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McDermott International Second Quarter Earnings Call
Author: 123jump.com Staff
123jump.com
Last Update: 9:08 AM EDT August 13 2007


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The engineering and construction company reported a 35% jump in revenues to $1.42 billion following strong performance from the Offshore Oil and Gas Construction and Power Generation segments. Despite strong credit ratings, the firm eliminated all debt leading to a healthy cash position, which will be used to pursue organic growth through acquisitions.


Investors Question and Answers

 
Sequential Earnings Growth | Quarterly Earnings by Year | Quarterly Earnings Growth by Year

Source: Company filings    Q1:March  Q2:June  Q3:September  Q4:December
 
Joe Agular (Johnson Rice): On J. Ray, there were estimates that the size could range up to $2 billion. Is that something you would comment on?

Bruce W. Wilkinson: There''s been press speculation in the industry regulations about the Saudi LTA project for some time. I''ve seen different orders of magnitude, including the one you mentioned. The fact is it''s a seven-year contract with two three-year renewal options and if it goes, the ultimate fruition would be 13 years.

Right now it''s targeting four offshore fields, a significant amount of the Saudi maintaining its productive capacity to keep the world topped up when it''s needed, is now dependent on fully developing the offshore sector.

Joe Agular: When you booked the first part of the award in the third quarter, and with the other projects you have, how are you in terms of capacity over the next year or two?

Bruce W. Wilkinson:I It''s tight, but we''ve invested in a new rolling mill. By then we''re going to have a significant new paint facility. We''re putting a lot more through the yard than we ever thought possible in the past, but the thing about these Aramco projects is they are highly repetitive. We''ll be able to handle it, and realistically, the whole negotiation is about deliverability.

Joe Agular: On B&W, to what extent does the settlement reflect some of the potential earnings power that you might have had, had some of these contracts gone through to completion and therefore what implications that has for the backlog that you''re adding now?

Bruce W. Wilkinson: It has had some impact. We feared a much worse impact on the Chinese operation than in fact has happened, but that''s one of the rare places where you can just go book another 5000 megawatts and never miss a heartbeat.

There were some projects that we could not bid because we were fully constrained by TXU and it was subsequently announced as being awarded to others and will go forward, and so we''ve had some of those impacts, too.

Roger Read (Natexis): On the backlog of B&W, a few quarter ago business looked like it was flattening out in terms of the part driven by regulations. Does that appear to still be the case, or have you seen any uptick there?

Michael S. Taff: We break down the current backlog. About 15% is related to boilers, about 40% is related to environmental work, and 35% is related to our parts and service business.

Roger Read: About the backlog of 14 gigawatts in China, given the accounting for that comes through as an equity line, is there''s no impact on your stated B&W backlog for that?

Bruce W. Wilkinson: It''s not in the backlog, and you''ll have some of that as equity income and depending on which type of project and where it is, there can also be license fee or royalty income. Most of that is in China.

Roger Read: What would be the timeframe for them to monetize that backlog?

Bruce W. Wilkinson: Those are probably 30-month start-to-finish duration, so what it implies is at least a two-year horizon of very strong results over there.

Roger Read: Do you feel with two very significant Saudi awards here recently, is there a need in the Middle East, Asia, etc to add either shipyard, fab yard capacity, or ships themselves beyond the Secunda acquisition?

Bruce W. Wilkinson: Secunda will be a great facilitator for our marine business, because we operate seven marine barges, construction pipe lay barges and then a couple that we don''t own in the Caspian. Over the next several years, assuming this high utilization in Asia and the Mid East, these vessels will give us some breathing room between projects for our major work barges and allow them to take on maybe an extra large epic contract or two every year or two.

With good investment, there''s still capacity to expand beyond what we''re doing at the Batam yard, and in the Gulf of Mexico, we think the offshore market is indeed coming back though it''s probably still two years out.

Dean Barber (Deutsche Asset Management): When do you expect the Secunda assets to be fully integrated into the business and running at full steam?

Bruce W. Wilkinson: We look at the 14 veseels in three categories, those of highest potential to us, those that are DP 2, another group that are DP 1, and then others that are more utility vessels, and for us, the key is getting the right ones into our system, as soon as possible. Looking at the planning that''s going on now, we believe that by mid 2008, we''ll have at least four, maybe one more in the Mid East and/or Asia. Our strategy on Secunda is translated into a value-added use with the vessels, not just chartering income.

Dean Barber: Can you walk through the priorities in terms of use of cash at this point given that you have no debt?
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