SED Energy Holdings Plc ($ENH)

Welcome to this presentation of the financial results for the first quarter of 2026 for Energy Holdings. My name is Kurt Waldeland, and I am the CEO of Energy Holdings. I am joined today by Viggo Pedersen and Sveinung Alvestad. Before we begin, I kindly ask you to review the disclaimer slide regarding forward-looking statements. Energy Holdings is an industrial holding company focused on the offshore energy service industry, uniquely positioned with a robust backlog and a conservative capital structure. Our 2 subsidiaries, Energy Drilling and SeaBird Exploration are both leaders in their respective segments, operating in highly attractive niches of the oil and gas service industry with primary exposure to brownfield development. Since the establishment of the company last year, a key priority for us has been to distribute available liquidity to our shareholders. This commitment remains unchanged, and we are very pleased to announce our fifth consecutive quarterly distribution for the first quarter of 2026. Energy Holdings has had an exceptional start to the year. The first quarter of 2026 was the first full quarter with all rigs and vessels on contract, driving record financial results. This was supported by continued strong operational performance in our subsidiaries with rig and vessel utilization continuing at high levels. Revenue for the quarter came in at $70 million with an adjusted EBITDA of $39 million. Our firm revenue backlog remains strong, standing at $393 million at the end of the quarter, providing earnings visibility for the remainder of the year and into 2027. Our balance sheet continues to be very strong. Net debt at quarter end was $30 million, corresponding to an industry low debt-to-EBITDA ratio of 0.3. We are very pleased to be able to announce that the Board has proposed a distribution of $25 million for the fourth quarter as we continue to deliver on our strategy and commitment to distribute available liquidity to our shareholders. In sum, Energy Holdings started the year on a very strong note, building on last year's positive momentum. We remain optimistic on the outlook for our businesses. And despite current geopolitical volatility, we do continue to see signs that the general market sentiment is improving. Our capital allocation policy remains unchanged, and we reiterate our commitment to distributing available liquidity to our shareholders. For the first quarter of 2026, the Board has proposed a cash distribution of $25 million. In 2025, we distributed $82.5 million and including the proposed distribution for the first quarter of 2026, we have distributed $107.5 million to our shareholders since we established Energy Holdings. This corresponds to more than 25% of the pro forma market capitalization at the time of inception of Energy Holdings and confirms our strong commitment to shareholder distributions. For the full year of 2026, we expect to be able to distribute between $90 million and $110 million, corresponding to a cash yield of around 15%. As with previous distributions, the proposed distribution for the first quarter will be done as a repayment of previously paid in capital and is subject to EGM approval. And we expect payment in the third quarter of 2026. I will then hand it over to Viggo to cover the highlights for Energy Drilling.

Thank you, Kurt. Why don't we hop to Slide 8 straight away. As Kurt alluded to already, Q1 was a record year for the group and also a record year for Energy Drilling. We had solid operational uptime on all rigs in operation. And the high utilization was driven by the continuous commitment from our crew who has been doing an exceptional job of keeping the rigs in operation without jeopardizing the equipment. Economic utilization was a tad higher at 98% as some downtime is allowed for under the contracts that we have with our clients. In terms of operational track record, both the ED1 and the ED2 remain some of the most efficient drilling rigs in the Gulf of Thailand with an average drilling time of less than 7 days per well drilled. Revenue for the period rose to $62 million in Energy Drilling, up 17% year-on-year with an adjusted EBITDA of about $38 million, corresponding to an EBITDA margin of 61%. The improved earnings was primarily driven by having the GHTH on for the full quarter on its -- after its restarted its operations in mid Q4 2025. In addition, the T15 moved on to a higher day rate as per its existing contract during the quarter. Tender activity picked up again in Q1, and we will return to that over the next couple of slides. So moving on to Slide #10 to give you an update on our current contract status and what we're doing at the moment. So at the end of the quarter, EDrill's firm contract backlog, excluding any options, stood at $386 million. No new contracts were signed during the contract -- during the quarter. However, the T15 had its day rate adjusted as per its existing 3-year contract. Management is now fully focused on securing work for 2027 and beyond and activity level is high. We are currently at the last leg of PTTEP's dual 5- plus 3-year tender. These are tenders against renewal of the EDrill-1 and the T15, which are both incumbent rigs that is being tendered. Clarifications are ongoing, and we are, as I said earlier, on the last leg. We expect these to conclude by the end of Q2 2026. As previously communicated, we expect main competition for the barges to be premium jack-ups on these 2 jobs. For the renewal of the T-16, CPOC formally launched its call for tender during Q1. This is Phase 7 of the drilling campaign in the joint development area between Thailand and Malaysia. And the tender is for a firm period of 30 months plus another 15 months of options. Again, the T-16 is the incumbent ring, and we expect this tender to conclude sometime in Q3 2026. Looking ahead and beyond these opportunities, we expect a couple of more call for tenders to come to market during Q3 2026. These are both short-term and longer-term contracts, primarily for the semi tenders with startup in 2027. At EDrill, we do maintain the youngest and most efficient fleet in the industry, and we do remain confident in our ability to continue to secure work for our rigs. Now moving on to Slide 10, please. So one of the key drivers for us at Energy Drilling is to maintain these long-term contracts is a sustainable and structural cost advantage. It allows us to sustain high utilization in all market scenarios while still maintaining a healthy margin. The lower CapEx cost and stable high utilization from operations results in higher cash conversions than our peers. Furthermore, our market structure is driven by long-term drilling schedules to maintain or improve output from existing producing fields. As the fields in Southeast Asia are mostly large gas fields with long-term underlying offtake agreements in place that is on a take-or-pay basis, there's a clear need and incentive for the operators to maintain output and continue to drill on these fields. This leads on average to longer-term contracts that supports our business. Now moving on to Slide 11 for a bit of a macro backdrop. The first quarter of 2026 has been marked by ongoing hostilities in the Middle East, significantly affecting offshore drilling activities and resulting in widespread disruptions across several large economies in Asia. Countries like Thailand and Philippines have experienced widespread shortages of hydrocarbons, leading to introduction of COVID-style work-from-home guidelines to conserve energy. Going forward, we expect efforts to develop local resources is going to be key. There's a clear need to diversify supply, and there's also expected increased drive to use the existing offshore oil and gas facilities that are already existing in the region. In addition, we've also seen a continued successful exploration campaigns ongoing in the region, particularly in Vietnam and in Indonesia. This will lead to larger development phases in the years to come. Beyond the core Southeast Asia market that we're currently operating in, we also see that ONGC in India is in the midst of planning large-scale exploration drives in the Andaman Sea. As a reminder, that's also where our rig GHT is currently drilling. This macro backdrop bodes well for offshore drilling in the years to come. Now turning on to Slide 12 for some final details on the overall market. During the quarter, the number of active shallow water drilling rigs in Southeast Asia actually increased, and it's still reflecting quite a healthy market overall. During the quarter, about 79 units were working, up from 76 quarter-on-quarter. For the tender market in particular, the market remains pretty good. One rig, the semi-tender [ Jaya ] returned to Malaysia to undergo a planned yard stay, thus reducing the overall fleet utilization to 83%. Day rates in general has remained flattish for the tender rigs and somewhat downwards for jack-ups due to the competitive tenders out here in Asia. That being said, there's quite a lot of new tenders and prospects for ongoing long-term and medium-term work. We note 3-year requirements both in the joint development area and another 2 dual 18 months tenders in Malaysia, all with PTTEP and Petronas. In addition, we expect to see several premium jack-up rigs leaving Southeast Asia in the near future for long-term assignments elsewhere. These are rigs that have already been awarded long-term contracts in other parts of the world. In addition, we expect several units to return to the Middle East once hostilities there die down. So with the market in the Middle East expected to normalize sometime in the second half of 2026, this should lead to continued improvements in the supply and demand balance for shallow water drilling units in Southeast Asia, thus driving utilization and day rates higher. And with that, I'll hand it over to Sveinung for an update on SeaBird and the financials.

Thank you, Viggo. So now turning to the SeaBird vertical. In short, for new investors, SeaBird Exploration is a global provider of maritime seismic acquisition. The company specializes in operations within the high-end source vessel market. The company owns and operates 2 vessels built in 2009 with substantial upgrades during the last years. More detailed information about the SeaBird vertical is available on our web pages. So for the financials, SeaBird reported Q1 revenues of $8 million and an underlying EBITDA of $1.6 million. This is somewhat lower than preferred margins mainly due to scheduling effects on some repair and maintenance expenditures and consequently lower utilization. The technical utilization of 91% for the quarter is lower than targeted. Certain initiatives has been implemented that we now see the effect of. And thus, we expect these figures will improve in the coming months. SeaBird's firm backlog stood at $7 million as of the end of first quarter. The Eagle Explorer is currently demobilizing from her recent contract in the Gulf of Americas. She is currently being marketed for new work globally, both within the source vessel market and towards selective 2D opportunities. The Fulmar Explorer has been working in the Gulf of America since September 2025, and her current contract is currently planned for completions to the end of the second quarter. After completing, she will go to a yard for a 5-year classing. The CapEx budget for this is around $1.5 million. The vessel is currently marketed for new source work in the Western Hemisphere. As we will cover on the next slide, we are constructive on the market, and we are engaged in multiple contract discussions for potential -- with potential commencement during the second half of the year. The market fundamentals in the seismic industry are impacted by the increased geopolitical volatility and has resulted in delayed investment decisions and cash flow preservations from our clients. This has impacted the overall exploration spending, which is illustrated in the graph to the left and consequently delayed contracting activities. We do have, however, note a general shift in this sentiment, where focus is turning to continued increase in oil demand, oil companies' declining oil and gas reserves and growing focus on energy security. This has increased the focus on exploration, and we expect to see spending growing substantially over the coming years, as shown in the graph. We already see this in our segment as well, where the interest of our services and our vessels has increased over the past few months. As said, we are engaged in multiple discussions, and we remain confident that we will have the vessels back on contract with start-up in the second half of 2026. As for the supply side, the active fleet currently counts 12 vessels, whereas 10 are currently contracted. We continue to see a low risk of influx of additional vessels to the market as the contract duration and the rate environment does not provide sufficient economy to justify acquisition and/or conversion cost. Despite this near-term turbulence, we remain comfortable -- confident in the structural growth of the OBN market in the coming years. And in dialogues with clients, it is apparent that securing critical resources such as source vessel is high on the agenda. We believe these dynamics supports a tighter market and in turn, will strengthen the price environment, especially for the high-end tonnage live hours. Now turning to the financial. As in the previous quarters, the figures in the presentation are pro forma figures to show the combined company in the comparison period as well. While the report is based on IFRS standards, and therefore, SeaBird Exploration is only included from the transaction date 26th of May 2025. Reconciliation between management reporting and the consolidated financial statement is provided in the appendix of this presentation. Now to the numbers. Energy Holdings reported Q1 revenue of $70 million, which represents a record level for the company and a more than 10% increase from the prior year quarter. The strong quarter is driven by all rigs and vessels being on contract at stronger rates. The SG&A for the quarter was $5.2 million. This is somewhat higher than the guided range of $4 million per quarter. But keep in mind that G&A tends to be higher in Q1 and will continue to fluctuate quarterly going forward. Underlying first quarter EBITDA was strong at $39 million, representing all rigs and vessels with strong contributions. Net profit for the quarter was $22 million, which supports our communicated distribution strategy. The group's interest-bearing liabilities stood at $76 million as of March 2026 and consists of a $75 million bank facility, where $62 million is outstanding. As discussed earlier, we recently amended the repayment profile of this facility, and it is now amortizing $2 million quarterly. The $13 million lease liability recognized on the balance sheet is a back-to-back bareboat agreement for the GHTH that mimics the current contract for the rig, a pay-as-you-go agreement. USD 1.1 million in order financing relates to an equipment facility in SeaBird Exploration that will be fully repaid during 2026. The group's cash balance as per end of March was strong at $46 million, where $12 million is restricted performance bonds and debt service accounts. In sum, net interest-bearing debt as of Q1 was $30 million, which corresponds to a continued low leverage ratio of 0.3 to last 12 months underlying EBITDA. Now turning to the cash flow. The record strong result during the quarter also translated into a strong cash conversion. Energy Holdings started the year with a cash balance of $21 million, which excludes the restricted cash at year-end. Cash flow from operation was strong at $32 million and release of working capital contributed with an additional $3.5 million. We remain comfortable with our working capital position, although we continue to see quarterly fluctuation going forward. CapEx for the quarter was $2.4 million. We reiterate the full year CapEx guidance of around $18 million, implying a back-end loaded CapEx schedule for the year. As previously mentioned, we amended the repayment profile of our loan facility during the quarter. As such, we reduced the quarterly amortization from $5 million to $2 million. The remaining amortization relates to the equipment financing facility asset and will be fully repaid during the year. Paid interest amounts to $1 million, reflecting an attractive cost on our debt. During the quarter, we completed the cash distribution of $20 million that was announced in connection with the Q3 report in November 2025. The distribution proposed by the Board today of $25 million is expected to be paid during Q3, manifesting our commitment to quarterly shareholder distribution. All of this, together with a $4 million release of restricted cash and others resulted in a strong unrestricted cash position of $34 million at quarter end. With that, I will hand the word back to Kurt.

Energy Holdings is well positioned to continue to generate strong cash distribution to our shareholders. As illustrated by this slide, Energy Holdings will produce significant free cash flow in a wide range of day rate scenarios, even in scenarios where day rates are below or close to cash breakeven levels for our competitors. The inherent operational leverage of our businesses creates significant upside potential to earnings and cash distribution as market day rates improve. As already mentioned, our balance sheet remains very strong. At the end of the quarter, we had a net debt of $30 million and a net debt-to-EBITDA ratio of 0.3, which is among the lowest in the industry. Three rigs and both seismic vessels are currently unencumbered, giving us significant financial flexibility. This conservative leverage profile ensures resilience and distribution capacity in all market conditions and gives us significant optionality to pursue value-enhancing initiatives. The key pillar in our capital allocation strategy remains unchanged. We will aim to distribute available liquidity to our shareholders on a quarterly basis. As mentioned, the Board has proposed a distribution for the first quarter of 2026 of $25 million, taking total distribution since the creation of Energy Holdings last year to $107.5 million or 25% of the market capitalization at inception. Our strong backlog creates a solid foundation for distributions going forward. As described, we expect the total distribution for the full year to reach between $90 million and $110 million, corresponding to a cash yield of around 15%. Looking further ahead, as described by Viggo and Sveinung, the teams at Energy Drilling and SeaBird are continuously working to add to the contract backlog. Our markets remain active, and we are optimistic that the contract coverage for 2027 and beyond will increase in the near term. To summarize, strong backlog, high cash conversion from operations and a robust balance sheet will enable significant shareholder distributions for 2026. The Board has proposed a distribution of $25 million for the first quarter, and we expect total distribution for the year to reach between $90 million and $110 million. We continue to assess accretive strategic opportunities within the broader oil and gas services value chain. As always, we will remain disciplined and focused on opportunities that support our distribution policy. With that, we will continue to Q&A.

So the first question, Viggo is around the management or marketing agreement with RigCo, if there is any update on that.

We continue to market the rig on a few select opportunities here in the region. There are still a few, what I'd call, longer-term contracts that justifies us marketing and bringing the rig out. So what I can say is that there's ongoing tenders that we are working on in the region as we speak, and we have reconfirmed the rig availability for those particular tenders. Beyond that, it is very difficult to comment at this point in time. It's -- there's quite a few different things moving. But look, we are bidding it in the region for multiyear jobs.

Thank you. Then there's one question on Eagle Explorer. Do we expect idle time this summer on that vessel? Sveinung, if you want to...

Yes. No, thank you for that. Yes, as I said in the presentation, I think we are currently in multiple discussions for opportunities for both our vessels. What's a common denominator for these is that we will see commencement in the second half of this year. So I would say it's fair to say that we're going to see some couple of months of downtime now, especially on Eagle going forward.

And then there are quite a few questions regarding the current PCP tenders. I think, Viggo, you covered it in the presentation, but maybe just if someone dialed in late, maybe you can just repeat with regards to time line, et cetera, what we expect there.

Yes. No, sure. So the renewal against T-15 and EDrill-1, we're in the last final, hopefully, rounds of clarifications. And we do expect everything to be signed off by the end of this month. So by end of Q2, we should have clarity on those 2. For the T-16, the call for tender came out during Q1 we have submitted our bids. Clarifications are ongoing. Due to the structure of that setup, we don't expect to have anything cleared off until Q3 in this year. So that's kind of the timing of when we expect awards on those particular renewals.

Thank you. I think with that, we will conclude today's session, and thank you for everyone dialing in, and we look forward to welcoming you again to our next quarterly update. Thank you.