Services increases, due primarily to extra capacity on the shelf (Cal Dive) and continued escalating market demand in the deepwater. The increase in oil and gas revenues was due primarily to a 16% increase in year-over-year production. In addition, on the oil and gas side the sale of a 30% working interest in the Phoenix oilfield last quarter resulted in over $20 million of operating income during the fourth quarter.

• Margins: Absent the oil and gas impairments / dry hole costs, despite the fact that gross profit was higher by $10 million, margins for the fourth quarter 2007 were 32%, which were six points lower than 38% in the fourth quarter of 2006 as Cal Dive experienced a seasonal margin decline, theQ4000was out of service for upgrades, and a significant project during the quarter utilized a chartered vessel.

• SG&A: $45.2 million increased $4.4 million over the same period a year ago due primarily to increased overhead to support our growth. This level of SG&A was 9% of fourth quarter revenues, compared to 10% in the year ago quarter.

• Equity in Earnings: $10.5 million is comprised of our share of earnings for the quarter relating to the Marco Polo facility and the Independence Hub facility.

• Gain on subsidiary equity transactions: In December, 2007, Cal Dive (CDI) closed its acquisition of Horizon. CDI issued an aggregate of approximately 20.3 million shares of common stock and paid approximately $300 million in cash in the merger. The cash portion of the merger consideration was paid from CDI’s cash on hand and from borrowings under its new $675 million credit facility consisting of a $375 million senior secured term loan and a $300 million senior secured revolving credit facility, each of which is non-recourse to Helix. As a result of CDI’s equity issued, we recorded a $151.7 million pre-tax gain. The gain was calculated as the difference in the value of our investment in CDI immediately before and after CDI’s stock issuance.

• Income Tax Provision: The Company’s effective tax rate for the quarter was 33%, just below the 34% effective rate for last year’s fourth quarter backing out the impact of the Cal Dive IPO.

• Balance Sheet: Total consolidated debt as of December 31, 2007 was $1.8 billion. This includes $375 million outstanding under Cal Dive’s term loan that was used to fund the cash portion of its acquisition of Horizon Offshore and is non-recourse to Helix. Total consolidated debt as of December 31, 2007 represents 49% debt to book capitalization and an adjusted leverage ratio 2.2 times adjusted EBITDAX of $824 million.

• 2008 Outlook: Included in the presentation is information, including estimates with respect to certain key variables, relating to our views on 2008 which we will discuss on the conference call described below.

Further details are provided in the presentation for Helix’s quarterly conference call (see the Investor Relations page ofwww.HelixESG.com). The call, scheduled for 9:00 a.m. Central Standard Time on Friday, February 29, 2008, will be webcast live. If you wish to dial in to the call the telephone number is 888-577-8990 (Domestic) or 1-210-234-0002 (International). The passcode is 2389610. A replay will be available from the Audio Archives page on our website.

Helix Energy Solutions, headquartered in Houston, Texas, is an international offshore energy company that provides development solutions and other key life of field services to the open energy market as well as to our own oil and gas business unit.

This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause our results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are statements that could be deemed “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including, without limitation, any projections of revenue, gross margin, expenses, earnings or losses from operations, or other financial items; future production volumes, results of exploration, exploitation, development, acquisition and operations expenditures, and prospective reserve levels of property or wells; any statements of the plans, strategies and objectives of management for future operations; any statement concerning developments, performance or industry rankings, any statements regarding future economic conditions or performance; any statements of expectation or belief; and any statements of assumptions underlying any of the foregoing. The risks, uncertainties and assumptions referred to above include the performance of contracts by suppliers, customers and partners; employee management issues; complexities of global political and economic developments, geologic risks and other risks described from time to time in our reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), including the company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ending December 31, 2006, as amended. We assume no obligation and do not intend to update these forward-looking statements.

HELIX ENERGY SOLUTIONS GROUP, INC.

Comparative Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations

	Three Months Ended Dec. 31,				Twelve Months Ended Dec. 31,
(in thousands, except per share data)	2007		2006		2007		2006
	(Unaudited)
Net revenues:
Contracting services	$	330,550	$	272,687	$	1,182,882	$	937,317
Oil and gas		169,693		123,152		584,563		429,607
		500,243		395,839		1,767,445		1,366,924
Cost of sales:
Contracting services		233,442		175,376		789,988		584,295
Oil and gas		196,743		69,483		463,701		267,221
		430,185		244,859		1,253,689		851,516
Gross profit		70,058		150,980		513,756		515,408
Gain on sale of assets, net		23,983		247		50,368		2,817
Selling and administrative		45,246		40,829		151,380		119,580
Income from operations		48,795		110,398		412,744		398,645
Equity in earnings of investments		10,453		5,477		19,698		18,130
Gain on subsidiary equity transactions		151,696		223,134		151,696		223,134
Net interest expense and other		18,679		14,091		59,444		34,634
Income before income taxes		192,265		324,918		524,694		605,275
Income tax provision		63,217		160,769		174,928		257,156
Minority interest		7,755		725.00		29,288		725.00
Net income		121,293		163,424		320,478		347,394
Preferred stock dividends		881		945		3,716		3,358
Net income applicable to common shareholders	$	120,412	$	162,479	$	316,762	$	344,036
Weighted Avg. Shares Outstanding:
Basic		90,189		90,273		90,086		84,613
Diluted		96,880		94,461		95,938		89,874
Earnings Per Share:
Basic	$	1.34	$	1.80	$	3.52	$	4.07
Diluted	$	1.25	$	1.73	$	3.34	$	3.87

Comparative Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets

ASSETS
(in thousands)	Dec. 31, 2007		Dec. 31, 2006
	(unaudited)
Current Assets:
Cash and equivalents	$	89,555	$	206,264
Short term investments		—		285,395
Accounts receivable		512,132		370,709
Other current assets		125,582		61,532
Total Current Assets		727,269		923,900
Net Property & Equipment:
Contracting Services		1,507,463		800,503
Oil and Gas		1,737,225		1,411,955
Equity investments		213,429		213,362
Goodwill		1,089,758		822,556
Other assets, net		177,209		117,911
Total Assets	$	5,452,353	$	4,290,187

LIABILITIES & SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY
(in thousands)	Dec. 31, 2007		Dec. 31, 2006
	(unaudited)
Current Liabilities:
Accounts payable	$	382,767	$	240,067
Accrued liabilities		221,366		199,650
Income taxes payable		—		147,772
Current mat of L-T debt (1)		74,846		25,887
Total Current Liabilities		678,979		613,376
Long-term debt (1)		1,725,541		1,454,469
Deferred income taxes		625,508		436,544
Decommissioning liabilities		193,650		138,905
Other long-term liabilities		63,183		6,143
Minority interest		263,926		59,802
Convertible preferred stock (1)		55,000		55,000
Shareholders’ equity (1)		1,846,566		1,525,948
Total Liabilities & Equity	$	5,452,353	$	4,290,187

(1) Debt to book capitalization — 49% at December 31, 2007. Calculated as total debt $1,800,387 divided by sum of total debt, convertible preferred stock and shareholders’ equity $3,701,953.

Helix Energy Solutions Group, Inc.
Reconciliation of Non GAAP Measures
Three and Twelve Months Ended December 31, 2007

Earnings Release:

Balance Sheet:     ”...2.2 times trailing twelve month adjusted EBITDAX.”

Reconciliation From Net Income to Adjusted EBITDAX (excluding noncash gain on Cal Dive investment in 4Q07, gain on sale of Cal Dive IPO in 4Q06 and non-recurring items: OTSL impairment, DOJ accrual, and sale of diving assets in 2Q07):

	4Q07			3Q07			2Q07			1Q07			4Q06
	(in thousands, except ratio)
Net income applicable to common shareholders	$	21,810		$	82,828		$	57,702		$	55,820			65,948
Preferred stock dividends		881			945			945			945			945
Income tax provision		6,420			40,626			30,456			28,617			34,166
Net interest expense and other		17,796			12,971			13,605			12,331			13,981
Non-cash stock compensation expense		3,100			3,147			3,546			3,267			2,797
Depreciation and amortization		97,195			83,564			71,918			67,558			61,809
Non-cash impairment		73,046			—			904			—			—
Exploration expense		11,203			1,476			2,978			1,190			1,820
Non-recurring items		—			—			8,602			—			—
Share of equity investments:
Depreciation		1,731			1,723			1,965			1,004			1,004
Interest expense (income)		(76	)		(68	)		(38	)		(57	)		(70	)
Adjusted EBITDAX	$	233,106		$	227,212		$	192,583		$	170,675		$	182,400
Trailing Twelve Months Adjusted EBITDAX	$	823,576
Debt at December 31, 2007	$	1,800,387
													��
Ratio		2.2

We calculate adjusted EBITDAX as earnings before net interest expense, taxes, depreciation and amortization, exploration expense, non-cash stock compensation expense and our share of depreciation, net interest expense and taxes from our equity investments. Further, we reduce adjusted EBITDAX for the minority interest in Cal Dive that we do not own. Adjusted EBITDAX margin is defined as adjusted EBITDAX divided by net revenues. These non-GAAP measures are useful to investors and other internal and external users of our financial statements in evaluating our operating performance because they are widely used by investors in our industry to measure a company’s operating performance without regard to items which can vary substantially from company to company and help investors meaningfully compare our results from period to period. Adjusted EBITDAX should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for, but instead is supplemental to, income from operations, net income or other income data prepared in accordance with GAAP. Non-GAAP financial measures should be viewed in addition to, and not as an alternative to our reported results prepared in accordance with GAAP. Users of this financial information should consider the types of events and transactions which are excluded.