MIND Technology - Earnings Call - Q4 2020

Transcript

Speaker 0

Greetings, and welcome to the Mitcham Industries Fourth Quarter twenty twenty Conference Call. At this time, participants are in a listen only mode. A brief question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Mr.

Ken Dennard. Thank you, Mr. Dennard. You may begin.

Speaker 1

Thank you, operator. Good morning, and welcome to the Mitcham Industries fiscal twenty twenty fourth quarter conference call. We appreciate all of you joining us today. Your hosts are Rob Katz, co chief executive officer and chief financial officer and Guy Mauldin, Co Chief Executive Officer and Executive Vice President of Marine Systems. Before I turn the call over to management, I have a few normal housekeeping details to run through.

If you'd like to listen to a replay of today's call, it'll be available for ninety days via webcast by going to the Investor Relations section of the company's website at nichamindustries.com or via recorded instant replay until April 29. Information on how to access the replay was provided in yesterday's earnings release. Information reported on this call speaks earlier than today, Wednesday, 04/22/2020, and therefore, you are advised that time sensitive information may no longer be accurate as of the time of any replay listing or transcript reading. Before we begin, let me remind you that certain statements made by management during this call may constitute forward looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward looking statements are based on management's current expectations and include known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which the company is unable to predict or control, that may cause the company's actual future results or performance to materially differ from any future results or performance expressed or implied by those statements.

These risks and uncertainties include the risk factors disclosed by the company from time to time in its filings with the SEC, including its annual report on Form 10 ks for the year ended 01/31/2020. Furthermore, as we start this call, please also refer to the statement regarding forward looking statements incorporated in the company's press release issued yesterday, and please note that the contents of the conference call this morning are covered by these statements. Now I'd like to turn the call over to Guy Maldon. Guy?

Speaker 2

Thanks, Ken, and good morning, everyone. We would like to thank you for joining us today for our fiscal twenty twenty fourth quarter and year end conference call. Before I begin, I'd like to express our support and gratitude to all of our employees, suppliers, customers and stakeholders during such a difficult time. The COVID-nineteen crisis has impacted all of our lives, and our foremost concerns are for the health and safety of our employees and their families, as well as the broader community as a whole. While we continue to adapt to the challenging conditions and operational disruptions brought on by this crisis, we have had to work closely with our customers to uphold commitments and assure a high level of service and support, while also looking for ways to reduce our expenses and capital outlays due to the heightened economic uncertainty brought on by this crisis.

Maintaining this balancing act in the face of a pandemic, market uncertainty and volatile commodity prices has been extremely difficult, but our operational flexibility and debt free capital structure have enabled us to weather unfavorable fundamentals in the past. So as we make our way through this extraordinary situation, I'd again like to draw on the strength and resilience of everyone in the Mitcham organization and express our thanks, support and deepest gratitude to all of you for your hard work and perseverance through this difficult time. Fiscal twenty twenty was a year characterized by accelerating momentum in the development of our marine technology products segment, as we made excellent progress in adding new personnel, developing new technologies and attaining new business in the pursuit of our strategic vision to become a leading global provider of marine technology products. While there's little question that we have meaningfully reduced our dependence on traditional oil and gas activities since undertaking this transformation, we fully expect there to be additional events taking place in the near term that will further solidify our foundation in the worldwide marine technology market. Before I move on, let me briefly highlight the many actions we've taken over the past year to both reposition Mitcham and seize upon new opportunities in the marketplace.

During fiscal twenty twenty, we created new positions in business development, technology development and sales to drive the expansion of our marine offerings. Specifically, we now have a Chief Technology Officer as well as a Director for our strategic hydrographic programs, both of whom are significant additions to our staff and who will be pivotal in expanding our product line, as well as identifying and developing new opportunities. Earlier in the year, we also hired a Chief Business Development Officer and a new VP of Sales for Seamap. Most recently, and as we announced yesterday, we have added an experienced Chief Operating Officer whose initial focus will be on our sonar and military business. These personnel additions will go a long way towards helping us to drive product penetration and greater awareness of our technological prowess.

About a year ago, our Klein Marine Systems subsidiary introduced a new and crucial line of products that has become one of the true cornerstones of our marine technology line, Representing the next generation of side scan sonar, MA MA X combines the benefits of both superior image quality and greatly enhanced efficiency, bringing a highly compelling value proposition to both military and commercial operators in the seafloor imaging market. MA demonstrated its effectiveness in a number of successful field trials, and both commercial and military customers have expressed enthusiasm for the new technology. Initial deliveries from MA X began in November, and shortly thereafter, we received a contract award from a leading autonomous underwater vehicle manufacturer to install MAX on one of its next generation systems. As you now know, after a fast tracked, internally funded development, we just recently made the system delivery in support of the US Navy's evaluation of a next generation underwater vehicle. Our new system called MicroMax is the first in a series of new imaging products based on Klein's Max technology and offers reduced size and power consumption, making it ideal for the rapidly growing autonomous underwater vehicle market.

Although Micromax is designed for both commercial and military unmanned vehicles, its ability to render high quality imagery in an efficient and cost effective manner makes it particularly well suited for military applications. We are excited about having the Navy as a reference customer and the enhanced potential to gain increased product awareness and traction in the autonomous underwater vehicle market. Our Seamap subsidiary had a good year with deliveries of our BlueLink 4DX RGPS system and SeaLink towed streamer system exceeding our initial expectations. The BuoyLink 4DX greatly enhances the precise surface RGPS positioning capabilities for streamers and seismic sources that are necessary for three d and four d surveys. As such, it continues to gain greater awareness among operators of seismic exploration and survey vessels.

Finally, we relocated our corporate headquarters from Huntsville, Texas to The Woodlands, Texas. Texas. This move made our offices significantly more accessible to our customers, the investment community and those living in the Houston Metropolitan Area. And given our strategic shift towards marine technology, as well as the need for a fresh, new corporate identity to mark our new direction, the move made a great deal of sense. With that, let me now make a few observations about the fourth quarter.

On a sequential basis, revenues were up 24% from the third quarter with strong contributions coming from Seamap and the equipment leasing business. The seismic leasing business saw a seasonal uptick with a land project in Europe getting underway during the fourth quarter. For the Marine Technology Products segment, SeaMap drove the bulk of the increase as we delivered both a BuoyLink and SeaLink system during the quarter. There was a roughly $2,000,000 delivery that was pushed into the current year due to a customer revising their requirements. Nonetheless, we've been pleased with the order flow and expect the segment to continue to perform solidly.

The COVID-nineteen virus has certainly had a negative impact on our operations as there have been government mandated temporary closures of our facilities in both Malaysia and Singapore, reduced productivity due to stay at home directives and disruptions experienced by our customers and suppliers. We have, however, been allowed limited access to the closed facilities to receive and make shipments and maintain equipment. And Malaysia has been reopened at a reduced staffing level as of yesterday. So despite all the near term turmoil and uncertainty, there has been no change to our longer term outlook, and we remain very optimistic about the strategic direction of the company. Finally, I'd like to comment on another important step we've taken to expedite our expansion in the marine technology markets, the addition of Dennis Morris as our Chief Operating Officer.

Dennis has a very extensive background in engineered manufacturing systems, having accumulated twenty five years of global experience with companies such as BAE Systems and L3Harris Technologies. His background in the design and development of complex systems and processes, as well as his wealth of experience in the maritime industry, both as a U. S. Navy submarine officer and as a corporate executive, make him an ideal addition to the Mitcham team. We welcome Dennis and are proud to have him aboard.

With that, let me now turn the call over to Rob.

Speaker 3

Thanks, Guy. I'll begin by giving a more detailed review of the financial results, then I'll make some comments about our views on current market conditions. Let me start with the Marine Technologies Products segment. Revenues for the segment totaled $8,800,000 in the quarter, up 30% from $6,700,000 in the fourth quarter a year ago and up 9% from $8,100,000 in the third quarter of this year. CMAP revenues rose year over year to $7,100,000 in the quarter from $4,900,000 in the 2019, and was up 25% sequentially.

CMAP revenues include the deliveries of both a BuoyLink and a C Link system during the quarter. Now as Guy said, we had expected an even better quarter for CMAP. However, due to a customer requested modifications, we were unable to complete a $2,000,000 order scheduled for the fourth quarter. Due to the impact of the COVID-nineteen pandemic, it is likely that this order will now be delayed until the 2021. Fourth quarter revenues from Klein were 1,700,000.0 an increase from $1,300,000 a year ago, but down 29% sequentially.

In the equipment leasing segment, revenues decreased to $4,500,000 in the quarter compared to $5,500,000 in the fourth quarter a year ago. The revenue decline was limited to other equipment sales and lease pool sales, as leasing revenues were up roughly 7% from a year ago. We did have a sizable $1,000,000 lease pool sale to an Asian customer that was to be completed before year end, but due to the erratic macroeconomic environment, this has been delayed. I can report, however, that we recently concluded a similar transaction with a North American customer, indicating that the market for such transactions remains viable. On a sequential basis, the segment was up 71, driven almost entirely by seasonal gains in leasing activity.

Fourth quarter gross profit for our Marine Technology Products segment was $4,400,000 which was up from $2,200,000 a year ago and up from $3,300,000 in Q3 of this year. This represents a gross profit margin of 50% compared to 33% in last year's fourth quarter and 41% in the prior quarter. The expanded margins are a result of better absorption of fixed costs due to higher revenues and changes in product mix. In our equipment leasing business, depreciation expense in the fourth quarter was down to $1,200,000 from $1,900,000 a year ago and was roughly flat sequentially. Gross profit in the segment for the fourth quarter was $1,600,000 versus $1,200,000 in the comparable year ago period and $738,000 in the third quarter of this year.

Our general and administrative expenses were $5,000,000 for the 2020, which was flat with last year's fourth quarter and up slightly from $4,700,000 in this year's third quarter. Our research and development expense was $408,000 this quarter compared to $302,000 spent during last year's fourth quarter and $629,000 last quarter. These investments are largely due to delivery of MicroMax and will continue to be significant as we progress in developing our technology and initiatives in response to customer requirements. We are also continuing to pursue a number of initiatives to partner with others to expand our technology and product offerings. The unprecedented recent disruptions in the global economy and the energy markets caused us to reevaluate potential issues with collections from customers.

As a result of this, we felt it prudent to make a further provision for uncollectible accounts receivable of $2,000,000 in the quarter. For many of the same reasons, we recorded an impairment of $760,000 related to certain intangible assets. Our overall operating loss for the fourth quarter of this year was $2,900,000 as compared to an operating loss of $2,500,000 posted in the year ago quarter. But without the impact of the two fourth quarter adjustments I just mentioned, the fourth quarter operating loss would have been about $168,000 Combine these with the aforementioned previously anticipated sales, you can see that we were well on track to deliver a much stronger fourth quarter. As it was, our fourth quarter adjusted EBITDA was $124,000 compared to $111,000 in last year's fourth quarter and $198,000 during Q3 of this year.

Again, without the impact of the fourth quarter adjustments I just mentioned, adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was approximately $2,100,000 Midstream's capital structure is debt free and liquidity remains good. At the end of the quarter, we had about $22,200,000 of working capital that included cash and cash equivalents of approximately 3,100,000.0 Our capital and cost structures are an advantage to us in this uncertain environment. The absence of looming financial obligations or restrictive covenants provides us with much flexibility. Our costs are to a large degree variable, which allows us to adjust relatively quickly to changes in demand and activity. Now given all the disruption and uncertainty in the world today, it's difficult to project the impact to our business, especially in the short term.

However, we are confident that we have the people, the assets and the financial strength to weather these difficult times. But there are a number of factors that drive our confidence in our ability to cope with these challenges. We have no debt or looming financial obligations with restricted financial covenants. We exited fiscal twenty twenty with more than $22,000,000 in working capital, and business activity continues. Even in this environment, we continue to interact with our customers, receiving orders and responding to inquiries, admittedly at a reduced rate, however, and we continue to collect on our accounts receivable from customers.

As I said, our cost structure is largely variable in nature, meaning we can adjust accordingly should reduced business activity dictate, and have already done so in some instances. We have access to various governmental aid programs in The US and in some foreign locations. We believe there are further opportunities to redeploy capital, such as by selling certain lease school equipment. In short, our long term outlook for Mitcham is unfazed. With that, let me turn the call back over to Guy for a few closing comments before we take questions.

Speaker 2

Thanks, Rob. As I outlined earlier, we've come a long way over the last year in adding to Mitcham's capabilities. Going forward, we believe this trend will continue as we will put more resources, personnel and emphasis on building out the marine technology product segment, both domestically and abroad. There are a number of specific areas of opportunity for us in the coming months and years, including the following: continued acceptance of our MAX technology application of our MicroMax technology in the growing UUV market development of enhanced sonar capabilities opening new markets introduction of new bathymetry systems for the hydrographic industry continued acceptance of our SeaLink towed streamer system into scientific and survey capabilities application of our streamer and acoustic technology into waterside security and passive acoustic array systems and continued penetration of our industry leading GunLink and BuoyLink products. Because of all this, we remain confident that we are on the right path and are more optimistic than ever about Mitcham's future.

Now that concludes our formal remarks. We'll be happy to take any questions now.

Speaker 0

You may press star two if you would like to remove your question from the queue. For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up your handset before pressing the star keys. Once again, that's star one to register questions at this time. Our first question is coming from Tyson Bauer of KC Capital. Please go ahead.

Speaker 4

Can you hear me?

Speaker 3

Yes. I'm getting more Yes. Here,

Speaker 4

There we go. Just doing some back of the napkin adding it didn't happen, so you can't count it. But the 2,000,000 order delay, the extra $1,000,000 in equipment sale, if you that $2,000,000 order was the 50% margin that we saw for the composite overall for C MAP. That puts your op income on a pro form a basis, excluding your uncollectibles roughly around $1,000,000 give or take a little and actually produces close to breakeven if not a positive number down below. Now all this is fine and dandy and playing with the numbers, but that's kind of what you were looking at, at the end of the Q3 going into this quarter, was it not?

Speaker 3

Yes, that's exactly right. Yes, that's exactly right.

Speaker 4

Okay.

Speaker 3

So,

Speaker 4

forward now, you've got $3,000,000 of cash on the balance sheet. You just experienced a $6,000,000 burn in 2019. You're paying $2,000,000 in preferred dividends in the year. And in regards to that, what was the decision to pay the cash dividend a week ago when a lot of companies

Speaker 3

were Yes, we do intend to pay it. We just looked at our liquidity situation. We felt we can do it. We think it's important to show that confidence to the investment community, to the holders. Obviously, it's something we if things change, we can look at that going forward.

But we just felt it was a prudent thing to do.

Speaker 4

Okay. So in your estimation, you've got plenty of liquidity and the means to access liquidity for what the for this full year?

Speaker 3

Obviously, it's an uncertain situation, Tyson. It's something we're looking at on a you have to look at day to day. But as I said in the comments, we have some confidence and we think we have flexibility that other people don't have. So we're pretty good.

Speaker 4

You only made $1,900,000 in sales of your lease pool equipment out of that, which a lot of that is fully depreciated. Why were was the market not there? Or was that a cognizant decision not to make greater sales from the lease pool? And you've already suggested that you're making some of those sales now. Do you anticipate getting that lease pool level down to a certain amount where you have that cash influx?

Speaker 3

Yes, it's something we always look to do. And as far as last year, it's really as opportunities arise and we kind of look at what the opportunities are versus what we can do with the leasing those assets. It's a fluctuating marketplace, obviously. So it's something we look to do, but we do think there are opportunities. As I said, we completed the sale just recently of about $1,000,000 So we think those things are certainly still out there, although it's not something you can do every day.

You have to pick and choose and be active in the market to do it. We feel we can do that.

Speaker 4

Have you run numbers to see where you could get that lease pool number down to and still be an effective participant in that market?

Speaker 3

That's a really tough number to give, given depreciated assets.

Speaker 1

So

Speaker 3

I really haven't tried to look at it from that standpoint.

Speaker 4

Okay. You referenced The U. S. Navy doing the preliminary testing and the initial, I guess not necessarily in order, but it is in order to run the test. Are we getting closer to those tests being completed and seeing a PO in hand that you'll be able to announce?

Speaker 2

No. The PO is not imminent. The new system has been installed on the vehicle. And now it's going to be in the Navy's hands to do their qualifying testing. That's a little bit of a target dates are a little bit difficult there just because the US Navy's going control that.

Speaker 3

Yeah, plus the global situation impacts that obviously. They're impacted as well. So it's hard to dictate or indicate exactly when all that's going be done.

Speaker 4

The numbers in the marine technology side really driven still by Seamap and not Klein was basically flat, which gives us another year that we're trying to get that push forward being in the future for Mitcham. Are the expectations to get Klein going? Obviously, that's what you want to do, but we're still relying on C MAP. When do we flip the switch?

Speaker 3

Well, again, we the current situation makes it difficult to give you a date of quarter when that happens. But I think all the things we've been doing, the things we introduced last year and some of the new initiatives that we're pursuing now, we can see that the light is in the tunnel there. Is it two quarters out, three quarters out? It's hard to say, Tyson. But we do see the way to it most definitely.

Speaker 4

Okay. And last question, I'll get back in queue in case there's somebody else there. As far as access to capital, you don't have a credit line, you do have the ability to sell some of your lease pool equipment to generate cash, you have the ability to cut expenses, if needed, the preferred dividends you can pick. What other sources of capital or what other avenues do you have should you need to use them this year?

Speaker 3

Well, there are some of the government aid programs that

Speaker 4

I mentioned.

Speaker 3

Sorry about that. There's also potentially other capital available in the market. We're looking at we don't see the need for it right now, but we think there are potential other mechanisms out there should need arise.

Speaker 4

Okay. Thank you, gentlemen. Yeah.

Speaker 0

Thank you. Our next question is coming from Ross Taylor of ARS. Please go ahead.

Speaker 5

Thank you, gentlemen. Tyson asked most of the questions because I was most concerned with the ability to generate capital because obviously the market's pricing Mitcham shares right now as though it's going out of business and there's not much value in them. Given that you have no debt and the like. It's a little striking. But also the Navy and the Pentagon rather appear to be accelerating trying to accelerate payments to help suppliers.

Is that one of the types of programs you're talking about possibly having access to?

Speaker 3

Really. Our arrangement is through a prime contractor at this point. So realistically, that's not a big impact to us at this point.

Speaker 5

So the Navy doesn't really look at you as a contractor or subcontractor. They're just looking to people you're working

Speaker 3

Not for program. There are other programs where we do deal directly with the Navy, but not for that program.

Speaker 5

Okay. Okay. And then talk about basically, you kind of indicated that you're seeing this crossover out a couple of quarters, three quarters. Is this you obviously have COVID as a wildcard, but are the pieces in place, are you seeing the demand for things like undersea mapping? Obviously the energy space has been pretty heavily hit, but have the other segments that make use of that type of technology seen pullbacks?

Speaker 3

Not as much. I mean, a lot of our activity on the traditional seismic products, the CNAP products for lack of a better term, are really non oil and gas related applications. They're survey companies, there's research institutes, governmental research institutes.

Speaker 4

So a

Speaker 3

lot of what we've doing recently, a lot of the pending orders we have are non oil and gas or non exploration related. So certainly not impacted to a greater degree.

Speaker 2

And going forward, we're seeing that segment of the business be a lot more stable than the traditional seismic on the oil and gas side. The other thing with CMAT products, we've got a tremendous install base. And regardless of how the industry shrinks down, the active hulls, the active operations are still going need parts, service and support. So there's a base there that will continue on the CMAP side.

Speaker 5

Okay. And when you talk about the technological advantages, it strikes me you guys have what appears to be a significant technological advantage in this space with your new technologies, your new capabilities, your side scan, gapless sonar and things of that nature. And it just strikes me as this company is a lot more valuable than what it's trading at. And I'm wondering at what point do you look at it and say if the market's not going to recognize it, you pick up the phone and call one of the bigger players, bigger systems players and the like in the space and start talks about enhancing shareholder value as the euphemism goes? Because it's clear shareholders don't appreciate what you guys are doing.

Speaker 3

Ross, I mean, we just need to run the company and deliver results. I think a lot of the market reaction now is not necessarily specific to us, at least in my opinion. That's my personal opinion. I need to look at all micro caps, especially any who have a bit of an energy taint to them, been hit pretty hard. So I think there's some of that that's just some of that hangover.

So our focus now is to operate and to deliver on our results.

Speaker 5

Okay. Well, if someone knocks on your door and decides to offer you fair value, I would definitely suggest that you look at it because I'm not quite sure how we're going to get investors to appreciate what you guys are doing. It seems like you've made a lot of progress this quarter in many ways, particularly when you back out some of the adjustments was a lot better than I thought it could be. And obviously then the Street was pricing in.

Speaker 3

Yes. Got you.

Speaker 5

Thank you, gentlemen.

Speaker 3

Okay. Thank you, Ross.

Speaker 0

Thank you. This brings us to the end of the Q and A session. I would like to turn the floor back over to management for any final comments.

Speaker 3

I'd just like to thank everyone for joining us today, and I hope everyone stays safe. Take care of yourself and your families. We look forward to talking to you after the our first quarter. Thank you.

Speaker 0

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your participation. You may disconnect your lines at this time, and have a wonderful day.