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Tidewater Inc. (TDW)

Q3 2014 Earnings Call· Wed, Feb 5, 2014

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Welcome to the Fiscal 2014 Third Quarter Earnings Conference Call. My name is Shannon, and I will 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. You may begin, sir.

Joseph M. Bennett

Analyst

Thank you, Shannon. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Tidewater's third quarter fiscal 2014 earnings results conference call for the period ended December 31, 2013. I'm Joe Bennett, Tidewater's Executive Vice President and Chief Investor Relations Officer. And I want to thank you for your interest in Tidewater. With me this morning on the call are our President and CEO, Jeff Platt; Jeff Gorski, our Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer; Quinn Fanning, our Executive Vice President and CFO; and Bruce Lundstrom, our Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary. We'll follow our usual conference call format. Following these 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 quarter. Jeff will then provide some wrap up comments, and we will then open the call for your 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 A. Gorski

Analyst

Thank you, Joe, and good morning, everyone. Last night, we reported fully diluted earnings per share for our third quarter of fiscal 2014 of $0.25. The earnings for the quarter include a pretax goodwill impairment of $56.3 million, or $43.4 million after-tax, equal to $0.87 per share. The goodwill impairment was made in connection with our annual goodwill testing and related to our Asia-Pac region, which has experienced a reduction in activity over last year or so as we moved a number of vessels to stronger markets. Within the last year, we also disposed of a number of order vessels that were assigned to the region. Adjusted for the goodwill charge, our fully-diluted earnings per share result would have been $1.12. Quinn will provide you with more of the details in just a moment. Our business during the quarter developed much as we had anticipated. Our vessel revenues were approximately $361 million, which is slightly below the guidance we had provided. However, vessel operating expenses of approximately $198 million were also below our previous guidance, meaning that the vessel operating margin of 45% for the quarter was in line with our expectations. Financially, we received a little help in the quarter from gains on vessel sales, as we continue to sell vessels as an integral part of our ongoing fleet renewal strategy. We also benefited from a downward adjustment to our estimated effective tax rate for fiscal 2014. As previously reported last November, Tidewater and Sonangol executed a new joint venture agreement for our Angolan joint venture, Sonatide. The new 2-year term of agreement will commence once a new Angolan entity has been incorporated, which should occur in 2014. While the signing of this new joint venture agreement is a significant event in regards to our continued operations in Angola,…

Quinn P. Fanning

Analyst

Thanks, Jeff. Good morning, everyone. As Jeff mentioned, we put out our earnings press release after the market closed last evening. We expect to file our quarterly report on Form 10-Q through the EDGAR filing service some time before the close of business today. Turning to financial results, after adjusting for the impairment of goodwill of $0.87 net of tax effects, we reported diluted earnings per common share of $1.12 for the December quarter, versus adjusted EPS of $1.15 for the September quarter. Recall that the September quarter included $0.06 after-tax loss on the early extinguishment of debt that was inherited in the Troms Offshore transaction. In regards to the goodwill impairment, the charge was made in connection with our annual goodwill impairment assessment, which as I'm sure most of you on the call know, is essentially an evaluation of a reporting segment's fair value relative to the segment's carrying value. As we have discussed on previous calls in recent years, we have reduced our active vessel count in the Asia Pacific segment, largely by mobilizing equipment from Southeast Asia to the MENA into other regions, where in our view, charter opportunities have been more attractive. As Jeff noted, we have also stacked and disposed of a number of older vessels that were previously assigned to the Asia-Pac segment. As a result, projected cash flow and therefore our assessment of fair value for the reporting segment were down year-over-year. GAAP does not, however, permit the reallocation of goodwill based on vessel movements. Vessel revenue for the December quarter at $361 million [Technical Difficulty]

Jeffrey A. Gorski

Analyst

Hello, everyone. This is the Tidewater call again. We apologize, we had a technical problem, I think, with our phone system, but hopefully back online. We believe that we know where the phone cut off. So I'm going to turn it back over to Quinn Fanning, who is in the middle of his details on the quarter.

Quinn P. Fanning

Analyst

Thanks, Joe. As Joe mentioned, we had a technical off-hire there with our phone system. But I think I'll just kick off with where I started, and if I'm repeating anything, I apologize. Again, as Jeff mentioned, after adjusting for the goodwill impairment of $0.87 net of tax effects, we reported earnings per share for the December quarter of $1.12, versus adjusted EPS of $1.15 for the September quarter. As I mentioned, in the September quarter, we did have a $0.06 after-tax loss related to the early extinguishment of debt that we had inherited in the Troms transaction, which closed last June. In regards to the goodwill impairment, the charge was made in connection with our annual goodwill impairment assessment, which is, I'm sure most of you know, is essentially an evaluation of a reporting segment's fair value relative to the segment's carrying value. As we have discussed on previous calls, in recent years, we have reduced our active vessel count in the Asia Pacific segment largely by mobilizing equipment from Southeast Asia to the MENA region, as well as other regions, which in our view had charter opportunities that were more attractive than what we saw on Southeast Asia. We have also stacked and disposed off a number of older vessels that were previously assigned to the Asia-Pac segment. As a result, projected cash flow and therefore, our assessment of the fair value for the reporting segment were down year-over-year. GAAP, as perhaps you also know, does not however, permit reallocation of goodwill based on vessel movements. Our vessel revenue for the December quarter at approximately $361 million was modestly below the vessel revenue guidance that I provided in November, and was up about 1% relative to vessel revenue in the September quarter, which in turn was up about…

Jeffrey M. Platt

Analyst

Thanks, Quinn. Results reflect another solid quarter of operations around the world. Consistent with our long-held and often repeated view that the offshore industry is in an early phase of an extended up cycle. That said, the topic that has dominated the discussion on many of the recent earnings calls involving offshore drilling companies is what is being described as a brief pause for the offshore drilling industry. More specifically in the mid and deepwater segments, suggesting a flattening of their utilization rates and a likely decline in a leading-edge day rates with the resulting decline in earnings growth. Those of us who have been involved in the offshore service business for any length of time have experienced the cyclicality of our industry. I believe that we remained an up cycle, even if the business rarely moves up in a linear fashion. We have highlighted in past earnings calls and investor presentations what the impending expansion of the offshore drilling rig fleet means for business opportunities for the offshore vessel industry. What analysts appear to be focusing on in their discussion of the offshore industries brief pause is how the various segments of the offshore drilling rig fleet, ultra-deepwater, mid depth and shallow water markets may experience different rates of growth based upon their own respective business drivers. Our observation is it would not be unusual for different segments of the offshore market to expand at different rates, those as in our view, choppy growth is certainly preferable to an across-the-board contraction. Nonetheless, elements of the offshore market can and do occasionally move in different directions. At least for short periods of time. From Tidewater's perspective, while new fixtures for certain classes of offshore drilling rigs may have retreated from recent peaks, overall, rig activity a primary driver of our…

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from Jeff Spittel from Clarkson Capital Markets.

Jeffrey Spittel - Clarkson Capital Markets, Research Division

Analyst

Maybe just a touch on your final comments there, Jeff. It doesn't sound like you are seeing any discernible change in your customers behavior anecdotally, whether it's on the project front or in terms of urgency? Am I reading that correctly or I think you referenced maybe on the last call that people are clamoring for the new builds in particular, 3 to 6 months ahead of delivery. If you noticed any change since we last spoke on that front?

Jeffrey M. Platt

Analyst

No, Jeff. I think you're picking up exactly what I was trying to communicate. In fact, I think I've made a comment this December ending in the December quarter, we had what I think was a very healthy bid activity, in fact, an uptake and again, no change to suggest that we are seeing a dramatic or any kind of change in the market from what it has been.

Jeffrey Spittel - Clarkson Capital Markets, Research Division

Analyst

Okay, good news. And I guess with regard to the shallow water market dynamics, specifically, reassuring to see a little bit of uptick in rates there, do you think that a similar rate of improvement absent seasonal factors, et cetera, as we see more of these jack-up deliveries start to stack up over the next few quarters is something that's realistic?

Jeffrey M. Platt

Analyst

Jeff, I wish I could predict that. Yes, we're seeing a little bit. Again, we've had some moving pieces in that with respect to a little bit of mobilizations. There were couple other factors that again, we try to filter the noise out. I can just say that our underlying premise is the -- as more of the jack-up deliver, again, not all the incremental, we don't believe that. But some will be incremental that it continues to improve the demand side of the equation. And again, on the supply side, with respect to vessels under construction, when you look at those vessels, targeting the shelf activity, again, it doesn't have near waiting is the deepwater vessels under construction. So while the fundamentals were laid on a paper still point that we should be able to do that, we're trying. I can tell you that much, but actually predicting we'll continue to see those types of increases. I can't go there, Jeff. I wish I could.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from Gregory Lewis from Crédit Suisse. Gregory Lewis - Crédit Suisse AG, Research Division: I just wanted to dig a little bit on, into the Americas region, and I guess sort of my first question would be, it looked like on a quarter-over-quarter basis, utilization really gapped up in the deepwater Americas. I think it was up over 1,000 basis points. But at the same time, it looked like deepwater American day rates sort of declined a couple thousand dollars. Was that -- could you sort of maybe provide a little bit of color about that? I believe you guys fixed a long-term contract in Brazil, during[indiscernible] something there.

Jeffrey M. Platt

Analyst

Gregory, a couple of things. Again, we are getting vessels onto the Petrobras contract that we won well over a year ago, so that's unfolding. And just remember, that it was in Brazil that we had the lump sum mobilizations that, in fact, in the September quarter it kind of spiked those rates up. And again, those are events, they didn't reoccur in the December quarter. So I think and I don't have the numbers right in front of me, but I would suggest that probably what you're seeing in the December quarter to September, you made reference to is the fact we had the benefit of the lump sum mobilizations in September and that did not occur in December.

Quinn P. Fanning

Analyst

Jeff, maybe if I can add a little bit to that, Greg. Certainly, the mobilization revenue that was recognized impacts day rates. I tried to pull that out of the September and December quarters in order to give you a cleaner kind of quarter-over-quarter progression. Not to suggest that mope fees aren't real money, but it does at times create noise in the trend analysis. The utilization is a combination of things in Americas, number one, which Jeff referenced, which is finally putting some of the vessels particularly in Brazil on contract, after a kind of a pre startup time, which we call it non-technical off fire. But the other thing that is driving the reported utilization particularly in the Americas segment is the substantial number of stacked vessels that we sold in the quarter. I will note that America is kind of active only, if you look at the second quarter and the third quarter, it was pretty flat actually in terms of utilization at 87%. Gregory Lewis - Crédit Suisse AG, Research Division: Okay, great. And then on -- and those vessels, some clear the ones that were sort of removed that were previously stacked, those were more on the towing-supply, and not in the deepwater, correct?

Jeffrey M. Platt

Analyst

They would be deepwater, correct. And Greg, flat 87%, that's a pretty dog gone good number. Gregory Lewis - Crédit Suisse AG, Research Division: Absolutely. And then my -- just my other question would be on the North Sea. I mean clearly, I think the start of 2014 has been very strong for the North Sea. I don't really think anyone did the magnitude of the strength. Just given that environment, have customers sort of come to Tidewater and potentially talked about expecting -- looking for longer-term durations of contracts and pricing or is this something where we kind of all we should expect Tidewater to have a handful of vessel in the spot market in the North Sea?

Jeffrey M. Platt

Analyst

No, I think, certainly -- we like the Norwegian sector, which again, more of the Troms equipment is in that. But I think on a go-forward basis, we're going to be a player in the North Sea and we will have some of our vessels trading in the spot market, which can be a very good thing when it gets hot and again then you have a little bit of seasonality in it. So I don't think I can read any more into it than that. And yes, I do agree with you that where we are today, it's certainly is getting out of the gate pretty nicely compared to the way it unfolded last year and just for everyone's reference, last year turned out to be a much better year in the North Sea than anyone who had predicted before going into it. So knock on wood, we hope that, that is kind of a glimpse into what would be a very strong market.

Quinn P. Fanning

Analyst

A huge amount of vessels that responded either in the Norwegian sector or the U.K. sector, I'd also note that the kind of full utilization and the decent step up in rate that you've seen the last couple of weeks was really not the case during most of the December quarter. And as a result, the kind of September to December comparison, it is really comparing a very, very good quarter in terms of utilization and rates even for the handful of spot vessels that we had to a quarter that had neither.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from Jon Donnel from Howard Weil.

Jonathan Donnel - Howard Weil Incorporated, Research Division

Analyst

I was wondering if you might give us a little more color on the sale/leaseback during the quarter and kind of I guess to date from -- just kind of the change in strategy if you will for you guys. I wonder if you can maybe talk little bit about, which vessels these are and whether there might be located and how this trend might continue as we go forward into the next fiscal year?

Quinn P. Fanning

Analyst

Sure. We have a competitor that uses sale/leaseback transactions as a primary element of its funding plans. I would not put us in that category. We have as a general matter, finance the business at a corporate level as opposed to a vessel level. We -- in particular executed 6 sale/lease transactions in the last 2 quarters, generating as I mentioned about $207 million in proceeds. Of the valuations that we're getting for this equipment are very good, as other residual value assumptions and that plays into our decisions to introduce the sale/lease transactions as opposed to traditional debt financing transaction. Also planning into our thinking is our tax position, which we're evaluating on a regular basis. We have done some synthetic leases in the past, but most of what we've done recently, actually involves the transfer of tax attributes to the counterparty and as a result, we are generating taxable gains, which is allowing us to better manage an NOL and our other tax attributes. But I wouldn't read too much into the recent sale/lease transactions. We have no multi-billion sale/lease programs contemplated. Rather, we opportunistically I would say use the sale/lease market when, number one, financing rates are attractive. Number two, we're getting fair value for the transfer tax attributes and it is consistent with the overall tax planning. And quite frankly, there is an element to preserving fleet relevance and optionality at the end of the lease term, which plays into our thinking at the margin. As a general matter, we've been entering a sale/lease transactions with vessels clearly that are U.S. built and that are directionally in the 8- to 10-year-old vintage. But we have occasionally financed a newer vessel just because of the again, tax attributes and underlying financing costs. But it's not a step change in our approach to financing the business.

Jonathan Donnel - Howard Weil Incorporated, Research Division

Analyst

Okay. So the guidance that you gave in terms of the lease costs plus interest, is that a good plug to use for our model going forward? Or should we expect that to be picking up marginally or how should we be thinking about that in terms of the overall cost structure?

Quinn P. Fanning

Analyst

I would actually say that the lease element of that the guidance I gave you was the best[ph] information I have for the coming quarter. I would say beyond that, you would see some tapering off of leases or leased expense, primarily as a result of early buyout options that we would more likely than not to exercise in the next couple of months and for[ph] that will show up in some element of interest expense or lower cash whatever, but as a general matter, the $20 million number that I used is a reasonable number for combined lease and interest expense. But the lease element of that, I would imagine, will crest in the March quarter and modestly trend down with the repurchase of vessels that were leased a number of years back.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from George O'Leary from Tudor, Pickering & Holt. George O'Leary - Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. Securities, Inc., Research Division: First question is kind of a general question given kind of your global breadth in the industry. Can you talk about any pockets of strength that you guys are seeing on the day rates in the utilization side just from a regional standpoint?

Jeffrey M. Platt

Analyst

George, we don't like to drill into the details. I'll just say in general, again, deepwater tends to be in demand for us. The newer higher spec tends to be the top of that kind of requirement list by our clients as new projects come up. On the towing-supply, certainly, where the jack-ups are going tend to be again, the Middle East, we certainly see some demand pick ups a little bit in the West Africa market. The North Sea will be picking up some of that, and the higher spec vessels. So again, that's where the demand tends to be on that equipment. But again, deepwater tends to be the higher spec for the new rigs and the new projects. And again, it's really across-the-board, if you will. George O'Leary - Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. Securities, Inc., Research Division: Okay, that's helpful color. And then with respect to the Middle East/North Africa, deepwater utilization is down Q-on-Q, but that was really just moving new vessels into that region and those are not going to work yet. Are there incremental opportunities above and beyond the vessels that you've moved there? Or do you expect to see based on what you're hearing from your customers, do you expect to see incremental opportunities coming out of the Saudi market in particular?

Jeffrey M. Platt

Analyst

George, I'm sorry, I couldn't catch the very first part. Which market were you talking about specifically? George O'Leary - Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. Securities, Inc., Research Division: Sorry, your MENA region. Middle East/North Africa.

Jeffrey M. Platt

Analyst

Yes, I mean again, we are expecting some other large tenders coming out driven, primarily by Saudi. Again, there's -- they've had over the last couple of years some big tenders, which we participated in. And if in fact, another large tender comes out as there are some kind of rumors on the street, we certainly look to participate in that expansion. And I'd say that absolutely, we would look to move some additional vessels into that region.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from Matthias Detjen from Morgan Stanley.

Matthias Detjen

Analyst

Most of my questions have been answered. But I want to follow-up on the new rigs coming into the market now, and I was wondering if with these new rigs is there a significant difference between the number of OSVs that the newer generation uses or the older ones?

Jeffrey M. Platt

Analyst

Yes, Matt, as we look at that, going back and since new rigs were being delivered 4 or 5 years ago and quite frankly, we don't see that, that's not it. The newer rigs have certainly down to deepwater side, much greater capacities. They have the ability to drill in much deeper wells. If anything, it stretches the boats even further to what those rigs need as far as the liquid mud capacity, the fuel and water and some really any kind of change in the number of vessels, supporting we really haven't seen that change.

Matthias Detjen

Analyst

Okay, that's interesting. And so here you've talked a lot about the North Sea market and how you see strengths there? And you have this one new built there and I was wondering are you looking to expand further in that sector as well or are you happy with the fleet that you have there right now?

Jeffrey M. Platt

Analyst

We're always looking for opportunities and again, we have more than one vessel, we've got the Troms fleet which definitely...

Matthias Detjen

Analyst

I mean the one you build, sorry.

Jeffrey M. Platt

Analyst

Yes, we have Torres. Well, and prior to that, we've had 3 other new builds a year ago that we purchased that were in that. So again, as opportunities arise, were certainly look at it. We don't have a predisposition for or against any market.

Quinn P. Fanning

Analyst

Also to mention, Mattias, that the new builds you're referring to was actually delivered within the last week and is already on hire.

Jeffrey M. Platt

Analyst

Term contract.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from Joe Gibney from Capital One.

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

Analyst

Just a quick question on your Asia-Pac deepwater fleet and the sequential rate change there. A similar line of questioning to the America, sequential change, there wasn't as much of a spike in fiscal 2Q there. Could you walk through a little bit some of the sequential change in rate? And I apologize if you covered it in your covered comments, but I didn't catch it.

Joseph M. Bennett

Analyst

This is Joe, Joe. The -- what I would comment at any point in time, we talk about Asia-Pac and specifically, the deepwater side of Asia-Pac is primarily in Australia. The Australia activity is primarily project-driven. But and therefore, you -- as you've seen in the past and probably we'll see in the future, you will see the spike in activity levels of the deepwater vessels that pertain to activity levels in Australia primarily. So and it plays fits with the Asia-Pac average day rates calculations and so forth. And mobilizations as deep mobilizations in and out of that region of the world.

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

Analyst

Okay, fair enough. Just one clarification, as it pertains to the incorporation of the Angolan entity and the commencement of your new 2-year term, you referenced some time in '14, just clarifying, is it calendar or fiscal in that comment?

Jeffrey M. Platt

Analyst

Joe, it's calendar. And again, there's some moving pieces to it, we try to get done as soon as we can. Again, there's some -- for a lot of the reasons that Quinn touched on with respect to the Angolan government, the clarifications on the law that touches into some of that. So we'd like to get it done certainly sooner, but again, please understand there's a lot of moving parts on that.

Quinn P. Fanning

Analyst

And just to clarify something the joint venture is effective today. The incorporation of the Angolan entity, which is part of what is contemplated to be our long-term structure for that business will ultimately determine the final term of the joint venture. So if the joint venture is, excuse me, the Angolan entity is incorporated making it up June 30, the 2-year term of the joint venture will begin June 30, 2014. But to be clear, the joint venture is effective today.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from J.B. Lowe from Cowen and Company.

John Booth Lowe - Cowen and Company, LLC, Research Division

Analyst

Most of my questions have also been answered. But I guess I had a question on -- if you could just kind of go over your strategy on -- you said that you're going to be adding to the order book on a selective basis over the next couple of years. Can you just kind of talk about where you would look to deploy capital on the deepwater versus shallow side? And what type type -- what types of things would you be looking at to determine where, which segment you would order some more vessels?

Jeffrey M. Platt

Analyst

J.B, we've been on this path of recapitalizing the fleet for quite a few years. So our need, several years ago were probably across-the-board, if you will in deepwater and ship, where we find ourselves today, are we at the end -- now we were hack a lot closer to the end of that recapitalization. So I kind of -- when I'm at analysts one on ones, I kind of described it more versus a shotgun before we're now on the rifle shot. We're looking for specific vessels that fill out our portfolio that would approach or maybe address a specific client, a specific niche. I'm not going to sit here on this call and lots of people are on this call and tell you what are those specific niches that we've seen, I really don't want to get down that path. But again, as we finalize, as we add to either our order book or again, our preference would be to find vessels of opportunity that meet those requirements that prevent or present themselves in a fair valuation, as far as we're concerned then we would move forward on it. But again, it's a much more selective to fill out the portfolio to meet specific geographic or client requirements on a go-forward basis.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from Cole Sullivan from ISI Group.

Coleman W. Sullivan - ISI Group Inc., Research Division

Analyst

On -- with the new JV agreement in place, how should we think about legacy contracts that have been kind of extended within the JV throughout the negotiation period? And how that -- are they seeing sort of catch-up pricing or anything like that? Or should we expect to see catch-up pricing just because of the sort of legacy terms being renewed for such a long time? I was just trying to think through how that would progress now that we have the JV agreement in place?

Jeffrey M. Platt

Analyst

Cole, the actual new JV with respect to legacy contracts, I don't know that it really changes anything. If contracts have been renewed going back the last year, 1.5 years and if those terms extend beyond where we are today, then certainly, we would have anticipated and the negotiations would have included market rate updates to move it upward. Any anticipated inflationary, so I'm just -- I don't see the linkage between the 2.

Coleman W. Sullivan - ISI Group Inc., Research Division

Analyst

Okay, so they were based on market rates at the time when they were extended and...

Jeffrey M. Platt

Analyst

Cole, we don't have a bias for or against any market and Angola certainly presents opportunities. It has unique challenges, and we have to weigh all of that and the commercial terms that we negotiate with our clients ultimately have to meet those requirements and then provide a nice return for us. And we do that continually on the fleet worldwide. No different in Angola.

Quinn P. Fanning

Analyst

And the -- certainly, the ongoing joint venture negotiations may have impeded the times our ability to pursue this opportunity to that opportunity, but to the extent that we entered into new charter party agreements that were at market rates.

Coleman W. Sullivan - ISI Group Inc., Research Division

Analyst

Okay, that's what I wanted to really get clarification on. And then secondly, I didn't know if you could give a little bit of, I guess directional picture of revenues and costs as we move into the June quarter. I know you gave a margin sort of expectation, but just sort of directionally, off of the guidance that you gave for March?

Quinn P. Fanning

Analyst

Yes, obviously, the March quarter, with the off-hire time associate vessels in drydock the elevated expenses kind of catching in coming and going in terms of operating margin. I would caution putting too fine a point on the June quarter because we haven't completed our fiscal '15 budget or presented it to our board. But I guess what I was ultimately trying to communicate is that we would expect that the significant loss revenue associated with the large number of vessels in drydock in the March quarter and the additional expenses associated with those dry-docks would to some extent be behind us. And not to suggest that the dry-docks will be a thing of our past, but we, at least are expecting on a preliminary basis, say a reasonably significant step up in vessel revenue in the June quarter and then expansion of margins associated with both additional revenue and lower R&M expense.

Operator

Operator

Our final question comes from Mark Brown from Citigroup.

Mark W. Brown - Citigroup Inc, Research Division

Analyst

I was wondering if you could just clarify and you might have explained it, I just didn't quite follow it, the timing of your expectations to reduce your working capital that's tied up with the accounts receivables from Sonatide, what -- maybe you could just sum up your remarks in terms of when you expect that to start coming down?

Quinn P. Fanning

Analyst

Sure. I think we have a reasonable understanding of the mechanisms that are available to us today. We hope that we'll have additional clarity from the Angolan Central Bank in the not-too-distant future that will allow a sustainable U.S. dollar-kwanza payments split, obviously with the dollar being paid offshore and the kwanza being paid locally to cover our local expenses. But that's not where we are today. We have a combination of dollar and kwanza receipts that are currently held by the joint venture, some of which are referenced as of the balance sheet dates on which specifically the kwanzas were payments that were made by customers subsequent to December 31. So we've got a reasonably large amount of cash in both dollars and kwanza in the joint venture. And its a laborious process, but we're working our way through it. As I mentioned, we received a bit of money, $15 million I referenced in my prepared remarks and we hope to knock down additional payments in the coming quarter. I guess really the $64 question is are we repatriating more cash than we're generating, as a way of receivables as a result of ongoing business activity. Tough to again, to put a real fine point on that, but at least my view is based on information I have available to me, is that the growth in working capital will significantly moderate in the March quarter after which we would expect some reversal, i.e. a fall in working capital tied to Sonatide in the June and subsequent quarters. But we're hoping that this is a couple of quarter issue that we're working our way through that ultimately on the other side has a sustainable dollar-kwanza payments split that ultimately has Angola requiring no significant amount of working capital beyond any other area. But again, this is an element of business in Angola and we will factor that into our contract negotiations and our ultimate vessel disposition decisions. But you should be clear that this is not a Tidewater or Sonatide issue. This is an industry issue that flows from the implementation of new foreign exchange legislation in Angola.

Mark W. Brown - Citigroup Inc, Research Division

Analyst

Right, right. And just a somewhat related question. With this joint venture cited in place even though you haven't incorporated the entity at this time, does this give you an advantage from a competitive market position in terms of your ability to contract your vessels in that region relative to some of the other companies that you're competing against?

Jeffrey M. Platt

Analyst

I think certainly, having Sonangol as a partner can't necessarily hurt you in Angola. We've operated with that for a long period of time. So we look at it as we've got a very good partner, very strong partner and look at it as an overall positive.

Operator

Operator

At this time, I would like to turn it back to the presenters for final remarks.

Jeffrey M. Platt

Analyst

Shannon, thank you very much. This call has gone a little long, but good questions and good coverage. We appreciate everyone's interest in Tidewater and for putting up with our telephone glitches today. Hopefully, this -- the call was clear enough throughout the entire phone call and certainly, we'll be filing our transcript of this in short-term. So again, I appreciate everyone's involvement in the call. Have a great day.

Operator

Operator

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