Gregg Piontek
Analyst · Raymond James. Please proceed with your question
Thanks, Paul and good morning everyone. I’ll begin by covering the specifics of the segment and consolidated financial results for the quarter and provide an update on our near-term outlook. In the Fluid Systems segment, revenues from U.S. land declined 52% sequentially to $28 million in the second quarter, tracking in line with the reduction in U.S. rig count. The impact of the market collapse was felt broadly across all U.S. land basins, with the exception of the Northeast. While the market activity decreased sharply in the period through reductions in both the rig count and in the number of wells drilled per rig, it’s worth noting that the changing competitive landscape led to a gradual improvement in our market share. Despite executing the necessary cost actions and facility closures, we exited the second quarter with more than a 20% share of the active rigs, a record level for the company. As we anticipated on last quarter’s call, our Gulf of Mexico business fared considerably better than U.S. land, generating revenues of $14 million in the second quarter, reflecting an 11% sequential decrease. In Canada, revenues declined 77% to $3 million in the second quarter. Despite the sharp decline, our performance compares favorably to the overall market rig count, which declined 87% sequentially. Outside of North America, as Paul touched on and as we discussed previously, COVID has had a dramatic impact on customer activity levels, most notably in the EMEA region where restrictions on movements of personnel and products within a number of countries have resulted in significant activity disruptions and project delays. We experienced some level of pullback in all key international markets, with the exception of the Middle East, which contributed $13 million of revenue in the quarter, benefiting from strong activity in Kuwait and higher completion chemistry product sales into Saudi Arabia. Total international revenues pulled back 37% sequentially to $29 million in the second quarter, with operations in North Africa and Italy contributing $12 million of that decline. As we touched on in May’s call, Italy was the hardest hit market from a COVID perspective. And while we’ve seen signs of recovery following the near complete shutdown early in the second quarter, customer projects remain meaningfully curtailed from pre-COVID levels, with planned projects in the region continuing to experience delays. On a year-over-year basis, our Fluids Systems revenues declined 57% compared to Q2 of 2019, with the majority of the reduction driven by U.S. land. U.S. land revenues, declined by $73 million or 72%, driven by the collapse in rig count, while the Gulf of Mexico activity has remained relatively stable, declining only 14% year-over-year. International revenues also declined $21 million or 43% year-over-year, with declines seen across all markets except the Middle East, which benefited from our growth in Kuwait as well as product sales into Saudi Arabia from our Cleansorb acquisition last November. As discussed on May’s call, we’ve continued our aggressive cost actions, reducing our total U.S. Fluids workforce by more than 35% in the second quarter, while also implementing salary reductions and furlough programs to retain key talent. Combined, these and other cost reduction programs have reduced our U.S. personnel expense by over 40% from the beginning of the year. We are also exiting several of our U.S. facilities, and as highlighted in yesterday’s release, our Fluids Systems second quarter results include $11.7 million of charges related to inventory write-downs, employee separation costs and facility closures contributing to a $25 million operating loss for the quarter. Turning to the Mats business, total segment revenues declined 14% sequentially to $27 million in the second quarter, reflecting the COVID-related impacts that Paul touched on as well as continued softening in the E&P activity on U.S. rental and service projects. With scheduled projects being pushed back, rental and service revenues declined $6 million to $22 million in the second quarter. Product sales improved modestly to $5 million for the quarter, although several customers continue to defer purchasing decisions citing COVID uncertainty. From an end market mix perspective, $19 million of revenue was derived from Energy Infrastructure and other non-E&P markets, representing more than 2/3 of our total segment revenue. Of the $8 million in revenues derived from E&P customers, the majority was generated within the gas-focused basins in the Northeast. Compared to the second quarter of last year, Mats segment revenues declined $17 million, largely reflecting a $13 million decline in E&P rental and service and a $3 million decline in non-E&P rental and service. In response to near-term market weakness, our Mats business implemented certain cost actions, including roughly 10% reduction in workforce in the quarter. With a $4 million sequential decline in revenues, the Mats segment operating income declined $2 million, resulting in second quarter operating income of $1 million and EBITDA of $6 million. Total corporate office expenses declined modestly to $6.5 million in the second quarter as compared to $6.7 million in the first quarter. Both periods included a modest impact of severance charges. The sequential decline was driven primarily by the impact of workforce reductions and other austerity initiatives. On a year-over-year basis, corporate office expenses declined by $4 million, primarily driven by $2 million of strategic planning costs incurred in the prior year, along with a $1.5 million reduction in personnel costs. SG&A costs were $21 million in the second quarter compared to $25 million in the first quarter. The sequential decrease primarily reflects lower personnel expense attributable to the workforce reductions and other austerity measures, partially offset by an increase in severance charges. On a year-over-year basis, SG&A cost declined $7 million, largely reflecting lower personnel expense, strategic planning costs and legal and professional spending. During the quarter, we continued the execution of our debt reduction plans, purchasing a total of $18.6 million par value of our 2021 convertible notes for $15.3 million, representing a $3.3 million discount to par. The purchases required a $2 million non-cash write-off of associated unamortized debt discount and issuance cost, resulting in a $1.3 million gain on the extinguishment of debt. The purchases bring our year-to-date total to $33 million of par value retired, leaving $67 million of convertible notes outstanding at the end of the second quarter. With the benefit of the decline in interest rates and the note repurchases, interest expense declined to $2.9 million in the second quarter, which includes $1.2 million of non-cash amortization of facility fees and discounts. As of the end of the second quarter, the weighted average cash borrowing rate on our outstanding debt was approximately 3%. The second quarter benefit from income taxes was $6.7 million, which reflects a 20% effective tax rate for the second quarter and 14% for the first half of 2020. The low tax benefit rate reflects the impact of the geographic composition of our pretax losses, where the tax benefit received from U.S. losses are partially offset by the tax provision on foreign earnings, which carry a higher rate than the U.S. Our net loss in the second quarter was $0.29 per share, which includes $0.09 of charges, as highlighted in yesterday’s press release. This compares to a net loss of $0.14 per share in the first quarter, which included $0.02 of charges. Net income was $0.05 per diluted share in the second quarter of last year. Turning to cash flow, second quarter cash provided by operating activities was $21 million, which included a $35 million net reduction in working capital. Our working capital reduction benefited from strong collections of receivables in the U.S., although the COVID-driven shutdowns of customer offices in the EMEA region led to an elevation in days sales outstanding. Investing activities had a minimal impact in the quarter, as the cash generation from the sale of used Mats and the disposal of other assets offset our capital investments, further demonstrating our ability to adjust our course in managing our net capital investments and cash flow. Our cash balance declined $6 million, reflecting our continuing progress in repatriating excess cash from our foreign subsidiaries. Our cash generation, including the impact of the repatriation efforts in the quarter, was used to pay down our debt balance, including a $19 million reduction in convertible bonds and a $15 million reduction in our U.S. asset-based loan facility. With the benefits of the debt repayment, our total debt balance declined to $136 million, while our cash balance ended the second quarter at $43 million, resulting in a total debt-to-capital ratio of 21% and a net debt-to-capital ratio of 15%. Our primary debt components include the remaining $67 million of convertible notes due December 2021 and $64 million outstanding on our U.S. asset-based bank facility, which runs to 2024. Substantially, all of our $43 million of cash on hand resides in our international subsidiaries. We plan to continue to repatriate excess cash to further reduce our outstanding U.S. debt in the coming quarters. Now, turning to our near-term outlook, in Fluids, we don’t anticipate a meaningful change in revenues in the third quarter. In North America, we expect the lower market activity, reflecting the full quarter effect of the Q2 rig count decline should largely be offset by our recent market share gains along with a modest uptick in disinfectant products revenues as our chemical blending facility continues to ramp production volumes. In the Gulf of Mexico, although customer activity is remaining stable, we have seen some COVID and weather related activity disruptions in recent weeks, which puts a modest headwind on the third quarter. Looking outside of North America, although the recent improvements in oil price is making for a more constructive outlook, customers are moving slowly to reengage with planned activities, particularly as we see countries reinforcing some of the previously relaxed COVID restrictions. Consequently, we are expecting our international revenues in the third quarter will remain fairly in line with Q2 levels until our customers gain further confidence in their ability to execute their plans. Looking beyond Q3, we anticipate that international revenues will begin to recover in the fourth quarter, likely returning to pre-COVID levels in early 2021. In terms of operating margin, while we are continuing to take cost actions in the U.S. and targeted international markets, we anticipate that Fluids Systems EBITDA will remain below breakeven for another quarter. In the Mats segment, we’ve seen a pickup in customer bidding and planning activity, but visibility remains limited at this point as demand continues to be highly dependent upon our customers gaining confidence in the post-COVID economic recovery. In light of the uncertainty and the timing of customer projects, we have pulled back on our Mats production levels as part of our cash management strategy. Based on our current outlook, we anticipate third quarter revenues will remain near Q2 levels, with operating margin remaining in the single digits. As we look further ahead, we continue to expect we will see fourth quarter strength in Mats sales in the utility sector as well as a rebound in activity when the economy ultimately reopens. Corporate office spending should remain near the Q2 level in the near term. With respect to taxes, we expect the effective tax rate for the remainder of the year to remain relatively in line with the first half 2020 results. With regard to cash flows, with more than $230 million of net working capital, we expect working capital reductions to provide a tailwind to cash generation for the next several quarters. The most immediate impact should be seen in international receivables, which are expected to show strong collections following COVID office closures and delays in Q2, while inventory is likely to work its way down more gradually over the next several quarters. Meanwhile, consistent with our Q2 results, we expect very limited net capital investments for the remainder of the year. As illustrated by our second quarter actions, we are continuing to take steps to manage the December 2021 convertible note maturity, with one-third of this debt having been retired over the past two quarters. We currently anticipate that our available cash on hand, cash generated from operations, including working capital reductions, and remaining capacity under our U.S. asset-based loan facility to provide sufficient liquidity to support our ongoing operations and satisfy our U.S. convertible note maturity. As we have noted in the past, it remains our intention to fund the maturity without accessing public capital markets. It should also be noted that we have additional sources of liquidity available should the need arise. We have meaningful U.S. real estate as well as assets within our European operations that can be used to create additional liquidity through secured financing or alternative arrangements. And with that, I would like to turn the call back over to Paul for his concluding remarks.