Quinn P. Fanning
Analyst · a question
Thank you, Jeff. Good morning, everyone. First, I'll call your attention to a second earnings press release that we put out this morning in order to correct a typo in one of the tables included in our original press release. We also expect to file our quarterly report on Form 10-Q through the EDGAR filing service sometime before the close of business today. Also note that we included select operating statistics for our newer vessels, including utilization, average day rates and vessel count by asset class in this morning's press release. And at least for the near to an immediate term, we expect to provide this information on our quarterly filings as well. Finally, note that in this quarter, we have stripped vessel operating lease costs, which some associate with financing costs, out of vessel operating costs, and we will instead separately present these costs under the heading vessel operating leases on the face of our income statement on a go-forward basis. This should make our results, including vessel operating costs and vessel operating margins, easier to compare to our peer OSV companies. With those housekeeping items out of the way, as Jeff noted in his introductory remarks, we reported diluted earnings per common share of $0.61 in the June quarter versus diluted earnings per common share of $0.95 for the March quarter. As noted in our press release, net earnings reflect approximately $4.6 million or $0.07 per share after-tax and nonrecurring costs, including transaction expenses associated with the Troms Offshore transaction and our recent settlement of a previously disclosed assessment by the Customs Department of Equatorial Guinea. To help you tie back to my prior guidance, financial results of Troms Offshore are included from the June 4 date of acquisition through June 30. Note that Tidewater's results for the quarter include approximately $3.4 million of Troms vessel revenue; approximately $1.9 million of vessel operating expense; $4.4 million of G&A, including the previously referenced $3.7 million of transaction expenses; and a bit less than $1 million of depreciation expense. The total EPS impact of Troms in the June quarter was approximately negative $0.06, which includes the previously referenced $0.05 per share in nonrecurring costs. EPS adjusted for Troms results with the EG settlement was $0.69. We continue to expect that our recent investments in the Norwegian sector, and more generally in cold climate areas of operation, will be accretive to Tidewater's consolidated earnings on a perspective basis. As Jeff noted, reported vessel revenue for the June quarter at $332 million, when downwardly adjusted for approximately $3 million in Troms vessel revenue, was still at the high end of the vessel revenue guidance range of $320 million to $330 million that I provided in May. Reported vessel operating expense at $196 million, when downwardly adjusted for about $2 million in Troms vessel OpEx and about $4 million in vessel operating leases, was also within my guidance range of $195 million to $200 million, largely reflecting, as Jeff noted, fleet growth and an unexpectedly high quarter of -- excuse me, and an unexpectedly high quarter for drydocks. Vessel level operating margin at approximately 41% was down about 3 percentage points quarter-over-quarter, but was consistent with our expectations and within the upper half of my prior guidance range. As vessel deliveries and vessels in drydock are frequently key drivers of quarterly financial results, I'll note a couple of items for you in order to provide some initial contexts. First, incremental vessel revenue from 8 vessels, including the 5 vessel Troms fleet that were delivered in the June quarter and 6 vessels that were delivered in the March quarter, totaled about $8.5 million in the June quarter. Demand for new equipment continued to be very good across most geo markets, and the vast majority of our off-hire time has generally been driven by shipyard-related downtime for vessel repairs and/or vessel modifications and generally nonspeculative mobilizations. Otherwise, gaps between our vessel charters have generally been limited. Second, lost revenue associated with vessels in drydock was up quarter-over-quarter by almost $8 million, which, due to unscheduled downtime, had [indiscernible] exceeded our relatively high expectations at the time of our last earnings conference call. Consistent with our outlook in May, we anticipate another heavy drydocking quarter this September quarter, after which at least scheduled shipyard time should begin to moderate. I'll return to this topic in a moment. With these 2 points in mind, I'll note a couple of operating statistics for the June quarter. Average active vessels, at 268 vessels, were up 3 vessels quarter-over-quarter. Utilization of the active fleet in the June quarter was a respectable 80%, but was off approximately 3 percentage points quarter-over-quarter, again reflecting scheduled and unscheduled shipyard time and perhaps some modest drag associated with newly delivered vessels getting to their first job. Average day rates for the active fleet at approximately $17,000 a day were up about 4% quarter-over-quarter. Looking now at our 2 key asset classes. For the deepwater class of vessels, which accounted for approximately 55% of consolidated first quarter vessel revenue, average active vessel count was up 2 vessels quarter-over-quarter to 82 vessels and totaled 86 vessels at quarter end. Utilization of the active deepwater vessels at approximately 85% was basically flat quarter-to-quarter, but remained at a very solid performance level given our heavy drydock schedule and new vessel deliveries in the quarter. Looking forward, we are planning to add a couple of vessels to this class of equipment in each of the next few quarters, but I would expect utilization in the September quarter to generally remain in the mid-80s and then move up a couple of percentage points in the second half of the year as scheduled shipyard time begins to fall off. For the towing-supply and supply class of equipment, which was approximately 38% of consolidated first quarter vessel revenue, the average active fleet count was down one vessel quarter-over-quarter to 119 vessels. Utilization of active towing-supply and supply vessels was off about 4 percentage points quarter-over-quarter to approximately 80%. Beyond the June quarter, the towing-supply/supply fleet count may decrease by a vessel or 2 as the year progresses, but active vessel utilization is expected to move back in the mid-80s for the balance of the fiscal year. Turning to vessel operating costs. Vessel OpEx for the June quarter was approximately $196 million, or up about $15 million when compared to the March quarter's OpEx, excluding vessel operating leases of approximately $181 million. Although majority of the quarter-over-quarter increase in repair and maintenance expense consistent with fleet growth -- is consistent with fleet growth, and as a result, crew costs were also up quarter-over-quarter. Other cost categories were generally in line with expectations with offsetting quarter-over-quarter increases and decreases. Overall vessel-level cash operating margin for the June quarter was $135 million, or approximately 41% of vessel revenue. Looking at our geographic reporting segments. For the Sub-Saharan Africa/Europe segment, which accounted for about 47% of consolidated first quarter vessel revenue, vessel revenue was up about 1.5% quarter-over-quarter, largely reflecting offsetting impacts of the 1-month contribution from Troms Offshore and the heavy drydocking schedule. Average active vessels were up 3 vessels quarter-over-quarter, and average day rates were up about 5%. Utilization, however, was off about 5.5 percentage points quarter-over-quarter to 77%, which again largely reflects a particularly high drydocking quarter in the region. Our expectation is that this trend will reverse over the course of the next quarter and utilization will pick up at least a couple of percentage points. For the Americas segment, which accounted for approximately 27% of consolidated first quarter vessel revenue, vessel revenue was up about 9%. Like Sub-Saharan Africa/Europe, average active vessels were up only one vessel, but average day rates were up about 6% quarter-over-quarter, reflecting the beginning of new charters in both U.S. Gulf of Mexico and in Brazil. Our internal forecast adjusted average vessel -- average fleet size, utilization and average day rates are all expected to move in a positive direction over the course of the next couple of quarters. In the MENA segment, which accounts for about 12% of first quarter consolidated vessel revenue, vessel revenue is off about 4% quarter-over-quarter. Average active vessel count was off 2 vessels quarter-over-quarter. However, active vessel utilization was down about 7 percentage points due to ships in drydock and the monsoon season slowdown. Utilization in MENA should rebound as the year progresses. In the Asia/Pacific region, which accounted for about 13% of first quarter consolidated vessel revenue, vessel revenue was also off about 4%, reflecting both reduction in average active vessels and lower average day rates as a number of large vessels completed contracts in Australia where day rates tend to be high to compensate for the relatively high crew costs. Vessel margins in the June quarter for all but Sub-Saharan Africa/Europe segment, which had a disproportionate share of ships in drydock during the quarter, were at 45% or better. Sub-Saharan Africa/Europe vessel operating margin was about 35% in the first quarter, but we should see a rebound in the coming quarters as the number of ships in drydock start to trend lower. Below the vessel operating margin, G&A expense for the June quarter was about $50 million. As previously noted, G&A for the quarter includes about $4.6 million in nonrecurring costs, again, related to the Troms transaction and our custom settlement in Equatorial Guinea. Also included in G&A is approximately $1 million in costs associated with revaluing of equity-based incentives at a maturely higher stock price than what -- than the price was at the beginning of the June quarter. Adjusting for these items, G&A was actually down modestly quarter-over-quarter. Finally, note that gains on dispositions net include a $4 million gain related to our sale of the remaining assets of our ship repair and ship construction business. Offsetting this gain was approximately $3.9 million in asset impairments that were made in connection with our regular review of the stacked fleet. As of June 30, we had 41 stacked vessels with an average net book value of approximately $522,000. Turning to our outlook. We continue to expect that the newer vessels within both the deepwater and the towing-supply and supply classes of equipment will continue to experience high utilization, positively or negatively impacted by the timing of drydocks. Future quarters should also benefit from a full quarter's contribution of Troms Offshore. Otherwise, we expect that average deepwater day rates will continue to trend positive as vessels roll to charters reflecting current marketing conditions and as we take delivery of additional large deepwater PSVs over the coming quarters. However, we have not yet seen significant rate traction in the towing-supply and supply class of equipment despite a reasonably strong jackup market. Our internal forecast, which I think is reasonably conservative, assumes a further mid-single-digit percentage improvement in average day rates for our deepwater vessels over the remainder of our fiscal 2014 and relatively flat average day rates within the towing-supply and supply class of equipment. As a perspective fleet count, we expect to take delivery of 7 additional vessels in the remainder of fiscal 2014, 5 of which are deepwater PSVs. Also worth noting, perhaps as another indication of the relative strength of the general OSV market, is the desire on our customers' part to contract new vessels before their delivery dates. Currently, 5 of the 7 vessels, including 3 deepwater PSVs and 2 specialty vessels, are contracted for term work upon their deliveries. Interestingly, 3 separate geo markets are impacted by these term contracts, so I don't think this is a one market phenomena. Equally important, we hope to get many of the vessels that have been undergoing repairs and/or regulatory drydocks back on the payroll beginning in the September quarter and continuing in the second half of the fiscal year. In this context, internal estimates currently peg September quarter's vessel revenue somewhere between $350 million and $360 million. Based also on what we know today, OpEx for the September quarter, excluding approximately $4 million in vessel operating leases, will probably fall within the range of $200 million to $205 million, reflecting one, incremental OpEx related to a full quarter's result to Troms; two, new vessel deliveries; and three, still elevated repairs and maintenance expense, which again should begin to taper off in the December quarter. Based on the vessel revenue and OpEx guidance ranges provided, vessel operating margin for the September quarter should be somewhere between 42% and 45%. Beyond the September quarter, vessel revenue and vessel operating margins are expected to move up nicely as fiscal 2014 progresses given our positive fundamental outlook, expected fleet additions and an expectation that drydocking activity will be lower in the second half of the year than it was in the first half of the year, although it's likely that the timing of drydocks will result in quarter-to-quarter volatility if we ultimately average $340 million or $345 million in quarterly vessel revenue in the first half of the fiscal year. A reasonable expectation for average quarterly vessel revenue in the second half of the fiscal year would be plus or minus 10% higher than the first half of the year. Similarly, if vessel operating margins average plus or minus 42% in the first half of the year, a reasonable expectation for vessel operating margin in the second half of the year would be in the mid-40s or better. In terms of our expectations for relative performance by region, we expect a nice rebound in the Sub-Saharan Africa/Europe region beginning in our second fiscal quarter as it works its way through a heavy drydocking schedule and continues to see rate progressions across certain asset classes. Trends are also positive in the Americas region, with the U.S. Gulf of Mexico and Brazil both expecting to increase average fleet count, utilization and average day rates in the next couple of quarters, generally by adding larger equipment to the region, pursuant to recently executed multiyear term contracts. Other than a near-term increase in utilization, the MENA region is expected to be relatively stable over the next couple of quarters. Revenue and vessel operating margin in Asia/Pac, however, are expected to trend lower with modestly lower average vessel count and less exposure to the high day rate Australian market, given the start dates for new projects that we expect to be supporting in that market. Go-forward general and administrative expense should be in the area of $45 million to $47 million per quarter, reflecting additional shore-based support added in connection with the Troms transaction. As an effective tax rate assumption for fiscal 2014, we are assuming a 24% for the fiscal year, excluding any discrete items. As always, the geographic mix of pre-tax earnings and margin trends can cause the tax rate to be volatile on a quarter-to-quarter basis. In sum, after an operationally solid but somewhat noisy June quarter, the September quarter's also expected to be, at least from our perspective, a solid quarter in terms of operating results. As we move into the second half of the fiscal year, the December and March quarter should reflect higher vessel revenue and better margins as a result of the lower repair and maintenance expense and less lost revenue due to ships in drydock. To summarize Tidewater's current financial profile, cash flow from operations for the September quarter -- excuse me, for the June quarter was a depressed $3 million, largely reflecting a large what we expect temporary investment in working capital, which in turn has been driven by changes in Angolan banking laws that are impacting customer remittance procedures for us and for other service companies. We expect that these advertently high working capital levels will reverse in coming quarters as we adjust our procedures and contracting arrangements with our customers in order to comply with new regulatory requirements. To be clear, our customers are paying us. Our near-term challenge is repatriating dollar-denominated liquidity that is currently maintained by our JV in local banks. CapEx, including the Troms purchase, net of assumed debt of approximately $160 million and proceeds from asset dispositions for the June quarter were approximately $284 million and approximately $2 million, respectively. In addition to the Troms acquisition, new vessel commitments made up in June quarter totaled $100 million for 2 large deepwater PSVs to be built in the United States. In total, unfunded vessel commitments at June 30 approximated $650 million, including 31 vessel construction projects and 1 vessel purchase commitment. Total debt at June 30 was approximately $1.475 billion and cash at June 30 was approximately $65 million. As a result, net debt at year end was -- excuse me, net debt at June 30 was approximately $1.4 billion, and net debt to net book capital at June 30 was approximately 35%. As to financing initiatives, I'll note that we remain very comfortable with our overall financial leverage, but we also continue to evaluate refinancing alternatives in regards to some of the debt that was assumed from the Troms transaction. Total liquidity at June 30 was approximately $385 million, including availability under our new $900 million 5-year bank credit facility. As to funding needs, CapEx in the September quarter is expected to be about $100 million based upon commitments as of June 30, 2013. And with that, I'll turn the call back over to Jeff.