Earnings Labs

Tidewater Inc. (TDW)

Q2 2016 Earnings Call· Wed, Nov 4, 2015

$87.29

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Welcome to the Fiscal Year 2016 Second Quarter Earnings Conference Call. My name is Yolanda, and I will 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. It's now my pleasure to turn the call over to Mr. Joe Bennett. Mr. Bennett, you may begin. Joseph M. Bennett - Chief Investor Relations Officer & Executive VP: Thank you, Yolanda. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Tidewater's second quarter fiscal 2016 earnings results conference call for the period ended September 30, 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 comments to be followed by Quinn's financial review. Jeff will then provide some final wrap-up comments, and we will 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. Our first question comes from Gregory Lewis from Credit Suisse. Your line is open. Gregory Lewis - Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC (Broker): Yes. Thank you and good morning. Jeffrey M. Platt - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Good morning, Gregory. Gregory Lewis - Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC (Broker): Jeff or Quinn, it sounds like the vessels in Brazil – it sounds like you took those contract terminations. But I guess do we think there could – I mean, there's always the potential for there to be more. But as at least your conversations with Petrobras, do we think that's the bulk of the fleet's down there and is still on contract? Should we think about those vessels continuing to work at least in the near term? Jeffrey M. Platt - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Yeah. Gregory, this is Jeff Gorski. I think in the near term, there's always the uncertainty of ultimately what is happening but there is definitely hasn't been any other conversations with Petrobras that we believe will actually end in further contract cancellations. So the vessels that we have now and the investments we're putting in Brazilian-flagged vessels is where we think that will withhold. So the contracts that we launched for foreign-flagged vessels that were being swapped for the domestic flag, and in that scenario, we're trying to balance our fleet in that same regard. So we haven't had any other cancellation specifically or communications on that subject, but once again Petrobras and the country, Brazil, continues to do what they need to do to remain relevant in these difficult times. Gregory Lewis - Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC (Broker): And just following... Joseph M. Bennett - Chief Investor Relations Officer &…

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from Matthias Detjen from Morgan Stanley. Your line is open. Matthias Detjen - Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC: Thank you, gentlemen, for taking my question. So I want you to touch a bit on the construction work earlier. Could you maybe just give us broadly an update of how that's developing overseas also going down? But it's a bit harder to track than the drilling activity. Can you maybe give us some color based on some – like your outlook there on that segment? Jeffrey M. Platt - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: And Matthias, I think you're talking about the construction activity in the industry as a whole. Is that correct? Matthias Detjen - Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC: Yeah. Yeah. The offshore construction, sorry. Yeah, exactly. That's what I mean. Yeah. Jeffrey M. Platt - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: That equipment, Matthias, it is hard to track. Tracking active working rigs is probably the easiest, which is why everybody turns to that as the marker for the state of the industry. A lot of those programs have had their mid-course, so they continue to have life. But ultimately, as the drilling is reduced, the backlog and the backfill of those projects becomes less and less. We see that predominantly where it really hits us initially is in Australia, which has really been project-based work. And again, we have restructuring charges. Our activity in Australia is greatly reduced to the point of not – at some point, we may not have any vessels operating in Australia. So, I can tell you it has longevity. But ultimately, if you're not drilling new prospects, that will also play out in that side of the business as well. I don't have anything to tell you…

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from Turner Holm from Clarksons Platou. Your line is open.

Turner Holm - Clarksons Platou Securities AS

Analyst

Good morning, gentlemen. Thanks for taking my call. I wanted to step back a little bit from the quarter and maybe ask you big picture question. I'm really curious about the economics of stacked vessels. And, I guess, it's important because, at least from our point of view, if stacked vessels exiting the fleet that will ultimately drive adjustment on the supply side. So I'm curious if you agree. And in that regard, I would also be curious in your thoughts, at what point does it become too expensive to have some of these stacked vessels returned to the market? Jeffrey M. Platt - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Well, again, speaking first for Tidewater, as ours is a relatively new fleet, we're not stacking boats and just turning a blind eye to them. We are doing, from a technical standpoint, proper management of the equipment. So we fully intend to bring back a majority of those vessels when the market turns around. I can't tell you that's going to be exactly right or not. For us, the economics were somewhere in the $1,000 to $1,200 a day is what the out-of-pocket expense is for a stacked vessel. Other companies, other of our competitors where they have a much larger and a very big part of their fleet is it was sold and they're leasing it back, the economics are much different. They have those operating lease payments due on a daily basis. You can't reduce past that. That's not the case with Tidewater. I think what you're going to see is, ultimately, it depends on the individual companies, the relative age of the fleet that they're stacking, and their financial wherewithal to get to the point when it would potentially come back. So there is going to be…

Turner Holm - Clarksons Platou Securities AS

Analyst

Okay. Yeah. I think we see eye to eye there. I appreciate your insight. And maybe, Quinn, one more just on the quarter's financials. I'd like to ask about the R&M costs. Because R&M costs, there was a pretty steep sequential drop. And I know it's difficult to get visibility in this market, but is this kind of a level that we can maintain, or is there some volatility in that number or does it need to come down? Any kind of color you can provide (55:17)? Quinn P. Fanning - Chief Financial Officer & Executive Vice President: Well, I think a couple things I'd say is, yes, it will be volatile because when we stack a high-spec vessel that may even have a contract, that can result in a spike in repair and maintenance costs, and specifically major repair and maintenance, which is embedded in that R&M line that we report. But I think repair and maintenance, just like crew costs, other vessel operating costs are generally trending down until we see some stabilization and upturn in the market because we're taking proactive steps to force those costs down. Will that eliminate volatility in repair and maintenance? No. Because there is going to be an element to our fleet that we continue to operate and we'll be required to maintain consistent with regulatory certifications and customer expectations. But I can assure you that every line item is being scrutinized on a daily basis and that goes for individual areas in terms of what they're paying their crews, and it goes for individual shipyards that are doing repair work for us. So we're pushing on everything, but it will not eliminate repair and maintenance expense in its totality, nor will it eliminate volatility on a quarter-to-quarter basis.

Turner Holm - Clarksons Platou Securities AS

Analyst

Okay. Thank you very much, and I'm going to turn it back.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from J.B. Lowe from Cowen & Company. Your line is open. J.B. Lowe - Cowen & Co. LLC: Hey, guys. Thanks for squeezing me in. I know we're toward the end here, so I'll just be brief. I just wanted to ask about contract cancellations outside of Brazil. Meaning, are you guys seeing any cancellations outside of Petrobras? And if so, are you seeing that activity continuing? Is it slowing or is it accelerating? I just wanted to get some color on some ex-Brazil contract negotiations. Jeffrey A. Gorski - Chief Operating Officer & Executive Vice President: This is Jeff Gorski. So for quite some time from the beginning of the downturn, so it's been over a year now, we're in day-to-day to communications with our customers with regard to contracts themselves. All the contracts have different terms in terms of when they're actually due. What we have been focusing on is in most cases is when we have been giving some sort of concession on day rate, we've been asking for an extended amount of term. We've been very successful on that in the bulk of the negotiations we've had. So we're trying to trade things for things versus things for promises. And in that scenario, having customers, specifically the customers that we've had long communications and relationships with, they're holding to their contracts, but they're looking for an opportunity how we can help through this tough time. And so we're trying to negotiate a longer commitment, if you will, typically off of a term contract. Or as we get into option periods within contracts, those things are being negotiated from that perspective. But outside of what you've recently heard in terms of Brazil and Petrobras, we haven't had a major amount of just contracts…

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from Daniel Burke from Johnson Rice. Your line is open. Daniel J. Burke - Johnson Rice & Co. LLC: Good morning, guys. Jeffrey M. Platt - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Hi, Daniel. Daniel J. Burke - Johnson Rice & Co. LLC: We're over the hour, so just maybe one question left, just a clarification. And forgive me for revisiting Brazil here, but wanted to do some diagnostics on the Americas region. You saw a pretty sizable step down sequentially in the Americas. But it seems like, at least the timing you gave, the impact of the Petrobras cancellations, it seems like those were probably late enough in the quarter that they weren't a primary driver of that sequential downshift. And we'll see the larger impact to the Petrobras cancellations in the current quarter? Is that a fair conclusion, or am I misunderstanding how that process occurred? Quinn P. Fanning - Chief Financial Officer & Executive Vice President: I think that's a fair point, to some extent. If you look at – and you don't necessarily have visibility on this given the reporting segments. But there's a lot of moving pieces within the Americas segment as there is in all the other segments. We did have a relatively significant hit to vessel revenue in Brazil in the second quarter relative to the first quarter. Some of that was the contract cancellations. Some related to just kind of ordinary course downtime for repairs or whatever. Yeah, but we did have other movements within the Americas segment, some of which was projects coming to an end in the Trinidad area and things like that. But there's always lots of moving pieces. We will see some movement in Brazil in a negative way in the third quarter relative to the second quarter but there will be other moving pieces as well. So I don't want to lead you to believe that you should take the second quarter for the Americas segment and calculate 10 vessel terminations, pull that off with the Americas segment and you've got the third quarter estimate. There's just too many moving pieces for – probably model it that way, and I'm not sure I can give you the guidance if I was even inclined to. Daniel J. Burke - Johnson Rice & Co. LLC: Okay, that's helpful, Quinn. But if I could maybe ask one last clarification. There will be a greater impact from those 10 vessels in the current quarter than there was in the concluding quarter just reported. Quinn P. Fanning - Chief Financial Officer & Executive Vice President: That's perfect. Daniel J. Burke - Johnson Rice & Co. LLC: Okay. All right. Well, guys, look, I appreciate you squeezing me in at the end of the call. Thank you very much. Quinn P. Fanning - Chief Financial Officer & Executive Vice President: Thank you. Jeffrey M. Platt - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Our next question is from Mark Brown from Seaport Global. Your line is open.

Mark Brown - Seaport Global Securities LLC

Analyst

Thanks for squeezing me in as well. Just if you had any comments on uses of cash. It sounded like a bit of a different tone related to your dividend. And I was also interested if that changes the way you're thinking about acquisitions, if you are focused more on liquidity and a lower-for-longer type market scenario. Jeffrey M. Platt - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Mark, my comment on dividend is really is not anything different that I have expressed at least in the past when people have asked me. I do want to bring it up. And again, we have – our board is the one ultimately who makes that decision. So, it would be unwise or improper to me make any comment or different slant to that. I think the lower for longer is one that we have at least stated over the last couple of three, four quarters and pretty early into this thing where others thought it might be more of a V-shaped recovery. The first and foremost is one wants to make sure that you get through this to the other side and there will be some opportunities. So, no. I don't think that there's a change at all in what we have been absolutely focused on which is to preserve the balance sheet, make sure we've got the liquidity to get to the other side and then there will be opportunities on how to best position Tidewater to take advantage of it. So, no, there's not been change in any of that focus. Quinn P. Fanning - Chief Financial Officer & Executive Vice President: I think the other thing I'd just kind of repeat from our prior calls is that we view this downturn as a multiphase downturn. The current phase we're…

Mark Brown - Seaport Global Securities LLC

Analyst

Well, thank you for that clarification. That's very helpful. Thank you. Jeffrey M. Platt - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Thank you.

Operator

Operator

And our last question is from Cole Sullivan from Wells Fargo. Your line is open.

Coleman W. Sullivan - Wells Fargo Securities LLC

Analyst

Thanks for getting me in the last call here. The question I had – it looks like – I was just curious on the – to the degree that you're seeing slower rates and, on previous calls, you guys have been in discussions on give-and-take with the operators and that sort of thing, maybe getting some additional turn on the back end with lower rates. We're seeing lower rates particularly in deepwater here. Are we seeing any, I guess, benefit down the line from additional, I guess, term visibility? Jeffrey M. Platt - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: I guess, it's all masked by the otherwise contracts coming to an end. So are we seeing – it's there, I don't know that you can take a number and say it would have been – six months out. It would have been a 75 and now it's an 80. You just can't – there's too many parts and pieces. Suffice to say it, Cole, when we make those decisions, as we've always said, we try to trade things for things, not things for promises. Now, our clients at times don't quite see eye to eye with that. And then, very often they're coming back to not just Tidewater but every service company with repetitive request and asks and we try to push back on that. That's not just a good way to operate. But nonetheless that's the market we find ourselves in. So is it helping? Absolutely, it's helping. I can't point to a number to say this would have been a 7 and now it's a 9 or whatever to tell you that. But certainly as we have added term on to contracts, it definitely helps with the overall contract coverage.

Coleman W. Sullivan - Wells Fargo Securities LLC

Analyst

Okay. And then where – I guess where does the coverage stand today? Is it still in that sort of 50% range or has that probably dropped a little bit? Jeffrey M. Platt - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: I'm going to let Jeff Gorski answer that. Jeffrey A. Gorski - Chief Operating Officer & Executive Vice President: Hey, Cole. So as you now, we talk about it every quarter and looking at – so if you kind of look over the last quarters and when we are at the highest utilization, we're probably in the low 50s. And then recently, we're still bumping up against the 50% number. So year out, our contract coverage continues. So I think it does circle back to what we've been successful and in trying to extend term where we're giving some sort of break on day rates. And so we haven't seen a significant change in terms of our contract coverage as a year out, at least what we're seeing in this current quarter.

Coleman W. Sullivan - Wells Fargo Securities LLC

Analyst

Okay. Fair enough. And just one more, it sounds like the margins over the back half of the year could be under a little bit more pressure. Quinn, is that – we've seen a little bit better timing and as well as just regular or additional cost control efforts benefit the first couple of quarters of the year and then we may not be able to match up necessarily as well over the back half. Is that a fair statement? Quinn P. Fanning - Chief Financial Officer & Executive Vice President: Like everything there's lots of moving pieces and some of it relates to dry docking schedules and things like that. But, I guess, what I'd say is that you can mitigate or probably not completely offset the falling revenue, and that's what gets reflected in deteriorating margins. We have taken multiple whacks at our cost structure. We are looking at a lot of structural adjustments as we get further into this. And I guess I can try and give you some comfort that we will do the necessary without cutting into, as Jeff would say, bone, whether that's HS&E or compliance initiatives and things like that. But at the end of the day, you need some minimum critical mass in the way of shore-based support, and we're going to maintain that. But where there's an opportunity to cut and prune and pick and push, we're going to continue to do that as well. As we have, again, limited visibility on revenue. We are taking steps on the costs side, and you just have less confidence today that you'll be able to preserve that 36% to 40% number in the next couple of quarters. We may or may not. That's ultimately depend upon the revenue that we generate, but we'll do the necessary. And at least based on the current internal forecast, we believe that even if there's quarter-to-quarter slippage in gross margins, when you take a look at the year in retrospect, at least I believe today that we'll end up somewhere in that 36% to 40% number, again, when you look at the year in retrospect.

Coleman W. Sullivan - Wells Fargo Securities LLC

Analyst

Okay. That's all I had. I appreciate. Quinn P. Fanning - Chief Financial Officer & Executive Vice President: Thank you. Jeffrey M. Platt - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Thank you, Cole. Jeffrey M. Platt - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Yolanda, I think that's it for today.

Operator

Operator

That's correct. We have no further questions. Jeffrey M. Platt - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Right. Thank you all. I know we've run a little long but we appreciate your interest in Tidewater, and have a great day.