Good day. Welcome to the Q1 Magseis Fairfield results conference call. Please note that if you follow the webcast and use the audio dial-in to listen, you'll experience a 30-second buffering delay. If you follow the webcast for both audio and video, there will be no buffering delay, and the audio has better quality. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Carel Hooijkaas. Please go ahead. Good morning, welcome to our Q1 conference call. My name is Carel Hooijkaas. With me today is my CFO, Mark Ivin. During Q1, we continued to build our backlog. From an operational and financial perspective, Q1 was a transition quarter into quarters where we expect acquisition, gross profit, and EBITDA to improve over time on the back of increased backlog and additional awards. Starting with the operational highlights, we started the execution of our 100th OBN survey. To put this in perspective, this highlights that we have acquired 50% more OBN surveys than all other players in the market combined. This speaks to the depth and breadth of our experience and is, in fact, built up out of many firsts. The first OBN survey, the first deep water node survey, the first sparse node acquisition survey. The list of firsts continues. We are very much looking forward to the next firsts we will do by having the best people, differentiated technology, a strong relationship with our customers, and a very clear recognition of the value we bring to them. This gives us all the components we need to continue to innovate and differentiate. I want to congratulate the Magseis Fairfield team for achieving this milestone. Importantly, we continued to execute safely with zero recordable safety events and no COVID-19 cases offshore on our projects. As planned, we had to dry dock one of our chartered vessels from the ZXPLR-1 crew. The yard capacity at the shipyard in Florida was unfortunately impacted by COVID-19, which extended the docking period. Moving to the financial highlights, we generated $42.9 million, gross margin reduced to 19%, and an EBITDA of $0.6 million. The financial results were not only impacted by the extended dry docking, but also by the fact that we only had a single crew operational throughout the quarter on a low-margin contract, which was awarded during the oil market trough in the third quarter of last year. Margins were further impacted by operational and technical challenges. These operational and technical challenges have since been resolved, and we have moved into the second quarter with three acquisition crews booked on higher gross profit contracts. At the end of Q1, our available cash balance was $43.9 million. We increased our backlog on the back of key contract wins. We increased backlog to $228 million, up 15% from year-end 2020. In addition to this, we had a strong start to Q2 since we secured another contract for a multi-client company in the Gulf of Mexico. We continue to see tendering activity for 2021. Importantly, we are tendering for the first projects in 2022. Speaking from experience, this is earlier than normal and supports our view of a further improving market in 2022. Let's now take a look at our operational performance. The ZXPLR-1 crew completed the first OBN project in Mexico and transited to the dry dock in Florida for maintenance. Following the dry docking, the crew has now successfully mobilized for our 100th OBN survey. The ZXPLR-2 crew worked on a project in the Gulf of Mexico throughout the quarter. We successfully completed the equipment rental contract in the Caspian Sea. Mobilized the Z700 crew for a North Sea OBN project. The reservoir monitoring and source teams were in the middle of preparing for the North Sea season. As highlighted before, securing quality backlog has been our number one priority. In the quarter, we increased our backlog on the back of key contract wins. In the quarter, we secured a deep water 4D OBN monitor survey for a repeat customer in the Gulf of Mexico. This project started late Q1 and will run for about two months. We also secured a one-month 4D OBN monitor project in the North Sea. This survey also commenced late Q1. In addition, we secured an OBN deep water baseline contract in Angola. This project will start in Q2 for approximately 80 days. In addition, in April, we secured a four-month project for a multi-client company in the Gulf of Mexico, which will start in the summer. This brings the backlog for the remainder of the year to $ 190 million. Including our Q1 revenue, this already represents a 20% full year revenue growth, with still more crew months available to be sold in 2021. While risks, of course, remain, I'm pleased with this progression so far this early in the year. As mentioned, the margins on the new awards have improved. They have, however, not recovered to pre-COVID-19 levels. Let's now take a look at our crew activity backlog. With the awards we announced in April, the ZXPLR-1 crew is now booked well into Q4 in the Gulf of Mexico. The ZXPLR-2 crew will complete the project in the Gulf of Mexico, followed by work in Angola, and then return for a project in the Gulf of Mexico. As you can see, this crew is fully booked for 2021. The Z700 crew has just completed a project in the North Sea and remains available for future work. The MASS I crew is booked in June and July on the first acquisition project of the five-year contract we signed with ConocoPhillips. The remaining available capacity on the Z700 and MASS crew has our full attention to further build on the 2021 revenue growth and gross profit generation. The reservoir monitoring and source crews are under contract and are performing their final preparations before starting their projects in the North Sea. With that, I'll hand the call to Mark. Thank you, Carel. Good morning, everyone. After decent financial performance in 2020, we highlighted during our Q4 presentation in February that Q1 would be a challenging quarter financially. It has been. Let's look at the headlines. We had revenues of $42.9 million and gross margin of 19%, which generated a roughly break-even EBITDA of $0.6 million. The lower results compared to the previous quarters mainly reflect dry docking and lower crew utilization, and execution of low-margin projects awarded during the weak markets last year from COVID-19 and low oil prices. I'll get back to the details on this. We ended the quarter with cash holdings of $28.9 million. Available cash position of $43.9 million, including our revolving credit facility. The difference between the two cash balance figures is that we made a down payment of $15 million on our RCF facility early in the first quarter to save cash interest costs. We already plan to redraw on the RCF this month to support our growing number of crews in operation on Q2 and onwards. We remain financially sound with an equity ratio of 58% and operate in full compliance with all covenants. Revenues were somewhat lower than the previous quarters and significantly lower than Q1 last year. Acquisition revenue was affected by lower utilization and technical challenges, as Carel touched upon. Specifically, the ZXPLR-1 crew finished a project in Mexico early in the quarter before the vessel went to dry dock for a scheduled 2.5 year maintenance interval. Overall, the crew utilization for the acquisition business therefore declined to 60% utilization in Q1. This is the crew that performed at an average of 99% utilization for the full year 2020. Second, the ZXPLR-2 crew, which was mobilized late last year for projects in the Gulf of Mexico in the first quarter, was negatively affected by operational and technical challenges, and this has prolonged the project period, giving lower gross profit generation. In the systems rental and sales segment, we completed a profitable node rental project in the Caspian Sea in March. Finally, the reservoir monitoring source segment assets were in mobilization mode ahead of the North Sea season that commences in Q2. You can see that this activity level corresponds to the level of Q1 last year. To repeat from previous quarters, we do not recognize any revenue from the Cornerstone multi-client project until data processing is completed. Magseis Fairfield completed operations in Q4 last year. CGG are handling the data processing, which is to be completed in Q4 2021. Pre-funding and late sales will be recognized as revenues in our P&L at that time. Looking at the gross profit, the lower crew utilization is the main explanation for the lower gross profit margin in Q1 at 19%, which compares to 23% in the first quarter last year. Gross profit generation declined to $7.9 million from $12.3 million in Q1 2020. On the right-hand side here, I've included the slide that we used in our Q4 presentation, illustrating the time lag in the gross margin development between new order bookings and reported figures. As we said on February 16th, we knew that the project backlog that we needed to secure during the height of COVID-19 in 2020 would give us lower gross margins in early 2021. This development was accentuated by the operational and technical challenges we faced this quarter. The gross margins in the new acquisition contracts secured so far this year are healthier and better, but not quite back to pre-COVID-19 levels yet. Turning to SG&A, we saw an increase in Q1 2021 compared with the previous couple of quarters. This is explained by two main drivers. First, our technical and operational organizations are having a higher level of activity to support the ramp-up of customer projects coming in Q2 and Q3. Second, we are updating our technology roadmap for our next-generation nodal system. A lot of this effort will be capitalized, but in Q1, this work was in its early phase. From Q2 onwards, the work effort's to be capitalized at a higher rate, bringing the SG&A burden lower. The flip side of this is that CapEx in Q1 was low, and CapEx is then expected to be higher in Q2. Note that the cash effect of all this between SG&A and CapEx is neutral. Note that we reiterate our early guidance for full year 2021 for SG&A costs at or below $25 million with the activity level that we have forecasted. Summing up on the EBITDA level, we report an EBITDA for Q1 of $0.6 million compared to $5.8 million in Q1 2020, and compared to a level of about $10 million over the past few quarters. We've already been through the issues affecting the lower earnings this quarter. Going forward, our higher order backlog allows for better crew utilization on acquisition projects with better margins, and SG&A is set to normalize. Therefore, we believe EBITDA will improve later in 2021 on the back of our increased backlog. As I mentioned, our low CapEx levels continued into Q1 at $1.3 million for the quarter. We have earlier guided for a full year 2021 CapEx level, excluding multi-client investments at or below $15 million, and I can reiterate that target with the activity level that we have forecasted for the year. We have the flexibility to adapt to changing market conditions, and we are prepared to support new projects with growth-related CapEx if market and customer activity so requires. Here on the next page, the key figures are summarized for you on both an IFRS and segment basis, as we have done in the past and will continue to include both views quarterly going forward. Just a brief note on the P&L below the EBITDA line. Depreciation and amortization amounted to $15.6 million in the quarter, giving an operational loss of $15 million and a net loss of $15.9 million for the full Q1. Looking at the cash flow for the quarter, we had cash flow from operating activities of - $4.7 million, of which $3.9 million or almost $4 million is explained by changes in net working capital. This means that our core operations were virtually cash neutral. We had low net investments of $3.1 million, which includes $2 million related to the multi-client data processing. Financing cash flows was $3.3 million, excluding the RCF, consisting of $2.7 million in lease liabilities and $0.6 million in interest payments. Currency had only a minor impact in the quarter. As mentioned, we repaid $15 million on our revolving credit facility to save interest cash costs. Our cash holdings was hence $28.9 million, although the available cash position was $43.9 million, including the remaining amount available on our RCF. Turning to the net working capital, we have long pointed out that it would normalize over time, and it continues to do just that. Net working capital was reduced by $5 million to a - $14 million, which is a level I consider fine for the company overall. Trade receivables declined in the quarter, that was more than offset by reduced trade payables, higher inventory and other adjustments, which consist mainly of unbilled revenues. Not much to say about the balance sheet development in the quarter and the lower cash balance offset by a decline in non-current liabilities due to the repayment of the RCF. Our equity ratio is 58%, up slightly from Q4 reporting at 56%. We have no debt installments due in the year, and our debt ratio is low at 5% of total assets in Q1. We remain, as I said, in compliance with all debt covenants on our RCF with DNB. Before I hand it back to Carel for our market outlook, let's take a brief look ahead before I wrap up. Our current outlook for the rest of the year is that results are set to improve later in 2021. Q1 plus backlog revenues for the rest of the year are already some 20% higher than our full year 2020 revenues. We are also seeing positive effects on gross profit from improved margins on the acquisition contracts that we have secured for 2021 and improved capacity utilization due to the current project mix and project phasing. We need to continue to watch and carefully manage all costs across all regions. Our current view is that we expect SG&A to normalize later in the year, and our guidance remains at or below $25 million for the full year. With that, I'll hand it back to you, Carel. Thank you, Mark. Let's now look at the market and strategic development. We continue to be well-positioned for the remaining 2021 opportunities. This is demonstrated by the new contract awards we have secured so far this year worth around $100 million. Looking at the 2021 market in more detail, 78% of the visible market has been awarded, with key opportunities remaining in Europe, North America, and Asia. Magseis Fairfield is therefore in a position to secure further market opportunities. We are seeing that the process to get budgets allocated is taking longer. This is still very much a sign of the times we are in, and is particularly prevalent in the North Sea, and is one of the reasons for the remaining availability of the Z700 and MASS crew. We continue to work with our customers to secure additional projects for these crews. As mentioned, it is very positive to see that we are already working on tenders for 2022. Looking at the macro, we see global oil demand forecasted to exceed supply in 2021. The IEA expects global demand at pre-pandemic levels by Q3 of 2022. While risks about the speed of the recovery remain, our positive outlook is further supported by the Rystad data you see in the graph. The sharp recovery in greenfield and brownfield offshore upstream CapEx spend beyond 2021 has been maintained, and this is precisely where we have our offering. This supports our view of a double-digit market growth from 2021 onwards. In order to benefit from these market opportunities, technology differentiation will be key. This will not only reduce the cost per square kilometer, but will also provide the differentiated solutions our clients are asking for. Following this market outlook, I want to update you on our progress in our renewables business. As announced last quarter, Magseis Fairfield has established a renewables business where we continue to be a partner for our customers and provide services and solutions as part of the energy transition. Using our technology, we can in fact offer solutions for carbon capture and storage, offshore wind farm placement, and we are monitoring potential for the offshore mineral mining. From an organizational perspective, we strengthened the organization with the appointment of Tone Holm-Trudeng as Director of Renewables to manage this exciting business opportunity. Tone holds a Master of Science in Petroleum Geophysics from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. She was ahead of her time and wrote her thesis about geophysical monitoring of offshore CCS sites. Tone started her working career in Schlumberger before joining Magseis Fairfield in 2018. We strongly believe that the renewables business will require new technologies and solutions and have joined the Centre for Geophysical Forecasting to do fundamental research into geophysical solutions for renewables. This is a joint enterprise funded by The Norwegian Research Council, industrial partners, and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Last but not least, we are ramping up for client tests, both in the CCS and wind farm market this summer in the North Sea. All in all, I'm very pleased with the progress we continue to make and will provide further updates in the coming quarters. This brings me to my second to last slide. I'm pleased to announce a strategy we have launched towards achieving carbon neutrality by 2040 or earlier. Magseis Fairfield has a strong foundation to build on with a historical commitment when it comes to focusing on the health and wellbeing of our employees, our customers, our stakeholders, the communities we operate in, and the environment. In order to build on this and to support our customers in achieving their stated ambitions to become carbon neutral, we have updated our mission statement to bringing value to our global energy partners and stakeholders by delivering leading edge, safe, sustainable solutions through technology differentiation and key alliances. To achieve our ambition to become carbon neutral by 2040 or earlier, we are executing a multilayer plan to reduce our carbon footprint. This plan is built up around air quality. You may recall that we made a significant step in this regard when we changed to low sulfur fuel last year, reducing emissions very materially. Waste stream reduction, clean ocean, where our crews contribute to the Ghost Net Initiative, reuse and recycle, and remote access, where we reduce the number of people offshore, and by doing so, reduce emissions. Any final emissions which cannot be reduced any further can be offset. We are excited about being on this journey and to continue to be driven by technology advancements in this space. Being asset-light is, in this regard, a great advantage, where we can upgrade to the latest technology vessels with the lowest emissions by simply changing the vessels we charter. This brings me to my last slide. In 2021, we will use our asset-light model and technology differentiation to benefit from the market opportunities we see. Q1 was a transition quarter. We have now entered the second quarter with three acquisition crews booked on higher gross profit contracts. We've secured backlog to have a higher crew utilization going forward and see tendering activity for both 2021 and 2022. Our laser focus is on safe, efficient, and reliable execution of increased project backlog. Securing new contracts remains a priority. We are off to a good start in 2021, including our Q1 revenue. This already represents a 20% full-year revenue growth, with still more crew months available to be sold in 2021. While risks, of course, remain, I'm pleased with this progression so far this early in the year. As mentioned, the margins on the new awards have improved. They have, however, not recovered to pre-COVID levels yet. The remaining available capacity on the Z700 and MASS crews has our full attention to improve the 2021 revenue growth and gross profit generation. As shown, we are making good progress on our renewables business. Last but not least, we are excited about having the strategy to become carbon neutral by 2040 or earlier, and the opportunities this will present to us in the market going forward. With that, we'll open it up for questions. Operator, can you now open the lines for the Q&A? Thank you. If you would like to ask a question, please signal by pressing star one on your telephone keypad. If you are using a speakerphone, please make sure your mute function is turned off to allow your signal to reach our equipment. Again, press star one to ask a question. We'll pause just for a moment to allow everyone an opportunity to signal for questions. Again, press star one to ask a question. We'll take our first question. Tommy from SB 1 Markets, your line is open. Please go ahead. Thank you. Good morning, Carel and Mark. Just starting on the operational problems in Q1, could you elaborate a bit on what that's related to and if it's something we can expect also in the future, or are measures taken to prevent it going forward? Morning, Tommy. Yeah. We did have technical challenges on one of our crews in the Gulf of Mexico. It was particularly related to that specific vessel, where we struggled with the integrity of one of the umbilicals. That umbilical has since been changed, and the crew is in full operation. It's a lesson learned with regards to the vessel selection, and I don't foresee a repeat of this problem in the future. Okay, great. Then moving on to the competitive landscape. There's been some interesting developments in the past few weeks with the formation of PXGEO and Shearwater picking up the Polarcus fleet. Both of these players will have high focus on OBN. I'm just wondering, what's your view on these changes in the competitive landscape, and can it hurt the margin recovery, do you think? We're clearly monitoring this closely, right? I think with regards to PXGEO, we'll have to see how they position themselves going forward. We know their node system well, and you know our IP position around that. I think we will continue to monitor that very closely and see where they will deploy that crew after the work that they currently have secured in Brazil. When it comes to Shearwater, we'll have to see where they deploy these vessels. They also bought the streamer systems with it. There is a possibility that they will continue to use these in the streamer space, but we're very much aware that they are also looking to enter the OBN market. Having said that, we have very much a total system view and are not very focused on the actual vessels that are being used. It's the total system differentiation that Magseis Fairfield provides that differentiates us and that makes the customer select us for the execution of the work. While vessels is a part of that, again, our view is on total system differentiation, and we will continue to invest in new technologies to continue to stay ahead of competition. Comments on that? No, I think that covers that question. Yep. Perfect. Thank you. Lastly, on node technology, with PXGEO now having secured ownership over the Seabed Geosolutions nodes and Shearwater also probably introducing their own developed nodes commercially in 2022. There may seem that maybe increased competition in terms of node technology or at least increased number of node technologies out there. I'm just wondering, what's your strategy going forward in terms of node technology? Do you expect to continue using both the ZXPLR and MASS, or will you go for one of the technologies? Today in the market, it's a competitive advantage in having both. Each of the systems and technologies has particular strengths, and depending on the project we are pursuing, we select the one that fits best with the customer needs. As of right now, this is definitely a competitive advantage. Over time, we will continue to look at picking the best of the best and deploying that technology in the future. That obviously takes more time. Again, Tommy, we look at this very much from a total systems perspective. Yes, nodes is part of it. The vessels are part of it. It is really the total system, also including the sources you deploy, how you get the data into the customer's office, and so on. That's where we continue to work with our customers to tailor our solutions to their needs. Again, this underscores the depth and experience we have with the 100 surveys we've acquired so far. We continue to work with our customers to come up with new solutions that meet their requirements. We continue to move ahead in that regard and continue to differentiate. Could we see the MASS III program resuming any time soon, given that they were supposed to have superior efficiency and Shearwater now potentially bringing in low-cost nodes? What should we think about their end potential that the MASS III nodes will be more in use in the coming years? We'll come to that when we are in a position to make a final announcement on that. To Mark's earlier point in the presentation, we are working hard on the new technology developments. As and when we are ready to talk about that in a public setting, and also with regards to the investments we will make, we'll come back to that, Tommy. Yep. Perfect. That was all for me. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you, Tommy. Again, press star one to ask a question. Once again, if you would like to ask a question, please press star one. There are no question at this time. I would like to turn the conference back to the speaker for any additional or closing remark. Okay. Thank you. In Q1, we built backlog in a transition quarter. We expect acquisition, gross profit, and EBITDA to improve over time on the back of increased backlog and additional awards. Positively, tendering activity continues for 2021 and also for the first project in 2022, which again, from my experience, is much earlier than normal, and it supports our view of a further improving market in 2022. With that, we'll close the call. This conclude today's call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.
Loading workspace