Earnings Labs

Tidewater Inc. (TDW)

Q4 2015 Earnings Call· Wed, May 27, 2015

$87.29

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Welcome to the Fiscal 2015 Fourth Quarter Earnings Conference Call. My name is Laura, and I'll be your operator for today's call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. 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 - Chief Investor Relations Officer & Executive VP: Thank you, Laura. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Tidewater's fourth quarter and full fiscal year 2015 earnings results conference call for the period ended March 31, 2015. 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 will 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 financial review. Jeff will then provide some final wrap up comments and we'll then open the call for your questions. During today's conference call, we may make certain comments that are forward-looking 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…

Operator

Operator

Thank you. We will now begin the question-and-answer session. And our first question comes from George O'Leary from Tudor, Pickering. George, your line is open. George O’Leary - Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. Securities, Inc.: Good morning, guys. Jeffrey M. Platt - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Good morning, George. George O’Leary - Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. Securities, Inc.: You guys talked a little bit about needing to see supply come in as well as demand pick up. So you've certainly done your part. What are you seeing on the part of your competitors in terms of stacking vessels, and to-date have you seen anyone out there willing to go ahead and scrap vessels? Just given your broad footprint, I think it would be good to hear your thoughts? Jeffrey M. Platt - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: George, certainly, the older vessels, I think that's a continuing scrapping issue that's going on. It's hard to put a number on how many vessels are exiting it. Others have reported in their earnings calls certainly here domestically of stacking of new and newer equipment, so we're seeing that. Certainly others of our major competitors we're seeing that in the North Sea there's been some stacking of vessels reported. So I think everybody is looking at the same operating environment and where it certainly makes sense for one company that certainly applies to others as well. So can I quantify it with a number? Don't see it, but I think certainly the longer this progresses to the depth that it has, you'll see some additional stackings, and as Quinn and I have laid out, Tidewater will not be exempt from that. We'll certainly look at underutilized vessels and again do our part to make the right decisions for Tidewater…

Operator

Operator

And our next question comes from Matthias Detjen from Morgan Stanley. Matthias, your line is open. Matthias Detjen - Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC: Thank you. So I have one question about the dividend, so you talked a bit about it earlier and I was wondering how secure you see it given your current outlook and if you think you're actually going to – or if you're committed to it and want to sort of like continue paying it even given that we're going into this downturn, if you could maybe give us some color on that. Jeffrey M. Platt - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Well, the only thing I found in life that are absolute are death and taxes. With that being said, I'd just ask you, as we pointed out, the history of what Tidewater has done and I would say that again we're not new to the game. Some people have jumped in in the last 12 months and had to pull the dividend back. That's certainly not Tidewater. We've been a long-time player and we look at the value repayment to our shareholders as something that's very much part of what we're doing. So with that I'll just ask you to look at our history. Matthias Detjen - Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC: Okay. And then I have one question regarding the ROV segment, so what effect has the weaker oil price environment had on your outlook for the ROV and the Subsea segment. Has that changed since you like initiated the program there and if you could maybe give us some color there? Jeffrey M. Platt - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: No, again, I think the subsea work, especially the market that we are looking at and what we're into currently,…

Operator

Operator

And next we have Greg Lewis from Credit Suisse. Greg, go ahead. Gregory Lewis - Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC (Broker): Yes, thank you and good morning. Hey, guys, I hope you're managing through that flood down there. It looks pretty nasty on TV. Anyway, I have a couple questions. I guess first, as we kind of look at the utilization in the deepwater segments, it looks like the Americas and Asia/Pacific is – and I realize Asia/Pacific is down a lot over the last two quarters, but it look likes those were more flattish than the Middle East, North Africa and West Africa regions. Is that just a function of timing or is it the nature of contracts. I kind of thought that the West Africa market was more of a term contract, so if you could provide any color around that that would be pretty helpful? Jeffrey M. Platt - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Yes, Greg, let me give this a shot. First of all, when you're looking at Asia/Pacific, we're in a cycle in Australia. So most of the active drilling programs are pushing to the right, so that utilization for deepwater PSVs have softened. However, there are some bright spots in Asia/Pacific, specifically places like Myanmar, whatnot, where we have some upcoming expiration activity. In terms of the Gulf of Mexico with contracts that we've had, we have many long-term contracts in the Gulf of Mexico, so that utilization is holding there. In terms of West Africa, we do have a large spot market that we do play on the West Coast, but we also have a real healthy mix of long-term contracts in places like Angola. So you really can't put your finger on anything. It's really from a perspective of a balance…

Operator

Operator

And our next question comes from Mark Brown from Global Hunter. Mark, your line is open.

Mark Brown - Global Hunter Securities

Analyst

Thank you. Just curious on the vessel operating margin guidance, I think you said 36% to 40%. Do you think that's a level you can hold even if we see a continuation of the downturn for the next few quarters? It seems like in the past you've been able to take steps to reduce cost or stack vessels if necessary. Do you have any sense in terms of how we should think about margins going forward? Quinn P. Fanning - Chief Financial Officer & Executive Vice President: Sure. I mean, obviously it'll be impossible to maintain margins if day rates and utilization remain weak and we don't take mitigating steps, which is why, as we talked about on our last call and we talked about today, we're trying to focus on the things we can control and attacking our cost structure is first and foremost in our minds. But we've gone through a budgeting process, which is certainly more difficult in the current environment than it is in a more stable environment, but the guidance that I gave you recognizes that rates, utilization are different than they were 12 months ago and we're taking the needful steps. So the guidance I gave you is based on our best view of revenue outlook and the steps we're taking in order to offset what otherwise would be significant margin pressure.

Mark Brown - Global Hunter Securities

Analyst

Thank you. Thank you. That's helpful. Quinn P. Fanning - Chief Financial Officer & Executive Vice President: (51:35) margin guidance, but we're certainly going to be working to generate the best margins possible in a very difficult environment.

Mark Brown - Global Hunter Securities

Analyst

That's helpful. In the North Sea, clearly there is an oversupply there, your vessels that you acquired from Troms can work in many different cold water environments, are you looking to move any of those outside of the North Sea or are they on contracts or in situations where you want to keep them stay put? Jeffrey M. Platt - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Mark, first off the Tidewater view of the world is where we don't have a bias towards one market or another except to the fact of what is the most beneficial use of that asset. So yes the Troms fleet when it was joined into Tidewater, it's part of that worldwide pool and we look at every vessel and we look at every market and every contract that possibly comes up for it and we try to make the best fit. So no, we're not going to say that those are carved out and those will stay at all costs in the North Sea. We do have some contractual commitments up there, which we will obviously meet those contractual commitments and we quite honestly are not going to cede the North Sea. We're not going to pull everything out of it, but again we're looking at a relatively small number of vessels in the Tidewater fleet, but it is part of the worldwide fleet of Tidewater and we will look to best employ those assets. Quinn P. Fanning - Chief Financial Officer & Executive Vice President: And the subset of the Troms fleet does have term contract coverage.

Mark Brown - Global Hunter Securities

Analyst

All right. Well, thank you very much. Jeffrey M. Platt - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Thank you, Mark.

Operator

Operator

And we have Cole Sullivan from Wells Fargo. Cole, your line is open.

Coleman W. Sullivan - Wells Fargo Securities LLC

Analyst

Thanks for taking the call. Jeffrey M. Platt - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Hi, Cole.

Coleman W. Sullivan - Wells Fargo Securities LLC

Analyst

Hi, how are you? The question I had was you talked about breaking sessions, you guys are willing to do that if it makes sense for the term side, kind of give and take there. To what degree have you guys seen that in first quarter of the year and then in what regions have we seen that? And then where do you expect to see more of that going forward? It's kind of been discussed across the industry by your peers and the rig contractors, just wanted to get a little bit more color on that. Jeffrey M. Platt - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Cole, this downturn is worldwide. As I said there's no magic geographic market that you can go to that somehow is exempt from it. So, those discussions, to answer your first part, those discussions are occurring with many clients in probably every geographic market we're in. So, it is broad-based and everyone is having those discussions and every one of our competitors I can tell you is having the same discussions as are any of the service providers in the oil and gas segment. So, it is broad brushed and it will continue to go until we truly see the market turnaround. We've kind of weathered I think the first kind of volley from our clients, we have gone through that. But there will be continued pressure depending on the commodity pricing. As the commodity pricing rebounds, it will lessen. As more rigs go back to work and activity loosens up, it will lessen it, then it will probably would turnaround. But at this point where we're sitting, I would expect to have more of those discussions on an ongoing basis across the board.

Coleman W. Sullivan - Wells Fargo Securities LLC

Analyst

(55:19) I'll go back to the last earnings call and our generalized expectation for rate and utilization. As a vessel comes off contract in the current environment, market is market. And recontracting opportunities will reflect the currently available rates. That is one dynamic that is quickly working its way through our financial results and others. As a result of delays in decision making, project deferrals and the like, I expressed a view that our revenue would be first impacted by lower utilization as a result of projects moving to the right. The expectation is as customers decide which projects will move forward and we will see some uptick in utilization of the active fleet, recognizing that the active fleet may be down a few vessels as a result of stacking. Our expectation remains that as utilization rebounds modestly, that it would be coincident with a fall in average day rates in part reflecting the new reality, leading-edge day rates and also in part reflecting a renegotiation with customers on existing contracts where at least from our perspective, we achieved things for things, as opposed to things for promises.

Coleman W. Sullivan - Wells Fargo Securities LLC

Analyst

Okay. Quinn P. Fanning - Chief Financial Officer & Executive Vice President: So the original question is to what extent has it been reflected in actual financial results? Tough to put a percentage on it, but it has certainly impacted results from a utilization perspective. Again my view at least is that utilization will rebound, but average day rates will continue to fall and ultimately that's what got dialed into the guidance that I provided.

Coleman W. Sullivan - Wells Fargo Securities LLC

Analyst

Okay. Thanks for that. And then on the backlog you guys have historically kind of held around 50% kind of across the fleet, how does that stack up today and any color there? Quinn P. Fanning - Chief Financial Officer & Executive Vice President: I think that's moved materially I think the forward contract cover on available days basis is still in the mid 40%s or so, honestly, I think that's a less relevant statistic today than it used to be only because customers aren't shy about renegotiating the existing contracts. So we take no comfort or find no safe harbor in contract cover, obviously it helps utilization and gives you seat at the table on a negotiation, but it's not going to insulate you from falling day rates as a result of renegotiations, hopefully we get something in the bargain, but those are ongoing conversations, we expect them to continue to take place until you see a market rebound.

Coleman W. Sullivan - Wells Fargo Securities LLC

Analyst

Okay. Thank you. Then I'll turn it back.

Operator

Operator

And our last question comes from Turner Holm from Clarksons Platou. Turner, your line is open.

Turner Holm - Clarksons Platou Securities AS

Analyst

Hi, gentlemen, thanks for taking my call. Quinn P. Fanning - Chief Financial Officer & Executive Vice President: Hi, Turner.

Turner Holm - Clarksons Platou Securities AS

Analyst

Just a follow-up on the last remarks, I was curious if you could give us just sort of a rough ballpark of where you think, a mark-to-market day rate on the fleet would be now and I appreciate that it's difficult to make a forecast, but you guys were what, just shy of $18,000 in the March quarter, if you kind of thought about where all those vessels would re-contract today, roughly where might that land? Jeffrey M. Platt - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Turner, I think that question we got too many geographic markets that have sort of unique cost structures in them, just to give you an example, in a normal market the day rates in Australia versus the day rates in West Africa, it's two different day rates and you've two different cost structures. So to tell you what that normalized would be, I just think we would be hazarding a guess that really would be misleading more than anything else. Quinn P. Fanning - Chief Financial Officer & Executive Vice President: And magnitude of it (59:19) obviously significantly impacts that as well. Jeffrey M. Platt - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Yeah. Quinn P. Fanning - Chief Financial Officer & Executive Vice President: And what's working and what's not.

Turner Holm - Clarksons Platou Securities AS

Analyst

Right. Okay. So, one more thing on the cost, I was just curious to what extent you might be able to further reduce ongoing operating costs, sort of what the trajectory of that might be beyond just on stacking, is there more to go after the June quarter or what is kind of the trajectory of cost reduction look like through the fiscal 2016? Jeffrey M. Platt - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Well, the biggest move on that would be further reduction of underutilized assets. Okay? So, as the market would continue, if it's continuing to pull back, we would look at doing that. But then when you look at certainly crew wages and routine maintenance and repairs, again, we are going to provide a level of service that we're not going to cannibalize those things in the short run to try to reduce cost that way, we're not going to do that. But I'll tell you that we are scrubbing every cost item and we will continue to do so. And we will continue to wring out efficiencies wherever we possibly can. Quinn P. Fanning - Chief Financial Officer & Executive Vice President: And then in regards to offshore and onshore costs and as I mentioned, we've taken initial steps in regards to wage and staff cuts and we're continuing to take a hard look at that. Just like our customers are doing, we're in active dialog with our vendors in regards to negotiating reductions in costs and I think that's going to play out over time, and hopefully you'll see the benefit in both G&A and OpEx, but it's a daily effort and one that we won't let up on until the market rebounds.

Turner Holm - Clarksons Platou Securities AS

Analyst

Okay. Thank you very much. If I could sneak one really quick one in, the Angola (1:01:20), you guys said that on the last quarter call that, you expected that to normalize over the next couple of quarters or in the foreseeable future. Would you maintain that outlook? Quinn P. Fanning - Chief Financial Officer & Executive Vice President: That still is our expectation and it's a daily effort.

Turner Holm - Clarksons Platou Securities AS

Analyst

All right. Thank you very much. I'll turn it back. Quinn P. Fanning - Chief Financial Officer & Executive Vice President: (1:01:42).

Operator

Operator

And we have no further questions at this time. Joseph M. Bennett - Chief Investor Relations Officer & Executive VP: Thank you very much, Laura.

Operator

Operator

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Joseph M. Bennett - Chief Investor Relations Officer & Executive VP: Thanks to everyone for (1:01:57) today.