DOF Group ASA (OSL:DOFG)
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Sep 18, 2026, 4:28 PM CET
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Earnings Call: Q2 2021

Aug 24, 2021

Mons Aase
CEO, DOF

Good morning, welcome to the quarter two presentation for DOF. Hilde Drønen our CFO and myself, Mons Aase will give the presentation. If we start looking at some highlights for this quarter. We start with the financial highlights. The revenue exactly NOK 2 billion and an EBITDA of NOK 680 compared to NOK 700 last quarter. We are up from quarter one, but still a bit behind same quarter last year. Hilde will do a closer dive into the numbers later on in the presentation. We are still discussing with lenders and bondholders on the restructuring and making some progress. Hilde will also talk a bit more about that later on. When we look at the next slide, operation highlights.

We have had 80% utilization of the fleet compared to 70% last year, which is a combination of we have sold a few boats since last year. It's only one vessel left in layup. It's an improvement on that side. We have still had very challenging markets. The North Sea spot market for PSVs and AHTS has been a disappointment this summer season, I would say. Our Subsea project activity has picked up the last few months. We also see that activity remain fairly high during the second half of the year. A good backlog for that part of the business. COVID-19 still a challenge, impacted operations with extra cost of IFR and all the implications. We are talking triple-digit numbers in million NOK in cost so far this year. It's a challenge.

Let's hope it gets better going forward. Backlog. When we wrote this, here we have NOK 13 billion secured in Q3, NOK 1.8 billion. We are talking in sum around NOK 15 billion as we speak. A good backlog for the remainder of 2021 of NOK 3.3 billion, whereof NOK 1.8 billion is for Q3, which if you look at the turnover for Q2, around NOK 2 billion, of course, NOK 1.8 billion is above 90%. It is high secured backlog for second half. We see the curve down here on next year and the following years. That is not updated with the recent released contracts. It is a bit higher, of course, than what is shown in that graph. When we look at the contracts on the next page, it is quite a few.

In the Atlantic, I think the most important to notice is that through our Subsea region, the Atlantic, we have secured quite a few projects, securing good utilization and also I would call it decent earnings for that region and the fleet in that region during summer season and also into third quarter and into fourth quarter. A few of the boats are busy more or less towards end of the year. We also won our second job in our joint venture with Aker Solutions called KDS. Joint venture, a job for DNO, and for those of you remember well, of course, that joint venture will do the installation of the Hywind Tampen floating wind farm next season, starting offshore in April. Of course, it's a very important project for us and look forward to that.

We will report more on that when we get closer to it. Skandi Seven, we have with that extended in Africa, in Angola with an oil major down there and it's been on work in front for a while now and that's extended now until May next year. As a job where we deliver project management, engineering, procurement, logistics and of course also do deep water construction, like flex laying and then IRM on existing infrastructure. It's what you can call a full-blown field support services. In South America, I think it's worth starting with the one we just released earlier today, which is two, three-year contracts, one for each for the Skandi Vitória and Skandi Niterói.

Commencement latest February next year, but it might be we commence earlier and on both vessels then firm for the next three years, which is a very important contract for us. Of course, that means all six vessels in the joint venture with Technip are on long-term contracts with Petrobras for the next few years. Also it's worth to mention the Paraty extended one year with Petrobras summer next year and then a few other contracts, Neptune started in quarter two and then working more or less as we expect to quarter two 2022. A important contract for us and a good utilization during the winter, of course. We have one vessel down in Brazil in what we call a short-term on spot market.

It's been good so far this year with high utilization and we also have now secured three jobs that secure decent utilization and decent earnings for the rest of 2021. In APAC, we press released yesterday and very important for us now securing satisfactory utilization and earnings in APAC for quarter three and quarter four and also into quarter one next year. There are more details in the release, but I think we are talking around NOK 400 million those awards in APAC. It's a decent and important award securing good earnings through what we here in Europe call the winter period. All in all a good run on new contracts especially in all the last few weeks.

When we turn to the next one, of course, we have mentioned before and we do it again that, of course, DOF are very focused on what we call ESG and that we put a lot of pride and effort into being a leader within those important areas. Worth mentioning is that this quarter we were together with some other companies in Europe. I think 300 companies were on the list and among thousands of company that Financial Times and an independent data company has analyzed and very proud to inform that we were on that list on what they call Europe's climate leaders in 2021. You can find more information about that on our own page and of course also on Financial Times. Very proud of that.

On the Carbon Disclosure Project, nothing new, but we have an A minus score, which is top 30% of the companies. Total score on ESG 100, we are ranked top 20 of the 100 largest companies in Norway. As you also remember, we are top five of the Nordics on that. We just have to continue this work and stay in the forefront on these important areas. On the next page this is an old slide. What is worth commenting on this is that we, of course, operate from six continents, 20 offices globally. We operate now a fleet of 58 ports, thereof 50 owned. We have by the end of the quarter around 3,800 employees or contractors and that is an increase of a couple of hundred since we reported end of quarter one.

I think that is showing that activity in some areas, some segments have picked up the last few months. We can move on to the financials, and I leave it to Hilde Drønen to take you through the numbers.

Hilde Drønen
CFO, DOF

Thank you. We move on to the main financial highlights. As already mentioned by Mons Aase, the operational EBITDA is close to the EBITDA last year, NOK 680 million versus NOK 701 million last year. Also the utilization has been higher compared to the previous year. If you look at the segments, we can see that the utilization on the PSV is slightly below what we achieved last year. Even though we have only one vessel in layup. Main reason is that last year we had more vessels in operation, and we had fairly good utilization through second quarter until several vessels went into layup by end of the quarter. Four of these vessels has after June 2020 been sold. The utilization in second quarter has also been impacted that we have had three vessels being reactivated from layup.

Two of these vessels went on hire on contracts in Guyana in July. On the anchor handler segment, it is 86% versus 59%, and that mainly represent the utilization for our Brazilian fleet, where the whole fleet was in operation by end of the quarter. During the quarter, we reactivated one vessel which went on hire during second quarter. Also on DOF Subsea, we have better utilization, 83% versus 74%, and especially the project fleet has achieved good utilization this quarter, and the activity has increased significantly compared to same period last year. On the case below, you see the share of EBITDA, which, by a coincidence, is exactly the same compared to last quarter. 75% of our EBITDA are from DOF Subsea. You can just see the split in numbers.

DOF Subsea achieved an EBITDA of NOK 512 million in second quarter, DOF Supply, which represent DOF Rederi and Norskan, our Brazilian operation, of NOK 168 million. You can also see the utilization for the full DOF Subsea fleet which was 82% and 78% for the full DOF Supply fleet. Already mentioned that by end of the quarter, we have had one owned vessel in layup, and we have reactivated three PSV from layup and one anchor handler. On the anchor handler segment, one vessel was sold for recycling during the quarter. That vessel was built in 1999. On the Subsea already mentioned, improved utilization and performance from the regions and for the PLSV fleet that includes seven vessels, we have achieved a high utilization also this quarter. If we move on to next and see the details on the P&L.

The EBITDA in second quarter has been impacted by sale of mainly one vessel, one recycled, that's just a minor amount, but the main amount here, approximately NOK 30 million, that's the sale of the Georg Graf. Year-to-date, it's close to NOK 1.2 billion in EBITDA compared to NOK 1.5 billion. Bear in mind that the EBITDA numbers for second quarter 2020 was highly impacted by a very strong US dollar to both BRL and Norwegian krone. That positively impacted the EBITDA last year. When looking at the EBIT, you can see it's NOK 148 compared to NOK -354. The main difference is related to impairments where it was NOK 218 compared to NOK 780 last year.

If you looked at the accumulated numbers, the EBITDA was strongly negatively impacted by high impairments during second quarter last year. If you look at the net financial costs, the interest cost is actually lower compared to the same period last year of NOK 257 compared to NOK 368. One reason is the currency impact, which is negatively on the financial result last year. The big numbers is actually the unrealized currency gain loss, where we had a gain of NOK 804 this quarter versus minus NOK 38 last year. Looking at the accumulated numbers, you see the difference is much higher. The main variance in currencies this quarter has actually been that BRL has strengthened towards US dollar. The Norwegian krone up to US dollar has been stable. Looking at the valuation of the fleet, that of course impacts the impairments booked.

We have seen a drop of 1.3% in the fair market value of the fleet. We have also updated the value in use calculation. We have seen that the fair market values, which we receive from external broker companies, have been actually stabilized on some vessel, but of course, there is still a risk of additional drop in value and then more impairments going forward. If you go on to next. Here you see our segments, and you can also see that the PSV represent just a minor part of our business. The vessel has declined through sale of vessels during second half 2020 and so far this year. On the anchor handler, it's represented 20%, and of course, Subsea, as in previous quarter, represent the biggest part of our business.

The EBITDA from the PSV and anchor handler is more or less in line on what we achieved same period last year. If you look at the Subsea segments, it's slightly below. Also bear in mind what I mentioned about the currency impacts for last year, and that what we have seen through second quarter is that the Subsea project activity has increased significantly compared to same period last year. Again from sale of assets, as already mentioned. You can also see the split in impairment. It's actually minor numbers on the PSVs and anchor handler already written down quite a lot. The main impairments this quarter is from the Subsea segment. Of course, the EBITDA margin reflects the increased activity from the Subsea project activity, where we have lower margin compared to time charter activity. If you move on to next.

Here you see the DOF Subsea Group and how they split their segments. That is Subsea IMR project and long-term chartering. The gross revenue from the project is NOK 1.1 billion and achieved an EBITDA of NOK 209 and a firm backlog of NOK 3.8 billion. It is close to 1,500 employees related to this business, and that excludes the seafarers. It is mainly Subsea personnel. It is also in this part we have seen an increase in total employees of the group. It is represented by 17 vessels, of which two are chartering from external owners. A margin of 90% is a good margin compared to previous quarters. If you look at the long-term chartering, the revenue is close to NOK 400 million and an EBITDA of NOK 275.

This is represented by eight vessels, of which seven are PLSVs working on term contracts and one Subsea vessels working on a long-term contract in Argentina. The backlog here is NOK 6.2 billion. The backlog does not include the new contracts and the press release we sent this morning. If you go into next. If you look at the cash flow and the net cash from operating activities is NOK 395 versus close to NOK 600 last year. The main reason why the cash flow is lower compared to previous year is increased activity from the project activity. That includes higher outstanding receivables by end of the quarter, paid now in third quarter. Increased activity this quarter has significantly impacted the cash flow. But it's also based on seasonal variation, where we expect to build cash during second half of 2021.

Of course, the cash flow is impacted by reduced interest paid due to standstill agreements for the vast majority of the debt in the group. We have in this quarter, sold one vessel and delivered one for recycling. That represented the sale of tangible assets. We have invested NOK 250 million, which mainly are related to vessel conversions, class dockings and purchases ROVs. We have also done some mobilization to new contracts. We go to payment of borrowings, which is NOK 415, which mainly represent the debt service for the DOFCON JV, which pay the debt and serve the debt as normal. There are some lease arrangements and parts of the debt in DOF Subsea and Norskan is actually served by amortization.

We have a cash by end of the quarter of NOK 2.1 billion based on management reporting, of course, and then restricted cash out of that is around NOK 154 million by end of June. If you go into next. This is a graph that we show on every quarterly presentation just to show the trend. This is excluding gain from sale of assets and it's a small drop compared to previous quarter last year. The same quarter last year also explained both on margins and numbers. It's much better than we achieved the first quarter, which was less than NOK 500 million in EBITDA. Looking at the non-current assets, no big events and total assets of NOK 22.9. Of course, if we look at the same quarter last year, the main difference is actually depreciation and impairments.

Equity is negative due to weak results the last two years. The non-current debt of NOK 3.7 is below the previous year. Of course a big drop from if you go further back. That's due to the refinancing situation that the DOF Group is in. That's why we have a current debt of NOK 20.3, which I will come back to on the next slide. Net interest-bearing debt of NOK 19.7 compared to NOK 22.6. Of course more than NOK 2 billion of the variance in these numbers is actually a currency variation and a very high dollar by end of second quarter 2020. If you go onto next. By looking at the balance already mentioned, no big events on the vessel, on the long-term assets during the quarter. Of course impacted by depreciation and sale of vessel.

Looking at the deferred taxes that basically or mainly relates to the DOFCON JV. Already deferred taxes was written down in 2019. That gives total assets of NOK 18.7 billion. On the current assets, it's NOK 4.3 compared to NOK 3.9. Of course looking at the cash and the cash equivalents you can see that there is a minor drop this year end and main reason for that is two things. It's actually mobilization and conversions to new contracts and class dockings which is normally very busy during second half. There's also increased activity from the Subsea projects. Of course, the negative equity impacts the going concern assumptions and the second quarter numbers is actually based on a going concern and that's due to discussions which the group has with its secured lenders and bondholders and the current standstill agreements.

The non-current interest-bearing debt is close to NOK 3.7 billion and basically relates to DOFCON JV and some lease debt. All other debt are classified as short-term debt. I think the net interest-bearing debt and the currency variation is already commented. I go on to next. If you look at the group key financials, you can see the revenue the last 12 months. The EBITDA, the last 12 months and on the firm backlog. By end of the quarter, that was approximately NOK 13 million. We have added here light yellow just to show the newly awarded contracts that was released last Friday, yesterday, and today. We just wanted to show the impact on the backlog. Hopefully the trend goes upwards on the backlog going forward. If you go on to the next. Approximately NOK 18 billion of the group debts is under restructuring.

We have agreed standstill agreements with the vast majority of the secured lender, both in DOF Group and in DOF Subsea Group. That excludes the DOFCON JV. The standstill agreements are applicable until the August 31st. We are now working on an extension of these standstill agreements. The standstill agreements with BNDES matured in May for Norskan Offshore Ltda. and DOF Subsea Brasil. Both company has since June served the debt according to a refinance agreement that was signed in February 2020. That means that the amortization for these facilities. It is a 75% reduction of normal amortization. However, we have in parallel, ongoing discussion with BNDES on a long-term refinancing solution. That's due to that the discussion with the secured lenders and bondholders are continuing.

The progress has lately been good and that progress is actually conditional, a long-term solution with BNDES. That is actually the status on the debt restructuring and, of course, obviously, when we have the standstill agreements and there are discussion around extension of the standstill agreements, we believe that a long-term solution is possible to achieve. I give the word to Mons.

Mons Aase
CEO, DOF

Thank you. A few words on the market. I have a few slides on that. Just showing, this is from Rystad and of course they are predicting then growth in both offshore CapEx and offshore OpEx the next few years, which of course is positive and gives some expectations for higher activity around the globe and perhaps also especially on the Subsea side. On longer term, of course, as everybody knows, there will be high growth on renewables and of course at a point in the future, there will be more CapEx on renewables than on traditional oil and gas.

Of course we are spending a lot of time and efforts on our strategy within renewables and as you heard earlier in presentation, of course we have the Hywind Tampen floating installation next year and of course we hope to win much more job on the renewable side in the years to come. Reason to be a bit optimistic on activity level on both within renewable but also within oil and gas the next few years, yeah. On the next slide, we look at Brazil and of course, this let's say is well coordinated with award for Skandi Niterói and Skandi Vitória being pipe layers in Brazil. Of course we see that Brazil is back with full blast and a lot of large projects and as you see here Rystad are predicting a strong demand increase for pipe layers in Brazil.

Which is good for us where we have at least six vessels working in that market. On the next slide, it's Rystad's prediction on vessels in various segments. The one on the left hand here is showing the split between oil and gas and wind and total. Of course, we will see compare 2022, 2023 and onwards with 2021. We see there will be a decent demand increase according to Rystad, both within oil and gas and renewables. When you look at the split on the right-hand side, it's almost the same, but then split between PSV and anchor handling offshore construction boats and then on the wind side, installation vessels and ASV. Also, we see growth, of course, both in all segments going forward.

If Rystad is correct, of course, we are moving into some years now with higher activity and growth both on the wind side and on the oil and gas side. Let's hope they are correct. When we look at the next page, which is the final page in this presentation. As we said at the start, the market has been challenging. But of course, as we have said, we see increased activity in certain regions. Brazil, I already mentioned that we expect the activity in Brazil to increase further. We have seen low earnings and low utilization, especially on the anchor handling side, but also on the PSV side. Of course, we see competitors now bidding one-year contracts close to OpEx levels. The North Sea so far this year has been disappointing, and we expect it to be disappointing or weak also during the winter.

Of course, there is a small hope due to expected higher activity that will get a bit firmer into second quarter of 2022, but that remains to be seen. As we said on the Subsea project segment, we have secured a good backlog for the remainder of the year and of course, we then expect higher activity in second half compared to first half. We also now see order won next year compared to order won this year. Of course, we will see much higher backlog and then of course, expect also, of course, first quarter next year to be better than first quarter this year. As we saw on the previous page, increased demand also for offshore wind and of course, quite a few of the offshore Subsea boats or construction boats work in that space. Today we have two boats in that space.

We have Skandi Constructor and then we have Skandia Skansen , which is working on, let's say, a field development or in the offshore wind space towards the end of the year. As we said, the backlog for a minor year is NOK 3.3 billion and which is pretty high and then as we said, NOK 1.8 for the third quarter. All in all, we expect a better operational EBITDA in second half compared to first half. On the financial side, of course, the discussion with the creditors are ongoing and making some progress and of course, the ambition here, of course, and the goal is to reach a long-term solution for the group. Until we have that, of course, we are dependent on standstill agreements with the lenders and to, let's say, to remain as a going concern. That was the end of the presentation.

We are not having a Q&A after. If you have questions, please call Hilde or call me or send us an email and we will answer as best as we can. Thank you very much for listening and have a good day all of you. Thank you. Bye.