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Helix Energy Solutions Group, Inc. (HLX)

Q4 2014 Earnings Call· Tue, Feb 17, 2015

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Helix Energy Solutions Group Fourth Quarter 2014 Earnings Conference Call. During the presentation, all participants will be in a listen-only mode. Afterwards, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded today, Tuesday, February 17, 2015. I would now like to turn the conference over to Terrence Jamerson, Director of Finance and Investor Relations. Please go ahead. Terrence Jamerson - Director-Finance & Investor Relations: Good morning, everyone, and thanks for joining us today for our conference call on our Q4 2014 earnings release. Participating on this call for Helix today is Owen Kratz, our CEO; Tony Tripodo, our CFO; Cliff Chamblee, our COO; Alisa Johnson, our General Counsel; and Erik Staffeldt, our Finance and Treasury Director. Hopefully, you all have had an opportunity to review our press release and related slide presentation materials released last night. If you do not have a copy of these materials, both can be accessed through the Investor Relations page on our website at www.helixesg.com. The press release can be accessed under the Press Releases tab and the slide presentation can be accessed by clicking on today's webcast icon. Before we begin our prepared remarks, Alisa Johnson will make a statement regarding forward-looking information. Alisa B. Johnson - Secretary, Executive VP & General Counsel: During this conference call, we anticipate making certain projections and forward-looking statements based on our current expectations. All statements in this conference call or in the associated presentation, other than statements of historical facts, are forward-looking statements that are made under the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Our actual future results may differ materially from our projections in forward-looking statements due to a number and variety of…

Erik Staffeldt - Director-Finance

Management

Thanks, Cliff, and good morning. Please turn to slide 14. Slide 14 provides an illustration of our debt instrument maturity profile at December 31. Debt reduction during the quarter was a result of the acquired quarterly payments of our term loan. At year end, our total funded debt was $572 million. Moving on to slide 15, it provides an update on our year-end gross and net debt levels. We continue to maintain a strong liquidity position with approximately $1.1 billion of liquidity. Our net debt level was approximately $75 million, slightly lower than our year-end 2014 levels. Year-to-date operating cash flow increased to $359 million, driven by our strong operating results. We have used cash from operations to fund $335 million of capital expenditures, $20 million of debt repayments and $8 million of stock repurchases. Our year-end cash position is $476 million. I will turn the call over to Tony for a discussion on our 2015 outlook. Anthony Tripodo - Chief Financial Officer & Executive Vice President: Thanks, Erik, and moving over to slide 17 and 18, which presents our initial outlook for 2015. Let me reinforce some of the comments Cliff made earlier, to say that despite the disappointing quarter four results, 2014 was an exceptional year for Helix, as both the Well Intervention and the Robotics businesses booked record years in terms of both revenues and earnings. Furthermore, as Erik mentioned, we funded a relatively high year of CapEx mostly for growth out of internally-generated cash flow. 2015 will be a different story to say the least. The E&P community is responding to the sharp decline in oil prices, with significant budgetary reductions. All companies in the E&P services and supply chain will be impacted and Helix will not be immune. Simply put, the E&P community has taken…

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Our first question comes from the line of Marshall Adkins. Please go ahead. J. Marshall Adkins - Raymond James & Associates, Inc.: Good morning, gentlemen. Thanks for the color. Owen, I don't want to get into obviously specifics, as you mentioned, on these contracts. But can you speak generically about how these discussions are evolving? And let me just kind of set the stage here, the land drillers, they have contracts and when people want to get at them, they basically charge the profit they would have made and so each one gives a little give and take. Is that the type of discussions you're having? Or I guess, more – how much of the – are there any penalties or anything associated generically with these contracts? Owen E. Kratz - President & Chief Executive Officer: It's a very good question, Marshall. I think you have to realize that, first, the Well Intervention market was evolving. So, the contract styles are sort of diverse. We have – the vast majority of our contracts are short duration, but many of them are multi-year in nature. In order to fit that kind of a schedule together, we require flexibility on the scheduling of the work in our contracts. And therefore, the contracts reciprocate that and the return for the producers. So, our contracts are, as I mentioned, diverse. Some of them are a matter of clients that have an obligation, but they do have the flexibility of deferring work into the future. That – those discussions are being had. The majority of our contracts that are considered take or pay do have termination for convenience clauses in them. There is a wide range of cancellation fee arrangement. Some contracts are better protected than others. And therefore, some of the producers…

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Jeffrey Campbell. Please go ahead.

Jeffrey L. Campbell - Tuohy Brothers Investment Research, Inc.

Management

Good morning. First thing I want to ask you, you mentioned that the balance sheet was going to be a priority going forward. Your balance sheet looks pretty strong right now. So, I'm just wondering what metrics or balance sheet items you're going to prioritize in the downturn? Anthony Tripodo - Chief Financial Officer & Executive Vice President: Jeffrey, I would say, retaining as much liquidity as possible, I think we look at 2015 is going to be a down year and there are factors outside of our control. So, the one thing we will try to control is maintaining that strong balance sheet and coming out of this downturn positioned where the strong balance sheet will set us up well for the future. So, again, no rocket science here. We're going to try to cut back on CapEx. We're going to try to manage cash and, again, come out of this down cycle in good shape.

Jeffrey L. Campbell - Tuohy Brothers Investment Research, Inc.

Management

Okay. Thank you. The press release noted that the IRS no. 2 was on-hire all of the fourth quarter 2014. I was wondering if you could provide a little color as to the typical customers that are renting the system at this time. And I know the visibility is tough in 2015. Do you have any current expectations with respect to the continued utilization of the IRS 2 going into 2015? Clifford V. Chamblee - Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer: Yeah, it's on paid standby right now for a particular client, but there's other clients that are looking at it to take it out and do some actual work, and when we get permission from the client that's got it on standby to take it out and perform some work that we'll probably do here next month or so. And it will be on paid standby right now through – I think through majority of this second quarter, if not all of it.

Jeffrey L. Campbell - Tuohy Brothers Investment Research, Inc.

Management

And is there any kind of – I'm just trying to understand it better. Is there any kind of pattern to the work that is being rented for or the customers that are renting the system? Owen E. Kratz - President & Chief Executive Officer: No, I don't think there is a pattern. I think it runs the gauntlet. But I think what this down cycle mean, if the rigs – if the producers do opt to use the rigs in their pools for doing the work-over work, they need the intervention system. So, I'd say that the softer market here is actually a positive for the likelihood of keeping the intervention system busy, because of course it's rented out specifically for use off of rigs.

Jeffrey L. Campbell - Tuohy Brothers Investment Research, Inc.

Management

Okay. And if I could sneak one last one in real quick, the Well Enhancers in Spain for Mediterranean intervention project, could you just add a little color on the project? And do you hope that the Well Enhancer is going to stay in that region or would it return to the North Sea or is that even answerable at this point? Clifford V. Chamblee - Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer: Yes, it's answerable. It was in Spain. I don't recall exactly how long, but about a month or so, I guess, it was off of Spain, and it's back in the North Sea, now working in the North Sea. And it did two things down in Spain. It unplugged a clogged production line on a subsea well and then did some well enhancement.

Jeffrey L. Campbell - Tuohy Brothers Investment Research, Inc.

Management

Okay. Great. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Martin Malloy. Please go ahead. Martin W. Malloy - Johnson Rice & Co. LLC: Good morning. Owen E. Kratz - President & Chief Executive Officer: Good morning, Marty. Martin W. Malloy - Johnson Rice & Co. LLC: I was wondering on the – if you could give us the timing of when the H534 and the Q4000 are heading into dry docking this year? Clifford V. Chamblee - Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer: April and August. Martin W. Malloy - Johnson Rice & Co. LLC: Okay. And then – and maybe there is just too much uncertainty out there in the market, but even just a range, is there any help you can give us on the gross profit margins that we might be looking at for this year for Well Intervention and Robotics? Anthony Tripodo - Chief Financial Officer & Executive Vice President: I think any – Marty, any guidance we give you will probably be obsolete in a week, and then absolutely again in another week. So, I think we're hesitant to do so. Lower utilization in total will, inevitably, lead to lower margins. Martin W. Malloy - Johnson Rice & Co. LLC: Okay. Yeah. And I just thought, is there any update you can give us on discussions regarding the Q7000 contracts? Owen E. Kratz - President & Chief Executive Officer: No further update. I think the last time we talked with everyone we said that we weren't actually seeking a contract for it right now, because of the opportunities that have become available in the world. That really hasn't changed. We're still in the same discussions. How 2015 will impact those discussions I'm really not sure at this point, but right now the discussions are ongoing. Martin W. Malloy - Johnson Rice & Co. LLC: Okay. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Matthew Marietta. Please go ahead.

Matt Marietta - Stephens, Inc.

Management

Good morning, guys. Owen E. Kratz - President & Chief Executive Officer: Good morning.

Matt Marietta - Stephens, Inc.

Management

Wanted to clarify on the H534, the cancellation there for work. Was that a job that was altogether cancelled? Was it deferred? Is that job being done with another rig or another asset? And maybe get into what sort of job or operations was it for that was cancelled, deferred, et cetera? Clifford V. Chamblee - Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer: There were two separate ones started up in the fourth quarter of last year, and both of them were cancelled. And both of them had cancellation fees associated with them. And I'm not sure, I think one of them was cancelled altogether and the other they may do with – may or may not do with one of the rigs that they have – that they've already got on hire and have to pay. Owen E. Kratz - President & Chief Executive Officer: And just to add a little color beyond those two, the pattern that I'm seeing is that producers are either – every well usually has partners. And what the producers are going through right now is that all the partners may or may not elect to go forward. And when a partner cancels or goes non-consent, then it's up to the other partners to pick that up into their budgets. And of course, they don't have the budget. So, that's causing a lot of problems for the producers with their drilling plans. And then, the second thing that's happening that I think creates a pattern is, as projects are cancelled, all of a sudden rigs that are currently contracted are becoming idle. And therefore, they're looking at sunk costs versus our costs and weighing those costs against their termination rights. And that's what's going on right now. That will probably take a while to shake out and then it will be a little bit longer until rig contracts start rolling over. And then, we'll have to see where the market shakes out.

Matt Marietta - Stephens, Inc.

Management

That's helpful color. I appreciate it. And then, switching over to the ROVs, I think the count shifted from 56 to 50, sequentially, quarter-over-quarter. Can you maybe help us get an idea on what the long-term count or next 12 month to 18 month count will look like and kind of what the strategy is there from an ROV unit count? Are you looking to add, subtract or what can we expect over that time horizon? Clifford V. Chamblee - Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer: Well, as Tony said, we had looked at our capital budget, and so we're acquiring all of these to the new vessels that are coming out on the Well Intervention side and on the Canyon side, such as the – I mean, the Grand Canyon II and III. And as far as the count – and I'll just finish on there. So, we're watching our CapEx there, what we have in our fleet, that we can use for some of those vessels and maybe not buy some new vessels, but use some existing ROVs in the fleet for those vessels. And the difference in the count, I believe, is we retired some of the older ROVs that we had in the fleet that were 10 years, 15 years old or plus, especially down in Asia, I believe. Anthony Tripodo - Chief Financial Officer & Executive Vice President: And they really weren't generating any revenues anyway. Clifford V. Chamblee - Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer: Correct.

Matt Marietta - Stephens, Inc.

Management

Okay. Great. That's helpful. Thanks, guys.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Joe Gibney. Please go ahead.

Joseph D. Gibney - Capital One Securities, Inc.

Management

Thanks. Good morning, guys. Tony, just a quick clarification. I think we can all kind of take a stab at where utilization rates go. It's obviously a pretty swiftly-moving market. But I'm just trying to understand what you're intimating about, what base of EBITDA off of 2014 to be sort of working down from. So, you call out some of Skandi's high-margin work in the year. I mean, is $350 million the appropriate level to begin factoring in some of the factors you call out along with whatever sort of rate utilization assumptions we want to make on the well upside? Anthony Tripodo - Chief Financial Officer & Executive Vice President: I would agree, $350 million is a good number, because if you start out the full year at $378 million, you take out the extraordinary margins we made with the Skandi last year in West Africa and Canada, and then we have a one-time insurance recovery about $8 million as well, you're about $350 million. So, that's a proper starting point, I believe, to compare with your assumptions for 2015. And then, we mentioned a specific company items such as the dry docks, the currency and lower oil prices as to how it impacts the Production Facilities business. So, that is the proper way. In terms of utilization, I'll tell you that I think the Well Enhancer, the Q4000, will be fairly well utilized in 2015. Of course, Seawell's dry dock, so it really doesn't count today. And we expect weaker utilization year-over-year for both the H534 and the Skandi Constructor.

Joseph D. Gibney - Capital One Securities, Inc.

Management

Okay. Anthony Tripodo - Chief Financial Officer & Executive Vice President: But there's a lot of unknowns. There's a lot of prospects and there is a lot of unknowns on the downside as well. So, which – again it makes it – the current environment makes it very difficult to give guidance.

Joseph D. Gibney - Capital One Securities, Inc.

Management

Understood. It's a fluid situation. Just on the – one more on the cost side. You referenced obviously trying to rein in things on the CapEx front, understood there. But how about G&A as another lever to pull? I mean, what are your expectations there on maybe trimming up G&A a little bit into 2015? Owen E. Kratz - President & Chief Executive Officer: I think there is some opportunity, Joe. But when we were reorganizing the company and divesting non-core assets, I think we did a pretty efficient job of shrinking the G&A at that same time. Over the last year, we actually were moving into an expansionary role in anticipation of these new vessels coming into the fleet. So, we were actually hiring pretty aggressively. I think what we can do is become a little less aggressive on that and rely more on our existing personnel. But I'm not sure – I think there is some trimming that can be done. But to expect more than 10% cut in SG&A would be unreasonable, I think.

Joseph D. Gibney - Capital One Securities, Inc.

Management

Okay. Fair enough. Owen E. Kratz - President & Chief Executive Officer: We just don't have it. We're a pretty lean operator.

Joseph D. Gibney - Capital One Securities, Inc.

Management

Sure. Okay. I appreciate it. I'll turn it back.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of George O'Leary. Please go ahead. George O’Leary - Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. Securities, Inc.: Good morning, guys. Anthony Tripodo - Chief Financial Officer & Executive Vice President: Good morning, George. George O’Leary - Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. Securities, Inc.: Maybe following on to the prior question. So, SG&A is not an area where there is a lot of room to cut costs. But looking forward this year, what levers do you have to pull on the cost-cutting side? Is there an opportunity to reduce backup crews, just given there is going to be lower utilization or anything maybe that I'm not thinking of that you could do to reduce costs? Owen E. Kratz - President & Chief Executive Officer: I don't know that you're going to move the needle a great deal with the labor questions. I think the bigger issue for us is to look at possible softening of utilization to the point where we could actually idle a vessel. I don't see that happening. That's not in our plans right now. But that would probably be the single largest opportunity for us to reduce costs. But right now, we're just not seeing the need. George O’Leary - Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. Securities, Inc.: Okay. That's helpful color. And then, on the CapEx front, if I look at slide 21 in your presentation, you've kind of chopped things up by grouping on what you're spending from a CapEx perspective. Where would you say the lowest-hanging fruit is for you guys to reduce CapEx, if you look across those buckets? Owen E. Kratz - President & Chief Executive Officer: The single greatest area is, I think, Tony mentioned, $305 million for growth capital for the build project included in that number. We've always reported that number inclusive of a fairly large contingency number. And the way that our builds are going – are going extremely well and smooth and I wouldn't expect us to spend that contingency amount. And that's probably the single largest piece of capital. So, if we really focus on executing well here, then there should be some big savings there. George O’Leary - Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. Securities, Inc.: Great. Thanks very much for the color, guys.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Chase Mulvehill. Please go ahead.

B. Chase Mulvehill - SunTrust Robinson Humphrey

Management

Hey. Thanks for squeezing me in. Few follow-up questions here. I guess as we look at fourth quarter, we had some issues with Q4000 and some dry docks. If we were to normalize margins, where do you think 4Q normalized margins were, if we were to adjust for those two items? Anthony Tripodo - Chief Financial Officer & Executive Vice President: Well, I mean I think the job cancellation had a significant impact on our margins, to start with. So, the question back to you, Chase, is do you want to normalize for that as well? I mean, we had a extraordinary...

B. Chase Mulvehill - SunTrust Robinson Humphrey

Management

Yes. Anthony Tripodo - Chief Financial Officer & Executive Vice President: Yeah, we had extraordinary margins in Well Intervention business all of 2014, including 41% in Q3. And at that time, we believe we said, don't expect 41% as kind of a go-forward range that closer to historical levels of 30% is a better indicator. Now, can we achieve 30% in 2015? I doubt it, because, again, utilization is the driving factor. If we went back to fourth quarter, I think we would have been at 30% sans the items we mentioned. But go forward, I think it will be difficult even to achieve 30%.

B. Chase Mulvehill - SunTrust Robinson Humphrey

Management

Okay. All right. If we were to look at leading-edge spot day rates for Well Intervention vessels, where does these stand right now and how does this compare to kind of cash OpEx on these vessels? Anthony Tripodo - Chief Financial Officer & Executive Vice President: In terms of – first of all, I would say that what we have in our backlog and expect to work out in 2015, our rates will be in excess of our cash operating costs, for sure. So, that's not an issue for us, per se.

B. Chase Mulvehill - SunTrust Robinson Humphrey

Management

Okay. All right. And then, last one for me. Just any updates on the Brazil newbuilds, any discussions you have ongoing there? Owen E. Kratz - President & Chief Executive Officer: Well, without – if I start talking about one, I have to start talking about all of them by omission.

B. Chase Mulvehill - SunTrust Robinson Humphrey

Management

Okay. Owen E. Kratz - President & Chief Executive Officer: So, I think I'd rather just stay away from all of the contract – specific contract questions for right now.

B. Chase Mulvehill - SunTrust Robinson Humphrey

Management

Okay. Owen E. Kratz - President & Chief Executive Officer: I wouldn't read anything onerous into that, but it's...

B. Chase Mulvehill - SunTrust Robinson Humphrey

Management

Understood. Understood. All right. That's all I have. Thanks, Tony. Thanks, Owen.

Operator

Operator

And I'm showing we have no further questions registered at this time. Terrence Jamerson - Director-Finance & Investor Relations: Okay. Well, everyone, thanks for joining us today. We very much appreciate your interest and participation and look forward to having you our first quarter 2015 call coming up in April. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, that does conclude the conference call for today. We thank you for your participation and ask that you please disconnect your lines.