Fjord Defence Group ASA (DFENS) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Welcome to Carbon Transition's Q1 2023 Earnings Release. My name is Nils Haugestad, and I'm the company's Interim CEO and CFO. With regards to the quarter, we have a fair value of the multi-client library of $35.9 million. The fair value of our investment portfolio is $7.6 million, which is a gain in the investment portfolio of $0.8 million for the period. On the revenue side, we're reporting $2.4 million from the reprocessing of the Utsira data set, and we have multi-client late sales of $0.5 million. Available liquid funds is at $13.0 million, and the cash earnings for the period was $0.3 million. That leaves us net asset value per share of NOK 2.15. We're announcing the new company name, Aquila Holdings. This new name is a result of the revised strategy that we announced, both in terms of the seismic business as well as the investment business. We have an attractive seismic multi-client business. And the multi-client library together with related seismic asset represents approximately 75% of total assets. And in this segment, we will consider expansion opportunities. We have an investment arm, and we're making select investments in listed and unlisted securities. And in this area, we will currently be targeting opportunities in the, broadly speaking, energy space and industrial sectors. Importantly, for both of the business segments, we are very focused on the investment criteria and that they meet the risk return targets set forth by the Board of Directors. On the seismic business line, we see a significant shift towards energy security, and our revised strategy will look to emphasize more traditional energy assets as a result. We're looking to optimize revenue from seismic assets. And we're also looking at new investments within the seismic domain. In addition to that, we're looking at potential expansion opportunities, which may be either organic or inorganic. Important for us, we are ensuring that we're maintaining a low-cost operation, and that is a part that we will continue focusing on going forward. On the multi-client library, we have now a fair value of $35.9 million. And this library has been generating robust revenues. We do expect additional late sales in 2023, both from Norway and from Egypt. We see seismic demand continuing to pick up and marketing that's tightening. We also see seismic contracts being converted to multi-client projects and believe that there are opportunities in this that we should review. We have significant knowledge inside an experience from the seismic markets as a result of the legacy operations. And we'll, of course, utilize that in evaluating new opportunities for growth. As an update on the multi-client portfolio on Utsira, we've been focusing on the reprocessing. And interestingly, the reprocessing work done so far is already identifying new drillable prospects in mature areas where there's been activity for a long time. We're using state-of-the-art technology in this in collaboration with CGG. And the target of delivering priority area is still Q3 of 2023. The project, as a total, is still on schedule and on cost targets. The new products that we're getting out of this reprocessing, we believe, is going to increase the value of the overall Utsira survey. And we're having ongoing discussions with clients in the space and see robust demand. So we believe this is a very successful effort and will increase the value. On the Gulf of Suez side, there's active marketing going on to Egyptian clients. There are upcoming bid rounds that we believe is going to increase interest in the area. And there are a number of drilling campaigns that are ongoing. There's also some amount of M&A in the area, which we believe may prove attractive for us and result in change of control revenues. On the investment arm, we are looking at select investments in listed and unlisted securities. As mentioned, the initial target is on the broader energy space and industrial sectors. Currently, the fair value of the investment portfolio of $7.6 million, which primarily is made up of 2 investments which is Capsol Technologies at $5.1 million and Dolphin Drilling at $2.3 million. Looking at the net asset value. The seismic business represents $38.9 million, which is NOK 1.81 per share. The investments, $7.6 million or NOK 0.36 per share. Net current liabilities is a negative $0.4 million or rounded to negative NOK 0 per share, which gives you a total net asset value of $46.2 million or NOK 2.15 per share. On the income statement side, revenue is $2.9 million; change in fair value of investment of $0.8 million; cost of sales of $2.1 million; SG&A of $0.5 million, and this includes approximately $0.1 million of nonrecurring expenses, approximately $70,000 worth. We had amortization of $1.6 million, which now is $0.9 million related to Utsira and the reprocessing as well and then $0.7 million related to the Gulf of Suez survey. That gives us an operating profit of negative $0.5 million and a net loss of $0.4 million. On the balance sheet side, multi-client library, $35.9 million; investments of $7.6 million; financial assets, which is the earn-out on the node laying equipment, we sold of $3.0 million; trade receivables of $1.7 million; other current assets of $0.3 million; and then bank deposits and cash of $3.9 million, which gives us total assets of $52.5 million for the period. On the equity and liability side, we now have equity of $46.2 million, trade payables of $0.1 million and taxes payable of $2.3 million. Now the taxes payable $2.3 million relates to work that was done in Egypt. And on other current liabilities of $4.0 million, there is also a tax exposure in that number of $2.1 million. So the total tax exposure in Egypt is $2.1 million, which is in other current liabilities, plus the $2.3 million in taxes payable or a total of $4.4 million. And then total equity liability of $52.5 million. We have an equity ratio at this point of 87.9% and net asset value of NOK 2.15 per share, as we mentioned. Available liquid funds of $13.0 million. On the cash flow side, the cash flow from operating activities of positive $2.8 million. In the period, we repurchased shares for $1.1 million. We made no acquisitions or disposals. So that takes us to a change in cash of positive $1.7 million and then a total cash and cash equivalents at the end of the period of $3.9 million. With regards to the outlook, we expect there to be volatility in the energy sector in light of the global market uncertainty we're seeing. The current energy prices that are in the market, we believe, support the capital investments by oil companies. There's also a substantial overhang of underinvestment over the past several years, and we believe that, that will also contribute to increased capital expenditures. Despite this robust industry fundamentals, we do believe that multi-client late sales is unpredictable in terms of timing. And we should expect late sales to be lumpy. That does not speak to the long-term underlying values or the future sales potential. We will continue to evaluate new investment opportunities in line with this broader investment strategy that we put forth. We will look at opportunities both within the seismic business, and we'll also look at select investments in the securities in the investment arm. Again, we want to highlight that as it pertains to the risk profile and the risk/reward analysis, that will be something that we'll work very closely with the Board on before we make any decisions. Also, as we've mentioned earlier, we will look at distributions to shareholders, either in the form of share repurchases or dividends if we believe that, that's the best allocation of capital. With that, we thank you very much for listening in. And if you have any questions, please feel free to reach out. Thank you.