Great. Good afternoon. We're gonna keep things moving. I'm again, Arun Jayaram from JP Morgan's, OFS and E&P research teams. Delighted to wrap up day one at our conference with one of our favorite mid-cap OFS companies, Expro. Thrilled to welcome Michael Jardon, who's the CEO of Expro. We're gonna do a fireside chat, but I thought I'd turn it over to Mike with some, just some introductory comments, just to get the juices flowing. Mike?
Oh, good. Thank you, and thanks to JPM, and thanks, Arun, for joining us this week. I guess for me, just a couple things to kind of level set. Some thoughts I'd like for all of you to kind of take away is really about Expro is, number one, I think we're in a very strong macro environment, despite some of the changes that we've seen here with OPEC and you know, the production quotas, those type things. Fundamentally, I think what we're gonna see is investment dollars shift internationally and in particular, internationally offshore. And for us as a company, we're 70% offshore levered. We're 80% international. I think that that's actually quite strong. Second point is, we're very levered to the drilling completion cycle.
About 70% of our activity, 70% of our revenue comes from our customers' CapEx spend. So as we're coming into this time of continued investment, you look at the FID dollars that have been approved and sanctioned here, we're finally back to the same level we had back in 2012, 2014. So to be levered to the drilling completion cycle like we are right now, I think is a really good spot for us to be in. The third element for us is really we're moving into a time of a very strong margin expansion. You know, we created the company by doing a reverse public merger into Frank's International.
We've really been able to create a tremendous amount of operating leverage, cost synergies, and those type things, and we're really able to expand margins, kind of going from, you know, 14% in 2021 to, Excuse me, 14% in 2022 to, you know, 16% in 2023. Our midpoint of our guidance this year is 21%, and we've got a real clear pathway to 25% EBITDA margins in the not-too-distant future. So I think that's quite strong. The fourth element I would highlight is we've been able to do a number of strong technology bolt-on M&A transactions. We developed a really good playbook on integration and how to do those type things when we created the original Expro as a company.
So I think we have a really good playbook we can leverage and take advantage of. And finally, I think we're really coming into a point in time for Expro where it's really an inflection point. We're kind of seeing the drilling completions activity come together. We're finally seeing the, you know, kind of cost-out synergies, those type things, folding in. Our M&A transactions will really be able to hit the ground running and really be effective in 2025 and beyond. So I'm really excited about kind of where we're at as a company. I think despite some of the concerns around some of the macro, I think it's gonna be really strong for offshore internationally, and quite frankly, we're almost a pure play offshore international company, and I think that makes us kind of a unique position today.
Great, Mike. Great with your introductory comments. So let's see if we can unpack some of those. Let's start with the macro. Any investment in an oil and gas levered name kind of starts with the macro. Give us some thoughts on what you're seeing internationally and offshore, and what is driving some of the enthusiasm that you're seeing in terms of favorable trends?
You know, a couple things I would, I would highlight is, number one, I think the, you know, kind of that Golden Triangle of Gulf of Mexico, Brazil, West Africa, that's gonna continue to be strong and continue to have a strong level of activity. And fundamentally, let's keep in mind that, especially for deep water and ultra-deep water projects, you know, the, the efficiency has had a massive impact on, on those type of operations. So you've now got break-even economics that are in the, you know, begins with a four. So you've got $40-ish barrel break-even economics. It completely changes. You know, a lot of people ask: Well, what's, what's changed? You know, how come it's so much better today? Fundamentally, it's the drilling efficiency, the completion efficiency, how the operations are run.
You know, if you take a project like Guyana, there's a number of wells in Guyana today that are drilled and completed in 35 days. Very similar structure, very similar geologically, very similar reservoir, very similar completions designs. In Ghana and back in, you know, 2013, 2014, those were wells that were gonna be 100 days-120 days drill and complete time. So as you get more and more efficiency, and you start to move into, you know, much lower, you know, days to complete and days to drill, that's where you get that, that, that cost leverage to move into it. So I think the macro is the-- that's why I said earlier, I think the investment dollars are gonna shift not only internationally, but in particular into offshore projects. So I think places like Brazil, Gulf of Mexico, West Africa in particular, are gonna continue to be strong.
Yeah. One of the questions that's come up more recently is some noise, I'd say, out of Saudi Arabia. As you know, earlier this year, Saudi Aramco announced its decision to maintain its MPC at 12 million barrels, and they lowered some CapEx. You know, broadly, can you talk about how much of Expro's business is in the Middle East, and does this kind of softening of potential CapEx trends in Saudi impact you in any way?
No, it's a good question, and frankly, it's one we get asked by a lot of investors. You know, fortunately for me, you know, I lived and worked in Saudi earlier in my career, so I've got a long history and a fair bit of knowledge with the Kingdom. I think that what everybody has to keep in mind is, you know, they're producing about 10 million barrels a day today. They have capacity to produce about 11. The original plan was to try to get them to having 13 million barrels a day of capacity. They weren't gonna they didn't intend to produce it.
So to some extent, to have that capacity and to not produce it because they're trying to maintain, you know, proper balance within OpEx was a little bit, it was a little bit confusing to some. But let's also keep in mind, even with the investments that Aramco is now gonna make over the course of the next several years, it's still gonna be single to double-digit investment growth in the next several years. It's still gonna be very strong.
And for us, you know, one of, one of the things you have to, and one of the realities you have to live with dealing with the national oil companies is, it takes a long time to build a relationship, takes a long time to build a footprint, and we've had activity in the kingdom for, you know, 35 years, excuse me, for about 30 years, and we've got that relationship. And even we were able to leverage one of the first revenue opportunities, revenue synergy opportunities we had when we first made the merger with Frank's and Expro, was in Saudi. We were able to leverage some of the well construction activity because of our long-standing expert relationships in the kingdom.
So it's one where it's gonna have strong level of activity, and let's keep in mind, the very lowest lifting costs anywhere in the world is in Saudi. The very last barrel of oil that will be produced in the world will come out of Saudi. So I think it's gonna continue to be strong, and it's an area in the market we continue to provide a lot of support into.
Okay. You highlighted the company's leverage to international, you know, offshore fundamentals. You mentioned how 70% of your, you know, top line may be driven by D and C activities. Can you talk a little bit about your core portfolio and maybe a little bit about your strategic, your core strategy?
Sure. So really, the company is really organized around four key business lines: well construction, well flow management, subsea well access, and our production, and our well intervention integrity businesses. Within all four of those, particularly in well construction, well flow management, subsea well access, we have really strong moats around that. Whether it's been. Y ou know, all throughout the pandemic, we continued to invest in technology, we continued to invest in our people, but we've really got really strong levels of activity in each of those three business lines that, oftentimes, it's a two-horse race with ourselves, or some of our bigger competitors.
We continue to invest in our technology to drive efficiency, to reduce the number of personnel on board, those type things, and it just really makes it a defensible scenario. In essence, it becomes, you know, higher barriers to entry. And so our strategy really has been to continue to grow that. You know, we've got great relevancy with our customers today and the product lines that we provide, but we need to be able to do more for our customers and be able to provide more services, more solutions on an international footprint, and that's why we continue to, you know, to try to lean hard into that.
Okay. You mentioned earlier you expect to deliver above 20% EBITDA margins this year. I think your 2024 outlook calls for, and I'm using midpoints, about $1.65 billion of revenue, $350 million of EBITDA. Just talk to us about, you know, just general confidence on, on delivering on that outlook and, and, some of the pushes and pulls.
No, it so we, you know, we reaffirmed our guidance after Q1. You know, Q2 is continues to be strong. The production activity, or excuse me, the outlook we see for our customers and their projects throughout the rest of the year are quite strong. You know, the guidance, the midpoint of our guidance is, I'm not gonna say it's a layup, but it certainly is one we have a lot of confidence in today, that we can continue to deliver on that. And a lot of it is really, you know, really maintaining some of the operational leverage we've been able to create, the efficiencies, new technology introduction, those type of things. But we're, you know, feel really strongly, we feel really good about how we're sitting for 2024.
Great. You talked a little bit about the M&A playbook that you and Quinn have been executing on. Could you talk a little bit about the Coretrax acquisitions, which recently closed, maybe a little bit ahead of expectations?
Yeah, we were able to. We thought we'd be able to get that closed by July 1. We actually were able to close it for May 1. So it got done, and we were just waiting on some regulatory approvals. Ironically, in Saudi, was the one we were waiting for. And that took a bit more time because it happened during Ramadan. We were able to close that May 1. Again, gives us. That's a business that has some great drilling, I mean, some, you know, great, great drilling technologies, ancillary services, add ons that will complement our portfolio in well construction today.
We also have an Expandables business that's much more of a, you know, kinda, through tubing, you know, as more of a, remediation, go in and, and repair old wells type activity, very strong here in the U.S. It's one we're really excited about. It operates in probably nine or 10 countries today. Expro, we operate about 60 countries. We really think we can internationalize that business. Really great team, really high energy. We're really excited to bring those guys in, and obviously, being able to get it closed, you know, a couple of months earlier was helpful for us, too.
Got it. Got it. So can you talk a little bit about the overlap in Coretrax and how you can integrate a kinda solution to your customers by integrating? They're only in 9 or 10 countries. I'm just trying to understand what the-
Yeah. So it really is... You know, we've got some really strong, niche-y drilling tool technologies today that exist in Legacy Expro. This will actually help us add more to the portfolio, have more, be able to add more, you know, well bore cleanup tools and circulating tools and those type of things. Just adds more to the portfolio. Really becomes a, just becomes more of a complete drilling service for our customers, and just gives us more of a catalog, so to speak, with them. And, you know, because of the nature of that business, relatively new, it has not been able to have some of the market penetration into other countries. You know, very strong, about half the revenue comes today from Saudi.
So that, that's a great place for us. We don't see any impact of that with the rig count changes and those type of things from Aramco, but really being able to leverage that. And even the expandables business in places like Australia, some of the coal seam gas operations in Australia, a lot of corrosion-related damage in wellbores. We can go in, you know, through casing, run a, in essence, it's a, it's an expandable patch, and you can remediate those wells. So really kind of strengthens our, OpEx spend from our customers because their existing wellbores that they've not been able to continue to produce for through, this allows us to kind of remediate those.
So good, good technology we can leverage, and certainly leverage some of the really good, customer relationships we have, both with the, you know, IOCs as well as the NOC type, type customers outside of a market like, like Saudi.
Okay. And that's the type of business I think the street had been thinking is a $10 million-$12 million a month kind of business? 20% margin or something like that?
Yeah, I mean, so, I mean, you know, what we said was, when we announced the transaction, was this is probably a, you know, $140 million-$160 million annual business.
Okay.
It's gonna be accretive to our EBITDA margins today. It's probably gonna be closer to 30%.
Okay.
So it's a very, very high-quality business with some good technology. You know, it's one of the few you know, we're only about 5% of our revenue today comes from U.S. land. We have very intentionally continued to rightsize our business in U.S. land. For us, the services we provide, it's just become too commoditized, too much competition. The Coretrax expandable business is very strong and very solid in U.S. land. It's a unique technology. The competitive landscape is pretty narrow, can do the same thing. You can go into wellbores that have either had damage from their corrosive damage or erosive damage from fracs and those type of things.
So it gives us a way to play in the U.S. land market that's not really people-dependent, more on technology, more on metallurgy, and really, we can really kinda leverage that. So it's a great, it's a great business. We're really excited to be able to go out and bring it in under the house, so to speak.
Okay. Quickly on, how is the integration going with the PRT acquisition that closed in Q4?
It's going well. I mean, it's... That business is predominantly Gulf of Mexico. So it's not a real complicated one to integrate because it's largely Gulf of Mexico. Really helpful because it is, this really is much more along the subsea landing string type business, so in completions operations, it's a fit-for-purpose technology. You know, we kinda went out there with our traditional landing string business. Analogy is, you know, we kinda went out there with a Cadillac, and what the market really needed was a Buick.
Okay.
The CapEx cost for our equipment is, you know, probably closer to $8 million-$9 million a string. The PRT solution is much more, kind of $1.5 million of CapEx.
Okay.
It's much more fit for purpose, and we've been able to, we've already been able to really establish that. The benefit with that one is, we think that, some of the ancillary services that PRT provides today in the Gulf of Mexico, we're gonna be able to leverage that into more of the international markets. So we think there's some good pull-through with that, that we can. You know, we're not gonna internationalize the landing string business because it's a different, technical requirements, but the rest of the kinda Hook-to-Hanger concept is something we'll be able to, globally deploy as well.
Okay. On the 1Q call, you and Quinn talked a little bit about some M&A opportunities, and you kinda characterized those in smaller, less, you know, less than $100 million, kinda $100 million-$500 million, maybe even some opportunities greater than that. But give us a sense of the opportunity set and what you're thinking about.
Yeah, you know, I mean, we actually looked at, in 2023, 38 or 39 M&A targets. And those ranged from a couple million bucks to, you know, $500 million plus. And we did some level of diligence on those. It could have been very superficial or much more extensive. But for us, it all starts with: What's the industrial logic? Does the industrial logic fit? Does it make sense?
And I can tell you, it's as I've as we did the Frank's merger, as we did PRT, as we did Coretrax, I would go see customers, and I'd be all excited to talk to them and tell them about this, you know, this great, this great acquisition we made, and almost every instance, this is what I got. They gave me a stop sign. "We know you. We know Coretrax. You don't have to explain it to us." When the industrial logic is so obvious to our customers, it makes it really easy for Quinn and I to stand up and explain to the investment community why this makes sense.
So for us, it really starts with the industrial logic, and then the other addition to that is, we're gonna be patient to get these things done. The economics are gonna have to make sense as well. You know, Coretrax probably took us two years to get done. We could have done it a year before, at a much higher price point, but we were patient because we felt like it was the right thing for them and the right thing for us. So lots of opportunities. I think fundamentally there needs to continue to be consolidation within oilfield services. I think there's far too many, you know, sub-billion dollar market cap companies, and I think we've seen some bigger ones that have happened. I think we'll continue to see some M&A activity go on in the space 'cause I think it's fundamentally what we need.
Yep. So if we look at some of your more recent M&A activity has been focused on selectively building out your well construction portfolio. Is that fair?
Well, really it's been well construction. We've really covered three of the four product lines. It's been well construction, it's been intervention and integrity, and it's also been around our subsea, the well access business. So we've been-
You've done all through.
Yeah, we've tried to cover the bases, so to speak.
Yeah, and I know, and I wasn't able to attend, but you had an event to showcase some of your select well construction technologies in Houston. Maybe give us a sense of what I may have missed.
No, it was, it was a great opportunity for us to really highlight. You know, we're talking about a well construction business that, you know, we've been doing this for 80 years. I mean, so there is a tremendous amount of knowledge. We invest in technology. Everybody that was there, we had a mix of a lot of customers, we had a few analysts that were there as well, and everybody walked away and said, "Wow, I didn't realize there was so much technology involved in well construction." We've really tried to accelerate that the last few years, especially around, you know, how are we gonna improve operational efficiencies?
How are we gonna improve red zone management? We don't want people to have hands-on equipment. We've moved to much more automation, more machine learning, and that's really helped us because not only does it give you some HSE benefits, it gives you some efficiency benefits, but it also, quite frankly, reduces the number of personnel on board that's required. So you would go from a traditional crew of nine down to a crew of two, and not only is that helpful for the operator because bed space is always a challenge for operators, it's also helpful for us because hiring people in the industry today is a bit of a challenge.
That same crew of nine . Now we've got seven crew that we can send to cover 3.5 other rigs worth of activity. So it gives us that efficiencies, brings more repeatability to our customers. But really, it was around the level of technology that was there that everybody could start to see that there's, you know, there's been a lot of, a lot of evolution and a lot of very purposeful engineering to start to make these things more efficient and more, and just, you know, more operationally sensitive.
You've always had a leading market share in TRS. But what are some of those technologies that you're excited about, whether in development or recently deployed?
So really around—I just highlighted our CENTRI-FI technology and our iTONG technology. It's really the automation aspects of it. You know, it's being able to, you know, demand, de-risk. You know, we've developed some. We had a collaboration and eventually led to an acquisition of a very novel, flexible coil hose. You know, operations, much smaller footprint. It allows you to do, you know, kinda lightweight, coiled tubing interventions. You can do gas lift improvements, you can spot acid, and those type things, but it's on a much smaller footprint, and you actually run it in conjunction with a traditional wireline unit.
So you can go to smaller platforms, you can go to weight-restricted platforms, and probably more importantly for operators, all of a sudden now, you rig up that equipment in a matter of hours, not days, like you do with traditional coiled tubing equipment. So very much around how do you drive the operational efficiencies, how do you drive those kind of improvements? Because there's a tremendous number of wells that need to be intervened on globally, and this just helps provide that, you know, additional support for it.
Okay. You mentioned a pathway, longer term, to $2 billion of revenue and 25% EBITDA margins, versus this year's guide, again, is $1.65 billion of revenue at 21% margins. Talk to us about that pathway, and what needs to happen to be able to-
Sure
... to get to that.
You know, and it's, you know, that was not a that's not an aspirational, that's not an aspirational number for us. It's very much, you know, we see a clear pathway to $2 billion of revenue and 25% EBITDA margins. And, you know, we'll see that, we'll see that happen in 2025. A run rate like that, is it gonna be the month of December? Is it gonna be the fourth quarter? We're gonna see those kind of run rates next year. And part of why I can have confidence in that is, you know, the, the margin expansion for us is really gonna happen because of three things: One's gonna be a little bit, little bit of pricing, get some net pricing improvement, but that's not, that's, that's not the key element.
The operational leverage that we've created because we've really driven efficiency as we've done the integration with well construction. We've taken a tremendous amount of support costs out, which makes us run a lot better. And the third element really is around mix. And the mix, as you start to see more drilling and completions-related activity, more deep water, ultra-deep water type activity, those come at much higher flow-through margins for us. And as we continue to see that evolve, that's gonna allow us to be on that kinda path. So it's not you know, 25% EBITDA margins is not aspirational for us. You know, you gotta keep in mind, if you look at a pro forma of the two companies back in, you know, kinda 2014, 2015, it was 30%-31% EBITDA margins.
So it's and we don't have to get back to the same pricing levels that we had then to be at, you know, mid- to upper-20s EBITDA margins. We just have to have that, keep that operational leverage, you know, continue to see the mix change. That's why I think, for us, the macro environment is actually gonna be a positive because I think, as I said earlier, those investment dollars are not only gonna shift internationally, they're gonna shift offshore and shift to deep water. So I think we're in a good position to be able to capitalize on that, and it's just - it's something we're focused on. How do we continue to drive efficiency, whether it's technology or training or those kind of things?
We're trying to drive efficiency, and really kinda reduce our personnel dependency around some of these things.
Okay. Just a couple more questions, and we'll turn it over for audience Q&A. You know, broadly in the deepwater market, you talked about the Golden Triangle. I wanted to see if you could talk a little bit about West Africa. I met with Halliburton today, and they're starting to see some, you know, some things that make them a little bit more optimistic about Nigeria, Angola, but maybe you could start there 'cause I think that could be an important, you know, potential-
Sure
... cool spring for you.
No, no, it's, it's a great question. If you go back and you look at. So globally, if you look at the number of FIDs or the dollars of FIDs that have been approved, kinda 2012-2014 versus 2024-2026, we're back to kinda the same level, very consistent. But I think it's important, you gotta really peel a couple layers back on that onion. And if you look at West Africa in particular, and you look at deep water, deep water, 2012-2014, there was about $70 billion of FID sanctioned projects. Today, it's about $37 billion or $38 billion. We're only about halfway there when it comes to West Africa projects.
You know, I think that, you know, based on the, based on the technical inquiries we have, the budgetary pricing discussions we have, just the overall customer engagements, I think we're gonna continue to see West Africa firm up. We're gonna see the number of projects that are gonna come around there. You know, those are... and the level of FID approvals today isn't because of the reservoir or the geology. It's much more around the conviction that the operators have on going and sanctioning these projects, because you don't go to Angola and drill two wells. You go to Angola, and you drill a 24, a 30-well project. So I think that's why we'll start to see those, and I think it's also really helpful for us because we're so levered to drilling and completions and so levered to the CapEx spend, but like more broadly to the industry as well.
Those projects are gonna be three to five year projects, even if they sanction it today, they won't start drilling that project until they get to 2025. Which means we've got some legs, and we've got some runway into 2028, 2029, 2030. I think we have some longevity to this, and I think that's when we'll start to see some of the drillers have some of their contract length and contract duration start to really pick up and those type things. So I agree. I think we're starting to see West Africa. We continue to see signs, and I think that'll just, you know, especially as you kinda layer in the, the places like Namibia or those kind of places, 'cause they're not even in any of those numbers.
They won't start drilling until probably 2028 or 2029. So I think it's just very positive, and when you're in a high spread rate environment, offshore deepwater, West Africa, it's gonna be for a lot of our services, it's gonna be a two-horse race. And I think that's gonna we have some technical advantages there, and I think we'll be able to really leverage that with our customers, and that's why we're excited to see that kind of activity occur down the road.
Do we have any questions in the audience? If not, I'll sneak in one more. Can you talk about... You know, obviously, you and Quinn are, you know, being disciplined but looking at some inorganic opportunities. How do you balance, you know... As you know, today's energy investors are looking for a little bit of return of capital. How do you balance some of those opportunities?
You know, it's fortunately the two transactions we've been able to announce here with over the course of last year. I mean, you know, my seven-year-old grandson could do the math and see that it was accretive on day one with these. I mean, it wasn't complicated. The technology fit gave us really protected our moats, but also was, you know, made sense to our customers, but also made sense to the market. So, you know, we continue to look at those kind of things.
And, you know, we wanna have a balanced capital return policy, and sometimes doing M&A is a good use of our capital, but we let that, whether it's our CapEx spend or it's M&A or it's, you know, share repurchases, those kind of things, we, we, we look at that kinda holistically. We look at how all of that capital competes for all of those, and we're mindful that there are expectations within the market for us to deliver on all those aspects.
Yeah, and you have a zero net balance sheet, right?
We do, we do. So we're in a—we've got a strong balance sheet position. That's really helpful for us. And, you know, I think as we continue to... You know, I kinda—you asked earlier, we kinda highlighted, we focused on a couple of those three product lines. I think over the course of time, today we're very focused on customer CapEx spend. You know, if I've learned nothing over the last 32 years, it's that this, this is a cyclical business and we're gonna have a cycle, and we're gonna have—you have to be able to weather those cycles. So for us to start to, not today, not tomorrow, but down the road, to start looking more at how do we... You know, when you're 70% CapEx and 30% OpEx, how do we get to more of a 55-45?
We need to evolve towards that because we need to be, we need to be more cycle-proof. I think we've got a few years to solve those things, but I think it's part of the, the calculus we look at as well.
Great. Thanks, Mike. I think we're out of time. Really appreciate your-
Sounds good
... presentation today.
Thank you, Arun.
Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you, everybody.