Solstad Offshore ASA

OSE:SOFF

Earnings Call Analysis

Solstad Offshore Reports Strong Q3 Performance

Solstad Offshore has had an eventful Q3, marked by the PSV fleet sale and a significant post-quarter refinancing announcement. Revenue rose by approximately NOK 250 million with a robust EBITDA of NOK 800 million, a 30% increase from the previous year. The operational margin reached 49%, with around 30% of EBITDA generated from renewable energy segments. A new backlog of NOK 3.8 billion was added, boasting a book-to-bill ratio of 2.3 and improved margins. Notably, the company has NOK 15 billion in backlog, including options, with NOK 4 billion booked for 2024. Solstad's global presence, particularly in Brazil and Australia, strengthens its competitive edge. A refinancing partnership with Aker, AMSC, DNB, and Eksfin introduces NOK 2.25 billion in equity from Aker and a new fleet loan facility of about NOK 10 billion. The reshaped corporate structure positions Solstad for global leadership in offshore operations with a modern fleet.

Strong Quarter Fueled by Growing Opportunities in Offshore Markets

Solstad Offshore has concluded a bustling third quarter, successfully divesting their PSV fleet and launching a substantial refinancing move after the quarter ended. The divestiture and this strategic financial update arrive on the heels of a buoyant market rich with business opportunities. With a focus on offshore energy markets globally, they've noted encouraging demand that propels their operational and financial growth.

Financial Uplift and Robust Backlog Highlight the Quarter

Financially, Solstad Offshore has achieved a significant revenue increase of around NOK 250 million compared to the same period last year, boasting a backlog addition of over NOK 3 billion. This robust contract accumulation has been signed with healthy margins, ensuring future profitability. Presenting an EBITDA of around NOK 800 million signifies a remarkable year-over-year growth and an impressive operational margin of 49%. Additionally, a positive EBIT reflects the company's operational strength, especially given the absence of impairment costs from this quarter's results.

Expanding Services and Forward-Looking Deals Strengthening the Future

In this vibrant quarter, Solstad has secured contracts worth NOK 3.8 billion, demonstrating their ability to escalate their market presence with a book-to-bill factor of 2.3. Expansion beyond vessel time charter services into ROV services and project support synthesizes with their growth ambitions, not only enhancing their value proposition but also cementing their EBITDA contribution. Marking a foray into ROV ownership, the intention to take delivery of four newly ordered ROVs for their fleet by year's end aligns with their forward-thinking approach. The proposed long-term refinancing strategy, inclusive of a robust NOK 4 billion equity injection, fortifies Solstad's footing, and caters to a high demand within the burgeoning sectors of oil, gas, and offshore wind.

Global Presence Underpins Solstad's Competitive Strategy

Solstad Offshore's strategy emphasizes a robust global presence and local support in key offshore markets like Brazil and Australia, a move critical for competing for global tenders and capitalizing on potential opportunities. With a diverse market demand and a continuous uptick in project opportunities, the company envisions favorable conditions. The backdrop of limited new fleet additions bodes well for the future, suggesting tight supply coupled with growing demand could lead to even better prospects for the industry. The company's readiness to engage in emerging contracts, equipped with a NOK 15 billion backlog and NOK 4 billion slated for 2024, showcases their command of the market dynamics.

Refinancing as a Keystone for Industrial Robustness and Growth

The comprehensive refinancing plan, developed with collaborators Aker, AMSC, DNB, and Eksfin, pivots Solstad towards a stronger industrial platform. The plan is substantial, with a minimum NOK 2.25 billion equity input from Aker, an 18% ownership stake for AMSC through asset contribution, and the opportunity for SOFF shareholders to participate in new share subscriptions. This reconceptualized financial structure ensures a minimum 40% ownership for Aker in Solstad Maritime and earmarks a vital NOK 10 billion fleet loan facility to bolster Solstad's ambitions to be a global leader in the offshore sector with one of the most modern fleets. With Solstad Offshore ASA retaining a 27% stake in the new entity, the reshaped ownership serves as a strategic move to sustain and drive future growth.

Earnings Call Transcript 2023-Q3

[Rolf Kristiansen, analyst]

Good evening, everyone. It's a pleasure to welcome you to this presentation of Solstad Offshore's third quarter numbers. With us today, we have CEO, Lars Peder Solstad; and CFO, Kjetil Ramstad. I leave the word to you, Lars Peder.

[Lars Solstad, executive]

Thank you all, and welcome to the third quarter presentation of Solstad Offshore, which has been a very active and busy quarter for the company. We closed the sale of the PSV. The transaction was closed early in the quarter. And the main event, of course, happened after quarter end, where we announced the refinancing of Solstad, and we will come back to this later in the presentation. But it's also very encouraging to see that the markets continue to be strong, and we continue to see many business opportunities within the offshore energy markets globally.

A quick look at the disclaimer before we move on to some of the financial highlights in the quarter. And when we compare the numbers in brackets are the results from the third quarter last year but also excluding the PSV fleet. So all numbers are excluding the PSVs.

And if we compare, we had -- the revenue is up with about NOK 250 million. We have added more than NOK 3 billion backlog since same quarter last year, and all the backlog we have signed is done at healthy margins. We are presenting a result with an EBITDA of around NOK 800 million compared to around NOK 600 million last year, giving an operational margin of 49%. Also on EBIT, very positive. Keep in mind -- it's lower than last year. But keep in mind that last year, we included more than NOK 300 million in reversed impairment, while this quarter we have not had any impairments. Also impairment is 0 in the quarter. Kjetil will come back to that also when talking more in details on the accounts.

Assets and liability are influenced by the sale of the PSV fleet. While the new balance sheet -- the sheet that will be after the refinancing, will only be presented when that refinancing has been completed. Cash is a bit down, but we have had a full debt service this year and compared with last year where we then only paid interests. So all in all, it has been a very, very strong, very solid financially the quarter for the company.

If we take a closer look at the business. As already mentioned, the sale of the PSV fleet was very important for us. It was concluded 5th July, and the proceeds were used to reduce debt. And this was essential for us to get the financing that we announced after quarter end done. It would have been more difficult to do that refinancing if it wasn't for the sale of the PSV fleet. We continue to see strong demand for our services, and both bidding activity and the utilization of the fleet has been on a high level in the quarter, and that has also continued into fourth quarter.

And the -- our markets, we see strong demand from both oil and gas and also from renewable energy. Commercial margins are continuing to improve and EBITDA, as I said, came in around 30% higher than we had in the third quarter last year. And we continue to deliver about, give or take, 30% of our EBITDA comes from renewable energy activities.

In this quarter, we have signed quite a few contracts, and we have added NOK 3.8 billion to our backlog, giving a book-to-bill factor of 2.3 in the quarter. And all of the contracts are done at healthy and improved commercial margins. We also continue to offer other services than time charter of the vessels to our clients. But we don't -- that doesn't mean that we add additional risk.

We offer ROV services, project support, tooling service, et cetera, but we offer it on day rates to our clients. And they are -- that service is already contributing positively to our EBITDA, and it will continue to do so, and we have growth ambitions within services in the quarters and years ahead. Together with our partner on the ROV side, we have also -- ordered the own ROVs and we will take delivery of 4 new ROVs by the end of this year that will be mobilized onto the company's vessels.

After quarter end, the long-term financing of Solstad was announced and in addition to a fully auto-renewed, fully underwritten debt facility, there will be NOK 4 billion in new equity that will be injected into the part of the company structure where the debt matures. And this is a very robust solution for the company and it's -- and that also includes the company's lenders and shareholders. We'll come back to more details on this later in this presentation.

Taking a look at the market. There is a continued high demand for our services. We see long-term opportunities, and we see more project-related opportunities. We see it within oil and gas, we see it within offshore wind and we see it globally. There are large tenders in the market at the moment. In Petrobras -- in Brazil, Petrobras are in the market for large anchor handlers, in the market for pipe-laying vessels. Also, we submitted a bid yesterday on an ROV vessel -- for ROV vessel.

So there's a lot of activity in Brazil. In addition, we also see many opportunities in other areas where we already operate, like in West Africa and in Guyana, in addition to Australia, where there are more opportunities. And we recently fixed 2 of our vessels there at rates that we have not seen for many, many years. So that market is also coming back.

But it's also an important point that to be able to compete for contracts in the global market, you have to have a presence. And local content requirements are strict, and to have a local onshore support is also essential. We have a very strong position in Brazil and also in Australia. And we will -- we see this as a -- that this will be beneficial for us also going forward. As we see it, it is unlikely that we will see a significant new build activity ahead. So as long as the activity -- the market activity continued to improve and the fleet -- the global fleet is stable, the outlook for our industry has probably never been better.

On the backlog, we have signed many new contracts this year. And for the year, we have a book-to-bill factor of 1.5, and as mentioned, 2.3 in this quarter alone. More important, margins on new contracts are all better than the previous contracts. And we continue to also have available capacity to take on more contracts. Including options, we have around NOK 15 billion in backlog, and as you will see on the slide here, we have around NOK 4 billion booked for execution in 2024.

For the remainder of this year, we have very low spot exposure. Our North Sea-based anchor handling project fleet are all booked on projects in West Africa. The entire CSV fleet is also busy. So availability in the coming months for us is very limited. Looking into next year, we have a good combination of contracts in hand and availability to take on more work. And also worth mentioning is that we have -- that the majority of the backlog we have has been added since 2022. And nearly all contracts entered into in [indiscernible] market prior to 2021 will come up for renewal by early '25 and then should give us the opportunity to roll these vessels over to more profitable contracts.

I'll leave word to you, Kjetil, to give some more details on the refinancing and also on the numbers.

[Kjetil Ramstad, executive]

Thank you, Lars. And good morning to everyone. It has -- we have been working on the refinancing now for over a year, and it was a pleasure to be able to announce that we have made an overall solution together with Aker, AMSC, DNB and Eksfin on the 23rd of October. The refinancing solution makes Solstad as a robust industrial solution and the platform for Solstad to be a global leading offshore operator of one of the most modern and high-end fleets in the world.

Aker will contribute with a minimum of the NOK 2.25 billion in equity. AMSC will contribute 100% of the shares in the entity owning the CSV, Normand Maximus. And the shareholders of SOFF will be able to subscribe new shares in the Solstad Maritime structure with the gross proceeds of NOK 750 million. That has -- as mentioned, there has been agreed a new fleet loan facility of approximately NOK 10 billion underwritten by DNB and Eksfin. The refinancing process and -- the process around the refinancing is currently working according to the plan.

If we look at the structure -- the new corporate structure and the ownership split. As you can see on the left-hand side of the overview, you see that Aker will have a minimum of 40% ownership in what we have now renamed as Solstad Maritime. AMSC will own 18% after the contribution of Normand Maximus. And the current shareholders of Solstad will be able to subscribe for shares up to 14% in the Solstad Maritime structure. Solstad Offshore ASA will have a 27% ownership of the new structure.

There is around 35 vessels in Solstad Maritime structure: 22 CSVs, 10 anchor handlers and some anchor handlers that will be divested over time. The projections for '24 is that we will produce EBITDA of around NOK 3.3 billion to NOK 3.5 billion and the year-end net debt in '24 will be around NOK 6 billion. in the RemainCo group, there is quite some activity there as well with EBITDA of around NOK 1 billion and year-end debt of around NOK 3 billion. There is a structure there with 3 anchor handlers in Brazil, 1 CSV also in Brazil. And then the rest of the CSVs are in SPVs in that group.

If we go to the numbers for the third quarter, and this is the first quarter that we show numbers without the 37 PSVs that was sold to Tidewater. And as mentioned, the deal was closed 5th of July, which means that also in the balance sheet, it will reflect that it's only the continued business that we show. But it's good to see that the -- on the activity side and operating income, a good increase of 17% compared to last year, and also EBITDA continues to grow as we roll in new and more profitable projects, 31% increase compared to last year.

The operating result of EBIT is, as you can see, a little bit down. And the reason for that is that in last year, we did a reversal of historical impairments that affects last year's numbers. If you take out that effect, also EBIT is up in '23. It's always good to see that the net result is positive by NOK 65 million compared to over NOK 200 million negative in last year. On the EBITDA distribution, we still continue to show good numbers on the renewable side, almost 30% this quarter as well. The CSV that is working with in oil and gas contributed with more than 50% in the quarter.

Then if we go to the balance sheet, as mentioned, this is the first time we present the balance sheet without the PSV fleet. And as you can see, that is reflected on the fixed asset side, which has been reduced with approximately NOK 6 billion in the quarter. And on the current asset side, I think there was [ more ] seasonal variances there on cash and liquidity.

On the debt side, first, on the equity side, we see that equity has improved compared to last year. And as we have discussed in previous quarters as well, the main driver for equity fluctuation has been unrealized FX movements. We have discussed the new loan facility that we have agreed with DNB and Eksfin. And as you can see on the debt side, most of our debt is classified as current, and that is because it is coming -- maturity is getting closer. And of course, the new agreement that we have in place will only be implemented when the deal has been closed later.

Yes. With that, I will hand the word back to you, Lars Peder, to summarize.

[Lars Solstad, executive]

Thanks, Kjetil. And before we move over to Q&A, I would just like to quickly summarize the quarter. We have had a third quarter with -- that has been very strong with improvements on all the key indicators. Outlook for the industry is very promising, and we see that higher activity is also coming while the supply side will continue at the same level as we see it today. We see that our clients are in the market to secure capacity. That goes for upcoming projects but also for long term. And we see that the commercial terms are continuing also to improve and are now being done at healthy levels.

With Aker coming in with more equity and also with strong support from our long-term financing partners DNB and Eksfin on the lender side, I will say that Solstad very well positioned for a market that looks very promising going forward. So by that, we conclude our presentation and we move over to Q&A.

[Kjetil Ramstad, executive]

Yes.

[Lars Solstad, executive]

Do we have some questions coming in, Kjetil?

[Kjetil Ramstad, executive]

There is some question for us. Okay. So let's start with the first one, and that is concerning the new refinancing and the new -- the announcements. And it's -- will it be the same management team for Solstad Maritime and Solstad Offshore?

[Lars Solstad, executive]

That's the plan. That's only going to be 1 management. Kjetil and I will continue to be -- to head both Solstad Maritime and Solstad Offshore.

[Kjetil Ramstad, executive]

And next one is, as I understand on the report, Solstad will buy 44% of Tonjer owned by other parties in the JV. Is there a plan to remove the seismic module and refit crane? Or is there other plans for Tonjer going forward?

[Lars Solstad, executive]

Okay. The plan is -- it is the original shareholders where Solstad owned 56%, that has the option or had the option to buy back the vessel. So after we have executed that purchase option, that we have already done, Solstad that will own 56% of Normand Tonjer and the other shareholders will own the remaining 44%. We are looking at -- I mean, the vessel is still under contract with Magseis and for -- during the winter period. And we will see what the next contract will be for that vessel. It will be either to continue or to do something else. We'll see.

[Kjetil Ramstad, executive]

Our next question is, Solstad have been for several tenders in Brazil for Petrobras and the PLSV rates are especially high. Any thoughts on the outcome of these bids?

[Lars Solstad, executive]

It's true. We are actively bidding for contracts in Brazil at the moment. We are participating in the anchor handling tenders with several vessels. We are also on the PLSV tender with 2 vessels and we also submitted a bid last night on the RSV tender for 1 vessel. And we are -- I mean, what we observe is that the rates are at a very high level. If we are successful with some of our vessels, that will be very good. But to speculate on how many vessels Petrobras will hire, is not possible to do. But Brazil in general, is very active, and we expect that they will sign quite a few contracts in all these tenders.

[Kjetil Ramstad, executive]

And then we go to next question. You stated that you have approximately NOK 500 million of anchor handling backlog for '24. Last year, you had around NOK 700 million. Do you see opportunities? Or do you consider to add more long-term backlog in the anchor handling segment?

[Lars Solstad, executive]

Yes. I mean, there are definitely opportunities. And what I mentioned in Brazil particularly is a great opportunity. We are already bidding there. We are waiting for the award process. We have -- we recently chartered Normand Sirius in Australia. We have we are very actively seeking utilization within the project market. So yes, the balance between -- I mean, on the rate levels we see now on long-term contracts, it is likely that we will try to secure a few more long-term contracts and be less exposed to the spot market. Having said that, we are also participating and have some future commitments on the project market. So we would like to do both, but there needs to be a balance there. But as the market -- as the rates continue to grow in long term, it's, of course, interesting to seek those opportunities.

[Kjetil Ramstad, executive]

Can you comment on the impact on the idle time on Normand Maximus in Q3? And is it expected the higher utilization in the next quarter?

[Lars Solstad, executive]

Yes. Well, there's no -- it's no secret that the Maximus was between contracts in July and until mid-August, if I'm not wrong. While in fourth quarter and for the coming years, we are on -- we are -- the vessel is fully booked. So that will have a negative impact on the third quarter numbers, but we'll have full utilization in fourth quarter.

[Kjetil Ramstad, executive]

Is it possible to acquire 100% of the Normand Installer?

[Lars Solstad, executive]

Well, that's not -- it's now -- we have a 50-50 partnership with SBM. That works very, very well. We have had that for -- since 2006, and we have worked with SBM for longer than that as well. So there's no intention to try and there's no reason why we should. So it's a very, very functioning partnership.

[Kjetil Ramstad, executive]

Next question and it's a commercial one as well. [indiscernible] in the public PLSV tender in Brazil. Can you comment on the potential change of the -- can you comment on the likelihood of this materializing?

[Lars Solstad, executive]

Yes. Well, it's -- we are bidding there together with a partner. And that process of signing up contracts from Petrobras side is just about to start. So I don't know the outcome of that. But it's good to see that we are #1 in the position that we are bidding the vessel.

[Kjetil Ramstad, executive]

Let me see the next question. A lot of contracts awards in Australia are from Solstad and others recently. Are we finished now? Or do we still see more tenders and activity in Australia?

[Lars Solstad, executive]

Well, I think there will be a few more. So -- and there will be new contracts coming due to increased rig activity and also project activity. But also new -- or existing contracts will, at a point, come up for renewal as well. So Australia is slowly picking up.

[Kjetil Ramstad, executive]

Yes. And lastly, is there any update we can give on the time line of the refinancing?

[Lars Solstad, executive]

It's -- as said, I think you said it also in the presentation, Kjetil, we are -- the time line that we had when announced is still a time line we are working on. So the process is moving ahead as planned.

[Kjetil Ramstad, executive]

Yes. Okay. Let me see. I think that was the last question.

[Lars Solstad, executive]

Okay. So thanks to everyone for listening in. Thanks a lot, and have a nice weekend.

[Kjetil Ramstad, executive]

Thank you.