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By Greg Stiles Mail Tribune May 12. 2015 12:01AM Erickson reports $75 million loss in 1st quarter A 10.8 percent revenue decline coupled with a non-cash, goodwill write-down resulted in Erickson's losses widening in the first quarter. The Portland-based firm, whose commercial aviation and maintenance, repair and overhaul operations are in Medford, reported a net loss of $75 million, or $5.42 per share, compared to $7.6 million, or 55 cents per share a year ago.  Revenue for the period ending March 31 declined $8 million to $66.2 million. Erickson said the kind of work done in the Rogue Valley improved, but not to the degree oil and gas exploration and government revenue declined. The company said other contributing factors to the net loss were the write-down of $49.8 million of goodwill on its books, the revaluation of their aircraft fleet and acquisition integration and restructuring expenses. Jeff Roberts, president and CEO, told analysts during an afternoon conference call Erickson is pursuing lines of work it hasn't in the past. "We've opened the aperture there, and the opportunities in the kind of work that we're bidding on has actually increased as well since I've been here," said Roberts, who stepped into his role last month. "On our manufacturing and MRO business, as a result of the Bell 214 program, we're really starting to see some very good interest. So the good news for me is there is a lot of market out there that we can go out and chase." Erickson said its manufacturing, as well as maintenance, repair and overhaul revenue, grew to $7 million from $2.7 million. Commercial aviation services sales fell to $26.3 million from $29.9 million in 2014, driven primarily by a less intense firefighting season in Australia and Turkey. Activity in South America, with new energy customers in Peru and Ecuador, were beneficial. "I do believe that oil and gas at some point seems to have leveled out right now and hopefully it’ll be stable, come back at some point in the future," Roberts said. "When will that occur? I am not the guy to ask that question. But I am bullish long-term. I don’t believe that the world is going to quickly not need oil and gas in the future." Erickson shares rose 12 cents Monday, closing at $3.91. Reach reporter Greg Stiles at 541-776-4463 or  [email protected] . Follow him on Twitter at  www.twitter.com/GregMTBusiness , on Facebook at  https://www.facebook.com/greg.stiles.31 , and read his blog at  www.mailtribune.com/EconomicEdge     http://www.mailtribune.com/article/20150512/news/150519895 © 2016 Copyright © 1995-2011 Crain Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved. Terms of Use Privacy Statement -->