Mitcham Industries Announces Acquisition Of ION Marine Source Product Lines

HUNTSVILLE, Texas, May 21, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Mitcham Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ: MIND) today announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Seamap Pte Ltd., ("Seamap"), which designs, manufactures and sells specialized marine seismic equipment, has acquired the marine energy source product lines from ION Geophysical Corporation. The product lines acquired are the Digishot^® energy source controller and the Sleeve Gun energy source, including related inventories, intellectual property, trade-marks and patents.  

Guy Malden, Mitcham Industries' Executive Vice President Marine Systems, stated, "This transaction provides Seamap with important intellectual property, new customer relationships and expands our product offerings. We are committed to the continued sales and support of these products as additions to the Seamap product line. Our plans include a new office in Beijing and additional resources from Seamap in Singapore as well as Mitcham Industries' other locations around the world.

"Major marine seismic contractors are making substantial investments in improved technology to differentiate their capabilities in the market, as evidenced by the announcements of new build vessels coming into the market over the next few years.  Seamap is a leading supplier of marine source controller technology, and this transaction is expected to enhance our ability to meet the requirements of the marine seismic industry, including evolving broadband solutions.

We believe that this acquisition, which we expect to be accretive in the first year, will enable Seamap to broaden its scope into new geographic markets and with new customers, while offering a more complete choice of products. The products are an excellent fit with our existing marine seismic equipment business, and importantly, we expect certain technology provided by the intellectual property acquired in this transaction will significantly benefit  Seamap in future product developments." 

Mitcham Industries, Inc., a geophysical equipment supplier, offers for lease or sale, new and "experienced" seismic equipment to the oil and gas industry, seismic contractors, environmental agencies, government agencies and universities. Headquartered in Texas, with sales and services offices in Calgary, Canada; Brisbane, Australia; Singapore; Ufa, Bashkortostan, Russia; Budapest, Hungary; Lima, Peru; Bogota, Colombia and the United Kingdom, Mitcham conducts operations on a global scale and is the largest independent exploration equipment lessor in the industry.  Through its Seamap business, Mitcham designs, manufactures and sells specialized seismic marine equipment.

Certain statements and information in this press release may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.  The words "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "plan," "intend," "should," "would," "could" or other similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, which are generally not historical in nature.  These forward-looking statements are based on our current expectations and beliefs concerning future developments and their potential effect on us.  While management believes that these forward-looking statements are reasonable as and when made, there can be no assurance that future developments affecting us will be those that we anticipate.  All comments concerning our expectations for future revenues and operating results are based on our forecasts of our existing operations and do not include the potential impact of any future acquisitions.  Our forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties (some of which are beyond our control) and assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from our historical experience and our present expectations or projections.

For additional information regarding known material factors that could cause our actual results to differ from our projected results, please see our filings with the SEC, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K.

Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof.  We undertake no obligation to publically update or revise any forward-looking statements after the date they are made, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Contacts: Billy F. Mitcham, Jr., President & CEO
Mitcham Industries, Inc.
936-291-2277

Jack Lascar / Karen Roan
Dennard ▪ Lascar Associates
713-529-6600

SOURCE Mitcham Industries, Inc.