Archer Limited (ARCH) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Hello, and welcome to the Archer Second Quarter 2021 Earnings Release Call. [Operator Instructions] Today, I'm pleased to present Dag Skindlo, CEO. Please go ahead with your meeting.

Thank you, Nat. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for joining this conference call for the second quarter 2020. Archer's Chief Financial Officer, Espen Joranger, is joining me on the call today. In today's call, I will touch upon the key highlight and summarize Archer's operation for the second quarter. Espen will thereafter walk us through the financial section and the 2021 outlook. Towards the end of the call, we will open up the line for questions. Moving to Slide 2. I would like to note that the information provided in today's call includes forward-looking statements as well as non-GAAP financial measures. Next slide, please. Revenue in the quarter of $228 million was an increase of $35.2 million relative to the second quarter 2020, corresponding to an increase of 18.3%. Compared to first quarter, the revenue increase was $14.6 million or 6.8%. We saw an increase in revenue in both Eastern and Western Hemisphere. The main growth contribution came from the Well Services segment and primarily from our Wireline division after contract wins during the first half of 2021. On the back of increased activity and revenue, we are pleased to see this reflected in our reported EBITDA, with a modest increase of $0.2 million compared to first quarter, while the increase compared to second quarter 2020 was $2.2 million. During the second quarter, we incurred $1.1 million of exceptional charges, mainly related to impact of COVID-19 and strikes in Argentina. EBITDA before exceptional charges was $22.3 million in the quarter. We report another quarter with positive net income. The net income came in at $1.6 million for the quarter, corresponding to $0.01 per share. Compared to the end of second quarter 2020, we have seen a drop in our net ensuring debt, now at $518.6 million, which follows the acquisition of DeepWell in the quarter. The cash settlement for DeepWell was $13.3 million at closing, while we have a commitment to settle the residual amount of $5.5 million in the beginning of 2022. When adjusting for the impact of the DeepWell acquisition, we see that our net interest-bearing debt is developing in line with expectations. At the end of the quarter, we had $102 million of available liquidity. Lastly, we added an estimated $325 million in backlog over the quarter, which I will cover in greater detail in the next slide. Slide 4, please. Firstly, our Wireline division secured a new 5-year frame contract with ConocoPhillips, with 2 times 3 years optional periods. The contract can potentially cover a period of 11 years if both options are exercised. The estimated scope of the frame period is roughly $115 million. Secondly, our Land Drilling segment received a 2-year extension notification from Pan American Energy, so that Archer will continue to provide drilling, workover and pulling services in Pan American Cerro Dragon field located in the Southern Argentina. Pan American have flexibility to adjust the level of activity up and down over the contract term. But based on our current activity levels, the total estimated value of extension is expected to be $200 million. Finally, our Oiltools division secured a frame agreement with Wintershall for a P&A campaign in the Netherlands. The scope awarded to Archer includes a series of tools to perform operating operations related to, among other things, perforating, washing cement, formation integrity testing, downhole tools and plugs, et cetera. The initial scope is for 22 wells and option for another 20 wells. We believe these contract awards are a result of our continued focus on people safety, quality of delivery and innovation. Next slide, please. Our Well Services division delivered another quarter, with record revenue of $46.7 million, a solid 31.7% increase compared to the previous quarter. We incurred some extra costs during the quarter following the startup of the new contract as well as the acquisition of DeepWell. But despite this, we see another quarter with increase in EBITDA. EBITDA increased by $0.7 million compared to first quarter. The EBITDA margin is somewhat negatively impacted by the contract structure where we use subcontractors such as Schlumberger and Welltec in our overall integrated delivery to Equinor. The EBITDA margin on the subcontracted scopes are well below margin on our own services. In the third quarter, we will see the full impact of the new contracts and the contribution from DeepWell. Given the full quarter operation from the new contracts and absence of start-up costs, we anticipate increased revenue and EBITDA contribution from our Wireline division in the third quarter. Slide 6. We have in 2021 secured wireline contracts, the total firm backlog of an estimated NOK 3.5 billion, covering a firm scope and activity until 2026 for Equinor and ConocoPhillips on the Norwegian continental shelf. These contracts will give us scale as well as provide predictable activity for a minimum of 5 years and potentially as long as 11 years. Both contracts commenced 1st of May 2021. We have conducted the scope ConocoPhillips in recent years, but additional Equinor contract is expanding Archer's Wireline operations. Following the wireline contracts award of both Equinor and ConocoPhillips, we acquired DeepWell in June this year. DeepWell is a specialized well intervention company, focused on high-tech wireline services on the Norwegian continental shelf. The company is a perfect match for Archer's Wireline division, as they have a team of adverse skilled employees in addition to most advanced wireline equipment. The increased capacity will give Archer flexibility to offer more services to both current and prospective new clients, including clients in the U.K. Given the financial forecast, synergies, CapEx savings and tax benefits, we are confident that the payback of our investment in DeepWell is less than 3 years. For Archer, we foresee limited risk in the transaction, while it will bring further opportunities and flexibilities going forward. The total purchase consideration was roughly $20 million, while our preliminary fair value assessment of the assets acquired exceeds $32 million, resulting in a reportable gain of $12 million. This gain is included in the second quarter financials. Through the contract awarded with the acquisition of DeepWell, we have established Archer as the market leader for mechanical and wireline intervention services on the Norwegian continental shelf. We see promising results already and look forward to growing our wireline division going forward. Slide 7. Revenue from Platform Drilling, Engineering and our Modular Rigs was fairly stable. Relative to the previous quarter, we have modestly increase of $0.7 million. Compared to the corresponding quarter in 2020, revenue increased by 2.5%. Despite the higher revenue, EBITDA decreased by $1.4 million compared to the previous quarter and by $1.2 million compared to second quarter 2020. The reduction is explained by a combination of lower contribution from our Modular Rigs in the quarter and underperformance in our Engineering division, combining some one-off exceptional charge related to COVID-19. The activity in the U.K. has not recovered of the sharp drop back in second quarter 2020 as COVID-19 and low oil prices drove U.K. activity down to the lowest levels in decade. The number of rigs in a contract in active drilling mode was stable compared to first quarter. From the third quarter, we will discontinue the operation of 3 rigs for TAQA. These rigs have had limited scope with no ongoing drilling. So the reduced activity will have modest financial impact. Our Engineering division's financial performance was impacted by low progress on a couple of fixed price contracts, while our Modular Rig, Emerald, experienced solid performance, with high operational uptime and achieving a $300,000 bonus in the quarter. Slide 8, please. Our revenue for Land Drilling increased by $2.6 million compared to previous quarter, while the EBITDA contribution was stable. The results in Argentina remains below expectations as the country continues to battle COVID-19 and financial distress. Second quarter 2021 was the worst period in Argentina when it comes to both new COVID cases as well as related fatalities. In addition to impacts from the pandemic, Argentina's financial situation remained challenging, with increased social unrest. Our operation was directly impacted by strikes in the quarter. Despite the challenged situation in Argentina, our clients are reporting solid results and cash flow and are [ start ] stating that they will increase activity in 2022. As you can see from the bottom right graph, active drilling units in second quarter was a bit lower than previous quarter. The drilling activity in Bolivia has also been impacted by COVID-19 and political and economical challenges. Our 3 rigs in Bolivia is [ currently stand ], and we do not see any likely activity before late 2021 or early 2022. With that, I hand the words over to Espen, who will take us through the financials in greater detail.

Thank you, Dag. Looking at Slide 9, we see that our total revenue for second quarter 2021 amounted to $228 million compared to $192.8 million last year, an increase of $35.8 million. When netting off the reimbursable revenue, we see that operating revenue increased by $41 million or 25% compared to second quarter 2020. The activity in second quarter 2020 was severely impacted by the pandemic. Compared to second quarter 2020, we see an increased activity in all our reporting areas. For the quarter, EBITDA was $21.2 million, $2.2 million higher than second quarter 2020. The increase is primarily driven by improvements in our Land Drilling division. Exceptional charges for the quarter amounts to $1.1 million as we incurred costs related to the impact from COVID-19 and strikes in Argentina. EBIT for the quarter came out at $7.6 million. As Dag mentioned, the total purchase consideration for DeepWell was roughly $20 million, while our preliminary fair value assessment of the assets acquired exceeds $32 million. The assessment resulted in a reportable gain of $12.2 million reported as gain on bargain purchase herein. Financial costs amount to $16.3 million for the quarter. Of this, net interest expense was $7.1 million. Other financial items are negative $9.1 million, primarily driven by the market-to-market valuation of our shareholding in KLX Energy over the quarter. Net income before tax for the quarter is positive $3.6 million, whereas net income after tax is $1.6 million. Year-to-date, our net income is positive $7.7 million. Slide 10, please. Total assets increased by $17.6 million in the quarter, explained by the acquisition of DeepWell. Accounts receivables increased by $14.4 million following increased activity and the acquisition of DeepWell. DeepWell's assets was valued at $22.6 million and explains the increase in property, plant and equipment, offset by the net impact of CapEx and amortization in the reporting period. The increase in assets, accounts receivables and restricted cash of $7 million was offset by a reduction in cash and explained by the cash settlement in relation to the DeepWell transaction. On the liability side, the biggest difference is the increase in accounts payable of $9.8 million since the beginning of the year. Net interest-bearing debt came out at $518.6 million. The increase in equity of $8.1 million is a result of the positive net income for the quarter, and the book value of our equity is $117.2 million at the end of June 2021. Slide 11, please. To sum up, second quarter was another solid operational quarter with improved financial metrics and increased EBITDA, despite challenging situation in Argentina. Eastern Hemisphere performance continued to be strong, while the outlook in Argentina remained muted due to the uncertainty. Revenue increased by 18.3% over the year while EBITDA increased by 11.2%. And we deliver positive net income. After securing the Wireline contract from ConocoPhillips, we laid the foundation for further expansion of our Wireline division through the acquisition of DeepWell. We have established Archer as the market leader within mechanical wireline and well intervention on the Norwegian continental shelf. We expect improved financial performance in 2021 on the back of a strong backlog and market position in our Eastern Hemisphere division. But the environment in our Land Drilling division in Argentina remains challenging. As we see it today, we expect revenue in 2021 to be 10% to 15% higher than in 2020. We are preparing for a general increase in activity, leading to an increase in EBITDA for 2021 of 10% to 20% compared to full year 2020. We will continue our investment discipline and estimate CapEx of 3% to 4% of revenues. With that, I will hand the call over to the operator for any questions. Thank you. Nat, will you please open the line for questions?

[Operator Instructions] And there seems to be no audio questions, so I'll hand it back to the speakers.

Thank you. We appreciate everyone joining us for this quarter's call, and we look forward to speaking to you next quarter. Thank you, and have a good day.