Good afternoon, everybody, and welcome to the Odfjell Drilling Q3 2025 Results Presentation. My name is James Crothers, and I am the Investor Relations Officer at the company. I'm joined today by our Chief Executive Officer, Kjetil Gjersdal, and our Chief Financial Officer, Ørjan Lunde . Before we begin, your attention is brought to the important information slide of our presentation, which we'd encourage participants to read in full. Note that this presentation is only a summary of the quarter, and the more comprehensive quarterly report should be read separately. Both that report and today's presentation are available on our website, www.odfjell drilling.com. Our call today will begin with Kjetil taking us through the key highlights from the quarter before moving on to discuss our operational performance.
Kjetil will then hand over to Ørjan , who will go through our financial review before Kjetil summarises the presentation and closes the call. We will then hold a Q&A session and invite all participants to submit a question either via the telephone line or electronically via the webcast tools. We, as ever, will try and get through as many of those questions as possible. However, if we do not get a chance to answer your question live, I will have a record of the question, and I will follow up with you directly after the call. Q3 has been an excellent quarter for our business, so I am delighted to now hand you over to our Chief Executive Officer, Kjetil.
Thank you, James, and good afternoon, everybody. I am very pleased to report another period of record financial and operational results. Because of an excellent performance across our business, we have delivered a revenue of $234 million and an EBITDA of $119 million, resulting in net profit of $55 million. Financial utilisation was at an outstanding 99%, adding to the company's long history of excellent financial utilisation, which now stands at an impressive average of 97% over the past 10 years. As a result, we have once again declared an increase in dividend to $0.20 per share, up from $0.18, resulting in a total dividend of $48 million being issued to shareholders. Whilst increasing our dividend, we have continued to reduce our leverage, ending the quarter at 1.2 times net debt to EBITDA and an equity ratio of 66%.
Finally, our fleet remains sold out until the end of 2026, and we remain positive about the market appetite to secure our fantastic Tier 1 units. Our total order backlog is at $1.5 billion at the moment, and we are in advanced discussions with several clients with a view to adding backlog in the near future. We move on to our operation. As for previous quarters, the company's own fleet has been active on the Norwegian Continental Shelf, working for Aker BP and Equinor. The Atlantic and the Aberdeen continued to operate for Equinor, with the Atlantic engaged in exploration drilling, which included a high-pressure, high-temperature campaign. The unit achieved a financial utilisation of 99% and set several drilling performance records during the quarter. The Aberdeen continued to drill at the Breidablikk Field Development and achieved a financial utilization of 98%.
Meanwhile, the Nordkapp worked for Aker BP, drilling the Bøyla and Sømra Est Production Wells, which will support the Edvard Grieg Field. The Nordkapp achieved a financial utilisation of 99.7%. Finally, the Stavanger, while also on contract with Aker BP, completed the Omega Alpha project, which you might have picked up in the media. This was an outstanding achievement, which saw Deepsea Stavanger drilling through 40,000 meters of reservoir, setting a world record for the longest exploration well at a total length of 45,000 meters of drilling. The unit has achieved a financial utilisation of 99.8% during Q3. In our external fleet, the Deepsea Atlantic and Deepsea Bollsta were working in Norway for ConocoPhillips and Equinor, respectively. During Q3, the Mira began operations for Rhino Resources, supporting the discovery of the Volans 1X condensate discovery before it began work for BW Energy.
Finally, Hercules was warm- stacked in yard in Norway for the entire quarter. In summary, our own fleet performed really, really well this quarter, and with an overall financial utilisation of 99%, the operations teams in Odfjell Drilling can be really proud of what they have achieved this quarter. Before I move on from operations, we wanted to highlight that in line with our ambitions to be at the forefront of efficiency, all units in our own fleet have now achieved DNV's ABATE Power Plus class notation. This is a notation awarded to units which implement technologies and systems that improve energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from power generation, as well as implement comprehensive energy and emission management systems.
I would say achieving this notation for our entire fleet speaks volumes about the capability of our own units and places Odfjell Drilling, to our knowledge, as the only rig owner whose entire fleet has this notation. Here at Odfjell, we pride ourselves on being at the forefront of technological innovation and drilling capability. I think achieving this notation is a strong reflection of this. I am very pleased to have this in place. We move on to our Backlog. As noted earlier, our backlog now sits at $1 billion. Our forward schedule is largely unchanged from the previous quarter, with our units having nearly nine years of work secured, with the Deepsea Stavanger, as you see, booked out until 2030. As also can be seen, the first contracting opportunity is with the Deepsea Aberdeen and Deepsea Nordkapp.
For both these units, we are in advanced discussions for adding new valuable backlog. We do experience broad interest in both rigs and are confident about securing further valuable backlog. We expect to conclude on these opportunities in the near future. Transitioning this backlog into yearly revenue, we continue to maintain year-on-year revenue growth based on firmly secured contracts alone. Our average day rate per rig continues to increase quarter on quarter, and our average OpEx per rig is anticipated to only marginally increase. As a reminder, on top of these day rates comes a historic average of around $25,000-$30,000 per day per rig in bonuses and add-on sales. Just a reminder, going forward, we will not have the CapEx that we have experienced in 2024 and 2025 associated with the SPS projects.
Finally, before I hand over to Ørjan , let's talk a bit about the market. We do maintain our view that the market that we operate in remains well- balanced. As mentioned, our fleet is largely booked until 2027, and we see good opportunities to secure more work for our rigs. We are in constant dialogue with existing and new clients for our rigs and are involved in ongoing tenders in the basin. Ultimately, we see the Norwegian market is likely to continue to need more supply of Tier 1 harsh- environment units, particularly as our clients try to maintain Norwegian production levels from smaller, more complicated exploration targets and in-field developments. Also, as you might have noticed, our clients are united in their messaging around this, and we expect that this focus on maintaining production will require.
A lot of drilling, more wells for ultimately less barrels of production, which is likely favorable to our business. To meet our client messaging, there must be a high volume of drilling activity on the Norwegian Continental Shelf in the coming years, and we do have the tools that they need to meet that demand. Day rates for work in 2027 have remained in line with previous contracts, with the recent award on Deepsea Bollsta emphasizing this. Internationally, we have seen a more cautiously but optimistic view. Contracting is dominated by short-term exploration, but recent success in Namibia has been positive for that basin. Namibia remains a very exciting opportunity for our sector, particularly as it will enter into a development phase.
We also maintain our view that additional demand could come from areas such as Canada, South Africa, Australia, and the U.K. Our view of supply remains unchanged. We expect supply likely to reduce with some retirements of vessels. As you all know, no new build is likely at all. There are a few stranded or incomplete vessels in our sector also, which we do not believe is likely to create meaningful competition in the near to medium term. For additional capacity to enter our sector, it will require both significant time and significant capital. That could, of course, happen, but we view this as not likely in the near to medium term. Ultimately, we see very good interest from clients seeking to secure tier one assets in this period, and we reiterate that we are confident of securing additional backlog for our units for work. In 2027 and onwards. With that, I will now pass on to Ørjan to go through our Financial Review.
Thank you, Kjetil. I'm pleased to begin with a summary of the Income Statement, which continues to go from strength to strength. Operating revenue in Q3 was $234 million compared to $186 million in Q3 last year. Operating revenue from our own fleet was $189 million, while the external fleet generated a revenue of $44 million. The positive development of higher day rates continues to impact us, with Q3 EBITDA for the own fleet segment of $119 million, which is a margin of 59%. The EBITDA for the external fleet segment was $9 million, which is a margin of 20%. Less corporate overhead and other adjustments, the group EBITDA was $119 million. The company delivered a net profit of $55 million in Q3, another significant improvement compared to previous quarters. This takes our last 12 months' EBITDA to $420 million. Let's move on to the Balance Sheet on page 14.
Net debt is marginally increased from previous quarters, partly due to higher accrued unpaid interest compared to Q2. Despite this, our leverage ratio continues to reduce, now standing at 1.2 times net debt to EBITDA. Equity ratio is 65% out of a total asset base of approximately $2.2 billion. The available liquidity is $209 million, including undrawn RCF of $112 million. Details of the Cash Flow for Q3 follow on the next slide. In Q3, we generated $95 million in cash from operations, which was somewhat influenced by changes in working capital due to timing and increasing day rates. Net interest paid was $5 million, while tax paid was under $1 million. CapEx for the quarter was $37 million, which mainly relates to purchases of fixed assets, whereof $10 million were client-specific upgrades covered by lump- sum payments from customers in this or adjacent quarters.
Net cash flow from financing activities was $37 million, of which $17 million was repaid on the RCF, and $12 million were for installments on other facilities and leases. Dividends paid in Q3 were $43 million and related to Q2 results. We are continuing our upward dividend trajectory by declaring a dividend for Q3 of $0.20 per share, which translates into a total dividend payment of $48 million. This corresponds to an annualized yield of approximately 10% based on yesterday's close. The shares will trade ex-dividends 12th November, and payments will be made on 26th November. With that, I'll pass back to Kjetil, who will summarize our presentation.
All right, so then. Q3 summary. I suspect for many of you, our Q3 numbers are not a massive surprise. We have done what we said we would do, and that has resulted in yet more record results for our business. Despite this, I would like to emphasize that this quarter has seen our units operating at a really strong level. 99% financial utilization is very hard to beat, but I think it says a lot about the intelligence and capability of our team who enable these great financial results. To summarize it all, we have achieved record financial results. We have increased our dividend while reducing our leverage ratio. I just want to make this clear: our financial strength gives us great capacity and allows for further increased distributions to our shareholders going forward.
Our fleet remains fully sold out until the end of 2026, and we are in advanced discussions with several clients to add backlog in the near future. To say I'm delighted with the performance of our business during Q3, I would like to thank you all for tuning in and listening in to our presentation. I will leave it to you, James, to take over now from here.
Thank you very much, Kjetil and Ørjan . As a reminder, if you'd like to ask a question, you can either do so via the telephone line controls or via the webcast tools. Our operator today is Laura. Laura, can you open the Q&A session on the telephone lines?
Thank you, James. Ladies and gentlemen, if you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. We'll pause for a brief moment. Thank you. We'll now take our first question from Fredrik Stene of Clarkson Securities. Please go ahead.
Hey, Kjetil, Ørjan , hope you are well. I have two questions for you today. The first one relates to the Aberdeen and Nordkapp, which I think is a key event going forward now that your SPSs are behind you. You seem to be quite confident that these rigs will get contracts. I think maybe it was a second- quarter call. You said that typically, the options that you have with Equinor, Aker BP would be kind of negotiated around 15 months ahead of the end of the firm contract, and now we're past that date in a way. I was wondering, should we read anything particular to that specifically? There's a good chunk of rigs on the NCS that rolls off in 2026 beyond your two own units. Is this like a dance to press day rates down, or do you think, kind of in line with the commentary that you'll get both utilization and rate on these two? Any call you could give would be very helpful. Thank you.
Yeah . No, I can just fill out a bit more. I guess probably start with the easiest one, the Nordkapp, which is, as you all know, in the semi-alliance with Aker BP. The way that we've operated that corporation is by adding a year-on-year basis. The way that this is, they have until the end of the year to declare this option. The most likely scenario is that Nordkapp is extended into the Aker BP semi-alliance. They do have formally until the end of the year to do this. I'm not saying it could not happen sooner, but formally they have that. That is the case with Nordkapp. With the Aberdeen, yes, we are in the middle of the negotiations as you talk, but I think I will, sort of out of respect of the processes ongoing.
Just say that we are very confident about securing new backlog for Aberdeen. This is probably the best harsh- environment rig out there. We experience great interest on the rig, both from the existing client and also other clients. We are confident that we will add new backlog to the Aberdeen as well.
All right, thank you. Just a side question, just to remind us, the price option on the Atlantic, when is that due to be potentially exercised? What's the latest date that Equinor can take that one?
The priced options on Atlantic, right?
Yeah, the price option on Atlantic.
Yeah. I don't have those details. I don't remember it. I'll get James to revert back with those details to you. I don't have it.
Yeah.
Was that okay, Fredrik?
Yeah, no, super helpful. Thank you, Kjetil. Then the second main question, and I did briefly to James about this earlier today, but in your Second Quarter Report, you said that you were well- placed to continue to increase shareholder distributions with the fleet moving to continually higher day rates. You are no longer saying that in the Third Quarter Report. In my mind, there's definitely room to increase dividends by maybe 25% more or something. Just wanted to kind of hear your comments around that. Does this mean that we're approaching the ceiling or that we should expect maybe a slower pace of increase when we go forward? Thanks.
No, no. Just. What might not be in the Report, but I think I was very clear when I commented the Presentation about this. We absolutely see great capacity to continue with dividends. I think one key here is that we want to see to add valuable backlog. That's what it's all about: Market Outlook and add valuable backlog. As long as we continue to do that, which I think I've been very clear that we have great faith in, we definitely intend to continue with our plan to increase the dividends going forward.
Great. That's what I thought. Just wanted to hear you say it. Thank you so much. That's all from me. Have a good day.
Thanks, Fredrik. Thank you.
We'll now take our next question from Mathias Carlson of DNB. Please go ahead.
Hi, how are you? Just a quick question following up on the question just asked on the Aberdeen. You're clearly sending a strong message that you're confident in getting new work for the rig. At the same time, it's more available rigs on the Norwegian Continental Shelf also looking for probably some of the same jobs. Could you help us how we should think about different scenarios for the rig and whether or not it's most likely to get back-to-back work or whether or not there is risk for gaps, both shorter and longer, between the current contract and any new contract? Thanks.
Yeah, no, you're right. It is well known that Equinor is out there with a tender, which is still not being concluded. What I can say about gaps is that all the scenarios that we are working on do not include any white space or gaps at all. That is very important for us to secure back-to-back operations. All the scenarios that we are discussing with all our potential clients are in a back-to-back scenario.
Thanks.
Yeah, Mathias.
Yeah. That was clear.
Yeah.
Another question on pricing and day rates. I think it's becoming more obvious that there is a relatively large spread in the technical capabilities and performance of the rigs in Norway and also for some of the rigs outside Norway looking to get in. Could you say something about how clients value performance and how you think about, call it, bifurcation in day rates in Norway ahead on high-performing units like your own and some of the lower- spec units? Thanks.
Yeah. No, I think in negotiations all parties use the best cards they have on their hand. I think clients ask us to look internationally and see how day rates are playing out on the 7G market, deepwater market, and so on. However, it is a totally different situation in the harsh- environment market where it's pretty much a balanced market. We do see that clients are willing to pay a premium day rate for highly efficient units. We do see that. We have a fantastic track record. These are well-factories as we like to call them. When they sign a contract with a rig like Deepsea Aberdeen, they know they're going to get great value for money. We still see that there's a strong willingness to pay extra for a highly efficient unit. I think you probably see some spread around. Various units depending on capabilities and so on. I think that is as specific as I can get at this stage, Mathias.
Thanks. Last question expanding on the dividend question just asked by Fredrik. A natural follow-up would be in terms of doing a refinancing and reduce the debt amortization burden that you're currently having. Could you talk a little bit to timing of potential refinancing and what type of sources of capital you have looked into?
I guess that question is for me, Mathias. Thank you. We are conscious that our bond is now callable, first call by end of November this year. To your question, we are continuously evaluating ways to reduce costs, flattening the amortization, and potentially increasing cash flow available for our equity holders. If we decide to refinance, and when we decide to refinance, it will be as a consequence of trying to achieve an overall benefit of all of these objectives, even taking into account specific cost elements which comes from calling bonds at an early stage.
Okay, thanks.
Thank you. Thank you, Mathias.
Thank you. If you have no further questions in queue, I will now hand it over to James for webcast questions.
Thank you very much, Laura. Again, thank you everyone who has submitted questions. We will try and get through these as fast as possible. As always, I'll answer the questions in separate emails if we don't have enough time to get through them all. The first question, how do you approach contracting on your open rigs? Are you looking to push the fleet day rate north of $470,000, or would you be willing to set up for these levels in exchange for terms that keep your rigs working like Stavanger? I suppose it's a question how we consider length of contract versus day rate.
I do not want to sort of be public about our negotiation strategy, but as a general rule, I can say that longer-term work normally comes with a discount, and shorter-term work requires a higher day rate. That goes for—that is the way we think.
Brilliant. Thank you. When do you expect to mobilize Deepsea Atlantic to the U.K.? Are you able to reduce daily OpEx whilst operating in the U.K.?
As per now, the Atlantic is likely to start up in the U.K. in the first quarter in 2026. As for now, that may change, but that is what we're working towards now. As per OpEx, the duration of the work is not that long. We have decided to bring Norwegian crew with us and have arranged with certain arrangements around that, if I can say that. We expect the pretty same OpEx in the U.K. as we have here in Norway for the Atlantic. It's very important for us that when we go to Rosebank, that we perform at the same high performing level that our client is used to. To start sort of with a fresh crew and so on is not an option for us.
Thank you. With the recent upgrade by Moody's to a B1 rating and your leverage decreased, does Odfjell Drilling now view M&A as a viable strategic lever for growth? If so, what type of targets would you consider? If you consider any at all, would you look at fleet acquisitions, geographic expansion, or complementary services?
I think I've commented on M&A on all our Q&As that I've participated in. For us, it's all about fleet and our rig quality. It's about backlog, and of course, it's about price. We are extremely pleased with the situation that Odfjell Drilling is in now. If we are to do something, it sort of needs to fit into that story. It needs to be creative, as I've mentioned many times before. We still keep our same view there. No news. Yeah. It might come as a surprise, but we're not going to announce any M&A during a Q&A for a quarterly presentation. I'm going to be a bit boring here.
Thank you. A question. More generally here. Can you elaborate on the tendering situation in Norway and your expectation around the requirements for additional rigs? I suppose this question is more framed in the context of some commentary of how much more rigs we anticipate for Norway in 2027 and onwards. How will you see that developing, perhaps?
Yeah. I think, as I mentioned, it's well known that Equinor is in the market for the FROM development program. That has not been concluded yet. We also experience quite a lot of direct negotiations, both for shorter-term work and for longer-term. There are some tender activities around shorter-term work with smaller clients as well. It is very much a mix of public tendering and direct negotiations that's going on, and for additional rigs. When we sort of look into the crystal ball and align that with what our clients say and what we see about the market, we see that it's likely that we are looking at an increase of maybe one to two rigs from 2027 and onwards.
Great. Thank you very much. We do not have any more questions, actually, today on the webcast. I guess at that point, we will close the call. Thank you very much for listening into the conference call. I think our next quarterly results will be in the new year. If you would like to add any more color on today's results or have any further questions in the meantime, please do just get in contact with me directly. My email address is on the back of the presentation and on the website as well. Thank you to all the operators and to BRR Media for sitting at the call. I think we can close the call now. Thank you.