Reach Subsea ASA (REACH) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning, and welcome to our fourth quarter and full year 2024 webcast for Reach Subsea ASA. Our report and presentation were released this morning, and I'm Jostein Alendal, CEO, and I'm here with our CFO, Birgitte Wendelbo Johansen. I will start with the key highlights and achievements from the quarter. And additionally, I will provide an update on the current status of the Reach Remote 1 and 2 USVs. Birgitte will then cover our financials in details. Please submit questions via the webcast player. We will address them in the Q&A session after the presentation. We are pleased to report another record year in terms of activity and operating results, driven by strong market conditions and solid project execution. The financial performance of the quarter documents our continued growth with a revenue increase of more than 40% compared to the fourth quarter last year. The EBIT for the fourth quarter is in line with last year, with lack of progress, partly explained by projects and associated profits moving into first quarter this year. We have a solid outlook with a backlog of NOK 1.2 billion that has higher inherent margins than the backlog last year and a strong prospect list for the rest of 2025. When looking at the revenue for the full year, we have not only passed the NOK 2 billion level, but have -- are now closer to the NOK 3 billion level. As we look ahead, our focus remains on driving organic growth and maximizing fleet utilization to meet the increased market demands. And looking at the organic growth activity and man hours offshore, the increase is around 30% in the quarter and 50% for the full year compared to 2023. Reach Remote 1 successfully completed her sea trials last quarter and is now officially in our ownership. Safety and excellence in project execution remains at the core of our operations, and we reinforce our Reach Home safety reminder as often as possible. 2024 is completed with 0 lost time injuries. A huge thank you to our dedicated teams offshore and onshore for their outstanding efforts. But let's take a closer look at the key factors influencing our previous results and the outlook ahead. No major changes in our core fleet over the new year. So we meet 2025 with the same fleet and our order backlog and tender volume are at the same levels compared to same cutoff last year. We operate a competitive and strategically aligned fleet that supports our long-term growth ambitions. And to maximize utilization and drive organic growth further, our vessels are mobilized for key subsea projects. At the same time, we continuously evaluate opportunities to expand our chartered fleet, considering both project-based and long-term charters. One example, the Agalas Eidesvik Newbuild arriving in 2026 is designed with sustainability in mind and with an equipment package that can be adapted to several market segments. Also this year, Reach Remote 1 and 2 will join our fleet, further enhancing our capabilities. More on that shortly. So let's move and have a look at our fleet activities over the past quarter. Viking Reach has commenced her scheduled 40-day yard stay in the quarter before heading to the Black Sea for survey operations. Havila Subsea continued operations in the Gulf of Mexico throughout the quarter, supporting ocean bottom load activities. Deep Cygnus contributed to Nexan's cable installations in U.S., where we're delivering ROV and survey services. Go Electra completed IMR and survey scopes in the North Sea before traveling to Venezuela and Trinidad. And Olympic Triton provided IMR and construction support in the North Sea for the parts of the quarter, with some periods of inactivity. Similarly, Northern Maria was chartered out for subsea inspection work in the quarter, while Olympic Taurus completed IMR operations in the North Sea throughout November before entering an idle period and some idle days there in the quarter, as I mentioned. Offshore Surveyor focused on hydrographic mapping for the Australian authorities before undergoing a 2-week yard stay and then followed by offshore wind farm work in Australia. Meanwhile, our survey USVs, the Orca 1 and 2 successfully conducted operations in the Gulf of Arabia, creating hydrographic maps for the Saudi government. This project showcased innovative methods, setting a new benchmark and a world record for unmanned hydrographic surveys. The project successfully completed more than 98,000 line kilometers, that is, about 2.5x around our blue planet. So looking ahead, our Reach Remote USVs are preparing for same type of operations worldwide, and we have officially taken delivery of Reach Remote 1 and she is now being mobilized and tested with her new ZEEROV systems. [Presentation]

Reach Remote integrate uncrewed surface vessels (USV) with subsea robotics, including world-class ROVs, AUVs and other underwater tooling also, such as our gWatch systems. Reach Remote 1 is now getting ready for the technology qualification program in the North Sea, supported and sponsored by Equinor, Total Energies and several other international energy companies. The program, lasting about a month, will demonstrate the full functionality of the unmanned concept from marine to subsea with secure data transfer to shore. In parallel to the Reach Remote project, our technology department have developed Reach Horizon. Reach Horizon is our platform serving as the central hub for managing and overseeing remote operations. It provides operators, surveyors, experts, management and clients with 24/7 access to field projects from any location, whether in the office or at home. This software has been implemented and is in use in the fleet today and are now set up for utilization on the Reach Remote technology program. The remote offshore -- onshore control center has also been completed this quarter, and we are all set for over-the-horizon operations. Reach Remote 2 following the same sea twice as the first one will have a slightly lower program and is progressing as planned. This initiative is the cornerstone of our next-generation remote services, setting new standards for global maritime and subsea operations in partnership with Massterly and Kongsberg. Interest in Reach Remote is growing internationally, and we are well positioned to introduce new technology to markets across different regions. We have a strong pipeline of national and international projects suited for these vessels. We are confident that Reach Remote will, during this year, be well established in key markets and time zones. As I have mentioned earlier, we are planning a scale-up of the Reach Remote fleet. And I will hand over to Birgitte for the financial update.

Thank you, Jostein. Good morning. As always, please remember that you can ask questions in the chat in the live webcast. Looking at the fourth quarter, we see another period with strong project activity with a substantial growth in revenue compared to the same period last year. Revenue was NOK 685 million compared to NOK 474 million in 4Q last year. For the full year of 2024, our revenue was NOK 2.7 billion compared to just below NOK 2 billion in 2023. The strong increase in revenue is linked to high project activity as well as increased reimbursable sales in projects like we also saw in the previous quarter. These sales normally have somewhat lower margin than our traditional project margins, which is linked to the risk picture. EBIT was NOK 80 million in Q4, the same as for 4Q in '23. For the full year, EBIT was NOK 364 million compared to NOK 332 million in 2023. And bear in mind that last year's EBIT included a sales gain of NOK 30 million. Pretax profit for the fourth quarter was NOK 13 million compared to NOK 81 million last year. And for the full year, the pretax profit was NOK 230 million compared to NOK 290 million in 2023. Our financial results in '24 includes an unrealized currency loss of almost NOK 30 million related to our IFRS 16 charter party commitment, which is partly in USD, euros and British pounds. And for comparison, we had unrealized currency gain last year. Further, last year's figures included a sales gain of NOK 30 million, as mentioned. In general, we've seen a cost increase from our supply chain that we will focus on reducing the coming year. Our investment program for '24 includes Reach Remote as well as scaling up service scope on our marketed fleet by mobilizing work RVs, service spreads and other equipment. And we continue to have a solid cash position and our net interest-bearing debt, excluding the IFRS 16 charter commitment debt is still negative. So let's look into the details and what lies behind the figures. These graphs illustrate Reach's financial development in the last 7 years on a rolling 12-month basis. We have a substantial revenue growth, a result of increased activity with the new technology and assets and expansion to new business segments and regions. Our acquisitions in the last 3 years have contributed strongly to our performance and ability to offer integrated projects to our clients. And by increasing the IQ or the scope on our vessels, we have grown both our revenue and profit steadily over time. Our annual revenue has increased by more than 130% over the last 2 years and has exceeded NOK 2.7 billion after year-end '24. We have focused on a sustainable and profitable growth, and our operating result and pretax profit has, to a large extent, improved in line with the revenue growth. As mentioned on our previous slide, the pretax profit in '24 was influenced by unrealized currency loss compared to '23 when we had an unrealized currency gain, in addition to a sales gain from a one-off event when we sold one of our older ROVs. So let's look at the revenue mix split between segments, sectors and regions in the quarter. Our fourth quarter turnover from renewables and other sector is quite steady on about 30%, while projects in the oil and gas sector represented 70%. We also split our revenue in our 2 major market segments, data and solutions. The split here is not 100% economic as we experienced that quite a few projects include both segments. Solutions refer to a service project where we do installments, maintenance, repair, decommissioning, et cetera. And Data is where we deliver a data package to the clients, typically a survey of a pipeline, seabed cable route, positioning, inspection and so on. When Reach Remote enters the market, survey projects will be even more important for Reach. And the last year, we've had substantial investments in technology development within monitoring, survey and data segment, which we expect to see the results of in our financials in the coming years. In 4Q, about 62% of the turnover came from Solutions due to a few larger service contracts, including a high number of vessel days, while 38% came from Data. We also present our geographical distribution of turnover to illustrate our strategic expansion to new areas as well as meeting new and existing client needs. In the fourth quarter, the activity in Europe, including Norway, represented about half of our revenue compared to 70% last year. We've had 3 vessels in Americas in the fourth quarter as well as a survey project in the Middle East. Over to our balance sheet. We continue our sustainable growth also in the fourth quarter of '24, balancing cash and working capital and debt with a robust equity level. Our Board will propose to the general meeting in '25 to pay a dividend according to our policy. We have a cash and working capital position of just above NOK 400 million and limited existing financial debt to credit institutions. We have increased our charter commitment, hence, our leasing liabilities, and our equity share is still well above 30% of the total balance sheet. Reach is well positioned for the remaining investments in Reach Remote and vessel and equipment mobilization for our fleet in order for us to have all vessels ready for integrated subsea and survey projects as well as the planned scale-up for the remote units. We now see the '24 sustainability goals for the full year. We use an ESG focus as a foundation for profitable growth in line with our strategic goals and KPIs. We're still on track preparing on for the CSRD and ESRS reporting by doing the initial double materiality analysis and identifying risks and opportunities from inside-out and outside-in perspective, digging into both the sub and the sub-sub topics of what is or may become relevant for us. In the quarter report, we present status on the key performance indicators for '24, a combination of focus on emissions and environment, being a responsible employer worldwide and keeping a high governance focus. On the environmental side, we have quite steady activity in the non-oil and gas projects, and we had no major spills to the sea. Our CO2 footprint is below our maritime peers, and taking Reach Remote USVs to the market could be ticked off as Reach Remote was formally delivered to us in January '25, and we have signed up a line of clients for the pilot project. Safety is always our absolute priority, and we are proud to have strong positive HSEQ statistics, especially combined with the growth in project size and complexity. In addition to focusing on turnover and safety at work, we're proud to see that we are attractive for young talents and that our group of trainees is really growing. Unfortunately, we experienced 2 minor work-related injuries in the fourth quarter. These events have triggered lesson learned and safety awareness news flash and training, and the employees are now healthy and back at work. Our turnover in 2024 was just above the target of 8%, leaving this one of our focus areas in the coming year. Within governance, we have continuous improvement projects to ensure that we always operate within the highest industry standards. And this year, we have focused on training with compliance and cybersecurity, and I'm very happy to notice that more than 90% of our employees have fulfilled their courses in our Reach Ed portal. Thanks for listening. Jostein, I'll give the word back to you for a summary before we continue with the Q&A session.

Thank you, Birgitte. In summary, Reach Subsea is well positioned for continued growth with a strong presence globally, backed by recognized subsea expertise. The market outlook remains promising, and we are ready to play a key role in the expansions going forward, now offering latest technology for remote services. Nearly our entire fleet is mobilized for value-driven projects supported by a solid reputation. Strong operational track record and cutting-edge technology such as the mentioned Reach Horizon. Financially, we continue to strengthen year-by-year, enabling smart investments and sustainable growth. Our expansion strategy remains disciplined and shareholder focused. And with our skilled team, favorable market condition and commitment to innovation, we are set to deliver exceptional services, achieve strong results and drive the adoption of both traditional and next-generation subsea solutions worldwide. With that, let me conclude the presentation with our saying, everything within reach. Please continue to submit your questions in the webcast player. We will return shortly to answer them.

Yes, it seems we have a few questions here. The first one is, could we have -- we could have expected higher order intake during Q4, given the pipeline volume communicated at the end of 3Q. The backlog is flat year-on-year. Could you please comment? Did you lose bids? Did you -- are you expecting to win versus competition? Or were the bids pushed to Q1 '25? Jostein, you have comments on the order book?

Yes, I can comment on that. Yes, we had some -- there's always movements in the order book. Some lost, some new ones won and also some pushed -- decision is pushed, like we experienced some start-up of projects moving from Q4 to Q1. Also decisions in our clients and bids, they are pushed from Q4 to Q1. So there's a good mix there of wins and lose and some movements in time.

Yes. The next question is, should we still expect revenue growth in '25? And what about margins given higher costs in Q4 '24? Well, we haven't guided previously, and we have decided not to start by guiding, but we have said before that we are a growing company. So I guess that's all we can say on the financial outlook.

Yes, without guiding, we can say our capacity is stronger or higher in '25 than in '24 and '23. So we have had an organic growth that position us to take on more jobs.

Good point. Reach Remote, please explain the reasons behind the substantial delays for both vessels. Please also say something about the financial conditions for the agreement you have with Equinor and other oil companies.

Yes. Comment -- should I comment on the -- when we started Reach Remote, the dream was that we would be at sea in '22, I guess, and '23 is a new technology. So -- and we were prepared for that. So when they are now here in '25, that's a good thing. New technology, it takes some time, and you have to be prepared for it also when it comes to financial. So we have kept our day job and are doing well on that. And in the same time, introducing and also waiting for the partners to come up with the latest technology and so on. So it is good to take your time when you are introducing new stuff. So -- for the financial side of it, you can answer that, Birgitte, if...

Yes. Well, financially, it's a contract between us and Kongsberg, which is kind of a turnkey contract. So the delays haven't had any impact on our financials. So also, we don't have any late delivery commitment or anything like that towards our clients. So any delays on the Reach Remote, we have used commercial tonnage for fulfilling our projects there. So there hasn't been any financial implications of the delays. So there's the next question. Could you please recall what is the status on the warrants exercised by Wilhelmsen? When is the deadline and what volume is left? We have some information about details about that in our notes. You can find all the details there. But the remaining warrants is about 44 million option shares left and the deadline is just around the corner. It's within the next month. And the only -- it's an option in Wilhelmsen's hands. So they're the only ones who can actually answer any more details to that. All the obligations from our side are described in a separate note in the report. So you can find all the details there as well. The next one, how will the pilot program on Reach Remote 1 impact your P&L in Q1? That's a good question. First of all, for the time being, the Reach Remote 1 is being mobilized with an ROV. So she's not on -- working yet. So when that is finished, we will start the pilot program and the pilot program projects are -- it's a summary of projects, which is more a cost coverage than profitable projects for those specific projects. So I don't expect a huge impact on the Q&A -- P&L in Q1, for the pilot project. I don't know if you have anything to add there, Jostein?

No, that's true. We have to -- the pilot is a CapEx project. So it's not -- so that will -- when we are finished with the pilot, then we are into operation. So that will be in April, May. Yes, our assumption is sometime around that time.

Yes. How long before Reach Remote start generating revenue? Have you ordered Reach Remote 3 and 4? And do you only have an option?

Yes. Reach Remote scale-up, we will make decisions there now in the spring time. So we can add on to the fleet. We will, of course, do that after we are comfortable with the pilot and everything. So news about the pilot and scale-up will come at the same time, I guess. So yes, was there more in that question?

Have you ordered Reach Remote 3 and 4? Or do you only have an option?

Yes, not yet. We haven't ordered it. Yes, as I said, the scale-up and pilot news will come at the same time in the spring time.

And the next question, do we only have one option? And of course, we don't. We have many options.

Yes, series of 10 more, which is sort of you have to plan 2 at a time or how quickly are we going to speed up the scale-up. That's also dependent on the market input and so on. So all signals we receive during the next 3 months from market -- from the different markets around the world and so on, we will put into the speed of the scale-up, of course. So...

Yes. There's another one here on the same topic. It was mentioned scale-up of Reach Remote. Do you have any news on this? I guess that, no, Jostein.

Yes, hopefully, that's clearly covered. Yes.

And there's a question related to the previous question on the Equinor contract for the Reach Remote or the pilot project. Is it a commercial contract where you are making money?

No. Our pilot technology readiness test program, it's sponsored. So it's cost covering. So we have a number of energy companies sponsoring this to have the technology proven. So it's not a commercial job as such.

That was the last question. So thank you very much for listening, and see you next time.