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Tidewater Inc. (TDW)

Q4 2013 Earnings Call· Tue, May 21, 2013

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Welcome to the Fiscal 2013 Fourth Quarter Earnings Conference Call. My name is John, and I'll be your operator for today's call. [Operator Instructions] Please note that this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the call over to Mr. Joe Bennett. Mr. Bennett, you may begin.

Joseph M. Bennett

Analyst

Thank you, John. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Tidewater's fiscal 2013 full year and fourth quarter earnings results conference call for the period ended March 31, 2013. I'm Joe Bennett, Tidewater's Executive Vice President and Chief Investor Relations Officer. With me this morning on the call are our President and CEO, Jeff Plat; Quinn Fanning, our Executive VP and CFO; and Bruce Lundstrom, our Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary. We will follow our usual conference call format. After the formalities, I'll turn the call over to Jeff for his initial comments, to be followed by Quinn's review of the financial details for the year and quarter. Jeff will then provide some wrap up comments before we open the call for questions. During today's conference call, Jeff, Quinn, I and other Tidewater management may make certain comments that are forward-looking statements and not statements of historical fact. I know that you understand that there are risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the company's actual future performance to be materially different from that stated or implied by any comment that we may make during today's conference call. Additional information concerning the factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those stated or implied by the forward-looking statements may be found in the Risk Factors section of Tidewater's most recent Form 10-K. With that, I'll turn the call over to Jeff.

Jeffrey M. Platt

Analyst

Thank you, Joe, and good morning to everyone. Earlier this morning, we reported fully diluted earnings per share for fiscal 2013 of $3.03, compared to our fiscal 2012's $1.70 per share results. We remind you, however, that our fiscal 2012 results had been affected by a $30.9 million pretax goodwill charge. Excluding that goodwill charge, our after-tax adjusted earnings would have been $2.13 per share for fiscal 2012. This year's annual earnings results did include a $3.4 million after-tax charge or $0.07 per share associated with the settlement of our former CEO, Dean Taylor's retirement benefits, which we previously recorded in our third fiscal quarter. For our fourth fiscal quarter, we reported fully diluted earnings per share of $0.95, compared to the $0.66 we earned in fiscal 2012's fourth quarter. Our results for this quarter were substantially better than a consensus estimate of $0.61, and Quinn will provide you with additional information as to the reason for this solid performance. Vessel revenues in the quarter were $325 million, which is an increase of approximately 7% from the vessel revenues we reported our prior quarter but importantly, this quarter's revenues represent an increase of approximately 13% over the vessel revenues of last year's fourth quarter. Our vessel revenues reflect the improving health of our industry that we have noted in previous conference calls and presentations and the fruits of our continued investment on our vessel fleet over the past several years. We said we thought you would see a rising stairstep pattern to our future revenues, and we believe our latest quarter's revenues signal another step up. Our assessment is that the underlying fundamentals of the offshore business are good and appear to be strengthening. Not only do our financial results reflect this improvement, but our recent investing activity should demonstrate…

Quinn P. Fanning

Analyst

Thank you, Jeff. Good morning, everyone. First, I'll call your attention to the earnings press release that we put out this morning prior to the market's opening. We expect to file our annual report on Form 10-K through the Edgar Filing Service sometime before the close of business today. I intend to focus my comments on the quarter just completed and our near to intermediate-term outlook. As usual, I will also provide a recap of capital commitments and available liquidity. I'll then conclude my remarks with a few perspectives on the Troms's offshore transaction, which is not explicitly incorporated into the guidance that I will provide for the June quarter. As Jeff noted in his introductory remarks, we reported diluted earnings per common share of $0.95 in the March quarter, versus diluted earnings per common share of $0.61 for the December quarter, which again was net of $0.07 in the SERP settlement charge. Focusing on the big picture. Vessel revenue for the March quarter, at $325 million, was above the vessel revenue guidance range that I provided in February. Operating expenses, at $186 million, was below vessel operating expense guidance range that I provided and vessel operating margin, at approximately 43%, was about 3 percentage points better than the high-end of the range that I provided on our last call. As vessel deliveries and vessels and drydock are frequently key drivers of quarterly financial results, I'll note a couple of items for you in order to provide some additional context. First, incremental vessel revenue from 6 new vessels that were delivered in the March quarter and 5 vessels that were delivered in the December quarter totaled about $8 million in the March quarter. Demand for our new equipment remains very good across most geo markets, and the team has been…

Jeffrey M. Platt

Analyst

Thanks, Quinn. As I said at the outset of the call, we believe our quarterly results demonstrate that the underlying fundamentals of our industry are solid and the industries' recovery continues. As a result, we believe the outlook for Tidewater's business is promising. The health of those businesses servicing offshore exploration and development companies starts with the health of oil and gas company cash flows and spending. With commodity prices remaining strong, oil company cash flows remain healthy and the company's appear to be willing to spend more money on exploration and development. We see nothing to suggest any retrenchment in spending. In fact, the March Gulf of Mexico lease sale results support that view. In recent months, we have seen the international offshore rig count continue to increase. International spending is of particular interest for us, as roughly 90% of our revenues are earned outside U.S. waters. Our results demonstrate that the improvement in international activity is occurring across the board, not just in select markets. Our fleet utilization rates are strong, and we experienced healthy average day rate increases for each class of vessel in our fleet. At the present time, the worldwide offshore drilling rig fleet is averaging about an 85% utilization rate with floating drilling rigs at about 91% and jackup utilization at 86%. The composition of the offshore drilling rig fleet is roughly 58% jackups and 42% floaters. So while the floating drilling rig market is important for our vessel utilization and earnings, an increase in the number of working jackup rigs can have a meaningful impact on our future financial results. Our deepwater vessel class is experiencing nearly full practical utilization and day rates in this segment have increased nicely over recent quarters, with a good portion of the class still to roll on…

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from Jeff Tillery from Tudor, Pickering, and Holt. Jeff Tillery - Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. Securities, Inc., Research Division: You talked about the R&M inflation expected for the full year in the 10% to 15% range. Can we think about the overall operating costs for the vessel fleet and inflating kind of in that same range year-over-year?

Quinn P. Fanning

Analyst

Our hope is that labor inflation would not be at that level. We've generally been trending at levels less than that and I'm not seeing any numbers that would suggest that we're going to be eating anywhere close to 15% labor inflation on a unit basis, and obviously, closely track the vessels that we're accruing. Jeff Tillery - Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. Securities, Inc., Research Division: Can we take into account the amount of labor you need to hire? Should we think about that overall cost number as being kind of up in that 15% range year-over-year?

Quinn P. Fanning

Analyst

I think the -- obviously, in weaker markets, labor has tended to move with the exception of a couple of key jurisdictions either down or trend flat. The jurisdictions I would highlight that was not the case over the last couple of years that were otherwise a weak market were Brazil and Australian and more recently, the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. We've also had, like many in the offshore space, pressure tied to specific technical skills where we're competing for individuals with some of the rig owners and that's specifically the DP operators. But I think where I would instead focus you on labor costs is where we have tracked relative to vessel revenue. It's not a perfect measure. As general matter, we have been kind of in the low-30s as a percentage of vessel revenue in the cyclical trough for rebuilding period and we tend to at least keep of our operating footprint presently below the 30% level in a decent market. But again, as I mentioned, the region by region costs as percentage vessel revenue can be quite volatile. And Americas, as an example, are probably 7 to 8 percentage points higher than some of the African regions. Jeff Tillery - Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. Securities, Inc., Research Division: I mean, there's good rate progression kind of across-the-board this quarter. So it sounds like the only thing that you might consider unusual in the March quarter was the couple hundred dollars a day in the towing supply group that was from demobilization and amortization. Is that a fair characterization of the March quarter?

Quinn P. Fanning

Analyst

No, I guess to make one point, it was not an amortization of demobilization fee. It was actual cash paid to us by a customer in conjunction [ph] with contractual agreements. It did have the effect though of -- maybe distorting's a bad word, but day rates did include the demobilization fees for our towing supply and supply class of the $800 quarter-over-quarter progression, I think it was $200-some. Yes, but to be clear, certain geographies were experiencing some more rate progression. I would say the 7,000 to 10,000 pre-course [ph] power classes are trending better than the smaller vessels within that class. And certain markets, likewise, are doing better than others, but we are optimistic about the class. As Jeff and I both mentioned, it's just not moving as fast as we'd like it to and certainly the trends in the jackup market would hopefully change that a bit in the coming quarters. Jeff Tillery - Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. Securities, Inc., Research Division: Okay. But kind of the underlying trend of improvement we saw in the quarter really nothing unusual to negate that, that we saw in the March quarter? Just a little bit of help from some of the lump sum payments.

Quinn P. Fanning

Analyst

Correct.

Jeffrey M. Platt

Analyst

We agree with that.

Operator

Operator

And our next question comes from Ian Macpherson from Simmons. Ian Macpherson - Simmons & Company International, Research Division: It seems like Tidewater has resisted Norwegian market for some time, and I'm curious what's changed with Troms's more of an opportunistic situation, or have you seen the strategic imperative of the cold water harsh environment in your geographic market becoming too important to avoid at this point? And just thoughts on further consolidation opportunities in the market going forward.

Jeffrey M. Platt

Analyst

Ian, it wasn't purposeful that Tidewater did not participate in the Norwegian market. It's always been one that we have kept an eye on in the North Sea market as a whole. Sometimes that was a good thing, sometimes it wasn't such a good thing. When that market gets good, it can get good. I think it's a natural progression for us where we are with the fleet rig capitalization. We certainly take note of what our clients are doing. They lead the way and certainly, the Arctic harsh water environment seems to be -- has some tremendous opportunities. And when we looked at that, we looked it for the right opportunities, not just an iron purchase. We wanted to have the competency of a management team that has the experience to operate in that, to add to Tidewater and it came out to be what we think is a very good fit for Tidewater. And I think one that certainly positions us well today and also looking ahead as the Arctic unfolds, which it may turn out to be the very large new opportunities that our clients are certainly excited about and we're going to be positioned to grow with that. So that's a little bit of the insight with respect to the Troms acquisition. And I guess the second part of your question, could you repeat it again, Ian? Ian Macpherson - Simmons & Company International, Research Division: Well, how you've -- what you think about the opportunities after further M&A?

Jeffrey M. Platt

Analyst

And Ian, that's nothing new. Our bent has always been to acquire vessels or potential companies to have some consolidation. When you look at what we've actually done, buying companies certainly is a pretty short list, you have to go back a ways until we've done that. But a lot of the assets that we have acquired since we started the recapitalization, we've done a pretty good job of buying assets that are already committed to the industry that is our bent. And again, our financial position allows us to make a move when the opportunities present itself. We always like to see consolidation. It is still a fragmented market. We're certainly looking all the time at potential opportunities for Tidewater. Ian Macpherson - Simmons & Company International, Research Division: Okay. And then just lastly on Troms. Just the 6.5 to 7.5 EBITDA range that you've described, is there any -- are there any other aspects of the backlog on that fleet that could -- that are distorted from the current market rates when we think about the run rate for year 2 or year 3 of that acquisition? Are there any contracts that are below market or et cetera?

Jeffrey M. Platt

Analyst

They do have some term coverage, which I guess relative to the current market rates. One could argue should price up in due course. But to be clear, the -- obviously EBITDA is a function of what your day rate in OpEx assumptions would be and I would certainly acknowledge that smart people can disagree on the precise rate that group of assets can realize in the market. But just to clarify one point, the range of EBITDA multiples I used would capture effectively a 10-vessel fleet, which includes the 3 STX Pan Ocean vessels, which effectively were front-runners to this transaction and are essentially identical sisters to some of the vessels with Troms and results. So the one vessel that is under construct that will delivered in early '14 and the one option vessels so that's where you get to 10 vessels with average price of I think I said $58 million on average and 6.5x to 7x -- excuse me, 6.5 to 7.5x fully delivered EBITDA. Ian Macpherson - Simmons & Company International, Research Division: Got it. Okay. And then just lastly, does Troms bring you the shore-based support that you need to run this fleet or do you foresee additional investment on that side to sort of round out?

Jeffrey M. Platt

Analyst

Ian, very confident management team. They run a tight shift up there. I think it's going to fit nicely into Tidewater, and I think that we have the ability to grow without much shore-based expansion.

Quinn P. Fanning

Analyst

The shore-based is not in Stavanger. We do have an office or Troms, I should say, has an office in Oslo, which has a corporate and marketing personnel in it. But the real operating basis in Troms so, which is northern Norway, and we think that's a very positive point of differentiation for the platform as it's a developing jumping off point to the Bering Sea and to the other cold water markets that we're interested in.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from Joe Gibney from Capital One.

Joseph D. Gibney - Capital One Southcoast, Inc., Research Division

Analyst

Quinn, I just got a question for you. Big picture G&A question, I understand the $44 million, $45 million sequential guidance. Thoughts on G&A going forward can be a significant factor in the model if you guys are expanding your fleet, expanding some of your geographic footprint? What are some thoughts around presumably as we're moving into a better operating environment as well? What are thoughts on G&A growth and how we should be thinking about that on our model?

Quinn P. Fanning

Analyst

Well, I think that the reality of a relatively high operating cost business model is that we'd like to think that we have at least near-term overhead absorption benefits with growth. The Troms transaction is perhaps a contra example of that we're actually adding vessels, theoretically gross margin and some incremental G&A. But we think it also comes with franchises as we've talked about. But now, we built out an area in Saudi Arabia as an example of the last couple of years. East Africa is a growing market that may ultimately result in some incremental shore-based support, but no, I wouldn't think that growth of our fleet would come along with comparable growth in G&A. We would like to think that the fleet that we are running at least in the business we're presently in will be supported by the existing cost platform with natural year-over-year growth as we spoke to inflation factors and things like that. And obviously, we have incentive compensation metrics that are safety and financially based that have -- which [indiscernible] more earnings and more return on capital. And G&A would grow with it.

Joseph D. Gibney - Capital One Southcoast, Inc., Research Division

Analyst

Okay, fair enough. And just an additional question on the Troms debt assumption. I'm sorry I missed it, I believe you referenced, just want to clarify. Did you indicate $150 million in Troms debt that you're assuming in the transaction?

Quinn P. Fanning

Analyst

Yes, there's about $150 million in debt in place on a gross basis. I think the net debt at March 31 for Troms was about $139 million. If you could refer to our press release that we put out, it was a reference to assumed obligations and that was a combination of net interest-bearing debt and that's $139 million, or $140 million number I just referenced, and remaining payments on the construction in process.

Joseph D. Gibney - Capital One Southcoast, Inc., Research Division

Analyst

Got it. Helpful. And Jeff, just last one for you. Just wanted to get sort of a big picture view on Middle East. I know there's a tender out there with ARAMCO currently. Just general outlook for the Middle East outlook. Appreciate it.

Jeffrey M. Platt

Analyst

Yes, I think overall the jackup rig comp continues to increase. I think ARAMCO's talking about stepping it [indiscernible] actually stepped out in little bit deeper water than what the average would have been. So overall, we're pretty optimistic that, that will continue to show nice growth.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from Jon Donnel from Howard Weil.

Jonathan Donnel - Howard Weil Incorporated, Research Division

Analyst

I wonder if you could give us an update on your deepwater fleet and the number of boats that's still are set to roll off of the legacy contracts, I think it had been about 50% as of the last update. I just wonder if we could get update on that number.

Jeffrey M. Platt

Analyst

Yes, Jon. I think that's still about right. There's about 50% that would be [indiscernible] onto the new contracts. I still think that's about right.

Jonathan Donnel - Howard Weil Incorporated, Research Division

Analyst

Okay. So there's still just -- or I guess, organic growth just basically leading-edge day rates for those to be moving up without seeing another step change in the overall rate landscape then?

Jeffrey M. Platt

Analyst

Yes, that's right but we still are pressing the leading-edge day rates [indiscernible] and we haven't given up on that at all. But, nonetheless, the 50%, about 50% will have that pretty, pretty significant increase because they're coming off the legacy contracts to the new contracts.

Joseph M. Bennett

Analyst

Jon, you see the increase in this quarter to March quarter's deepwater day rates and that's just part of that process kind of unfolding as we suggested last quarter that it would be doing over the next 12 to 15 months.

Jonathan Donnel - Howard Weil Incorporated, Research Division

Analyst

Okay. Great. I appreciate that confirmation. Then Jeff, you alluded a little bit at the end of the call about sort of the opportunities you look for outside of maybe the traditional just drilling and production support. I wonder if you can kind of give us an update on maybe the percentage of your operations right now that maybe are ones that are maybe a little outside the regular demand drivers. You think about perhaps the seismic or kind of P&A work and maybe your thoughts on specific ways you might be expanding that or if you think that that's the going to -- that percentage might be changing over time.

Jeffrey M. Platt

Analyst

Jon, I really don't really have any percentages to give you on the conventional business Tidewater's in today. And what we are involved in some of the seismic work, mostly that is not in the actual seismic acquisition but some of the support vessels to that. We did some work around, some light subsea work. We have installed jumpers and wellheads. We're doing some of that today. So we've got our finger in some of that but to actually come out and give you some numbers and where that might go, I think that's a little bit premature.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from Greg Lewis from Credit Suisse. Gregory Lewis - Crédit Suisse AG, Research Division: Jeff, you touched a little bit on the Brazil tender that you guys won. Could you provide a little bit more color in terms of maybe the number of boats that were involved? I mean -- I think right now you have around 15, 16 boats down in Brazil currently operating. Any of these new tenders that you won in Brazil -- is any of that incremental boat demand or is that more just contract resets of existing tonnage that's already down there?

Jeffrey M. Platt

Analyst

Greg, I think we've talked a little about it before. It's a combination of boats in that tender and it was said around a 10-boat package for Tidewater. There were vessels that were in-country on Petrobras contracts. Those will rollover and reset nicely, nice day rate increases on those. And then there's an incremental of about 6 ships that will be coming into Brazil that would be incremental for us down there. And again, we're very happy with this contract. Day rates finally have moved back into an area that makes sense for us financially, so we're pretty pleased with that contract award. Gregory Lewis - Crédit Suisse AG, Research Division: And then on that, do we have any sense where those 6 boats are going to be, being pulled from? Are those newbuilds? Are those in another basin in the Atlantic?

Jeffrey M. Platt

Analyst

Greg, I really don't like to get down into the granular details and everybody would like that. Suffice it to say, these boats coming into Brazil just to give you some general ideas on it, these are not the brand-new, biggest deepwater PSV. They are deepwater ships, but they tend to be some of our little bit older new deepwater boats. They predominantly are DP 1 so again, we're moving them into a very nice market. And it's going to, again, tighten up the market for some of our new equipment coming in other areas. But overall, it's a good contract for Tidewater, we're very happy with it. Gregory Lewis - Crédit Suisse AG, Research Division: Okay, perfect. And then just real quick wanted to follow-up on Troms real quickly. I guess the 2 SPX boats that were acquired and are on the water currently, are those currently operating in Norway or are they somewhere else?

Jeffrey M. Platt

Analyst

They're somewhere else in and just to make sure we acquired a 3 SPX boats; 2 of which have been delivered; 1 will be yet delivered, I think June is the delivery date we're expecting on that. Gregory Lewis - Crédit Suisse AG, Research Division: Okay. And so with Troms, there's a chance to maybe that final newbuild maybe sticks around Norway?

Jeffrey M. Platt

Analyst

There's a chance for it to stick certainly in the North Sea, could be in Norway and potentially it could move out of Norway, too. I mean, again, we're not married to any one geographic market. It certainly makes sense that fleet or those vessels definitely have the characteristics that it makes sense to work with those pretty closely with the Troms acquisition. Gregory Lewis - Crédit Suisse AG, Research Division: Okay. Perfect, and then, Quinn, real quick. I don't know if this has already been done or not or we just have to wait maybe for the next 10-Q. Is there any sort of estimate for what the goodwill is going to be for the Troms acquisition?

Quinn P. Fanning

Analyst

No. As I mentioned, we still have a [indiscernible] drill to run and obviously, some integration planning as well. So hopefully, we'll be able to report that to you at our first -- on future conference call and I'd like to think it's going to be our next one.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from Matthias Detjen from Morgan Stanley.

Matthias Detjen

Analyst

So I just have 2 more questions seeing that most of the things are covered. One of the -- on the Troms, and the STX in the North Sea region, I was wondering if you plan on making any further acquisitions in that area or growing that market further after this acquisition?

Jeffrey M. Platt

Analyst

We're always looking at potential acquisitions, both vessels and companies on a worldwide basis. And just leave it at that, I mean we're always looking for the right opportunity for us.

Matthias Detjen

Analyst

Okay. Well, and then there's just one last more technical question is if you could give us some guidance on how you think the operating expenses are going to be for the newly acquired vessels through Troms and the STX vessels, if there's any difference there from the rest?

Quinn P. Fanning

Analyst

I think ultimately, it will be a function of what jurisdiction we're operating in. But as you might expect, the North Sea, and the Norwegian sector, in particular and the cold water markets in particular, tend to realize higher day rates and also experienced some more higher operating expenses. But there's some data available all by asset class for the Norwegian sector in the North Sea. I could give you numbers but there will be somewhat precedent setting and I'd rather just rely on the geographic data that ODS and others provide.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from Matt Conlan from Wells Fargo.

Matthew D. Conlan - Wells Fargo Securities, LLC, Research Division

Analyst

I wanted to ask about of the Norwegian PSV market a little bit. On the rig side, that's a very exclusive market and contracts are generally longer-term than another markets. Is that similar characteristic to the PSV market in Norway?

Jeffrey M. Platt

Analyst

You do have a function up there that's certainly longer-term. The Norwegian market is really a pretty unique subset of the North Sea. We certainly believe it's the one that we would absolutely want to be in. Obviously, that's why we did the deal. So again, it's typically higher-end, higher requirements for execution and it's a market we're very favorable to.

Matthew D. Conlan - Wells Fargo Securities, LLC, Research Division

Analyst

Okay. But these higher-end vessels can leave and come back pretty freely?

Jeffrey M. Platt

Analyst

Could you say that again, please?

Matthew D. Conlan - Wells Fargo Securities, LLC, Research Division

Analyst

So do these vessels leave the Norwegian side and come back pretty freely?

Jeffrey M. Platt

Analyst

Matt, there tends to be a large number that are on more term contracts and in that respect, they don't. Statoil has, I think, 50% of the market there. It's a very high-end client. They have very high expectations and requirements for the service provided to them and no, it's not a lot of churn, if you will, in a majority of that business. So no, it's not necessarily a spot market type mentality where vessels freely move in and out. There is some spot activity there but it tends to be much less than some of the other sectors in the North Sea.

Matthew D. Conlan - Wells Fargo Securities, LLC, Research Division

Analyst

Okay. Great. And if you don't mind, just to touch on the towing supply/supply market again. It sounds like $550 to $600 a day was the real increase in day rates. It really seem to be pretty broad-based, improved in every region. It seems to me there should be some more momentum of day rate follow-through there than you've been describing on the call. It sounded you're being a little bit more cautious on it than I would've thought.

Jeffrey M. Platt

Analyst

I would have thought that rates would be moving faster too. No, your observations are all generally correct. The adjusted quarter-over-quarter progression rates, if you back up demobilization fee, and I don't want to imply that, that's not real money. I mean, it was just lumpy in the way we received it. But if you were to compare over 8 quarters or something like that, what has happened with average day rates in the deepwater class and average deepwater -- and excuse me, an average towing supply and supply rates, it's really a tale of 2 fleets. As Jeff indicated, with the new jackup deliveries, particularly if they are incremental working rigs with supply-demand dynamic within the towing supply and supply class should improve. And as I believe, Jeff mentioned on the last call, when they do improve, they should translate into improved financial results faster because the contract terms tend to be shorter. So you can go back to our fiscal 2008 or 2009 and see when those rates run, they run pretty good. But at least from our perspective, it has not been experienced across geographies, as we've experienced in the deepwater class and across subcategories of equipment, and at least, our experience to date has been that the larger of the at least towing supply vessels have moved better than the smaller ones. And by large and smaller, I'm generally talking about or 7,000 to 10,000 brake horsepower as compared to the 5,000 to 7,000.

Jeffrey M. Platt

Analyst

Matt, just so you know, we never are satisfied.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from David Smith from Johnson Rice. David C. Smith - Johnson Rice & Company, L.L.C., Research Division: Speaking of never being satisfied, hope you're satisfied with the LTI record this quarter. If I heard that right, that was a second time in your history?

Jeffrey M. Platt

Analyst

David, it was actually the year. We finished the full fiscal year which is obviously 4 quarters without a lost time accident. David C. Smith - Johnson Rice & Company, L.L.C., Research Division: Well you got the tight grip on the rattlesnake then, that was outstanding. I wanted to ask about the regions where towing supply isn't seeing pricing improvement. Do those regions have excess local capacity that can't usually move to the regions where you are getting price traction?

Jeffrey M. Platt

Analyst

The segment is pretty fragmented. Ourselves and our biggest competitor, Bourbon, we also as in past in there. And also, both of us have seen, I think, pretty good utilization, in fact, very high utilization in it. It's still a very fragmented and a lot of the companies, smaller companies, they may not have the wherewithal to actually move large geographic areas, so I think a little bit of that's in play. Certainly, the Far East where a lot of that equipment has been built and a good bit of it is owned by smaller operators, wanting to move very far afield from that is not something they have the expertise, capabilities or much of an appetite to do. So I think some of that's in play.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from Mark Brown from Citigroup.

Mark W. Brown - Citigroup Inc, Research Division

Analyst

Just wanted to ask if you -- what your views of the Gulf of Mexico market are. And did you -- you might mind if I have missed this -- but have you ordered additional vessels for that market recently?

Jeffrey M. Platt

Analyst

Mark, overall we look at the Gulf like everyone else does. It's certainly improving and it continues to improve. We're happy to be part of it and we did, it was a publicized in some of the trade journals. We added 2 more large PSVs on the order, probably within the last month. I think we signed the paperwork on that so we've added 2 more to the queue for Tidewater.

Mark W. Brown - Citigroup Inc, Research Division

Analyst

All right, great. And in the press release for Troms, I think it mentioned some language at the end of there might be an earn-out provision or something to that effect. I was just wondering if you could talk about that a little bit?

Quinn P. Fanning

Analyst

Yes, sure. As is frequently the case, an attempt to bridge differing valuation views of buyer and the seller, we agreed with principal seller, which is a Norwegian private equity fund by the name of, HiTecVision, very well-known, well-regarded firm. We basically took a point of view as to how we thought that the market would develop over the next couple of years in terms of rates in OpEx. And we were comfortable putting our hand over heart on as -- I don't know if it's at 95% confidence [indiscernible] or whatever you want to call, but something that we were highly confident in our ability to execute. We think the transaction economics that were laid out in the press release, that $395 million reference is well-supported by iron. And those cash flows that we anticipated from the acquired sols. The way we think about and what we agreed to with the sellers is that to the extent that without performance beyond what essentially we model to support our purchase price, there is a sharing mechanism that is based on essentially an adjusted EBITDA metric over that 4-year period that's referenced in the press release. So we will be more than happy to make the additional payments to sellers because it will be a portion of our performance as we modeled it. Is that responsive? Is that what you're looking for.

Operator

Operator

We have no further questions at this time.

Jeffrey M. Platt

Analyst

John, we appreciate your assistance with this call. We appreciate everyone's interest in Tidewater, and you all have a great day. Thank you very much.

Operator

Operator

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. This concludes today's conference. Thank you for participating, you may now disconnect.