Operator
Operator
Good day, everyone, and welcome to Ensco Plc's Fourth Quarter and Full-Year 2015 Financial Results Conference Call. All participants will be in listen-only mode. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. Please note, this event is being recorded. I will now turn the call over to Mr. Sean O'Neill, Vice President of Investor Relations, who will moderate the call. Please go ahead, sir. Sean Patrick O'Neill - Vice President-Investor Relations & Communications: Welcome, everyone to Ensco's fourth quarter 2015 conference call. With me today are Carl Trowell, CEO; Carey Lowe, our Chief Operating Officer; Jon Baksht, CFO; as well as other members of our executive management team. We issued our earnings release which is available on our website at enscoplc.com. During this call we will discuss GAAP and non-GAAP financial measures and a reconciliation between the two is included in our earnings release. Any comments we make about expectations are forward-looking statements and are subject to risks and uncertainties. Many factors could cause actual results to differ materially. Please refer to our earnings release and SEC filings on our website that define forward-looking statements and list the risk factors and other events that could impact future results. Also, please note that the company undertakes no duty to update forward-looking statements. As a reminder, we issued our most recent Fleet Status Report on February 16, and we issued our Form 10-K yesterday. Now, let me turn the call over to Carl Trowell, CEO and President. Carl Trowell - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Thanks, Sean, and good morning, everyone. We are facing extremely challenging market conditions. The recent incremental leg down in commodity prices and uncertainty regarding the timing and degree rebalancing in the oil markets has caused our customers to announce further reductions in capital expenditures, the results of which is to push out the likely duration of the down cycle for the offshore drilling sector. As a consequence, we have taken further steps to improve our liquidity so that we are well placed to persevere through the downturn and positioned for an eventual recovery in market conditions. These market conditions and the current outlook drove the goodwill and asset impairments we recorded in the fourth quarter of 2015, which Jon will discuss in further detail. However, broadly speaking, the weight of the asset impairments have been to rigs which we either intend to scrap or retire and those which are aged and we do not believe will have a place in our long-term fleet. During the quarter we sold ENSCO 5001 for scrap and in total, we sold two floaters during 2015. Furthermore, we intend to scrap or permanently retire the following floaters; ENSCO DS-1 and ENSCO DS-2, ENSCO 6000 and ENSCO 7500. We also plan to retire jackup rigs ENSCO 56, ENSCO 81, ENSCO 82, ENSCO 86 and ENSCO 99. Along with three jackups currently held for sale. We believe the rate of rig scrapping across the sector will accelerate as we go through 2016. And we believe this will be an important factor in rebalancing the rig market. Turning to other fleet management decisions, we've delayed the delivery of ENSCO 123 by 19 months, pushing out approximately $200 million of CapEx to 2018. However, we are moving forward with ENSCO 140 and ENSCO 141, which are being built in the Middle East and expect to take delivery of these rigs later this year. Additionally, we have made the decision to cold stack ENSCO 8500 to reduce operating costs along with ENSCO 8501 and ENSCO 8502 until market conditions improve. We will continue to market our four remaining 8500 Series rigs. We view the 8500 Series as part of our core fleet, but do not believe there are enough market opportunities to justify keeping all seven rigs in this series available for work. As outlined in our prior disclosures, including our Form 10-K filed yesterday, we are in dispute with our customer for ENSCO DS-5. We believe we have a valid contract in force and we are in discussions with the client regarding this matter. Nevertheless, for the fourth quarter, we did not recognize any revenue for ENSCO DS-5. We recognized a $17 million provision for doubtful accounts in connection with unpaid receivables from prior periods. Excluding the financial impact of the ENSCO DS-5 dispute with our customer and impairments, we posted strong fourth quarter results that reflect the actions we have taken to further improve operational performance and reduce costs. As outlined in our press release, adjusted earnings were $0.92 per share and our adjusted contract drilling expense was $398 million for the quarter which is better than the guidance we provided on our last call. Financial performance during the quarter was driven by record fleet wide operational utilization with 99% for jackups and 96% for floaters. Revenues in the fourth quarter also benefited from the delivery and contract commencement of ENSCO DS-8. Exceptional performance by our capital projects and operational teams resulted in an on-time delivery, a very successful startup with the rig achieving nearly 100% uptime. ENSCO DS-9 and ENSCO 110, two newbuild rigs delivered earlier in the year also contributed to fourth quarter financial results. We are on track with our previously communicated cost reduction targets of $57 million in annualized savings from restructuring the support functions of the company that included a 30% reduction of our onshore workforce and a 15% reduction in offshore unit labor cost, both compared to 2014 levels. This is in addition to cost savings we've achieved by proactively stacking rigs and lowering cost for uncontracted rigs. On the back of actions already taken, we expect that our contract drilling expense will be lower in the first quarter as Jon will outline later. Our cost reduction initiatives are being undertaken in a very structured way and our fourth quarter results show that operational excellence and safety can be achieved alongside rigorous expense management. In fact, our dedicated crews and onshore personnel delivered another record year in terms of key safety measures in 2015. In terms of capital management, it's important to emphasize that the actions we've taken have given us an improved liquidity position, with $1.3 billion of cash and short term investments and a fully available $2.25 billion revolving credit facility. To further improve liquidity and to give us greater flexibility to manage our capital structure, the board of directors has decided to take further action on the dividend as reported in our earnings release. The unprecedented level of pullback in capital spending by E&P companies will eventually lead to a supply response and offshore reserves will play a major role in future global oil supply. In the meantime, we remain extremely focused on what we can control, namely, fleet restructuring, operational performance and cost reduction. The cycle will eventually turn and oil prices will increase at which point we will be well positioned. Now, I'll turn the call over to Carey Lowe who succeeded Mark Burns when he retired as COO in December. P. Carey Lowe - Chief Operating Officer & Executive Vice President: Thanks, Carl. In conjunction with our organizational restructuring last year, we decided to integrate our marketing teams into our operations group with the goal of having more seamless interaction with customers at the operational and business development level. We believe this will help us to win more work and we have continued to capitalize on the few opportunities available around the world resulting in the recent addition of several new contracts. Among our floaters, we secured work for ENSCO 85 (sic) [ENSCO 8504] in Indonesia that will keep the rig working into mid-2016 and we have bid the rig into several opportunities in the Asia-Pacific region for potential follow-on work. ENSCO 8504 has had an excellent operational and safety track record over the years, a record that contributed greatly to earning this new contract. Additionally, we won short-term work in the same region for ENSCO 5005 which commenced its 60-day contract in late 2015. Moving to our jackup fleet, we were able to earn additional work for two rigs in the North Sea, a four well extension for ENSCO 120 and a four month accommodation contract for ENSCO 102, both of which will help our jackup utilization in 2016. Our strong operational track record in this region, evidenced by Ensco's number one ranking in the North Sea category of EnergyPoint's Customer Satisfaction survey contributed heavily to these new contracts. As you'll note in our most recent Fleet Status Report, this is one of our best regions in terms of contract backlog. Just this week, we were awarded six months of work starting in Q3 2016 for ENSCO 107 in Australia with Chevron at a day rate in the high $120,000s. We also earned two contracts for ENSCO 75 in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, a short-term job during the fourth quarter of 2015 and a one year contract that started earlier this year. This contract will keep the rig working into 2017. This represents a significant achievement in a region that has seen an 80% decline in the number of contracted jackups over the past year and is a testament to our operations teams. These new contracts added approximately three years of work, bringing our total to approximately 18-rig years earned during 2015, which included the previously announced three year contracts for ENSCO 104 and ENSCO 110 in the Middle East as well as ENSCO 71 and ENSCO 72 in the North Sea, plus ENSCO 8505, which earned a multi-year contract for both shallow and deepwater work in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico that leverages our hybrid moored and DP configuration. This design provides flexibility to customers and was the result of extensive collaboration between our operations, engineering and marketing teams, which we believe will help us win more work. We now have two ENSCO 8500 Series rigs in this configuration and are likely to upgrade a third. Earning these long-term contracts, especially in the current environment, is due to Ensco's commitment to go beyond customer expectations with premium assets and exceptionally well trained crews, crews that deliver leading safety and operational performance. As Carl noted, we achieved record fleet wide operational utilization in the fourth quarter and for the full year we achieved a new safety record with the lowest total recordable incident rate in Ensco's history. This type of performance is what led to Ensco being recognized as the best offshore driller in overall customer satisfaction for the sixth consecutive year, including the number one rating in the Middle East and Asia Pacific in addition to the North Sea region as I just mentioned. In an effort to extend our leadership position in operational performance and customer satisfaction, we implemented a new Ensco asset management system over the past year. This proprietary system is the result of a multi-year joint project spearheaded by our asset management group and supported by operations, information systems and several other groups. This system will make our repair and maintenance processes even more efficient and cost effective. Our record setting results are the culmination of the successful work we've conducted over several years on many fronts, including fleet design, training and development, new systems and vendor management. These efforts are ongoing and we will continue to leverage our expertise and innovation to drive improvements. Specific examples of these include investments in our quality assurance and quality control department, additional training and more rigorous testing for our offshore crews, which have increased organizational competency around the equipment on rigs, and improved processes and procedures for rig-based activities such as between well maintenance where we have reduced downtime and improved subsea equipment performance. We have been very pleased with our safety and operational improvements to date including a meaningful reduction in BOP-related downtime hours per active rig in 2015. Another way that our sector improves safety and operational performance is through the quality of the global fleet of offshore rigs. Our recent investor presentation, which is on our website, details the new rig supply coming into the market that will high-grade fleet quality. But it is also important to note that the global fleet of rigs is likely to decline in number by the end of 2017, which will not only help to rebalance supply and demand dynamics but also improve the overall quality and reliability of offshore drilling for our customers. Since third quarter of 2014, offshore drillers have announced scrapping of 50 floaters including the floaters, we referenced in our earnings release. Over this same period, an additional 38 floaters have been cold stacked. Looking at the current supply picture, approximately 40 floaters, including some of the cold-stacked rigs I just mentioned, are more than 30 years of age and idle without follow-on work. Another 50 floaters are more than 30 years old and will see their contracts expire by the end of 2017. In total, these 90 floaters are likely candidates for scrapping. And as a group, excluding the recent number – the reduced number of build in Brazil rigs are nearly triple the number of floaters currently scheduled to enter the market before the end of 2017. I should also mention that we are now seeing increasing number of floaters younger than 30 years of age being scrapped. And this trend will help to reduce supply. Similar to floaters, we expect stacking to accelerate for jackups. Here is a picture of competitive jackups defined as independent leg cantilever rigs, roughly 70 are 30 years of age or older and stacked or idled without follow on work. Another 75 are also over 30 years of age and have contracts expiring by the end of 2017. That brings us to a total of 145 jackups that are candidates for scrapping or conversion to non-drilling units by the end of next year. This figure far exceeds the 100 or so jackups scheduled for delivery by 2017, many of which may not enter the market in the medium term since two-thirds of these jackup newbuilds were ordered by speculators who were only required to make small down payments. So in summary, the intensity of the current downturn, while very challenging in the near term, will also be the catalyst to drive out excess supply through scrapping of older rigs and cancellation of certain newbuilds, which in the mid to long-term will be positive for our sector. Now, I'll turn it over to Jon. Jonathan Baksht - Chief Financial Officer & Senior Vice President: Thanks, Carey. Today, I'll start with our fourth quarter financial results, our outlook for first quarter 2016, and then I'll wrap up with a discussion of our financial position and capital management. As noted in our earnings release, several items impacted fourth quarter 2015 results and the year-over-year comparisons, including non-cash impairments totaling $2.9 billion, the impact of a customer notice regarding ENSCO DS-5 that Carl just mentioned and a favorable discrete tax item. Year ago results included $3.9 billion of goodwill and asset impairments, as well as discrete tax items noted in the non-GAAP reconciliation in our earnings release. Excluding these items, fourth quarter 2015 earnings per share from continuing operations were $0.92, compared to $1.68 a year ago. Total fourth quarter revenue was $828 million versus $1.16 billion last year. Lower fleet utilization was partially offset by the addition of ENSCO DS-8, which commenced its initial contract offshore Angola during the fourth quarter, ENSCO DS-9, which was successfully delivered in second quarter 2015, the addition of two newbuild jackups to the active fleet and the reactivation of ENSCO 5006 following a shipyard upgrade. In the floater segment, revenue declined to $490 million, compared to $663 million a year ago, primarily due to lower utilization of 57% versus 81% last year, and the decline in the average day rate to $397,000 from $429,000 last year. Earnings contributions from ENSCO DS-8 and ENSCO DS-9 plus the reactivated ENSCO 5006 helped to partially offset these declines. Operational utilization for the floater segment, which adjusts for uncontracted days and planned downtime, was a record 96%, up from 90% a year ago. In the jackup segment, revenue was $307 million, compared to $455 million last year. As reported, utilization declined to 66% from 88% in 2014. The average day rate declined to $126,000 from $147,000 a year ago. These factors were partially offset by the addition of two high specification jackups, ENSCO 122 and ENSCO 110 to the active fleet. Operational utilization for the total jackup fleet was 99%, up from 98% in 2014. Excluding a $17 million provision for doubtful accounts relating to ENSCO DS-5, we reduced total contract drilling expense to $398 million, better than our guidance of $415 million to $420 million that we provided in our third quarter conference call, due primarily to lower personnel costs. Year-over-year, we reduced contract drilling expenses by 23% from $514 million in fourth quarter 2014. Our active expense management and fewer operating rig days offset the incremental costs of adding two newbuild drillships, two newbuild jackups and the reactivation of ENSCO 5006. Depreciation expense increased $11 million to $150 million, in line with our expectations due to the fleet growth I just mentioned. General and administrative expense was $30 million, in line with our outlook. As detailed in our earnings release, interest expense was $5 million higher year-to-year due to our debt refinancing completed in first quarter 2015. Excluding discrete items, the effective tax rate was 15% for the fourth quarter. Our tax rate for full-year 2016 is expected to be in the mid-to-high 20% range due largely to a forecasted decline in revenues caused by deteriorating market conditions as well as a change in our geographic mix of earnings. Now, let's shift our focus to the outlook for first quarter 2016. Total revenues are expected to decline on a sequential quarter basis, due to an estimated 7% to 8% decline in average day rates from fourth quarter levels of $216,000. We expect reported utilization for the fleet to be in line with the fourth quarter in the low 60% area. We anticipate a further reduction in contract drilling expense during the first quarter based primarily on actions we've already taken to refine our cost structure. First quarter contract drilling expense is expected to decline to $385 million to $390 million, despite a full quarter of operations for ENSCO DS-8. As noted in our most recent Fleet Status Report, we have more rigs rolling off contract, particularly in the back half of the year and to the extent we do not re-contract these rigs, we will be proactively managing cost down by stacking rigs on an expedited basis. Depreciation expense is expected to decline by approximately $35 million from $150 million in the fourth quarter due to lower carrying values for rigs impaired during 2015. We expect first quarter G&A expense to decline slightly from fourth quarter levels of $30 million due to the restructuring and expense management actions taken last year. In total, other expense is estimated to be $62 million in the first quarter. In terms of our previously announced cost reduction plans, we are on track to achieve our 15% production in average offshore unit labor cost, compared to 2014 levels. Since offshore compensation is roughly half of total contract drilling expense, this will translate into meaningful cost savings during 2016. Additional expense management actions were taken to reduce our offshore – onshore workforce and we remain on track to achieve our annual run rate savings target of $57 million in 2016 versus 2014 levels. And as mentioned earlier, we will continue to proactively cold stack or scrap rigs without near-term contracting opportunities to manage our costs in line with market conditions through the cycle. Before we review our financial position, I'd like to briefly comment on the impairment charges taken during the fourth quarter. We evaluate our fleet for triggering events on a quarterly basis and any change in an asset's value is reflective of the expected marketability and asset life of the rig in light of our overall business outlook. We also perform goodwill impairment analysis at the end of each year. Due to deteriorating market conditions and our current outlook, we impaired several rigs in our fleet weighted mostly towards our older floaters and jackups, including 12 rigs that we plan to permanently retire as Carl mentioned. Deteriorating market conditions including a lack of visibility in terms of customer demand also factored into the board's decision to reduce the dividend and we believe it is prudent to preserve $130 million of annual liquidity, improving Ensco's capital management flexibility as we navigate the downturn. Now let's wrap up with a review of our financial position. Following our impairment, we ended 2015 with a net debt to capital ratio of 41%. We have $1.3 billion of cash and short-term investments and a fully available $2.25 billion revolving credit facility that matures in 2019. We have $5.8 billion in revenue backlog, which as noted in our earnings release excludes ENSCO DS-5 and we have no debt maturities until 2019. As Carl mentioned, our capital expenditure forecast has changed as a result of our decision to delay the delivery of a newbuild jackup. And our forecasted annual capital spend over the next several years will be significantly lower than 2015 CapEx of $1.6 billion. The final milestone payment for ENSCO 123 of approximately $200 million now moves into 2018. The 2016 CapEx projection has therefore been reduced to $450 million, of which $275 million is for newbuild construction. Our 2017 CapEx budget is also $450 million. 2018 CapEx is now expected to be $325 million, inclusive of the final milestone payment for ENSCO 123 and we have no newbuild CapEx beyond 2018. These updated figures are included in the most recent investor presentation on our website. In closing, since the downturn in the offshore drilling markets began in mid-2014, our actions have been aimed at tightly managing operating costs, including offshore compensation, ongoing rig maintenance expense, and onshore support costs. Capital expenditures by deferring milestone payments for uncontracted newbuilds and reducing our CapEx projections for major and minor upgrades through 2018 and liquidity, including reducing our dividend. These actions will allow us to focus on operational and safety performance, areas within our control during the downturn while optimizing financial performance in both the short and long-term. So with that, I will turn the call back over to Sean. Sean Patrick O'Neill - Vice President-Investor Relations & Communications: Okay, operator, please open it up for questions.