Tidewater Inc (TDW) 2024 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Thank you for standing by. My name is Novi, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Tidewater Q3 2024 earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions)

謝謝你的支持。我叫諾維，今天我將擔任你們的會議操作員。此時此刻，我歡迎大家參加 Tidewater 2024 年第三季財報電話會議。（操作員說明）

I would now like to turn the call over to West Gotcher, Senior Vice President of Strategy, Corporate Development and Investor Relations.

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。

Thank you, Novi. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Tidewater's third 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.

謝謝你，諾維。大家早安，歡迎參加 Tidewater 2024 年第三季財報電話會議。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。

During today's call, we'll make certain statements that are forward-looking in 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. Please refer to our most recent Form 10-K and Form 10-Q for additional details on these factors.

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。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。

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, November 8, 2024. Therefore, you're advised that any time-sensitive information may no longer be accurate at the time of any replay.

這些文件可在我們的網站 tdw.com 上獲取，或透過 SEC 的 sec.gov 取得。本次電話會議中提供的資訊僅截至今天（2024 年 11 月 8 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。

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.

此外，在電話會議期間，我們還將介紹 GAAP 和非 GAAP 財務指標。GAAP 與非 GAAP 財務指標的調整可以在我們的收益報告中找到，該報告位於我們的網站 tdw.com 上。

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 third quarter 2024 Tidewater earnings conference call. Third quarter revenue came in as expected as day rates continued to improve nicely, exceeding our expectations by over $600 per day. Gross margin came in at 47.2%, and we generated free cash flow of $67 million. Year-to-date, we have generated nearly $224 million of free cash flow, $174 million more than the same period last year.

謝謝你，韋斯特。大家早安，歡迎參加 Tidewater 2024 年第三季財報電話會議。第三季收入符合預期，日費率持續良好改善，每天超出我們的預期超過 600 美元。毛利率為 47.2%，我們產生了 6,700 萬美元的自由現金流。今年迄今，我們創造了近 2.24 億美元的自由現金流，比去年同期增加了 1.74 億美元。

The substantial improvement in free cash flow generation is the result of high-grading our fleet through focusing on newer, higher specification vessels and our contracting strategy to relentlessly drive global day rates higher. We believe that long-term fundamentals support continued free cash flow progression, and we expect our free cash flow generation to improve over the coming quarters.

自由現金流產生的大幅改善是我們透過專注於更新、更高規格的船舶來對我們的船隊進行高評級的結果，以及我們不斷推高全球日費率的承包策略的結果。我們相信，長期基本面支持自由現金流的持續發展，我們預計我們的自由現金流產生將在未來幾季得到改善。

The third quarter is typically characterized as the most active quarter of the year as customers take advantage of favorable weather conditions to execute their plans ahead of the seasonally less favorable fourth and first quarters. We saw this dynamic play out this year, with average day rates improving over 5% and leading-edge day rates moving up nicely, particularly in our high-specification PSVs and smaller anchor handlers.

第三季度通常被認為是一年中最活躍的季度，因為客戶會利用有利的天氣條件，在季節性較差的第四季和第一季之前執行他們的計劃。我們今年看到了這種動態，平均日費率提高了 5% 以上，前沿日費率也大幅上升，特別是在我們的高規格 PSV 和小型錨泊機中。

Utilization came down slightly as additional time between jobs, principally in our West Africa and Europe and Mediterranean segments, along with higher-than-anticipated drydock days globally, both increased from the second quarter.

由於工作間隔時間增加（主要是在西非、歐洲和地中海地區），以及全球乾船塢天數高於預期，利用率略有下降，兩者均較第二季增加。

On last quarter's call, we discussed our weekly reforecasting process in the context of the rapid pace at which the industry outlook can change and the need to frequently evaluate our outlook as the factors driving our business evolve.

在上個季度的電話會議上，我們在行業前景快速變化的背景下討論了每週重新預測過程，以及隨著推動我們業務發展的因素經常評估我們的前景的必要性。

We've seen that play out in the past three months as activity in certain of our regions softened unexpectedly due to a lack of incremental projects, projects ending early, and regulatory delays causing more idle time for some of our vessels, principally in the Americas and Asia Pacific.

我們在過去三個月中看到了這種情況的發生，由於缺乏增量項目、項目提前結束以及監管延遲導致我們的一些船舶（主要是美洲地區）的閒置時間增加，我們某些地區的活動意外疲軟。

The North Sea, particularly in the UK sector, is anticipated to be weaker due to a combination of typical winter seasonality and adjustments to their regulatory and tax programs, both of which are putting pressure on day rates and utilization.

由於典型的冬季季節性以及監管和稅收計劃的調整，預計北海，特別是英國的北海將會疲軟，這兩者都給日費率和利用率帶來了壓力。

We are also planning on making more investments during the fourth quarter in our fleet than we had originally planned to prepare it for what is expected to be a better market as we progress into the second half of 2025, and these incremental investments will result in incremental drydock days as compared to our previous expectation.

我們還計劃在第四季度對我們的機隊進行比最初計劃更多的投資，以便為 2025 年下半年預計會更好的市場做好準備，這些增量投資將帶來增量與我們之前的預期相比，乾船塢天數。

More broadly, as we evaluate the landscape for 2025, the outlook on the timing and pace of growth in offshore vessel activity is less clear than it's been in a few years. We continue to see conviction in long-cycle projects by our customers. However, continued near-term activity growth appears to be somewhat subdued. We've seen our customers take a measured approach to executing incremental growth projects.

更廣泛地說，當我們評估 2025 年的情況時，近海船舶活動成長的時間和速度的前景不像前幾年那麼清晰。我們繼續看到客戶對長週期專案的信心。然而，近期活動的持續成長似乎有些疲軟。我們已經看到我們的客戶採取謹慎的方法來執行增量成長專案。

Importantly, projects aren't being canceled, but the decision to procure vessels and other assets has been stalled as operators evaluate the outcome of recent successes and contend with lead time issues for critical offshore infrastructure and equipment.

重要的是，專案並未被取消，但採購船舶和其他資產的決定已被擱置，因為營運商正在評估最近成功的成果並應對關鍵海上基礎設施和設備的交付時間問題。

We've not seen a pullback in day rates, as evidenced by both the increase in average day rates for the quarter, along with the increase in the quarter's leading-edge day rates. However, lower activity levels adversely impact our ability to continue to push day rates as aggressively as we have over the past two years.

我們沒有看到日費率出現回落，本季平均日費率的成長以及本季前沿日費率的成長就證明了這一點。然而，較低的活動水平對我們繼續像過去兩年那樣積極推動日費率的能力產生了不利影響。

Over the last two years, we've been able to push day rates up over $4,000 per day each year, which incidentally is fantastic. And those increases have had a big impact on earnings. I'm confident we can still push day rates up.

在過去的兩年裡，我們每年都能提高日費超過 4,000 美元，順便說一句，這真是太棒了。這些成長對收益產生了重大影響。我相信我們仍然可以提高日費率。

But whether it's $1,500 per day, which historically has been the benchmark during industry upturns, or the $4,000 day we've seen recently, is what we are grappling with. So we're holding off on guidance for 2025 until we get some better visibility, which we anticipate we will have for you on next quarter's call.

但無論是每天 1,500 美元（歷史上一直是行業好轉期間的基準），還是我們最近看到的每天 4,000 美元，都是我們正在努力解決的問題。因此，我們將推遲發布 2025 年的指導，直到我們獲得更好的可見性為止，我們預計我們將在下個季度的電話會議上為您提供這些資訊。

We've talked at length about our contracting strategy over the past few years, the merits of taking a short approach to contract duration in order to push day rates and contractual terms. We've seen the benefit of this strategy with realized average day rates now almost double from what they were at the beginning of 2022, which has had a substantial impact on the earnings and cash flow of the business.

我們詳細討論了過去幾年我們的合約策略，以及採取短期合約期限以提高日費率和合約條款的優點。我們已經看到了這項策略的好處，目前實現的平均每日費率幾乎是 2022 年初的兩倍，這對業務的利潤和現金流量產生了重大影響。

This strategy trades contract coverage and higher utilization for the opportunity to push rates. Although the near-term expectation and the growth of offshore activity is less certain, we still believe that going short is the right strategy, though it may cause some lower utilization in the near term.

該策略以合約覆蓋範圍和更高的利用率來換取推高費率的機會。儘管近期預期和離岸活動的成長不太確定，但我們仍然認為做空是正確的策略，儘管這可能會導致近期利用率下降。

In our view, market day rates still do not justify the economics required for newbuild vessels and that the day rates will ultimately need to move to a point where newbuild vessels are economically viable. We see vessel attrition continuing to further constrain vessel supply over the coming years.

我們認為，市場日費率仍然無法證明新建船舶所需的經濟性，而且日費率最終需要達到新造船在經濟上可行的水平。我們認為未來幾年船舶消耗將繼續進一步限制船舶供應。

And given the very low number of new vessels on order, we expect that the balance of supply and demand will remain firmly in our favor for at least the next three years. As such, we anticipate that as we move through 2025 and into '26, leading-edge day rates will continue to increase from where we are today, and we will be well positioned to take advantage of that imbalance as the growth in activity level accelerates.

鑑於新船訂單數量非常低，我們預計至少在未來三年內，供需平衡將繼續對我們有利。因此，我們預計，隨著 2025 年進入 26 年，前沿日費率將繼續從目前的水平增長，隨著活動水平的加速增長，我們將處於有利地位，並能夠利用這種不平衡。

Subsequent to last quarter's earnings release, we repurchased about $15 million of shares in the open market. That brings our year-to-date share repurchases to about $48 million. And since the inception of the buyback program in the fourth quarter of 2023, we have repurchased nearly $83 million of shares in the open market.

上季財報發布後，我們在公開市場回購了約 1,500 萬美元的股票。這使得我們今年迄今的股票回購額達到約 4,800 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 8,300 萬美元的股票。

In addition to the open market repurchases, we used $28.5 million of cash in the first quarter to buy shares from employees so that they can pay their tax obligation on equity compensation, in lieu of those employees issuing shares into the open market, which incidentally, we will do again in the first quarter of 2025. So over the past four quarters, we've used $111 million of cash to reduce the share count by over 1.4 million shares.

除了公開市場回購之外，我們在第一季還使用了 2850 萬美元現金從員工手中購買股票，以便他們能夠繳納股權補償的納稅義務，而不是那些員工在公開市場發行股票，順便說一句，我們將在2025 年第一季再次這樣做。因此，在過去的四個季度中，我們使用了 1.11 億美元現金，減少了超過 140 萬股股票。

We still believe that acquisitions done at a price that reflects [a sharing] of the cyclical and market risk is a solid way to make significant investments to the long-term value of the shares, and we're still generally focused on acquisition opportunities in North and South America.

我們仍然認為，以反映[分擔]週期性和市場風險的價格進行的收購是對股票長期價值進行重大投資的可靠方式，並且我們仍然普遍關注以下領域的收購機會：北美洲和南美洲。

But the aforementioned lack of near-term visibility has increased the bid/ask spread, at least for now. So for now, we'll remain focused on repurchasing our own shares. Because our confidence in cash flows over the next two quarters remains strong, we are inclined to increase the rate of share repurchases.

但上述缺乏近期可見度已經增加了買賣價差，至少目前是如此。因此，目前我們將繼續專注於回購自己的股票。由於我們對未來兩季現金流的信心依然強勁，我們傾向於提高股票回購率。

In summary, we are confident that the long-term fundamentals for this business remain favorable and that our ability to capture the benefits of the imbalance of vessel supply and demand is intact. We are confident that the business will continue to generate substantial free cash flow that will allow us to take advantage of these near-term uncertainties and provide opportunities to continue our past successes in enhancing shareholder value.

總而言之，我們有信心該業務的長期基本面仍然有利，並且我們從船舶供需失衡中獲益的能力完好無損。我們相信，該業務將繼續產生大量自由現金流，這將使我們能夠利用這些近期的不確定性，並提供機會繼續我們過去在提高股東價值方面的成功。

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

接下來，讓我將電話轉回給韋斯特，以獲取更多評論和我們的財務前景。

Thank you, Quintin. Over the past four quarters, Tidewater has generated $285 million of free cash flow. Over the same timeframe, we've used $111 million of cash to reduce the outstanding share count and used $103 million of cash on the required amortization of our outstanding debt, for a total of $214 million of free cash flow allocated directly to equity-enhancing uses.

謝謝你，昆廷。在過去的四個季度中，Tidewater 產生了 2.85 億美元的自由現金流。在同一時間段內，我們使用了1.11 億美元的現金來減少流通股數量，並使用了1.03 億美元的現金來按規定攤銷未償債務，總共2.14 億美元的自由現金流直接分配給股權增強項目用途。

We are pleased to announce that our Board of Directors has authorized an additional $10.1 million of share repurchase capacity. The new authorization brings our total unused share repurchase capacity to $42.8 million. The authorized share repurchase program and remaining unused capacity represents the maximum amount of permissible debt under our existing debt agreements.

我們很高興地宣布，我們的董事會已額外授權 1,010 萬美元的股票回購能力。新的授權使我們未使用的股票回購能力總額達到 4,280 萬美元。授權股份回購計畫和剩餘未使用產能代表了我們現有債務協議下允許的最大債務金額。

We anticipate our share repurchase capacity to increase by close to $100 million in the first quarter of 2025 under our existing debt agreements. We expect that free cash flow will increase over the next few quarters, and we remain committed to allocating our free cash flow to enhance shareholder value.

我們預計，根據現有債務協議，2025 年第一季我們的股票回購能力將增加近 1 億美元。我們預計未來幾季自由現金流將增加，我們仍然致力於分配自由現金流以提高股東價值。

We continue to evaluate the best path to achieve our goal of establishing a long-term unsecured debt capital structure, along with a sizable revolving credit facility. We remain opportunistic on pursuing a potential refinancing, as we have no near-term maturities and no immediate need to access the debt capital markets.

我們將繼續評估實現建立長期無擔保債務資本結構以及大規模循環信貸額度的目標的最佳途徑。我們仍然對尋求潛在的再融資持機會態度，因為我們沒有短期到期日，也沒有立即進入債務資本市場的需要。

During the third quarter, we initiated a consent solicitation process to amend certain terms of our unsecured bond issued in the Nordic bond market as the debt capital markets appeared favorable to a new issuance. The amendments proposed were, in our view, credit enhancing to existing bondholders.

第三季度，我們啟動了徵求同意程序，以修改我們在北歐債券市場發行的無擔保債券的某些條款，因為債務資本市場似乎有利於新發行。我們認為，擬議的修訂可以增強現有債券持有人的信用。

We subsequently canceled the consent process as the cost to achieve the amendments was unattractive. Given our free cash flow outlook and debt maturity profile, we are comfortable to continue to evaluate the most economically viable path to establish a long-term debt capital structure.

我們隨後取消了同意程序，因為實現修正案的成本沒有吸引力。鑑於我們的自由現金流前景和債務到期狀況，我們願意繼續評估建立長期債務資本結構的最經濟可行的路徑。

Over the past few years, we have provided quarterly composite leading-edge day rates, along with the average duration of new contracts. We believe that it is now more instructive to provide quarterly leading-edge day rate information by vessel class to provide a subset of data that presents a more representative view of how day rates progressed across each of our vessel classes within the fleet during the quarter.

在過去的幾年中，我們提供了季度綜合前沿日費率以及新合約的平均期限。我們認為，現在按船舶類別提供季度前沿日費率資訊更具指導意義，以提供資料子集，以更具代表性的觀點展示本季度船隊內各船舶類別日費率的進展情況。

Leading-edge day rates by vessel class can be found in our investor presentation on our website that was posted yesterday alongside our earnings press release. A few worthwhile data points to note. Day rates in our two largest classes of PSVs moved up nicely during the quarter, with the greater than 900 square meter class of PSVs up 6% sequentially to over $37,000 per day, and our medium class of PSVs saw strong momentum sequentially with rates up 26% to over $35,000 per day.

按船舶類別劃分的前沿日費率可以在我們網站上的投資者介紹中找到，該介紹昨天與我們的收益新聞稿一起發布。一些值得關注的數據點。我們兩個最大類別的PSV 的日費率在本季度大幅上漲，超過900 平方米級別的PSV 比上一季度上漲6%，達到每天超過37,000 美元，而我們的中型PSV 則呈現強勁勢頭，費率連續上漲26 % 每天超過 35,000 美元。

In our smaller classes of anchor handlers, we saw double-digit increases sequentially, with our 8,000 to 12,000 BHP anchor handlers up 16% and our 4,000 to 8,000 BHP anchor handlers up 37%.

在較小類別的錨處理機中，我們看到了兩位數的連續成長，其中 8,000 至 12,000 BHP 錨處理機成長了 16%，4,000 至 8,000 BHP 錨處理機成長了 37%。

Looking to the remainder of 2024, we are updating our full year revenue guidance to $1.33 billion to $1.35 billion and a 48% gross margin. We now anticipate fourth quarter revenue to be essentially flat with the third quarter and gross margins to improve 1 percentage point sequentially.

展望 2024 年剩餘時間，我們將全年營收指引更新為 13.3 億至 13.5 億美元，毛利率為 48%。我們現在預計第四季營收將與第三季基本持平，毛利率將較上季提高 1 個百分點。

The decline in Q4 margin expectations from the prior quarter is principally related to the decrease in revenue associated with lower utilization, increased idle time, and higher-than-anticipated drydock days, and to a lesser extent, an increase in repair and maintenance expenses and an increase in fuel expense associated with additional idle days. Drydock days are expected to decline by about half in the fourth quarter versus the third quarter.

第四季利潤率預期較上一季下降主要與利用率降低、閒置時間增加以及乾船塢天數高於預期相關的收入下降有關，在較小程度上與維修和保養費用的增加有關與額外閒置天數相關的燃油費用增加。預計第四季的進塢天數將比第三季減少約一半。

We look forward to providing our updated thoughts on 2025 guidance next quarter as visibility improves for the pace and timing of growth of offshore activity. Our contracted backlog currently sits at about $332 million of revenue for the fourth quarter, with 79% of available days contracted. The risk to our backlog revenue is unanticipated downtime due to unplanned maintenance and for drydock days.

隨著離岸活動成長速度和時機的可見度提高，我們期待在下個季度提供關於 2025 年指引的最新想法。目前，我們第四季的合約積壓收入約為 3.32 億美元，其中 79% 的可用天數已合約化。我們的積壓收入面臨的風險是由於計劃外維護和乾船塢日導致的意外停機。

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. This quarter, I will try and put some context around where 2024 sits in the pantheon of previous upcycles, and then also frame out a little of what we are seeing in each of our regions as we go into 2025 and 2026.

謝謝你，韋斯特，大家早安。本季度，我將嘗試對 2024 年在之前升級週期的萬神殿中所處的位置進行一些背景介紹，然後還會概述進入 2025 年和 2026 年時我們在每個地區看到的一些情況。

First off, our overall long-term outlook for the offshore space remains strong. And for 2024, the OSV market has managed to achieve record-breaking day rates in most of the basins and vessel classes in which Tidewater is active.

首先，我們對海上空間的整體長期前景仍然強勁。到 2024 年，OSV 市場在 Tidewater 活躍的大多數盆地和船舶類別中都成功實現了破紀錄的每日費率。

The fundamentals for the OSV market remain strong. The sector remains supply side constrained, with little prospect of capacity expansion from the stacked fleet or from the negligible order book. Despite a small number of newbuild orders over the summer, the majority of which aren't expected to start delivering until 2027, the PSV and AHTS order book is still under 3% of the OSV fleet.

OSV 市場的基本面依然強勁。該行業的供應面仍然受到限制，堆積如山的船隊或微不足道的訂單幾乎沒有擴大產能的前景。儘管夏季新船訂單數量較少，其中大部分預計要到 2027 年才會開始交付，但 PSV 和 AHTS 訂單量仍低於 OSV 船隊的 3%。

And while we have seen some demand ease back recently in some of our regional markets with a constrained supply story, we are still very well-placed to weather any short-term headwinds and make further progress through 2025, and into 2026 as expected demand growth picks up again, both in exploration and subsea construction projects.

雖然我們最近看到一些區域市場的需求有所回落，但由於供應有限，我們仍然處於有利地位，能夠抵禦任何短期阻力，並在 2025 年和 2026 年按照預期需求增長取得進一步進展勘探和海底建設項目再次回升。

Turning to our regions and starting with Europe. Uncertainty over the UK tax regime and the government's decision to increase and extend the Energy Profits Levy is creating some uncertainty over future drilling programs and is expected to weigh on demand in 2025, although we are expecting an uptick in decommissioning and wind farm support projects, which will help offset some of this uncertainty in the UK in 2025 and 2026.

轉向我們的地區，從歐洲開始。英國稅收制度的不確定性以及政府增加和延長能源利潤稅的決定為未來的鑽探計劃帶來了一些不確定性，預計將影響2025 年的需求，儘管我們預計退役和風電場支持項目將會增加，這將有助於抵消 2025 年和 2026 年英國的部分不確定性。

In Norway, we see stronger drilling demand kicking off in 2025 through to 2027, driven primarily by the Norwegian government tax incentive scheme that was introduced in 2020. And in the Mediterranean, projects that were delayed from Q3 have now started in Q4 and should carry through into the second half of 2025. And in addition, there are a number of construction projects in the region that are expected to suck up PSVs out of the UK in the first half of 2025.

在挪威，我們預計 2025 年至 2027 年鑽探需求將開始強勁，這主要是由 2020 年推出的挪威政府稅收獎勵計畫所推動的。在地中海，從第三季推遲的項目現已在第四季度啟動，並應持續到 2025 年下半年。此外，該地區還有許多建設項目預計將在 2025 年上半年從英國吸收 PSV。

In Africa, we're expecting a strong fourth quarter, helped by a number of exploration projects that were pushed from Q3, which have now started in and around the Orange Basin in Q4, with some of that drilling work expected to continue through into the first half of 2025.

在非洲，我們預計第四季度將表現強勁，這得益於第三季度推出的一系列勘探項目，這些項目現已於第四季度在奧蘭治盆地及其周邊地區啟動，其中一些鑽探工作預計將持續到第四季。

Visibility in the region in the second half of the year is more opaque as many of our customers plan to pause drilling campaigns as they assess next steps before starting field development of these projects, which are expected to kick off in 2026 and 2027.

今年下半年該地區的能見度更加不透明，因為我們的許多客戶計劃暫停鑽探活動，因為他們在開始這些專案的現場開發之前評估後續步驟，這些專案預計將於 2026 年和 2027 年啟動。

However, offsetting some of that pause in drilling in the second half of 2025, we are seeing pressure from the Angolan government on the IOCs to increase production in country, which, if it plays out as the government wishes, would see an uptick in vessel demand from both the IOCs and EPC contractors in the second half of '25 and through to 2026.

然而，我們看到安哥拉政府向國際石油公司施加壓力，要求增加該國的產量，抵消了2025年下半年鑽探暫停的部分影響，如果按照政府的意願進行，船舶數量將會增加2025 年下半年直至2026 年，國際石油公司和EPC 承包商的需求。

In the Middle East, vessel demand and day rates continue to strengthen in '24, driven mainly by the EPC contractors operating in the Kingdom as well as additional incremental demand in Qatar and Abu Dhabi. While this is a very fragmented market, which makes it much harder to drive rates aggressively, we are starting to see supply constraints in certain vessel classes. And if demand continues at its current pace, we could see some very positive momentum in day rates as we get into the latter part of '25 and through to 2027.

在中東，船舶需求和日費率在 24 年繼續走強，這主要是由在該王國運營的 EPC 承包商以及卡達和阿布達比的額外增量需求推動的。雖然這是一個非常分散的市場，這使得積極推動運價變得更加困難，但我們開始看到某些船舶類別的供應限制。如果需求繼續保持目前的速度，進入 25 年下半年直至 2027 年，我們可能會看到日費率出現一些非常積極的勢頭。

In the Americas, Brazil and Mexico, demand appears set to remain positive for 2025. However, there is still some uncertainty in Mexico vis-a-vis what the new government's long-term intentions are with PEMEX and how to increase production in the long term. And as such, we probably won't have much visibility around actual long-term plans for Mexico until after Q1 next year.

在美洲、巴西和墨西哥，2025 年需求似乎仍將保持樂觀。然而，墨西哥新政府對PEMEX的長期意圖以及如何長期增加產量仍存在一些不確定性。因此，直到明年第一季之後，我們可能才會對墨西哥的實際長期計劃有太多了解。

But both Brazil and Mexico are expected to increase in-country investment in oil and gas in the longer term out beyond 2030. As mentioned on many previous calls, Brazil's long-term demand horizon remains very robust, with no signs of any slowdown from either Petrobras or the IOCs currently working in country.

但從長遠來看，巴西和墨西哥預計將在 2030 年後增加國內石油和天然氣投資。正如先前多次電話會議中所提到的，巴西的長期需求前景仍然非常強勁，巴西國家石油公司或目前在該國開展工作的國際石油公司沒有任何放緩的跡象。

The US GOM and Caribbean had a softer-than-expected 2024, and we expect that many -- that may continue into the first half of '25. But we are seeing some indications of demand for additional drilling in the second half of 2025 and into 2026, as well as an uptick in the renewables market on the East Coast during the same period.

美國 GOM 和加勒比海地區 2024 年的表現低於預期，我們預計這種情況可能會持續到 25 年上半年。但我們看到一些跡象表明 2025 年下半年和 2026 年需要額外鑽探，並且同一時期東海岸再生能源市場有所成長。

Lastly, in Asia Pacific, Q3 and Q4 have been affected by the ongoing discussions in Malaysia between Petronas and the local governments of East Malaysia regarding the respective sovereign rights over the natural resources of Sabah and Sarawak.

最後，在亞太地區，第三季和第四季受到馬來西亞國家石油公司與東馬地方政府就沙巴和砂拉越各自的自然資源主權問題正在進行的討論的影響。

We're now hearing that both sides are hoping to resolve these issues in early 2025, which would mean that we can expect exploration and production, some of which has been paused, to start back up again during Q1 of 2025, which in turn would then have a significant impact on the supply-demand balance in the region for both AHTSs and PSVs, and mean that we should see this region retighten as we move through to the latter half of 2025.

我們現在聽說雙方都希望在 2025 年初解決這些問題，這意味著我們可以預期勘探和生產（其中一些已暫停）將在 2025 年第一季再次啟動，這反過來又會導致然後對該地區AHTS和PSV 的供需平衡產生重大影響，這意味著我們應該看到該地區在進入2025 年下半年時會收緊。

We also see several large EPCI and wind projects starting in the year in both Australia and Taiwan, respectively, which will be supportive for our large AHTSs and large PSVs in the region for the second half of 2025.

我們也看到澳洲和台灣今年將分別啟動幾個大型 EPCI 和風電項目，這將為 2025 年下半年我們在該地區的大型 AHTS 和大型 PSV 提供支援。

Overall, we're very pleased with how the market has continued to move in the right direction during 2024, and we remain very optimistic on the long-term fundamentals for our business, still being very much in the shipowners' favor for some time to come. Thank you.

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，我們對我們業務的長期基本面仍然非常樂觀，在一段時間內仍然非常有利於船東。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 second quarter -- primarily on the quarter-to-quarter results of the third quarter of 2024 compared to the second quarter of 2024. I will also discuss some of the operational aspects that affected the third quarter and how we see the rest of the year playing out.

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。與之前的電話會議一樣，我的討論將主要集中在第二季度——主要是 2024 年第三季與 2024 年第二季的季度業績對比。我還將討論影響第三季的一些營運方面以及我們如何看待今年剩餘時間的情況。

As noted in our press release filed yesterday, we reported net income in the third quarter of 2024 of $46.4 million, or $0.87 per share. In Q3, we generated revenue of $340.4 million compared to $339.2 million in the second quarter of 2024, an increase of $1.2 million. Average day rates increased by 5.4% from $21,130 per day in the second quarter to $22,275 per day in the third quarter, which was the main driver for the increase in revenue.

正如我們昨天提交的新聞稿中所述，我們報告 2024 年第三季的淨利潤為 4,640 萬美元，即每股 0.87 美元。第三季度，我們的營收為 3.404 億美元，與 2024 年第二季的 3.392 億美元相比，增加了 120 萬美元。平均日費率從第二季的每天 21,130 美元增加到第三季的每天 22,275 美元，成長了 5.4%，這是營收成長的主要動力。

Offsetting the increase in day rates was a decline in active utilization from 80.7% in the second quarter to 76.2% in Q3. The utilization decrease was a result of an increase principally in idle days and a slight increase in drydock and repair days. Gross margin in Q3 was $160.8 million, compared to $161.9 million in Q2. Adjusted EBITDA was $142.6 million in Q3, compared to $139.7 million in Q2.

活躍利用率從第二季的 80.7% 下降至第三季的 76.2%，抵消了日費率的成長。使用率下降主要是由於閒置天數增加以及乾船塢和維修天數略有增加所致。第三季的毛利率為 1.608 億美元，而第二季的毛利率為 1.619 億美元。第三季調整後 EBITDA 為 1.426 億美元，而第二季為 1.397 億美元。

Vessel operating costs for the quarter were $178.7 million. On our call last quarter, we expected our operating costs to decrease by $2.8 million from Q3. However, our costs went up by $2.2 million. The main drivers included higher-than-anticipated repair costs on several vessels, totaling $2.6 million. We also had higher fuel costs related to the 448 additional idle days, as well as from mobilizing a vessel from Southeast Asia to Africa.

本季船舶營運成本為 1.787 億美元。在上個季度的電話會議上，我們預計營運成本將比第三季減少 280 萬美元。然而，我們的成本增加了 220 萬美元。主要驅動因素包括多艘船舶的維修成本高於預期，總計 260 萬美元。由於 448 個額外的閒置天數以及調動一艘船從東南亞前往非洲，我們的燃油成本也較高。

In addition, we had approximately 200 higher drydock days, 150 of which were related to longer durations and 50 of which were related to timing differences between quarters. The total fuel cost for both idle and drydock days was about $1 million.

此外，我們還有大約 200 個較高的乾船塢天數，其中 150 個與較長的持續時間有關，其中 50 個與季度之間的時間差異有關。閒置日和乾船塢日的總燃料成本約為 100 萬美元。

Also in the quarter, we incurred penalties due to delays in returning to work on vessels that incurred higher drydock days, and we also increased our accrual related to labor claims in Brazil, which combined totaled $1.4 million.

同樣在本季度，我們因船舶返工延誤而受到處罰，導致乾船塢天數增加，我們還增加了與巴西勞工索賠相關的應計費用，總計 140 萬美元。

In comparison to our Q2 actual results, as mentioned previously, our operating costs increased by $2.2 million. The main drivers included slightly higher R&M costs of $800,000 and higher crew costs of $1.5 million due primarily to one vessel working in Australia where operating costs are higher. Supplies and consumables were higher by $1.7 million due mainly to higher fuel costs related to the 704 more idle days and 83 more drydock days.

與我們第二季的實際結果相比，如前所述，我們的營運成本增加了 220 萬美元。主要驅動因素包括 R&M 成本略高（80 萬美元）和船員成本增加（150 萬美元），這主要是由於一艘船舶在澳洲運營，而營運成本較高。供應品和消耗品增加了 170 萬美元，主要是由於閒置天數增加 704 天和乾船塢天數增加 83 天導致燃料成本增加。

The increases were offset by lower other vessel expenses of $2 million. The largest components were a mobilization expense write-off and a customs assessment that did not occur in Q3. In Q4, we are not anticipating the high levels of repair costs that we saw in Q3, and we see utilization increasing slightly as vessels return to work after the busy drydock schedule. In turn, we expect a significant decrease in fuel costs and penalties.

其他船舶費用減少 200 萬美元，抵消了這一增長。最大的組成部分是第三季沒有發生的動員費用沖銷和海關評估。在第四季度，我們預計維修成本不會像第三季度那麼高，而且隨著船舶在繁忙的乾船塢計劃後恢復工作，我們預計利用率會略有增加。反過來，我們預計燃料成本和罰款將大幅下降。

As a result, we expect Q4 revenue to remain flat and operating costs to be lower by about $4 million. Operating cost reductions will include $1 million in R&M costs, $1.8 million in fuel and other vessel supply costs, and about $1.2 million in other costs such as crew costs, penalties, and other miscellaneous costs. G&A costs for the third quarter was $28.5 million, $2.1 million higher than Q2, primarily due to an increase in professional fees and personnel costs.

因此，我們預計第四季度營收將保持平穩，營運成本將降低約 400 萬美元。營運成本削減將包括 100 萬美元的 R&M 成本、180 萬美元的燃料和其他船舶供應成本，以及約 120 萬美元的其他成本，例如船員成本、罰款和其他雜項成本。第三季的一般管理費用為 2,850 萬美元，比第二季高出 210 萬美元，主要是由於專業費用和人員成本的增加。

For the year, we expect our G&A cost to be $109 million, which includes approximately $13 million of noncash stock compensation. In the third quarter, we incurred $35.5 million in deferred drydock costs, compared to $40.1 million in Q2. We anticipate $18 million of drydock costs in the fourth quarter. Drydock costs for the full year 2024 is expected to be $134 million.

今年，我們預計 G&A 成本為 1.09 億美元，其中包括約 1,300 萬美元的非現金股票補償。第三季度，我們產生了 3,550 萬美元的遞延幹船塢成本，而第二季為 4,010 萬美元。我們預計第四季的乾船塢成本為 1800 萬美元。2024 年全年乾船塢成本預估為 1.34 億美元。

Drydock days affected utilization by nearly 7 percentage points during the quarter. Year-to-date, drydock days have affected utilization by about 6 percentage points. In Q3, we incurred $5.7 million in capital expenditures related to vessel modifications, ballast water treatment installations, and IT and DP system upgrades. For the full year 2024, we expect to incur approximately $27 million in capital expenditures.

本季的乾船塢天數影響了利用率近 7 個百分點。今年迄今為止，幹船塢天數已影響利用率約 6 個百分點。第三季度，我們在船舶改裝、壓載水處理裝置以及 IT 和 DP 系統升級方面產生了 570 萬美元的資本支出。2024 年全年，我們預計將產生約 2,700 萬美元的資本支出。

We generated $67 million of free cash flow this quarter, compared to $87.6 million in Q2. Year-to-date, we have generated $223.9 million of free cash flow. The free cash flow decrease quarter-over-quarter was primarily attributable to a significant increase in working capital due mainly to the investment in accounts receivable.

本季我們產生了 6,700 萬美元的自由現金流，而第二季為 8,760 萬美元。年初至今，我們已產生 2.239 億美元的自由現金流。自由現金流季減的主要原因是應收帳款投資導致營運資金大幅增加。

Through September 30, we have made $87.5 million in principal payments on our senior secured term loan and $1.5 million on supplier facility agreement. We are comfortable with our current debt maturity profile. We have no immediate need to refinance our debt, but remain opportunistic in pursuing a potential refinance that would improve our overall debt capital structure.

截至 9 月 30 日，我們已支付了 8,750 萬美元的優先擔保定期貸款本金和 150 萬美元的供應商融資協議本金。我們對目前的債務到期狀況感到滿意。我們沒有立即需要為債務再融資，但仍會尋求潛在的再融資，以改善我們的整體債務資本結構。

Year-to-date through September 30, we have used about $46.6 million in cash to reduce the number of our shares in the market by approximately 520,000. As mentioned on our first quarter call, we also spent $28.5 million in cash to pay taxes on behalf of employees in lieu of employees selling approximately 321,000 shares of stock in the open market to pay those taxes. We conduct our business through five segments. I refer to the tables in the press release and the segment footnote and Results of Operation Discussions in the 10-Q for details of our regional results.

年初至今，截至 9 月 30 日，我們已使用約 4,660 萬美元現金，將市場上的股票數量減少了約 52 萬股。正如我們在第一季電話會議中提到的，我們還花費了 2850 萬美元現金代表員工繳稅，而不是讓員工在公開市場上出售約 321,000 股股票來繳稅。我們透過五個部門開展業務。我請參閱新聞稿中的表格以及分部腳註和 10-Q 中的營運討論結果，以了解我們的地區業績的詳細資訊。

To summarize the sequential results of our regions, day rates improved by 5.4% during the quarter, led by the Asia Pacific region, which improved by 23%, and our West Africa region, which improved by 10%. Revenues were higher in all regions except Americas, which declined by 12%, primarily due to lower utilization. Gross margins decreased slightly from 47.7% in Q2 to 47.2% in Q3.

總結我們各地區的連續結果，本季日費率提高了 5.4%，其中亞太地區提高了 23%，西非地區提高了 10%。除美洲外，所有地區的收入均較高，但美洲下降了 12%，這主要是由於利用率較低。毛利率從第二季的47.7%小幅下降至第三季的47.2%。

The Americas regions experienced a decline of about five gross margin percentage points due primarily to more idle and repair days. In our APAC region, despite the increase in average day rates, we had a gross margin decline of about 3 percentage points due to higher idle and drydock days. Similarly, our Europe and Mediterranean region saw a gross margin decline of 2 percentage points due to higher idle days and drydock days.

美洲地區的毛利率下降了約五個百分點，主要是因為閒置和維修天數增加。在我們的亞太地區，儘管平均日費率增加，但由於閒置天數和乾船塢天數增加，我們的毛利率下降了約 3 個百分點。同樣，由於閒置天數和乾船塢天數增加，歐洲和地中海地區的毛利率下降了 2 個百分點。

However, with the increase in day rates, we saw improvements in gross margin in our West Africa and Middle East regions of 4 percentage and 3 percentage points, respectively. We expect consolidated gross margin to increase slightly in Q4 as an increase in utilization, combined with a decrease in operating costs, should improve our overall results.

然而，隨著日費率的增加，我們看到西非和中東地區的毛利率分別提高了 4 個百分點和 3 個百分點。我們預計第四季度綜合毛利率將略有增加，因為利用率的提高加上營運成本的下降應該會改善我們的整體業績。

In summary, despite a Q4 decline compared to our previous expectation, 2024 execution has been strong. Although visibility into 2025, may not be as clear as we would like it to be, generating strong free cash flows and profitability will continue to be a priority as we move into 2025, and beyond. In the near term, we continue to invest and improve our existing fleet and look to capitalize on future M&A opportunities should they present themselves.

總而言之，儘管第四季度的業績較我們先前的預期有所下降，但 2024 年的執行力仍然強勁。儘管 2025 年的前景可能並不像我們希望的那麼清晰，但在進入 2025 年及以後，產生強勁的自由現金流和盈利能力仍將是我們的首要任務。短期內，我們將繼續投資和改進現有機隊，並尋求利用未來的併購機會（如果出現）。

Absent accretive M&A options, we continue to view share repurchases as an attractive investment and return of our capital option for our shareholders. We remain optimistic in the long-term fundamentals of the industry and opportunities this will provide Tidewater.

在沒有增值併購選擇的情況下，我們繼續將股票回購視為對股東有吸引力的投資和資本選擇回報。我們對該行業的長期基本面以及這將為 Tidewater 提供的機會保持樂觀。

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

這樣，我會將其轉回給昆汀。

All right. Thank you, Sam. Novi, why don't we go ahead and open it up for questions.

好的。謝謝你，山姆。Novi，我們為什麼不繼續開放提問呢？

(Operator Instructions) Jim Rollyson, Raymond James.

（操作說明）Jim Rollyson、Raymond James。

Morning, Jim.

早安，吉姆。

Jim, your line might be on mute.

吉姆，你的線路可能處於靜音狀態。

I know you're not prepared to do guidance yet, but maybe from a high level, if we talk about the puts and takes, you've got, it sounds to me like, rates should still migrate higher next year, uncertain of magnitude at this point. We'll probably get more clarity next quarter. The utilization benefits from drydocking reduction next year relative to this year, which you, I think, said 6% year-to-date was the impact.

我知道你還沒準備好提供指導，但也許從高層來看，如果我們談論看跌期權和看跌期權，在我看來，明年利率仍應走高，但幅度不確定在此刻。下個季度我們可能會更加清楚。相對於今年，明年乾船塢減少的利用率將受益，我認為您所說的今年迄今為止的影響是 6%。

And then offsetting that, you'll probably have some of this choppiness that you and Piers went through. Maybe just a little color, high level, how you're thinking about the puts and takes. I would think your costs should generally come down with the lack of drydocking. Just trying to get to the different pieces and how you're thinking about them as we go into guidance in a quarter.

然後抵消這一點，你可能會經歷一些你和皮爾斯經歷過的波動。也許只是一點點色彩，高水平，你如何思考看跌和拿走。我認為您的成本通常會因缺乏乾船塢而下降。當我們在一個季度內進入指導時，只是試著了解不同的部分以及您如何看待它們。

No, thank you. Obviously, there's less clarity than we appreciate having at this point as we look into 2025. I'm going to give it over to West and peers, who have been studying this really hard as we've gone through the last couple of months.

不，謝謝。顯然，當我們展望 2025 年時，情況並沒有我們想像的那麼清晰。我將把它交給 West 和他的同事，他們在過去的幾個月裡一直在努力研究這個問題。

But in general, I think that you're right. The only thing that I would highlight to you is that I do expect it to be a lower drydock year next year than this year. That won't show up in op costs, but it will certainly show up in improved cash flow.

但總的來說，我認為你是對的。我要向您強調的唯一一件事是，我確實預計明年的乾船塢年份將低於今年。這不會體現在營運成本中，但肯定會反映在現金流的改善上。

Jim, it's West. You characterized it appropriately. There's some puts and takes and so forth. And obviously, as we discussed, the visibility is lower. But as we pointed out in the prepared remarks, we do anticipate that day rates should increase next year, the order of magnitude of which is uncertain.

吉姆，這是西方。你恰當地描述了它。有一些放置和取出等等。顯然，正如我們所討論的，可見度較低。但正如我們在準備好的發言中指出的那樣，我們確實預計明年的日費率將會增加，但其幅度尚不確定。

However, we do expect that to push forward. So we're not in a position to directly quantify as we discuss what the outlook is. But I think it would be fair to say that given the increase in day rate and a year in which drydocks are down, that we would anticipate 2025 to look better than 2024 on an all-in basis.

然而，我們確實希望這能夠向前推進。因此，在討論前景時，我們無法直接量化。但我認為可以公平地說，考慮到日費率的增加和乾船塢減少的一年，我們預計 2025 年總體上會比 2024 年更好。

And then just as a follow-up, and then I can get back in the queue. I'm curious, Quintin, with this pause in activity that we're seeing, and obviously, the rig guys have been talking about this through earnings season as well, does it set up the potential opportunity on the M&A front where maybe guys had just purely up into the right expectations, and that was reflected in their asking price.

然後作為後續行動，然後我就可以回到隊列中。我很好奇，昆汀，隨著我們所看到的活動暫停，顯然，鑽機人員也在財報季中一直在談論這一點，這是否在併購方面創造了潛在的機會，也許人們已經只是完全符合正確的期望，這反映在他們的要價上。

And now with this bit of consolidation going on and activity, they're actually more willing to be reasonable on asking price, and you can actually get some potential M&A done. Are you seeing that? Or is it still too early for that?

現在，隨著這種整合和活動的進行，他們實際上更願意合理地提出要價，並且您實際上可以完成一些潛在的併購。你看到了嗎？或者現在還為時過早嗎？

Too early for that. I am with you that, that the uncertainty that gets highlighted when times like this occur in our industry should reinforce in the minds of potential sellers, hey, this is a volatile industry, and you need to get out when you can and think about that as a risk factor for continuing to invest in the business. It's certainly a risk that we feel very comfortable managing.

還為時過早。我同意你的觀點，當我們行業發生這樣的情況時，潛在賣家的頭腦中會強化這種不確定性，嘿，這是一個不穩定的行業，你需要在可以的時候退出並考慮這一點作為繼續投資該業務的風險因素。我們確實可以輕鬆應對這項風險。

However, people are never as reasonable as you and I are having the discussion now would indicate. And so I think it takes a little bit more time for them to come down. And so we're just going to be patient. I feel very confident in repurchasing our shares at these levels. And so you'll probably see us do more of that than the M&A side. But I'm still actively engaged in M&A discussions around the world.

然而，人們永遠不會像你我現在的討論所顯示的那樣理性。所以我認為他們需要更多的時間才能下來。所以我們要保持耐心。我對在這樣的水平上回購我們的股票非常有信心。因此，您可能會看到我們在這方面所做的工作比併購方面更多。但我仍然積極參與世界各地的併購討論。

David Smith, Pickering Energy Partners.

大衛史密斯，皮克林能源合作夥伴。

For the Q4 guidance, I just want to make sure I understood. Did you say utilization is expected to be up, but revenue is expected flat? If so, implication is average day rate would be down. So just wanted to ask if you could provide some color on that. I'm guessing that's mix.

對於第四季度的指導，我只是想確保我理解。您是否表示利用率預計會上升，但收入預計持平？如果是這樣，則表示平均日費率將會下降。所以只是想問一下你是否可以提供一些顏色。我猜這是混合的。

That's correct, Dave. It's West. That is the correct inference from the guidance language we provided on Q4. As we discussed in the prepared remarks, I think a combination of some of the pressures that we're seeing in the UK [spectra], the North Sea specifically, as well as the regional highlights that we had in Americas and Asia Pacific and some of the project delays and idle time and so forth with vessels in that region are contributing to those moving pieces within the Q4 guidance components.

沒錯，戴夫。這是西方。這是我們在第四季度提供的指導語言中得出的正確推論。正如我們在準備好的發言中討論的那樣，我認為我們在英國（特別是北海）看到的一些壓力，以及我們在美洲和亞太地區遇到的區域亮點以及一些該地區船舶的項目延誤和閒置時間等因素導致了第四季度指導部分中的移動部分。

And a follow-up question, if I may. You're seeing some sloppy rates for the large PSVs in the North Sea. Can you talk about the factors that might act as friction against exporting those rates to the Mediterranean, West Africa, or beyond, recognizing there might be other -- there are other vessel contractors in the North Sea with operations in other countries.?

如果可以的話，還有一個後續問題。您會看到北海大型 PSV 的費率有些草率。您能否談談可能會阻礙將這些費率出口到地中海、西非或其他地區的因素，並認識到可能還有其他因素——北海還有其他船舶承包商在其他國家開展業務。

Yeah. David, it's Piers here. Yes. So sloppy rates in the North Sea. Obviously, it's a very spot market business. I think what's important to remember about the North Sea is all the vessels, whilst we talk about our 900 square meter vessels, there's also certain specifications on those vessels, so having firefighting and mud capacity and things like that, which are quite specific to certain regions. So you can export some vessels.

是的。大衛，我是皮爾斯。是的。北海的費率如此馬虎。顯然，這是一個非常現貨市場的業務。我認為關於北海最重要的是要記住所有船隻，雖然我們談論我們的900 平方米船隻，但這些船隻也有一定的規格，因此具有消防和泥漿容量之類的東西，這些都是針對某些特定的地區。所以你可以出口一些船隻。

But actually when you're doing a drilling program, for instance, down in the Mediterranean where we've got some of our vessels, we've taken -- as we talked about previously, taken some vessels from the North Sea down to work in the Orange basin this quarter, you need to have vessels with big mud capacity. And a lot of the vessels in the North Sea are limited. They're just big deck-space vessels, and they tend to do quite North Sea specific.

但實際上，當你正在進行鑽探計劃時，例如，在地中海，我們有一些船隻，正如我們之前談到的，我們從北海帶了一些船隻去工作本季度奧蘭治盆地需要擁有大泥漿容量的船舶。北海的許多船隻都受到限制。它們只是大型甲板太空船，而且往往專門針對北海。

So that is one of the factors that you need to think about. We've got some, as I mentioned, some vessels going down to the Med. And I think depending on the vessels, you can be slightly specific around where those vessels can end up. I'm sure there'll be some movement around the regions, but there is a limiting factor on some of the vessels in terms of the actual specifications once you get into the details of it.

所以這是你需要考慮的因素之一。正如我所提到的，我們有一些船隻前往地中海。我認為根據船隻的不同，你可以稍微具體說明這些船隻最終的去向。我確信這些地區會發生一些變化，但是一旦你了解了細節，就實際規格而言，某些船隻存在限制因素。

Greg Lewis, BTIG.

格雷格·劉易斯，BTIG。

Yeah. I was hoping to get a little more color on some of the drydockings that we saw in the fourth quarter. If you could bucket them, I guess, how much of that do we think roughly was planned? How much of it was pulled forward because vessels were going off-hire, and we just figured we would do it.

是的。我希望對我們在第四季度看到的一些乾船塢有更多的了解。如果你能把它們放在一起，我想，我們認為其中有多少是計劃好的？其中有多少是因為船隻停租而提前的，而我們只是認為我們會這樣做。

And how much of it was, I want to say a year ago, we had that bunch of that unplanned drydocking, I believe it was in West Africa. If you could walk through some of that, just so we understand what -- maybe let us think through how we want to think about drydocking in '25.

我想說一年前，其中有多少是我們計畫外的乾船塢，我相信是在西非。如果您能詳細介紹其中的一些內容，以便我們了解什麼 - 也許讓我們思考一下我們想要如何考慮 25 年的乾船塢。

Yeah. Greg, this is Sam. The drydocking that occurred in Q3, obviously, there was like 200 excess days. 150 of that was just longer duration related, and then 50 of it was timing. So you might have had -- I think we had like one or twp boats pulled into Q3 that should happen in Q4. And then we had some just start a little later in Q2 that actually came into Q3. So that extra 50 days is a combination of that.

是的。格雷格，這是山姆。顯然，第三季發生的乾船塢多出了 200 天。其中 150 個與較長的持續時間相關，然後 50 個與時間相關。所以你可能已經——我認為我們有一艘或兩艘船被拉入第三季度，這應該發生在第四季度。然後我們有一些在第二季度晚些時候才開始，實際上進入了第三季度。所以額外的 50 天是這些因素的結合。

Okay. So kind of what we dealt with a year ago when like vessels were running hard and there was like unplanned issues with the boats. That seems like that's resolved.

好的。這就是我們一年前處理過的情況，當時船隻運作困難，船隻出現了意外問題。看來事情已經解決了。

Yeah, to some degree, right? There is still some down for repair days that we have to deal with. We did see some of that in Q3. But once they go into the drydocks, hopefully, that smooths the repair costs going forward.

是的，在某種程度上，對吧？我們還需要處理一些需要維修的停機時間。我們確實在第三季度看到了其中的一些情況。但一旦他們進入乾船塢，有望降低未來的維修成本。

Yeah. Greg, one thing I was just going to allocate -- add to that, rather, was that we were running at about 4% DFR, down for repair last year, and we want to get it down to about 2%. We're probably right now at about 3%. So I think there's still room to improve there, but yeah, it's not getting worse.

是的。格雷格，我要分配的一件事 - 相反，補充一點是，我們的 DFR 約為 4%，去年因維修而下降，我們希望將其降至 2% 左右。我們現在可能約為 3%。所以我認為那裡還有改進的空間，但是，是的，情況並沒有變得更糟。

And then we don't need to go through all the basins, and I think you alluded to some of the pricing issues and some of the pricing headwinds we're seeing in some of the markets. I guess, everyone looks at the North Sea data, where we have issues getting more data, which are equally important.

然後我們不需要遍歷所有盆地，我認為您提到了一些定價問題以及我們在某些​​市場中看到的一些定價阻力。我想，每個人都會關注北海的數據，我們在獲取更多數據方面遇到了問題，這同樣重要。

Every market's important. But I guess, could you talk a little bit about the large and I guess, we classify them as large and small PSVs in West Africa as well as in the Southeast Asia. And really, what we're seeing around the pricing environment?

每個市場都很重要。但我想，你能談談大型PSV嗎？事實上，我們在定價環境中看到了什麼？

And then really, just as we look at those are largely term markets, what does the outlook look like for contract resets in maybe those two markets? I guess, maybe in Q4 and Q1 or whatever you have in front of you, you can talk to just so we can gauge what type of pricing resets that we can -- or pricing renewals we can think about.

事實上，正如我們所看到的主要是定期市場一樣，這兩個市場的合約重置前景如何？我想，也許在第四季度和第一季度，或者您面前的任何事情，您可以與我們交談，這樣我們就可以衡量我們可以進行哪種類型的定價重置，或者我們可以考慮進行定價續訂。

Yeah. Greg, it's Piers. Yeah, Q3 -- trying not to go around all the basins, as you said, but I think in general, held up very well on the rates for the vessels, as West alluded to on his remarks as well. And going forward, actually into Q4 as well, we saw -- as I think we've spoken about in the past, how some contracts pushed from Q3 into Q4 in places like the Med and Africa and places like that.

是的。格雷格，我是皮爾斯。是的，第三季——正如你所說，盡量不要繞過所有盆地，但我認為總的來說，船舶的費率保持得很好，正如韋斯特在他的言論中也提到的那樣。展望未來，實際上進入第四季度，我們看到——正如我認為我們過去談到的那樣，在地中海和非洲等地，一些合約如何從第三季度推到第四季度。

So Q4 is also holding up pretty well on those larger class of vessels. I think as you look out to '25, and we again talked a little bit about this in our remarks, but there is a little bit of some lack of visibility on some of the decisions being made.

因此，Q4 在較大等級的船舶上也表現良好。我認為，當你展望 25 年時，我們在演講中再次談到了這一點，但正在做出的一些決定有點缺乏可見性。

I think, obviously, there's the drilling piece, which has been very public, and people have talked about. When we look at projects going forward, we tend to know about those much earlier. So there's normally a six to 12-month lead time on some of that.

我認為，顯然，有一個鑽孔部分，它已經非常公開，人們已經談論過。當我們審視未來的項目時，我們往往會更早了解這些項目。因此，其中一些通常需要 6 到 12 個月的準備時間。

What we're seeing is obviously these construction projects, which tend to come to market a little bit later, and they tend to require -- well, they don't tend to, they require large-decked PSVs as well. So we're seeing more and more of those requirements coming out in places like Australia, Asia Pac more broadly, in Africa a little bit as well, and then also in the Caribbean as well and the Med.

我們所看到的顯然是這些建設項目，它們往往會晚一點進入市場，而且它們往往需要——嗯，他們不傾向於，它們也需要大型 PSV。因此，我們看到越來越多的此類要求出現在澳洲、更廣泛的亞太地區、非洲、加勒比地區和地中海地區。

So we're optimistic we'll be able to hold rates on the larger vessels as we see the year progress. But we haven't had -- we don't have all those tenders coming through yet at the moment in terms of the visibility that we would normally have at this point in the year. So, as we said, I think, in our comments, we're very optimistic long term. We just don't have the clear line of sight on some of it.

因此，隨著今年的進展，我們樂觀地認為，我們將能夠維持大型船舶的費率。但就我們通常在今年這個時候的可見度而言，我們目前還沒有完成所有這些招標。因此，正如我們所說，我認為，在我們的評論中，我們對長期發展非常樂觀。我們只是對其中一些沒有清晰的視線。

Yeah. And so, really, when we took guidance down, you clearly called out drilling, but it almost maybe sounds like the delays maybe on the construction side were maybe more of the bigger issue around some of the weakness or some of the guide down for the year than maybe the drilling. Is that what you're trying to communicate?

是的。因此，實際上，當我們取消指導時，您明確要求進行鑽探，但聽起來似乎施工方面的延誤可能更多是圍繞一些弱點或一些指南的更大問題。這就是你想要傳達的訊息嗎？

I think we don't really see that on the construction side. It's still there, but they just come to the market much later. That's (inaudible) we're waiting to see that.

我認為我們在建築方面並沒有真正看到這一點。它仍然在那裡，但它們進入市場的時間要晚得多。這就是（聽不清楚）我們正在等待看到這一點。

Don Crist, Johnson Rice.

唐克里斯特、約翰遜賴斯。

Can you remind us your percentage of work coming from FPSOs and more sticky work from that side versus drilling? And I think you touched on it on your last answer, but it sounds like the project delays were much more focused around the delivery schedule of FPSOs versus the startup of new drilling campaigns. Can you just -- is that the correct way of thinking?

您能否提醒我們，來自 FPSO 的工作百分比以及來自該方面的工作與鑽井相比更具黏性？我認為您在上一個答案中談到了這一點，但聽起來項目延遲更多地集中在 FPSO 的交付時間表上，而不是新鑽井活動的啟動上。你能——這是正確的思考方式嗎？

Don, it's Piers again. So I think on the drilling side, normally exploration is 30% of the book, which maybe next year is going to be a little bit smaller than that. On the subsea construction side, it's not just on FPSOs. It's obviously on pipe. We support pipelines, things like that. So some of our contracts as well. So it's a combination of those projects. And in Australia, we're supporting projects doing pipeline installation as well.

唐，又是皮爾斯。所以我認為在鑽探方面，通常勘探佔本書的 30%，也許明年會比這個小一些。在海底施工方面，不僅限於 FPSO。顯然是在管道上。我們支持管道之類的東西。我們的一些合約也是如此。所以它是這些項目的組合。在澳大利亞，我們也支持管道安裝專案。

But it's not so much necessarily the delay on some of the FPSOs. It's just there's just the tenders come out much later and from our subsea construction guys, from the Subsea7s and Saipans and the ODYSEAs. All those guys come to market much later in terms of how they come out.

但這並不一定是某些 FPSO 的延誤造成的。只是我們的海底施工人員、Subsea7、塞班島和 ODYSEA 的招標要晚得多。所有這些人進入市場的時間都晚得多。

But I think drilling and exploration is going to be, as we said, a little bit more whitespace than perhaps we've seen in the past, but the subsea construction stuff should pick up on that as we go forward into 2025.

但我認為，正如我們所說，鑽探和勘探可能會比我們過去看到的更多一些空白，但隨著我們進入 2025 年，海底建設工作應該會迎頭趕上。

And on utilization, can we really use the third quarter as a bottom in utilization? And I'm thinking about it more from the aspect of maybe this weakness pulls forward some of the retirements that are happening in the industry and maybe that with the lack of new construction out there, and your comment in the press release around no new construction going forward, as those discussions have gone away, that maybe the third quarter utilization might be a bottom, and we should see that tick up just from vessel retirements, not necessarily with you all but from the industry.

在利用率方面，我們真的可以將第三季作為利用率的底部嗎？我更多地從這樣的角度思考這個問題，也許這種弱點會導致行業中正在發生的一些退休事件提前，也許是因為缺乏新的建築，而你在新聞稿中關於沒有新建築的評論展望未來，隨著這些討論的結束，第三季的利用率可能會觸底，我們應該看到船舶退役量的上升，不一定是你們所有人，而是整個產業。

Don, it's West. I think that's a reasonable approach. We talked about utilization picking up a little bit in Q4. And thinking about that as a baseline, moving into 2025, drydocks will come down. And so when you think about 2025 in its totality, I think as the market -- our expectation is that the market continues to improve and recover to some degree in the back half with a lower drydock year, that utilization should be improved relative to the Q3 levels.

唐，這是西。我認為這是一個合理的做法。我們談到第四季利用率略有回升。以此為基準，進入 2025 年，幹船塢將會下降。因此，當你從整體上考慮2025 年時，我認為，作為市場，我們的預期是，隨著幹船塢年份的減少，市場將在下半年繼續改善並在某種程度上恢復，相對於2025 年，利用率應該會有所提高。

And just to clarify, you're not seeing anybody out there other than that tender that was put out by Petrobras for new vessels. You don't see anybody out there proposing to build new rigs or new vessels today?

需要澄清的是，除了巴西國家石油公司為新船進行的招標之外，您沒有看到任何其他人。您今天沒有看到有人提議建造新鑽井平台或新船舶嗎？

No, not at the moment. Just as you said, the Petrobras tenders, we haven't seen anything asking to build new PSVs (inaudible).

不，目前還不行。正如您所說，在巴西國家石油公司招標中，我們沒有看到任何要求建造新 PSV 的專案（聽不清楚）。

James West, Evercore ISI.

詹姆斯·韋斯特，Evercore ISI。

So, Quintin, wanted to just clear up two things on the third quarter. One, on the utilization, that was a bit below what we were expecting. How much of that do you believe was unplanned in your mind versus planned that maybe we just missed? And then secondarily, with the day rate increases that we've seen in the last two quarters, which have been very impressive, is that pure day rate increase?

所以，昆廷想在第三季澄清兩件事。第一，在利用率方面，這有點低於我們的預期。您認為有多少是您腦中沒有計劃的，而有多少是我們錯過的計劃？其次，隨著我們在過去兩個季度看到的日費率成長令人印象深刻，這是純粹的日費率成長嗎？

Or are we seeing the impact of perhaps drydocks or downtimes from higher day rate vessels? So just thinking through how we should think about average day rates moving forward. Hopefully, it's the latter, that the actual day rate increase is not utilization driven.

或者我們是否看到了乾船塢或日費率較高的船舶停工造成的影響？因此，只要思考我們應該如何考慮未來的平均日費率。希望是後者，實際的日費率成長不是由利用率驅動的。

Yeah. You know what, I'm going to give this over to Sam. Sam has been studying this real hard in the couple months.

是的。你知道嗎，我要把這個交給 Sam。幾個月來，薩姆一直在努力研究這個問題。

Yeah. James, on the utilization, the drop that we had from Q2 to Q3, there was several factors. Obviously, idle time had something to play with that. But we had drydock days that were like 85 days higher than Q2. And then we also had, as I mentioned, DFR days. We had some engine problems in some of our boats, et cetera.

是的。詹姆斯，關於利用率，從第二季到第三季的下降，有幾個因素。顯然，閒暇時間可以起到一定的作用。但我們的乾船塢天數比第二季多了 85 天。然後，正如我所提到的，我們也經歷了 DFR 日。我們的一些船等出現了一些引擎問題。

That added like another 80, 81 days. In the quarter, we also moved one of our boats from Southeast Asia to Africa, which added like another 70 days of idle time. So when you add all that up, that affected utilization by a couple percentage points from -- actually went down almost 4 percentage points from Q2 to Q3.

這樣又增加了 80、81 天。本季度，我們還將一艘船從東南亞移至非洲，這又增加了 70 天的閒置時間。因此，當您將所有這些加起來時，利用率會受到幾個百分點的影響，實際上從第二季到第三季下降了近 4 個百分點。

And James, let me add one more thing. I think part of your question related to the product mix and whether or not the product mix (inaudible) downtime had an impact on day rates. And I think that there is -- it's not a significant impact. But the UK sector is typically, and the North Sea sector broadly, is a high day rate region.

詹姆斯，讓我再補充一件事。我認為您的部分問題與產品組合以及產品組合（聽不清楚）停機時間是否對日費率產生影響有關。我認為，這並不是重大影響。但英國地區以及整個北海地區通常是高日費地區。

When that region goes through a bit of a pullback, those high day rate boats, they hit the spot market, as Piers was indicating, and that spot market tends to come down pretty quickly. And as a result, that has an impact on day rates.

正如皮爾斯所指出的那樣，當該地區經歷一些回調時，那些高日費率的船隻就會進入現貨市場，而現貨市場往往會很快下跌。因此，這會對日費率產生影響。

And I think Piers and his global team are working to reallocate those vessels into other large boat regions that have not been impacted, like the UK sector. So I think that product mix and where they're at geographically has an impact when things like what we're talking about in Q3 occur.

我認為皮爾斯和他的全球團隊正在努力將這些船隻重新分配到其他未受影響的大型船舶地區，例如英國地區。因此，我認為當我們在第三季討論的事情發生時，產品組合及其地理位置會產生影響。

I think you guys should leave the UK sector just in general for now, given the profit taxes and everybody else is fleeing the region. So there's no reason to be there. But then maybe a longer-term question as we go into '25, I recognize that the customer base is hesitant to make decisions just right now on their plans, or maybe their shorter-term plans.

我認為你們現在應該暫時離開英國產業，因為利潤稅和其他人都在逃離該地區。所以沒有理由去那裡。但是，當我們進入 25 世紀時，也許是一個長期問題，我認識到客戶群對於立即就他們的計劃或短期計劃做出決定猶豫不決。

But a lot of the plans are also long-term deepwater projects, too, which I would assume you have much better visibility on that versus short-term, maybe construction or even wind farm or shallow water plans. What are they telling you about when those decisions will be made?

但許多計劃也是長期的深水項目，我認為與短期的、可能是建築甚至風電場或淺水計劃相比，你對此有更好的了解。當這些決定做出時，他們會告訴你什麼？

Is this a, hey, we're going through a budget process right now. We'll let you know in a month or so? Or is it, we're going to let you know as we start the next year? What's the timing impact? When that visibility starts to clear up?

這是，嘿，我們現在正在經歷預算流程。我們會在一個月左右通知您嗎？或者，我們會在明年開始時通知您？時間影響是什麼？當這種能見度開始變得清晰時？

Yeah. James, it's Piers. Good question. I think by the end of this year, we'll start seeing a little bit more visibility on some of those longer-term plans. We haven't seen -- as we've mentioned, we've not seen any indications (inaudible) suggesting canceling anything. I think the noise around election cycles and things like that obviously has maybe delayed some of the decision-making processes from the higher ups in our customer base.

是的。詹姆斯，我是皮爾斯。好問題。我認為到今年年底，我們將開始看到其中一些長期計劃有更多的可見度。我們還沒有看到——正如我們所提到的，我們沒有看到任何建議取消任何事情的跡象（聽不清楚）。我認為圍繞選舉週期和類似事情的噪音顯然可能延遲了我們客戶群中高層的一些決策過程。

But there's been no pullback in terms of, for instance, if you look at the Orange Basin, obviously, a lot of noise and successes down in Namibia, but we're supporting a number of drilling campaigns down there at the moment. And all of the people we're supporting are saying, look, we'd like to get development first oil in there '26, '27, which is a pretty -- that's a pretty aggressive move from those companies.

但舉例來說，如果你看看奧蘭治盆地，顯然納米比亞有很多噪音和成功，但我們目前正在支持那裡的一些鑽探活動。我們支持的所有人都說，看，我們希望在 26 年、27 年首先在那裡開發石油，這是這些公司非常積極的舉措。

So still very positive indicators. Same in the Caribbean as well. There's slight -- we've spoken about some pauses in drilling in this year on some projects. Again, we're expecting people come back, maybe a few exploration wells next year in that region and then starting to install more FPSOs into that region, so '26 and '27.

所以指標還是非常正面的。在加勒比海地區也是如此。我們已經談到今年一些項目的鑽探有一些暫停。再次，我們預計人們會回來，也許明年會在該地區開採一些勘探井，然後開始在該地區安裝更多的 FPSO，所以 '26 和 '27。

So we're not seeing any real indicators of anybody pulling back or canceling anything. So we're very positive that those projects will continue. And obviously, Brazil, Petrobras moves at its own pace, but they're certainly not slowing down on their side. So yes, I think by the end of this year, we'll start to hear more publicly from the higher ups and the IOCs certainly as to their longer-term plans from that side.

因此，我們沒有看到任何人撤回或取消任何事情的真實跡象。因此，我們非常肯定這些項目將會繼續下去。顯然，巴西國家石油公司以自己的步調前進，但他們絕對不會放慢腳步。所以，是的，我認為到今年年底，我們將開始更公開地聽取高層和國際奧委會關於他們這方面的長期計劃的聲音。

Fredrik Stene, Clarksons Securities.

Fredrik Stene，克拉克森證券。

Thanks for all the color that has been given on 2025 so far, even if it's difficult to guide in detail at this moment. My question actually relates to capital allocation, and even more so on the M&A side. You guys have talked about that you're willing to do accretive M&A transactions if the right transaction presents itself, and you obviously have a great track record of doing so in almost any type of market. But you are also one of the fewer listed players.

感謝迄今為止為 2025 年提供的所有色彩，即使目前很難詳細指導。我的問題其實牽涉到資本配置，更牽涉到併購方面。你們已經談到，如果合適的交易出現，你們願意進行增值併購交易，而且你們顯然在幾乎任何類型的市場上都擁有良好的記錄。但您也是少數列出的玩家之一。

So your equity price or stock price will track sentiment at any given time. So I was wondering has that enabled or disabled any type of M&A transactions? Or if you were to have discussions with players that are not listed, are they also -- do they also understand that, in a way, prices of private companies also fluctuate with sentiment? Interested to hear anything you have to say on the matter.

因此，您的股票價格或股票價格將在任何給定時間跟踪情緒。所以我想知道這是否啟用或禁用了任何類型的併購交易？或者，如果你要與未上市的參與者進行討論，他們是否也理解，在某種程度上，私人公司的價格也會隨著情緒而波動？有興趣聽聽您對此事的看法。

Fredrik, thanks for your question. We've been -- most of these M&A transactions that we have done, and this is probably not a surprise to anyone, they take more than a year to get done. A lot of these transactions germinate and on and off again and take a while to get done.

弗雷德里克，謝謝你的問題。我們已經完成了大部分併購交易，這對任何人來說可能並不奇怪，它們需要一年以上的時間才能完成。許多這樣的交易會不斷萌芽、斷斷續續，需要一段時間才能完成。

And during that process, the price has been as high as $110. It's been as low as $55. And so, it's been a really volatile time. And they know that because most of who we're speaking with are sophisticated, some of them private equity, -- a lot of them, because we're one of the only listed companies out there, they're [marketing] to us. So they're feeling the pain as well.

而過程中，價格一直高達110美元。價格已低至 55 美元。所以，這是一個非常不穩定的時期。他們知道，因為與我們交談的大多數人都很老練，其中一些是私募股權公司，其中許多人，因為我們是唯一的上市公司之一，他們正在向我們[行銷] 。所以他們也感受到了痛苦。

So I think it should work its way through, but it doesn't work its way through as quickly as you might think into people's thinkings and so forth. And, of course, sometimes people feel like the market gets dislocated and therefore maybe exaggerates the downside.

所以我認為它應該會發揮作用，但它不會像你想像的那樣快地進入人們的想法等等。當然，有時人們會覺得市場錯位，因此可能誇大了下行趨勢。

And so they don't want to price at that particular point. So you have to find a price in between the prices, and it still has to make sense for Tidewater longer term from a long-term value perspective. So I would tell you that it complicates the deal process. A stable price helps the deal process, a volatile price doesn't. But most of the people we're dealing with are very sophisticated and they need time to adjust to it, but they will.

因此他們不想在那個特定點定價。因此，你必須在價格之間找到一個價格，並且從長期價值的角度來看，它仍然對 Tidewater 具有長期意義。所以我想告訴你，這讓交易過程變得複雜。穩定的價格有助於交易進程，而波動的價格則無濟於事。但與我們打交道的大多數人都非常老練，他們需要時間來適應，但他們會的。

That's very helpful. Just one quick -- not really a follow-up, but a different question. Are you able to, at this point, say something about the amount of contracted backlog and contracted base that you have so far for 2025, similar to what you did for the fourth quarter in the prepared remarks?

這非常有幫助。只是簡單地說一下──不是真正的後續行動，而是不同的問題。此時此刻，您是否能夠介紹一下 2025 年迄今為止的合約積壓訂單量和合約基數，類似於您在準備好的發言中為第四季度所做的事情？

Fredrik, it's West. We're prepared to give a 2025 backlog right now. Our backlog for 2025 is about $855 million. But providing incremental detail around that, I'm not sure we're prepared to put out there at this point. But that is our '25 backlog as we sit here today.

弗雷德里克，是韋斯特。我們現在就準備好提供 2025 年的積壓訂單。我們 2025 年的積壓訂單約為 8.55 億美元。但要提供相關的增量細節，我不確定我們是否準備好在此時發布。但這是我們今天坐在這裡的 25 年積壓工作。

Don Crist, Johnson Rice.

唐克里斯特、約翰遜賴斯。

I just wanted to ask one question on the debt covenant that you tried to get changed. Is the new plan going forward just to hold cash on the balance sheet and take those out at first call January 2026?

我只是想問一個關於你試圖改變的債務契約的問題。未來的新計劃是否只是將現金保留在資產負債表上，並在 2026 年 1 月第一次電話會議時將其取出？

Or any thoughts around using cash that you can't find an M&A use for today to pay off the term loans, or anything else that you could extinguish that 10% debt?

或者有什麼關於使用目前無法用於併購的現金來償還定期貸款的想法，或者任何其他可以消除那 10% 債務的想法？

I'd much rather just repurchase shares, honestly. So if I could get a deal done, I would do that. And similar to the answers to some earlier questions, the process takes longer than anybody would prefer. But absent that, I don't feel the need to delever at all. So I would return that to shareholders in the most constructive way. And of course, the path that we found over the last year is repurchasing shares.

老實說，我寧願回購股票。因此，如果我能達成協議，我就會這麼做。與之前一些問題的答案類似，這個過程花費的時間比任何人都希望的要長。但如果沒有這一點，我覺得根本沒有去槓桿化的必要。所以我會以最具建設性的方式回報股東。當然，我們去年發現的途徑是回購股票。

I will now turn the call back over to Quintin Kneen for closing remarks.

現在，我將把電話轉回給昆廷·尼恩 (Quintin Kneen) 進行總結發言。

Okay. Well, listen, no closing remarks from me. Thank you, Novi. We look forward to updating everybody again in February.

好的。好吧，聽著，我沒有結束語。謝謝你，諾維。我們期待在二月再次為大家更新。

Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes today's call. Thank you all for joining. You may now disconnect.

女士們、先生們，今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝大家的加入。您現在可以斷開連線。