Electromagnetic Geoservices ASA (EMGS) Earnings Call Transcript

Welcome to the presentation of EMGS' Third Quarter 2024 Results. I'm here with our CFO, Anders Eimstad. Together, we will present these results. During the quarter, the Atlantic Guardian returned to Norway after completing the transit from Brazil. Upon arrival, it commenced a series of fully prefunded EM projects in the Barents Sea. Three of these projects were fulfillments of work obligations in licenses awarded in the APA 2023 licensing round. After completing these surveys on schedule, the Atlantic Guardian successfully completed EMGS' first commercial seismic OBN survey. We also extended the charter party for the Atlantic Guardian by one year until October 2025. The revenues from the -- for the quarter came in at USD 1.1 million. But keep in mind that revenues from multi-client surveys are only recognized when final data is delivered to the customers. Therefore, no revenues from the surveys acquired during the quarter was recognized during the quarter. We expect all the revenues from these surveys to be recognized during the fourth quarter. The EBITDA was negative USD 3.6 million. And when adjusting for multi-client investments and capitalized vessel and office leases, we get an adjusted EBITDA of negative USD 5.9 million. During the quarter, the available cash increased by USD 7.4 million to USD 13.2 million as payments from the projects acquired during the quarter were collected. Moving on to our operations and market section. Our campaign in Norway started in late July and was just completed in the beginning of November. We first acquired 4 fully prefunded EM surveys in the Barents Sea, followed by the OBN survey also in the Barents Sea. Then we performed some equipment testing before we started the last fully prefunded multi-client survey in the Northern North Sea. This last survey was completed in the fourth quarter. At the end of the campaign, we also invested in growing our multi-client library with an unfunded survey in the Norwegian Sea. Revenues from the prefunded surveys will be booked when data is delivered, which is expected to be during the fourth quarter. During the quarter, we completed our first commercial seismic OBN survey. This survey was undertaken together with our partner, Velocitas Geo Solutions and completed in September. It was a multi-client survey prefunded by a license group in the Barents Sea as well as testing of new node technology funded by a company not present in Norway. The nodes were deployed using the “Nodes-On-A-Rope methodology and all nodes were successfully recovered with data. We believe this is one of the deepest “Nodes-On-A-Rope survey in Norway ever conducted. Normally, EMGS uses the drop and pop method to deploy and recover our EM nodes. On the right, we are showing our extensive coverage and experience with EM nodes in the Barents Sea. We believe our extensive node experience was crucial in securing this -- our first commercial OBN survey, and we expect to recognize the revenues from this survey during the fourth quarter. Finally, let's have a look at the development of our available cash balance. Our cash balance has recovered after a low in the second quarter and was $13.2 million at the end of the third quarter. The convertible bond loan remains unchanged at approximately $19.5 million. In summary, our financial position remains strong. And with that, I will hand it over to Anders, who will go through our financials in more detail.

Thank you, Bjørn Petter. The total revenue for the third quarter was $1.1 million. The graph in the upper right shows the quarterly revenue development. From this graph, you can see that revenue has decreased from the previous quarters. The revenue connected to the multi-client surveys acquired in the third quarter will be recognized in the fourth quarter when the data has been delivered to the customer. We had one vessel on charter in the third quarter. The Atlantic Guardian completed the transit to Norway from Brazil and commenced a multi-client campaign in Norway. The vessel utilization in the quarter was 40%. We recorded an EBITDA of negative $3.6 million in the third quarter. EBITDA excludes the capitalized multi-client 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 on the bottom right of the slide. The adjusted EBITDA in the third quarter was negative $5.9 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 total cost base. The operational cost base for the third quarter was $7 million compared to an operational cost base of $6.7 million in the second quarter. The higher operational cost base over the last 2 quarters as compared to the previous quarters is a result of the Atlantic Guardian being in operation for the entire quarter. The next slide details the movement of free cash in the third quarter. Free cash increased in the third quarter by $7.4 million. This is illustrated in the graph to the left. The light blue bar to the left shows a free cash position at the end of the second quarter of $5.9 million. The components increasing the cash position during the quarter are shown in dark blue, whilst the components reducing the cash position are colored red. Free cash at the end of the third quarter was $13.2 million. The EBITDA of negative $3.6 million decreased the cash this quarter. Vessel and office leases decreased cash by $0.7 million. The decrease in trade receivables from $12.1 million to $1.5 million increased the cash this quarter by $10.6 million. The decrease in trade payables from the previous quarter in the amount of $0.5 million also reduced free cash. Changes in other working capital also increased cash by $5.1 million. The largest component to the movement of the working capital is the increase in deferred revenue related to the multiclient campaign in Norway. Interest paid in the quarter on the convertible bond and other interest expenses amounted to $0.7 million in the third quarter. Now back to Bjørn Petter.

Thank you, Anders. That concludes our presentation. As always, you can submit your questions to EMGS at emgs.com. Thank you.