Bw Offshore Adr

Good morning and welcome to BW Offshore's second quarter 2026 presentation. I'm Marco Beenen, CEO, and I'm joined by Stale Andreassen, our CFO. Thank you for joining this conference call today. And we will take you through the operational highlights, the financials and our strategic priorities, and then leave time for questions at the end. And you can use the Q&A function in this webcast for that. And please note our disclaimer. and then I move on to the highlights. We have delivered a solid EBITDA of 63 million US dollar this quarter. BW Opal is in stable production and generates revenues currently at approximately 85% of the nameplate capacity. But due to the bottlenecking issues, which we discovered as we ramped up production, practical completion has been moved to the second quarter of 2027. and that shift in timing leads to an adjustment to our full year EBITDA guidance to a range of 250 to 280 million US dollar. And this shift has also triggered a non-cash impairment in this quarter and Stole will come back to that in more detail. There is no impact on our commitment to our quarterly cash dividend under our covenants, which equates to 11 million US dollar or 6.3 cents per share. and lastly, the strategic review continues with interested parties, but the timeline is naturally impacted by the revised practical completion date for BW Opal. I will now start with an operational update and dive a bit deeper in the progress with Opal. As mentioned, since restarting production in May, the unit has continued to deliver stable gas production and revenue generation. We successfully replaced old compressor Thank you very much. and that prevented the ramp up to 100% production rates and need to be resolved before practical completion. These issues primarily relate to an underperforming CO2 removal system where the membranes need to be replaced. And furthermore, the lean methanol tanks needs to be cleaned because we discovered residual sink trace contamination and we need to inspect and repair weldings in the steam system. I want to emphasize that while these issues are frustrating, there are standalone vendor and subcontractor related quality issues rather than a fundamental design issue. The unit produces at high rates and we're working closely together with our client Santos to optimize production while we address these issues effectively. Given the delivery times of these membranes, we expect most of the repairs to be carried out in the first quarter of 27. and that moves the start of the 15 year contract period, which is marked by practical completion to the second quarter of 27. For the remaining of 2026, we continue to produce gas under the volume based revenue scheme, and that largely offsets a further 65 million US dollar of capex that we have to spend on completion. It's mostly full in 2027 and this 65 million US dollar is before any recovery under the warranty programs. Turning to safety and fleet performance, safety remains our highest priority and we continue to focus on maintaining a strong safety record. There was one new high potential incident in the quarter and there are no injuries with a high potential incident, but we treat it as a leading indicator for something potentially serious and always follow up with a thorough investigation and lessons learned. The lost time incident trend is satisfying and trending down. The contracted fleet performed very well with another quarter of 100% commercial uptime. That excludes BW Opal since we're still in the commissioning phase and the formal contract term hasn't started yet, as I just explained. At the end of the second quarter, our backlog stood at 2.2 billion US dollar, of which 97% is firm. And the only real change in the quarter is the timing of contract cash flow from BW Opal. The commercial uptime of Opal was approximately 75% in the quarter after the restart on the 3rd of May. VW Odolo continued to deliver stable production, above 26,000 barrels a day, and Catcher delivered close to 20,000 barrels per day, largely in line with previous quarter. And then for Pioneer, we continued to provide the O&M service under a five-year contract, former VRO, and they confirmed now drilling in the Chinook field in the second half of this year, which should result in a production increase for the remainder of the contract, and that benefits our menace feed structure. Then an update on the Beidouinor project with Equinor, currently in the feed phase. This project with Equinor continues to progress according to plan. Since signing the feed contract with Equinor in April, both commercial and technical work seems to have advanced well, and we expect the feed to continue throughout 2026. We have already achieved an important milestone with the issuance of the first major equipment purchase of the gas turbine generators, and this is fully reimbursed by our client. We've also opened an office in St. John's, and that's located in Newfoundland Labrador, to strengthen our relationship with the local supplier base ahead of pre-operations and subsequent operations and maintenance services. Equinor's acquisition of BP's interest in the Babynore project in July increases its ownership to 100% and it further confirms their commitment to the project. We continue to expect a final investment decision and contract award early 2027. and with that I'll hand over to Stole who will take you through the financials.

Thank you for that Marco and good morning everyone.

As usual I'll do a bit of a deep dive on the financial section and we started with the EBITDA performance. EBITDA was 63 million in the second quarter which is up compared to quarter one and in line with expectation. and it's really a result of BWL Power delivering up to 97-98% of nominated gas volumes during the quarter following the restart of production back in May. The new charter rates on BWL Catcher are somewhat lower following the contract extension back in February. 2036 EBTA guidance is revised to a range of 250 to 280 million from the earlier range, which we gave, which was 310 to 340 million. And it's largely due to the adjusted completion schedule for BWO PAR shifting at the contract start into 2027. About 50 million of the revision is related to BWO PAR and about 10 million is related to higher tender activity. I would like to note that for the revision on Nepal, about 40 out of the 50 million is pure prepayments to be amortized. So when you calculate this, the net cash impact is very limited and around 10 million. Importantly, the long-term earnings capacity and contract backlog for the unit is unchanged. During this period, until practical completion, estimated second quarter next year, we are generating incremental revenues. BWPAR post-practical completion will deliver an annual EBTA estimated between 265 to 275 million per year under the 15-year firm contract. Operating revenues and EBTA increased in quarter two as BWPAR resumed production. This is also reflected in higher tax expenses while depreciation and recognition of interest expense will only commence at a practical completion. EBIT and the reported net loss reflect the impairment of 125 million on BWPAL recognized in the second quarter financials and that is despite we only identifying this and concluding this during the course of August. The impairment is triggered due to additional costs, as mentioned earlier, as well as additional borrowing costs to be capitalized during the extended timeline until practical completion. I want to highlight no further impairment charges are expected from the delay in completion, and this impairment is also reversible and the IFRS should be able to improve on the completion timing or the cost picture. This is a non-cash event. There was no effect on liquidity or debt service as a result of the impairment. But when you adjust for the impairment, the underlying net profit was stable and comparable to Q1 at 23 million. Operating cash flow remained stable quarter to quarter. Investments were 38 million in the second quarter, of which about 30 million was related to BWL-PAL. and the remaining largely related to funding of VW Alara as we are now progressing construction of our first floating desalination plant. In May, we decided to make a short-term placement of $25 million into a fixed income liquidity fund to achieve higher return on surplus cash. Under IFRS, it's required that this placement is recorded as an investment, although we, for practical purposes, look at this as available cash, as we can liquidate this position at any point in time. So overall, we did reduce our cash position in this quarter when you consider this and other more regular movements to just below 280 million. And then I include the $25 million we have in the liquidity fund. It also implies that we continue to have a very comfortable cash position. Leverage remains zero as we are in the consolidated net cash position as presented. We continue to present net debt and leverage excluding VW APAL, the project debt and the practical completion. Once this is achieved, as we have said before, we will move to a presentation where we include both the debt and the related EBITDA as part of our leverage. The impairment naturally reduces the equity ratio, now standing at 28.3% by end of Q2, which sits comfortably above the 25% minimum in our loan facilities. It also means we are well within our financial covenants overall. Available liquidity continues to be solid, stood at 511 million, and that includes just over 200 million on our revolving credit facility, which is completely undrawn. We still have limited consolidated debt that's hedged at a comfortable 4%, 4.9%, sorry, all in. Remaining committed investments totals approximately 140 million. Around 120 million is remaining net cash investment to complete BWPAR, and that includes the incremental 65 million estimated for the extended The balance of the committed total, approximately 20 million, is the remainder of our 50% share for the first BWLR desalination unit. In numbers, our share is 30 million of the total estimated cost of building this unit, estimated at $60 million. Just want to emphasize again that BWPAR will be producing and generating revenue during the pre-contract startup period that largely will offset the cash flow impact of the incremental capex without eating into the backlog. Our commitment to shareholder returns stay unchanged. We continue with the dividend policy of quarterly distributions based on a minimum of $25 cents per share. which for this quarter again reflect a dividend payment of 11.3 million. As the impairment have an impact on what we can distribute for the year, it naturally reduces the 2026 net profit and a top up in the Q4 as earlier indicated should not be expected for 2026. However, looking beyond 2026, the framework remains unchanged. and Distribution Capacity Reset again from next year. Also looking forward, I am pleased to mention that we have started the market sounding for the Beta Nord FPSO financing, where we have seen significant interest from a number of banks. I believe this is really reflecting the robustness of the project itself, as well as a strong indication that VW Offshore is a credible operator in the space and that we have a solid financial position. With that, I'm going to hand it back to Marco, who takes us through an update on strategy and the market.

Yes, thank you, Stale. And in this section, I'd like to give you an update on our strategic priorities for delivering growth in our portfolio. The FPSO market continues to provide attractive opportunities, and we see more than 70 potential FPSO awards over the next five years. and that is supported by an increasing energy demand, energy security consideration and continued offshore investments. It supports to remain disciplined and selective about the opportunities we pursue with a focus on strong counterparties, robust returns and appropriate allocation of risk, which includes effective partnership models. There has been a clear shift in the market from the conventional lease and operate contracts towards EPCI and O&M or hybrid models. That's like the ones we developed for BW Opal and Betunor. That's all aimed at reducing project financing costs. We're agnostic to these contract models. We can deliver all of these as we have experience with all of them. We're well positioned for both the large new build FPSO market segment, but also the smaller redeployment projects. We can leverage the experience and lessons learned from P.W. Opal, one of the largest gas FPSOs in the world. And we also have access to a high quality FPSO for redeployment with the acquisition of P.W. Hura earlier this year. And we also now have control on the availability of Catcher to the firm contract extension without options. And Catcher is a very attractive redeployment candidate from 2030. We have a strong focus on winning new projects with a clear growth ambition of one project every other year. So that means executing two projects in parallel, but in a phased manner. Between now and 2030, of the mentioned 70 prospects, we identified 12 targets which we expect to meet our selection criteria, and we aim to win two or three of those. However, as mentioned, we maintain a disciplined approach and that is also reflected in the latest bidding round for the Albacore tender and also tenders in past years. We weren't the lowest bidder in the Albacore tender, but I believe it reflected the right balance between commercial discipline and also value creation. The process established a strong partnership with Saipem and that strengthens our position for future opportunities in Brazil. which we consider a key market with a strong pipeline of new FPSO projects. The 12-month focus is on the Americas, where we are working actively on selected projects, which is led by Belenor, which I already talked about, in addition to Buccio's 12 in Brazil, and also Can and the Zama project in Mexico. These Mexico projects with our client, Harbor Energy, are well suited for redeployment of BW Hura and later also for new deployment of BW Catcher. We see opportunities to leverage our FPSO expertise to develop low carbon energy solutions and create future growth opportunities in adjacent business segments. Here also we take a disciplined approach with selective allocation of capital until these markets mature and we focus on creating the same shareholder value as in our core FBSO business. Worth mentioning is the progress of BWDOL, our floating offshore wind company, where we hold 68% ownership. BWDOL signed an exclusive partnership agreement with NGE, and that's France Ford's largest construction group for the FOS3F floating foundation fabrication line in the south of France. This partnership is a key step Thank you very much. targeting project completion and the first contract in the first half of 2027. Other segments close to our core FPSO business and natural for us to consider are FLNG and gas to power, as that would expand our offshore energy production portfolio. And that brings me to the summary and a busy outlook with clear priorities. Summing up, our key priorities are continue stable production on BWO PAL and deliver practical completion in the second quarter of 2027, completing the feed on BDNOR by the end of this year and signing one new FPSO project within the next 12 months. And then also bringing our first floating desalination unit to the market in 2027 and continued value creation for shareholders to an attractive shareholder return program. And with that, That concludes this presentation, but we're happy to take your questions via the Q&A function.

We just start with the first one, which is, is a provocation around the strategic review process. Is there still a strategic review process ongoing, or should the press release sent out in December last year be disregarded? I would think, Marco, you could take this one.

Yeah, I mean, the answer is simple. And I also mentioned it at the highlights. And the answer is yes, it's ongoing with interested parties. But naturally, with the timeline shift in practical completion of OPAL, conclusion of such process is also moving. So yeah, still ongoing.

Okay. And the next person has two questions. One, I'll take them out. I'll read them both out and maybe we can split them. The first one is the non-cash impairment impacting the net result that is used as a base for calculating the dividend for the full year. And the second one being BP intends to pull out from the beta norm project. How is this impacting the project? I can take the first one around the impairment, how that impacts dividend. The way our coins are structured, It allows us to pay out a minimum dividend of $25 cents per year, regardless of net results. So in that sense, we can continue with the same dividend at the same level as we're announcing Q2, also for Q3 and Q4, regardless of the impairment. But the impairment has an impact. Thank you very much. Marco, if you can take that. So BP intends to pull out from the Bay of the North project. How is this impacting the project?

Yeah, well, it's a bit stronger than the intention of BP. As I mentioned, Equinor has acquired the ownership from BP. So Equinor is now 100% owner of the field, has 100% interest. And I think what it shows is the confidence of Equinor in the In the project and their commitment to meeting the timelines that they have laid out for this project. So, you know, from our perspective as the selected contractor for the FPSO, this is positive because we are, you know, it gives confidence that we follow the timelines and we can move on from a feat to into a contract award early next year.

Okay, next one. It was the way it was written, but I think the question is basically, why is the BWL part practical completion delayed? And what is the financial impact on BWL? Maybe Marco, if you again could explain, maybe you just summarise what was said earlier in the presentation. What are the reasoning behind us shifting The estimate for the date of reaching practical completion for the unit.

Yeah, what I tried to cover in the update on Opal is that the unit is producing and it's producing well, it's producing at high rates. And we work very closely with our clients Santos to maximize these rates. Over the past weeks when production increased, and that was The result of that was because Santos added a third well. Production or gas supply to the FPHO increased, so we could also increase our production levels. And during that deep bottlenecking process, we discovered that we have a performance issue with the membranes of the CO2 removal system. And To solve that, our assessment currently is that we have to replace the membranes of the CO2 removal system. That's a large job and also requires delivery of these membranes. And these membranes have delivery times that bring us into the first quarter of next year. So naturally, to be able to do that job, replace the membranes, We will move into the first quarter of 2027 to complete that. Then that will de-bottleneck the production and we will reach 100%. And then after that, the practical completion will follow. Financial impact is mainly the 65 million US dollar that comes together with these activities, as well as We are cleaning the lean methanol tank where we find traces of zinc. And we also are inspecting the welds in the steam system and expect some repairs there as well. The 65 million US dollar is additional capex. But as I said, we're producing so it means like we're also receiving revenue. The revenue is directly linked to the level of production. So the 65 million US dollar increased capex during that period will largely be offset by additional revenue during that period before the contract term starts, which is the 15-year firm contract.

And that is starting at practical completion. So what you're saying, Chuck, because maybe in different terms, the key matter for which is restricting production to reach 100% is really those membranes that do. Because if they're not functioning 100% as they should, we are not able to get 100% of the gas to be on spec for the client. So that's why you need to limit it somewhat while we're waiting for the new one to replace. While the other systems is criteria under the contract, but not necessarily limiting production and what we can earn throughout this period. And as you're saying on financially, the revenues you're generating ahead of the contract start with the contract still being intact is cash for cash, largely offsetting the net extra cash outflow that we will incur due to that, moving the date out to second quarter 2027 for practical completion. If there's any other question, please post it so we can read them out. Yeah, it looks like we've covered the questions. Yeah, it doesn't seem to be in that case. Oh, wait. Okay. That's what I was thinking. I was holding a bit. Okay. A new question that came in. Do you expect a shutdown on VW Power to a replacement of the CO2 membranes? If yes, how long and cash flow impact?

Well... Yeah, I can take it. No, we will not shut down the asset, but it will impact production during a couple of weeks. We will go bank by bank. There's two banks with CO2 membranes that we have to replace. So we will do two campaigns. And during that time, one bank will be out of service. So that would reduce the production with 50% for a couple of weeks as we see it now.

So as you said, for a few weeks during this spread and the cash flow impact as such, it's not expected to be significant. But we can say we will assume the impact, meaning we're not able to deliver at current level during those shutouts, as you're saying.

Yeah, no, over the period till practical completion, I don't think the cash flow impact is that significant. But of course, if we take out one bank to replace these membranes at that time, there is, of course, an impact on production.

Okay.

Yeah, I think that covers the questions, Stole. You don't see anything else, right? Nothing else coming in?

No, from what I can see, no more questions coming in.

Okay, well, then that leaves me with thanking everyone for joining this call and wishing everyone a good day. Thank you.