NASDAQ:KITT Nauticus Robotics Q2 2026 Earnings Report $0.91 -0.12 (-11.65%) Closing price 08/14/2026 04:00 PM EasternExtended Trading$0.94 +0.03 (+3.30%) As of 08/14/2026 07:57 PM Eastern Extended trading is trading that happens on electronic markets outside of regular trading hours. This is a fair market value extended hours price provided by Massive. Learn more. ProfileEarnings HistoryForecast Nauticus Robotics EPS ResultsActual EPS-$1.25Consensus EPS -$77.76Beat/MissBeat by +$76.51One Year Ago EPSN/ANauticus Robotics Revenue ResultsActual Revenue$0.89 millionExpected Revenue$2.00 millionBeat/MissMissed by -$1.11 millionYoY Revenue GrowthN/ANauticus Robotics Announcement DetailsQuarterQ2 2026Date8/12/2026TimeAfter Market ClosesConference Call DateThursday, August 13, 2026Conference Call Time10:00AM ETConference Call ResourcesConference Call AudioConference Call TranscriptSlide DeckPress Release (8-K)Quarterly Report (10-Q)Earnings HistoryCompany ProfileSlide DeckFull Screen Slide DeckPowered by Nauticus Robotics Q2 2026 Earnings Call TranscriptProvided by QuartrAugust 13, 2026ShareShareShare This ReportLink copied to clipboard.Key Takeaways Revenue and liquidity remained pressured: Q2 revenue was $0.9 million, down $1.2 million year over year, while cash fell to $2.0 million from $7.6 million at year-end 2025. Net loss widened to $11.1 million, primarily due to non-cash losses from debt-for-equity exchanges. Offshore oil and gas activity was delayed: Lower oil prices led customers to defer several Gulf projects into 2027 or later, contributing to depressed near-term revenue. Management is avoiding low-margin short-term work and costly long-term vessel commitments. Positive Sentiment: Nauticus ToolKITT is now formally commercialized: The ROV software has been deployed successfully in customer operations, received positive operator feedback, and is being sold to energy and defense fleet operators, with management targeting more predictable recurring product revenue beginning in 2027. Positive Sentiment: Defense, government, and international opportunities are expanding: The company has active defense proposals, expects a potential multi-phase project to generate revenue in 2026 and 2027 if awarded, and is building a UAE facility and business entity to support regional operations and manufacturing. Positive Sentiment: Capital structure and listing risks improved: Debt was reduced by $5.5 million through additional debt-to-equity exchanges, and management said a reverse stock split is not currently required to maintain NASDAQ compliance, although it continues to monitor listing standards. AI Generated. May Contain Errors.Conference Call Audio Live Call not available Earnings Conference CallNauticus Robotics Q2 202600:00 / 00:00Speed:1x1.25x1.5x2xTranscript SectionsPresentationParticipantsPresentationSkip to Participants Operator00:00:00Hello everyone. Thank you for joining us, and welcome to the Nauticus Robotics, Inc second quarter 2026 earnings call. After today's prepared remarks, we will host a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one to raise your hand. To withdraw your question, press star one again. I will now hand the conference over to Kristin Moorman, Corporate Development Lead. Kristin, please go ahead. Kristin MoormanCorporate Development Lead at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:00:31Thank you, and good morning, everyone. Joining me today and participating in the call are John Gibson, CEO and President, Jimena Begaries, Interim CFO, and other members of our leadership team. On today's call, we will first provide prepared remarks concerning our financial and operations results. Following that, we will answer questions. We have now released our results for the quarter ending June 30, 2026, which are available on our website. In addition, today's call is being webcast and a replay will be available on our website shortly following the conclusion of the call. Please note that comments we make on today's call regarding projections or our expectations for future events are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control. These risks and uncertainties can cause actual results to differ materially from our current expectations. Kristin MoormanCorporate Development Lead at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:01:31We advise listeners to review our earnings release and the risk factors discussed in our filings with the SEC. Also, please refer to the reconciliations provided in our earnings press release as we may discuss non-GAAP metrics on this call. I will now turn it over to John. John GibsonPresident and CEO at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:01:51Thank you, Kristin, and good morning, everyone. Glad you're joining us today. I'm going to save my remarks until the conclusion of the call today. At this point, I'd like to just turn it over to Jimena to walk through the financials. Jimena? Jimena BegariesInterim CFO at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:02:06Thank you, John, and good morning, everyone. During our second quarter, we remained focused on strengthening the company's capital structure and preserving our NASDAQ listing. We completed several important financing initiatives, including finalizing the registration process for our equity line of credit, filing the Series D certificate of designation, and executing additional debt to equity exchanges that reduced outstanding debt by $5.5 million while supporting stockholder equity. I will now discuss our financial results for the second quarter of 2026. Revenue for the second quarter was $0.9 million, an increase of $0.7 million sequentially and a decrease of $1.2 million compared to the same quarter last year. Operating expenses for the quarter were $6.9 million, a decrease of $1.6 million compared to 2025 and an increase of $1 million sequentially. Jimena BegariesInterim CFO at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:03:06This reflects a continuous focus on cost management, partially offset by increased activity levels compared to the first quarter of 2026. Jimena BegariesInterim CFO at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:03:15G&A costs for the quarter were $3.3 million, representing an improvement of $1.1 million from the same quarter last year. Sequentially, G&A has remained mostly flat, increasing by less than $0.1 million quarter over quarter, demonstrating continued discipline in managing our corporate overhead. Net loss for the quarter was $11.1 million, compared to $9.3 million in the first quarter of 2026 and $7.4 million in the second quarter of 2025. The increase was driven mostly by non-cash losses recognized on debt extinguishment transactions related to the exchange of outstanding debt for equity securities. Adjusted net loss for the quarter was $7 million, compared to $7.4 million for the second quarter of 2025 and $6.4 million in Q1 2026. Cash at the end of Q2 2026 was $2 million, compared to $7.6 million at the end of 2025. This decrease is related to cash used in operating activities. Jimena BegariesInterim CFO at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:04:25As we enter the second half of the year, our priorities remain clear, continuing to strengthen the balance sheet, maintaining disciplined cost management, and ensuring we have the financial flexibility to support commercial execution and future growth opportunities. With that, I will now hand the call over to Steve Walsh, our sales lead, for an update. Steve WalshSales Lead at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:04:50Thank you, Jimena, and good morning. Entering the year, many operators based their capital spending plans on oil prices in the mid $50-$60 per barrel range, which led to a more cautious approach to offshore activity in the Gulf of Mexico. As a result, several projects we had anticipated moving forward this year have been deferred into 2027, and in some cases, beyond. In response to these market conditions, we've adjusted our operating model to better align our cost structure with current demand. Our objective has been to maintain flexibility to rapidly deploy our personnel and equipment when projects move forward while avoiding the expense of maintaining a fully mobilized vessel throughout the entire work season. This disciplined approach allows us to remain responsive to customer needs while managing costs and preserving financial flexibility. Steve WalshSales Lead at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:05:46While these market dynamics have impacted the timing of work in the Gulf, we have made meaningful progress in diversifying our business. We have expanded our presence in the offshore wind market along the East Coast, successfully completed work with one of the world's largest subsea cable-laying companies, have projects scheduled on the West Coast in the coming months, and currently have international tendering opportunities. We also achieved an important operational milestone by successfully deploying a Comanche ROV integrated with our Nauticus ToolKITT software. The combined system performed exceptionally well for our client, demonstrating the value of integrating intelligent software with proven subsea hardware. Nauticus ToolKITT demonstrated the ability to improve the ROV's operating efficiency while reducing pilot workload, allowing missions to be executed more effectively and consistently. Steve WalshSales Lead at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:06:47This successful deployment further validates our technology strategy and provides another example of how our software-enabled solutions can help customers improve productivity, reduce operating costs, and enhance the overall efficiency of subsea operations. In addition, we are actively pursuing opportunities outside the U.S., where we believe our technology and capabilities are well-aligned with growing demand for efficient, autonomous offshore operations. We are also seeing a growth in the number of opportunities in the defense sector. While these efforts remain in the early stages, we are making strategic investments in marketing, capabilities, alliances, and business development to position Nauticus to compete effectively for this work. We believe our autonomous subsea technologies and software-driven solutions are well suited to support the evolving defense and national security missions, creating another avenue for long-term growth and diversification. Steve WalshSales Lead at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:07:50Although the near-term offshore oil and gas market remains challenging, we are encouraged by the strength of our opportunity pipeline, the continued expansion of our customer base across multiple offshore markets, and the progress we are making in positioning the company for long-term growth. We remain focused on executing our strategy, expanding our commercial footprint, and creating sustainable value for our shareholders. With that, I will turn it over to Brian Allen, our revenue lead, for his thoughts on 2026. Brian AllenRevenue Lead at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:08:26Thanks, Steve. Jimena has taken you through the numbers, and I want to cover why this business has been hard to forecast and what we are doing about it. Looking at our revenue the way an investor would, I see a business that is hard to model, and there are four reasons for that, and we are changing all of them. First, where we sit in the contracting chain. Our services business is mostly time and materials-orientated, and we normally bid as a subcontractor. That means we win work only if the company above us wins theirs first. Their timing sets ours, their price affects ours, and when their contract slips, our revenue moves with it, and that is what has been happening. Second, time and materials pricing hands the customer the efficiency our technology creates. So we finish faster, they pay for fewer days, and we earn less overall. Brian AllenRevenue Lead at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:09:10Our software has only recently become a defined product. While it was maturing, it was not able to be sold easily. Lastly, pipeline coverage. You carry more opportunity than you need because not everything converts, and in a soft market, that coverage has to be higher. Here is what changes. We are targeting a significant increase in pipeline coverage for 2027 and widening where it comes from, starting up sales activity internationally and across the defense sector. Defense inquiries are already up, and those use cases align well with what our technology does reliably today, and we have active proposals out now. The services business that we are building internationally will bid as the main contractor on work where our autonomy gives us a real advantage. When we hold the contract, we set the price and the scope, and we keep the margin our technology creates. Brian AllenRevenue Lead at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:09:58We are putting the quality systems in place to bid at that level. Those contracts will be fixed price. When our autonomy takes days out of a job, that shows up in our margin. Finally, I am extremely pleased to announce the first formal release of our Nauticus ToolKITT software for ROVs, now on sale to underwater fleet operators across the energy sector and defense groups. Jason will tell you a little bit more about that shortly, but for the business, it starts bringing in recurring, predictable revenue from 2027. We will communicate our bookings and backlog in future calls. I will now hand you over to Jason. Jason CloseVP of Growth and Go-To-Market at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:10:35Thank you, Brian. While we move towards growing product revenue, we continue to make meaningful progress across the technical validation and commercial pathways supporting our product portfolio this quarter. One of the clearest examples was the continued use of Nauticus ToolKITT in active ROV projects. The software exceeded expectations in customer operations, particularly improving vehicle stability, survey consistency, and the quality of the resulting data. Feedback from both our operators and the customer was highly positive and reinforced that Nauticus ToolKITT can deliver meaningful operational value on existing ROV fleets. These deployments provide important field validation and proof points, which help us refine and continue to deploy the commercial adoption model. With Aquanaut, we completed the planned freshwater phase of an autonomous mooring line and riser inspection workflows for our customers at the Florida test location. Jason CloseVP of Growth and Go-To-Market at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:11:30We will continue to leverage the lake for our mission training, while further progress for our mooring line and riser inspection now require access to a suitable offshore test environment. We remain engaged with participating organizations and other interested parties regarding the next phase, and the timing will depend on customer budget cycles and site availability. We also reached an important milestone in our manipulation program by completing the prototype of our next-generation electric manipulator, which has a much lower capital requirement for manufacturing, supported by our strategy to manufacture in the U.A.E. We have validated the movement through our software controls architecture, and now functional and load testing are underway, with further prototype builds and design refinement planned. This provides an important foundation for future commercial and defense missions requiring autonomous subsea interaction. Jason CloseVP of Growth and Go-To-Market at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:12:21As we look at the near-term market, we are placing greater emphasis on defense and government opportunities. Jason CloseVP of Growth and Go-To-Market at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:12:26This is not a change in our underlying technology strategy or a move away from commercial markets. Aquanaut, Nauticus ToolKITT, and our manipulation technologies can be configured and trained around different commercial, government, and defense missions. What is changing is where we see the strongest near-term environment for revenue. Defense and government customers are focused on autonomous systems, subsea awareness, and infrastructure security, and their programs are often structured to fund phased development, which match our product strategy. This gives Nauticus an opportunity to advance reusable software, sensing, vehicle, and manipulation capability through funded mission work. Aligned with this focus, we have prioritized our defense and government opportunities. During the quarter, Nauticus completed an initial scope of work intended to support the evaluation of a broader multi-phase defense project. If awarded, we anticipate revenue this year and into 2027. In parallel, we expanded our participation in next-generation ocean sensing opportunities. Jason CloseVP of Growth and Go-To-Market at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:13:29Nauticus is currently involved in multiple collaborative proposal efforts with government, commercial defense, and academic participants, evaluating autonomous approaches to deploying and operating persistent subsea sensing infrastructure. These activities bring together Aquanaut, Nauticus ToolKITT, manipulation, and advanced sensing technologies into broader customer solutions. They illustrate how Nauticus addresses missions that are difficult or costly to perform using traditional vessel-based approaches. Our solution offers a platform deploy infrastructure that support new forms of long-term value for persistent subsea data. Together, these activities represent progress across multiple routes to broad product revenue. Nauticus ToolKITT is being validated in real customer operations, Aquanaut is being developed around specific commercial and defense applications, and our manipulation technology is advancing through internal product development and industry collaboration. The work completed during this quarter expanded the way we can bring high-value technology to the market. Jason CloseVP of Growth and Go-To-Market at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:14:35Our increased near-term focus on defense and government work is intended to accelerate our progress through markets that are actively interested in development and deployment of autonomous subsea systems. Importantly, the resulting technology remains not only applicable for defense, but also across the commercial markets that we serve. I'll now hand the call back to John. John GibsonPresident and CEO at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:14:58Well, thank you, team, for the updates. Before we open the lineup for questions, I'd like to step back from the individual updates you've heard today and try to put them into perspective. There's no question that 2026 has been a challenging year. The offshore markets developed more slowly than we anticipated, customer projects have shifted to the right, and our financial results reflect that reality. Rather than waiting for the market to improve, we've taken decisive action. We've reduced our cost structure, we've strengthened our balance sheet, we've broadened our addressable markets, and sharpened our focus on the opportunities where we believe Nauticus can create the greatest long-term value. Just as importantly, our technology has continued to advance. Nauticus ToolKITT has now been successfully deployed in customer operations, and we are formally taking that product to market. John GibsonPresident and CEO at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:15:50Aquanaut continues to mature around specific commercial and defense missions, and our next-generation electric manipulator has entered functional testing. Increasingly, these technologies are coming together as an integrated, autonomous platform capable of addressing larger opportunities in subsea autonomy, critical infrastructure protection, and persistent ocean sensing. We are also evolving how we go to market. As Brian discussed, our objective is to build a business with more predictable, higher-margin revenue by expanding software sales, pursuing fixed price projects where we capture the economic benefits of autonomy, and ultimately growing recurring product and service revenue. That transition is fundamental to creating a more scalable and valuable company over time. Defense and government markets are becoming an increasingly important part of our strategy. Around the world, governments are investing in autonomous maritime capability, subsea infrastructure security, and persistent maritime domain awareness. John GibsonPresident and CEO at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:16:50We believe Nauticus has developed technologies that are well-aligned with those priorities and position us to compete in markets that we expect to grow for many years. Internationally, we are progressing in the United Arab Emirates. We have secured a facility. We are expanding our business entity and are planning for future operations and manufacturing. More importantly, we have developed an outstanding relationship with our partners there, and I remain very optimistic that the UAE can become an important regional hub for Nauticus as we expand internationally. While the first half of the year presented challenges, I believe Nauticus enters the second half of 2026 stronger, a more focused company with a clear commercial strategy and an expanding product portfolio and opportunities across commercial, defense, and international markets. Our priorities are straightforward, execute, deliver for our customers, convert our pipeline into contracts, and continue building long-term shareholder value. John GibsonPresident and CEO at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:17:51Now before we conclude, I would like to briefly address a topic that many shareholders have asked about. We have seen discussion regarding the possibility of another reverse stock split. We have no desire to undertake another reverse split, and we are pleased that our recent share price recovery has improved our position. Based on where we stand today, a reverse split is not required to maintain our NASDAQ listing. At the same time, we continue to monitor and prepare for any changes to NASDAQ's listing standards to ensure we remain in compliance and well-positioned for the future. Finally, I want to thank our employees for their dedication, our customers for their trust, our partners for their collaboration, and our shareholders for their continued confidence and support. We appreciate your commitment to Nauticus. We look forward to updating you on our continued progress in the quarters ahead. John GibsonPresident and CEO at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:18:43With that, I am happy to open up the line for questions. Operator? Operator00:18:47Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one to raise your hand. To withdraw your question, press star one again. We ask that you pick up your handset when asking a question to allow for optimum sound quality. If you are muted locally, please remember to unmute your device. Your first question comes from the line of Peter Gastreich with Water Tower Research. Peter, your line is open. Please go ahead. Peter GastreichAnalyst at Water Tower Research00:19:23Thank you very much. Good morning, and thanks for taking my questions. With the Nauticus team, I always appreciate hearing from the expanded team on these calls, so thanks for the detail there. Just a few questions for me. Starting out, it feels like you've been building toward this in the previous calls, but I believe it's the first time that you've stated primary contractor explicitly in terms of a strategy. If I understand it correctly, serving as a primary contractor internationally means that you would be taking on maybe vessel commitments and more execution risk. But could you talk about the trade-offs in that primary contractor strategy and what they mean for your margins and capital intensity? John GibsonPresident and CEO at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:20:10Yeah. Brian, why don't you take that question from Peter? It's good to hear from you, Peter. Go ahead, Brian. Brian AllenRevenue Lead at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:20:16Yeah. So this was one of the things which the team brought in as a strategy change relatively recently. With regard to the risk element to it, yes, if you look at primary contracting status where you're actually running your own vessel, it's a lot riskier, but we're not looking to do that. So we're not looking at taking long-term charter commitments. Essentially, we can operate in the position of vessels of opportunity, i.e., we can bring a boat in for a particular project, mob it up, and then move it on to other projects for the summer, and then demobilize it for the winter, thereby minimizing risk with shorter-term contracts. The reason why we get that flexibility is because the more we use our own software systems in our projects, the greater the margin we actually have to play with. Brian AllenRevenue Lead at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:21:11We are starting to work on focusing on two particular types of contract types, so we can actually specialize on things which are fitting to Nauticus ToolKITT. Again, that further reduces risk because we are limiting our contract types, essentially, as well as limiting the use of external vessels. Peter GastreichAnalyst at Water Tower Research00:21:33Okay, great. Thank you. Regarding the broader multi-phase defense opportunity mentioned with the potential revenue in 2026 and 2027, if awarded, can you frame the decision timeline and what needs to happen from here to convert that opportunity? John GibsonPresident and CEO at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:21:55Let's see what I can do, Peter. Steve is here with me. I might get Steve to chime in. A couple of things have happened, and that is we do have a limited amount of assets, and so we're really focused on deploying those assets to larger, longer-term opportunities. We did forego some short transactional work because it would have required us taking a loan contract per boat. We didn't want to do that unless we had work for that boat because that'd be taking on business with negative margin at the outset. So we focused instead on really getting everything outfitted for some of the larger defense opportunities that we see, particularly with the Aquanaut, and we're working towards those and have active proposals in place for the Aquanaut in the defense sector. We're excited about those. John GibsonPresident and CEO at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:22:46We think those are longer-term commitments, typically two, three years and longer. We also had some opportunities with the ROVs for longer-term contracts, none of which we're prepared to announce on the call today, but we're out looking at proposals that give us sustained revenue. So we're trying to be disciplined and not just being the shotgun approach, whereas you get so urgent, you go out and take short-term jobs that don't produce margin. Unfortunately, it means that we have some depressed revenue now. Here's the other good part, though, and I applaud the team on this, both ROV and Aquanaut team, we have lost no revenue to a competitor. Things have been pushed. We're not in a competitive situation where we have any quality control or performance issues with the company. John GibsonPresident and CEO at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:23:38Everything about the operational aspects of the company are excellent at this time, and we want to maintain that reputation too, because we think that's what gets you into long-term sustainable revenue. Look for us to pursue things where the ROVs are used over long periods with excellent customers. Those are the proposals we have in place. We will take profitable short-term contracts, but it takes a pretty good size contract for us to mob and demob and put the equipment out in the offshore. Go ahead, Steve. Steve WalshSales Lead at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:24:12I would also point out that we're seeing more opportunities where the end clients are requesting us by name for projects that they have coming up. John GibsonPresident and CEO at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:24:30Performing excellent work is always critical, is what we will do. The addition of Nauticus ToolKITT and the performance of Nauticus ToolKITT, with the ROV in particular, has proven to be very successful, and that will only get better. We're really excited about the future and where we're going and the opportunities that we're currently pursuing. I really like what's happening with Nauticus ToolKITT because we're not out selling a product we haven't used. We are, as they say in South Georgia, eating our own dog food. It's exciting to see that the pilots, the most important aspect of this software is, does the operator that's operating the ROV, do they think that it makes them more efficient, more effective? The answer to that is yes. John GibsonPresident and CEO at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:25:25When you get the guy holding the controller to give you the thumbs up, I think that's really going to be what drives this market for us on Nauticus ToolKITT. Peter GastreichAnalyst at Water Tower Research00:25:36Okay. Thank you. There was some news last month that the autonomous underwater systems are being used now operationally in the Middle East, including on mine clearance in the Strait of Hormuz. Just curious, where do you see Nauticus fitting into that picture, and has it changed the nature of the defense conversations that you've been having? John GibsonPresident and CEO at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:26:01Well, Peter, it is interesting. We are actually refurbishing the Aquanauts now. We've taken this down period to get them refurbished and ready to go so that we've got good opportunity long-term with them. Immediately upon getting them completed, they go back to testing in Stuart, Florida, specifically on mine countermeasures. One of the more difficult things to do right now is to get a dummy for you to actually go out and image. We have been working and secured those recently with a little bit of ingenuity. We will be producing results and hope to have the end customer from the Department of Defense come down and see what we're doing in the near future. I think we've got some work to do on ToolKITT and a bit of work to do to just prove it. John GibsonPresident and CEO at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:26:54This is the specific task that the Aquanaut is best suited for. There is no question that our imaging, hovering is excellent. Peter GastreichAnalyst at Water Tower Research00:27:10Okay, great. Thank you. Just one final question before I get in the queue. You did describe that the Gulf of Mexico oil and gas activity is challenging. Of course, previously there was that expectation that we'd see some improvement, and that was in line with what the larger operators were signaling. Does this change or signal any change in terms of your strategy and appetite, just structurally for oil and gas? Can this be something that's nudging you further in that direction of the other customer types that you've been talking about in terms of how you allocate the resources and how you envision your business building in the coming years? John GibsonPresident and CEO at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:27:53It's a great question. I think the oil and gas market's going to be strong for the foreseeable future. I think we have no idea as to how much damage has been done during the activity in the Middle East over the last year. I think prices will be strong, and I think that they will get enthusiastic about developing their resources. However, I think the margin could be much better for us on the port security side and the defense side, and so we're seeking margin and not just work. While I think it's going to be a strong market in oil and gas, I think that it's going to be a strong margin in the defense side of the work. I also didn't cover another part of the question you asked earlier. I apologize, Peter. John GibsonPresident and CEO at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:28:36UAE, I could not be happier with the discussions that are going on with our partners in UAE, the Master Investment Group. Highly collaborative, long-term focused, excited about the new manufacturing facility which we're leasing and the entity we're putting in place, and strong support. It's a tremendous relationship there, and I think that's an area where our solutions are going to be practical and provide value to that region over the long term as well. I'm excited to be opening up in Ras Al Khaimah. Our manipulators, which is absolutely critical. There are no AUVs, autonomous underwater drones, in the class of an Aquanaut that have manipulators. The ability to interact with the environment is differentiated. You cannot go and find that on an untethered robot at the moment, and I think that's where we excel, and there's tremendous opportunity for us. Peter GastreichAnalyst at Water Tower Research00:29:40Okay, great. Well, thanks, John and team, and congratulations on executing your strategy so far this year, and I'll get back in the queue. John GibsonPresident and CEO at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:29:49Thank you, Peter. Operator00:29:54If you would like to ask a question, please press star one to raise your hand. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. There are no further questions at this time. I will now turn the call back to John Gibson, CEO, for closing remarks. John GibsonPresident and CEO at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:30:28Well, we've come to the end of another quarter, and I am incredibly grateful to our employees, their dedication, their commitment, to our shareholders for sticking the course with us. This company has phenomenal potential, and we intend to deliver it. Thank you to the lenders, and it's been a phenomenal effort here, and it feels close. We're all in here focused on returning value to everyone that's put their trust in us. I appreciate it, and we're going to go and do our absolute best for you. I hope we're having another call before the next quarterly call to talk about how our business is progressing. In fact, I'll go ahead and commit now that we'll schedule an interim one as opposed to waiting for to the end of the quarter. John GibsonPresident and CEO at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:31:16That puts work on Kristin and Jimena, but look forward to speaking to you again. Take care. Operator00:31:24This concludes today's call. Thank you for attending. You may now disconnect.Read moreParticipantsExecutivesKristin MoormanCorporate Development LeadJohn GibsonPresident and CEOJimena BegariesInterim CFOSteve WalshSales LeadBrian AllenRevenue LeadJason CloseVP of Growth and Go-To-MarketAnalystsPeter GastreichAnalyst at Water Tower ResearchPowered by Earnings DocumentsSlide DeckPress Release(8-K)Quarterly report(10-Q) Nauticus Robotics Earnings HeadlinesNauticus Robotics (NASDAQ:KITT) Cut to "Strong Sell" at Wall Street ZenAugust 15 at 2:13 AM | americanbankingnews.comNauticus Robotics, Inc. (KITT) Q2 2026 Earnings Call TranscriptAugust 13 at 3:00 PM | seekingalpha.comBarricks gold output fell from 2 million ounces to 719000Barrick's gold production has plunged from 2 million ounces to just 719,000, leaving the world's second-largest miner running on fumes. Newmont's $15 billion purchase of Newcrest, the largest mining deal in history, still couldn't keep output growing, proof that majors must keep buying to survive. With record cash flows and shrinking mines, gold majors are positioned to launch a wave of acquisitions targeting the best junior assets.August 16 at 1:00 AM | Golden Portfolio (Ad)Nauticus Robotics, Inc. Reports Second Quarter 2026 Results and Advances Commercialization StrategyAugust 12, 2026 | prnewswire.comNauticus Robotics, Inc. Announces Date for 2026 Second Quarter Earnings Conference CallAugust 6, 2026 | prnewswire.comNauticus Robotics, Inc. and Strangeworks Collaborate on AI-Optimized Deployment of Undersea Fiber-Optic Sensing NetworksAugust 4, 2026 | prnewswire.comSee More Nauticus Robotics Headlines Get Earnings Announcements in your inboxWant to stay updated on the latest earnings announcements and upcoming reports for companies like Nauticus Robotics? Sign up for Earnings360's daily newsletter to receive timely earnings updates on Nauticus Robotics and other key companies, straight to your email. Email Address About Nauticus RoboticsNauticus Robotics (NASDAQ:KITT) (NASDAQ: KITT) is a maritime robotics company focused on developing and deploying uncrewed surface and subsea vessels for inspection, survey and maintenance applications. The company’s solutions combine purpose-built hardware with advanced autonomy software and sensor integration, allowing operators to conduct offshore and in-shore missions without personnel aboard. By digitizing routine vessel operations, Nauticus Robotics aims to reduce the time, cost and risk associated with traditional crewed marine services. The company’s product portfolio includes modular uncrewed surface vessels (USVs) and remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) equipped with high-resolution sonar, cameras and other environmental sensors. These systems are designed for a range of tasks such as hull and subsea infrastructure inspection, environmental monitoring, hydrographic surveying and ocean data collection. Nauticus Robotics also offers “robotics-as-a-service” contracts, providing end-to-end mission planning, vehicle operation and data analysis through a single subscription model. Founded in 2018 and headquartered in Houston, Texas, Nauticus Robotics completed its public listing in 2021. The company is led by co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Theodore “Theo” Ganitis, whose background spans autonomous systems development and maritime operations. Nauticus serves clients across the oil & gas, offshore wind, defense and research sectors, initially focusing on the U.S. Gulf of Mexico and gradually expanding to international markets. Strategic partnerships with shipyards, energy operators and government agencies support its efforts to scale commercial deployments and broaden its global service footprint.View Nauticus Robotics ProfileRead more More Earnings Resources from MarketBeat Earnings Tools Today's Earnings Tomorrow's Earnings Next Week's Earnings Upcoming Earnings Calls Earnings Newsletter Earnings Call Transcripts Earnings Beats & Misses Corporate Guidance Earnings Screener Latest Articles MarketBeat Week in Review – 08/10 - 08/14Applied Materials Beat Everything but Wall Street’s Expectations for MarginsBack From Orbit, Intuitive Machines' Share Price Enters the Buy ZoneCerebras Sells Off After Earnings: Is This a Market Disconnection?Nebius Just Exploded 34% on Blowout Earnings—Is It Time to Buy?Sandisk’s Margins Look Like Software. Can They Last?AMG’s Alternatives Boom Powers Record Growth Upcoming Earnings BHP Group (8/17/2026)Palo Alto Networks (8/17/2026)Home Depot (8/18/2026)Medtronic (8/18/2026)Keysight Technologies (8/18/2026)Lowe's Companies (8/19/2026)TJX Companies (8/19/2026)Target (8/19/2026)Analog Devices (8/19/2026)NetEase (8/20/2026) Unlock superior investment research and tools. Sign up for MarketBeat All Access to gain access to MarketBeat's full suite of research tools and reports. Get MarketBeat All Access MarketBeat All Access Features Best-in-Class Portfolio Monitoring Get personalized stock ideas. Compare portfolio to indices. Check stock news, ratings, SEC filings, and more. Stock Ideas and Recommendations See daily stock ideas from top analysts. Receive short-term trading ideas from MarketBeat. Identify trending stocks on social media. Advanced Stock Screeners and Research Tools Use our seven stock screeners to find suitable stocks. Stay informed with MarketBeat's real-time news. Export data to Excel for personal analysis. Sign in to your free account to enjoy these benefits In-depth profiles and analysis for 20,000 public companies. Real-time analyst ratings, insider transactions, earnings data, and more. Our daily ratings and market update email newsletter. Sign in to your free account to enjoy all that MarketBeat has to offer. Sign In Create Account Your Email Address: Email Address Required Your Password: Password Required Log In Email Me a Login Link or Sign in with Facebook Sign in with Google Forgot your password? Your Email Address: Please enter your email address. Please enter a valid email address Choose a Password: Please enter your password. Your password must be at least 8 characters long and contain at least 1 number, 1 letter, and 1 special character. Create My Account (Free) or Sign in with Facebook Sign in with Google By creating a free account, you agree to our terms of service. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
PresentationSkip to Participants Operator00:00:00Hello everyone. Thank you for joining us, and welcome to the Nauticus Robotics, Inc second quarter 2026 earnings call. After today's prepared remarks, we will host a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one to raise your hand. To withdraw your question, press star one again. I will now hand the conference over to Kristin Moorman, Corporate Development Lead. Kristin, please go ahead. Kristin MoormanCorporate Development Lead at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:00:31Thank you, and good morning, everyone. Joining me today and participating in the call are John Gibson, CEO and President, Jimena Begaries, Interim CFO, and other members of our leadership team. On today's call, we will first provide prepared remarks concerning our financial and operations results. Following that, we will answer questions. We have now released our results for the quarter ending June 30, 2026, which are available on our website. In addition, today's call is being webcast and a replay will be available on our website shortly following the conclusion of the call. Please note that comments we make on today's call regarding projections or our expectations for future events are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control. These risks and uncertainties can cause actual results to differ materially from our current expectations. Kristin MoormanCorporate Development Lead at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:01:31We advise listeners to review our earnings release and the risk factors discussed in our filings with the SEC. Also, please refer to the reconciliations provided in our earnings press release as we may discuss non-GAAP metrics on this call. I will now turn it over to John. John GibsonPresident and CEO at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:01:51Thank you, Kristin, and good morning, everyone. Glad you're joining us today. I'm going to save my remarks until the conclusion of the call today. At this point, I'd like to just turn it over to Jimena to walk through the financials. Jimena? Jimena BegariesInterim CFO at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:02:06Thank you, John, and good morning, everyone. During our second quarter, we remained focused on strengthening the company's capital structure and preserving our NASDAQ listing. We completed several important financing initiatives, including finalizing the registration process for our equity line of credit, filing the Series D certificate of designation, and executing additional debt to equity exchanges that reduced outstanding debt by $5.5 million while supporting stockholder equity. I will now discuss our financial results for the second quarter of 2026. Revenue for the second quarter was $0.9 million, an increase of $0.7 million sequentially and a decrease of $1.2 million compared to the same quarter last year. Operating expenses for the quarter were $6.9 million, a decrease of $1.6 million compared to 2025 and an increase of $1 million sequentially. Jimena BegariesInterim CFO at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:03:06This reflects a continuous focus on cost management, partially offset by increased activity levels compared to the first quarter of 2026. Jimena BegariesInterim CFO at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:03:15G&A costs for the quarter were $3.3 million, representing an improvement of $1.1 million from the same quarter last year. Sequentially, G&A has remained mostly flat, increasing by less than $0.1 million quarter over quarter, demonstrating continued discipline in managing our corporate overhead. Net loss for the quarter was $11.1 million, compared to $9.3 million in the first quarter of 2026 and $7.4 million in the second quarter of 2025. The increase was driven mostly by non-cash losses recognized on debt extinguishment transactions related to the exchange of outstanding debt for equity securities. Adjusted net loss for the quarter was $7 million, compared to $7.4 million for the second quarter of 2025 and $6.4 million in Q1 2026. Cash at the end of Q2 2026 was $2 million, compared to $7.6 million at the end of 2025. This decrease is related to cash used in operating activities. Jimena BegariesInterim CFO at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:04:25As we enter the second half of the year, our priorities remain clear, continuing to strengthen the balance sheet, maintaining disciplined cost management, and ensuring we have the financial flexibility to support commercial execution and future growth opportunities. With that, I will now hand the call over to Steve Walsh, our sales lead, for an update. Steve WalshSales Lead at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:04:50Thank you, Jimena, and good morning. Entering the year, many operators based their capital spending plans on oil prices in the mid $50-$60 per barrel range, which led to a more cautious approach to offshore activity in the Gulf of Mexico. As a result, several projects we had anticipated moving forward this year have been deferred into 2027, and in some cases, beyond. In response to these market conditions, we've adjusted our operating model to better align our cost structure with current demand. Our objective has been to maintain flexibility to rapidly deploy our personnel and equipment when projects move forward while avoiding the expense of maintaining a fully mobilized vessel throughout the entire work season. This disciplined approach allows us to remain responsive to customer needs while managing costs and preserving financial flexibility. Steve WalshSales Lead at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:05:46While these market dynamics have impacted the timing of work in the Gulf, we have made meaningful progress in diversifying our business. We have expanded our presence in the offshore wind market along the East Coast, successfully completed work with one of the world's largest subsea cable-laying companies, have projects scheduled on the West Coast in the coming months, and currently have international tendering opportunities. We also achieved an important operational milestone by successfully deploying a Comanche ROV integrated with our Nauticus ToolKITT software. The combined system performed exceptionally well for our client, demonstrating the value of integrating intelligent software with proven subsea hardware. Nauticus ToolKITT demonstrated the ability to improve the ROV's operating efficiency while reducing pilot workload, allowing missions to be executed more effectively and consistently. Steve WalshSales Lead at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:06:47This successful deployment further validates our technology strategy and provides another example of how our software-enabled solutions can help customers improve productivity, reduce operating costs, and enhance the overall efficiency of subsea operations. In addition, we are actively pursuing opportunities outside the U.S., where we believe our technology and capabilities are well-aligned with growing demand for efficient, autonomous offshore operations. We are also seeing a growth in the number of opportunities in the defense sector. While these efforts remain in the early stages, we are making strategic investments in marketing, capabilities, alliances, and business development to position Nauticus to compete effectively for this work. We believe our autonomous subsea technologies and software-driven solutions are well suited to support the evolving defense and national security missions, creating another avenue for long-term growth and diversification. Steve WalshSales Lead at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:07:50Although the near-term offshore oil and gas market remains challenging, we are encouraged by the strength of our opportunity pipeline, the continued expansion of our customer base across multiple offshore markets, and the progress we are making in positioning the company for long-term growth. We remain focused on executing our strategy, expanding our commercial footprint, and creating sustainable value for our shareholders. With that, I will turn it over to Brian Allen, our revenue lead, for his thoughts on 2026. Brian AllenRevenue Lead at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:08:26Thanks, Steve. Jimena has taken you through the numbers, and I want to cover why this business has been hard to forecast and what we are doing about it. Looking at our revenue the way an investor would, I see a business that is hard to model, and there are four reasons for that, and we are changing all of them. First, where we sit in the contracting chain. Our services business is mostly time and materials-orientated, and we normally bid as a subcontractor. That means we win work only if the company above us wins theirs first. Their timing sets ours, their price affects ours, and when their contract slips, our revenue moves with it, and that is what has been happening. Second, time and materials pricing hands the customer the efficiency our technology creates. So we finish faster, they pay for fewer days, and we earn less overall. Brian AllenRevenue Lead at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:09:10Our software has only recently become a defined product. While it was maturing, it was not able to be sold easily. Lastly, pipeline coverage. You carry more opportunity than you need because not everything converts, and in a soft market, that coverage has to be higher. Here is what changes. We are targeting a significant increase in pipeline coverage for 2027 and widening where it comes from, starting up sales activity internationally and across the defense sector. Defense inquiries are already up, and those use cases align well with what our technology does reliably today, and we have active proposals out now. The services business that we are building internationally will bid as the main contractor on work where our autonomy gives us a real advantage. When we hold the contract, we set the price and the scope, and we keep the margin our technology creates. Brian AllenRevenue Lead at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:09:58We are putting the quality systems in place to bid at that level. Those contracts will be fixed price. When our autonomy takes days out of a job, that shows up in our margin. Finally, I am extremely pleased to announce the first formal release of our Nauticus ToolKITT software for ROVs, now on sale to underwater fleet operators across the energy sector and defense groups. Jason will tell you a little bit more about that shortly, but for the business, it starts bringing in recurring, predictable revenue from 2027. We will communicate our bookings and backlog in future calls. I will now hand you over to Jason. Jason CloseVP of Growth and Go-To-Market at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:10:35Thank you, Brian. While we move towards growing product revenue, we continue to make meaningful progress across the technical validation and commercial pathways supporting our product portfolio this quarter. One of the clearest examples was the continued use of Nauticus ToolKITT in active ROV projects. The software exceeded expectations in customer operations, particularly improving vehicle stability, survey consistency, and the quality of the resulting data. Feedback from both our operators and the customer was highly positive and reinforced that Nauticus ToolKITT can deliver meaningful operational value on existing ROV fleets. These deployments provide important field validation and proof points, which help us refine and continue to deploy the commercial adoption model. With Aquanaut, we completed the planned freshwater phase of an autonomous mooring line and riser inspection workflows for our customers at the Florida test location. Jason CloseVP of Growth and Go-To-Market at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:11:30We will continue to leverage the lake for our mission training, while further progress for our mooring line and riser inspection now require access to a suitable offshore test environment. We remain engaged with participating organizations and other interested parties regarding the next phase, and the timing will depend on customer budget cycles and site availability. We also reached an important milestone in our manipulation program by completing the prototype of our next-generation electric manipulator, which has a much lower capital requirement for manufacturing, supported by our strategy to manufacture in the U.A.E. We have validated the movement through our software controls architecture, and now functional and load testing are underway, with further prototype builds and design refinement planned. This provides an important foundation for future commercial and defense missions requiring autonomous subsea interaction. Jason CloseVP of Growth and Go-To-Market at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:12:21As we look at the near-term market, we are placing greater emphasis on defense and government opportunities. Jason CloseVP of Growth and Go-To-Market at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:12:26This is not a change in our underlying technology strategy or a move away from commercial markets. Aquanaut, Nauticus ToolKITT, and our manipulation technologies can be configured and trained around different commercial, government, and defense missions. What is changing is where we see the strongest near-term environment for revenue. Defense and government customers are focused on autonomous systems, subsea awareness, and infrastructure security, and their programs are often structured to fund phased development, which match our product strategy. This gives Nauticus an opportunity to advance reusable software, sensing, vehicle, and manipulation capability through funded mission work. Aligned with this focus, we have prioritized our defense and government opportunities. During the quarter, Nauticus completed an initial scope of work intended to support the evaluation of a broader multi-phase defense project. If awarded, we anticipate revenue this year and into 2027. In parallel, we expanded our participation in next-generation ocean sensing opportunities. Jason CloseVP of Growth and Go-To-Market at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:13:29Nauticus is currently involved in multiple collaborative proposal efforts with government, commercial defense, and academic participants, evaluating autonomous approaches to deploying and operating persistent subsea sensing infrastructure. These activities bring together Aquanaut, Nauticus ToolKITT, manipulation, and advanced sensing technologies into broader customer solutions. They illustrate how Nauticus addresses missions that are difficult or costly to perform using traditional vessel-based approaches. Our solution offers a platform deploy infrastructure that support new forms of long-term value for persistent subsea data. Together, these activities represent progress across multiple routes to broad product revenue. Nauticus ToolKITT is being validated in real customer operations, Aquanaut is being developed around specific commercial and defense applications, and our manipulation technology is advancing through internal product development and industry collaboration. The work completed during this quarter expanded the way we can bring high-value technology to the market. Jason CloseVP of Growth and Go-To-Market at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:14:35Our increased near-term focus on defense and government work is intended to accelerate our progress through markets that are actively interested in development and deployment of autonomous subsea systems. Importantly, the resulting technology remains not only applicable for defense, but also across the commercial markets that we serve. I'll now hand the call back to John. John GibsonPresident and CEO at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:14:58Well, thank you, team, for the updates. Before we open the lineup for questions, I'd like to step back from the individual updates you've heard today and try to put them into perspective. There's no question that 2026 has been a challenging year. The offshore markets developed more slowly than we anticipated, customer projects have shifted to the right, and our financial results reflect that reality. Rather than waiting for the market to improve, we've taken decisive action. We've reduced our cost structure, we've strengthened our balance sheet, we've broadened our addressable markets, and sharpened our focus on the opportunities where we believe Nauticus can create the greatest long-term value. Just as importantly, our technology has continued to advance. Nauticus ToolKITT has now been successfully deployed in customer operations, and we are formally taking that product to market. John GibsonPresident and CEO at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:15:50Aquanaut continues to mature around specific commercial and defense missions, and our next-generation electric manipulator has entered functional testing. Increasingly, these technologies are coming together as an integrated, autonomous platform capable of addressing larger opportunities in subsea autonomy, critical infrastructure protection, and persistent ocean sensing. We are also evolving how we go to market. As Brian discussed, our objective is to build a business with more predictable, higher-margin revenue by expanding software sales, pursuing fixed price projects where we capture the economic benefits of autonomy, and ultimately growing recurring product and service revenue. That transition is fundamental to creating a more scalable and valuable company over time. Defense and government markets are becoming an increasingly important part of our strategy. Around the world, governments are investing in autonomous maritime capability, subsea infrastructure security, and persistent maritime domain awareness. John GibsonPresident and CEO at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:16:50We believe Nauticus has developed technologies that are well-aligned with those priorities and position us to compete in markets that we expect to grow for many years. Internationally, we are progressing in the United Arab Emirates. We have secured a facility. We are expanding our business entity and are planning for future operations and manufacturing. More importantly, we have developed an outstanding relationship with our partners there, and I remain very optimistic that the UAE can become an important regional hub for Nauticus as we expand internationally. While the first half of the year presented challenges, I believe Nauticus enters the second half of 2026 stronger, a more focused company with a clear commercial strategy and an expanding product portfolio and opportunities across commercial, defense, and international markets. Our priorities are straightforward, execute, deliver for our customers, convert our pipeline into contracts, and continue building long-term shareholder value. John GibsonPresident and CEO at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:17:51Now before we conclude, I would like to briefly address a topic that many shareholders have asked about. We have seen discussion regarding the possibility of another reverse stock split. We have no desire to undertake another reverse split, and we are pleased that our recent share price recovery has improved our position. Based on where we stand today, a reverse split is not required to maintain our NASDAQ listing. At the same time, we continue to monitor and prepare for any changes to NASDAQ's listing standards to ensure we remain in compliance and well-positioned for the future. Finally, I want to thank our employees for their dedication, our customers for their trust, our partners for their collaboration, and our shareholders for their continued confidence and support. We appreciate your commitment to Nauticus. We look forward to updating you on our continued progress in the quarters ahead. John GibsonPresident and CEO at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:18:43With that, I am happy to open up the line for questions. Operator? Operator00:18:47Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one to raise your hand. To withdraw your question, press star one again. We ask that you pick up your handset when asking a question to allow for optimum sound quality. If you are muted locally, please remember to unmute your device. Your first question comes from the line of Peter Gastreich with Water Tower Research. Peter, your line is open. Please go ahead. Peter GastreichAnalyst at Water Tower Research00:19:23Thank you very much. Good morning, and thanks for taking my questions. With the Nauticus team, I always appreciate hearing from the expanded team on these calls, so thanks for the detail there. Just a few questions for me. Starting out, it feels like you've been building toward this in the previous calls, but I believe it's the first time that you've stated primary contractor explicitly in terms of a strategy. If I understand it correctly, serving as a primary contractor internationally means that you would be taking on maybe vessel commitments and more execution risk. But could you talk about the trade-offs in that primary contractor strategy and what they mean for your margins and capital intensity? John GibsonPresident and CEO at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:20:10Yeah. Brian, why don't you take that question from Peter? It's good to hear from you, Peter. Go ahead, Brian. Brian AllenRevenue Lead at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:20:16Yeah. So this was one of the things which the team brought in as a strategy change relatively recently. With regard to the risk element to it, yes, if you look at primary contracting status where you're actually running your own vessel, it's a lot riskier, but we're not looking to do that. So we're not looking at taking long-term charter commitments. Essentially, we can operate in the position of vessels of opportunity, i.e., we can bring a boat in for a particular project, mob it up, and then move it on to other projects for the summer, and then demobilize it for the winter, thereby minimizing risk with shorter-term contracts. The reason why we get that flexibility is because the more we use our own software systems in our projects, the greater the margin we actually have to play with. Brian AllenRevenue Lead at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:21:11We are starting to work on focusing on two particular types of contract types, so we can actually specialize on things which are fitting to Nauticus ToolKITT. Again, that further reduces risk because we are limiting our contract types, essentially, as well as limiting the use of external vessels. Peter GastreichAnalyst at Water Tower Research00:21:33Okay, great. Thank you. Regarding the broader multi-phase defense opportunity mentioned with the potential revenue in 2026 and 2027, if awarded, can you frame the decision timeline and what needs to happen from here to convert that opportunity? John GibsonPresident and CEO at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:21:55Let's see what I can do, Peter. Steve is here with me. I might get Steve to chime in. A couple of things have happened, and that is we do have a limited amount of assets, and so we're really focused on deploying those assets to larger, longer-term opportunities. We did forego some short transactional work because it would have required us taking a loan contract per boat. We didn't want to do that unless we had work for that boat because that'd be taking on business with negative margin at the outset. So we focused instead on really getting everything outfitted for some of the larger defense opportunities that we see, particularly with the Aquanaut, and we're working towards those and have active proposals in place for the Aquanaut in the defense sector. We're excited about those. John GibsonPresident and CEO at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:22:46We think those are longer-term commitments, typically two, three years and longer. We also had some opportunities with the ROVs for longer-term contracts, none of which we're prepared to announce on the call today, but we're out looking at proposals that give us sustained revenue. So we're trying to be disciplined and not just being the shotgun approach, whereas you get so urgent, you go out and take short-term jobs that don't produce margin. Unfortunately, it means that we have some depressed revenue now. Here's the other good part, though, and I applaud the team on this, both ROV and Aquanaut team, we have lost no revenue to a competitor. Things have been pushed. We're not in a competitive situation where we have any quality control or performance issues with the company. John GibsonPresident and CEO at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:23:38Everything about the operational aspects of the company are excellent at this time, and we want to maintain that reputation too, because we think that's what gets you into long-term sustainable revenue. Look for us to pursue things where the ROVs are used over long periods with excellent customers. Those are the proposals we have in place. We will take profitable short-term contracts, but it takes a pretty good size contract for us to mob and demob and put the equipment out in the offshore. Go ahead, Steve. Steve WalshSales Lead at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:24:12I would also point out that we're seeing more opportunities where the end clients are requesting us by name for projects that they have coming up. John GibsonPresident and CEO at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:24:30Performing excellent work is always critical, is what we will do. The addition of Nauticus ToolKITT and the performance of Nauticus ToolKITT, with the ROV in particular, has proven to be very successful, and that will only get better. We're really excited about the future and where we're going and the opportunities that we're currently pursuing. I really like what's happening with Nauticus ToolKITT because we're not out selling a product we haven't used. We are, as they say in South Georgia, eating our own dog food. It's exciting to see that the pilots, the most important aspect of this software is, does the operator that's operating the ROV, do they think that it makes them more efficient, more effective? The answer to that is yes. John GibsonPresident and CEO at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:25:25When you get the guy holding the controller to give you the thumbs up, I think that's really going to be what drives this market for us on Nauticus ToolKITT. Peter GastreichAnalyst at Water Tower Research00:25:36Okay. Thank you. There was some news last month that the autonomous underwater systems are being used now operationally in the Middle East, including on mine clearance in the Strait of Hormuz. Just curious, where do you see Nauticus fitting into that picture, and has it changed the nature of the defense conversations that you've been having? John GibsonPresident and CEO at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:26:01Well, Peter, it is interesting. We are actually refurbishing the Aquanauts now. We've taken this down period to get them refurbished and ready to go so that we've got good opportunity long-term with them. Immediately upon getting them completed, they go back to testing in Stuart, Florida, specifically on mine countermeasures. One of the more difficult things to do right now is to get a dummy for you to actually go out and image. We have been working and secured those recently with a little bit of ingenuity. We will be producing results and hope to have the end customer from the Department of Defense come down and see what we're doing in the near future. I think we've got some work to do on ToolKITT and a bit of work to do to just prove it. John GibsonPresident and CEO at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:26:54This is the specific task that the Aquanaut is best suited for. There is no question that our imaging, hovering is excellent. Peter GastreichAnalyst at Water Tower Research00:27:10Okay, great. Thank you. Just one final question before I get in the queue. You did describe that the Gulf of Mexico oil and gas activity is challenging. Of course, previously there was that expectation that we'd see some improvement, and that was in line with what the larger operators were signaling. Does this change or signal any change in terms of your strategy and appetite, just structurally for oil and gas? Can this be something that's nudging you further in that direction of the other customer types that you've been talking about in terms of how you allocate the resources and how you envision your business building in the coming years? John GibsonPresident and CEO at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:27:53It's a great question. I think the oil and gas market's going to be strong for the foreseeable future. I think we have no idea as to how much damage has been done during the activity in the Middle East over the last year. I think prices will be strong, and I think that they will get enthusiastic about developing their resources. However, I think the margin could be much better for us on the port security side and the defense side, and so we're seeking margin and not just work. While I think it's going to be a strong market in oil and gas, I think that it's going to be a strong margin in the defense side of the work. I also didn't cover another part of the question you asked earlier. I apologize, Peter. John GibsonPresident and CEO at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:28:36UAE, I could not be happier with the discussions that are going on with our partners in UAE, the Master Investment Group. Highly collaborative, long-term focused, excited about the new manufacturing facility which we're leasing and the entity we're putting in place, and strong support. It's a tremendous relationship there, and I think that's an area where our solutions are going to be practical and provide value to that region over the long term as well. I'm excited to be opening up in Ras Al Khaimah. Our manipulators, which is absolutely critical. There are no AUVs, autonomous underwater drones, in the class of an Aquanaut that have manipulators. The ability to interact with the environment is differentiated. You cannot go and find that on an untethered robot at the moment, and I think that's where we excel, and there's tremendous opportunity for us. Peter GastreichAnalyst at Water Tower Research00:29:40Okay, great. Well, thanks, John and team, and congratulations on executing your strategy so far this year, and I'll get back in the queue. John GibsonPresident and CEO at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:29:49Thank you, Peter. Operator00:29:54If you would like to ask a question, please press star one to raise your hand. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. There are no further questions at this time. I will now turn the call back to John Gibson, CEO, for closing remarks. John GibsonPresident and CEO at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:30:28Well, we've come to the end of another quarter, and I am incredibly grateful to our employees, their dedication, their commitment, to our shareholders for sticking the course with us. This company has phenomenal potential, and we intend to deliver it. Thank you to the lenders, and it's been a phenomenal effort here, and it feels close. We're all in here focused on returning value to everyone that's put their trust in us. I appreciate it, and we're going to go and do our absolute best for you. I hope we're having another call before the next quarterly call to talk about how our business is progressing. In fact, I'll go ahead and commit now that we'll schedule an interim one as opposed to waiting for to the end of the quarter. John GibsonPresident and CEO at Nauticus Robotics, Inc00:31:16That puts work on Kristin and Jimena, but look forward to speaking to you again. Take care. Operator00:31:24This concludes today's call. Thank you for attending. You may now disconnect.Read moreParticipantsExecutivesKristin MoormanCorporate Development LeadJohn GibsonPresident and CEOJimena BegariesInterim CFOSteve WalshSales LeadBrian AllenRevenue LeadJason CloseVP of Growth and Go-To-MarketAnalystsPeter GastreichAnalyst at Water Tower ResearchPowered by