Good afternoon, and welcome to the DOF Group's Quarter One Presentation. The plan is that we go quickly through the presentation, and then open for questions in about 15 minutes, and then try to end it in half an hour from now. So this is what DOF is. We deliver offshore services globally. We own a large fleet of boats, and we have a large subsea service operations with around 2,000 people. So you see the fleet, the ROVs, and the product we deliver on the EBITDA in each region. Yeah, so I think the important with this slide is that we are so much more than a shipowner. A lot of revenue stems from the subsea service operations we have globally.
When we look at quarter one, we can start with you know, we have had high activity in all regions. Of course, some of them will see a further ramp up when we come more into the summer season in the North Sea, for instance. So we of course expect activity, revenue and margins to pick up going into second and third quarter. Average fleet utilization 87% is a bit lower than we could hope for, of course, but the main explanation for that is the Skandi Buzios being off-hire in the entire quarter. If you compare quarter one 2023 with quarter one 2024, you know, the Buzios was in that quarter and out this quarter.
With the Buzios in it, the EBITDA would have been around $135 million. So, showing an almost 30% increase if you compare, let's say, apples to apples here, yeah. Order intake in the quarter, $280 million, and then $250 million after balance. I guess the next slide here is about the backlog. And I think the slide we have now $2.2 billion in backlog, with including the after balance. The main message here is that we said on our last presentation back in February that within Norwegian summer, meaning July, we expect the backlog to be closer to $3 billion than $2 billion, and that is still a message.
We expect to see a strong order intake the next few weeks and months, and of course, that is based on ongoing tenders and processes and discussions we are in. And of course, if you look at what we have done so far this year, it's you know, a few examples, of course, is that we see longer duration, three years, two years, three years, and so on. And then also we of course see rates margins increasing. So a few examples here, if you look at the Skandi Iceman on this slide, you know, we are talking the new contract compared to what we made in 2023.
We are talking $5 million up, from her alone, yeah. The Skandis, you know, it, it's the same. We see a more than a doubling of the EBITDA on her, and so it's a few examples of how the market is going. Then one example, other example, is Skandi Rio, and done just with Petrobras for 4-year contract. So meaning, interestingly enough, that you have backlog down to almost under 2028, and the rate is up approximately 50% from $50,000 a day - $75,000 a day. So I think what the main message here is that we are building backlog at higher earnings, and then starting to build backlog in 2026, 2027, and into 2028.
And, of course, I also expect some of the new deals we are waiting on, we'll see building into 2029. And we expect this to continue, and, as I said, we expect the backlog to creep closer to $3 billion by July than the $2.2 billion we have today. So, and of course, that means that, of course, you see. Go back here, you will see that, the backlog for 2026, 2027, and also 2028, 2029, will creep up. And, of course, that shows, of course, that clients are now willing to pay high rates for longer, yeah.
So it might be that, if you're in optimistic mode, you could say that that perhaps the cycle will last longer than the next few years. It might last to the end of the decade, at least, if we continue to build this backlog. This is just an example of you know, we have a few boats we charter in as a part of our business model. So this is just an example. It's a backlog for a boat we took on in April and so now we see almost fully booked. We have a small gap in July, and then on bottom here, it's the explanation why we did it.
You see we make $3.5-$4 million on a project between 150 days. And, of course, if you analyze that, you're talking around $10 million, and more or less without investment for us. So which also shows that, of course, the organization is fully capable of making decent money without any CapEx on overruns. This is just a snapshot on April on the second quarter. And the short message is it's high backlog, high activity, and it looks promising also for second and third quarter and into fourth quarter this year. Then, Hilde, will you quickly the numbers here? Very quickly.
Yeah. The EBITDA achieved is $114 versus $104 same quarter last year. The depreciation has increased, and that's due to increased activity. I will come back to that. Outperformance, especially from the subsea regions. The depreciation has increased, and that's due to the fact that the book value of our fleet is higher because we did some reversal of impairments last year, but also that we actually bought two vessels in second quarter last year. Financial cost around $31, but what the main impact on the financial cost is unrealized currency on derivatives, and that's mainly coming from the Brazilian activity, where we still have functional currency in Brazilian reais and a strengthening US dollar towards that currency.
We have mitigated the impact on the balance, and the P&L on unrealized currency. However, we still have some companies with other functional currency than US dollar. You see that the Subsea is the main portion of the EBITDA also this quarter. If we go to the balance sheet, the growth in net non-current assets, that's mainly more vessels, two more vessels, which had an impact quarter-on-quarter. Because the vessels that we sold during 2023 and until now has had minor impact on the balance sheet. We also have some contract costs, which is partly mobilization costs to contracts that was mainly booked last year, partly this year, and it's also some subleases for vessels we hire in.
Deferred taxes have increased due to reversal of impairment last year. Receivables have increased, mainly due to increased activity the last 12 months. If we go to equity, it's a minor reduction, even though we have a small net profit this quarter, but that's related to other comprehensive income and mainly currency impacts. If we look at the balance sheet development, you see that net interest-bearing debt is at the same level as end of last year, and I will come back to that. Equity ratio 34%, and net interest-bearing debt the EBITDA is 2.9.
If we take the cash flow with an EBITDA of $114, the operational cash flow was $110, and adjusted with the paid interest and taxes, it's $78, so significantly better than same quarter last year. You will see changes in the net working capital, especially from the project activity. That can vary quarter by quarter. We have sold one of our vessel. It's a 2004-built PSVs, so this is the price we got for that, was $10 million. We have high CapEx in the quarter. That's due to several maintenance dockings and also one docking that we actually decided to do this quarter instead of next year. Then repayment on borrowings is $48. Here you see the development in cash.
If I go next to interest-bearing debt, the cash flow from a payment, that's lease payment of $7 and amortization of approximately $40. But what's important to emphasize here is that the new charter contract with Maersk Installer has increased the interest-bearing debt with $44 million. That is the gross value of our commitment when we hired in this vessel, and it will be gradually reduced when we pay a charter hire to the vessel owner. But there is no revenue connected to this vessel because we didn't have any revenue by end of the quarter.
But you saw from Mons' presentation that the EBITDA we can have on top of the lease payments to this vessel for 100-150 days' work can be $3 million-$4 million. If you look at the DOF debt, that consists of secure debt, mainly bank debt, of 1.5. We have the bond loan in DOF Subsea of approximately $70, and that's PIK interest, and it's we may convert it on maturity in 2027. And you see that lease vessel is increasing, and that's due to that we have five vessels, which we are chartering from other vessel owners. Yeah, this is the comment here is that you see where, how our revenue have developed, and of course, that includes an increased EBITDA.
We had some comments this morning regarding the EBITDA margin. When analyzing, looking at DOF, you shouldn't mainly looking at the EBITDA margin. You should actually look at the actual EBITDA, because the EBITDA margin impacts the, the, what kind of projects we do. As you saw from Mons' presentation, the 12 months contribution from project on top of vessel hire was $95. You see the graph below, that's the development in net interest-bearing debt and interest-bearing debt. Just quickly on the operational performance. Overall performance, especially from the Subsea regions, main projects in the Atlantic region has been in West Africa and the North Sea, and one major docking in the quarter. Even though, they are giving good results.
I'm happy to see the development in Asia Pacific, where the performance has been really good, and steady high and good performance, and good results from Brazil and the U.S. On the DOFCON JV, the main event is the Skandi Buzios, where the repairs are about to be completed in the Netherlands. The VLS has been reinstalled, and the plan is for the vessel to sail early June into Brazil. Then Norskan, which also had close to 100% utilization for the fleet, and that's due to good performance on Skandi Amazonas in the spot market. DOF Rederi, the same stable operation, and two vessels sold. One has impact on the results in March, and the other one will come in April.
This is something we show every quarter, and it's actually how we are financed, and it's by four silos. Main event is that the net interest-bearing debt to EBITDA is going down, and you see that DOF Subsea is 2.4, which is steadily reducing. It's 2.2 in DOF Group. And of course, the Skandi Buzios has had a negative impact on the earnings, and you see that the last 12 months, EBITDA is lower than for 2023. Norskan, we have a high leverage, and the net interest-bearing debt to EBITDA, 7.1, but here, the vast majority of the debt matures in 2030.
It will be BNDES, it's a fixed interest the entire period, and we are not concerned about this high leverage for this company. DOF Rederi, they are steadily improving their key figures, and you see that they have an EBITDA over the last 12 months of $46, and net interest-bearing debt to EBITDA of 2x. This number will improve additionally after we have sold and delivered the Skandi Gamma next quarter. We are not concerned about any refinancing risk for these entities, as you see here. In fact, what we need to refinance in 2026, that's parts of the debt in DOF Subsea, and a minor part of Norskan. In DOF Rederi, there is 0 refinancing risk. So done, I give the word to you, Mons.
Thank you, Hilde, and this is done, you know, the guiding, updating the guiding, so it's a few changes. The revenue has been lifted a bit from, now it's $1.5 billion-$1.7 billion. Of course, the revenue line is the most difficult line to guide on, as a lot of the projects, you know, could contain purchases, it could contain variation orders, and so on. Of course, it's difficult to guide on that. On the EBITDA line, we had narrowed the window and lifted the lower end.
It was $470 million-$520 million, now we have lifted up to $490 million-$520 million, and based on good first quarter and of course good visibility going forward, and then we see after second quarter what we do next time we guide you. So but at least we are more confident than we were in February. So that's the main changes to the guidance, and on the net interest cost, tax payables, CapEx, it's unchanged. So main message here is that we are upping the EBITDA a bit, yeah. Then on the final slide here, it's I guess a bit more on outlook. We, as I said, the guidance upped $490 million-$520 million. You know, high backlog for already for 2024.
And, you know, very high backlog 2024. Good backlog for 2025, but as I said earlier, we expect a strong order intake also in the next few months, and meaning that we also will see, you know, see building of backlog, stronger backlog for 2026 and beyond. Yeah, so and, and, then at rates and margins that are higher or much higher than for most of the new contracts than what the units have been working on before. So market are still very active. It's a lot of opportunities, it's a positive development rates and margins, and we also, of course, see as a consequence of that, that asset values are increasing. So then, that was the presentation, and then we are open for questions. So, so let's have...
If you have any questions, please let us know and we will try to answer as best as we can. Yeah, so we have one question from which is with the strong development, should we see a refinancing and dividend soon? Of course, we have started to, let's say, evaluate when and how to do refinancing. You know, what is sure is that we will have to do it next year, and of course, then we, if we do it next year, we expect to pay dividends for 2025.
And that's the plan A, and of course, we of course are looking at alternatives, perhaps if we do it earlier, but that of course is a balance against what we expect is higher cost for new finance compared to the finance we have. So, I think that's the best answer we could give on that question. Any more questions? So we haven't got more questions, so.
Then we just say thank you.
Yeah. So thank you for listening, and, and, please, we, you know, you send us an email or give us a call if you have further questions or wanted to discuss... So thank you very much for listening, and, have a nice evening. Thank you.
Thank you.