Good morning. Welcome all to our presentation of the results and the, for the Second Quarter and First-H alf of 2023 for Reach Subsea ASA. Our report and presentation were released earlier this morning. I hope you have had the time to look through it. I am Jostein Alendal, CEO of Reach Subsea, and with me is CFO Birgitte Wendelbo Johansen. Birgitte will present the financials shortly. In today's presentation, we will focus on our good quarterly and half year results, which also this time are marked by a substantial growth in both revenue and operating profit compared to last year. It is good to deliver on our strategy and ambitions. It is a pleasure for us, on behalf of the whole team, to present this report.
We value your insight and questions, please feel free to submit your questions through the webcast player. We will provide answers during our Q&A session shortly after the presentation. Last year, we reached our earlier goal of more than NOK 1 billion in annual revenue, I have consistently emphasized our commitment to reaching new heights. Our 12-months revenue is now approaching NOK 1.6 billion. You reach one goal, then you go for the next, in my head, the next target or milestone is now NOK 3 billion. I do believe our result this quarter validate our steady progress. Before we go into the numbers, I will give you a short summary of the last quarter and insight in how we are positioned for even further growth in the coming years.
Also, an update on the Reach Remote progress, this time also with a short film. Let's begin by looking at the key highlights of the quarter, starting with slide number three. We commenced the quarter with an order book at an all-time high, and the recent months have been exceptionally busy fulfilling these commitments. This year season shows a strong resource utilization, not only last quarter, but also the quarter we are in now, and the rest of the year, as it seems. Last week, we announced a 75-day project in fourth quarter for one of our survey vessels. On the revenue side, we can again report great year-by-year growth, and even better is the strengthening of the EBIT and bottom line, which has a huge improvement compared to last year.
Even when we take away the one-off gain on sale of an ROV system in the second quarter, quarter, sorry, the numbers are very, very good. Selling ROV systems is not what we normally do, but this gives us the opportunity to order new ones for 2024, and I will come back to this later when we look at our long-term fleet and assets. The pricing environment is improving, and solid execution of projects contributes to the solid margins. Another significant change we experience is the huge increase in tender volume, which is now up to approximately 5 billion NOK in both long and short term. This is naturally due to increased capacity and also our broadening of services and international footprint. Our clients recognize and appreciate our increased capacity, and we get invited to bid on larger projects.
Our order book has also increased compared to the last year, second quarter. I will illustrate the order cycles and how this vary through the year a bit later. On the operational side, we mobilized Viking Reach in the start of the quarter with a world-class ROV, plus 1 of our high-speed survey ROVs, and she has been fully occupied with work throughout the quarter, with projects in the North Sea, Mediterranean and the Baltic Sea. She is currently working for Equinor here in Norway. Not at least on the operational side, I will say this often and every time, safety at sea is extremely important for us, and we have continued our excellent operational performance. Once again, I am happy to report 0 incidents during also this quarter. All credit again to all our people, offshore and onshore.
Allow me to provide you with a brief recap of our services, which takes us to slide number 4. Our services covers the whole subsea value chain of for all types of offshore and subsea installations. We offer mapping and documentation before installation, construction support during installation, and through the lengthy period of inspection, maintenance, and repair. Also, decommissioning and removal is a part of our services. When a oil platform, offshore wind farm, subsea template, pipeline, or power cable, they all require various forms of subsea services. Our wide and integrated offering, and the capability to offer services through the whole life cycle of an installation, is well received by asset owners in the ocean space. We are continuing our strong foothold in the oil and gas sector, and are today working for most of the international energy companies around the world.
Our balance between equipment, people, vessels and cutting-edge technology is also giving us a solid competitive advantage and a foundation for further expansions of our client base. Upcoming markets will include emerging sectors such as carbon storage, subsea mining and offshore fish farming. Our expertise in planning of complete and complex offshore operations is vital in this matter, and also data-related projects, including surveying and inspection technology, data management and data analytics, and final reporting are also becoming a larger part of our integrated services. We continue to strengthen our global presence. The Reach Subsea group are today represented across regions from north to south in Norway, Sweden, U.S., U.K., Singapore, Trinidad, and Brazil. Last quarterly presentation, I gave you a couple of project examples from Brazil and West Africa.
Today, I will give you a couple of examples from the Far East, which leads me to slide number five. The Reach Subsea monitoring division in Bergen has successfully completed a baseline survey of the coast of Japan. This is a major step towards our goal of adapting the gWatch technology to a new market within monitoring earthquake hazards around the world. The project has been ongoing for some time, it's a collaboration with JAMSTEC, a Japanese ocean research institute, and the University of Bergen. This is a good example of the potential in combining scientific innovation and partnerships, as well as a solid proof of the high competence and technology we have in Bergen with a great future ahead.
The campaign involved the use of our newly developed deep water qWatch instrumentation in over 4,000 meter water depths, and it's based on the same in-house technology used in gas reservoir monitoring. We are like we are doing for Equinor here in Norway these days from the Viking Reach, and we will do for Woodside on their gas fields in Australia for the coming years. Another example is from our Singapore office, which takes us to the next slide, number 6. Our survey division provides services for numerous clients and a lot of different vessels and rigs. This is a good example where we provide survey and positioning services required as part of construction of an offshore wind farm. The client's vessel was mobilized with our survey spread in Singapore before a transit to the field in Taiwan.
Our survey team provides survey-related measurements and guidance for the installation of the transition pieces onto the monopiles, as shown in the picture. This is heavy offshore lifting, and the demand for accurate measurements is extremely high. Our Singapore team is growing and is an established and well-known partner in the Asian market. In time, they will also include vessels, manned and unmanned, in their services. Vessels and complete spreads have most influence on our revenue and margins, of course, and it is here we focus on an optimal balance between cost and control of core assets. Which leads me to a look at our fleet going forward. Let's move to slide number seven.
Last year, we made a long-term vessel strategy to match our services and to meet a rising market in the coming years. There is a notable shift in our tender activity. We now see larger scope tenders for 2024 and beyond. As I said, the volume is now up to NOK 5 billion, a firm sign of a rapidly growing global market in general. Longer visibility on future tenders requires good control of core assets and partly ownership of Viking Reach and long-term charter of Deep Cygnus, Go Electra, Olympic Triton, and Havila Subsea, makes a core and flexible fleet for our survey IMR and light construction services. Our legacy traditional services, if you like. In addition, we have the flexibility and capacity to take in project charters, like for this year with Oceanic Sirius for the FPSO hookup scope in West Africa.
For this year, we are supplying our ROV services on board Olympic Delta and Strill Explorer with the opportunity to use the vessels on own projects. These project charters will continue in the years to come, and we are in a constant, constant dialogue with the vessel owners in the early tender phases. On the ROV side, we sold one ROV system in the end of June, and we can now timely deliver of new system to the start of next season. The number of own ROV, ROV system next year will be at least 12, including the two ROVs for the Reach Remote. On the ROV side, we hire in extra capacity on a project-to-project basis. The order book you see on the right-hand side of the slide is continuously increasing to higher levels.
The typical cycle is that the order book will increase during the winter quarters for execution the coming season, so I expect the coming quarters will show a similar trend as last year. It is good to be at the point where our tendering also includes services being enabled with Reach Remote, and this is for delivery already in 2024. The Reach Remote vessels are also a part of our core fleet, and as you see on the slide, and our ambition is to steadily build up that service line with multiple units and operation centers in several locations around the world in all time zones, so to speak. The ambition is to be among the global leaders in marine robotics, together with our partners, Kongsberg and Massterly. Which leads me to the next slide, number 8, for an update on the Reach Remote progress.
Our Reach Remote initiative takes a huge step into the unmanned and robotic future. The advantages are many related to CapEx, OpEx, safety, and not at least emissions, and I say I go green with the robotics. I won't spend that much time on this slide, but show you a short film, 1 minute and 40 seconds to be precise, before I give you an update on the building process.
The sea is the future, and it needs intelligent, clean, and efficient solutions. Reach Subsea has a solid history of disruptive technology. Now introducing Reach Remote, an innovative solution for over-the-horizon unmanned subsea operations. Together with our partners, Massterly and Kongsberg, we are taking the next step, transforming the subsea industry. Remote control of vessels and ROVs is a natural evolution made possible by technology. We have combined human interaction with engineering and risk management to reach a sustainable next-generation subsea solution. A robust unmanned surface vessel and ROV, fully connected, managed by reliable control systems under human supervision. Reach Remote is capable of performing an unrivaled range of survey, intervention, and inspection services. With advanced tools, sensors, and communication systems, we provide the information needed for accurate decision-making. We are on a mission to deliver competitive and carbon-efficient subsea operations that ensures a safe work environment for all personnel.
We welcome you to explore this maritime adventure. The sea is the future, and everything you need is within reach.
A major milestone is reached. Hulls are fabricated and are well on their way to through Svalbard in Norway, where they will be outfitted with all the remote technology. It is also progressing well on the equipment side. ROVs and subsea equipment will be delivered later this year, the plan is still, as when installations are completed, we will be ready for an extensive full-scale testing, certification, and client verification in first quarter next year. After that, ready for operations and market in second quarter and the season. More on the positive side, Massterly, our bridge and navigator, is still gain still gain more and more experience with our control center in Horten and their operations with Yara Birkeland and the ASKO vessels.
In parallel, other aspects of the project, such as, such as, work towards clients and regulators, continues with full force and is progressing well. Again, in dialogue with our customers, we experience great interest in the concept worldwide, and the best part, in this market environment with higher and higher cost of manned vessels, the Reach Remote business case with these savings is better and better. With this, I will hand over the world to Birgitte for the financials for second quarter.
Thanks, Jostein, and good morning. First of all, please remember to write any questions you may have in the chat on the webcast, and we will answer the best we can after the presentation. As Jostein said, it's a good message we bring this morning with the strong figures, both our financial results, our balance sheet, and the other KPIs. The second quarter was characterized by high activity for all vessels, equipment, and personnel. The revenue in the second quarter was NOK 636 million, almost double from the NOK 341 million in the second quarter last year, with the increase explained by a higher number of project days, increased service scope on projects, higher pricing, and as Jostein mentioned, the sale of an ROV.
After the M&A transactions last year, we are now one company with integrated solutions and projects, including gravimetrics, monitoring, and survey services, in addition to subsea and the walk to work. EBIT was 148 million NOK, compared to 50 million NOK last year, and this year's EBIT includes the sales gain of nearly 30 million NOK from the selling of the mentioned ROV in June, which is a one-off event. Beyond this non-recurring effect, the improved EBIT is primarily a result of higher utilization, with strong project margins, as well as contribution from the acquired businesses. Pre-tax profit for the second quarter was 110 million NOK, compared to 56 million NOK last year. Let's look into the details and what lies behind these figures on the next slide.
As illustrated on these graphs, REACH has had a positive activity development the last couple of years, resulting in a substantial revenue growth. Revenue has in fact increased by 159% over the last 2 years, and our revenue, the last 12 months, is now close to NOK 1.6 billion, measured per quarter end. Our operating result has also had a positive development, as you can see on the graph to the right. The last 12 months, we have surpassed NOK 200 million, and pre-tax profit reached, well above NOK 200 million, for the same period. Next slide, slide, please. Let's look at the development, year-on-year.
To the left, we see that our second quarter turnover from renewables and other sector was about 29%, while projects in the oil and gas sector represented 66%. Last year, the split was 31%-69%. Our activity in the renewable sector has increased, but in the second quarter, the revenue growth is driven by projects in oil and gas. The year-on-year EBIT development from the second quarter last year to the same period this year shows an improvement of almost 200%. Pre-tax profit has improved by 96% in the same period, and the improvements are primarily driven by higher activity, including strong performance on integrated projects within the group, improved market conditions and higher pricing, as well as the mentioned $30 million gain on sale of an RV.
Our pre-tax profit also has an unrealized effect from net finance caused by our charter commitment, IFRS 16 debt, of which a large portion is in other currencies than NOK. More details about that can be found in the notes in the full report. Next slide, please. Illustration to the left splits our revenue on our two major market segments. Solutions is where we do installments, maintenance, repair, decommissioning, etcetera. Data is where we deliver a data package to the client, typically a survey of a pipeline or a cable route, or an inspection of infrastructure, to mention some of examples. The data segment will become even more important when Reach Remote enters the market, as survey projects will be ideal for this type of equipment.
In 2Q, 79% of the turnover came from solutions, due to a few larger service and work-to-work contracts, including a high number of vessel days, while 17% came from data. The activity within data, which includes survey projects without vessel exposure, measured in project days, is higher, estimated to be around 50/50 to solutions. We also present our geographical distribution of turnover in the illustration to the right, to illustrate our strategic expansion to new areas, as well as meeting new and existing client needs. In the second quarter, the split between Europe, including Norway, to the rest of the world, was about 50/50. This growth and this development is strongly driven by the projects in Brazil and the Ivory Coast, to mention a few examples. Next slide, please.
We continue our sustainable growth also in the second quarter, balancing cash and working capital and debt with a robust equity level. At the same time, we have delivered to our shareholders with paying dividend according to the policy. We have a cash and working capital position of about NOK 360 million and limited existing financial debt to credit institutions. We have increased our charter commitment, hence our leasing liabilities, but our equity, equity share is still above 30% of the total balance sheet, which is strong. We sold an RV in the second quarter, giving us the opportunity to invest in new and modern equipment. Here, we had no debts, no book value, and resulted in a sales gain of almost NOK 30 million.
Reach is well positioned for the remaining investments in Reach Remote, and vessel and equipment mobilization for our fleet in order for us to have all vessels ready for integrated subsea and survey projects. Next slide, please. Since our turnover and EBIT is strongly driven by the utilization of vessels and RV, RV equipment, we measure the number of days sold. In addition to revenue and profits, depend on the complexity of the projects and also the seasonal changes. Projects in survey and monitoring are not reflected in these figures.
As illustrated on the graph to the left, the number of sold RV days is highest in the second, third, and sometimes fourth quarter, and in the second and third quarter of 2023, we have 2 vessels in the work-to-work segment and 1 vessel mobilized with a diver spread, leaving a few RVs idle. This utilization was 71%, which means the mobilized RVs had more or less full utilization. For those who have read the full report already, the number of offshore man-hours has increased substantially, and this reflects the general increased activity volume and gives some flavor to the increased turnover, together with the increased number of sold vessel days, as you can see on the graph to the right. By growing into new areas such as Africa and Americas, we reduce the seasonal changes in the North Sea.
Utilization of our vessels is, of course, our number 1 priority, and we achieved 95% in the 2Q. Given our current order book, we intend to keep a high utilization throughout the 3Q and hopefully secure projects into the winter season. Next slide, please. We report quarterly on our sustainability goals, and our ESG reporting is a combination of focus on emissions and the environment, being a responsible employer worldwide and keeping a high governance focus. In the full report on the web pages, you can read more about how our report complies with the United Nations sustainability goals and also the GRI standard. Safety is always our utmost priority, and we are proud to have strong, positive HSEQ statistics, especially combined with this growth and project size and complexity.
As you can see, there's a positive outlook for all our 2023 ESG KPIs. Some of the activities will start during the third quarter, which is after the main season, and we expect to meet our goals also this year. I hand the word back to you, Jostein, for a summary.
Yeah, thank you, Birgitte. Let me sum up with the last slide, 20, as a backdrop. Reach Subsea has, over the years, built a strong reputation and solid operational track record as a supplier of subsea services. We have over the past one and a half years, taken steps into expanding both our product range and through M&A and also organic growth, and in addition, reinforced our long-term vessel capacity. Our financial strength is improving year by year and give a great flexibility to do the right investments and expansions going forward. Important note there, rest assured that we will continue our growth plans, well-disciplined and shareholder-friendly, as we have done so far. We will still continue to look at acquisitions, opportunities, and cooperation partners in other geographical areas that will add value to our business.
I believe that, combined with great execution from our team in a strong market, we will continue to deliver both excellent services to our clients and good financial results. We are in the forefront when it comes to technology, and our internal technical systems give us a huge competitive advantage. Some examples, Surveyor Interceptor, our high-speed survey ROV is a good example, where we increased the speed of subsea data collection 3 times faster than traditional systems and methods. Also, our monitoring technology is unique and world-leading. Accurate monitoring of gas fields and future carbon storage reservoirs without seismic is not only extremely nature-friendly, but it also very cost-efficient. For sure, also our robotic future, Reach Remote, will be another growth driver for us and leading the way into a more efficient and climate-friendly and sustainable future.
I'm looking very much forward to the coming quarters and years. First half of 2023 was great, and the market is very strong, both in oil and gas and renewables, and we expect this to continue for years. With this, let me sum up the presentation with our saying, "Everything within reach." Please continue to submit questions in the webcast player. We are back to answer your questions shortly.
Yes, we actually have quite a few questions. The first one is financial-related: Do you have some revenue targets for the financial year 2023 and 2024, long-term target margins for EBITDA? Well, we haven't been guiding previously, and we haven't decided to start guiding, so I guess you'll have to look at the prognosis of the forecast that we... We say a little bit about what we expect for the vessels and the equipment, the coming period, and also the order book. I think that's about what we can say when it comes to the coming revenue and margins. It's also a related question about the slower Q4 and Q1. I guess the answer is the same there.
The order book is quite front-ended, so that means that a lot of the order book is for work, which is now in Q3 and Q4. The utilization in Q3, as I said in the presentation, is looking, is looking quite good, without saying anything about the margins. For you, Jostein, there is a question about expansion and M&As, and so on: I understand very much is happening in the sector and the company in the coming year. How is the strategy thoughts about expand operation and, or versus operation expenses?
Yeah. I think in, in general, I can say that we continuously looking for opportunities. We will, we will follow that track also in the coming years. As we did last year with M&A, we still look for other opportunities, of course. Our ambition and goals, that's clear, and I think we have broadcasted that several times, that we're gonna have a footprint in several regions, and also a global sort of footprint when it comes to the future, future robotic and unmanned marine operations.
But still our legacy, legacy operations, they will be increased over the coming years because the market, as I said, is rising, and my guess is this is going to be rising for the next 8 years. Backdrop there is we have been through an 8-year downturn market and these long cycles in offshore and subsea. It's, well, my guess, the next 8 years will be we have to maneuver in a rising market, and that's a bit, bit more fun, Birgitte, than-
Absolutely.
I hope that was the answer. We still have the same ambitions.
Yeah, there was also a question related to the same, whether we've had the possibilities of cross-sales to new client groups and so on, after the M&As we did in 2021 and 2022. There is an example in the report of projects that we're doing intra- intercompany together with the business we acquired in 2021 and 2022, Octio and iSURVEY. It's a competitive landscape. Are there any competitors in your niche, and how big would you approximate your market share?
Well, was that a question for me, Birgitte, I guess?
Yes, that's a question for you,
Yeah
It's also about the increase in the offshore wind. It goes a little bit on the market.
Yeah, it's back to the offshore market in general. That's huge, sort of globally and I don't think anyone had the total number there. We will take more and more market share, of course, as we grow, the coming years. Back to not guiding, Birgitte, but I have an ambition and a target, and I think I mentioned that. Next target is NOK 3 billion. You always have to make a new target, so...
Yes.
When it will occur, okay, that's, that's the big question. Back to the shift in market and after a long downturn, the competitive landscape is heavily reduced over these years. Looking forward, we have less less competitors than 8 years ago. It takes some time to build up a competitor in this industry as well. I guess we're gonna have a good years ahead of us with the usual well-known competitors, so.
Yeah. There's some questions about the fleet. First of all, is the Reach Remote. If you can say more about the type of missions that the Remotes will be doing, type of clients, and future investments connected to the Reach Remote?
Yeah, the, the Reach Remote will be a, a, a tool, like, manned vessels. They, they will introduce new clients, because when you, when you introduce, a, a new technology which makes it, more affordable to, to, take offshore, offshore, tasks and so on, you, you get new, new clients that, will be introduced. Surveillance of the ocean, that's a, that's a very important, sort of future market, because, because that, that, that will come, when you introduce robotics and so on. It is, the technology steps that we are taking, sort of, will, will introduce new clients. That's.
Yeah, there come to a few questions regarding the financing of the Reach Remote as well. As described in the full report, we have secured bank financing for both vessels, and our cash position is enough to cover the equity share of the remaining investment for the Reach Remote. There's also a question related to vessel charter, how many vessels we have, and whether contracts for Zeus and Olympic Triton have been extended. Jostein, would you like to say something about that?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. We, earlier this year, we extended the charter of Olympic Triton. Olympic Zeus is project charter this year, so.
Yeah. I think that was it. There's a question, whether we expect the Wilhelmsen to exercise the warrants? I guess we should direct that question to Wilhelmsen. It's difficult for us to say too much about that.
Yeah
right now. Okay, I think that was all the questions. Thank you very much for many interesting questions, and for listening.
Yep. See you next quarter.