Subsea 7 S.A. Announces Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2023 Results
Luxembourg – 29 February 2024 – Subsea 7 S.A. (Oslo Børs: SUBC, ADR: SUBCY, ISIN: LU0075646355, the Company) announced today results of Subsea7 Group (the Group, Subsea7) for the fourth quarter and full year which ended 31 December 2023. Unless otherwise stated the comparative period is the full year which ended 31 December 2022.
Fourth quarter and full year highlights
- At least $1 billion of shareholder returns over four years through a combination of dividends and share repurchases
- Full year Adjusted EBITDA of $714 million, up 28% year-on-year, equating to a margin of 12%
- Fourth quarter Adjusted EBITDA of $245 million, a margin of 15%, up 45% on the prior year period
- Full year order intake of $7.4 billion resulted in a book-to-bill of 1.2 times and continued backlog growth to $10.6 billion
- Full year 2024 guidance reconfirmed: Adjusted EBITDA expected to be within a range from $950 million to $1.0 billion
| Fourth Quarter | Full Year | |||
| For the period (in $ millions, except Adjusted EBITDA margin and per share data) | Q4 2023 Unaudited | Q4 2022 Unaudited | 2023 Audited | 2022 Audited |
| Revenue | 1,631 | 1,291 | 5,974 | 5,136 |
| Adjusted EBITDA(a) | 245 | 169 | 714 | 559 |
| Adjusted EBITDA margin(a) | 15% | 13% | 12% | 11% |
| Net operating income | 55 | 109 | 105 | 149 |
| Net (loss)/income | (11) | 27 | 10 | 36 |
| Earnings per share – in $ per share | ||||
| Basic | (0.06) | 0.10 | 0.05 | 0.20 |
| Diluted(b) | (0.06) | 0.09 | 0.05 | 0.19 |
| At (in $ millions) | 2023 31 Dec | 2022 31 Dec | ||
| Backlog(a) | 10,587 | 9,008 | ||
| Book-to-bill ratio(a) | 1.2x | 1.4x | ||
| Cash and cash equivalents | 751 | 646 | ||
| Borrowings | (845) | (356) | ||
| Net (debt)/cash excluding lease liabilities(a) | (94) | 290 | ||
| Net (debt)/cash including lease liabilities(a) | (552) | 33 | ||
(a) For explanations and reconciliations of Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA margin, Backlog, Book-to-bill ratio and Net debt refer to the ‘Alternative Performance Measures’ section of the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements.
(b) For the explanation and a reconciliation of diluted earnings per share refer to Note 7 ‘Earnings per share’ to the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements.
John Evans, Chief Executive Officer, said:
Subsea7 closed 2023 with a strong operational performance in the fourth quarter, resulting in Adjusted EBITDA of $714 million for the year, up 28% on the prior year. After another year of active tendering, the Group secured $7.4 billion of high quality contract awards, taking our backlog to $10.6 billion, a year end level last seen in 2013. With $5.7 billion of firm work for execution in the coming year, the Group has excellent visibility on 2024, and we expect to deliver Adjusted EBITDA growth of at least 33%. Confidence in the Group’s outlook for cash generation in 2024 and beyond, combined with a sharp reduction in capital expenditure following the completion of our two newbuild wind vessels, supports the Board’s recommendation for shareholder returns totalling at least $1 billion over the next four years. This extends Subsea7’s track record of shareholder returns since 2011 to $3 billion and underscores the commitment of both management and the Board to strong capital stewardship.
Fourth quarter operational highlights
During the fourth quarter, Subsea7 made good progress on its portfolio of Subsea and Conventional projects. In Australia, where environmental permits for both Scarborough and Barossa have been obtained by our clients, we completed the fabrication of pipeline stalks at the Bintan spoolbase and Seven Oceans and Seven Oceanic commenced offshore operations. In Türkiye, we ramped up activity for Sakarya Phase 2a with the commencement of procurement. In Brazil, we progressed engineering on the combined Mero 3&4 while, on Bacalhau, Seven Vega, Seven Pacific and Seven Cruzeiro installed pipelines and umbilicals.
With the North Sea winter off-season underway for the offshore wind industry, Seaway Strashnov was deployed to the Sanha Lean Gas subsea project in Angola, and Seaway Aimery and Seaway Moxie underwent scheduled maintenance in the Netherlands. Seaway Alfa Lift continued to install transition pieces at Dogger Bank A. In Taiwan, Seaway Phoenix continued cable lay activities at Changfang and Xidao and, at Yunlin, one export cable and four inner-array cables were installed by Maersk Connector. The newbuild Seaway Ventus began its transit from the yard in China to Europe.
Fourth quarter financial review
Revenue of $1.6 billion increased 26% compared to the prior year period. Adjusted EBITDA of $245 million equated to an Adjusted EBITDA margin of 15%, up from 13% in Q4 2022. This reflected the third consecutive quarter of double-digit margins in Renewables and a strong performance in Subsea and Conventional across our portfolio of projects.
Depreciation and amortisation charges were $142 million. In addition, we recognised a net impairment charge of $48 million, including $74 million of impairment charges, relating to i) Seaway Alfa Lift monopile installation equipment, owing to a contractual dispute in relation to which Subsea7 intends to use all legal resources available to reach a satisfactory outcome, and ii) a loss on Seaway Yudin disposal. These were partly offset by impairment reversals of $26 million. Net operating income was $55 million compared to $109 million in the prior year period. Net finance costs of $18 million and a net foreign exchange loss of $28 million, resulted in net loss for the quarter of $11 million compared with net income of $27 million in the prior year period.
Net cash generated from operating activities in the fourth quarter was $529 million, including a better than expected $306 million improvement in net working capital, equating to a cash conversion of 2.2 times. Net cash used in investing activities was $374 million mainly related to the final payments for Seaway Ventus and the first instalment of $153 million for the Group’s investment in OneSubsea. Net cash generated from financing activities was $62 million with net proceeds from borrowings of $119 million partly offset by lease payments of $42 million. Overall, cash and cash equivalents increased by $221 million to $751 million at 31 December 2023 and net debt was $552 million, including lease liabilities of $458 million.
Fourth quarter order intake was $1.2 billion comprising new awards of $0.6 billion and escalations of $0.6 billion resulting in a book-to-bill ratio of 0.8 times. Backlog at the end of December was $10.6 billion, of which $5.7 billion is expected to be executed in 2024, $3.8 billion in 2025 and $1.1 billion in 2026 and beyond.
Commitment to shareholder returns
Reflecting its confidence in the outlook and the expected financial performance of Subsea7, the Board of Directors proposes that the Company returns at least $1 billion to shareholders over four years, from 2024 to 2027.
At the Annual General Meeting on 2 May 2024, the Board of Directors will propose that shareholders approve a cash dividend of NOK 6.00 per share, equating to approximately $170 million, payable in two equal instalments in May and November 2024. The Company’s dividend policy will be revised to reflect an increase in the regular dividend to NOK 6.00 from NOK 1.00 per share to be paid in two equal instalments.
The Company has also committed to repurchase approximately $80 million of its own shares in 2024, resulting in shareholder returns of approximately $250 million.
Outlook
We anticipate that revenue in 2024 will be between $6.0 billion and $6.5 billion, while Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be within a range from $950 million to $1.0 billion. Our expectation for capital expenditure in 2024 has increased slightly to $300-320 million (from $280-300 million) driven by spend deferred from 2023 into 2024. As the mix of activity continues to shift to projects won in a favourable environment, our Adjusted EBITDA margin is expected to be within an 18-20% range in full year 2025.
Longer term, we continue to see a positive outlook for demand for our Subsea and Conventional business, supported by a tender pipeline of $21 billion. As a source of reliable energy, the hydrocarbon industry is likely to remain a key contributor to global production under plausible ranges of energy transition scenarios. We are confident that our focus on the deepwater subsea market, with attractive economics, will enable us to maximise the return on the significant historical investments made in our modern subsea fleet.
In Renewables, last year’s project delays and cancellations put many countries’ clean energy ambitions under pressure and prompted a swift response in countries such as the UK and US, with positive indications for our tender pipeline in 2024. While the growth trajectory for the offshore wind market may not be smooth it is certainly clear that long-term demand is set to significantly exceed the current fleet capacity of the industry. With a strong focus on achieving an equitable risk-return balance, we believe our offshore wind business will deliver sustainable value creation for shareholders.
Conference Call Information
Date: 29 February 2024
Time: 11:00 UK Time, 12:00 CET
Access the webcast at subsea7.com or https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/n24x2p3g/
Register for the conference call at https://register.vevent.com/register/BI0cebba0bd6bc487695d2e8a1c4b53bd8
For further information, please contact:
Katherine Tonks
Head of Investor Relations
Email: [email protected]
Telephone: +44 20 8210 5568
Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This document may contain ‘forward-looking statements’ (within the meaning of the safe harbour provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995). These statements relate to our current expectations, beliefs, intentions, assumptions or strategies regarding the future and are subject to known and unknown risks that could cause actual results, performance or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in these statements. Forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of words such as ‘anticipate’, ‘believe’, ‘estimate’, ‘expect’, ‘future’, ‘goal’, ‘intend’, ‘likely’ ‘may’, ‘plan’, ‘project’, ‘seek’, ‘should’, ‘strategy’ ‘will’, and similar expressions. The principal risks which could affect future operations of the Group are described in the ‘Risk Management’ section of the Group’s Annual Report. Factors that may cause actual and future results and trends to differ materially from our forward-looking statements include (but are not limited to): (i) our ability to deliver fixed price projects in accordance with client expectations and within the parameters of our bids, and to avoid cost overruns; (ii) our ability to collect receivables, negotiate variation orders and collect the related revenue; (iii) our ability to recover costs on significant projects; (iv) capital expenditure by oil and gas companies, which is affected by fluctuations in the price of, and demand for, crude oil and natural gas; (v) unanticipated delays or cancellation of projects included in our backlog; (vi) competition and price fluctuations in the markets and businesses in which we operate; (vii) the loss of, or deterioration in our relationship with, any significant clients; (viii) the outcome of legal proceedings or governmental inquiries; (ix) uncertainties inherent in operating internationally, including economic, political and social instability, boycotts or embargoes, labour unrest, changes in foreign governmental regulations, corruption and currency fluctuations; (x) the effects of a pandemic or epidemic or a natural disaster; (xi) liability to Fourth parties for the failure of our joint venture partners to fulfil their obligations; (xii) changes in, or our failure to comply with, applicable laws and regulations (including regulatory measures addressing climate change); (xiii) operating hazards, including spills, environmental damage, personal or property damage and business interruptions caused by adverse weather; (xiv) equipment or mechanical failures, which could increase costs, impair revenue and result in penalties for failure to meet project completion requirements; (xv) the timely delivery of vessels on order and the timely completion of ship conversion programmes; (xvi) our ability to keep pace with technological changes and the impact of potential information technology, cyber security or data security breaches; (xvii) global availability at scale and commercially viability of suitable alternative vessel fuels; and, (xviii) the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting. Many of these factors are beyond our ability to control or predict. Given these uncertainties, you should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements. Each forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date of this document. We undertake no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
This information is considered to be inside information pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation and is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to Section 5-12 the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.
This stock exchange release was published by Katherine Tonks, Investor Relations, Subsea7, on 29 February 2024 08:00 CET.
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