RPC Inc (RES) 2024 Q4 法說會逐字稿

We see this technology as being well positioned to capture share of the North American land frac plug market and believe it has the potential to be a positive growth catalyst that is largely independent of broader OFS demand. Rental tools also declined slightly in the quarter due mostly to seasonal factors.

我們認為這項技術有望佔領北美陸地壓裂塞市場的份額，並相信它有可能成為一種積極的成長催化劑，且很大程度上不受更廣泛的 OFS 需求的影響。由於季節性因素，本季租賃工具也略有下降。

Mike will now discuss the quarter's financial results.

麥克現在將討論本季的財務表現。

Thanks, Ben. Shifting to the fourth quarter financial results with sequential comparisons to the third quarter of 2024, revenues decreased 1% to $335 million, driven primarily by lower non-pressure pumping activity, specifically downhole tools and rental tools, which offset growth in pressure pumping.

謝謝，本。與 2024 年第三季相比，第四季財務業績環比下降，營收下降 1% 至 3.35 億美元，主要原因是非壓力泵送活動減少，特別是井下工具和租賃工具，抵消了壓力泵送的成長。

Breaking down our operating segments, technical services, which represented 94% of our total revenues in the quarter, was essentially unchanged. Support services were down 14% and represented 6% of our total fourth quarter revenues.

細分我們的營運部門，技術服務基本上沒有變化，佔本季總收入的 94%。支援服務下降了 14%，占我們第四季總收入的 6%。

The following is a breakdown of our fourth quarter revenues for our top five service lines. Pressure pumping, 40%; downhole tools, 27.9%; coiled tubing, 9.9%; cementing, 8.3%; rental tools, 4.3%. Together, these service lines accounted for 90% of our total revenues.

以下是我們第四季五大服務線的收入明細。壓力泵送，40%；井下工具，27.9%；連續油管，9.9%；固井，8.3%；租賃工具，4.3%。這些服務線合計占我們總收入的 90%。

Cost of revenues, excluding depreciation and amortization during the fourth quarter, increased by $2.7 million to $250.2 million or a 1% increase. The higher cost of revenues is primarily due to higher insurance costs related to our operations. We also incurred higher employee costs, primarily related to healthcare benefits, which can fluctuate throughout the year. These cost increases were partially offset by lower maintenance and repair expenses.

第四季不包括折舊和攤提的營業成本增加了 270 萬美元，達到 2.502 億美元，增幅為 1%。收入成本的增加主要是由於與我們的營運相關的保險成本增加。我們也承擔了更高的員工成本，主要與醫療保健福利有關，而這些成本可能會全年波動。這些成本的增加被維護和維修費用的降低部分抵消。

As you may recall, our pumping operations were particularly soft in the third quarter. Thus, we use that downtime to perform more maintenance work on our assets. Given the sequentially higher utilization in the fourth quarter, we performed less of this maintenance work toward the end of the year.

您可能還記得，我們​​的泵送業務在第三季特別疲軟。因此，我們利用停機時間對我們的資產進行更多的維護工作。鑑於第四季度的利用率連續較高，我們在年底減少了此類維護工作。

SG&A expenses were $41.2 million, up from $37.7 million, largely reflecting the fixed cost of our support service functions as well as timing of year-end incentive amounts. Our fourth quarter effective tax rate was 9.1%, which was below the company's typical tax rate, primarily due to the implementation of certain tax strategies and interest received on some tax refunds.

銷售、一般及行政開支從 3,770 萬美元增至 4,120 萬美元，主要反映了我們支持服務職能的固定成本以及年終獎勵金額的時間安排。我們第四季的有效稅率為 9.1%，低於公司的典型稅率，這主要是由於實施了某些稅務策略和收到部分退稅的利息。

Diluted EPS was $0.06 for the fourth quarter, down from $0.09 in the third quarter. There were no non-GAAP adjustments to either of those EPS figures. EBITDA was $46.1 million, down from $55.2 million with EBITDA margins decreasing 270 basis points sequentially to 13.7%.

第四季攤薄每股收益為 0.06 美元，低於第三季的 0.09 美元。這兩個每股收益數據均未進行非 GAAP 調整。EBITDA 為 4,610 萬美元，低於 5,520 萬美元，EBITDA 利潤率較上季下降 270 個基點至 13.7%。

For the quarter, operating cash flow was $94.2 million and after CapEx of $40.5 million, free cash flow was $53.7 million. For the full year, operating cash flow was $349.4 million and after CapEx of $219.9 million, our free cash flow was $129.5 million. Of note, our 2024 cash flow included the receipt of a $53 million tax refund earlier in the year as well as some other working capital benefits later in the year related to the timing of customer payments.

本季度，營運現金流為 9,420 萬美元，扣除 4,050 萬美元的資本支出後，自由現金流為 5,370 萬美元。全年營運現金流為 3.494 億美元，扣除 2.199 億美元的資本支出後，我們的自由現金流為 1.295 億美元。值得注意的是，我們 2024 年的現金流包括今年稍早收到的 5,300 萬美元退稅，以及今年稍後與客戶付款時間相關的一些其他營運資金收益。

In light of challenging business conditions, we are pleased with our two-year cumulative free cash flow of more than $340 million, even after adding a Tier 4 DGB fleet in each of those years. This supported steady capital returns to our investors while still leaving our balance sheet highly liquid and capable of funding growth opportunities. At year-end, we had $326 million in cash and no debt on the balance sheet.

鑑於嚴峻的商業環境，即使在每年都新增 Tier 4 DGB 車隊之後，我們對兩年累計超過 3.4 億美元的自由現金流仍感到滿意。這支持了我們為投資者帶來穩定的資本回報，同時仍使我們的資產負債表保持高度流動性並有能力為成長機會提供資金。截至年底，我們擁有 3.26 億美元現金，資產負債表上沒有債務。

During the quarter, we paid $8.6 million in dividends, bringing our 2024 total to more than $34 million. We also repurchased nearly $10 million of stock during the year, mostly related to our buyback program. We spent $220 million in 2024 on capital expenditures, finishing within our guided range of $200 million to $250 million. We currently project to spend between $150 million to $200 million in capital expenditures throughout 2025.

本季度，我們支付了 860 萬美元的股息，使我們 2024 年的股息總額超過 3,400 萬美元。我們今年也回購了近 1,000 萬美元的股票，大部分與我們的回購計畫有關。2024 年，我們在資本支出上花費了 2.2 億美元，達到我們指導的 2 億至 2.5 億美元範圍。我們目前預計 2025 年的資本支出將在 1.5 億至 2 億美元之間。

I'll now turn it back over to Ben for some closing remarks.

現在我將把發言權交還給本，請他做一些結束語。

Thank you, Mike. Coming out of 2024, I'd like to reiterate several themes as we enter the new year and articulate a few strategic, operational and capital allocation themes, so you have a firm understanding of our operating philosophy and intentions.

謝謝你，麥克。即將走出 2024 年，在新的一年到來之際，我想重申幾個主題，並闡明一些策略、營運和資本配置主題，以便您牢牢理解我們的營運理念和意圖。

Our corporate objective is to create long-term shareholder value by delivering world-class oilfield services to our customers with a conservative financial management approach. We believe RPC has a well-established track record of profitability and free cash flow, despite the many ups and downs of the oilfield services industry. And within this cyclical backdrop, we have exercised financial discipline, which has afforded us the ability to invest in our operations as well as support consistent dividends and periodic share buybacks.

我們的企業目標是透過保守的財務管理方式為客戶提供世界級的油田服務，創​​造長期股東價值。我們相信，儘管油田服務業經歷了許多起伏，但 RPC 擁有良好的獲利記錄和自由現金流。在這種週期性的背景下，我們嚴格執行財務紀律，這使我們能夠投資於我們的營運並支持持續的股息和定期的股票回購。

We believe the company is fairly diversified with an attractive mix of service offerings, customers and geographic presences, consider ourselves well positioned financially to further invest and grow the business. We see several strategic imperatives to executing on our goals, improve margins and execution and optimize our assets, increase operational scale through M&A, rebalance our portfolio with a focus on high cash flow service offerings and strengthen our customer mix by increasing our focus on blue-chip E&Ps, given industry consolidation.

我們相信，該公司相當多元化，擁有頗具吸引力的服務產品、客戶和地理分佈組合，我們認為我們擁有良好的財務狀況，可以進一步投資和發展業務。我們看到實現目標的幾個策略要務，提高利潤率和執行力，優化我們的資產，透過併購擴大營運規模，重新平衡我們的投資組合並專注於高現金流服務產品，並透過增加對藍籌E&P的關注來加強我們的客戶組合，考慮到產業整合。

As we plan for 2025 and beyond, we have some action plans aligned with these strategic themes, which we believe together will help drive profitable growth, financial strength and long-term value. As discussed, we continue to invest in innovation, bringing proprietary and novel services and products to market to distinguish ourselves from our competition.

在我們規劃 2025 年及以後時，我們制定了一些與這些戰略主題一致的行動計劃，我們相信這些行動計劃將共同幫助推動盈利增長、財務實力和長期價值。正如所討論的，我們將繼續投資於創新，將專有的、新穎的服務和產品推向市場，以在競爭中脫穎而出。

We are also diligently monitoring costs, capacity and headcount, and we'll continue to take actions to align with demand and maximize margins. Furthermore, we have information technology projects underway to support improved data collection and analysis, which we believe will lead to optimized decision-making and improved efficiencies. And lastly, we constantly evaluate sales of non-core assets to sharpen our focus on core operations and monetize any nonstrategic assets.

我們也在認真監控成本、產能和員工人數，並將繼續採取行動以滿足需求並實現利潤最大化。此外，我們正在進行資訊技術專案以支援改進資料收集和分析，我們相信這將優化決策並提高效率。最後，我們不斷評估非核心資產的銷售情況，以加強我們對核心業務的關注，並將任何非策略性資產貨幣化。

Lastly, with respect to M&A, we continue to evaluate opportunities and feel the environment remains favorable for a potential acquisition. We are focused on high cash flow operations with quality management teams, strong customer service and value propositions and synergy opportunities. We believe we are a buyer of choice, given our reputation in the market, for supporting companies we bring under the RPC umbrella and look forward to sharing M&A developments when they materialize.

最後，關於併購，我們將繼續評估機會並認為環境仍然有利於潛在的收購。我們專注於高現金流運營，擁有優質的管理團隊、強大的客戶服務和價值主張以及協同機會。我們相信，鑑於我們在市場上的聲譽，我們是首選買家，我們支持納入 RPC 旗下的公司，並期待在併購實現時分享其發展。

In an often volatile market, our discipline remains consistent with a focus on financial stability and long-term shareholder returns. I want to thank all of our employees who work tirelessly to deliver high levels of service and value to our customers.

在經常波動的市場中，我們始終堅持專注於財務穩定和長期股東回報。我要感謝所有不知疲倦地工作以向我們的客戶提供高水準服務和價值的員工。

Thanks for joining us this morning. And at this time, we're happy to address any questions.

感謝您今天上午加入我們。目前，我們很樂意解答任何問題。

(Operator Instructions) Don Crist, Johnson Rice.

（操作員指示）唐·克里斯特（Don Crist）、約翰遜·賴斯（Johnson Rice）。

I wanted to start with the technical services segment. I mean, obviously, margins compressed a little bit in the fourth quarter there. Was there something in there on the cost side? Because it looks like it was more on the cost side than on the revenue side, like maybe repositioning of fleet for work or something else that we can't readily point to that maybe compress those margins. And do you think those kind of rebound as we move into the first quarter?

我想從技術服務部分開始。我的意思是，顯然第四季的利潤率有所壓縮。成本方面有問題嗎？因為看起來它更多的是在成本方面而不是收入方面，例如可能為了工作而重新定位車隊或其他一些我們無法輕易指出的可能會壓縮這些利潤率的事情。您認為進入第一季後會出現這種反彈嗎？

This is Mike. We had some higher-than-normal insurance costs during the quarter. We reset our insurance deductibles near the end of the year and actuaries do their thing, and we had some pretty significant increases there. So that really impacted us during the quarter. So it was less operational and kind of more -- it was insurance-related operations, but just kind of an unusual event and we don't anticipate that will be recurring.

這是麥克。本季我們的保險成本高於正常水準。我們在年底重新設定了保險免賠額，精算師也做了他們的工作，我們在那裡獲得了相當顯著的成長。所以這確實對我們本季產生了影響。因此，它不太具有操作性，而更像與保險相關的操作，但只是一種不尋常的事件，我們預計這種情況不會再次發生。

Okay. And obviously, there's been a lot of reports that as pressure pumping weakened in the fourth quarter during the RFP season, it was kind of bad timing from that standpoint. But as you kind of look to '25, do you anticipate any kind of reductions there, particularly on the pressure pumping side, due to increased competition as we kind of move through '25? I know you're more in the spot market than contracted market, but are you seeing that as well?

好的。顯然，有許多報導稱，由於在 RFP 季節的第四季度壓力泵送減弱，從這個角度來看，這是一個糟糕的時機。但是當您展望25年時，您是否預期會出現任何形式的減少，特別是在壓力泵送方面，因為隨著25年的到來，競爭會加劇？我知道你們更專注於現貨市場而不是合約市場，但你們也看到了這一點嗎？

Don, this is Ben. It's very difficult to predict. Again, we did see some improvement there in the fourth quarter. Many of the customers we work for in the -- during the fourth quarter, we have opportunities with well into 2025. So at this point in time, we're not currently anticipating any or see on the horizon any particular softness arising. Likewise, we certainly can't say that we are highly optimistic that our revenues there will continue to progress, but we feel pretty good about who we're working for right now and the level of activity we have currently.

唐，這是本。這很難預測。我們再次確實看到第四季度出現了一些改善。在第四季度，我們為許多客戶提供服務，他們有機會發展到 2025 年。因此，目前我們還沒有預見到任何特別的疲軟趨勢的出現，也沒有看到任何特別的疲軟趨勢的出現。同樣，我們當然不能說我們對我們的收入將繼續增長非常樂觀，但我們對我們目前的工作對象和我們目前的活動水平感到非常滿意。

Don, just when the year started, we had a lot of weather issues across the country. So that impacted everybody. As we started Q1, things started a little slower, but that's less about customers, more just about weather, and we think that's really going to impact everybody in Q1.

唐，今年年初的時候，全國各地都遭遇了許多天氣問題。所以這對每個人都有影響。當我們開始第一季時，事情開始變得有些慢，但這與客戶關係不大，更多的是與天氣有關，我們認為這將對第一季的每個人產生影響。

And I think I asked this every quarter, but given your cash hoard on the balance sheet and your propensity to do M&A, how is that market looking today? I mean, obviously, deals kind of slowed down as we moved through '24 as the bid mask kind of widened some. But are the bid-ask spreads coming closer into parity or where you think that it's a value to actually deploy some of that capital and grow into some of the other business lines?

我想我每季都會問這個問題，但考慮到你們資產負債表上的現金儲備和進行併購的傾向，今天的市場狀況如何？我的意思是，顯然，隨著我們進入 24 年，交易速度有所放緩，因為出價範圍擴大。但是買賣價差是否正在接近平價，或者您認為實際部署部分資本並發展到其他業務線是否有價值？

Don, this is Ben. We're certainly interested in trying to create some growth with some accretive acquisitions with respect to the bid-ask spreads and where those are heading or where they've been, I can't -- I mean, we have a number of things we've looked at. I'm not sure we could say that we've got a large enough universe of opportunities to specifically say we're seeing those spreads change. I don't know that we could speak to that directly. Maybe an investment banker seeing many more opportunities could speak to that. But obviously, there's been a lot of volatility, right? The OFS market did see some increase in share prices within the last few weeks, but we've also recently seen some weakness.

唐，這是本。我們當然有興趣嘗試透過一些增值性收購來創造一些成長，就買賣價差而言，以及這些收購的走向或過去的情況，我不能——我的意思是，我們已經研究了很多事情。我不確定我們是否可以說我們有足夠大的機會來具體地說我們看到這些利差的變化。我不知道我們是否可以直接談論這個問題。也許看到更多機會的投資銀行家可以談論這一點。但顯然，存在著很大的波動，對嗎？過去幾週，OFS 市場股價確實有所上漲，但最近也出現了一些疲軟跡象。

So it's variable, difficult to predict, but we'll just have to see. And obviously, that's part of the process to try to reach a deal, reach an agreement that hopefully is a win-win situation and can be accretive to our results. That's clearly what we're looking to achieve.

所以它是可變的、難以預測的，但我們只能拭目以待。顯然，這是試圖達成協議的過程的一部分，希望達成的協議是雙贏的，並且可以提高我們的成果。這顯然就是我們想要實現的目標。

Stephen Gengaro, Stifel.

史蒂芬·根加羅（Stephen Gengaro），Stifel。

I apologize if this was asked. Did you give the product line breakdowns for the quarter?

如果問到這個問題我深感抱歉。您有沒有提供本季的產品線明細？

I did, but I'm happy to do it again.

我做到了，但我很樂意再次這樣做。

I'll look at the transcript. You don't have to say it again. It's fine. You mentioned in the press release the insurance settlement. And did you give -- or the insurance -- elevated insurance costs, did you give a magnitude of that? I'm trying to kind of calibrate the impact that had on the margins and the EBITDA in the quarter.

我會看一下記錄。你不必再說了。沒有什麼。您在新聞稿中提到了保險賠償。您是否給出了——或者保險——提高的保險成本，您是否給出了其數額？我正在嘗試校準這對本季的利潤率和 EBITDA 的影響。

Yes. I don't think we gave an exact number. It was a few million dollars, and it was less of a settlement and more we have some changes in our deductibles and everybody's insurance costs are going up and ours kind of reset in the fourth quarter. So the actuaries do their magic, and we are a bit surprised by the amount of the impact, but it definitely impacted our margins.

是的。我認為我們沒有給出確切的數字。這筆錢有幾百萬美元，不僅僅是和解，更多的是我們對免賠額進行了一些調整，每個人的保險費用都在上漲，而我們的保險費用在第四季度會重置。因此，精算師發揮了他們的魔力，我們對影響的程度有點驚訝，但它確實影響了我們的利潤。

And then just a final one. When you talk to customers on the pressure pumping side, and I know the dynamics are fluid and there's been some pricing pressures as others have talked about, but what are the conversations like as far as kind of contract term and -- I believe you guys have talked a little bit about over the last year trying to get maybe a little bit more and a little less spot market work. Where does that kind of situation stand right now?

接下來是最後一個。當您與壓力泵方面的客戶交談時，我知道動態是不斷變化的，並且正如其他人談到的那樣，存在一些定價壓力，但就合約期限而言，對話是什麼樣的 - 我相信你們在過去的一年裡已經談過一點，試圖多做一些或少做一些現貨市場工作。這種情況目前處於什麼位置？

Steve, for us, we still don't have any long-term firm contracts. These are all just sort of customer agreements. We are pleased with the direction of the mix of our business. We've come into in the last several months, some opportunities that we would call more semi-dedicated. They're not necessarily -- there's not line of sight for the next year plus, but we do have kind of a multi-month view. So that's good. We're pleased with where it is today and we'll continue to work on that and try to improve that mix, maintain that and hopefully improve it a bit.

史蒂夫，對我們來說，我們仍然沒有任何長期的固定合約。這些都只是某種客戶協議。我們對我們的業務組合的方向感到滿意。在過去的幾個月裡，我們遇到了一些我們稱之為半專用的機會。不一定——我們沒有未來一年或更長時間的預測，但我們確實有一個為期數月的展望。這很好。我們對目前的狀況感到滿意，我們將繼續努力，嘗試改善這種組合，保持這種組合，並希望有所改善。

The final question I had was you've talked on the dual-fuel fleet side, and I'm pretty sure to date, you haven't done anything on the electric side. We've heard that operators kind of prefer the flexibility of dual fuel in a lot of cases. What do you see in the market? And are e-fleets something that you're considering? Or do you think you'll stick with sort of the dual fuel approach?

我的最後一個問題是，您談到了雙燃料車隊方面，但我很確定到目前為止，您還沒有在電動方面做任何事情。我們聽說，在很多情況下，營運商更喜歡雙燃料的靈活性。您在市場上看到了什麼？您是否正在考慮電子車隊？或者您認為您會堅持採用雙燃料方法嗎？

Yes. It varies from customer to customer, and dual fuel does have some flexibility that electric doesn't. That is a true statement. We said before and continue to say we're not going to address or right or wrong lack of electric fleet capability. We're not going to lean into that and begin to invest in that over a multi-year prospect.

是的。每個客戶的情況都不同，雙燃料確實具有電力所不具備的彈性。這句話確實沒錯。我們之前就說過，現在還會繼續說，我們不會解決電動車隊能力缺乏的問題，無論正確與否。我們不會依賴這一點並在多年的前景中開始對此進行投資。

Is it an issue? I mean it's a segment of the market that we're currently not competing in, and we're not going to compete in that from an organic perspective. So we'll continue to lean in. The technology continues to evolve and change. Customers like to have the latest and greatest technology. There are some new technologies that are on the horizon. So we'll just see. We'll continue to monitor it. We do like the flexibility of the Tier 4 dual fuel. And so we'll see where it goes from there. Again, we're not going to lean into an electric offering from an organic perspective.

這是一個問題嗎？我的意思是，這是我們目前還沒有參與競爭的一個細分市場，而且從有機角度來看，我們也不會參與該細分市場的競爭。因此，我們會繼續努力。技術不斷發展和變化。顧客喜歡擁有最新、最好的技術。一些新技術即將問世。所以我們只能拭目以待。我們將繼續監視它。我們確實喜歡 Tier 4 雙燃料的靈活性。我們將拭目以待接下來會發生什麼。再說一遍，從有機角度來看，我們不會傾向於提供電動產品。

[Kassimo Boda,] Gabelli.

[卡西莫·博達、] 加貝利。

Yes, I guess most of mine got asked. But just in terms on your CapEx guidance for 2025, I know you said $50 million range between it. So that's kind of pricing in, I guess, one fleet. So I was just wondering your outlook and whether you think the chances that you're going to get another fleet and what the lead time for that might be?

是的，我想我的大部分問題都被問過了。但就您對 2025 年資本支出的指導而言，我知道您說過其範圍在 5000 萬美元之間。所以我想，這就是一支艦隊的定價。所以我只是想知道您的觀點以及您是否認為您將獲得另一支艦隊的可能性以及這需要多長時間？

Well, actually, that range, I think we said that, that does not include a new Tier 4 DGB in that range that we communicated. We're going to watch it. If we can get some firm commitments enough from a customer, we'll certainly move up that decision. But in terms of the timeline, it's probably -- it hasn't changed a whole lot in terms of what we know or what we're told. It's probably a six to nine-month process to get a full fleet ordered and delivered. So that's kind of where we are. We're playing it that way at this point in time. We'll see. Again, we've got some good customer relationships, semi-dedicated, pretty well keeping us busy. So we'll see. That will be a decision a little bit down the road, but we'll keep you guys apprised.

嗯，實際上，我認為我們說過，那個範圍不包括我們所傳達的那個範圍內的新的 Tier 4 DGB。我們要去看它。如果我們能夠從客戶那裡獲得足夠堅定的承諾，我們肯定會推進這個決定。但從時間軸來看，它可能——就我們所知或所知而言，並沒有發生太大的改變。訂購和交付整支艦隊可能要花六到九個月的時間。這就是我們現在的狀況。我們現在就是以這種方式進行的。我們將會看到。再說了，我們與一些客戶建立了良好的關係，這種關係是半專注的，讓我們非常忙碌。我們拭目以待。這將是稍後做出的決定，但我們會隨時向你們通報。

(Operator Instructions) There are no further questions at this time. That concludes our Q&A session. I will now turn the conference back over to Mr. Ben Palmer for closing remarks.

（操作員指示）目前沒有其他問題。我們的問答環節到此結束。現在我將會議交還給本·帕爾默先生，請他致閉幕詞。

Thank you very much, everybody. Appreciate you joining us this morning and appreciate your questions and your interest. Hope you have a good rest of the day and look forward to touching base. Take care.

非常感謝大家。感謝您今天上午加入我們，並感謝您的提問和關注。希望您今天剩餘的時間過得愉快，並期待與您的聯繫。小心。

Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes today's call. Please be reminded that the conference call will be replayed on rpc.net within two hours following the completion of the call. You may now disconnect. Thank you all for joining.

女士們、先生們，今天的電話會議到此結束。請注意，電話會議將在通話結束後兩小時內在 rpc.net 上重播。您現在可以斷開連線。感謝大家的加入。