Juan Pablo Tardio
Analyst · RBC Capital Markets
Thank you, John. The company reported $893 million in revenue during the second fiscal quarter 2014, along with $255 million in operating income and $175 million in net income. In trying to outline some of the key drivers that led to these results, I will first review each of our drilling segments and will then expand on other noteworthy considerations. Our U.S. land segment led the way, delivering $245 million in segment operating income. The number of revenue days increased by about 3.6% from the prior quarter, resulting in an average of approximately 270 active rigs during the second fiscal quarter. In average, approximately 155 of these rigs were active under term contracts, and approximately 115 rigs were active in the spot market. Excluding the impact of having only 90 calendar days in the second fiscal quarter as compared to 92 in the prior quarter, the average number of active rigs increased by almost 6% as compared to an average of 255 active rigs during the prior quarter. Excluding early termination fees, the average rig revenue per day was practically flat at $28,037. And the average rig expense per day was up by approximately 1% to $13,080, resulting in an average rig margin per day of $14,957. As of today, the 325 available rigs in the U.S. land segment include 287 contracted rigs, 33 idle rigs and 5 rigs currently held for the YPF Argentina project. Of the 33 idle rigs, only 1 was an AC drive FlexRig. The 287 contracted rigs are comprised of 286 AC drive FlexRigs and 1 3,000-horsepower SCR rig that was reactivated for ultradeep operations. Included in the 287 contracted rigs are 161 rigs under term contracts and 126 rigs in the spot market. Spot pricing has continued to slightly increase, and it is still about 5% lower as compared to pricing for rigs under term contracts, most of which were originally priced in even stronger markets during the last few years. As we transition into the third fiscal quarter, we expect revenue days to increase by about 7% quarter-to-quarter, along with relatively flat average rig revenue per day levels and relatively flat average rig expense per day levels. Regarding our U.S. land term contract backlog, we already have term contract commitments for an average of 157 rigs for the remaining 2 quarters of fiscal 2014 and an average of 110 rigs for fiscal 2015. The average quarterly pricing level for these contracted rigs is expected to remain relatively flat during the corresponding 6 quarters. Should spot pricing continue to improve, we would not be surprised if our total average rig revenue per day begins to slightly increase a few quarters from now. Let me now transition to our offshore segment, where segment operating income was approximately 5% stronger than in the prior quarter, and the average rig margin per day again exceeded our expectations at $27,665. Eight platform rigs remained active, and our ninth platform rig is now committed and expected to commence operations in fiscal 2015. As we look at the third fiscal quarter, we expect flat utilization levels in our offshore segment and a decline in the average rig margin per day to approximately $25,000, primarily as a result of a pricing adjustment on 1 of the 8 active rigs. The pricing adjustment will take place during the third fiscal quarter and after the rig finalizes the first phase of an ongoing project that required a significant upfront investment. This pricing adjustment is also expected to unfavorably affect our fourth fiscal quarter average rig margin per day by another few thousand dollars as compared to the third fiscal quarter. Additionally, we have continued to experience a strong contribution to our offshore segment operating income from management contracts on customer-owned platform rigs. The contribution during the second fiscal quarter was slightly under $5 million, and it is expected to decline to approximately $4 million during the third fiscal quarter and then increase to approximately $5 million during the fourth fiscal quarter. The quarterly contribution for management contracts may increase to $6 million or $7 million during fiscal 2015. I will now transition to the international land segment, where segment operating income declined by approximately $1.6 million as we experienced a lower level of activity during the second fiscal quarter as compared to the first fiscal quarter. Revenue days decreased by about 6% for an average of 22.6 active rigs. A rig in Tunisia and a rig in Colombia became idle during the second fiscal quarter. Nevertheless, the average rig margin per day increased by $576 to $10,919 during that same period. As of today, our international land segment has 22 active rigs, 13 of which are AC drive FlexRigs. Eight of the active rigs are in Argentina, 4 in Colombia, 5 in Ecuador, 3 in Bahrain and 2 in the UAE. A total of 7 rigs are currently idle in the segment, 3 of which are in Colombia, 2 in Tunisia, 1 in Argentina and 1 in Ecuador. In addition, one new rig is in transit to its first location in Colombia and one rig is in the process of moving from the U.S. to Mozambique. For the third fiscal quarter, we expect international land revenue days to be relatively flat as compared to the second fiscal quarter, and corresponding average rig margin per day is expected to be down by approximately 5% as compared to the prior quarter. Looking further ahead, the new 3,000-horsepower AC drive rig that is in transit to its first location in Colombia is expected to begin operations early in the fourth fiscal quarter. In addition, we expect 2 of the 10 rigs deploying to Argentina from the U.S. and the rig in transit to Mozambique to also commence operations before the end of the fiscal year. I will now transition from segment-related information to other important topics, including our revised capital expenditures estimate and our expected income tax rate for the rest of the fiscal year. Given today's announcement of an additional 9 new build commitments, other previously announced contracts and ongoing conversations with customers that may lead to additional FlexRig commitments, the company's new fiscal 2014 capital expenditures estimate increased from $950 million to $1.1 billion. This will provide significant flexibility in terms of our ability to deliver additional new builds during the first fiscal quarter of 2015. Approximately 60% of the revised CapEx estimate corresponds to our new build program, approximately 25% to maintenance CapEx and the remainder to other projects. The actual spending level may vary, depending primarily on the timing of procurement related to our ongoing new build efforts and actual maintenance capital requirements during the year. We still expect to be able to fully fund our fiscal 2014 CapEx program as well as other scheduled commitments from existing cash and from cash to be provided by operating activities during the fiscal year. Our effective income tax rate for continuing operations during the second fiscal quarter was reported at approximately 36.6%. This higher-than-expected effective tax rate for the quarter was primarily due to updated tax estimates for the year that no longer allow us to realign or take advantage of previously estimated excess foreign tax credits during fiscal 2014. We expect the effective income tax rate for the second half of fiscal 2014 to be between 34% and 35%, and the effective tax rate for all of fiscal 2014 to be approximately 35%. As it relates to our investment portfolio, the company sold 250,000 shares of its Schlumberger holdings for a total proceeds of over $23 million that favorably impacted earnings per share by approximately $0.12 in the quarter. Our remaining investment portfolio recently had a pretax market value of approximately $260 million and an after-tax value of approximately $160 million. Regarding other previously provided fiscal 2014 estimates, we still expect our annual depreciation expense to total approximately $500 million and general and administrative expenses to total approximately $130 million. Interest expense net of capitalized interest is expected to be in the range of $4 million to $6 million during fiscal 2014. That concludes our prepared comments. And Mike [ph], we will now open the call to questions, please.