Good morning and good afternoon, and welcome to the Q4 presentation for the DOF Group. We will go through the presentation, and then we will have a Q&A at the end. I guess the questions will be sent through the what's it called, the link or what you call it. So we're in writing. We will answer all the questions we can, and please encourage you to ask questions. Then we go to the next page, page two here, and so this is a snapshot of DOF. Today, after the DOF Denmark transaction, we operate a fleet of 77 boats. We own 65. We have chartered in four and a management on eight, and through the year that might change a bit.
We will have a new charter boat coming in April time, and we are reviewing then what our optimal fleet should look like going forward. It might be that we truly sell a few boats to optimize it. I'll talk a bit more about that later. The backlog now is good. So $3.25 billion, which is high. My personal view is I think that will grow a lot the next three to six months. The tender activity is high, and not only big tenders for long- term, but also pretty high activity in what we call the project market and the pipeline also in that looks strong. So there you see also on the graph side that revenue is up 2024 compared to 2023, and also the underlying EBITDA is up quite a lot.
It's been a good year all in all for us. Next page is showing what we are. We, of course, are a vessel owner because we also are a subsea services provider. And perhaps what I'm most happy with on this page is that we see the graph in the middle here that the earnings in the subsea regions is up a lot. It's growing from $88 million- $134 million. And I guess this was also part of the motivation why we bought DOF Denmark. We can not only increase the vessel ownership and earning from the vessel, but also then we expect to be able to increase the earnings from the subsea services side quite a bit.
And that's the phase where we know we are transforming the DOF Denmark fleet into the DOF commercial model and look forward to that. Talk a bit more about that later. And of course, also for those who want to do the math, there is a market value now, from independent brokers of $4.2 billion on the fleet. And of course, you could also argue that there is quite a decent value on the region of our regions that are able to deliver around $34 million in a year in EBITDA. Then the highlights for next page for quarter four, you know, we had a guiding of, the last window we had on the guiding was $510-$520, and we deliver now excluding DOF Denmark and excluding asset sales. We deliver $519.
So, in the upper end, we are happy with that. Very strong contribution as we said on last page, $134 million from the regions, and fleet utilization is 85%. It could have been higher, but quite okay. Backlog $3.25 billion. We have a separate backlog slide to talk a bit more about that later on. And as I said, we expect a very strong order intake the next three to six months. The Denmark transaction completed. Of course, we got that fleet, that company first November, and of course, we didn't have any, you know, due to competition, we didn't have any insight into what happened until first November on the commercial side. And so we have had, let's say, a shorter time than we normally have had to build a backlog for that fleet then.
But the team are working on it globally, and you know, I see I'm getting more optimistic on that we were able to end up with a very satisfying result on employing that fleet going forward. The guiding 720-800, we will also come back to that later on. Debt level down quite a bit. And Martin, our CFO, we will talk more about what happened on the cash flow and the repayments in quarter four. It was a very strong cash flow in that quarter for us. Perhaps most importantly is that the refinancing is on schedule. All major banks already committed and expect to close it and sign a loan agreement by end of quarter one, meaning that we plan and are confident that we will pay our first quarterly dividend of $0.3 per share in second quarter.
We look forward to that. The board have also wanted to propose to the general meeting in May to implement the share buyback program. Martin will talk more about the numbers, and I'll leave the numbers for him. Then we move to this page. This is just highlights: order intake $2 billion in 2024, which is 1.4. Book-to-bill of 1.4. It's a pretty strong year. 88% overall fleet utilization in a year, which is decent. Then the very strong contribution from the regions. DOF Denmark closed. We won new contract or extended four out of the seven pipelines we operate, which of course give very good foundation and strong earnings momentum in the backlog.
And then Búzios was back on hire in August, and then quarter four, of course, was the full quarter for hire in 2024. And perhaps the most important, of course, no major incidents during the year, which is, I guess, always the priority number one for us. So then page seven, please. No, page six, I'm sorry. So this is. This slide is really what we do. Yeah. So I encourage you to. There is two videos here, one from the Western Isles decommissioning project and one from Baleine FPSO and FSO installation. So I encourage you to have a look at that to actually see what we are doing. Yeah. And of course, this is the type of work we do to make the money and make the money the regions contribute with.
In 2024, as I said, we have strong all regions performed very well. Yeah. And of course, it's important to understand that, of course, we make this project not only on the subsea construction boats, but also on the anchor handling boats. Yeah. So for instance, on the Baleine FPSO project, we had in total five DOF operator anchor handlers on that project. Yeah. So covering more than 100 days on each boat. And then of course also made a decent margin in the region, in the Atlantic region. And of course that is important to understand when you see the fleet composition that we have increased our anchor handling fleet. And of course the plan here is to, let's say, have an anchor handling fleet and own that fleet with what I call a brain. Yeah.
So we don't wanna have anchor handlers solely trading the spot market, but we wanna have a handful of anchor handlers that flex between spot and our project activity. And that means, when we talked about fleet optimization, that we might reduce. We might sell a few boats, but it also means that we also will probably do a few long-term contracts. Yeah. So the ambition here is to reduce that fleet between spot and projects to four, five vessels. And today we have seven, eight. So that's the job we have to do on the anchor handling side. On the next page is a picture of the Skandi Involver where we have recently finalized installation of our own subsea equipment. So two ROVs, survey equipment, and the vessel after that went on a long-term contract in Brazil.
We will talk a bit about CapEx later on. It's important to understand for us. It is very important to get the DOF Denmark fleet into the DOF commercial model. Only one decent project on a CSV here can repay the whole CapEx we now spend on that boat. As I said previously, we do this because we get earnings on the vessel, but we also get very good margins on the projects. That's the whole, and of course that's why we believe that the DOF Denmark fleet can make more money in the DOF model than it could in the old DOF Denmark model. We are investing in that now.
We'll do that continuously now until we have done what we plan to do. We move to the next please. This is the backlog. $3.25 billion now, you know, dollars in backlog execution. If you look at it, 1.366 for 2025, which is then 74% of the midpoint in our guidance on revenue. It's a very good foundation for 2025. As I said, we expect to grow that backlog a lot. Last year I said I will not go on summer holiday. We were not able to build a very strong backlog. I'm willing to repeat that this year that I will not go on summer holiday before the backlog is built.
So I'm confident that we will continue to build backlog and in first half, we will build a lot. Yeah. Then the next page is a bit more about building backlog. And this is then a slide showing a few comments on an anchor handling tender and RSV tender in Brazil. On the anchor handling tender, there were eight lots. And if you focus now on the six other lots, which is the high end of it, 230-ton, 250-ton, and 270-ton bollard pull AHTS, you know, there were eight vessels bid whereof six from us. So of course we and you see the pictures here of the red Norskan fleet on top here. So and then you see the two gray, which is two Skandis, two Skandi classes.
So of course if we are a bit lucky and clever, of course we can end up with six, seven boats on that tender. Yeah. And of course that tender is then four to four years from early 2026, and meaning you have backlog into the 2030. So of course that could also solve part of the challenge we have between both Norway and the Spot Market. On the RSV tender, we also bid a handful of boats and of course have ambitions that we should be able to place three, four, five boats on that as well. So I say in an optimistic moment, you could hope for 10 plus boats on these two tenders with backlog then into the 2030s at decent rates.
But it's still subject to. The negotiation is still subject to final wording, and it's still a lot of subjects. But of course I'm and we are, you know, we are optimistic that we will get something out of it. So then we move on. And as I said, the big focus now is to integrate the DOF Denmark, to get equipment on board, to get our combined commercial team to do that job and integrate it. And we are, let's say, halfway on doing that, and we continue to focus on that. And then we think it will be a very good addition to not only long-term charters, but also a very good addition to our project activity around the globe. So then we move on. Page 11, please.
Then Martin, I leave it to you.
Yes. Thank you, Mons a nd hi everyone. Before to start off this, the background photo on the first page is not a coincidence. It's the first debt-free vessel in the group for a while after very strong performance in Brazil following the restructuring. We have actually repaid the whole loan on the cash flows from the performance in DOF Subsea Brazil. So that is a highlight of the quarter. On the next slide we see more on the numbers and yeah, you saw the very highlights on the first page, but it's clearly a continuous positive development. We have continued through the year to deliver very well in most segments and silos in the group.
You see, of course the biggest, biggest contributor remains the DOF Subsea and the Subsea part with the DOFCON now also contributing at a high level after Skandi Búzios full quarter back on hire. DOF Rederi is somewhat lower than previous quarter due to one vessel in between contracts and in a class docking and also a vessel with a breakdown for part of the quarter affecting the utilization. But all in all, more and more vessels are moving into better paid contracts. So the development remains positive. There is, of course, that is on EBIT level very good also for the full year and remains very solid. A big negative number also this quarter on the P&L is the loss on currencies. We'll get back to that.
It is related to Norskan and the big debt in U.S. dollar in a BRL-denominated company. I will do some more explanation on that, but it is driven by, call it, a non-cash effect affecting the P&L. The new this quarter is, of course, DOF Denmark included from November 1. So this is a two-month contribution. It is highly affected by this new one-offs and transits and somewhat weak spot market with the fleet operating in the spot market. We'll have a bit more details on that on the next slide, where we also cover the cash flow from the acquisition. The cash consideration on the closing was $557 million. But in the company that we purchased, there was the cash balance of $172 million.
So the net outflow of cash in the quarter related to the acquisition is $385 million negative. DOF Denmark contributes in this mentioned two months with $46 million worth of revenue and $7 million in EBITDA. It is, yeah, transit. It is spot markets. And yeah, we had six anchor handlers and one CSV operating in the spot market. And there was also a one-off cost related to the termination on the Skandi Implementer where we, of course, will work to recover the funds. But it is $5.5 million loss taken on the Skandi Implementer for the quarter related to the non-payment of charter hire. Yeah. And on the next slide, of course, you at the far right-hand side, we see that there is a very strong year-end cash position.
The cash development in the quarter is positive, although the debt repayments are extraordinarily high. We'll get back to that as well. So moving from left to right, we started at a cash balance of $450 million. The operations have called it after accounting for the full EBITDA. This quarter, we have a release of working capital of $44 million. So a substantial stronger cash flow than quality earnings. There is some small effects on amortization of contract cost, taxes and also the paid interest cost, but resulting in a net cash flow from operating activities of $176 million. So still after interest cost, it is higher than the EBITDA on the quarter.
Then we have the investing activities, of course, very highly affected by DOF Denmark again for this quarter with just repeating the content from the last page, but also including the group's general CapEx of $36 million. On the financing side, we have a new, this is the net payment from the $500 million loan, related to the closing on DOF Denmark. And we have paid, repaid or paid down $122 million. So, quite a substantial part of the new debt is also repaid during the quarter. And yeah, then there is, of course with big fluctuations in currency, there is also a small currency effect on the cash position of the group. And on the next slide, we have a bit more details on development in debt and net debt.
Of course, it is interesting to see that, with the repayments that we have done over the year, even though we have taken a new loan of $500 million, we are only back to the net debt where we were at the end of quarter one, roughly. When we exclude both the debt and the earnings from DOF Denmark, we are at a 2.1 times multiple on that interest-bearing debt to EBITDA. Of course, it doesn't make sense to include the debt when there is no corresponding EBITDA. That is why we have excluded DOF Denmark on the multiple, but only on the multiple. We see there is close to $2 billion total interest-bearing debt on the group. Then back to what we also had at a high level on the slide before.
The change in debt over the quarter is normal amortization of $41 million. Of course there was this Skandi Salvador sweep payment that resulted in the vessel being fully repaid. There is a large dividend from DOFCON to its owners of $50 million per owner, resulting in $48 million repayment across the debt in DOF Subsea and also general cash sweeps across the silos, giving us, call it, an extraordinary repayment on debt of $81 million for the quarter. The DOF Denmark facility again $491 million net paid out. Then there is a one-off extraordinary effect on the changes in lease liabilities of $25 million due to the Skandi Installer previously being a lease liability and now an owned vessel. So that is a non-cash effect on the debt.
Yeah, and then we go back to this on the next one. If we go back to this BRL USD development, there was, call it, a similar effect to what we saw in the second quarter of 2024. One would think that having USD debt in a company with USD accounts would not make a big effect, but that is only on the balance. There is no balance effect from this debt, but there is the P&L effect, the negative currency effect of the Norskan accounts due to it being functional currency BRL is consolidated into the group numbers, but it is reversed over comprehensive income. So the balance effect of this debt is zero.
There is no cash impact either now or at a later point in time, but there is a P&L effect, just imported P&L effect from the Brazilian entity. Yeah, and if we move on to the next one, this is an overview of, call it, previously communicated amounts and what our, call it, ambitions on the refinancing is. It is to simplify the structure. It is to allow for more efficient cash management, reduce restrictions on dividends and restricted cash and so on. The progress on the refinancing has been very good. It has been very good interest, and it's progressing well. We have, as we stated on the first page, received the commitment from the majority of the banks, and we are, yeah, as Mons said, very confident that we will conclude this within this quarter.
Back to you, Mons.
Thank you, Martin. So then we are on the financial guidance, and do the numbers first and then the comments after. Yeah. We expect revenue between $1.8 billion- $1.9 billion. We expect between $720 million- $800 million in EBITDA. Talk a bit more about that part of it. Yeah. As you see, we have a higher range than we normally have when we guide. Of course, the main reason for that is that we are in the middle of you know transferring the DOF Denmark fleet into the DOF commercial model. Of course, the backlog when we took it over in 1st November was a bit lower than we normally have in DOF.
But we see enough opportunities on the I-class vessels that there is reason to be a bit optimistic. Then, of course, the boats in the spot market have been weak so far, but we also have a plan for those. Yeah. As we said, we hope to put the fleet on long-term contracts. Yeah. There is a bit higher uncertainty than we normally have, but I do think that will gradually be reduced. Hopefully when we come to the next round, when we present quarter one, we can narrow the range a bit. Yeah.
But longer term, of course, we are confident that this will be very good when we have done the getting into our platform and had a bit of time to put to do the backlog immediately. So then going back to depreciation $50-$60, and then net interest cost $100-$110, yeah, and tax payable $50-$60. Then a few words on the CapEx. So it's overall we are talking $270-$290. And what you can call maintenance CapEx, let's say the normal running CapEx is $130-$140. So comparing that, of course, to 2024, it's a natural increase due to the adding 22 vessels. Then we have what we call growth CapEx, which is subject with mainly ROVs. And of course, we do that.
So we are installing ROVs on a few of the DOF Denmark boats. And of course, we do that because we think that it's a very good investment. And of course, we are building projects now on those boats that you could have payback only from the project margin on that CapEx in one project, yeah, for a vessel. So that's why we are doing it. And we think that will pay off quite good. But of course, that is not a repeating something we're going to repeat every year. So it's especially high in 2025 due to that we did its acquisition. And then we have this new build, which is $90 million this year. And of course, that will not be repeated either. Yeah.
But then, worth mentioning when we guide here on CapEx, especially on the growth CapEx on the new build, of course, this is not cash. Yeah. So that will be most of it will be financed. And I think we, for instance, on the ROVs, we normally lease finance them with 70%-80% leverage. Yeah. So the cash portion of it will be limited. All our comments is, as we said, but the backlog we have 74% of the revenue already secured. And of course, which is pretty high at this time of year. And we expect high or what you could call very high- order intake within the next two, three, four, five, six months. Yeah. And then also we are looking at the fleet.
You know, we are looking at that. And I think it's more likely than unlikely that we will sell a few boats through 2025, of course, subject to that the pricing is correct. But we do think it makes sense to just divest a few non-core vessels or older vessels or even higher vessels if the pricing are correct. Yeah. So you could, I could think that the fleet, the own fleet will be a few less towards the end of the year than we have today. So we are working on that as well. Then the final page is on the outlook, just repeating $720-$800 million in EBITDA.
Hope to narrow that, on the next crossroad when we present quarter one. We expect, of course, gradually when we get this into our own model that, a bit of run rate will come up. We expect a much stronger second half, and not only because we get into the model, but of course also because we have a few, long-term contracts starting in March, April, onwards. Yeah. So already now, of course, we know that that will increase. We mentioned the tenders in Brazil. So very high activity tendering in Brazil. Very strong backlog from Tier 1 players. And also then, a strong, let's say, opportunity list on not only time charters, but also on the subsea projects, globally.
So the sum of what is happening on the commercial side is that we are optimistic that we will continue to build backlog and we will have a book-to-bill that is quite good also in 2024. Of course, these pictures are; they are not, let's say, randomly picked. The one on the left-hand side is one of the big Skandi vessels owned in Brazil. And of course, because we are showing that, because he is one of the hot candidates for being involved in a four-year contract. The next one, red one is one of the ROV support boats that we have been bidding on our sweet spot. And of course, he is there for a reason that we think he is in good position for that.
And then we have the I-class where we are installing now ROVs and we see more and more opportunities to get good work for them through 25. Yeah. And then you have the next one is an anchor handler today trading the North Sea spot. And that's our one of our main jobs now is to reduce that spot exposure either through long-term contracts. And we have here for a reason that we think there is an opportunity for her also on that anchor handling and the Petrobras. And then we might sell a few and get the exposure down where we want to be. And the last one, of course, is the ROVs.
We have installed them now on quite a few boats and expect that that will lead to higher earnings and better utilization for not only the subs that we acquired, but also for some of the anchors. That, I think, was the last slide. Then we go to the Q&A session, please.
All right. As Mons said, please do feel free to send in your questions in the Q&A function on the webcast. We have quite a few already submitted, so let's kick off. A hot topic today has been the Subsea7 and Saipem merger. Do you have any initial thoughts on this merger and its impact on the industry dynamics and impact on DOF specifically?
Well, it's, yeah, of course, it's, you know, firstly, I think it's overall will be positive for DOF. Yeah.
That will be one less player in the industry. So it might be that it opens a bit of space for DOF on the SURF side, on the construction side. It might also be that such a large company will focus more on the really big projects and leaving a bit space for us on the smaller projects. That's my initial reaction that is delta positive for us. It could open some doors with clients around the globe. But then of course, it's nothing I can do with it. We just have to see what happens.
All right. You sound quite optimistic about the ongoing tenders in Brazil. Do you have any information about the timing and pricing dynamic here?
Yeah, of course I have, yeah.
But I don't think I should share anything on pricing before we hopefully have a final agreement. Yeah. So but I think you know of course the auction results have been made public from some analysts. So you see the level being bid. And then there is always Petrobras has a budget which we don't know. But you know we expect of course the end result here to be quite decent. And hopefully at least on the same level as you saw fixing levels last year. Yeah.
All right. Martin, could you provide some color on why the BRL USD currency risk is not hedged regarding your USD loan facilities?
Yeah, I can at least try. Yeah.
It's a difficult one to hedge because it is a result on the balance sheet, and the P&L in the local company in Brazil. There is no cash effect. It would, in that sense, be a balance sheet hedge and a result hedge in Brazil in the local entity. Of course, we are working on finding, call it, ways to avoid having these P&L effects. The only two reasons that we have is changing the functional currency and implementing what we would call hedge accounting on the local accounts. You would use the U.S. dollar contract as a hedging instrument on the local U.S. dollar debt, to avoid taking the currency fluctuations over the P&L. We are pursuing the viable options to do so.
I would say that changing the functional currency would be the preferred solution. It is a bit of a process and a bit of a challenge with the yeah, auditors and others in order to do so. Again, it's not an effect. It is not a real expense. It is a P&L effect that is non-cash.
Yeah, it's more not being an auditor, you know, accountant, you know, of course, for me, it's almost, it's only noise. Yeah. We have a dollar loan in Norskan. We have dollar income on the financing part in the contracts. We have dollar accounts in DOF Group. Then that we have to take P&L hit is for me quite understandable. The only reason for doing that is because Norskan has functional currency in the reals. Yeah.
So it is almost what you can call stupid if you ask me, but I'm not an accountant.
All right. Thank you. Then on the mentioned fleet optimization, could you elaborate a bit on your strategy here in the short to medium term? And when you potentially sell those vessels, do you expect those to compete in non-DOF markets or will you meet those same vessels as competitors going forward?
You know, of course, the thinking behind it is, of course, that we, do we want to play? We want to play in the high-end subsea construction space and we want to play in the, let's say, high-end anchor space, let's say 24-50 ton bollard pull up. Yeah. And then of course, it's also then, you know, looking at the age of the fleet.
It is a quite, let's say, opportunistic approach to it. We will reduce, you know, so we will probably see if we can sell a few other boats that don't fit into those two categories. High-end anchor and high-end subsea. We will look at the fleet age. And, of course, there are some, let's say, part of our PSV fleet that is not core for us anymore. So we will look at those as well. Yeah. But it also can be that, you know, when you have 65 boats and you get an offer, if you get a very nice offer for a high-end boat, you know, you sell that as well. Yeah. So it's, so we just have to see how we can maximize behind those optimizing a fleet and maximizing the cash return on the side. Yeah.
Initially, of course, it is to streamline and tailor the fleet to what is our core business. And of course, it might, you know, if we sell them out of the market and not out of the market, of course, if we sell two anchor handlers below 200-ton bollard pull, if they stay in the market, you know, it doesn't influence it at all. And if we sell a couple of PSVs, it doesn't influence at all. We, you know, sell the boats to the guys who pay most. They don't. They can compete as much as they want. All right.
And then there are quite a few questions on DOF Denmark and bridging the gap to the guidance in 2025 coming from now $7 for the two months, November and December, and then reaching the guidance of $150-$200 in 2025. So how do you plan to sort of bridge that gap that's needed to reach the guidance?
Of course that's, you know, it's a very, you need a very detailed forward to go through both for both to answer that. Yeah. So it is, and I think, you know, it was November, December. Of course it was quite a few one-offs. You know, we also had to take some losses on the implementer. Yeah. So it is, so I think it is not the answer you can do in half a minute.
Yeah. But of course, there is a budget both for both. There is a certain backlog already secured. And there is, let's say, a pipeline that we are bidding on. Yeah. So of course, we are, and of course, we also have there is a decent backlog on quite a few other boats. Yeah. So and there is new contract coming. So I think we are not particularly nervous that we will not be able to end up within that guidance. Yeah. But I think it's impossible to, because it's built up, boat by boat and contract by contract. And so then we will have to go through each and one of the 22 boats to get a detailed answer.
So you just have to trust on it that we have done our homework on it. And that we, let's say if we are really good and clever and lucky, we can get to the higher end than, if you are not that unlucky somewhere in between.
All right. And as a follow-up on that, how do you see the phasing of DOF Denmark in 2025? Should we expect a significant step up already in Q1, or will that come more towards Q2 and H2?
You know, I think Q1 will not be, let's say a very enormous step up. I think it will, of course, be stronger than the average $9 million, $4.5 million, I guess we have. Was it $9 million we had in quarter of November and December.
So of course, it will be stronger monthly numbers than when we saw in November, December, but it will be gradually through the year. And I think, you know, it's when you get into April, May, you will see it really start to kick off. Yeah. But as we said also, so of course, it's higher uncertainty on that fleet than we normally have. And so of course, that's why we are not narrowing the guidance now, because we have to see what we are able to do. But if it goes according to plan, of course, through the summer and into the fall, you will see a much higher run rate than you of course saw in November, December, and you will see in first quarter.
So, but I guess we already have seen January and I think January of course was according to our plan and stronger than what we saw the average for November and December. All right. On the refinancing, do you expect that to be banks only or a combination of bank and bond debt? That is still something that we consider. So, we have, yeah, as we have stated previously, we are concluding the bank part and then we'll decide on the path going forward.
All right. Then a question on the market. Excluding Brazil, it seems from oil service company comments that activity levels are leveling off or declining slightly in 2025. How do you see market trends outside of Brazil?
Of course, it's when I look at our activity in APAC. It looks healthy.
It looks like we will continue to build backlog and that the rates are quite healthy. So I think it will be a good year in APAC. North America is more the same. That's the same picture where we see we are able to win work, but of course also have a very high backlog from before. Yeah. So I think we will see the trend from 2024 continuing into 2025. The only place, of course, where you see, likewise for Africa as well, there are quite a lot of opportunities, let's say APAC, Atlantic, and North America. I know you mentioned Brazil, of course. All looks. I think it will be a good year in all those markets in 2025.
The only place where you get a bit depressed is on the U.K. sector, where you see such low activity, low, weak spot market and of course that is why we have to reduce that spot exposure and get the exposure to U.K. down. So I think what we see, and of course we are not macro analysts. Yeah. We have people on the ground, globally with all the oil companies almost every day. And of course we collect all our, let's say, intelligence on that and the number of bids we have, the number of coming bids we have gives reason to expect that there will be good utilization and high rates also in 2025.
All right. And then on the guidance, do you account for any sale of vessels when providing that guidance, or does the EBITDA guidance include all the vessels in the fleet?
Yeah, that includes all the vessels, but of course there are a few vessels with a low budget. So if we sell those boats, of course it will have a very limited impact on the EBITDA guidance. So of course depending on what boats we end up selling.
And how do you anticipate that potential sale of vessels will affect dividend payouts? Will that increase the potential for future dividends?
Of course, that also of course, in the short term, of course it will increase it, but of course it depends on what vessels you end up selling. Yeah. But if we end up selling low-end boats, it can give you know a small increase short-term and have no impact longer-term.
All right. And then on the I-class, do you expect to secure some long-term work on some of those vessels to de-risk the utilization and market fluctuations there?
Of course we have I guess the overall plan of course is that we would like to have let's say one or two of them on what you call longer duration contracts. Yeah. And we have perhaps one to multi-year contracts. Yeah. So that is of course the overall plan. And but of course also then building. You have to remember that we only start building backlog on those first November. Yeah.
So it's, and of course the lead time for the projects they typically do are a bit longer than a couple of months. Yeah. So the, you know, if everything goes according to our plans, of course we will probably place one or two of them longer term and then run the rest in the project market. Yeah. And of course that also depends on of course we already of course work on projects for those boats in 2026 and also a few in 2027. Yeah. So the answer is long term or short term, the answer is that we will de-risk the exposure we have before all those boats running shorter term. All right. And I, you know, perhaps adding we do think of course that the timing is very good. Yeah.
It's a good market and we of course expect that 2026, 2027 for high-end really big subsea boats will be the strongest year we have seen in this cycle. So to have that, let's say, those vessels available for capturing work in 2026 and 2027 might end up being very good for us.
You mentioned seeking authority for a share buyback program. Do you have any more information to share about that, on the potential size of such a program or other details?
No. So the board will, of course, work on that and propose something for the general meeting which we are going to have in May, and then there will be more details later on that.
Okay. Can you please explain the jump in corporate revenues and OpEx and how do you believe that these will develop going forward?
Yeah, I can. I can give a bit of flavor on that. And, of course, the corporate cost is. It is covered by call it the regions and the operations of the group. And it's a question of how much cost is taken through corporate and not directly. So it is. You can sort of decide the share size of it. What is a bit special for 2024 is there is a relatively large cost associated with the transaction of DOF Denmark that is taken by corporate. And of course that is a one-off and there is no reason that this should not call it go back to normal.
But it has, of course, a bit of effect with the size of the group and the magnitude of operations. But the jump is primarily associated with DOF Denmark.
Yeah. And perhaps also adding, of course, that we are, you know, when two companies became one, of course we are looking at the overall overhead level and all levels, not only on the corporate level, but also on the, let's say, the marine operations level. So of course we are focusing a lot on that and try to, of course, optimize the cost side on our operations as well.
And then on CapEx and CapEx guidance, could you say anything about the direction of maintenance CapEx and subsea growth CapEx in 2026 and 2027?
It's of course early days. Yeah. Of course if you look at the growth CapEx this year, of course it's mainly related to subsea equipment on the DOF Denmark fleet, but it also, a decent portion of it is actually growth CapEx in relation to the three-year, three plus three year IRM contract we won with Equinor. Yeah. So it's, let's say, perhaps, one third of it might be related to that IRM contract. Of course all we develop forward of course depends on what work you're going to execute, what contract you've won, and what you do with the fleet. But on general note of course we expect that portion to be lower in 2026 and 2027.
And on the maintenance CapEx, I guess it's it depends on the docking cycles on the boats, and so I guess on average, Martin, perhaps around that level is where we're going to stay on average. Yeah. But a bit fluctuation year on year.
All right. Then, if we look at contract coverage specifically in Brazil, you have quite a few contracts coming off now towards the end of 2025, and you mentioned that many of them, you hope to place on the ongoing calendars. Should we expect some downtime between these contracts, or will they be relatively back-to-back ?
Of course it depends, but of course it's if you are in Brazil, of course you normally have probably a month downtime. Yeah.
You have to do the acceptance test and you have to do some small upgrades on the boats. And so let's say you have to assume perhaps a month downtime between an older better pass contract and a new better pass contract.
All right. And then this will be the final question that we have time to address at this point, and that is how is the inflation pressure in the industry, and do you have good cost escalation in place in your long-term contracts?
Of course in typically a long-term contract, it is you know the crew cost is normally you know there is a clause saying that you escalate the contract yearly based on the actual negotiated tariffs between the unions and the shipowners' association, and that is in Norway, that is in Brazil.
So the answer to that side of it is okay. And then we, on the, let's say the OpEx side, of course you have normally consumer price index. Yeah. So it's in general terms, it's a decent protection. Yeah. So normally we are able to, let's say, keep the boutique level flat on a long-term contract.
Perfect. Thank you. And that was the last question for now. So thanks everyone for coming with your questions and for listening in.
Thank you very much to all of you and have a nice evening.