Earnings Call Transcript - CVEO Q2 2020

Regan Nielsen, Senior Director of Corporate Development and Investor Relations

Thank you, and welcome to Civeo's second-quarter 2020 earnings conference call. Today, our call will be led by Bradley Dodson, Civeo's President and Chief Executive Officer; and Carolyn Stone, Civeo's Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, and Treasurer. Before we begin, we would like to caution listeners regarding forward-looking statements. To the extent that our remarks today contain information other than historical information, please note that we're relying on the safe harbor protections afforded by federal law. Any such remarks should be read in the context of the many factors that affect our business, including risks disclosed in our Form 10-K, 10-Q and other SEC filings. I will now turn the call over to Bradley.

Bradley Dodson, CEO

Thank you, Regan, and thank you all for joining us today on our second-quarter earnings call. We sincerely hope that you and your loved ones are staying safe and healthy. The format for today's call will be to briefly review the second-quarter performance before updating you on what we see in our business today and providing an outlook for the balance of the year. Let me start by saying at Civeo, the safety and well-being of our employees, guests, and contractors is our top priority. As we continue to monitor the virus in Canada, Australia, and the U.S., we are continuing to adhere to the policies and procedures that are designed to ensure the health and safety of everyone at our locations. We'll remain in continuous dialogue with all key stakeholders for the duration of the pandemic, and we extend our profound gratitude to our employees, guests, customers, and vendors for their continued vigilance as we work together through this difficult time. There are two key takeaways from our call today. First is the resiliency and diversification of our business. Our second-quarter results demonstrate the resiliency of our business model and the benefits of our diversified exposure to multiple geographies and multiple end markets. Although our second-quarter performance benefited from a few one-time items, the Australian and Canadian segments both performed much better than we initially expected, particularly in light of the market environment. Secondly, our safe operations and our business model delivered differentiated financial results in this market. These differentiated financial results support our financial focus, which has not changed: drive free cash flow and reduce our debt. We generated $25 million of free cash flow in the second quarter and reduced our total debt outstanding by $15 million. We also reduced our leverage ratio to 2.34 times as of June 30th, down from 2.54 times at March 31st. Importantly, we expect to remain in compliance with our financial covenants for the rest of the year and going into 2021. We also expect to remain free cash flow positive for the remainder of 2020, and our full-year guidance will demonstrate this. I'll now provide a brief summary of our performance for the quarter and a business update as we continue to contend with the COVID-19 pandemic and the cross currents in the global commodities market. Carolyn will then provide a financial and segment-level review, and I'll conclude with some directional commentary on our expectations for the third quarter. We'll talk about the guidance for the full year before we move into the question-and-answer portion of the call. Our team performed exceedingly well under rapidly evolving circumstances during the second quarter. Civeo's second-quarter results were punctuated by a 44% year-over-year increase in the Australian segment's adjusted EBITDA and some recovery in our Canadian occupancy throughout the quarter. On a consolidated basis, we generated revenues of $114.7 million, adjusted EBITDA of $28.1 million, and $25.1 million of free cash flow. Turning to our balance sheet, our leverage ratio, again, declined to 2.34 times, and maintaining a healthy balance sheet and liquidity profile will continue to be our top priority for 2020 as we execute on our strategic objectives. Let me take a moment to provide a business update across the segments. Our business in Canada produced encouraging second-quarter results, given the oil and gas price volatility and disruptions to operations from the pandemic, both of which drove room nights down meaningfully from our first-quarter levels. LNG activity at our Sitka Lodge began to ramp up toward the end of the second quarter and was better than we anticipated. We have seen some turnaround activity beginning late in the second quarter in our oil sands locations. As Carolyn will discuss in more detail momentarily, the Q2 Canadian adjusted EBITDA benefited from $7.8 million of one-time items but still markedly outperformed our expectations from the end of the first quarter on an operational level. In Australia, the market fundamentals have been remarkably resilient. The pandemic has been minimally disruptive to occupancy and customer spending. Metallurgical coal prices appear to be stabilizing in the $100 to $120 per metric ton, and our customer occupancy levels in the Bowen Basin continue to be strong. Iron ore prices have performed extremely well, underpinned by global supply disruptions, which have more than offset transitory demand deferral. Our Action Catering team continued to deliver outstanding results in the second quarter as we execute on the recently awarded contracts tied to iron ore activity. Conditions in our U.S. business continue to be extraordinarily challenging due to the collapse in E&P drilling and completion spending. Our West Permian and Killdeer lodges, along with our well-side services business, have been particularly hit hard in recent months. As we mentioned on our last earnings call, we have confronted these realities by closing and consolidating facilities to control costs, particularly in the northern U.S. basins. Our playbook for today's unpredictable environment is consistent with the approach that has enabled us to successfully navigate challenging conditions in the past. Our priorities are to keep our employees and guests safe, maximize free cash flow generation, reduce debt, preserve financial flexibility, and reduce costs without compromising service quality. With that, I'll turn it over to Carolyn.

Carolyn Stone, CFO

Thank you, Bradley, and thank you all for joining us this morning. Today, we reported total revenues in the second quarter of $114.7 million, with net income on a GAAP basis of $6.1 million or $0.03 per diluted share. Net income includes $4.7 million of income associated with the settlement of a representation on warranty claim related to the Noralta acquisition. During the second quarter, we generated adjusted EBITDA of $28.1 million, operating cash flow of $24.5 million, and free cash flow of $25.1 million. Let's now turn to the second-quarter results for our three segments. I'll begin with a review of the Canadian segment performance compared to their performance a year ago in the second quarter of 2019. Revenue from our Canadian segment was $53 million as compared to revenues of $78.1 million in the second quarter of 2019. Adjusted EBITDA in Canada was $15.3 million, a decrease from $16.3 million in the second quarter of 2019. Revenues and adjusted EBITDA for the quarter were both negatively impacted by a year-over-year decrease in billed rooms related to reduced customer activity due to the decline in oil prices and the COVID-19 pandemic. Adjusted EBITDA was also impacted by COVID-19-related increases in operating costs of $1.9 million in the second quarter of this year. However, the effect of these items on adjusted EBITDA was muted by $6.2 million of other income related to proceeds from the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy, or CEWS, as well as a $1.7 million gain from the sale of a portion of our assets at our Henday Lodge. During the second quarter, billed rooms in our Canadian lodges totaled 410,000, down year-over-year from 740,000 for the same quarter of last year. This decline was related to significantly lower customer activity, as discussed earlier, due to the decline in oil prices and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our daily room rate for the Canadian segment in U.S. dollars was $96, up 8% year-over-year. Turning to Australia. During the second quarter, we recorded revenues of $57.1 million, up from $31 million in the second quarter of 2019. Adjusted EBITDA was $18.8 million, also up from $13 million during the same period of 2019. These results, which represent a 96% year-over-year top line increase on a constant currency basis, were positively impacted by the acquisition of Action Catering, as well as increased occupancy in our Bowen Basin villages, while slightly offset by approximately $600,000 of net COVID-19 operating costs in the second quarter and the weakening of the Australian dollar relative to the U.S. dollar. Billed rooms in the quarter were 502,000, up 21% from 416,000 in the second quarter of 2019, largely due to continued improvement in net coal activity across the Bowen Basin. The average daily rate for our Australian villages in U.S. dollars decreased to $70 in the second quarter from $74 in the same quarter last year due to the weakened Australian dollar. Moving to the U.S., revenues for the second quarter were $4.6 million as compared to $13.1 million in the second quarter of 2019. The U.S. segment saw negative adjusted EBITDA of $1.4 million in the second quarter, down from adjusted EBITDA of $2.6 million during the same period last year. These year-over-year declines were primarily due to broadly lower drilling and completion activity due to lower oil prices, as well as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Turning to capital expenditures. On a consolidated basis, capital expenditures were $1.2 million in the second quarter, down from $11.5 million in the second quarter of 2019 due to the completion of our Sitka Lodge expansion in 2019. Our total debt outstanding on June 30th was $299.5 million, which was $15.3 million lower than March 31 balance. The decrease consisted of $28 million in debt payments during the quarter from cash flow generated by the business but was partially offset by an unfavorable foreign currency translation impact of $12.7 million. As Bradley mentioned, our leverage ratio was reduced to 2.34 times as of June 30th compared to 2.54 times as of March 31st. As of June 30th, 2020, we had total liquidity of approximately $166.2 million, which consists of $158.9 million available under our revolving credit facilities and $7.3 million of cash on hand. Due to the positive outcome of our second-quarter results, as well as changes in our forecast for the second half of 2020, we believe that we will remain in compliance with our leverage ratio covenants in our credit agreement without the need to obtain covenant relief as previously discussed in our first-quarter 2020 Form 10-Q. Bradley will now provide some closing commentary and discuss our outlook for the remainder of the year, along with reinstated guidance.

Bradley Dodson, CEO

Thank you, Carolyn. We'll go through each of the segments, and then I'll summarize what we're thinking about for the full year of 2020. In Canada, the outlook for the remainder of 2020 is stabilizing. Although customers continue to limit their employee headcounts to essential personnel, we are anticipating modestly higher occupancy in the third quarter from second-quarter levels. The third quarter started off with improved occupancy in Canada due to oil sands turnaround activity, and occupancy at our Sitka Lodge is also a source of modest sequential improvement in the third quarter as room nights should be up relative to the second quarter. However, Sitka's occupancy will be subject to social distancing and related headcount constraints. All of the above should translate into a roughly 10% increase in occupancy in the third quarter from the second quarter. Regarding the Canadian Emergency Wage Subsidy program, the government of Canada recently indicated its continued support of this program through the end of the year. We currently expect to apply in the third and fourth quarters of 2020, and we should qualify and expect to receive some subsidies in the second half of the year. However, we have not included any of the forecasted proceeds from the CEWS in our full-year guidance. Due to the CEWS proceeds and a gain on sale in Q2, we are currently estimating sequentially reduced EBITDA in the Canadian business in the third quarter despite increased billed rooms. The outlook for the Australian business in the third quarter is very constructive. As the economic and supply chain impacts the steel production received in China and India, demand for seaborne metallurgical coal imports should recover modestly as 2020 progresses. Iron ore supply disruption due to worsening pandemic in Brazil should benefit Australia with a healthy price environment, and strong customer activity could still pay higher export volumes. We did experience strong occupancy over performance beyond customer take-or-pay minimums in the second quarter, and those are not guaranteed to continue in the second half. Because of this, we are currently expecting modestly lower billed rooms in the third quarter of 2020 relative to the second quarter. We're not expecting any large customer projects to kick off in 2020. We continue to track potential greenfield growth projects as we look into 2021 in Australia. The prognosis for the remainder of 2020 in our U.S. segment is very challenging. Oil prices have stabilized well above the Q2 lows, but the U.S. E&P sector is continuing widespread financial distress and demand for investors for heightened capital austerity. Therefore, we are not expecting a recovery in our U.S. business in the second half. As we noted on the first-quarter call, our team has grown accustomed to dealing with subdued customer spending in the U.S. business, and our focus will continue to be on controlling costs and adjusting our footprint to match activity. Despite the continued economic disruptions across key end markets, we feel we are now in a position to again provide full-year 2020 revenue and EBITDA guidance. We expect our full-year 2020 revenues to be in the range of $476 million to $486 million and adjusted EBITDA in the range of $80 million to $85 million. In addition, we're maintaining our full-year 2020 capital expenditure guidance of approximately $15 million. We will provide further updates on these figures during our third-quarter earnings call. Please note that this guidance is based on our expectations as of today and assumes no material changes in the current macroeconomic environment or in commodity prices, global commodity demand levels or conditions related to the COVID-19 pandemic and the responses thereto. Our plan to navigate this extraordinary and rapidly changing environment is to consistently apply the strategic playbook that has gotten us through periods of uncertainty in the past. To that end, our mandate remains as follows: we prioritize the safety and well-being of our guests, employees, and vendors. We will manage our cost structure accordingly as we look at an evolving occupancy outlook. We'll continue to enhance our best-in-class hospitality offerings, and we'll allocate capital prudently to maximize free cash flow generation and reduce debt. Before we proceed to the Q&A section, I'd like to call out the extraordinary efforts of our global team of employees at Civeo. We responded to an unprecedented set of challenges in the recent months with selflessness, devotion, and unwavering professionalism. Our solid financial results in the second quarter under exceptional circumstances only tell part of the story. The work that you put in behind the scenes to keep our customers, fellow employees, and contractors safe, healthy, and comfortable was amazing. On behalf of the entire Civeo management team and the board of directors, thank you for all that you do. With that, we're happy to take questions.

Stephen Gengaro, Analyst

Thanks, and good morning everybody. The guidance provided for the second half of the year on the EBITDA side clearly indicates an improvement compared to our previous expectations and the consensus following a strong second quarter. The outlook for the second half appears to be more promising. Regarding free cash flow generation in the second half, what factors should we consider? Also, how do you anticipate working capital will perform during this period?

Bradley Dodson, CEO

We should remain free cash flow positive. There may be some working capital shifts from Q2 to Q3, particularly due to our insurance renewals for the entire program, including both cash flow and financial and property aspects. Additionally, we have property tax payments that are due, mainly in Canada. As a result, there might be some cash outflow from working capital in the third quarter. Overall, it could be a slight outflow in the second half, but I would estimate it to be less than $5 million in total.

Stephen Gengaro, Analyst

From an EBITDA perspective, the leverage ratio has decreased. When you have discussions with the banks now, and it seems you don't need any amendments, how does that affect the conversation regarding extensions or renegotiating the bank agreements moving forward?

Carolyn Stone, CFO

Thank you, Bradley. Stephen, as you mentioned, we don't believe we need any covenant relief nor do we plan to seek it at this time. However, we do have a maturity coming up in November 2021, so we'll be engaging with our bank group in the coming months to address this maturity. I don’t think it significantly alters the discussion, except that it is beneficial for all parties involved that we are working towards maintaining lower leverage during this term and for any potential extension. Our bank group is very supportive, and we anticipate their continued support as we enter these discussions in the next few months.

Bradley Dodson, CEO

I want to emphasize that Carolyn and her team are navigating some uncertainty in discussions with the banks, which happen frequently though not on a weekly basis. Our lenders are aware of the progress we have made with our forecasts, indicating we are heading in the right direction. Being free cash flow positive sets us apart from many oil field service companies in their portfolio. Additionally, our efforts to reduce overall leverage are a positive factor. The lenders are well-informed about our situation, and our performance has exceeded our initial expectations. The generation of cash flow from our business is clearly significant for the lenders.

Kurt Hallead, Analyst

Good morning. I would like to get a bit more clarity on the guidance. You mentioned that the EBITDA numbers do not factor in any additional benefits from the Canadian dynamic. In the second quarter, your adjusted EBITDA included over $7 million in one-time items. So, when considering the full-year EBITDA, does the $80-plus million figure account for that one-time benefit from the second quarter?

Bradley Dodson, CEO

It does. So we reported $20.3 million of adjusted EBITDA in Q1. And then you're right, we had $28.1 million of adjusted EBITDA in the second quarter. So that $48.4 million would be the first half number that would go into the $80 to $85 million for the full year.

Kurt Hallead, Analyst

And then it would appear to me there's going to be a substantial drop-off in Canadian EBITDA in the back half of the year. Probably having to run less than $5 million a quarter to kind of keep you in the range of that $80 and $85 million. So I just wanted to just try to kind of make sure I was understanding the progression correctly.

Bradley Dodson, CEO

Well, so in the Canadian EBITDA in the second quarter, we had the $7 million plus, let's call it, $8 million of one-time items. So you take those out of the $15.3 million, about $8 million of EBITDA in Canada in the second quarter on an operational level. While that's significantly higher than what we were thinking 90 days ago. What happened in the second quarter, occupancy at the Sitka Lodge was materially better than we were anticipating. As we talked about a little bit in our prepared comments, we saw the turnaround activity start to kick in in June primarily, and that will continue into the third quarter. Implicit in the guidance for Canada is essentially flat EBITDA from there for the rest of the year, both the third quarter and the fourth quarter. I don't think that's herculean in terms of an assumption. There are probably some opportunities. As I mentioned, we should get some CEWS proceeds. So the reported adjusted EBITDA should be better. Should we see occupancy, particularly on the turnarounds, extend longer, we could have some upside there.

Kurt Hallead, Analyst

I appreciate the additional information. Just one last thing. You mentioned that you expect to be free cash flow positive in the second half of the year. I also want to confirm that you still expect to spend about $15 million in capital expenditures for the full year.

Bradley Dodson, CEO

That's right. We've got a handful of projects, particularly in Australia, as we see occupancy continue to stay strong there that we need to put some money to work there. That's the biggest piece of it. We'll have a little bit of capex in the second half for Canada as it relates to the coastal gasoline pipeline and our mobile camp work that we're doing to support that.

Kurt Hallead, Analyst

Got you. And any plan for that cash flow to continue to reduce debt?

Bradley Dodson, CEO

That's right. Yes, we need to continue to move the aggregate leverage lower and continue to delever the company.

Stephen Gengaro, Analyst

Thanks. Just two quick follow-ups. One is on the Australian side, I know Australia has clearly had a good trend in the second quarter as well. Can you give us an update on how that plays out in the back half of the year? And it seems like just from the breakout in the press release that the Action acquisition showed a really nice improvement in the second quarter. Can you add some color there?

Bradley Dodson, CEO

Sure. I was very pleased with the performance on the base business in terms of the room nights in Australia and our villages there. I was very pleased with the performance there. We're being conservative in our second half guidance for Australia. A couple of things happened. We had customers taking more rooms above and beyond the take-or-pay minimums. We also had, in conjunction with that, some billed but unused rooms. We're assuming that as they tried to control availability there, and so we're being conservative in terms of our margins for the second half. I think there could be upside on that. One of the things is we could see margins come in a little bit if the rooms are occupied. I think Australia's doing very well. One risk that we've got to continue to watch, the pandemic impact in Australia is not on the same scale as what we're seeing in other countries, particularly the U.S., in Texas, on its own. We need to see the COVID impact continue to be minimal. We've not had any reported cases at any of our locations there, knock on wood, and that could really impact occupancy if they were to see an outbreak there. I think the government has done a very good job in containing things. I don't think that's likely, but it certainly is a risk to the profitability of that business in the second half. Action has done exceedingly well. This is a catering business we bought in July of last year with predominant operations in Western Australia, serving the iron ore markets there. We've seen customer occupancy still above our initial expectations in the first half, and we expect that to continue in the second half. The team has done a very good job in both winning new work and renewing contracts. Our expectations for that business are double what we budgeted for the year. The team has done a very good job, and it's largely on volume and contract rewards. Thank you, Kevin. Thank you all for joining the call today. I hope you all remain safe and healthy as we continue to work through this as a country and a globe. We look forward to speaking to you on the third-quarter call.

Operator, Operator

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