Cadeler A/S Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
May 28, 2024

There are 3 speakers on the call.

Operator

Good morning, and welcome to this 1st quarterly presentation by Kedla. We are happy to have this opportunity to present to you guys our quarterly results from the Q1 of 2024. Please read through the disclaimer in the presentation. There are a lot of useful information in that, but we will not dwell on it here in this presentation now. In terms of the Q1 of 2024, there has been a lot of highlights.

Operator

It has been a very, very busy quarter for Cadillac. And we have not harvested all the fruits of the busy quarter yet, but I think that we want to highlight what we have at least been working on here. Financial performance is in line with our expectations. We have had 3 of our 4 vessels out undergoing upgrades and we have also had maintenance in the quarter. So all as per the plan and really preparing for the future.

Operator

Q1 also saw 3 new projects added to the contract backlog. We see a very solid growing market demand and that has also been further substantiated by 2 significant vessel reservation agreements. We have completed successful the strategic renewal of the existing fleet, including the on time and on budget delivery of the new O Class cranes, which is a real landmark for us as a company. We have also continued the solid progress on the newbuild program and WinPEAK is still set for delivery on time as we said when we did the annual report presentation. Following from the private placement with the execution and designing of the 3rd state of the art A Class vessel the Wind Apex That is something we are very proud of.

Operator

It has been long and hard work. And I think we have really experienced also that the yard market is incredibly tight at the moment. And we are proud to have signed now the order for the 3rd A Class vessel, which we believe will be in very, very high demand. In terms of the Q1 2024 commercial highlights. On Wind Orchard, we have completed the crane replacement project in Rotterdam, and we have mobilized and we went straight on to work for Siemens Gamesa on the Moray West project, where we installed the first ever 14.7 megawatt turbine in the offshore wind market.

Operator

On the wind Osprey, we completed the crane replacement project in Rotterdam as well and we mobilized and went straight to work on Oster's Skulwind and Borkum Reef Gun III project. On Winstiller, we completed the French Ildue project for DeM, and we also completed a short O and M work for Vestas. And then we went to dry dock in Brest in France, where we prepared the vessel for the work that will start or started on the 7th May for Oster's U. S. Project Revolution Wind.

Operator

On Win Thera10, we completed maintenance work in Singapore, and then we went straight to Taiwan to mobilize for the Siemens Gamesa Yunlin Offshore Wind Project. So all vessels are working now and that is something that we are very, very happy for. And also really thanks to the technical teams internally in Kepler for delivering these very, very, very big maintenance and upgrade scopes on our vessels and really preparing the company for the future. In terms of the backlog, we have added work on Basila with an undisclosed client for BTG installation and execution in 2025 in the U. S.

Operator

Market. We have also added work on the Balti Kertu project for turbine installation in 2027 and also a multiple year contract for turbine and foundation installation with Erste. This is something that we are very, very proud of. And also on the vessel reservation agreements, this has been busy last couple of weeks. We added a very large restoration agreement with a non disclosed client both for turbine and foundation installation over several years with a value between €400,000,000 and €700,000,000 And also our first project where we are working together with Equinor and their partners on the Belk 2 and 3 project for V2G installation in 2027.

Operator

I think that this really also marks the time where we can say that 2027 is really filling up and that we are confident about what we see in this decade and the beginning of the next decade in terms of work that we are approaching from our clients. We are working on a lot of projects. We have been working on a lot of projects in Europe, but we still have a lot of work to do in Europe. But I think what we're also showing in this presentation here and on this slide here is that we now have worked across all 3 major wind markets. And as we are working in these markets, we are also continuing to develop new markets.

Operator

The contract backlog has continued to increase. I think what is important for us to say here is that vessel reservations is not added to the backlog. And hence, we have to be patient for those to really materialize into firm contracts before they are added to the backlog. But very, very confident on the overall utilization profile in the company, very, very happy with what we see in terms of demand from the clients and also very confident in terms of the further build of the backlog and the growth of the backlog. The O Class Crane project is something that we discussed a little bit when we did the annual report presentation.

Operator

But really, I think it cannot be overestimated or underestimated how big a project this has been for the company. We ordered the cranes, the first one back in December 2020. And really with these new cranes on the O class vessels, we have significantly extended the time where the O class vessels will install turbines in the offshore wind market. Both vessels are out and working. Obviously, with big mechanical projects, we are fixing small stuff as we go through that.

Operator

But I think that we see cooperation from our clients and we are working actively with the cranes, which is very, very, very positively. The cranes were installed on time and budget and the crew has been trained for safe operations and maintenance of the crane. And it is the operations department now internally in Catlet that is working with the crane and making sure that we get the value out of them that we want to get out of them. A picture of the new fully delivered fleet with the addition of the 11th vessel, the Wind Apex that we signed just recently. And with the addition of the Wind Apex, the new picture in Kedla looks like this, 4 vessels on the water, the 2 M class vessels delivering in 2025 Q1 and Q4.

Operator

And that is unchanged from when we last presented to you. I think we have worked very, very closely with Hanwha Ocean in South Korea to ensure that we get the vessels delivered according to these timelines. And we have confidence that they will deliver on this with commitment from the most senior management in Hanwha Ocean towards Catalor. Also on WinPeak and WinPeak, we follow the schedule that we already have announced. No change to that.

Operator

And WinPeak is only a couple of weeks from starting her seed trials before the delivery, which is expected to be in the first half of August of this year. Wind PACE follows the plan and the A Class vessels are already in production as well. We expect Wind Allied to deliver in Q4 2025, Wind ACE to deliver in the second half of twenty twenty six and Wind Apex to deliver in the first half of twenty twenty seven. We see very, very strong demand for the A Class vessels and also for the turbine installation vessels. And as I already said, very, very confident on the utilization of the vessels in the fleet.

Operator

In terms of the progress on the newbuilds, we have included some pictures here. We know that that is always interesting to see because it really turns it from lines on paper into reality and that is also something we enjoy ourselves. If you look at wind peak, we are at a 97% completion level and we are exactly where we need to be on time, on budget. On wind pace, we are at 75% completion level and we are completing the block assembly and the dry dock as we speak. Windmaker, I had the pleasure of visiting it the week before last week.

Operator

And I think that we see great work from Hanoi Ocean as well. And we are at a completion level of 66% on the Windmaker. On the Windmover, we are at 41% completion and we see that it's at the moment we are constructing small blocks to make it into mega blocks which will then be assembled in the dry dock later. On WindAlly, the steel coating has been commenced. We started that on the 8th September 23 and the block fabrication is at around 66%.

Operator

We are at basic and detailed design that has been completed and the steel cutting on the wind ace is planned to start in July of 24. And on wind Apex, we just signed the contract. So on the detailed schedule, we will update you as we go ahead with that project. And we have just said that half one twenty seven, this is the ideal time line for delivery of this vessel to us. And that is why we have agreed this with the yard as well.

Operator

Again, as I said, Kepler has access to yard capacity. We continue to have access to yard capacity. And I think we have seen that that is certainly not something that is a given with a yard market that is very, very, very tight at the moment. So at this stage, I would like to hand over to Peter for a run through of the Q1 'twenty four financial highlights. Please, Peter.

Speaker 1

Thank you, Mikkel. The financial highlights for Q1 is we had a revenue of €19,000,000 That is, of course, impacted by the fact that 3 out of 4 vessels was not under contract, 2 for crane operators and 1 for plant maintenance. So only Siller was working in the Q1. We also had some revenue from the foundation project, the Honsi III project engineering and planning. So that is already generating some revenue and earnings for Catalina.

Speaker 1

Solid equity ratio of 75% utilization, a function of only 1 cylinder on a contract. We have a we are now market capitalization of 2 more than €2,000,000,000 And I think that is really a huge achievement that we have seen since the merger and the listing in the New York Stock Exchange. EBITDA, minus €10,000,000 and that is because of the revenue, but also we incur the same OpEx on the vessels when they are not on contract and when they are off hire. Positive cash flow from operating activities, very positive. The backlog, Miguel has spoken about.

Speaker 1

And then very interesting fact is that we now have a daily average trading turnover of 6,700,000 euros Intrasek also that is equally split between the New York Stock Exchange and Oslo with New York Stock Exchange a little bit higher. But that is also a key metric for us and a sign of success after the merger. The P and L, that is really a function of the situation with the vessels. Revenue, we have touched upon cost of sales for 4 vessels. SG and A is increasing as compared to last year, and that is due to the ramp up in the cattle organization that we did already last year with the foundation projects and then, of course, the addition of the former in Neti.

Speaker 1

We have now a headcount of 223 onshore as compared to 101 last year. The balance sheet, again, very solid balance sheet. Non current assets is increasing with the CapEx additions on the crane upgrades, but also on installments on the newbuilds. Cash is up due to the product placement that we did in February, euros 24,000,000 and also equity is up as a function of that. The goodwill we have in the balances is still €17,000,000 and that is the same as we had at the year end when we did the PPA on the former EMEA.

Speaker 1

And that is, of course, due to that we have not seen any liabilities incurring or showing up since we did the merger. So the merger is from a financial point of view going as planned. The CapEx program is something that we touch upon every time because, of course, this is a capital intensive industry. We have a huge CapEx program in front of us, but we have sufficient funding in place. We had sufficient funding in place before we did the private placement and the ordering of a 3rd A Class vessel.

Speaker 1

And we also have it after we did the proper placement and the ordering. Most of it has been signed. And we are now working on the A Class financing, which is in progress. We are also refinancing the M Class facility that was done by Inelri prior to the merger. And that is also progressing as planned, and we expect to realize significant financing synergies out of that having the bigger balance sheet.

Speaker 1

So pricing will be lower and terms and conditions will be better, especially the provisions around Trap Pass in the facility will be much better and free up a lot of cash. Still, we have followed this hedging policy of having 50% of exposure, both on FX and interest rate covered. This is the overview of the financing. You can see that we have a total commitment of DKK1.3 billion. We have only utilized right now DKK262 of those.

Speaker 1

And that is, of course, also a sign off that everything is going according to plan. We have not seen any surprises from the merger or from the operation. In fact, the merger with Nete was fully financed through the acquisition and the operational cash flow. So squeeze out change of control. Etcetera, was fully financed in the merger, and we do not have any cash outflow in 'twenty four through this.

Speaker 1

Full year outlook. We maintained the outlook that we presented in the annual report, a revenue of €225,000,000 to €245,000,000 and EBITA of €105,000,000 to 1 125,000,000 So although the negative result for Q1, it is exactly according to budget plans and the outlook that we have presented. Over to you, Mittel. Thank you, Peter.

Operator

And yes, as Peter said, very much a quarter that is completely in line with our expectations, and we continue the journey and are also substantiating the guidance we gave you around the annual report. A little bit about the outlook that we see it, just a few slides on it. We see that really, Cattellar now with 11 vessels in the fleet, when it's fully delivered, we really sit on the world's largest and most versatile fleet of next generation offshore wind turbine and foundation installation vessels. And why is that important? It is really important because we see that our clients they are willing to do business with catalog because we offer them really a reduction of their biggest risk with this redundancy on the vessels because nobody has a better ability to help them if something goes wrong in their project than catalog.

Operator

And we do see at the moment that this is something that the clients are willing to pay a premium for. And that is also why we continue the journey with our clients and really make sure that we secure these big projects, also single projects, but keep some vessel time available for the unforeseen in the market. And there will be need for that in the period that we're coming into, especially the second half of this decade and also the beginning of the next decade. In terms of meeting the growing market demand, we placed the order for the 11 vessels in the fleet, the Wind Apex. There are not much difference between this one and the other A Class vessels, but really our order here was based on the very strong market demand that we saw and these assets that are specialized in stalling the foundations.

Operator

We discussed already with investors around the private placement in February that we saw very strong demand. And I think that what we have disclosed in terms of a vessel reservation agreement just recently also substantiate that statement. And we continue to see very strong demand, and I'm very confident that we will see the A Class vessels being in very, very high demand from all the big clients in the industry that are all approaching catalog for longer term commitments for foundation installation. The hybrid design of the A Class vessels, we really believe that that is a unique flexibility because of course if you have 5 years of work, but one of them is a turbine installation year, then you could also still use the A Class vessel. We discussed it already that it's a very, very small tweak to the crane, then you can use it for turbine installation.

Operator

And it only requires a small mobile crane in a port. You don't need to go to dry dock or anything like that. So we think the concept is proven by what we have done with the clients, but also we will continue to see, as I said, very, very strong demand. And the price of the vessel, a function of the yard market at the moment, it is higher than what we ordered the 2 previous A Class vessels for, but bang in the middle of what we guided the market when we did the private placement, we set the €390,000,000 €410,000,000 and we landed the price at €400,000,000 So that is something that we have worked very, very hard to deliver and we are very happy to deliver such a strong vessel at this price, because we definitely see that this is below the current market price. If anybody came out in the market today and would buy a similar vessel that would be more expensive.

Operator

And as I said already, we expect to deliver the wind Apex in the first half of twenty twenty seven, which is optimal for Catla and the current projects that we are looking for. In terms of investment highlights in the company, as I said already, the largest and most versatile fleet in the industry, we have complementary vessels and we believe that we will be delivering very, very strong utilization and also earnings visibility. The backlog will continue to grow. We are certainly not at a plateau level on the backlog. And when these vessel reservation agreements materialize into firm contracts, they will be added to the backlog.

Operator

Kettler sit on a very experienced team, Peter already discussed. We have now more than 200 people in the onshore team and a lot of very, very capable seafarers out there working offshore as well. We are adding seafarers as we speak, but we are also benefited from the merger that we have the people that were originally on the NG2500 vessels in Inedi and those will also be working on the bigger vessels in the fleet now going forward. So really critical know how for the company. We believe that we have a global growth platform.

Operator

We are now working in all the major markets in the offshore wind space and also very long standing commercial partners and really good relationship with our clients that will deliver continued buildup of the company and backlog. We continue to see market tightness. There is a supply demand imbalance still in our space as in many other spaces in offshore wind. And we think it's a challenge, but also a challenge that Kettler is trying to be part of solving for our clients. And as I already said, we are actually delivering a reduction of the redundancy risk that the clients are sitting with.

Operator

And we believe that that is something that adds a lot of value to our clients and also something that has been actively communicated by our clients. We have also strong track record in the capital markets. And I think that we have always said that we have a focus on being good custodians of capital. So having a fully financed company in the situation that we are in now with 11 vessels on the water, we believe that that's a very strong situation to be in. And I would also say that we continue to see a very strong demand for the capital stock from our investors.

Operator

And we are very, very happy with the support from our investors. And so thanks for that. And with that said, I would like to hand over to the Q and A session now.

Speaker 2

Thank you very much. And we have a first question. That is, what is your take around capital allocation in the longer term dividend versus continued investments in sorry, in additional new builds? I can

Speaker 1

answer that, Karin. It's a question that we get often from investors and analysts. And it is evident that from 'twenty six and onwards, when we have the fully delivered fleet, there will be substantial free cash flow from operations and after investing also. So and that will be used for three purposes. It will be to service the debt.

Speaker 1

It will be to invest in organic and inorganic growth, but also to dividends to investors. So there will come dividends to investors in those years, but still to be defined by the Board, what will be the policy that is to be defined.

Speaker 2

Thank you so much, Peter. Another question came in. Thank you for the presentation to Peter and Mikkel. So there are two questions here. What is the typical lead for O and M contracts?

Speaker 2

Is it likely that the 1st P class vessel works in the OMN segment before commencing to the Sofia contract?

Operator

That could very well happen. We are working across a number of opportunities at the moment, and I think that could very well happen. We see a very, very tight O and M market as well, where our clients are very eager to get capacity. So that could very well be. We don't have a conclusion on the work on the P class yet, but we are working through a number of opportunities.

Speaker 2

Thank you. And the next question is how much T and I EBITDA related to Hornsea 3 is included in the 2024 EBITDA guiding for the €105,000,000 to €125,000,000

Speaker 1

We do not guide on revenues that detailed. But in the larger scale of the foundation project, it is a minor part that is in these early years. We had some revenue in there also in 'twenty three. We have something in 'twenty four. There will be more in 'twenty five.

Speaker 1

And then, of course, in '26, the majority of the revenue will be there. But there is a smaller amount in 'twenty four as well. But we do not guide detailed on the specifics of the revenue.

Operator

No. And it's really the function of the work that we are performing for the client now. So it relates to project management and something like that. So in the grander scheme of things, it's small numbers.

Speaker 2

Super, thanks for that. Your share price has appreciated significantly over the last 6 months, making shares a more potent currency for funding accretive growth. How does share price developments in general affect your assessment around growth and its accretiveness?

Operator

I think it doesn't because we evaluate it on a market basis. So the opportunities we are looking at is based always on a market basis because we have to substantiate it on a market basis. So we need to know that we can deliver on it and that we can create value from it. And because an opportunity is possible, you shouldn't always take it. You should take it if it's accretive to all shareholders that are currently holding a CATALA stock, and that's how we evaluate it always.

Speaker 2

Another question coming in. You talked about cables before. Any news there? And what kind of synergies are we talking about when it comes to cable?

Operator

So I think we have discussed cables in the past, and we are still watching the space, so to speak. But as I have also said, we will not do anything speculatively in cabling. So we will not buy a cable and then hope for the best. We will only go into cabling if we think it is it comes with a foundation, so to speak, a base of work with a client or something like that. And that's still something that we are evaluating.

Operator

We do believe we have the capabilities to deliver on that. But we are more or less the same place as we were when we did the annual report. But we continue to have a look. But I think as we said in the presentation, we want to be good custodians of capital. So still humble to the journey, still want to deliver strong value to our investors that have been part of the journey so far.

Operator

That is for us the most crucial part of the journey.

Speaker 2

Thank you for that. One more question is, are there plans for further business acquisitions? Or is the current strategy to grow organically?

Operator

We are open to the market. We are looking what is out there. And I think that the real difference today and from where we came from just a few years ago is that we were looking for potential acquisition opportunities. Today, they come to us instead. We do see a lot of the companies in the industry that would like to form part of the Kettler family.

Operator

We have a big task ahead of us that we are very, very humbled towards, and that is really the full integration of the Ineti team and assets and all of that into the Cattler setup. And I think that we will continue to be humbled to that journey, and we will not make any moves that would jeopardize that journey at all. We are very happy with where we are as a company today, but it is still a journey and it is still a growth story in a market that grows very, very fast. So I think that we are open. That is probably what we can say, but there's nothing that we look at imminently.

Speaker 2

Thanks for that. And an additional question, will you have enough employees to support your growth in the coming years?

Operator

Yes. We continue to evaluate the staffing of the company, and we are ramping up the team now. We of course, as the journey has pended out, so to speak, we have been in this situation that we do a lot of investments and you don't start to make real money from it before you are starting to execute and deliver the assets. Peter has many times talked about it. It's almost like walking up a stair when you deliver a vessel, then you have a new step in terms of what the vessel can do financially.

Operator

So we have been trying to really be watching out that we didn't explode the FTE at all and do as much as we can. But it is a continued growth of the team, and the team will grow this year as well and still to grow in the last part of the year as well with some relatively big numbers.

Speaker 2

Thanks for that. And an additional question. Are you looking into going into, for example, the SOV or the CSOV space? Or is that off the table?

Operator

Not at the moment. We don't look at that. And we have said clearly that, that is for others to play in that space. So no, not at the moment.

Speaker 2

Thanks for that. How are the talks related to a contract for the first newbuild for second half of

Operator

2024? I think we discussed that already. We are looking through opportunities at the moment for the wind peak. Yes, and I think we will announce to the market when we have something that we want to go with.

Speaker 2

Thanks for that. And an additional question is based on the current fleet outlook, for example, the 11th vessels, how much do you expect you need to grow the onshore organization to support full operations in 2027? Do you need to increase it by 30% or 50% etcetera?

Operator

We don't discuss that detail level. We will continue to update as we go ahead. But as I said already, we are managing growth. We want to do it controlled. There's nobody who has an interest in exploding the headcount.

Operator

So we continue to do a balanced growth, but we believe that we are in a good position with that as well.

Speaker 2

Thanks for that. What are the internal expectations, sorry, for the utilization for the entire fleet when delivered?

Operator

I think we continue not to guide on a specific number. What we have said previously is that we target between 75% 90% utilization. It can of course be higher than that as well, but these vessels they need maintenance. And that's why we are aiming for as high utilization as possible. I've always said that utilization is really one of the key metrics in our industry.

Operator

Because as we have also seen in this quarter when the vessels are out from maintenance, for example, they, of course, have we have to pay for them still, right? This is all according to the plan. But if you can keep the utilization really high, then you can also make benefits to your numbers, right? And that's why that is the strategy for the company. So we will continue to seek maximum utilization.

Operator

And we believe across a fleet of 11 vessels, we will be in a very, very good position to ensure record high utilization because the fleet flexibility we have is beyond what anybody else can deliver in the industry.

Speaker 2

Super thanks. Another question. Could you talk a little bit about the risk of the latest vessel reservation contract regarding the condition of the client need to be successful in the old?

Operator

No, we have already discussed that in the release. That is what it is. The client needs to be successful. But as I have also discussed in the past, we evaluate very much which projects we go for. So do we believe in the project fundamentally?

Operator

Yes, we do. But that's what we can say about this. We are restricted in many of these things and what we can say. And I think it's important that everybody listening in understands that, that there is a lot of restrictions to what we can discuss on these because these bids form parts of other bidding rounds and hence the disclosure is limited.

Speaker 2

Thanks for that. Another question. Would it be possible to provide more details regarding how you price T and I foundation contracts? Is there a fixed vessel, higher revenue, for example?

Operator

I think for obvious reasons, we cannot disclose the details of that because it would not be good for our competitive situation. I think we will tell the market on an overall company basis what we are doing, but we will not go into how we price it. We have talked when we did the annual report last year in Oslo, we had a small Capital Markets Day there with analysts and interested parties where we discussed how we evaluate a T and I project and foundations. And this is something that we currently are evaluating that we will continue to do to shift around the location where we give these presentations also to have deep dives on various topics. So that could be a topic, but not the pricing because that is not something we wish to disclose to our competitors.

Speaker 2

And I think this is the last question that came in. And the question goes, what are you most excited about here in cattle?

Operator

There's a lot of things to be excited about, I think, at the moment. And I despite the fact that we are a little bit tired at the moment because it has been a very, very, very busy quarter we have come through. And the first half of this year has been unbelievably busy. And we have not harvested all the fruits yet, as I said in the beginning, and we will continue to deliver throughout the year. But I think what I'm most excited about is really how the team is delivering.

Operator

It is unbelievable the team we have. And I've talked both on and offshore. The flexibility they demonstrate to us, the commitment and the passion they demonstrate to us is beyond what anybody can expect. And I want to send the biggest thanks to our team for the commitments they have demonstrated to Cadillac. And then of course we are in a market where things are moving in the right direction.

Operator

And as a company with our investors, with our team, with our board and all of that we are in a super position to really harvest value in the years going forward.

Speaker 2

Thank you so much both of you. That was the last question in the Q and A.

Operator

Thank you.

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Earnings Conference Call
Cadeler A/S Q1 2024
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