Dolphin Drilling AS

Dolphin Drilling AS

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Q4 FY2025 · Earnings Call TranscriptFebruary 27, 2026

Michael Boyd

Good morning, my name is Michael Boyd, and I am the CEO of Dolphin Drilling. I'm pleased to be here today to present to you Dolphin Drilling's fourth-quarter 2025 financial results.

To help me do this, I have with me Dolphin's Chief Financial Officer, Ingolf Gillesdal. On this call, I will open by covering key company developments in the fourth quarter of 2025.

Our CFO, Ingolf Gillesdal, will then provide a comprehensive overview of the financial performance and results, before I'll walk us through the status of our rigs and their current backlog, provide some comments on how we see the rig market for our fleet, and finally, I'll briefly introduce our 2026 goals and objective, which will provide you with an insight into what you can expect from us throughout the year. Thereafter, at the end of the presentation, we'll open up for a Q&A session.

I'm moving on to slide number 2 now. We kindly ask that you take a moment after this presentation to review the important elements of the disclaimer.

Moving on to slide number 3, an agenda for today. We'll start with the key highlights and financials, followed by an updated overview of our fleet.

We will then look at the supply and demand of the rig market before concluding with a summary of the report. To slide number 4, first up is the financials section, and I will lead off with mentioning some of the highlights.

Which takes me to slide number 5. For Dolphin Drilling, Q4 saw a series of positive developments across the group.

Financially, we generated an EBITDA of $8.2 million, a large improvement from the previous quarter. Both the Blackford Dolphin and the Paul B.

Loyd, Jr. worked for the full period, achieving high rig uptime.

On top of this, we achieved better cost control, as the numbers that will be presented to you later on will reveal. In December, we closed an equity offering of around $15 million, which provided a boost to our cash balance as we had major investments ongoing throughout 2025.

Then, at the end of the quarter, we had a leadership change, which saw me take over as the Chief Executive Officer. Now for the financials, and I will hand you over to Ingolf, our CFO.

Ingolf Gillesdal

Many thanks, Michael. It was clearly financially important for us to return to having two rigs on charter for the full period, allowing us to report of an increase of $10 million to $47 million in the revenues.

We have the potential to deliver even higher revenues going forward, as we move past the periods of waiting on weather due to seasonal winter storms. Paul B.

Loyd was in standby for 27 days in Q4 due to bad weather, which then resulted in an 89% earning efficiency for the rig in the period. The Blackford charter delivered close to the same revenues as in the previous quarter.

We recorded some downtime for repair, as well as we had a planned rig move as we had to transit to the third exploration well, providing for a 90% earning efficiency for the period. Our third rig, Borgland, was in layup.

In addition to increased revenues, we also note of improved cost control and reduced costs across the departments. Actual rig operating cost came in more than $2 million below last quarter cost, most of this related to Paul B.

Loyd. We are also pleased to report of lower project cost and layup cost, jointly contributing with $1 million of reductions.

For the group's G&A cost, we managed to reduce from previous quarter levels as well, although $1 million of this was considered a one-off due to revision to estimates related to legacy cost provisions and tax. All this resulted in a massive EBITDA improvement to $8.2 million for the fourth quarter.

We continue: another $1 million improvement quarter-on-quarter recorded in net finance cost. Interest costs related to debt totaled $4.1 million, with the remaining $1.4 million charged to this account from the commission shares offered in the private placement that concluded in December.

Finally, another improvement recorded within taxes, although considered a one-off. As previously described, we have reviewed our legacy provisions on cost and tax.

This contributed to reduction in tax expense of $3.8 million. In summary, the P&L shows an overall net income loss of $1.6 million, materially improved from the previous quarter.

Moving on to next page, as mentioned, the improvement in EBITDA quarter-on-quarter was substantial for the group. On this slide, we show and list the main factors.

Key to point out that Paul B. Loyd had rig uptime of more than 98% in the quarter, which has been a standard since we acquired the rig in early 2024.

However, as explained earlier, bad weather resulted in actual earning efficiency of 90%, but the performance from the rig provided to the group with a $10 million additional revenue improvement quarter-on-quarter. As well, rig opex for the same rig reduced with $1.6 million in the quarter.

Moreover, following Paul B. Loyd returning to work in late September, the client paid us a pre-agreed contribution worth $10 million, which $1.1 million is accounted for in the quarter.

Lastly, G&A cost level came down as well, with a $1 million reduced cost. Next page over to the balance sheet, overview highlights a cash position of $30.5 million, which include restricted cash of approximately $4.1 million.

The $4 million relate to outstanding bid and performance bonds that support ongoing contracts. I choose then to comment only on the items where we have seen significant changes.

The inventory we hold for our rigs has slightly increased, primarily relates to consumable items for Paul B. Loyd, while we also replenished stock items that were accounted for at a low value upon the initial rig acquisition.

The book asset value related to the rigs have increased, again primarily due to Paul B. Loyd.

Last year, we invested close to $30 million in the rig, and the rig survey consumed most of it. We are comfortable that Paul B.

Loyd should generate strong cash flows for the next years without any material need for an additional investment outside of normal maintenance and repair work. Accounts payable and liabilities remain elevated and remain above our preferred position.

With two rigs on contract, we can manage the current situation, but adding a third revenue stream later on this year as Borgland are scheduled to return to work should improve our potential to reduce existing longer-dated positions. In line with our earlier communication, we have a further need for funding this year and have already initiated a process.

Scheduled debt amortizations are detailed further down the slide, with less strain on the company in the early part of the year. Outstanding interest-bearing debt at the end of 2025 was $79.2 million, and we have booked a total interest-bearing debt of $86.4 million with $26 million included in the current portion of debt and $60.2 million as non-current.

The loan facility includes a $7.2 million debt service coverage balance, which is recorded as a current asset in the balance sheet, leaving the actual outstanding debt reduced with the same $7.2 million. The debt comprises of a fully drawn loan facility and a bond, and all of the three rigs are pledged as security to the group long-term loans.

Finally, late last year, the company strengthened its financial flexibility by raising additional equity worth approximately $15 million. For other details, I refer to the quarterly report, especially related to developments and changes between the recent quarter numbers.

I will now hand back to Michael, who will continue the presentation.

Michael Boyd

Thank you, Ingolf. Now we will look at the Dolphin rig fleet, and I'll pick up on slide number 10.

Dolphin Drilling currently operate a fleet of three rigs. They are all considered harsh environment rigs: two for midwater in the Borgland and the Paul B.

Loyd, Jr., and one with extended capabilities into deeper waters, being the Blackford Dolphin. Blackford Dolphin is currently performing well, drilling in India with Oil India.

The rig has a long history of serving clients in multiple offshore basins and has a rig survey coming up in 2027. Borgland Dolphin has secured a contract with Repsol and is due to start in the second half of this year.

The rig is currently in Las Palmas, and it is there that we will complete the remainder of the rig survey before directly commencing this contract. Paul B.

Loyd, Jr. has recently returned from a successful scheduled rig survey.

The rig has a longer contract ahead of it with Harbour Energy and has delivered excellent operational performance and uptime since we acquired the rig in early 2024. All of these rigs, in our view, are fit-for-purpose, harsh environment Aker H-3s that we understand very well, and they have a proven design offering excellent motion characteristics.

Moving on to slide 11 and our contract status. This is the situation when taking a closer look at our current contract backlog.

We have a total of $216 million in firm backlog, with a healthy $353 million in options. Starting with Blackford Dolphin, currently in India with Oil India, the remaining revenue is estimated at $24 million.

We anticipate concluding the existing exploration campaign sometime in Q2, although it's difficult to be exact in timing at this stage due to the nature of the drilling program. We are actively looking to add more backlog to Blackford in direct continuation of the current contract that would see us through to the next renewal survey window.

Whilst the rig is being actively marketed, it's too early to provide any further firm information on this at this stage. Moving on to Borgland Dolphin, later this year, the rig is scheduled to commence a P&A campaign for Repsol outside Spain.

We have booked $59 million of revenue backlog to this contract. Thereafter, we are well positioned to secure follow-on work and believe that the UK North Sea presents good prospects, combined with a tight rig supply in the region.

Before commencing the Repsol campaign, we will complete the remainder of the class renewal survey, which will give us a full 5 years with limited additional investment required. We believe that this makes Borgland Dolphin an attractive prospect to lock in longer-term work.

Finally, Paul B. Loyd, Jr., as of today, has a remaining backlog on contract with Harbour Energy of $133 million.

There are several years of options attached to this contract, and we are confident that this rig will continue to work in the UK for many years to come. As I said in the previous slide, the rig has just completed its class renewal survey in 2025, and now has a runway through to 2030 where limited additional investment is required.

Moving on now, we will take a look at the supply and demand specifically related to our part of the drilling sector. Slide 13 demonstrates the trends we have seen in the market to date.

We can see that there has been a significant decline in both contracted and non-contracted rigs within the UK North Sea, with only a handful of rigs remaining in the region. Most of these are contracted to longer-term contracts with options or follow-on work.

One of them is also due to leave the region this year, having recently picked up a work in another jurisdiction. We can also see that there is a significant amount of work available to be won in the region, comprising of both development and P&A wells, as demonstrated by the chart to the right.

Moving on to slide 14, here we can see a top-down overview of the moored semi submarket. This is the list of remaining conventionally moored rigs we expect to be competing with for work over the coming years, as well as our unit.

It's split into both the UK market and the wider international market. At the bottom, you will note a handful of idle assets, which may not be competitive due to extended idle periods or being out of class certification and requiring substantial capital investments prior to returning to work.

Due to the high costs involved, this is likely to mean that only multi-year contracts or significantly increased dayrates will justify the expenditure. In summary, we see the worldwide supply and demand balance as healthy for our rigs.

Moving on now, I'll provide a summary of the Q4 financial report on slide 16. That Dolphin Drilling, in the last quarter, we secured $100 million in backlog.

This demonstrates the attractiveness of our assets within their market segment. With all three rigs with secured backlog now, this is a testament to our proven experience and expertise in the offshore drilling market.

We further see an improved market outlook within the wider market, but also specifically within the moored segment we compete in. The key thrust now is to continue to build backlog and get Borgland Dolphin out on schedule to commence her contract later this year.

This gives us a good foundation to build upon, and with our experience, we believe we are an attractive platform capable of strategic growth through taking on additional rigs and delivering efficiently. Slide 17 now shows an overview related to our shareholders.

We are listed on the Euronext Growth in Oslo, with our main owner being funds controlled by Strategic Value Partners, with the remaining being a large number of funds and individual investors. Finally, moving on to slide 18, as we look forward, we have outlined our primary objective and the three key goals which will help us achieve this: through the consistent delivery of safe and efficient operations, continuing to increase contract backlog, and at a reduced cost base, we aim to create a stable, efficient, and investable platform capable of growth through 2026 and beyond.

I would like to thank you for your time today, and I hope that this session has been insightful into how Dolphin Drilling has performed over the last quarter. With this, I open up for questions.

Operator

Thank you. We will now begin the question-and-answer session.

To ask a question on the phone, please dial *11 and wait for your name to be announced. To cancel your request, you can press *11 again.

One moment for the first question. We have questions from the line of Fredrik Stene from Clarksons.

Please go ahead.

Fredrik Stene

Hey, Michael and Ingolf, hope you're well, and thank you for taking my question. I understand that negotiations for new rig contracts, etc., are sensitive, but I was hoping that maybe particularly for the Blackford, if you would be able to give a bit more color on how you see the future of that market.

Obviously, there's been some recent announcements from ONGC that might need a moored semi. I think Oil India has kind of alluded to needing both drillships and semis, although that's a bit further out in time.

Then you had this marketing agreement with Vantage that you announced, I guess, a week-ish ago. It seems like you're focusing on keeping that rig in Southeast Asia.

Are you able to share a bit more on kind of which countries you might feel particularly optimistic about, or if there's a chance that the rig will actually be taken back to the UK, for example? Thank you.

Michael Boyd

I think all of those things are possible, but I think it's also fair to say that we are focusing on the Southeast Asian market where the rig is currently located for logistic reasons as much as anything, because we've been out there with experience now and there does appear to be some strength in that market that may give us opportunities to keep Blackford going. However, we would look at anywhere really that has a contract long enough to justify the additional renewal survey for Blackford.

All

Fredrik Stene

right, thank you. Then one for, I guess, Ingolf, or maybe the both of you.

You have been vocal about both in the prepared remarks here and report and sometimes earlier about a 2026 financing need. Are you able to kind of scope that out for us and tell if you're pursuing debt opportunities, if there's capacity with creditors to do something like that, or if you think this would have to be funded on an equity level?

Thanks.

Michael Boyd

I think at this stage, we are looking at the need for 2026 and various ways that could be met, probably unable to provide a definitive answer on that yet. Ingolf, anything to add there?

Ingolf Gillesdal

No. As we said, we increased our funding late last year, giving us an extended runway into this year.

We have a high focus to secure contracts. We are in active dialogue basically with all our existing clients and also specifically for Paul B.

Loyd, and also to add on further work for Borgland. Timing will say when we can actually book or announce contracts, but let's say that is the key focus for us now.

Of course, Blackford, we are working on the contract until mid-May, but let's say we can still continue to work in India with the existing clients, but we cannot comment specifically on it now. There is an opening for that.

All these matters decide how we are going to address the financing situation for the company going forward. This is a capital-intensive industry, as you all know, and we think we will find the correct contracts, and that will allow us to raise the need that we require.

Fredrik Stene

All right. Thank you so much for your answers.

Have a good day. That's all for me.

Ingolf Gillesdal

Many thanks.

Michael Boyd

Thanks.

Operator

Thank you for the question. Once again, to ask question, you can press *11.

At this time, there are no further questions from the phone line. Please continue.

Ingolf Gillesdal

There are no questions on the web either, back to Michael.

Michael Boyd

Okay. With no further questions, I would thank you all for your participation, and we will end the call there.

Thank you.

Operator

That does conclude today's conference call. Thank you for your participation.

You may now disconnect.