Electromagnetic Geoservices ASA

OSE:EMGS

Earnings Call Transcript

[Bjørn Lindhom, executive]

Welcome to the presentation of EMGS' First Quarter 2024 Results. I'm again here with our CFO, Anders Eimstad, and together we will present these results. Please take note of our disclaimer.

During the quarter, we mobilized the Atlantic Guardian after a long idle period, and we completed the fully prefunded multiclient survey over the PL1202S in the North Sea. Upon completion of the survey, we started the transit towards Brazil.

The revenues during the quarter were only $239,000. The USD 2.7 million in revenues from the multiclient survey in the North Sea will be recognized upon data delivery in the second quarter in accordance with the IFRS 15 accounting rules.

Our EBITDA came in at negative $2 million, and the adjusted EBITDA came in at negative $3.8 million. We capitalized $1.2 million in expenses related to the North Sea multiclient survey during the quarter.

The free cash balance at the end of the quarter was $8.7 million. And subsequent to the end of the first quarter, we have arrived in Brazil, cleared customs and started acquisition on the fully-prefunded Petrobras' multiclient survey in the Espirito Santo Basin, offshore Brazil. More about this later.

Moving on to our operations and market outlook. The Atlantic Guardian arrived in Brazil at the end of April, and was successfully imported under the Brazilian temporary importation regime called REPETRO. Upon clearing customs, the vessel sailed to the Espirito Santo Basin and started the survey on May 1.

In Brazil, EM is treated differently than seismic and drilling by the IBAMA, the environmental authority. To conduct an EM survey, EMGS does not have to go through a lengthy environmental permitting process. We do not need to apply for a permit upfront. However, instead, we have a permit waiver and can inform IBAMA of the activities after the fact.

In contrast, IBAMA permits for seismic acquisition often causes significant delays and headache for the seismic companies. The value of the contract is $11.7 million, and the survey is taking place in the deepwater portion of the Espirito Santo Basin, just northeast of Rio de Janeiro.

We expect the acquisitions to take approximately 2 months, and we will deploy about 470 Ocean-bottom-EM-nodes or receivers, and we will be towing 426 kilometers, and the survey area under the receiver is about 456 square kilometers.

Moving on to our Norway campaign. We started our campaign on the Norwegian continental shelf in March with the PL1202S survey, east of Johan Sverdrup field. The main reason for conducting the survey in the winter was to avoid the significant fishing activity that normally occurs during spring, summer and autumn in this area.

The revenues from the survey increased from around USD 2 million to about USD 2.7 million due to more than expected waiting on weather. And we expect to return to Norway during the third quarter to acquire several additional surveys in the Barents Sea. These surveys have not yet been announced, but we expect to be able to make announcements during the second quarter.

We would like to bring the attention to 3 interesting wells to be drilled in the Barents Sea in the near future. These are 3 wells to be drilled by AkerBP in the Wisting area, which are targeting the Jurassic section east and north of the Wisting field. These wells are Ferdinand Nord, Hassel and Viasat.

They are all associated with the resistive anomalies though the wells are placed at the very edge of these anomalies. This is not very surprising as the oil companies often position exploration wells down flank from the crest to better assess volumes of a potential discovery with 1 well instead of having to drill an additional appraisal well later. We expect that the operator has control of the well position and has used the best of all data available to select the structures to be drilled and the position of the wells.

In this area, EM has had a 100% success rate in predicting the presence or absence of hydrocarbons in the Jurassic. And though past performance is no guarantee for future results, we feel that these wells have a high chance of success.

The table shows the wells that have been drilled in the area with a main or secondary target in the Jurassic, which are associated with resistive anomalies and which are not, and whether they were successful or not in encountering hydrocarbons in the Jurassic.

We have also included the Wisting alternative well, which did not have a target in the Jurassic, but it was included due to its proximity to the Wisting field. In this area, EM has proven to be the most accurate predictor of hydrocarbons as most structures have seismic amplitude, whereas only the ones with hydrocarbons have resistivity. EM further indicates that the area still holds potential in the Jurassic but that the sizes of the remaining accumulations tend to be smaller.

As a side note, the Triassic in this area has proven to be enigmatic with very limited success. However, the Triassic holds some of the most interesting undrilled EM anomalies in the Barents Sea.

High risk, definitely, but fortune favors the bold. Maybe one day, someone dares to use EM to develop prospects not only to confirm or condemn seismically-derived prospects. We will see.

Our financial position remains strong despite a reduction in cash. The available cash balance stands at USD 8.7 million. The convertible loan is unchanged and remains at USD 19.5 million. And the book quality of the multiclient library is now USD 2 million.

And with that, I will hand over to Anders, who will go through our financial numbers in some more detail.

[Anders Eimstad, executive]

Thank you, Bjørn Petter. The total revenue for the first quarter was $239,000. The graph on the upper right shows the quarterly revenue development. From this graph, you can see that revenue has decreased from the previous quarters. All of the revenue in the quarter was from contract sales.

We had 1 vessel on charter in the first quarter. The Atlantic Guardian was warm-stacked to start the quarter, but it was taken out of warm-stack on the 19th of February. The vessel utilization in the quarter was 27%.

We recorded an EBITDA of negative $2 million in the first quarter. EBITDA excludes the capitalized multiclient expenses as well as the vessel and office lease expenses. If we add these expenses to the EBITDA, we get an adjusted EBITDA. The quarterly development of the adjusted EBITDA is shown in the graph at the bottom right of the slide. The adjusted EBITDA in the first quarter was negative $3.8 million.

The next slide details the movement in the operational cost base. In the graph to the left, you can see the quarterly development and the components of EMGS' operational cost base. The components are charter hire, fuel and crew expenses, employee expenses and other operational expenses. In addition, the capitalized multiclient expenses and vessel and office lease expenses are added to the cost base.

The operational cost base for the first quarter was $4.1 million compared to an operational cost base of USD 2.9 million in the fourth quarter. A higher operational cost base is a result of the Atlantic Guardian being in operation during the quarter.

EMGS capitalized $1.1 million in the first quarter. The capitalized cost is related to the multiclient survey in the North Sea, which was acquired in the quarter.

The next slide details the movement of free cash in the first quarter. Free cash decreased in the first quarter by $1.6 million. This is illustrated in the graph to the left.

The light blue bar to the left shows the free cash position at the end of the fourth quarter of $10.3 million. The components increasing the cash position during the first quarter are shown in dark blue, while the components reducing the cash position at the colored red. Free cash at the end of the first quarter was $8.7 million.

The EBITDA of negative $2 million decreased the cash this quarter. Vessel and office leases decreased cash by $0.7 million and capitalized multiclient expenses further reduced cash by $1.1 million. The decrease in trade receivables from $1.1 million to $0.4 million increased the cash this quarter by $0.8 million. The increase in trade payables from the previous quarter in the amount of $0.7 million, also increased free cash.

Changes in other working capital increased cash by $0.9 million in the quarter. Interest paid in the quarter on the convertible bond and other interest expenses amounted to $0.8 million in the first quarter.

Now back to you, Petter.

[Bjørn Lindhom, executive]

Thank you, Anders. Please submit your questions to [email protected]. Thank you.