8/20/2020

speaker
Jesper
CEO

Good morning and welcome to ProSafe's second quarter 2020 presentation of the results and business updates. We'll turn quickly to the disclaimer on page two, which you will notice identical to the disclaimers used in the previous presentations. And therefore, we will turn to the agenda for the presentation today on page three. The agenda will be familiar looking to most of you which follow us on a regular basis. I will quickly, shortly turn to the highlights and then I will hand over the presentation to Stig Christiansen, CFO, who will cover an update on the financial situation and the financial results for the quarter. And then I will round us off. with a business update, including our strategy and summary. So turning to page four for covering the highlights for the second quarter of 2020. In brief, it was a quarter heavily impacted by the COVID-19 crisis. The effect was that many of the planned activities for us were either suspended, delayed, deferred or canceled. And at one stage, I think during the quarter, there was only, to my knowledge, one or two floaters of the type that we use in operation globally. Therefore, we titled 2020 a lost year. And utilization of the quarter was at an all-time low of only 6.5% compared to the 71.6% we had last year. And when I say it's a lost year, also indicates that we do not see a dramatic change on the contrary of our utilization in the third quarter. The financial results show that EBITDA for the quarter came in at minus 10 million dollars and cash flow was minus 5.5 million dollars. However, we have successfully implemented COVID-19 plans to safeguard people and assets and that means that we now have throughout the quarter and the year had prudent COVID management plans that our customers have expressed satisfaction with and we are comfortable that we are capable of resuming and performing our activities in a safe way. Secondly, we have performed cost-saving initiatives to protect liquidity and to position the company through the turmoil. Liquidity at the end of second quarter stands at $178 million. And as Steve will come back to shortly, we remain in a constructive dialogue with our lenders regarding a sustainable financial solution. And all going well, we expect to complete the refinancing process in the second quarter of 2020. So the second half of 2020. All going well. A few commercial highlights. As you have seen, we have announced a deferral by about a year of the work we were supposed to do for Total in UK sector this year until next year, adequately compensating us for that delay. Safe notice remains suspended and off hire in Brazil, and we have ongoing discussions with Petrobras about a resumption of the activity as well as extension of the contract beyond the current duration. State bureaus will resume operations in Brazil for Petrobras on the 24th of September and we have participated in workshops with Petrobras to make sure that we properly manage the COVID risks in our operations and they have satisfied themselves that we are fully capable of managing that risk as well. Finally we have decided to sell the regalia for for recycling and that process has commenced. I will turn it over to Stig now to turn to page number six and provide an update on the financial situation. Stig.

speaker
Stig Christiansen
CFO

Thank you Fred. I think you have already cover the main points but of course i will go through it for sake of good order so page six as he has alluded to update on financial situation so in brief we have sufficient liquidity to continue to trade and to take existing commitments and also to take on board a new business that is critical and fundamentally important The so-called forbearance arrangement that we have been operating under for quite some months lapsed at the end of July this year. However, we continue to remain in constructive discussions with our lenders, and we have majority support to continue to work with lenders to find what we call a sustainable financial solution for the company. And therefore, while doing that, we continue to operate on a going concern basis. we are discussing we're making progress and we are discussing specific solutions with our lenders with the name of achieving a consensual agreement with with all our lenders on 100 basis however it is still too soon for us or too early for us to to start sharing details with you about how such a solution may look like including the financial implications as well as also the accounting implications of that. In general though we have stated already that the solution we are seeking will to our mind significantly improve the balance sheet and therefore significantly improve the financial situation of the company. We remain optimistic and we aim to conclude, as Jesper alluded to, the process with our lenders before the end of 2020. We will, of course, revert to the market in due course as we have further information available. So moving on then to the profit and loss statement on slide number eight. And as you will see, the revenues are significantly down. below 5 million US dollars, reflecting in essence an all-time low fleet utilization of 6.5% in the quarter. That's the first. In essence, we only had the safe NOTOS and the safe EURUS operating for a very few days in early April, and we have the safe Concordia operating into first third of May this year, all units in Brazil. And the resulting effect, as alluded to by Jesper, is a negative EBITDA in the quarter, which is also the first time we have seen in ProSafe. Obviously, the backdrop to that, following COVID-19 and the oil price collapse on top of the industry already being in a recession and with generally low activity, and adding to that what we have communicated earlier the structural changes within our industry in particular in Norway basically means that 2020 is a lost year as far as operational activity and earnings goes however there are other important things going on including the bank process which we have addressed and which I think Jesper will come back to later on in the presentation So the only thing I would like to highlight in addition to these points are basically that depreciation is obviously down significantly following the impairments that we have done over the last basically nine months, Q3 last year and Q1 this year, on the basis of developments and our reassessment of the outlook. What is important to underscore is however we continue to keep full focus on turn every stone, control costs, focus on efficiencies as well as spend to protect liquidity. Costs in isolation if we're just for the accounting effect of taking delivery of the safe euros in the same quarter last year are down basically 26 million dollars in the quarter compared to the same quarter last year. we have been able to drive down lay-up costs, and we have also been able to continue to drive down costs in operations without compromising the integrity of the vessels or safety in operations. Then, moving on to the balance sheet, which is slide number nine, and there isn't really much to say following our more in-depth analysis of the balance sheet in Q1, when we did the when we did the impairments. It is obviously significantly reduced following the reassessment of the outlook and the impairments made that I have already addressed. And the resulting effect thus far is then a negative book equity of about 900 million US dollars. However, as you know, we are working constructively with our lenders to remedy this situation and then next to arrive at a sustainable balance sheet and a situation that will allow us to continue to develop and position the company for the future. And meanwhile, we have sufficient liquidity and we remain open for business in the process while we work to agree with our lenders. So I think with that, Jesper, I would like to turn the word back to yourself.

speaker
Jesper
CEO

Thank you, Stig. Thanks a lot. And then we turn to page 11, giving a business update. And as you know, our key focus is to protect and create value from being a leading provider of offshore accommodation services globally. And in that respect, we would like to highlight a few focus areas these days. Number one is to maintain our commercial win record as you know we have probably a relative outperform in that respect winning more work than our relative fleet size would otherwise indicate and the key here in these times is to keep the vessels working and I'm pleased to say that so far we have a constructive dialogue with our lenders and we have also been able to fully comfort our customers and potential customers about our financial situation and our ability to perform the work. We have not had any challenges in that respect to date. We also focus on having the best in class OPEX both in operation and in layup. It has been a learning curve and we're getting there. It's a matter of continuous improvement also in that respect and something that remains in our focus. We deliver our services efficiently through our core teams and HSEQ excellence. As the covered we are focusing on a process a constructive process with our lenders to find a long-term solution and in the meantime reducing cost and spends to preserve cash in these times remains an absolute priority. Finally as I alluded to in the highlight sections we have decided to sell the Regalia for scrap, and we further evaluate recycling and consolidation opportunities. And it's no secret that the flotill industry is in strong need of further recycling of vessels, but I believe that with the fleet we have remaining, there's probably limited scope for that in the near term, and consolidation is naturally something that has to be on the agenda in the fragmented industry we are in. Slide number 12 shows our customary contract overview, so I will just go through the vessels on the top left corner one by one. Safe Boreas remains available for work and is actively marketed for such, and we may have an idea or two of what could be a suitable employment for that vessel, but probably only commencing next year in 2021. Caledonia. reached a satisfactory agreement with Total to defer the work one year. It's an unfortunate situation with the COVID-19 situation, but we are very pleased with the agreement we reached with Total, where both parties displayed excellent flexibility to strike an agreement. The safe euros will commence operations on the 24th of September and has a lengthy remaining contract in Brazil. And the safe notice will probably commence operation in Brazil a bit later than safe euros and as mentioned we are in dialogue about when recommencement of activity should take place and also the possible extension of the work scope we have and time in Brazil. Scandinavia is in lay-up and actively marketed for both accommodation services but also for tender support and finally the Zephyrus we had a job in 2020 and we expect to conclude on a one year deferral of that work shortly. So all in all if we are successful in the endeavours we have for Concordia, Lotus, Zephyrus and Boreas we should be looking at a situation where we would have six vessels in operation in 2021, which of course is a more returning to the normal activity level. Having said that, competition is intense, and we focus on keeping our win rates. Turning to page 13, we see the dramatic development in the backlog going back to 2014, and as you will see in recent years, it has been more stable however at much much lower levels. Our backlog at the end of second quarter was 122 million and with the activity I have mentioned ongoing on the commercial side it is our aim to add to that backlog shortly and we would also aim to end the third quarter or fourth quarter this year with a higher contract backlog than we entered the year with. Turning to page 14, as a familiar slide as well for many, shows the dramatic cost reductions that we have achieved and also which are ongoing. SG&A down about 60 percent compared to 2015 on largely comparable activity levels and SPD, the soldier CPD, OPEX also down 30 to 40 percent depending on the region. Also for lay-up we have had a learning curve and are now better to more cost efficient lay-up while protect the integrity of the vessels. In short what we have done is that we have implemented a more variable cost model that better allows us to scale cost up and down both SG&A and OPEX to reflect activity in the market. Turning to page 15, there's a clear global oversupply of floatels. However, the graph may look a bit more dramatic than reality. The supply of 38 vessels, not all of those 38 vessels compete for every job globally. And the bars we have below shows demand and number of vessel years. And there is a difference between the number of vessels in demand and the number of vessel years, as it sometimes takes two to three vessels to perform one vessel years of demand. Regardless of these details, there remains a significant oversupply in the industry. And I am fairly convinced that we will see recycling of competing vessels in the market. Some of the vessels have been lay up for many years and have high reactivation costs. And we struggle to see a justification to invest in reactivation of those vessels. I think recycling will have to happen. Finally, turning to page 16, summarizing what we have just went through. 2020, we call a lost year due to the COVID-19 and oil price crash combination. Utilization for the quarter was only 6.5%, all-time low, and we don't see that dramatic improvement to any extent of that in the third quarter. Reported EBITDA, minus 10 million. Cash flow, minus $5.5 million. However, we maintain a very healthy liquidity reserve of $178 million. Importantly, we are ready to operate in a safe manner. We are actively in discussion with a number of customers, so we are also capable of providing the necessary comfort that we are capable and willing to perform the work in discussion. The dialogue with lenders remains constructive. As Steve mentioned, focusing this stage on our consensual solution, and we are hopeful to reach a conclusion in the second half of this year, all going well. I gave an update on various commercial activities, where we see a slight uptick in activity, and we also expect further tenders to be released shortly for work in 2021, as well as 2022. Many of these tenders mainly relate to work in the North Sea, both Norway and UK. We are pleased to note that EUROS will resume operations in Brazil, a testament that operations can be done safely in these COVID times. And we have marketed the Regalia for sale with the purpose of recycling her naturally in a way compliant with all conventions in that respect for green recycling. So we expect tender activity to pick a bit up and we look forward to increasing our backlog as the third and fourth quarter progresses. And we look forward to updating the market about that in due course. That concludes the presentation and I believe Stig has a good eye on any questions coming in.

speaker
Stig Christiansen
CFO

Yes, that's correct Jesper, and of course reminding people that you have the opportunity to send questions via email. We hope that is something you have seen. Anyway, we have one question so far Jesper, and that's from Magnus Olsvik, Kepler Chevre. And the question is, have you experienced any changes in the market after the temporary tax package approved by the Norwegian parliament in June?

speaker
Jesper
CEO

Yeah I think that's a very good question Magnus. Yes we do see of course an increase in activity and some of projects which were shelved we now see are dusted off and reconsidered by the operators. But I would say that for many of these projects we may be a bit later in the value chain it depends of course of the type of of the project so we have not discussed anything concrete but still expect to see the effect although we have noted the optic inactivity with the customers it has yet to materialize into tender activity okay so far Jesper there are no further questions coming through

speaker
Stig Christiansen
CFO

So I propose that I will follow the email while you start rounding off Jesper. And unless somebody comes in within the next 25 seconds, then I think we're done. OK. No further questions received, Jesper.

speaker
Jesper
CEO

Okay, well then I would like to thank you for the participation, for listening in and we look forward to update you in the third quarter results or if we have other interesting news in the meantime. Thank you very much and have a nice day.

Disclaimer

This conference call transcript was computer generated and almost certianly contains errors. This transcript is provided for information purposes only.EarningsCall, LLC makes no representation about the accuracy of the aforementioned transcript, and you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the information provided by the transcript.

-

-