Sea1 Offshore Inc. (SEA1) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good day, everyone, and welcome to the review and presentation of our results for the Fourth Quarter. My name is Bernt Omdal, and I am the CEO of the company. I'm joined by our CFO, Vidar Jerstad, and together, we will take you through this presentation. Siem Offshore's report for the Fourth Quarter 2023 was released prior to the market opening today. In this presentation, we will cover the main highlights of the report, and we will refer to the presentation issued together with the financial report. At the end of the presentation, we will open up for questions. Looking at the highlights for the quarter. We had 26 vessels in operation and all vessels delivered a positive EBITDA margin. We had close to $85 million in revenue and we delivered $40 million in EBITDA, which is equivalent to 47% EBITDA margin. Our cash position was close to $97 million at the end of the quarter, and our book equity ratio was 49%. Book equity impacted positively by a reversal of impairments and revaluation of deferred tax assets. We continue to deliver safe and efficient operations in all regions. This is a result of high focus on safety at all levels in the company. The utilization of the fleet in the fourth quarter was 87%. This is excluding vessels in lay-up. We had 2 vessels in lay-up at the end of the quarter. We signed a term contract for the anchor handler Siem Sapphire for operation in Australia, and we recently signed a long-term contract with Helix for the 2 well-intervention vessels, Siem Helix 1 and Siem Helix 2. This is long-term contracts with a duration of 6 years for each vessel with commencement 1st of January 2025 and 1st of January 2026, replacing existing contracts. We also recently signed a 1-year contract with options with the PXGEO for the vessel Siem Spearfish. Vidar Jerstad will now give some more details regarding the results for the fourth quarter.

Thank you, Bernt. Siem Offshore's fourth quarter report is yet another report confirming that we are in a positive market trend. The company had $85.2 million in revenue in fourth quarter. That's up from $64.3 million, same quarter last year. Operating margin for the quarter was $40.1 million, up from $20.8 million. Depreciation was $16.4 million. There were no impairments. However, there were $67 million in reversal of impairments, mainly related to our subsea vessels. Operating profit ended at $19.5 million (sic) [ $90.5 million ] up from $5.5 million. Net financial items were negative by $9.1 million (sic) [ $9.0 million ]. Net profit before taxes ended therefore at $81.4 million. As our deferred tax asset is revalued, taxes add positively to our P&L by $18.7 million. Net profit is therefore $100.1 million. After adjusting for minority shareholders, we end up at $100 million. This slide shows operating margin distributed on segments. The figures are before G&A expenses. On the left-hand side, we see operating margin in the quarter. That is up around $19.4 million or 71% from last year. Graph to the right represents full year figures and shows a total increase in operating margin of $61 million or 49%. After G&A expenses, operating margin is up 59%. We see improvements in all segments. And the balance sheet, the company has now $529 million in book equity and a book equity ratio of 49%. The book equity is impacted positively by a reversal of the impairments and revaluation of deferred tax asset this quarter. Gross interest-bearing debt is $462 million. $170 million of outstanding debt under certain facilities mature in December 2024 and is expected to be refinanced during the year. We are comfortable with the situation and our position, and we see good interest from a variety of lenders. Net interest-bearing debt is $365 million. We can conclude that Siem Offshore's financial position is good. And then the cash flow for the full year, and it shows the following: we started the year with $95 million in cash, we have generated $157 million from operations. We have paid net interest of $20 million. We have invested $33 million in the vessels and we have repaid $140 million (sic) [ $114 million ] in debt. Some other adjustments, and we end up with $97 million in cash at the end of the year. Note that Siem Offshore's capacity for repaying debt is good. And now the contract backlog. Today, the backlog amount is $854 million with quality counterparties. The Subsea segment consists of 7 vessels and dominate with 89% of the backlog. The Siem Helix 1 and Siem Helix 2 are part of this segment. Our 6 PSVs has 4% of the backlog. Our 9 anchor-handling vessels represent 6% of the backlog. Our Fast Crew & Oil Spill Recovery Vessels has 1% of the backlog. And on this slide, you see firm contracts and options in green and vacant vessel capacity in blue. Anchor-handling vessels represent the largest exposure to the market, implicated market risk and market opportunities going forward. However, under the current long-term trend of improving markets and continued focus on energy security, we believe the available capacity going forward in general represents an attractive earnings potential. And now back to you, Bernt.

Thank you. Our OSV fleet consists of 26 owned vessels as listed on this slide. And in addition, we have 3 vessels under our own management. Looking at our geographical footprint, the company has a good global footprint, which is important for the utilization of the fleet. We will continue to move vessels around the world where we can perform safe operation with sustainable conditions. For the anchor handler segment, they are mainly shorter contracts and campaigns. Currently, we have Siem Opal, Siem Pearl, Siem Emerald and Siem Ruby trading in the North Sea spot market. Siem Sapphire, Siem Amethyst, and Siem Topaz and also Siem Aquamarine, they are all anchor handlers and they are trading in Asia. The anchor handler, Avalon Sea, is on a term contract in Canada. Moving on to the construction vessels. We have Siem Barracuda in the North Sea. Siem Spearfish is on a firm contract, which gives utilization until the end of February 2025 and currently, she is operating in European waters. Siem Stingray is operating in the North Sea on a long-term contract and the Siem Dorado is on a firm contract currently operating in Brazil. The well-intervention vessels, Siem Helix 1 and Siem Helix 2, are both on long-term contracts working offshore Brazil. We have 6 PSVs in our fleet, most of them on long-term contracts, Siem Thiima and Siem Pilot, both on long-term contracts in Australia. Siem Atlas and Siem Giant on term contracts in Brazil. Siem Pride is on a long-term contract in the North Sea, and then we have the Siem Symphony, which is currently trading in the North Sea spot market. For our smaller Brazilian fleet, we have the Oil Spill Recovery vessels, Siem Maragogi and Siem Marataizes, both on term contracts with Petrobras, and we have the Fast Crew vessels, Siem Pendotiba and Siem Piata, they are both on long-term Bareboat agreements. Then we have the core drilling vessel, Joides Resolution. She is continuing working around the globe on a term contract. As shown on a previous slide, we have a good contract coverage for this year. At the same time, it's important to have vessels available in an improving market to increase the potential earnings. The fourth quarter was, as expected, characterized by reduced activity as we move into the low season for offshore operations. The North Sea's spot market was particularly challenging for the anchor handler segment. The PSV segment was more stable, especially for large sophisticated vessels. Large anchor handler vessels in Asia and Australia have experienced increased activity and contributed positively to the segment. The Subsea segment was tight with good utilization and high day rates. What we see that this demand for both oil and gas and the renewable sectors resulted in a good quarter, and we believe it will continue like this. Most segments are experiencing an increased number of multi-year contracts hitting the market. This is a signal that charterers are positioning themselves for future projects. The expected increase in activity for all segments indicates good market prospects for our high-end fleet. So to summarize, it was a strong quarter with relatively high activity. We continue to deliver first-class operation with excellent HSEQ performance. We continue to improve our financial position, and we have a strong backlog with quality clients. There are positive long-term market outlook in all segments. This was the end of the presentation, and we will now open up for questions.

Any questions, please? Seems like there's no questions. We give it another 30 seconds. So if there is anybody having any questions, please let us know. Okay. If there's no questions, we will end this session, and we thank you all for attending. Thank you.