T. Collins
Analyst · Joe Gibney
Thank you, Jack. Good morning, and thanks for joining a call. It's a pleasure to be here with you today. Our 2010 earnings of over $200 million and EPS [earnings per share] of $3.65 were the highest in Oceaneering's history. These were remarkable accomplishments as most oilfield service companies are reporting 2010 results substantially below their peak earnings. For example, the EPS of the other 10 OFS companies that have reported 2010 results as of Tuesday this week were down on an average, more than 40% from their recent highs. Our performance in this environment was largely attributable to our business focus on deepwater activity and our successful efforts to control expenses. These enabled us to maintain the 16% operating income margin we attained in 2009 and 2008. Our 2010 EBITDA of $464 million was also a record high. Our EPS guidance range for 2011 of $3.45 to $3.75, with a possibility of another record year, is unchanged from our last conference call. For our services and products, we anticipate international demand growth may more than offset lower demand in the Gulf of Mexico. Our assessment is that deepwater drilling and field development and production activity will increase, particularly in West Africa and Asia. The major uncertainties we face in 2011 are when, at what pace and at what level permits for the Gulf of Mexico deepwater drilling project will rebound in light of additional environmental and safety regulations that have been implemented by the U.S. Department of Interior as a result of the Macondo well incident. We are experiencing a slow start but still expect a strong finish. Compared to 2010, in 2011 we are forecasting a lower profit contribution from our ROV services in the Gulf. In the event the Gulf of Mexico permitting is significantly lower than we expect, we believe more floating rigs will be moved to other geographic areas and that our ROV systems will stay onboard and work at their new drilling locations. I'll provide the details of our current ROV status on the rigs in the Gulf of Mexico later in my opening remarks. Our overall fourth quarter EPS result was slightly above the range we gave last quarter, on the strength of higher than forecast demand for our deepwater vessel services for IRM [Inspection, Repair and Maintenance], work and excellent execution on a lump sum umbilical installation project. EPS of $0.88 for the fourth quarter of 2010 was above that of the fourth quarter of 2009, due to an improvement in Subsea Products operating income. This was attributable to higher umbilical plant throughput, increased demand for field development hardware, ROV tooling and IWOCS services. During the quarter, we also secured two large umbilical contracts with combined revenue value of approximately $95 million. Year-over-year, we experienced fourth quarter ROV and Subsea Projects operating profit declines. ROV operating income decreased as expected due to the drilling moratorium in the Gulf of Mexico. During the quarter, we put 10 vehicles into service and retired two. Our fleet mix usage during December was 76% in drill support and 24% in construction and field maintenance. The situation in the Gulf of Mexico deepwater remains dynamic while we wait for the first new well drilling permit to be issued. At the end of December, we had ROVs onboard 26 Gulf of Mexico floating drilling rigs, and we were receiving full-day rates for ROVs on 11 rigs. Partial rates on six rigs and zero day rate on nine. This is better than at the end of September when we were receiving full rates for ROVs on only seven rigs. Of the 11 rigs with customers paying us full-day rate, seven were working, five on completions and two on water injection wells. Three were on standby, waiting for orders, and one was in the shipyard preparing to mobilize to drill a water injection well. None of the full rate increase, from seven to 11 rigs, was due to new rigs coming into the Gulf of Mexico. It was all due to status changes on existing rigs. As of yesterday we were on partial rate on one additional rig. Since our last call, drilling contractors have announced that three more Gulf of Mexico floating rigs are being relocated to other market areas Brazil, French Guiana and Libya. We have ROVs onboard these -- the rigs being moved to Brazil and French Guiana, and we'll keep our vehicles working on them in their new locations. This brings the total announcement of floating rigs leaving the Gulf to eight since the Macondo incident. We had ROVs on seven and have contracts to remain on them. Year-over-year Subsea Projects operating income declined in the fourth quarter, on a lower profit contribution from our Mobile Offshore Production System assets. The Ocean Legend's operating profit was lower than fourth quarter 2010 due to a reduced day rate and higher costs. We now expect the contract for the Ocean Legend to end early in the second quarter of 2011. Our fourth quarter results of 2009 included a $1.9 million gain realized on the sale of the Ocean Producer. Our 2010 annual EPS increase of 7% was largely attributable to record operating income performances from our ROV, Subsea Products and Advanced Technologies businesses. Our ROV operating income rose for the seventh consecutive year, to nearly $212 million, despite lower demand in the Gulf of Mexico. This was accomplished by slightly increasing our average revenue per day on hire while maintaining our operating margin through good cost controls in a tough market. Our days on hire were flat with 2009. During the year, we grew our fleet to 260 vehicles, up from 248 at the beginning of the year. We added 22 new vehicles and retired 10 older systems. In 2010, 26 new floating drilling rigs were placed in service and we had ROVs on 18 of them, with two on one rig for a total of 19 vehicles. Of these 19, six were existing ROVs. At the end of the year, we estimate that we continue to be the largest ROV owner, with 35% of the industry's work-class vehicles, 2/3 more than the size of the next largest ROV fleet. We remain the primary provider of ROV drill support service, with an estimated market share of 60%, 3x that of the second largest supplier. Our Subsea Products operating income increased by nearly $48 million or 80% on a $61 million or 13% increase in revenue. Operating income was 13% higher than in 2008, our previous annual peak performance, on the strength of higher subsea field development hardware and IWOCS service sales. We are quite proud of this accomplishment. Compared to 2009, the profit improvement was broad-based. It was attributable to manufacturing processed improvements and cost reductions, improved umbilical plant throughput and higher demand for subsea field development hardware, ROV tooling rentals and IWOCS services. Operating margin improved to an all-time high of 20% versus 12% in 2009 and 15% in 2008, mainly due to a change in product mix and better execution. Our year end Subsea Products backlog of $384 million was up $63 million or 20% from $321 million at the end of 2009, primarily due to two large fourth quarter umbilical orders, I previously mentioned. Of the $384 million, about $338 million, or almost 90%, is expected to be converted into revenue during 2011. Our Advanced Technologies operating profit improved due to increased work on entertainment industry contract, U.S. Navy engineering services and Department of Defense manufacturing projects. Subsea Project operating profit and operating margin decreased in 2010 due to lower demand for our services on hurricane damage projects and our phased exit from the Mobile Offshore Production Systems business. Inspection results were similar to those of 2009. In summary, we believe our annual 2010 earnings performance and cash generation were excellent, particularly in light of the market conditions. During the year, we continued to invest for the company's future earnings capability. Our capital expenditures were $207 million, of which $109 million, over half, was spent on expanding and upgrading our ROV fleet. $44 million was spent on Subsea Projects, including the construction of a new dive support vessel to replace the 37-year old Ocean Project; the acquisition and subsequent modifications of a vessel, the Ocean Patriot, for dedicated saturation diving service and purchase of a new saturation diving system. $42 million was spent on Subsea Products, including the asset acquisition of a Canadian manufacturer of metal-to-metal seal clamp connectors, check valves and universal ball joints. We also made investments in ROV tooling, IWOCS equipment and modifications to our Brazil umbilical manufacturing facility. We generated $464 million of EBITDA during 2010. At year end, we had $245 million of cash, no debt, $300 million available under our revolving credit facility and $1.4 billion of equity. Looking forward, we are reaffirming our 2011 EPS guidance with a range of $3.45 to $3.75 based on an average of 54.6 million diluted shares. The big picture of the annual 2011 versus 2010 changes, we envision occurring, can be summarized as follows: ROV operating income is projected to grow on an increasing days-on-hire as we benefit from an increase in international demand for drill support services and continue to expand our fleet. We anticipate adding 15 to 20 vehicles to our fleet in 2011 and retiring about five. For the Gulf of Mexico, we are projecting fewer days on hire in 2011 compared to 2010. Regarding the pace at which Gulf deepwater drilling recovers, we do not claim to have any more visibility than others. As I mentioned earlier, we currently have ROVs onboard 11 rigs at full rate and seven rigs at partial rate, compared to 31 rigs at full rate before the Macondo well incident occurred. At the midpoint of our EPS guidance range, we have assumed that we will be at full rate on 20 to 25 rigs working in the Gulf of Mexico at year and. We continue to believe that permits for new exploration wells will be granted in 2011. In this regard, we're encouraged by a statement made by Michael Bromwich, Director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, here in Houston last Friday, stated that he expects deepwater permits to begin to be granted before the end of the second quarter this year. Once the first few are let, we expect that permitting process will accelerate and the number of working floating drilling rigs in the Gulf will rise. We expect our ROV operating margin to be slightly lower due to a change in geographic mix and our fleet utilization rate to be slightly higher in 2011. Subsea Products operating income is anticipated to be approximately the same as increased throughput of our umbilical plants is offset by lower sales of IWOCS services in the Gulf of Mexico. We anticipate securing enough 2011 orders for ROV tooling to replace the Macondo well site tooling earnings of 2010. This tooling includes higher flow rate hot stabs, hot stab receptacles and valves, ROV Accumulator Reservoir Skids and Backup Accumulated Bottle Skids. We recently tested one of our new Subsea Accumulator Modules, a Backup Accumulator Bottle Skids, and closed a BOP Ram in less than 25 seconds, in 4,300 feet of water. Considerably faster than the API recommended time of 45 seconds. We are anticipating that Subsea Products operating margin will be lower in 2011. This is attributable to our expectation of a change in product mix, to more umbilical, less IWOCS service revenue. We believe the 20% we achieved in 2010 is not sustainable and anticipate that an annual Subsea Products margin in the 15% to 18% range is likely. Subsea Project operating profit and margin are expected to decline due to the completion, in 2010, of Macondo project work and a reduced level of Subsea activity in the Gulf of Mexico. Our Inspection segment profit contribution is forecasted to be slightly higher on increased service sales in the United States and abroad. ADTECH performance is expected to be flat, unallocated expenses are estimated to be slightly higher. During 2011 we anticipate generating at least $435 million of EBITDA. Our balance sheet and projected cash flow provide us with ample resources to invest in Oceaneering's growth. Our CapEx estimate for this year is $150 million to $175 million, of which, approximately $100 million is anticipated to be spent on upgrading and adding vehicles to our ROV fleet. About $30 million is for Subsea Projects which includes the completion of the Ocean Patriot renovation and adding a third SAT [saturation] system. While the longer-term impact of the Macondo well incident is uncertain, we are convinced that our strategy to focus on providing services and products to facilitate deepwater exploration and production remains sound. We believe the oil and gas industry will continue to invest in deepwater, as it remains one of the best frontiers for adding large hydrocarbon reserves with high production flow rates. Others must share this belief. Since our last conference call, 21 new floating rigs have been ordered. Furthermore, renewed industry and regulatory emphasis on safe and reliable operations is providing us additional opportunities to demonstrate our capabilities. With our existing assets, we're well-positioned to supply a wide range of the services and products required to support the safe deepwater efforts of our customers . We believe Oceaneering's business prospects for the long term remain promising, our commanding competitive position, technology leadership, strong balance sheet, and cash flow enable us to continue to grow the company, and we intend to do so. Our first quarter 2011 EPS guidance range is $0.65 to $0.70. This is consistent with the fact that our first quarter earnings are customarily lower than the fourth quarter of the previous year. At the midpoint, this would equate to 19% of the $3.60 midpoint of our annual guidance range. This is within our usual historical first quarter performance range and, actually, at exactly the same percentage we reported in 2010. I might add that over the last nine years, we have averaged 19% of our earnings in the first quarter with a band of 17% to 21% for the year. Our first quarter 2011 guidance is slightly down compared to the first quarter of last year. We're expecting a strong first quarter profit contribution from Subsea Products to partially offset declines in operating income from ROV and Subsea Project operations. Compared to the fourth quarter of 2010, our first quarter guidance is lower based on the substantial reduction in operating profit from Subsea Projects and lower Subsea Products and ROV profit contributions. Given the low level of activity in the Gulf of Mexico and improving fundamentals internationally, we believe Q1 of 2011 should be the bottom of our earnings as we resume the up cycle in deepwater activity. In summary, our results continue to demonstrate our ability to generate excellent earnings and cash flow. We believe our business strategy is working well for both the long term and the short term. We like our competitive position in the 2011 Oilfield Service market. Our technology gives us the ability to prosper in challenging times. We're leveraged to what we believe will be an inevitable resumption in growth of deepwater and subsea completion activity. The longer-term market outlook for our deepwater and subsea service and product offerings remains favorable. The renewed industry and regulatory emphasis on reliable equipment and redundant safety features on deepwater operations has caused our customers to be even more focused on recent risk reduction. This elevates the importance of the utility and reliability of our ROV services and related product line offerings, and reinforces the benefit of our value sell. In 2011, we're anticipating our EPS performance will be comparable to 2010, with the possibility of another record year. We think this distinguishes Oceaneering from many other oilfield service companies. We appreciate very much your interest in Oceaneering and now we'll be pleased to answer your questions.