Foraco International Q3 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

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October 30, 2025

Key Takeaways

  • Negative Sentiment: Q3 revenue was $71 million (or $72M ex‑FX) versus $78–79M a year ago and EBITDA fell to $14M (20% margin) from $16M (21%), with YTD revenue and margins also meaningfully down versus 2024.
  • Positive Sentiment: Foraco announced the award and renewal of three long‑term contracts in Chile and Canada with a combined expected value of $150 million, which should provide multi‑period revenue visibility.
  • Positive Sentiment: Regional momentum is strong in Latin America (Q3 revenue +25%) and EMEA (+32%), Asia‑Pacific remains stable, and management reports a robust tender pipeline in North America and the U.S., supporting future utilization and margin recovery.
  • Positive Sentiment: Working capital requirements improved to $7 million from $23M a year ago, indicating better cash conversion and liquidity management.
  • Negative Sentiment: Net debt (including leases) increased to $72 million (~$66M at constant FX) from $61M at year‑end 2024, raising leverage considerations amid weaker near‑term profitability.
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Earnings Conference Call
Foraco International Q3 2025
00:00 / 00:00

There are 6 speakers on the call.

Speaker 2

Good morning ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the Foraco International SA third quarter 2025 earnings call. At this time all lines are in listen only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question and answer session. If at any time during this call you require operator assistance, please press star zero for the operator. This call is being recorded on Thursday, October 30, 2025. I would now like to turn the conference over to Tim Bremner. Please go ahead.

Speaker 5

Thank you, operator. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Foraco International SA's Q3 2025 earnings call. I am Tim Bremner, CEO of Foraco, and joining me today is Fabien Sevestre, our CFO. Earlier today, we released our third quarter 2025 financial results via CNW Newswire prior to the opening of the TSX. If you do not yet have a copy, you can find it at our website at www.foraco.com. Following our comments, we will open the call for questions, which will be moderated by our operator. This quarter continued to show operational progress and disciplined cost management across our business. Foraco reported Q3 2025 revenue of $71 million, or $72 million when excluding foreign exchange effects, compared to $79 million in the same period last year. EBITDA was $14 million, representing 20% of revenue, compared to 21% in Q3 2024.

Speaker 5

Earlier this week, we announced the award and renewal of three significant long-term contracts in Chile and Canada with a combined expected value of $150 million. These wins demonstrate Foraco's ability to consistently deliver a diversified services offering and the strong value our customers recognize beyond simply price competitiveness. I'll now turn the call over to Fabien for a detailed review of the quarter's financial performance.

Speaker 4

Fabien, thank you Tim, and good morning everyone. First of all, and as a reminder, Foraco reports in full IFRS and in U.S. dollars. Revenue for Q3 2025 amounted to $71 million compared to $78 million for the same period last year. By reporting segment, mining represented 86% and water represented 14%. In North America, revenue amounted to $26 million in Q3 2025, a 29% decrease driven by the completion and deferral of certain Canadian contracts, while new programs in the U.S. are ramping up and showing encouraging performance. Revenue in Asia Pacific remains stable at constant exchange rates at $24 million, reflecting a high and sustained level of activity after several quarters of growth driven by consistent customer demand. Revenue in South America increased 25%, reflecting momentum as operations in all three countries are progressively reaching their targeted performance levels supported by growing customer demand.

Speaker 4

In EMEA, revenue grew 32% to $5.4 million, supported by the continued ramp up of contracts initiated during previous periods. In Q3 2025, the geographical activity split: North America 36%, Asia Pacific 33%, South America 23%, EMEA 8%. During the quarter, gross margin including depreciation was $14 million, 20% of revenue, compared to $17 million, 22% of revenue in Q3 2024. This decrease was mainly driven by the phasing and ramp up of new contracts, which are typically associated with lower initial margins. G&A decreased by 11% to $4.8 million compared to $5.4 million for the same period last year. At a percentage of revenue, G&A was stable at 7%. As a result, EBIT was $9 million versus $12 million in Q3 2024. EBITDA amounted to $14 million compared to $16 million in Q3 2024. On a nine-month basis, revenue amounted to $195 million compared to $233 million last year.

Speaker 4

The year-to-date 2025 gross profit was 18% versus 22% last year. The year-to-date 2025 EBIT was $22 million or 11% of revenue compared to $36 million or 16% in the same period last year. As a percentage of revenue, the EBITDA for the nine-month period was 18% compared to 21% for the same period last year. As at 09-30-2025, the working capital requirements were $7 million compared to $23 million for the same period last year. CAPEX amounted to $15 million in cash compared to $14 million last year. This CAPEX is mainly related to the construction of new proprietary rigs, new rigs, and the acquisition of ancillary equipment and roads to support new contracts. At 09-30-2025, our net debt including lease obligation was $72 million or $66 million at constant exchange rates versus $61 million at 12-31-2024.

Speaker 4

I will now hand the call back to Tim for his closing remarks.

Speaker 5

Tim, thank you, Fabien. We're encouraged by the strengthening market conditions across our key geographies, particularly in Latin America, and by the continued rebound in metal prices and exploration financing. In October, S&P Global reported that total financings for the metal and mining sector increased 93% year over year to $12.83 billion. Gold financings rose 136% to $6.71 billion, while base metals led by copper were up 31% to $3.18 billion. This momentum extends to early stage exploration, which increased 27% quarter over quarter and 5% year over year. The S&P Exploration Index, which tracks changes in metal prices weighted by exploration spending, reached 255, up from 228 in June and 200 a year ago. These are powerful indicators of renewed sector confidence, and they directly translate into increased demand for Foraco International SA's drilling services. Our tender pipeline remains robust and supports our focused growth strategy.

Speaker 5

We see clear signs of sustained improvement in the mining and exploration environment, and Foraco is well positioned to benefit. We continue to invest in new rigs and technology to support this growth and have redeployed more than 20 rigs internationally, including across Latin America. Our strategy remains focused on delivering superior margins and strong free cash flow to fund future growth while maintaining disciplined capital allocation and shareholder returns. With that, operator, we'll now open the call for questions.

Speaker 2

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. We will now begin the question and answer session. Should you have a question, please press the star followed by the one on your touch-tone phone. You will hear a prompt that your hand has been raised. Should you wish to decline from the polling process, please press the star followed by the number two. If you are using a speakerphone, please lift the handset before pressing any keys. One moment, please, for your first question. Your first question comes from Frederick Tremblay from Desjardins. Please go ahead.

Speaker 2

Thank you. Good morning.

Speaker 5

Morning, Fred.

Speaker 5

I was wondering if you could maybe characterize your tender pipeline now versus, say, six or 12 months ago, maybe in terms of the number and size of opportunities that you're seeing.

Speaker 5

Broadly speaking, of course.

Speaker 5

I don't expect precise numbers there, but just general comments on the evolution of the pipeline lately would be helpful.

Speaker 5

Right. The tender pipeline in North America, as it relates to gold especially, and copper is very full, and in some sectors, I would say it might be even a little bit overflowing. There's more work that we could respond to. Latin America is one region where we've seen a tremendous improvement. As we know, we work in Brazil, Chile, and Argentina. All three of those countries are seeing a robust tender pipeline. Argentina, of the three, is the smallest drilling services market. Chile is obviously the biggest. The industry in Chile, the services industry, drilling services industry is working at near full capacity, and there are still some significant tenders that are being launched. It is quite robust in all the geographies concentrated on copper and gold.

Speaker 5

Great. Maybe just to follow up on your comments on North America, maybe just looking at the conversion of that strong pipeline into revenue, you know, we're noticing that American revenue, which is, you know, currently mainly Canada, has been down year over year for the past four quarters. Do you have any sort of visibility on timing in terms of getting that region back to year over year growth in positive territory?

Speaker 5

The Canadian market is a very competitive one at the moment, and I think everybody knows that there's a very high concentration of drilling services companies in Canada. A lot of that activity is in relatively straightforward drilling areas that are super competitive. It's not a market that we want to enter into because it's strictly a price-driven market. We are focusing on the deeper, more technical directional work, and that work exists. As we pivot away from our other customers, largely the nickel, and redeploy those rigs in the gold space, which takes time, we will see that business rebuild in Canada. You've heard me speak about pivoting to gold customers in Canada. When we were busy with a deep nickel, we didn't have a lot of capacity. Now that has shifted. We're training our sights on those customers, and we see the opportunities there.

Speaker 5

I believe that it's only a matter of time before we are able to secure the work that is in the sweet spot for Foraco, and it will rebuild that revenue. I announced two projects in Canada that were significant, and it's the first time that we've been able to announce that for the Canadian market in a number of quarters. I see some improvement there. The same thing in the U.S., we've got some traction in the U.S. I've been talking about it for quite some time. We are quite busy in the U.S. The tender pipeline in the U.S. is robust. It is a technical market, the U.S., where core recovery and completing the holes to depth is the objective. It's not as much a price-driven market. We are proficient at delivering a high-quality technical service and meeting those customer objectives.

Speaker 5

That is a market well suited for the type of services that we provide and allows us to secure the price levels that deliver the margins that we would like. I am optimistic about the U.S. market.

Speaker 5

That's great, Garver. I'll get back into queue, thanks.

Speaker 5

Thanks Fred.

Speaker 2

Thank you. Your next question comes from Don Newman from Deakin Securities. Please go ahead.

Speaker 2

Hey, good morning guys. Just looking for some additional commentary on the dynamics of the recent contract wins. Should we be looking for immediate contribution to the Q4 numbers, and should we anticipate some compression on margins as these projects go through the ramp up phase?

Speaker 5

Hi Donald. The work in Canada is renewals, so we're already in the field. We're not going to, we're not having to remobilize with respect to Q4. Christmas is coming like it is every year. We're going to expect and endure the seasonality of Q4 as we always do. That will, you know, that includes these projects. You're not going to see any effects from mobilization and ramp up from those projects in Canada.

Speaker 2

Okay.

Speaker 2

The project outside of Canada, obviously we'll see like a little bit of a ramp up phase there.

Speaker 5

A little bit. It's a repeat customer. It's in an area where we are currently working. We have the rigs available, and it's more straightforward than some of the other ones. There will be a slight ramp up on this one as well. The frustrating thing for us is we're at the mercy of the customer's schedule. You've heard me say before that the average award time from a tender to award seems to be increasing. Also, once these projects are awarded, our customers are giving us a start date. We anticipate that only to experience a delay. That's been a common theme lately. We may have some delay in Chile, but not in Canada.

Speaker 5

Okay, great. I appreciate the color there. Just quickly moving over to the commodity mix for the quarter and also junior and senior exposure for the quarter, those numbers would be appreciated.

Speaker 5

Sure, I have those here. If we look at just, I thought I had them right here. Give me one second. Apologies. Gold, for the quarter, we've increased our commodity mix in gold up from 13% to 16%. I expect that to increase significantly. We're getting some decent traction there. I don't know, we traded somewhere yesterday.

Speaker 2

You won't read.

Speaker 5

We're getting some feedback here in the call. Sorry, nickel is off. We were 21%, we're down to 16%. That's not a surprise for anybody. Copper, we're flat at 24%. Iron, we're even at 15%. Of water, we are up to 17% from 13%. Lithium is not even on the radar. We're seeing the main traction in copper and maintaining our weighting in—sorry, the main traction in gold and maintaining our weighting in copper. Our strategy is again to increase the gold contribution. As for the mix with juniors, it's relatively flat, maybe a slight uptick. Our strategy is to focus on the tier one customers that can offer us the long term opportunities.

Speaker 5

Okay, thanks for that. I'll hop back in the queue.

Speaker 2

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, as a reminder, if you want to ask a question, please first press star one. Your next question comes from Steven Green from Orden's Capital. Please go ahead.

Speaker 2

Good morning. I wonder if you could talk about your utilization rate and how as you increase your revenues, your gross margins will go up as the utilization rate goes up as well.

Speaker 5

With the unutilized capacity that we have, there's a cost associated with that. As we put these rigs to work, we're not incurring new investment for the rigs that we're putting to work or a modest investment in some cases. Even at constant rates, that will turn into a direct improvement in the EBITDA margin as that utilization rate goes up. We are investing more than we have in rebuilds and reconfiguration of some rigs, especially those that we transfer internationally. Generally speaking, the increase in utilization rate will drop right to the bottom line as we offset that unabsorbed cost.

Speaker 5

Great.

Speaker 5

Thank you.

Speaker 2

There are no further questions at this time. I will now turn the call over to the Foraco team for closing remarks. Please go ahead.

Speaker 5

Thanks, Sergio. We appreciate your interest, everyone, and we look forward to speaking to you again in the new year when we present Q4. If you have any follow up questions, a lot of you know me, I'm happy to take calls or respond to emails as you wish. Again, thank you very much for your interest. Have a good day.

Speaker 2

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

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