Hello and a warm welcome to this Q2 presentation with DOF. In this presentation we will cover operational and financial highlights from the quarter in addition to outlook and guiding before we do a Q & A session. At the end you can submit the questions through the Q & A function in the webcast player and that is open also during the presentation. With that I leave the word to our CEO Mons Aase.
Thank you and welcome again to the presentation. The front page we saw was a picture of Skandi Angra, who is just to change the front page because he is one of the seven Gamma that we have been in more long term contacts with Petrobras on in the quarter and just after quarter, so called building a lot of backlog. Also worth mentioning is of course that rate levels are up quite a bit from the existing contract they have. One of the highlights of course in the quarter is that we have signed seven anchor handler vessels on long term contracts starting early 2026 on done backlog into only 2022 of the seven boats, so it's a big, big win for us and of course it de-risked the earnings all the way to 2022. We can start on the, this is DOF at a glance.
I guess most of you have seen it before. We still operate 77 vessels. We own 65 and we charter in four and then have management on eight, so operating globally, long history. Backlog at the end of the quarter was $3.7 billion. When we include what has been awarded after the close of the quarter, we are valuable $4 billion. We're going to talk a bit more about the backlog after. If you look at the graphs here and the revenue last 12 months ago, it looked a lot from 2024. It's also a plus one month on EBITDA, it's moving up. On the other graph you see where we have our employees and where we have our vessels. Still the Atlantic region, which is mainly North Sea and West Africa, is where we have the biggest presence, then followed by South America, which is mainly Brazil.
We have one boat in Argentina and we are growing in North America and also have a very nice presence in APAC. That's who we are at a glance. If we move to the next, this is what we do. As mentioned, we own 65 boats. We also hire in four boats that we utilize on our projects around the globe. We are the third or fourth largest owner of what you can call subsea equipment or ROVs and AUVs. We have several thousand subsea specialists that execute our projects globally. We deliver to clients integrated services. Basins are only part of the deliveries in Mac. Looking at the earnings, we see last month the asset earnings are quite a bit. Also the regional earnings, or what I call the people earnings, this is what we get out of the teams working on the projects.
They also are growing and totally we are growing at once. It's been a good one. We look closer at second quarter, which is on the next slide. Of course, it's been a good quarter for us. We have to say that it was a good quarter. It was almost above our own expectations and also, as we understand, building consensus quite a bit. So $214 million in the quarter, which is, I guess, all-time high for us. Tough market, which we are very happy with. We saw a big step up on that fleet compared to first quarters, and we made $45 million in the quarter from that. Still room for improvements, as I think we had 81%- 82% utilization of that fleet, so there is still the potential for more.
Interesting also, of course, is that this is only the assets, but part of the reason why our subsea earnings or the earnings from the regions increase is, of course, that we have executed the projects for a few more of the DOF Denmark vessels. Of course, that's also part of the reason why utilization is at 82% on that fleet, because some of them have been stopped to install the subsea equipment in the quarter. Perhaps what I'm most proud of is that we are able to deliver a 35% increase on, let's say, the old DOF or the legacy DOF. Of course, that is for the same fleet with the same fleet people. We see an increase on old DOF from $122 million -$169 million compared to last year, which is pretty good. All in all, a very nice and good quarter on operations.
Back to what I mentioned, as we come back to that, and on the guidance, we have narrowed it now to $740 million -$770 million, and the reason why taking it down a bit on the top but also, of course, increasing the bottom is that, you know, due to the 10 signed contracts with good reports on anchor handlers and RSVs, some of them will be mobilized, start mobilizing in second half quarter four, meaning we will have a few vessels out of earnings in one to one and a half months. That will, of course, reduce a bit in fourth quarter. On the upside, we are doing that. I think it's $205 million and to be almost down to the level we have communicated where we want to be, one and a half to two, and of course, that only included DOF Denmark for eight months.
We continue the dividend. We will pay on the 4th of September $0.30 per share, and then we will see going forward how we, if we, because the board and the management, of course, we like to see the dividend grow a bit going forward. Let's see if that. Next page, please, is the new contracts. Of course it has been a good quarter also and a good, good July on that we have. It's a lot Brazil of course but also quite a few elsewhere. All in all a very good order and taking it waterline. I don't go through all of these contracts. You can read them yourself and you can ask questions in the Q & A session after if you have question or this new contract. Good orange and if you look at the next page of course we summarize more the Brazil.
We have here 14 boards which we have indicated that we believe we will sign up for four-year contracts. Now that one always signed the seven anchor last three RSVs and then it's four left and we expect to, you know, in the let's say in the next, in the near future sign up during my, the reminder therefore for last portion. It is a big jump in back log. You also have to note that of course it's on very decent terms. I think only seven anchor handlers, only five anchor handlers that already are in Brazil. You are talking at least 30% rate increase compared to the old rates. Roughly speaking, it's good to make such backlog at those levels. I guess the next one is then if you remember and I don't know if you do but I do.
When we did, we announced the, let's say, the acquisition of Maersk Supply Service which we now call DOF Denmark . We had, we had one of the, let's say, challenges we wanted to solve was too high exposure in the, let's say, in the spot market for anchor handlers. When you look at it, we, our own fleet, we had only one boat with a firm contract into 2026 and then another one with options. What we have done since that is that we have done with series in the dark blue where we have done Skandi Mover and Skandi Mariner on long-term contracts in Canada, five and a half and two years supporting the White Rose field in Canada.
We had done recently also done Lifter and Logger on four-year contract with Petrobras and then we also did the cut, you know, ex a new contract with the same client for three years. We have reviewed, we have done four or five long-term contracts. In addition to that we have sold two smaller, two smaller boats, the Thunder and Trailer. Taking the exposure now down to four boats or to that fleet in the spot market. Of course, that was what I think we said where we wanted to end, that we wanted to have three to four boats in that market because also, of course, this is not only the pure spot market exposure. It is posted with that we will use for over mooring projects globally. For example, the Laser under Master and Min der, they will go to Congo for a few months in the fall.
Let's say October, November into December, they will support Gov Subseana project in Congo. We have done what we hope to do and plan to do and are happy with the situation. Of course, the exposure onto what we can call an unpredictable spot market is reduced a lot and we are very want to be. Yeah, that's, I think, an important message. Of course, that will also hopefully, and you know, not only hopefully, of course, it also increases the earning of that part of the fleet quite a bit compared to what we have been able to do so far in 2025. For 2026, of course, this fleet will deliver higher background than what we have seen in funding. The next one is, I guess, it's kind of bragging a bit, but it's also, I think, important to understand, and that is the value of the global process.
Because it's not, it is very opportunities. It varies rate levels. It's various terms in each region. How to have a global place in power at a global present is very high value in this market. We see and we imagine already we move us from the North Sea to Brazil. We move vessels from North Sea to Canada. We move vessels from the North Sea to Vienna and we move vessels from the North Sea to Australia. The more you are doing that, it's, of course, that is better paid than jobs than what the boost we are able to do in the North Sea. We also, on the last page, mentioned that we also do projects globally. One of the examples, we have a project now in Congo in quarter four as well, probably there, where we will use six vessels amongst. Oh, I can't. That's it.
I think this is, you know, it's difficult to understate the importance of getting utilization and to get maximize income to have this placing power globally and, of course, placing power also on the services project side. I think that is what, let's say, different from a lot of other players in this industry. We go to next, as we said, you know, the regions have had high activity and delivered very good quarter two. It is also good. Good coverage and good project portfolio for all those guys in quarter three and going forward. Yeah, good earnings, good utilization and good performance on the projects. I guess you know part of the plan with DOF landmark was to integrate some of the vessels into the regions and operate them under the innovative broader offering than only vessels. Yeah. Today we have two I classes in the Atlantic region.
We have one I class in Brazil and we have one I class in North America. All are working. Yeah. It's starting to ramp up and these projects are just so much samples. We did saftaring projects in Malaysia, a good project. We did interesting, you know, a cable repair project here in the North Sea with the Scandinavia. We did that now in June into July and then we used Skandi Hera, which is an anchor handler, for a pure subsea project in the North Sea, also done. We actually have to say that our interiors have been sold out for overall board. We also executed, you know, a short term project for very short term shelter on a third party board.
Every quarter in the regions we see a lot of tender activity and radius, we see a lot of opportunities and we see a nice, let's say, pipeline of work. We have to say we are getting optimistic on 2026. It looks quite, quite okay. It's the backlog and as you saw, we have, including the order intake after balance, we are at $4.2 billion . That of course excludes the four contracts we expect to sign soon in Brazil. For the minor year we have seven and I guess in reality it's a bit higher than that because there are some variation orders and there are, so it's, I would say perhaps 85% plus, 85% - 90% of the expected revenue is covered by the year. There is uncertainty on the last two quarters, relatively moderate. Yeah.
If you look at, I would say, it's, you know, it's a few gaps on, you could say, apart from the spot market and as there's a few gaps for vessels, I think on the CSV side. Yeah. It's relatively low risk but of course still a few jobs to back for next year. We have $1.2 billion in the backlog, that's also with all the four, and of course that is, I think, midpoint on, you know, guidance this year. You are talking 62% or something. Of course, with the deals we are expecting, we probably are on the same level backlog-wise as we were a year ago for 2025, and hopefully we will be able to start 2026 with more than 70% backlog. That, of course, indicates it will be quite a good deal. I'll leave it like that.
As you hear, we are pretty optimistic on continue pegging work around the globe.
Yes. We already mentioned high level numbers and as we've said they are really good both on turnover and on EBITDA level and also further down the P&L. Going a bit more into details over the last few quarters to see where the contributions come from, there is a big leap from last quarter to this quarter although it has been gradually improving quarter by quarter over the last five quarters. Very happy to see the yellow contribution on the screen. The DOF and Maersk fleet, the 82% utilization, $45 million worth of EBITDA contribution and as Mons also stated, the legacy of Apple to Apple comparison one year, if you, if we compare to one year ago it is 35% improvement, close to $50 million which is also very, very strong performance. That is not one single contributor.
Some come from the vessel ship owning part of the group, some come from Norskan, some from DOFCON and a very strong contribution from the subsea regions. On the next page we see on the left hand side we see the leverage that we have been focusing quite a lot on over the last few years and periods. It's continuing to drop. We saw a small bump in that graph when we did the transaction with DOF Denmark. There are no amendments or adjustments in this to account for the fact that DOF Denmark only contribute with parts of the year in EBITDA and the full debt from Q4 2024. We expect that the number in reality, if you had annualized or included the full 12 months on the contribution, the 2.1 would be within the target of 1.5 - 2.
With the current performance, we are heading into that range also with no adjustments on the gross debt development. There are really no big events this quarter apart from the delivery or the charter party commencement of the REM Inspector that we took on hire from REM and that went on hire to Equinor in Q2. That is the addition on the IFRS 16 lease debt and that's only visible on the gross. The interest bearing debt, the yellow now, the white figures are not on the blue because it is chartered directly out. We have a sublease that nets this element out on the net interest bearing debt. Other than that, on the debt side it was normal amortization on the new facilities and the regular payments of lease debt in the quarter. We also had some ROV leases commencing in the quarter for subsea equipment.
We still have a very healthy cash balance going from $427 million at the end of last quarter to just below $400 million at the end of this quarter. It is a very strong operational cash flow in the quarter despite the improvement in the increased activity that affects changes in working capital but not to a larger extent than the increased activity. All in all, a very good quarter. Although not visible there since this is management reporting, there was a $30 million dividend from DOF Denmark paid in the quarter. Visible on the legal account, that is excluding DOF Denmark on the proportional or from proportional consolidation. We had a CapEx payment of $59 million during the quarter that is primarily installments on the newbuild to the Sea Dragon project, the Canada vessel that is to be delivered in the beginning of 2027.
We do expect that to be financed in the relatively near term. This is the funds that we will get back from financing within a reasonable time. Debt, we mentioned the other big cash flow items from the quarter is the dividend that we paid in June of $71 million. We are happy to announce that there is a new dividend declared to be paid on 4th of September. The last day including those rights will be 26 August, again $0.30 per share, bringing the total paid and declared dividends from the DOF Group in 2025 to $148 million.
Yeah. On guiding major changes, the revenue as it was $1.922 billion EBITDA as managed, we are narrowing the guidance to $740 -$770 million. Of course, that's a reflection that the uncertainty is lower, but also a reflection that, as I mentioned, someone at Brazil Control will need a box to stop for some weeks to mobilize and do acceptance. That's done and so on. That means that, of course, they would be off the earnings for a while. Depreciations don't change, which is a bit as a reflection of the bull. The next change is on CapEx, and of course, an increase here of $20 million also done as a consequence of a contract signed in Brazil. I think we leave it like that. We are on the next page, which is the outlook. One more time, guidance $740 - $770 million.
We experience still good markets around the globe. We have a very nice backlog for this year and next year. We have a lot of these in the pipeline, and we expect to build the backlog going forward and have enough to bid on. It is looking good. No more pictures on here. We are trying to tell the story. If you start on the left-hand side, there are six balls, and of course, it is why we don't think part of what we don't think 2025 is the peak. The first one is the REM inspector that we took on, I don't know, to Equinor late in quarter two, which, of course, will have a full year in 2026 and contribute.
On the running side, we have a picture of the Niterói pipeline, where we, of course, have communicated earlier that there is quite a high rate decrease when they start to mobilize for new contracts later this year. Then you have a picture of the Angra, and as we mentioned, the red one, five red ones, where we will be able to see a nice uptick in rates. Then you have a picture of the gray and Gamma, which is lift around logo that will go on long-term conservation in present, leaving what you can call not the very good North Sea spot market this year. I'll leave it like that. It means that we are not going for 2026, but of course, we see 2026 shaping up quite nicely for us. There is still a bit to do on the backlog side.
The next picture is the Salvador, which represents four RSV still to be signed in Brazil, which we expect to happen soon. The next one, the gray one, is an I class, Skandia I class. I mentioned that they are very well, but also that we now have finalized installing subsequent panel. All four of them installed, two or three switches on the last picture because we expect those boats also on average to deliver more in 2026, 2025. Of course, we don't have to stop them to move the equipment next year as we have done that this year. All in all, we are happy with quarter two and we look forward to the second half, and we look forward to 2026. We will have a Capital Markets Day on the 9th of September in Oslo, as we had last year at Pareto Securities offices.
We will talk more about the strategy going forward. We will focus on Brazil. We will also focus on North America, which is a region that has been growing a lot lately. We have new traditions in Canada through the spot market acquisition. We also see exciting markets in the region, in Guyana, in Trinidad, and so on. We will dive on that and a few other items. We invite you all and hope you are able to attend that on the 9th of September. That was the final slide and we are open for questions, please.
Great. As mentioned, you can still submit the questions through the webcast Q&A function, but we'll kick off with some of the ones that have come in. The first one relates to the project pipeline for the next summer. What is your initial assessment of the project pipeline and how does that compare to this year?
For summer 2026?
We have a project p ipeline for the summer of 2026. How is that looking now, and how does that compare to this year?
I would say that the expectation for next year are more or less the same as we had for this year. It is opportunities on the same level. Some of them of course still has to be won. I think the starting point on the outlook comparing 2025 to 2026 more or less are the same. Yeah. Of course, CSV Flip though are already mainly looking for advantage. Our expectation is that the market will perhaps in 2026 be on the same level on the subsea side as we saw in 2024 and that we have, you know, we in our schedules and in our opportunity list. There is I guess the same, at least the same level of opportunities that we had last year.
Right. Thank you. Next question is has there been any progress on the RSV and newbuild in Brazil since it was last discussed on the Q1 call?
Of course, progress processes like that take time, and of course, we are still discussing, and negotiations are ongoing. There is still a gap between us and Dan, but the gap is narrowing compared to what it was a month ago. Still, there is a way to go before that is concluded.
Okay. Considering the current backlog with new contracts in Brazil and elsewhere, are there any vessel segments where you will need to add vessels either through hiring or buying new vessels?
It's a very good question. If you look at it, I think the segment on CSVs, they say from small CSVs, iron boats with one or two ROVs up to the 250 ton class. If charter has taken a few options that we expect them to take, I would say call it sold out in that segment. Suppose we ideally would love to have a few more boats in that segment, but we will not increase any risk. If we are clever, it might be that you will see that we will need to sharpen in both of you to power one. We have a few projects in discussions where we might lack a boat or two, but on the same topic, it's what I would call the luxury problem to have part of the fleet sold out.
With the 7 RSV, we expect to hope to win already 143 with the boats, of course, that of course reduced availability in that part of the field.
All right, Martin, could you give an update on how you see the refinancing of Norskan with the debt that is due early next year?
Yeah, we can. It is as you said, there is $78 million repayment to international lenders in Norskan for January next year. I think we have all through this year communicated that we plan to resolve that prior year end as soon as possible. I think the update on that is that is still the plan. We are planning to repay it through the fall a t some point. And of course, we will link that to discussions we had during the spring on a potential bond loan. That is still something that we are considering, and we also mentioned it on the CapEx guidance earlier that we're also doing financing on the growth CapEx on this, the Sea Dragon or the newbuild. We need to review these things together.
Thank you. What do you expect to be the impact of your increased CapEx on your EBIT margin, and will CapEx be normalized in 2026?
Yeah, we can do the first. The second thing first, 2026. Of course we're not guiding 2026 yet on details, but if we take a very simple look at the building years on the general fleet, we will see that assuming that all vessels are docked every fifth year, it is a bit lower amount of dockings in 2026 than in 2025. All else equal, it would be a little bit lower. There are limited amounts of. There are no growth CapEx other than the remainder on the new build for 2026. Of course that is known to us today. It is a bit too early to detailed guide on CapEx. The maintenance CapEx is a little bit lower than this year on impact % impact of increasing CapEx, CapEx. It's depreciated. I guess that is the reason for the question.
Vessel CapEx usually depreciated over the remaining lifetime of the vessel while ROVs are depreciated on its assumed economic lifetime of 12 years. It is a bit the intake question, but I would say that the duration of the depreciation on these items is so long that it has a very limited impact on depreciation and thereby EBIT for the coming period. Over a 12 - 20 year period it is of course the full value of the CapEx impact on LinkedIn.
Great, thank you. The next one on working capital. There has been a buildup of working capital in H1. What do you expect for H2?
Of course, the biggest driver for working capital when you assume that your clients pay on time or continue to pay in the same path as they've done historically, is the turnover. If we do the implicit guiding for turnover for second half, it is slightly above turnover for first half but less than the annualized or the double of second quarter. Without detailed rundown on this, I would say a flattish for second half is to be expected.
All right. If we assume a stable activity level going forwards, would you say it's okay to extrapolate on the Q2 levels for lease payments and lease debt levels?
That's two different kind of leases. If I assume that this is the IFRS 16 vessel charter that is recognized as leases on the balance, that depends on the number of vessels that we have chartered in. The vessels that are currently on that list are the Stril Explorer, the Havila Phoenix, and the REM Inspector. As long as they are all on charter, the payments will remain the same. Depending on when they roll off, with new vessels on charter or that provide the same amount of vessels on charter, that will remain stable from now onwards. On the more financial lease, meaning that we have financed subsea equipment with financial leases, there is three ROVs delivered in the quarter where new leases have been established. Those payments are expected to increase a little bit, but it's not material in the big movies.
All right, on the backlog, are you able to provide any direction on the margins in the backlog?
It is because perhaps there is a big difference between a straight vessel job and, you know, subsea. They contradict the services. You know, we really prefer to talk about the, let's say, what you deliver in the data and what the margin is because if you do a big project the margin might be 40% here and if you do investment shelter the margin might be 70%, but in the end you normally make more money if you utilize the grass movement project done on a straight job. I guess you know we had these pictures on the last page that we have, of course, rate increases. Let's say if you keep all else equal, the margins should be higher in the backlog than what we delivered so far in 2025 since we see rates are increasing. Of course, it's dynamic.
I can't tell if the mix and the backlog are similar. If there is more subsea projects, subsea scope in the backlog, then we go the other way. If the mix is the same, the margin should come off the.
All right, moving on to backlog on the I class vessels and specifically for the remainder of the year. Do you have many days left to sell here?
You could say as it looks, no, we have two of them or as we see it fully booked or a minor. The third one is so far booked into October. Of course, there are still a few opportunities around here that could bring that gap going away. As I said, two solo, the one at the moment on to October part time, and then the fourth one is booked and of course this is. I don't remember all the, I do normally, but one, this looks like it's booked to mid September and then it had for dry dock in October and then we have no work for her so far in November and December, but we have, let's say, close discussions with a few clients that see for November itself. The meaning, short version is auto for box. We have roughly speaking November and December on queue, but as I say, I don't expect those boats to see title for T.
All right. You're now moving Lifter and Logger from the North Sea to Brazil. Do you see potential to do more such moves into Brazil going forwards?
Because still a lot of opportunities in Brazil, of course, you know, or dynamics, or of course you. You need a new Thunder if you want to do that canvas. Of course, we have all the projects under discussion in person where we will be, and of course that also relates to the question you had if you are shorter votes. You know, we have, yeah, hope that we will be awarded, but yeah, Durban would need to take votes from outside the Brazil market, and of course that could be, it's not impossible that that could be, let's say, served by one of our bank card last year in the North Sea if we decide to do that. It's not the last vessel that will go from Norway to or from the North Sea to Brazil. As I say, it might happen already, it might happen fast.
It might happen that we have to move her on Christmas point. The funding.
Sticking with Brazil as the topic, do you fear becoming overly dependent on the country given that it's such a big portion of backlog and current sales?
I agree. No, I don't think so because being in Brazil for 25 years, it's the biggest subsea market on the globe. You know, a pipeline of new field development that is very large and truly, we don't start the Brazil building, Brazilian flag, very good local organization. I think it's a positive, not a negative. Of course, if you look at the earnings, it's a clear portion, but I'm not afraid of that at all. We will continue to do deals globally and take the deeds we think gives us back to earnings.
All right. Some competitors have indicated a softness in the market, and you highlight a global presence as an important lever to mitigate that. Are you able to elaborate a bit on which markets you expect to be stronger or continue to be strong going forwards?
Of course it's interesting because if you look at, you could take the PSV market as an example to see, and of course we don't do PSVs in Brazil. I'm not into all data, but you see a very strong market and a very strong pipeline and new trades. You see, of course, the North Sea spot market this year has been what you can call very weak. You see the term rates in the North Sea market dropping. You could say it's, it's. I think as a consequence of the lower activity in U.K., you can also say that the North Sea and Ghani has been a disappointment. If you sum up so far, as they had some a good month or two in second quarter but had not been, I think, up to what people expected.
At the same time, you see us, you see for those fixing modes in Brazil at what you could call perhaps the highest rate levels I've seen in my career on 12 contracts right now. It's kind of a market that you see anyway. It's not, as I said, it's not similar globally. Why do you see, you know, on a big, on the Yankee analyst in Brazil, you know, on the bigger, the four, the three biggest losses, 200, 250 and 270, you saw three bidders. The rule, it has to do with the local presence, it has to do with the flag, it has to do with, you know, that you need to know what you are doing and you have to be local and you have to know the rules and regulations and the taxes are important.
I think that will, in a normal market and in a mid-market, that is one you see who is good, that view is not that good. You see that also. You see that it's the same pattern in, you know, in Canada where you see, you know, fewer players and the same pattern in Australia. You need something more than an office in, let's say, in Mulgar and you'll be able to perform, not get placed like that. It is, you know, it might be a bit, let's say, you've been to say, but I think, I think, you know, the more complex a job is, the longer it is from the North Sea, the less competition you see. I think a very natural explanation why it is like that. Of course, you know how long you can see such a rate difference between North East Port and Thornburg Elswehr?
I don't know, but I think it's, it's, I don't know how to say, but it might be structurally available. You see a lot of the supply up in the North Sea are not able to compete in Australia because they don't have the infrastructure, and of course it is a global market and according to this it is. I remember back then we only had an office that many years ago, you know, back in early 2000 we only had enough offices in the North Sea and of course you didn't see more than 20% on these, the big guys. It is like that. I think that's the short explanation.
Right, thank you. That concludes the Q&A session, so thank you all for your questions, and thank you to Mons and Martin for the presentation and the answers.
Thank you very much for listening to us, and have a nice evening. Welcome, don't forget the Capital Markets Day on 9th of September in Oslo. Thank you very much.
Thank you.