Tidewater Inc (TDW) 2024 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Thank you for standing by. My name is Mandeep, and I'll be your operator today. At this time, I'd like to welcome everyone to the Tidewater Q2 2024 earnings call. (Operator Instructions) I would now like to turn the call over to West Gotcher, Senior Vice President of Strategy, Corporate Development and Investor Relations. You may begin.

謝謝你的支持。我叫 Mandeep，今天我將擔任您的接線生。現在，我歡迎大家參加 Tidewater 2024 年第二季財報電話會議。（操作員說明）我現在想將電話轉給策略、企業發展和投資者關係高級副總裁 West Gotcher。你可以開始了。

Thank you, Mandeep. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Tidewater's second-quarter 2024 earnings conference call. I'm joined on the call this morning by our President and CEO, Quintin Kneen; our Chief Financial Officer, Sam Rubio; and our Chief Commercial Officer, Piers Middleton. During today's call, we'll make certain statements that are forward-looking and referring to our plans and expectations. There are risks and uncertainties and other factors that may cause the company's actual performance to be materially different from that stated or implied by any comment that we are making during today's conference call.

謝謝你，曼迪普。大家早安，歡迎參加 Tidewater 2024 年第二季財報電話會議。今天早上，我們的總裁兼執行長 Quintin Kneen 也加入了我的電話會議。我們的財務長薩姆·盧比歐；以及我們的首席商務官皮爾斯·米德爾頓。在今天的電話會議中，我們將就我們的計劃和期望發表某些前瞻性聲明。存在風險和不確定性以及其他因素，可能導致公司的實際業績與我們在今天的電話會議上發表的任何評論所明示或暗示的業績存在重大差異。

Please refer to our most recent Form 10-K and Form 10-Q for additional details on these factors. These documents are available on our website at tdw.com or through the SEC at sec.gov. Information presented on this call speaks only as of today, August 7, 2024. Therefore, you're advised that any time-sensitive information may no longer be accurate at the time of any replay. Also, during the call, we'll present both GAAP and non-GAAP financial measures. A reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP financial measures can be found in our earnings release located on our website at tdw.com.

請參閱我們最新的表格 10-K 和表格 10-Q，以了解有關這些因素的更多詳細資訊。這些文件可在我們的網站 tdw.com 或透過 SEC 網站 sec.gov 取得。本次電話會議中提供的資訊僅截至今天（2024 年 8 月 7 日）。因此，我們建議您，任何對時間敏感的資訊在重播時可能不再準確。此外，在電話會議期間，我們將介紹 GAAP 和非 GAAP 財務指標。GAAP 與非 GAAP 財務指標的調整可以在我們網站 tdw.com 上的收益發布中找到。

And now with that, I'll turn the call over to Quintin.

現在，我將把電話轉給昆廷。

Thank you, West. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the second-quarter 2024 Tidewater earnings conference call. Second quarter revenue nicely exceeded our expectations, driven by stronger-than-anticipated day rates with printed day rates exceeding our forecast by nearly $800 per day. The second quarter marked the highest ever printed day rate for Tidewater and the highest gross margin percentage in 15 years. This is a notable milestone that highlights our efforts to high-grade the fleet through the disposition of older, smaller vessels and through the acquisition of younger, higher-specification vessels over the last few years.

謝謝你，韋斯特。大家早安，歡迎參加 Tidewater 2024 年第二季財報電話會議。第二季的收入大大超出了我們的預期，這得益於強於預期的日費率，印刷的日費率每天比我們的預測高出近 800 美元。第二季是 Tidewater 有史以來最高的日費率和 15 年來最高的毛利率。這是一個值得注意的里程碑，凸顯了我們在過去幾年中透過處置較舊、較小的船舶以及透過收購較年輕、更高規格的船舶來提高船隊等級的努力。

We believe the fleet is better positioned to realize the benefits of a healthy structurally sustainable offshore cycle and to deliver even higher day rates, better margins, and significantly greater cash flow than at any point in the 68-year history of Tidewater. The second quarter is typically characterized by favorable weather conditions and is often the quarter during which global activity begins to pick up, and this is exactly what we saw this quarter.

我們相信，與Tidewater 68 年歷史上的任何時候相比，船隊能夠更好地實現健康、結構可持續的離岸循環的好處，並提供更高的日費率、更好的利潤和顯著更大的現金流。第二季度的特點通常是有利的天氣條件，並且通常是全球經濟活動開始回升的季度，而這正是我們在本季度看到的情況。

Day rate improvements were broad-based with each of our vessel classes in each of our geographic segments posting sequential day rate improvements. The continued day rate strength across each of our vessel classes and geographic segments speaks not only to the robust vessel demand, but through the persistent hates in vessel supply in each of the regions in which we operate. And when taken together, a global tightness in vessel supply. This global tightness in vessel supply is the primary driver of the day rate performance we continue to realize.

日費率的改善是廣泛的，我們每個地理區域的每個類別的船舶都相繼公佈了日費率的改善。我們各個船舶類別和地理區域的日費率持續強勁，不僅說明了強勁的船舶需求，還說明了我們營運的每個地區對船舶供應的持續不滿。綜合來看，全球船舶供應緊張。全球船舶供應緊張是我們繼續實現日費率表現的主要驅動力。

New build vessel activity remains muted and demand for vessels looks to improve over the coming years, which is indicative of a continued favorable supply-demand fundamentals over the intermediate to long term. We've talked about this in the past, but it seems appropriate to mention again that we reforecast our business every week. Sam and I have been doing this for over 10 years. We often get ripped for doing this, but the industry moves quickly and keeping a weather eye on the movement in the supply and demand balance by both class and by geography is important to maximizing the company's return on investment by optimizing the geographic distribution of the fleet.

新造船舶活動依然低迷，未來幾年船舶需求可望改善，顯示中長期供需基本面持續有利。我們過去曾討論過這一點，但再次提及我們每週都會重新預測我們的業務似乎是合適的。Sam 和我已經這樣做了 10 多年。我們經常因為這樣做而受到損失，但行業發展迅速，按類別和地理位置密切關注供需平衡的變化對於透過優化機隊的地理分佈來最大化公司的投資回報非常重要。

Over the past month, we have seen shifting in the forward outlook that we want to discuss with you today because as a result of that shifting, we are bringing our full year revenue guidance down by $25 million or just under 2%. We now see the third quarter has slightly improved in the second quarter and the larger step-up in performance that we were originally anticipated to begin in the third quarter to now begin in the fourth quarter.

在過去的一個月裡，我們看到了我們今天想要與您討論的前瞻性前景的變化，因為這種變化的結果是，我們將全年收入指導下調了 2500 萬美元或略低於 2%。我們現在看到第三季比第二季略有改善，我們最初預計從第三季開始的業績大幅提升現在從第四季開始。

West will walk you through the updated guidance. Piers will give you insight into what is driving the shift in offshore activity from the third quarter to the fourth as well as how we execute on our geographic diversification strength and activity in our region suddenly shifts. And Sam will give you insights on how we see our operating costs going down over the next two quarters. In addition to the above, West is going to speak to you about our capital return philosophy and our thoughts on improving our debt capital structure. Piers is going to speak to you about the overall strength in the market. And lastly, Sam is going to walk you through the consolidated numbers.

West 將引導您完成更新的指南。碼頭將讓您深入了解是什麼推動了離岸活動從第三季到第四季的轉變，以及我們如何執行我們的地理多元化優勢和我們地區活動的突然變化。山姆將向您介紹我們如何看待未來兩季營運成本的下降。除了上述內容之外，韋斯特還將向您介紹我們的資本回報理念以及我們對改善債務資本結構的想法。皮爾斯將向您介紹市場的整體實力。最後，Sam 將帶您了解綜合數據。

All of these factors, the improvement in our debt capital structure, the overall strength of the market, combined with the added benefit from geographic diversification and the reduction in both operating and drydock costs as we move into next year are setting us up for an even stronger year of free cash flow generation in 2025.

所有這些因素，我們債務資本結構的改善、市場的整體實力，再加上地域多元化帶來的額外好處以及進入明年時運營和乾船塢成本的降低，正在為我們創造一個平衡的局面。是自由現金流產生更強勁的一年。

Subsequent to last quarter's earnings release, we repurchased about $17 million of shares in the open market. That brings our year-to-date share repurchases to about $33 million. And since the inception of the buyback program in the fourth quarter of 2023, we have repurchased nearly $68 million of shares in the open market. In addition to the open market repurchases, we used $28.5 million of cash in the first quarter to buy shares related to the tax obligation on equity compensation from employees in lieu of those employees issuing these shares into the open market.

上季財報發布後，我們在公開市場回購了約 1,700 萬美元的股票。這使得我們今年迄今的股票回購額達到約 3,300 萬美元。自 2023 年第四季回購計畫啟動以來，我們已在公開市場回購了近 6,800 萬美元的股票。除了公開市場回購之外，我們在第一季還使用了 2,850 萬美元現金向員工購買與股權補償納稅義務相關的股票，以取代那些在公開市場發行這些股票的員工。

So over the past three quarters, we've used $96 million of cash to reduce the share count by about $1.3 million shares. West will provide some more detail on our views on return on capital in his prepared remarks, but we remain committed to using the cash flow generated from the business to pursue a capital allocation strategy that maximizes the return to our shareholders. We continue to pursue acquisitions, but thus far, deals that are clearly value accretive to our shareholders have not materialized. There are several opportunities to acquire fleets that are strategically relevant to our existing fleet position, but the return on investment is currently higher from the repurchase of our own shares.

因此，在過去的三個季度中，我們使用了 9,600 萬美元的現金，減少了約 130 萬美元的股票數量。韋斯特將在他準備好的演講中提供更多關於我們對資本回報率的看法的細節，但我們仍然致力於利用業務產生的現金流來追求最大化股東回報的資本配置策略。我們繼續尋求收購，但到目前為止，明顯能為我們的股東增值的交易尚未實現。有多種機會收購與我們現有機隊地位具有策略相關性的機隊，但目前回購我們自己的股票的投資報酬率更高。

Our focus for acquisitions remains on fleets located in North and South America, but we remain opportunistic in all geographies. In summary, we are very pleased with the performance of the business during the second quarter. Each of the various elements of demand for our business are poised to continue to build, drilling, subsidy projects, floating production and infrastructure and support of existing production are all expected to grow materially over the next few years. And each of these activities requires offshore vessel support. We plan to continue to take advantage of a supply-constrained vessel market in a rising demand environment to continue to push day rates and drive earnings and free cash flow growth, and we are well positioned to do so.

我們的收購重點仍然是位於北美和南美的機隊，但我們仍然在所有地區保持機會主義。總而言之，我們對第二季的業務表現非常滿意。我們業務的各個需求要素都準備好繼續建設、鑽井、補貼項目、浮式生產和基礎設施以及現有生產的支援預計將在未來幾年內大幅增長。這些活動中的每一項都需要近海船舶的支援。我們計劃在需求不斷增長的環境中繼續利用供應受限的船舶市場，繼續推高日費率並推動盈利和自由現金流的增長，我們已經做好了充分準備。

And with that, let me turn the call over to West, Piers, and Sam for additional commentary and our financial outlook.

接下來，讓我將電話轉給韋斯特、皮爾斯和山姆，以獲取更多評論和我們的財務前景。

Thank you, Quintin. Following Quintin's comments on return of capital, we are pleased to announce that our Board of Directors has authorized an additional $13.9 million of share repurchase capacity. The new authorization brings our total capacity end of the program to $47.7 million. The authorize share repurchase program and remaining capacity represents a maximum amount permissible under our existing debt agreements.

謝謝你，昆廷。在 Quintin 關於資本返還的評論之後，我們很高興地宣布，我們的董事會已授權額外 1,390 萬美元的股票回購能力。新的授權使我們計畫結束時的總產能達到 4770 萬美元。授權股份回購計劃和剩餘產能代表了我們現有債務協議允許的最大金額。

To date, we've discussed that share repurchases have provided for flexibility as we evaluate competing capital allocation opportunities and that our return of capital philosophy has been discussed in the context of competing capital allocation opportunities. Both of these concepts are still relevant. However, given the near-term outlook and the structural factors influencing the longer-term fundamentals of our business. We believe that the pace of our current capital returns over the past three quarters is sustainable on a long-term basis while maintaining the optionality and financial wherewithal to pursue additional opportunities.

到目前為止，我們已經討論過，股票回購為我們評估競爭性資本配置機會提供了靈活性，並且我們的資本回報理念已在競爭性資本配置機會的背景下進行了討論。這兩個概念仍然具​​有現實意義。然而，考慮到近期前景和影響我們業務長期基本面的結構性因素。我們相信，過去三個季度我們目前的資本回報速度是長期可持續的，同時保持尋求更多機會的選擇性和財務資金。

Turning to our debt capital structure. We continue to evaluate the best path to achieve our goals of establishing a long-term unsecured debt capital structure, along with a sizable revolving credit facility. Achieving this goal not only establishes a more appropriate debt capital structure for a cyclical business that provides for added capabilities as it relates to M&A or other capital allocation opportunities.

轉向我們的債務資本結構。我們將繼續評估實現建立長期無擔保債務資本結構以及規模可觀的循環信貸額度的目標的最佳途徑。實現這一目標不僅可以為週期性業務建立更合適的債務資本結構，從而提供與併購或其他資本配置機會相關的附加能力。

We continue to monitor the debt capital markets and bank markets, which remain constructive. However, we are approaching any debt capital structure augmentation opportunistically as we have no near-term maturities, we feel comfortable with our current leverage position, and we feel that we have the ability to act on any capital allocation opportunity that may present itself.

我們繼續監控債務資本市場和銀行市場，它們仍然具有建設性。然而，我們正在機會主義地對待任何債務資本結構增強，因為我們沒有短期到期日，我們對當前的槓桿狀況感到滿意，我們認為我們有能力對可能出現的任何資本配置機會採取行動。

During the second quarter, we entered into 21 contracts for a composite leading-edge term contract day rate of 28,754 the average this quarter declined 6% sequentially as we had a number of our smallest vessels come off of long-term contracts early in the Middle East. Day rates are not uniform across vessel classes, nor are they uniform with them a given vessel class. In this quarter, we had a relatively large number of contracts with the smallest vessels within our small vessel classes and earned new contracts, bringing down the quarterly composite average day rate.

第二季度，我們簽訂了 21 份合同，綜合前沿定期合同日費率為 28,754，本季度平均水平比上一季度下降了 6%，因為我們的一些最小的船舶在中期初期就脫離了長期合同。東方。不同船舶類別的日費率並不統一，特定船舶類別的日費率也不一致。本季度，我們與小型船舶類別中最小的船舶簽訂了相對較多的合同，並贏得了新合同，從而降低了季度綜合平均日費率。

It's worth noting that our large and medium classes of PSPs and large and medium classes of banker handlers all had high single to low double-digit rate improvement sequentially. The average duration of new contracts entered into during the second quarter was just under five months, the shortest average new contract duration since we began providing this figure.

值得注意的是，我們的大中型 PSP 和大中型銀行家處理程序均連續出現高個位數到低兩位數的成長率。第二季簽訂的新合約的平均期限不到五個月，這是自我們開始提供這一數字以來最短的平均新合約期限。

Looking to the remainder of 2024, we are updating our full year revenue guidance to $1.39 billion to $1.41 billion and a 51% gross margin. We now anticipate that third quarter revenue will be similar to the second quarter as the number of drilling campaigns slated to commence in the third quarter have now moved into the fourth quarter, along with increased drydock days in the third quarter compared to our previous expectations. We do expect a nice counter seasonal step-up into the fourth quarter, in line with our prior expectations as the way projects commence and as our drydock days declined materially.

展望 2024 年剩餘時間，我們將全年營收指引更新為 13.9 億至 14.1 億美元，毛利率為 51%。我們現在預計第三季的營收將與第二季相似，因為原定於第三季開始的鑽井活動數量現已轉移到第四季度，而且與我們先前的預期相比，第三季的乾船塢天數增加。我們確實預計第四季度將出現良好的反季節性增長，這與我們先前的預期一致，因為該項目開始啟動，而且我們的乾船塢天數大幅下降。

Given the revised Q3 revenue guidance, we now expect gross margins to be up about 1 percentage point in the third quarter and now expect a fourth quarter gross margin exit rate of about 58%, an increase from prior expectations. Our contracted backlog currently sits at about $568 million of revenue for the remainder of 2024. We currently have $317 million of revenue contracted for the third quarter with 77% of available days contracted.

鑑於修訂後的第三季營收指引，我們目前預期第三季毛利率將上升約 1 個百分點，目前預期第四季毛利率退出率為 58% 左右，高於先前的預期。目前，我們的合約積壓訂單在 2024 年剩餘時間內的收入約為 5.68 億美元。目前，我們第三季的合約收入為 3.17 億美元，其中 77% 的可用天數已合約。

Further, we have $251 million of revenue backlog for the fourth quarter, with 68 days -- 68% of available days contracted. Approximately 75% of our remaining uncontracted days in the fourth quarter are associated with our large PSVs and largest classes of anchor handlers with particular exposure in our Africa and Europe and Mediterranean segments, areas that typically command the highest day rates and where we see projects commencing in the fourth quarter. The risk to our backlog revenue is unanticipated downtime due to unplanned maintenance for drydocks.

此外，第四季我們還有 2.51 億美元的營收積壓，其中 68 天——可用天數的 68% 已經收縮。第四季剩餘未簽約天數中約75% 與我們的大型PSV 和最大類別的錨處理機有關，特別是在我們的非洲、歐洲和地中海部分，這些地區通常擁有最高的日費率，並且我們看到項目開始在這些地區在第四季度。我們的積壓收入面臨的風險是由於乾船塢計劃外維護而導致的意外停機。

With that, I'll turn the call over to Piers for an overview of the commercial landscape.

這樣，我會將電話轉給皮爾斯，以了解商業景觀的概況。

Thank you, West, and good morning, everyone. On this call, my objective is to give more nuance around our chartering strategy and why we are still very optimistic about the overall outlook for the OSV market and our place within it. We feel that as the only high-specification OSV company with a truly global in-region footprint, we remain very well positioned in the various geographies were located in as demand continues to improve and as vessel supply additions remain muted.

謝謝你，韋斯特，大家早安。在這次電話會議上，我的目標是更詳細地介紹我們的租船策略，以及為什麼我們仍然對 OSV 市場的整體前景以及我們在其中的地位非常樂觀。我們認為，作為唯一一家在區域內擁有真正全球影響力的高規格 OSV 公司，隨著需求持續改善以及船舶供應增加依然疲軟，我們在各個地區仍處於有利地位。

Two things to bear in mind as we focus on the rest of the year is, one, to remember that not all our regions are created equal, although nonetheless important for it; and two, with a short-term chartering strategy geared more towards drilling and construction projects, we have some short-term risks related to delays in project commencement. In Q2, our average charter length for new contracts remained just under five months, which was lower than previous quarters and lower than we had planned for at the beginning of the year.

當我們專注於今年剩下的時間時，我們需要記住兩件事：第一，要記住，並非所有地區都是平等的，儘管這對地區來說很重要；第二，要記住，並非所有地區都是平等的。第二，由於短期租船策略更針對鑽井和建設項目，我們面臨一些與專案啟動延遲相關的短期風險。第二季度，我們的新合約平均租期仍不到五個月，低於前幾季度，也低於我們年初的計畫。

Our expectation was that now we would have signed up to support a number of drilling campaigns, primarily in Africa, Mediterranean, and the Caribbean, which would have all started in early Q3 and gone through in 2025. In reality, what has happened is that all these projects got pushed to the right and are now expected to start late in Q3, 4 with the expectation of them going through late in 2025.

我們的預期是，現在我們將簽署支援一系列鑽探活動，主要是在非洲、地中海和加勒比地區，這些活動將於第三季初開始，並於 2025 年完成。事實上，所有這些項目都被推到了右邊，現在預計將在第三、第四季末開始，並預計在 2025 年末完成。

On top of that, all those projects will be supported by our two larger PSC classes which, as West mentioned earlier, are our highest earners in the fleet. So projects pushing to the right in one geography is variable. But when you have multiple projects in multiple regions pushing to the right, the ability to leverage our regional diversification is more limited, which is what we are seeing happening in Q3.

最重要的是，所有這些項目都將得到我們兩個較大的 PSC 級別的支持，正如韋斯特之前提到的，它們是我們機隊中收入最高的級別。因此，在一個地區向右推的項目是可變的。但是，當多個地區的多個項目向右推時，利用我們的地區多元化的能力就更加有限，這就是我們在第三季度看到的情況。

The good news, and this is key, is that we aren't seeing any cancellation of projects outside of the previously announced cancellations in Saudi Arabia, and we aren't seeing any decline in day rates across any classes of our vessels. In fact, we are seeing the opposite with both ourselves and our regional competitors prepared to take some short-term utilization pain while still pushing rates.

好消息（也是關鍵）是，除了先前宣布的沙烏地阿拉伯取消項目之外，我們沒有看到任何項目被取消，而且我們沒有看到我們任何級別船舶的日費率出現任何下降。事實上，我們看到的情況恰恰相反，我們自己和我們的區域競爭對手都準備好承受一些短期的利用痛苦，同時仍然推高費率。

As an update to the ongoing situation in the Kingdom as it pertains to our own fleet, we had been in discussions on five of our vessels operating in country. And last week, we informed that all five will be off hired immediately. Within the week, our local commercial team have found work for all five vessels at higher day rates to customers in the wider Middle East region. We will suffer some items time in Q3 as these vessels reposition, but our outlook for 2024 for the performance of this region is intact as any idle time will be offset by higher than previously expected day rates in Q4, a very impressive effort from our team in the Middle East, which also shows why it's so important to have a strong local presence to be able to react quickly to all situations.

作為與我們自己的船隊有關的沙烏地王國當前局勢的最新情況，我們一直在討論我們在該國運營的五艘船。上週，我們通知所有五人將立即被解僱。一週之內，我們當地的商業團隊就為所有五艘船找到了工作，以更高的日費率向更廣泛的中東地區的客戶提供服務。由於這些船舶重新定位，我們將在第三季度遭受一些專案時間的影響，但我們對該地區2024 年業績的展望完好無損，因為任何閒置時間都將被第四季度高於先前預期的日費率所抵消，這是我們團隊的一項非常令人印象深刻的努力在中東，這也說明了為什麼擁有強大的當地影響力以便能夠對所有情況做出快速反應如此重要。

When situations like this occur, there's more value in waiting for the work to commence than to reposition both specifically. Looking out over the rest of the year and into 2025, we remain confident in the long-term demand of our customer base in each region and that our fleet mix in each geography is appropriate. And if a customer needs additional vessels, then this is only right and proper that our customers should pay to move them to a different region and to pay to move them back at the end of the project.

當發生這種情況時，等待工作開始比專門重新定位兩者更有價值。展望今年剩餘時間和 2025 年，我們對每個地區客戶群的長期需求以及我們在每個地區的機隊組合是適當的充滿信心。如果客戶需要額外的船隻，那麼我們的客戶應該付費將它們移至不同的地區，並在專案結束時付費將它們移回，這是正確和正確的。

In fact, in Q3, we will see several of our larger vessels move into different regions to support the slip projects I mentioned earlier so that they can be in place to support drilling programs in late Q3 early Q4. A short-term chartering strategy does hold some risks, we with boots on the ground in each of the regions we operate and therefore, better granular detail on our customer project needs. We feel very confident that the short-term delays we are forecasting in Q3 is mainly due to delayed project commencement.

事實上，在第三季度，我們將看到我們的幾艘較大的船隻進入不同地區，以支持我之前提到的滑移項目，以便它們可以在第三季度末第四季度初就位支持鑽井計劃。短期租船策略確實存在一些風險，我們在我們營運的每個地區都有實地考察，因此可以更好地了解客戶專案需求的細節。我們非常有信心，我們預測第三季的短期延誤主要是由於專案開工延遲造成的。

Overall, we're very pleased with how the market has continued to move in the right direction in 2024, and that we expect that positive momentum to continue into the rest of the year and into 2025, with all signs being that we see continued improvement in demand in all the regions in which we operate.

總體而言，我們對 2024 年市場繼續朝著正確方向發展感到非常滿意，並且我們預計這種積極勢頭將持續到今年剩餘時間和 2025 年，所有跡像都表明我們看到了持續改善我們經營所在的所有地區都有需求。

And with that, I'll hand over to Sam. Thank you.

接下來，我將把工作交給 Sam。謝謝。

Thank you, Piers, and good morning, everyone. At this time, I would like to take you through our financial results. And as in previous calls, my discussion will focus primarily on the quarter-to-quarter results for the second quarter of 2024 compared to the first quarter of 2024. I will also discuss some of the operational aspects that affected the second quarter and how we see the rest of the year playing out from an operating cost standpoint.

謝謝皮爾斯，大家早安。這次，我想向大家介紹一下我們的財務表現。與先前的電話會議一樣，我的討論將主要集中在 2024 年第二季與 2024 年第一季的季度業績對比。我還將討論影響第二季的一些營運方面，以及我們如何從營運成本的角度看待今年剩餘時間的情況。

In addition, this quarter, I will move away from the detailed regional results discussion and summarize them at a higher level. As noted in our press release filed yesterday, we reported net income in the second quarter of 2024 of $50.4 million or $0.94 per share. In Q2, we generated revenue of $339.2 million compared to $321.2 million in the first quarter of 2024, an increase of 5.6%. Average day rates increased by 8% from $19,563 per day in the first quarter to $21,130 per day in the second quarter, which was the main driver for the increase in revenue. Offsetting the increase in day rates was a decrease in utilization from 82.3% in the first quarter to 80.7% in Q2. This was due to higher drydock and idle days.

此外，本季度，我將不再討論詳細的區域業績，而是在更高的層面上進行總結。正如我們在昨天提交的新聞稿中指出的，我們報告 2024 年第二季的淨利潤為 5,040 萬美元，即每股 0.94 美元。第二季度，我們的營收為 3.392 億美元，較 2024 年第一季的 3.212 億美元成長 5.6%。平均日費率從第一季的每天 19,563 美元增加到第二季的每天 21,130 美元，成長了 8%，這是營收成長的主要動力。利用率從第一季的 82.3% 下降至第二季的 80.7%，抵消了日費率的成長。這是由於乾船塢和閒置天數增加所致。

Our gross margin percentage for Q2 increased modestly to 47.7% from 47.6% in Q1. Gross margin in Q2 was $161.9 million compared to $152.5 million in Q1. Adjusted EBITDA was $139.7 million in Q2 compared to $139 million in Q1. Vessel operating costs for the quarter were $176.5 million compared to $167.6 million in Q1. The increase is due to a variety of items, including higher R&M costs related to several high-cost breakdowns, higher crude costs as we moved a couple of vessels into Australia, where crude cost remains higher than our other regions.

我們第二季的毛利率從第一季的 47.6% 小幅上升至 47.7%。第二季的毛利率為 1.619 億美元，而第一季的毛利率為 1.525 億美元。第二季調整後 EBITDA 為 1.397 億美元，而第一季為 1.39 億美元。本季船舶營運成本為 1.765 億美元，而第一季為 1.676 億美元。這一增長是由於多種因素造成的，包括與幾次高成本故障相關的更高的R&M 成本、由於我們將幾艘船移至澳大利亞而導致的原油成本上漲，而澳大利亞的原油成本仍然高於我們其他地區。

Fuel costs related to just under 2 percentage points of utilization loss due to idle days as compared to the first quarter as vessels were either in between contracts, waiting on customer inspections, or vessels on spot market. In addition, we incurred a loss of 1% and of utilization due to an additional time in drydock. In the quarter, there were a couple of unique items that occurred that we do not normally consider routine operating costs. These items include $1.1 million write-off of capitalized mobilization costs due to a contract termination in the Middle East that Piers just referred to and a 1.7 million customs duty settlement in West Africa.

與第一季相比，由於船舶處於合約期間、等待客戶檢查或現貨市場上的船舶，燃料成本與因閒置天數造成的利用率損失近 2 個百分點有關。此外，由於在乾船塢停留的時間增加，我們也損失了 1% 的利用率。本季發生了一些我們通常不考慮日常營運成本的獨特項目。這些項目包括皮爾斯剛才提到的由於中東合約終止而核銷的110萬美元資本化動員成本以及西非的170萬美元關稅結算。

In Q3, we don't anticipate either of these items. Therefore, we anticipate our operating costs to decrease by about $2.8 million. Drydock activity is still heavy in Q3, but in Q4, we do see utilization increasing and costs decreasing as a result of a much lighter drydock schedule. Furthermore, we anticipate an increase in utilization as a result of fewer idle days as projects that Piers mentioned would have started in Q3 will have commenced. We anticipate a further reduction in operating costs of about $12 million. The decrease in idle and drydock days will translate to lower R&M and fuel costs. In addition, we will be moving a couple of vessels back out of Australia, which will significantly decrease operating costs as well.

在第三季度，我們預計不會出現這些項目。因此，我們預計營運成本將減少約 280 萬美元。第三季的乾船塢活動仍然很活躍，但在第四季度，由於乾船塢計畫的減少，我們確實看到利用率增加和成本下降。此外，我們預計由於閒置天數減少，利用率將會增加，因為皮爾斯提到的將在第三季啟動的專案將會開始。我們預計營運成本將進一步減少約 1200 萬美元。閒置和乾船塢天數的減少將轉化為更低的維修與維護和燃料成本。此外，我們還將把幾艘船移出澳大利亞，這也將大幅降低營運成本。

I would now like to provide additional information that has impacted both our balance sheet and income statement in the quarter. In the quarter, we sold one vessel from our active fleet for net proceeds of $2.3 million and recorded a net gain of $2.2 million. G&A costs for the second quarter was $26.3 million, $1 million higher than Q1 due primarily to higher professional fees and some bad debt recoveries that we benefited from in Q1. For the year, we expect our G&A cost to be about $107 million, which includes approximately $14 million of noncash stock compensation.

我現在想提供更多影響我們本季資產負債表和損益表的資訊。本季度，我們出售了活躍船隊中的一艘船舶，淨收益為 230 萬美元，淨收益為 220 萬美元。一般及行政費用第二季的成本為 2,630 萬美元，比第一季高出 100 萬美元，主要是由於專業費用增加以及我們在第一季度受益的一些壞帳回收。今年，我們預計 G&A 成本約為 1.07 億美元，其中包括約 1,400 萬美元的非現金股票補償。

In the second quarter, we incurred $40.1 million in deferred drydock costs compared to $40 million in Q1. We anticipate for the third quarter drydock cost of about $39 million and about $14 million for the fourth quarter. Drydock costs for the full year 2024 is expected to be about $133 million. Drydock days affected utilization by nearly 7 percentage points during the second quarter. And as we move into a lighter drydock period, utilization will naturally improve. In Q2, we also incurred $6.4 million in capital expenditures related to vessel modification, ballast water treatment installations, IT, and DP system upgrades.

第二季度，我們產生了 4,010 萬美元的遞延幹船塢成本，而第一季為 4,000 萬美元。我們預計第三季乾船塢成本約為 3,900 萬美元，第四季約為 1,400 萬美元。2024 年全年乾船塢成本預計約 1.33 億美元。第二季的乾船塢天數影響了利用率近 7 個百分點。隨著我們進入較輕的乾船塢期，利用率自然會提高。第二季度，我們還產生了 640 萬美元與船舶改裝、壓載水處理裝置、IT 和 DP 系統升級相關的資本支出。

For the full year 2024, we expect to incur approximately $26 million in capital expenditures. We generated $87.6 million of free cash flow this quarter, which is $18.2 million more than Q1. The free cash flow increase was primarily attributable to cash generated from operations and strong customer collections in the quarter. Through June 30, we have made $25 million in principal payments on our senior secured term loan and $1.5 million on our supplier facility agreement.

2024 年全年，我們預計將產生約 2,600 萬美元的資本支出。本季我們產生了 8,760 萬美元的自由現金流，比第一季增加了 1,820 萬美元。自由現金流的增加主要歸因於本季營運產生的現金和強勁的客戶收款。截至 6 月 30 日，我們已支付了 2,500 萬美元的優先擔保定期貸款本金，以及 150 萬美元的供應商貸款協議本金。

We spent $29.4 million to repurchase shares under our announced share buyback authorization. Year-to-date through June 30, we have used about $33 million of cash to reduce the number of shares in the market, and that has reduced the count by approximately 348,000 shares. Also in the first quarter, we spent $28.5 million in cash to pay taxes on behalf of employees in lieu of issuing shares of stock related to vesting stock compensation.

根據我們宣布的股票回購授權，我們花了 2,940 萬美元回購股票。年初至今，截至 6 月 30 日，我們已使用約 3,300 萬美元現金來減少市場股票數量，從而減少了約 348,000 股。同樣在第一季度，我們花了 2,850 萬美元現金代表員工納稅，以取代發行與歸屬股票報酬相關的股票。

We conduct our business through five segments. I refer to the tables in the press release and segment footnote and results of operations and discussions in the Form 10-Q for details of our region's results. To summarize the results, our region day rates improved by 8% in the quarter, led by the Americas and Asia Pacific regions, which were both over 9%. Revenues were higher in all regions, except Middle East, which slightly declined. Gross margins increased from 47.6% to 47.7%. We expect margins to increase 1% in the third quarter and for a significant improvement in the fourth quarter due to the previously discussed reduction in operating costs and improvement in utilization.

我們透過五個部門開展業務。我參考了新聞稿中的表格和部分腳註以及 10-Q 表格中的營運結果和討論，以了解我們地區結果的詳細資訊。總而言之，我們地區的日租費率在本季度提高了 8%，其中美洲和亞太地區的增幅領先，兩者均超過 9%。除中東略有下降外，所有地區的收入均較高。毛利率從 47.6% 上升至 47.7%。我們預計，由於先前討論的營運成本降低和利用率提高，第三季利潤率將成長 1%，第四季利潤率將顯著改善。

In summary, we are very pleased with our Q2 results. We do recognize the changes that will affect Q3. However, as anticipated previously, we are expecting Q4 to be a strong quarter. We remain encouraged by the main drivers that affect our results, the continued strength in day rates across each of our vessel classes, strong demand and tightness in the vessel supply will enable us to continue to generate strong free cash flows and profitability.

總之，我們對第二季的業績非常滿意。我們確實認識到將影響第三季的變化。然而，正如之前預期的那樣，我們預計第四季度將是一個強勁的季度。我們仍然受到影響我們業績的主要驅動因素的鼓舞，我們各船舶類別的日費率持續走強，強勁的需求和船舶供應的緊張將使我們能夠繼續產生強勁的自由現金流和盈利能力。

With that, I will turn it back over to Quintin.

這樣，我會將其轉回給昆汀。

Thank you, Sam. Mandeep, if you would please open it up for questions.

謝謝你，山姆。Mandeep，如果您願意的話，請打開它來提問。

(Operator Instructions) Jim Rollyson, Raymond James.

（操作說明）Jim Rollyson、Raymond James。

Hey good morning, everyone. (multiple speakers) Quintin obviously, a little disappointing when things get pushed to the right versus what was planned, but out of your control, obviously. And it sounds to me like that hasn't really changed. So timing will push into 4Q start-up and you're obviously kind of suggesting a pretty nice pop in results starting in 4Q.

嘿大家早安。（多個發言者）昆汀顯然，當事情被推向正確的方向而不是計劃的時候，有點令人失望，但顯然超出了你的控制範圍。在我看來，這一點並沒有真正改變。因此，時機將推遲到第四季度的啟動，您顯然建議從第四季度開始業績會出現相當不錯的成長。

But correct me if I'm wrong, it doesn't sound like that has changed anything about how you're feeling about the outlook for '25 and even beyond. And in response to that, I'm also curious just what you think the risks are to the start-up in 4Q could that get pushed, that kind of stuff. But it sounds like just big picture things are still tracking just with a little bit of delay here.

但如果我錯了，請糾正我，聽起來這並沒有改變你對 25 年甚至更久遠的前景的看法。對此，我也很好奇你認為第四季新創公司面臨的風險是什麼，可能會被推動，諸如此類的事情。但聽起來大局仍在跟踪，只是有一點延遲。

That's absolutely correct. And similar to what you may have heard on other conference calls around earnings season, but things are certainly shifting to the right. And it's more about logistics and supply chain than it is about economic decisions related to offshore activity. And I think that's fairly certain and well understood inside the industry. And so, what we're seeing is a little bit more difficulty coordinating and getting started. But once it gets started, I don't see it's going to slow down. I don't even see when it's going to slow down in '25 or '26, still look just as optimistic as they always have.

這是絕對正確的。與您在財報季期間的其他電話會議上聽到的情況類似，但情況肯定正在向右轉。它更多的是關於物流和供應鏈，而不是與離岸活動相關的經濟決策。我認為這一點在行業內是相當確定且眾所周知的。因此，我們看到的是協調和開始有點困難。但一旦開始，我認為它不會放緩。我什至不知道它什麼時候會在 25 年或 26 年放緩，但看起來仍然像往常一樣樂觀。

Got you. And then on the leading-edge rates, obviously, the composite number was kind of mix skewed lower. But correct me if I'm wrong, if I look across the different categories and look at the rate of increase in leading-edge this quarter, versus like the past couple of quarter increases. You were kind of fourth quarter, first quarter, you were up 3%, 4% collectively. And this quarter, that number was probably double that in the high single to low double digits. Correct me if I'm wrong there. And also just on the Middle East, maybe a little bit of context of how much of that's been re-contracted just so we can think about that mix impact going forward.

明白你了。然後，就前沿利率而言，顯然，綜合數字偏低。但如果我錯了，請糾正我，如果我查看不同的類別並查看本季領先優勢的成長率與過去幾個季度的成長率相比。第四季、第一季度，整體上漲了 3%、4%。而本季，這個數字可能是高個位數到低兩位數的兩倍。如果我錯了請糾正我。而且就中東而言，也許有一些關於其中有多少已經重新簽訂合約的背景信息，以便我們可以考慮未來的混合影響。

No, absolutely. I'm going to give it over to West because he studies this more deeply than anybody. And then Piers could probably comment a little bit more on the Middle East contract role.

不，絕對是。我要把它交給韋斯特，因為他比任何人都研究得更深入。然後皮爾斯可能會對中東合約角色發表更多評論。

Yeah. Thanks, Quintin. Good morning, Jim. So as it relates to your -- the first part of your question on the leading-edge day rates for the larger class and medium classes of the PSVs and anchor handlers. That's a fair characterization. The continuing momentum in those rates, I think, was quite good. Again, kind of high single digit to low teens, which is a pace that I think we're pretty pleased with, broadly. So the pace of improvement for those vessels, I think, is perhaps in line, if not a little bit ahead of what we had expected.

是的。謝謝，昆廷。早安，吉姆。因此，因為它涉及您的問題的第一部分，即大型和中型 PSV 和錨操作員的前沿日費率。這是一個公平的描述。我認為這些利率的持續勢頭非常好。同樣，從高個位數到低十幾歲，我認為我們對這個速度總體上非常滿意。因此，我認為這些船隻的改進步伐可能符合我們的預期，甚至超出了我們的預期。

And so to the second part of your question, there was a mix element here. And as I mentioned in my prepared remarks, we had some of the smallest vessels in our smallest vessel class happened to recontract in the same period. And so, when you look at that, it was nearly 30% of the contracts were in the smaller end of our smaller vessel classes. And that's just the vagaries of having a wide variety of vessel types in our fleet. So that's just kind of the way things work this quarter. But if you look at where the larger vessels are that are being driven by the drilling activity by FPSO activity and so forth, there's continued momentum there that we feel very comfortable with.

所以對於你問題的第二部分，這裡有一個混合元素。正如我在準備好的演講中提到的，我們最小的船舶類別中的一些最小的船舶碰巧在同一時期重新承包。因此，當你仔細觀察時，會發現近 30% 的合約屬於我們小型船舶類別中較小的一端。這只是我們船隊中擁有多種船舶類型的變幻莫測的情況。這就是本季的運作方式。但如果你看看由 FPSO 活動等鑽井活動驅動的大型船舶在哪裡，你會發現那裡有持續的勢頭，我們對此感到非常滿意。

Got it. I will turn it back. West, thanks for all the questions. Appreciate the answers.

知道了。我會把它轉回來。韋斯特，謝謝你提出的所有問題。感謝您的回答。

Thanks, Jim.

謝謝，吉姆。

Greg Lewis, BTIG.

格雷格·劉易斯，BTIG。

Hey everybody. Thanks, and good morning. And thanks for taking my questions. Thank you for the guidance and the commentary to kind of get us there. But I was hoping -- I realize we got to get through Q3 before we start thinking about Q4. But I mean, you did mention that that kind of, I guess, 58% gross margin exit rate in Q4. As I think about that, in terms of sequencing, I'm assuming that's more of like a December exit than, say, a Q4 exit? And then just to kind of help us understand that a little bit.

嘿大家。謝謝，早安。感謝您回答我的問題。感謝您的指導和評論幫助我們實現這一目標。但我希望——我意識到我們必須先完成第三季度，然後才能開始考慮第四季。但我的意思是，你確實提到過，我猜，第四季的毛利率退出率為 58%。當我想到這一點時，就順序而言，我假設這更像是 12 月退出，而不是第四季度退出？然後只是為了幫助我們理解一點。

And then I guess, Quintin, I mean it's definitely bullish times in the PSV market. But of course, any kind of commentary around what those gross margins look like in that 58% range versus maybe where you've seen them in previous cycles and just kind of curious on your views around give us a little bit of a history lesson there. Thanks.

然後我想，昆廷，我的意思是 PSV 市場絕對是牛市時期。但當然，任何關於 58% 範圍內的毛利率與您在之前週期中看到的毛利率的任何評論，以及只是對您的觀點感到好奇，都給我們上了一堂歷史課。謝謝。

Okay. Well, we're going to answer this in a team format, Greg. And Greg good to talk to you again. So it is an interesting time because the other element that I would add to the discussion in context of how the gross margin is going to be accelerating over the second half of '24 is that this is a very heavy drydock here. So we've been spending -- I think we spent over $80 million in the first two quarters on drydocks. I think we've got another $30-some-odd million in Q3.

好的。好吧，我們將以團隊形式回答這個問題，格雷格。格雷格很高興再次與您交談。所以這是一個有趣的時刻，因為我要在 24 年下半年毛利率將如何加速的討論中添加的另一個因素是，這裡是一個非常沉重的干船塢。所以我們一直在支出——我認為前兩個季度我們在幹船塢上花費了超過 8000 萬美元。我認為我們在第三季又獲得了 30 多萬美元的收入。

And then once those boats that are in drydock free up and go back on to their contracts, that naturally just increases revenue in the fourth quarter. So we had this benefit that's naturally going to pop in Q4, which is all these boats that have been in drydock are finally free, they're clean, they're ready to go, they're up and running and they're moving on to these new contracts that Piers has alluded to and then West has also talked about.

然後，一旦那些在乾船塢中的船隻釋放並重新履行合同，這自然會增加第四季度的收入。因此，我們有一個自然會在第四季度出現的好處，那就是所有這些已經停在乾船塢的船隻終於獲得了自由，它們很乾淨，它們已經準備好出發，它們已經啟動並運行並且正在移動關於皮爾斯提到的這些新合同，韋斯特也談到了。

And then in combination with that, we've had a relatively high level of fuel expense related to moving those vessels into drydock, pulling them out. So supplies and consumables and repair and maintenance have been relatively high. And then we had a couple of unusual items that Sam talked about in Q2 that had a couple of a settlement of a lower customs case in West Africa and then another element related to. --

與此相結合的是，我們與將這些船隻移入乾船塢並將其拉出相關的燃料費用水平相對較高。所以耗材和維修保養一直都比較高。然後，薩姆在第二季度談到了一些不尋常的項目，其中包括西非低關稅案件的解決方案，以及與之相關的另一個因素。--

The write-off of the --

的核銷--

Yeah, right. I'm going to talk about that one in a second. So we had a write-off of some crude costs in the Middle East. So we have costs coming down substantially. We got the boats freed up to go to work, and then we have the work coming in, in Q4. And that's what's driving that pop in margin. Now as it relates to like the margins of where they go where they peak, listen, I hope we don't see it quite frankly. I hope it keeps on going, but it's very natural for me to see a business of this type, that's earnings cost of capital, getting a 70% margin over time.

是的，對。我稍後會討論這個。因此，我們沖銷了中東的一些原油成本。所以我們的成本大幅下降。我們讓船隻被釋放出來去工作，然後我們在第四季度開始工作。這就是利潤率大幅上升的原因。現在，當它涉及到他們到達峰值的邊緣時，聽著，我希望我們沒有很坦率地看到它。我希望它能繼續下去，但對我來說，看到這種類型的企業（即資本盈利成本）隨著時間的推移獲得 70% 的利潤率是很自然的。

And Greg, before I leave it, there's something that I don't know if it came out as well on the prepared remarks, but I just want to talk about it and use your time. The really nice thing about Tidewater and the footprint that we have was illustrated a lot by what happened in the Middle East during the second quarter. And we saw a little bit of even rolling the third quarter. And Saudi Aramco decided they were going to reduce activity levels. They ended up giving vessels back to us. And when they give those vessels back to us, then we have to write-off the move costs associated with when we move those boats into it and that's what Sam was talking about that penalty.

格雷格，在我離開之前，有一些事情我不知道它是否也出現在準備好的發言中，但我只是想談談它並利用你的時間。第二季中東發生的事情充分說明了 Tidewater 的真正好處和我們所留下的足跡。我們在第三季看到了一些平衡。沙特阿美公司決定減少活動水準。他們最後把船還給了我們。當他們將這些船隻歸還給我們時，我們必須沖銷與我們將這些船隻移入其中相關的移動成本，這就是薩姆所說的處罰。

But then the team was able to get all the boats back on work really quickly. And so, to me, it's just a really exciting time as things shift a little bit, but it goes to just managing a little bit of the geographic diversification to optimize the outcome. And this is just another good example of it. And I think as we roll to Q4, you'll see a little bit more of that as peers repositions us to take advantage of newer contracts.

但隨後團隊很快就讓所有船隻恢復工作。因此，對我來說，這是一個非常令人興奮的時刻，因為事情發生了一點變化，但這只是管理一點地理多元化來優化結果。這只是另一個很好的例子。我認為，當我們進入第四季度時，隨著同行重新定位我們以利用新合同，您會看到更多這樣的情況。

All right, no, hey, that was super helpful, everybody. Thank you for the time and have a great rest of summer.

好吧，不，嘿，這對大家來說都非常有幫助。感謝您抽出寶貴的時間，祝您暑假愉快。

Thank you. (multiple speakers)

謝謝。（多個發言者）

Fredrik Stene, Clarkson's Securities.

Fredrik Stene，克拉克森證券公司。

Hey, Quintin and team, hope you are all well. I want to follow up a bit on one of the previous questions and the commentary that you gave around the leading-edge rate this quarter, as you say yourself, all rates across regions and asset bases are up, you exemplify that with some leading-edge rate examples for the larger vessels as well. And you told us that you have signed 21 contracts.

嘿，昆汀和團隊，希望你們一切都好。我想跟進一下之前的一個問題以及您對本季度領先利率的評論，正如您自己所說，跨地區和資產基礎的所有利率都上升了，您用一些領先的例子來說明-還有較大船隻的邊緣率範例。你告訴我們你已經簽署了21份合約。

So I was just wondering in terms of contracting volume and that mix -- did you have more vessels, larger vessels to sign this quarter that could have brought that average up again? Or was this just arbitrarily a quarter where you only have 21 vessels to recontract and that's why we got this higher volume of the lower vessels. So any additional commentary on that would be super helpful.

所以我只是想知道合約量和組合方面——本季是否有更多、更大的船隻要簽約，這可能會使平均水平再次上升？或者這只是任何一個季度，只有 21 艘船舶需要重新承包，這就是為什麼我們得到瞭如此大量的較低船舶。因此，任何對此的補充評論都會非常有幫助。

Yeah. Hey Fredrik, it's West, good morning. As I kind of alluded to, to some degree, again, the vagaries of having 213 discrete assets that we contracted for various lengths of time at different points in time. And so, in any given quarter, you can have a mix that shifts one direction or the other. We did mention, as we talked about in the Middle East, we had a number of vessels come off of the long-term contracts early. That is a bit unusual.

是的。嘿，弗雷德里克，我是西方，早安。正如我在某種程度上再次提到的，我們在不同時間點簽訂了不同時間長度的 213 項離散資產合同，這是一種變幻莫測的做法。因此，在任何給定的季度，你都可以有一個方向或另一個方向轉變的組合。我們確實提到，正如我們在中東談到的那樣，我們有許多船隻提前終止了長期合約。這有點不尋常。

And so, you have a higher preponderance of vessels recontract and perhaps normally would have, right, if they would have gone to the end of their contract life. So I don't know that there's a rule of thumb -- could there have been a few more boats that -- a larger boats to your question that could have contracted. But for the project delays yeah, perhaps. But I think it's important to remember that with 213 boats, seven different vessel classes that we talk about and quite a few boats spread across those classes you can just have periods in which the mix, if you will, is a little bit different than the distribution of the fleet.

因此，船舶重新承包的比例更高，如果它們的合約壽命結束的話，通常情況下可能會這樣做，對吧。所以我不知道有沒有一個經驗法則——是否可以有更多的船——對於你的問題，可能會收縮更大的船。但對於專案的延誤來說，也許是的。但我認為重要的是要記住，對於213 艘船，我們談論的七種不同的船隻類別以及分佈在這些類別中的相當多的船隻，如果您願意的話，您可能會有一段時期的組合與其他船隻略有不同。

So I don't know that there's a rule of thumb here that we can give to you other than to say that from time to time, you can have these variations and what's contracting during a given time period.

所以我不知道這裡有什麼我們可以給你的經驗法則，除了說時不時地，你可以有這些變化以及在給定時間段內收縮的情況。

I absolutely agree with West as it was more about one thing is that you have a higher number of smaller vessels coming or being re-contracted, but also you had a negative effect on the other side if there was, again, by chance, just in the quarter where you had fewer available larger vessels to recontract, which would also have a skewing effect on that average number.

我絕對同意韋斯特的觀點，因為這更多的是關於一件事，你有更多數量的小型船隻來或重新簽訂合同，但如果有，再次，偶然，只是，你也會對另一方產生負面影響在該季度，可供再承包的大型船舶較少，這也會對平均數量產生偏差影響。

Yeah. Absolutely.

是的。絕對地。

Okay. Just -- you also mentioned a five-month average contract length. Do you think, on average, you'll go much lower than that going forward? I guess for you guys, it's all about managing -- having some baseline coverage and also being able to play the market, but if you have to recontract half of the -- or the fleet to -- each rental 2 times each year, it's a lot of re-contracting to do. So any thoughts on that?

好的。只是——你還提到了五個月的平均合約期限。您認為，平均而言，您的未來會比這個水平低得多嗎？我想對你們來說，這一切都與管理有關——擁有一些基線覆蓋範圍，並且能夠參與市場，但如果你每年必須將一半的——或車隊——每次租賃重新承包兩次，那就是很多重新簽訂合約要做。那麼對此有什麼想法嗎？

Well, I think I'm going to let Piers talk to this as he's doing this on a day-to-day basis. He can give you a sense for what he feels about the momentum and day rates and so forth.

好吧，我想我會讓皮爾斯談論這個，因為他每天都在做這件事。他可以讓您了解他對勢頭和日費率等的感受。

Yeah. Hi, Fredrik. A little lower than we would normally expect. I mean, I think previous quarters, we've been at nine months or so is where we've been going as a general comps sort of across the whole fleet, we're still at 18 months. But we're starting to see some slightly longer-term contracts. I mean, drilling is generally short term anyway and constructions as well. So I think this was actually to jump on a bit of West's points from earlier.

是的。嗨，弗雷德里克。比我們通常預期的要低一些。我的意思是，我認為前幾個季度，我們已經在 9 個月左右的時間裡作為整個機隊的一般比較，我們仍然在 18 個月。但我們開始看到一些期限稍長的合約。我的意思是，鑽探通常是短期的，施工也是如此。所以我認為這實際上是為了跳出韋斯特之前的一些觀點。

You just have quarters sometime which are just a little bit different. But I think that was the case with Q2. We ended up with some smaller vessels re-contracting and some of the contracts are just a little bit shorter than we'd normally see. But I don't think overall, our strategy is going to change. We're still very positive about the long term for this market. So that gives us opportunities to continue to drive rates. But yeah, we'll see how we go through the next few quarters. But at the moment, I think we're just happy with where we are at the moment, and we're still very positive to the market going forward into '25 and '26.

有時你的宿舍只是有點不同。但我認為第二季的情況就是如此。我們最終與一些較小的船舶重新簽訂了合同，其中一些合同比我們通常看到的要短一些。但我認為總體而言，我們的策略不會改變。我們對這個市場的長期發展仍然非常樂觀。因此，這給了我們繼續提高利率的機會。但是，是的，我們將看看接下來幾季的情況如何。但目前，我認為我們對目前的狀況感到滿意，我們仍然對 25 年和 26 年的市場非常樂觀。

Super helpful. And the final one for me, which relates to day rates going forward. I think you're right in the report that you obviously remain optimistic about the outlook for 2025 and that the current supply and demand factors should allow you to maintain the pace of day rate increases that you have achieved over the past year. And I think for your -- the average rate you reported this quarter, that's around $21,000 per day. Second quarter last year was $16,000. So you've seen like a $5,000 per day improvement over the last year, if you look at the second quarter, specifically. Are you saying that we in the second quarter 2025 should expect average rates to be around $26,000?

超有幫助。對我來說最後一個問題與未來的日費率有關。我認為您在報告中的說法是正確的，您顯然對 2025 年的前景保持樂觀，並且當前的供需因素應該使您能夠保持過去一年實現的日利率增長速度。我認為，本季度報告的平均費率約為每天 21,000 美元。去年第二季的營收為 16,000 美元。因此，如果您特別關注第二季度，您會發現比去年每天的收入增加了 5,000 美元。您是說我們預計 2025 年第二季的平均費率應該在 26,000 美元左右嗎？

All right, Fredrik, you're given a little ahead there. I mean I think it's in that $3,500 to $4,500 range per year. I think that's what we can push it. And then that's about where we've been at the last 1.5 year or so. I don't want to get everyone too excited. But yeah, I do believe that, that momentum that we're talking about is there, and we continue to capitalize on it. And I look forward to delivering on it.

好吧，弗雷德里克，你已經領先了一點。我的意思是，我認為每年的費用在 3,500 美元到 4,500 美元之間。我認為這就是我們可以推動的。這就是我們過去 1.5 年左右的情況。我不想讓大家太興奮。但是，是的，我確實相信，我們正在談論的這種勢頭是存在的，我們將繼續利用它。我期待著實現它。

Thanks. I framed the question I got that on purpose, but I guess around $40 per day, it's also addressable. All right. Thank you so much, guys. That's all for me.

謝謝。我故意提出這個問題，但我猜每天大約 40 美元，這也是可以解決的。好的。非常感謝你們，夥伴們。這就是我的全部。

David Smith, Pickering Energy Partners.

大衛史密斯，皮克林能源合作夥伴。

Hey good morning. Thank you for taking my questions. Most of my questions had been asked, but I wanted to make sure I understood the comment about higher expected Q3 drydock days. If that was just shifting Q4 schedule to Q3, if it's a little bit higher expected downtime for vessel and if this impacts your average utilization expectation for '24.

嘿早安。感謝您回答我的問題。我的大部分問題都被問到了，但我想確保我理解有關第三季預期乾船塢天數較高的評論。如果這只是將第四季度的時間表轉移到第三季度，如果船舶的預期停工時間稍微長一點，並且這是否會影響您對 24 年的平均利用率預期。

Hey Dave, how are you? This is Sam. So the Q3 expectation in write-off, it's a mixture. We had some push into Q3 that were supposed to be done in Q2 just because of the contracts the way they were kind of being worked. But then you had some in Q4 getting pushed into Q3 just because, again, some of the contracts, the way they're shifting, it gives us the opportunity to get those drydocks done sooner. So it is a combination of pushing in and pushing out the overall Q3 amount of days is probably around 300 extra days in the quarter than what we originally anticipated.

嘿戴夫，你好嗎？這是薩姆。因此，第三季的沖銷預期是一個混合體。我們在第三季進行了一些工作，這些工作本來應該在第二季完成，只是因為合約的運作方式。但是，第四季度的一些合約被推遲到第三季度，只是因為一些合約的轉變方式，讓我們有機會更快地完成這些乾船塢。因此，這是推遲和推遲的結合，第三季的總天數可能比我們最初預期的多了大約 300 天。

Okay. Not really have a higher expectation of drydock days for the year, is that right?

好的。並沒有對今年的乾船塢天數抱持更高的期望，對嗎？

There will be higher expectation of drydock days in the year, yes. Again, some of it was because of some of the delays that we have seen in the drydocks, but again, just because of the timing of the way they're getting pushed.

是的，今年的乾船塢日會有更高的期望。同樣，部分原因是我們在乾船塢看到的一些延誤，但同樣，只是因為他們被推動的時間。

I appreciate it. And then I wanted to make sure I understood correctly that Q3 revenue is expected to roughly flat from Q2 because I think that would require a roughly 18% revenue increase in Q4 to hit the new guidance midpoint of $1.4 billion.

我很感激。然後我想確保我正確地理解了第三季度的收入預計將與第二季度大致持平，因為我認為第四季度的收入需要增長約 18% 才能達到 14 億美元的新指導中點。

That's right. We expect Q3 revenue to be roughly flat. And as we said in the prepared remarks, a nice step up in Q4 and that Q4 expectation kind of qualitatively around our revenue is not dissimilar to what we anticipated previously. And I think if you think about it conceptually, the projects that we anticipated to start in Q3 that would have run into Q4 are now starting late Q3, early Q4, which will allow for that revenue to be realized in that period.

這是正確的。我們預計第三季營收將大致持平。正如我們在準備好的評論中所說，第四季度的一個不錯的進步，以及第四季度對我們收入的定性預期與我們先前的預期沒有什麼不同。我認為，如果你從概念上考慮一下，我們預計在第三季開始、本來會持續到第四季的專案現在正在第三季末、第四季初開始，這將允許在該時期實現收入。

All right. I appreciate it. I'll hand it back.

好的。我很感激。我會把它還給你。

Thanks, Dave.

謝謝，戴夫。

Josh Jayne, Daniel Energy Partners.

喬許‧傑恩，丹尼爾能源合夥人。

Thanks, good morning. So the first question that I wanted to ask is just about the margin improvement, not only as we think about Q4, but going into 2025. A lot of the items that you mentioned that are going to positively impact Q4. So notably, the drydocks coming down, utilization higher, et cetera, maybe rates go up a little bit. Those things are going to be in play in 2025 as well. So just as we think about going into next year and the 57%, 58% vessel operating margin, that should sort of be a baseline as we move into 2025. Is that a good way to think about things first?

謝謝，早安。因此，我想問的第一個問題是關於利潤率的改善，不僅是在我們考慮第四季度時，而且在進入 2025 年時也是如此。您提到的許多項目將對第四季度產生積極影響。值得注意的是，幹船塢的減少、利用率的提高等等，也許費率會上升一點。這些事情也將在 2025 年發揮作用。因此，正如我們考慮進入明年以及 57%、58% 的船舶運營利潤率一樣，這應該是我們進入 2025 年時的基線。這是首先考慮事情的好方法嗎？

Well, we haven't given full guidance on '25, but we will do that on the next call. But directionally, you're correct. So here's a couple of things that we have said that dovetail into what you were saying, which is as day rates continue to improve, I don't see them pulling back in '25. So that spread and that margin that we're building on should continue to grow. The other thing that's really unique about moving from '24 to '25 is '24 is our heaviest drydock year in the five-year cycle, and '25 is going to be our lightest.

好吧，我們還沒有給出關於 25 年的完整指導，但我們會在下次電話會議上提供。但從方向上來說，你是對的。因此，我們所說的一些事情與您所說的話相吻合，即隨著日費率持續改善，我不認為他們會在 25 年有所回落。因此，我們正在建立的價差和利潤應該會繼續增長。從「24」到「25」的另一個真正獨特之處是，「24」是我們五年周期中最重的乾船塢年，而「25」將是我們最輕的干塢年。

So the vessels that have been off hire in the first half of the year, first nine months of the year and the money that we've been spending on repairing the vessels and fixing them up, we won't see nearly that amount as we go into '25. So there's going to be more vessel uptime, there's going to be fewer costs. And that should be very indicative of what we're expecting to see in Q4. So let me leave it that way, and then I'll give you a full rundown when we do the next quarter call.

因此，今年上半年、今年前九個月停租的船舶以及我們用於修理和修理船舶的資金，我們不會看到那麼多的金額。因此，船舶的正常運作時間將會更長，成本也會更低。這應該非常能說明我們對第四季的預期。所以讓我就這樣吧，然後當我們進行下一個季度的電話會議時，我會向您提供完整的概要。

Understood. And you alluded to it earlier, some of the contracting delays that we've seen, and things being pushed to the right in offshore drilling world. Could you just -- maybe you could talk about the reasons for the delays again? You talked that you spoke that it wasn't necessarily cost driving it. I was hoping you could go into a little more detail there and what you're seeing with respect to why the delays are happening. And then also a follow-on to that is if you could just frame your expectations for offshore rig activity maybe over the next 12-24 months and looking forward would be great. Thank you.

明白了。您之前提到過，我們看到了一些合約延誤，以及海上鑽探領域的事情被推向了正確的方向。您能否—也許您可以再次談談延誤的原因？你說過你說過這不一定是成本驅動的。我希望您能更詳細地介紹一下您所看到的有關延遲發生的原因。接下來的一個問題是，如果您能夠制定對未來 12-24 個月內海上鑽井活動的預期，那麼展望未來將會很棒。謝謝。

All right. Well, I'm going to kick that one over to Piers. Since he's dealing with them on a regular basis to talk to you a little bit about anecdotally what he feels is pushing things to the right. And he may have a sense also of the rig market build as we go through the next couple of years. So let me kick it over to him, and then I'll follow up.

好的。好吧，我要把那個踢給皮爾斯。因為他定期與他們打交道，並與您談論一些他認為正在將事情推向正確方向的軼事。隨著我們未來幾年的發展，他可能也對鑽孔機市場的建設有所了解。所以讓我把事情交給他，然後我會跟進。

Thank you. I mean from a project point of view, we saw a number of projects just getting pushed to the right because I think as Quintin alluded to in his comments earlier, that's the logistics and supply chain project planning, perhaps from our customers was not as speedy as perhaps they had envisioned. And I think one or two customers don't really want to be specific on areas, but one or two customers couldn't get a hold of drill pipe, for instance. So they end up saying, are we going to have to delay the project? Or we -- things like that were going to get hold of a rig, and it's just planning more than anything else and the everything got pushed the right.

謝謝。我的意思是，從項目的角度來看，我們看到許多項目被推到了右邊，因為我認為正如昆汀之前在評論中提到的那樣，這就是物流和供應鏈項目規劃，也許我們的客戶沒有那麼快也許正如他們所設想的那樣。我認為一兩個客戶並不是真的想具體說明某個領域，但例如，一兩個客戶無法獲得鑽桿。所以他們最終會說，我們是否必須推遲該專案？或者我們——類似的事情會得到一個鑽孔機，它只是計劃比其他任何事情都重要，一切都被推向正確的方向。

I think there was also in a couple of areas, there was a lack of maybe some personnel sort of issues to get organized in time and the project just got slipped 60 to 90 days. So we didn't see any cancellations. So nothing sort of worry about, but Q4 definitely looks very sort of positive on that.

我認為在幾個領域也可能存在一些人員缺乏及時組織的問題，導致專案推遲了 60 到 90 天。所以我們沒有看到任何取消。所以不用擔心，但第四季在這方面看起來絕對是非常積極的。

I think in terms of just the rig activity, when we look out to sort of obviously, we follow it very carefully in each of the regions we're in, there's a little bit of movement at the moment, it's not absolute in each of the regions we're operating in. But I would say our customers the IOCs now got themselves better organized, and I think they've got pretty good visibility for '25 and '26 in all the regions.

我認為就鑽機活動而言，當我們明顯地關注時，我們在我們所在的每個區域都非常仔細地跟踪它，目前有一些移動，但每個區域都不是絕對的。但我想說的是，我們的客戶國際奧委會現在組織得更好，我認為他們在所有地區的 25 和 26 賽事中都獲得了相當好的知名度。

And I think we'll see a big uptick in sort of activity in everywhere we operate in all the sort of main areas. So we're very positive. I think '24 was shuffling around more than anything else in the planning ends up being a bit more planning than was expected. So visibility-wise, we're pretty positive as we go into '25 and '26 with the rig in all the regions we're in.

我認為我們將看到我們在所有主要領域開展業務的所有地方的活動大幅增加。所以我們非常積極。我認為「24」比計劃中的其他任何事情都更混亂，最終比預期的計劃要多一些。因此，就可見性而言，當我們進入'25和'26時，我們對我們所在的所有地區的鑽機都非常樂觀。

Great. Thanks. I'll turn it back.

偉大的。謝謝。我會把它轉回來。

Don Crist, Johnson Rice.

唐克里斯特、約翰遜賴斯。

Morning, gentlemen. Quintin, I wanted to ask about the M&A market. In past calls, you said that you were actively looking at a number of deals that were potentially out there in the market. But given higher utilization across the industry, it seems to me that the bid-ask spread is widening, not narrowing. Any comments around that?

早安，先生們。Quintin，我想問併購市場的狀況。在過去的電話中，您表示您正在積極尋找市場上可能存在的一些交易。但鑑於整個產業的利用率較高，在我看來，買賣價差正在擴大，而不是縮小。對此有何評論？

Yeah, there's -- I don't want to say too much because that situation that you illustrated still remains right. But obviously, we're looking to make sure that any deal we do raise value to our shareholders. And for us, we can make a tremendous amount of money with the 200-plus vessels that we have. The day rates that we're talking about, the margin expansion, there's a tremendous amount of value that's going to be created as we roll through '25 and '26 just with the existing fleet.

是的，有——我不想說太多，因為你所描述的情況仍然是正確的。但顯然，我們希望確保我們所做的任何交易都能為股東增加價值。對我們來說，我們可以利用我們擁有的 200 多艘船隻賺到巨額資金。我們正在談論的日費率、利潤率擴張，當我們在 25 年和 26 年僅用現有機隊滾動時，將會創造巨大的價值。

So when I look at potential acquisitions, focused on a particular geography or a particular boat class or ideally both, and they fit nicely into our fleet and fit nicely into our age profile. Because everybody has been optimistic about the market, and they have been trying to demand more than I think that they're worth at the current time. And so, we're just staying disciplined. And I think in the long run, things will get done. But I don't want to -- the last thing I want to do is overpay for a bunch of assets. And so, we're just -- I would suffice it to say the words being very price disciplined, but we're continuing to be very active in the market.

因此，當我考慮潛在的收購時，重點關注特定的地理位置或特定的船舶類別，或者理想情況下兩者兼而有之，它們非常適合我們的船隊，也非常適合我們的年齡概況。因為每個人都對市場持樂觀態度，而且他們一直在努力要求超出我認為目前價值的東西。所以，我們只是保持紀律。我認為從長遠來看，事情將會完成。但我不想——我最不想做的就是為一堆資產支付過高的費用。因此，我們只是 - 我只想說，價格非常嚴格，但我們將繼續在市場上非常活躍。

Okay. I appreciate that color. And just one more for me. It seems like you're going to generate significant free cash flow over the next 12 to 18 months. And just your thoughts around what you would deploy that capital into? Would it be share repurchases? Or would you just kind of build cash or maybe pay down debt, et cetera? Just your thoughts around uses for that free cash flow?

好的。我很欣賞那種顏色。還給我一個。看來您將在未來 12 到 18 個月內產生大量自由現金流。您對將這筆資金部署到什麼方面的想法？會是股票回購嗎？還是你只是累積現金或償還債務等等？您對自由現金流的用途有何看法？

Well, we're not going to build cash. We'll certainly keep cash as necessary for liquidity and so forth. I don't think that we are over levered at this point in the cycle. So as a result, that cash is either going to get deployed into value-accretive acquisitions that we were just talking about, if I can get them done, if we can get them done, or we were returning that money to shareholders.

好吧，我們不會累積現金。我們當然會根據流動性等需要保留現金。我不認為我們在周期的此時點上槓桿過高。因此，這些現金要么會被部署到我們剛才談論的增值收購中，如果我能完成它們，如果我們能完成它們，或者我們將這筆錢返還給股東。

All right. I appreciate the color. Thank you. I'll turn it back.

好的。我很欣賞它的顏色。謝謝。我會把它轉回來。

Magnus Anderson, Fearnley Securities.

馬格努斯·安德森，費恩利證券公司。

Hey, guys. Thanks for taking my question. So a follow-up on the leading-edge rates that you talked about earlier. If you adjust for the lower spec Middle East vessels to the leading-edge rate to a representative distribution, what would that level be? Or could you provide some information regarding the increase to leading-edge rates for the lower spec classes?

嘿，夥計們。感謝您提出我的問題。這是您之前談到的前沿利率的後續行動。如果您將較低規格的中東船舶調整為代表性分佈的前沿率，該水平會是多少？或者您能否提供一些有關提高較低規格類別的前沿費率的資訊？

I'm not sure I understand the first part of the question, but I think what's relevant is as it relates to those vessels that re-contracted in the Middle East, as we noted in the press release, the rates that we realized by re-contracting vessels quickly were on average 29% higher. Now it was off a much lower base, right? Because again, these are the smallest vessels and one of our lowest day rate regions.

我不確定我是否理解問題的第一部分，但我認為相關的是，因為它與那些在中東重新簽訂合約的船隻有關，正如我們在新聞稿中指出的那樣，我們透過重新簽訂合約實現的費率- 快速簽約船舶平均高出29%。現在它的基數要低得多，對吧？因為這些是最小的船隻，也是我們日費率最低的地區之一。

But I think what's important is that even in that scenario where vessels came off early, we were able to get them re-contracted quickly at meaningfully higher day rates. It just so happened that given the distribution and given the nature of these assets that brought down that leading-edge day rate on a composite basis, all right? But there are elements to that situation that we believe are constructive. Again, a significant improvement in day rates for vessels that were terminated, right, and quickly re-contracted.

但我認為重要的是，即使在船舶提前下班的情況下，我們也能夠以明顯更高的日費率快速重新簽訂合約。碰巧的是，考慮到這些資產的分佈和性質，在綜合基礎上降低了前沿日利率，好嗎？但我們認為這種情況中有一些建設性的因素。再次，終止、正確並迅速重新簽訂合約的船舶的日費率顯著提高。

So I think that speaks to the strength of the market in general. I think that speaks to our regional diversification, our ability to have the on-the-ground capabilities to get those vessels re-contracted quickly. There's some, I think, some positive elements there. But again, just given the nature, as we talked about, not all rates are uniformed even within vessel classes, that just happened to weigh down the leading edge there for the quarter.

所以我認為這說明了市場的整體實力。我認為這說明了我們的區域多元化，以及我們擁有快速重新簽訂這些船隻合約的實地能力的能力。我認為其中有一些正面的因素。但同樣，正如我們所討論的，鑑於性質，即使在船舶類別內，並非所有費率都是統一的，這恰好壓低了本季度的領先優勢。

Okay. Thank you for the color, and that's all.

好的。謝謝你的顏色，僅此而已。

That concludes our Q&A session. I will now turn the call back over to Quintin Kneen for closing remarks.

我們的問答環節到此結束。現在，我將把電話轉回給昆廷·尼恩 (Quintin Kneen) 進行總結發言。

Well, thank you, everyone, and we will update you again in November. Goodbye.

好的，謝謝大家，我們會在 11 月再次向大家更新。再見。

This concludes today's call. You may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。您現在可以斷開連線。