Helix Energy Solutions Q1 2026 Earnings Call - Strategic Merger with Hornbeck Offshore Creates Integrated Subsea Powerhouse

Conference Operator, Moderator: Good morning, and welcome to today’s conference call to discuss the combination of Helix Energy Solutions and Hornbeck Offshore, as well as Helix’s first quarter 2026 results. Please note this event is being recorded. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero. After today’s presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question, you may press star then one on a touch-tone phone. To withdraw your question, please press star then two. You can find today’s investor presentation, as well as the press release regarding the transaction, at each company’s investor relations website. The press release regarding Helix’s first quarter 2026 results can be found at Helix’s investor relations website as well as the earnings presentation.

I would now like to turn the call over to Erik Staffeldt, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Helix. Please go ahead.

Erik Staffeldt, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Helix Energy Solutions: Thank you and good morning. As highlighted, any forward-looking statements we make during today’s conference call are given in the context of today only and are subject to important risks as discussed in the presentation. Actual results and events could differ materially from those discussed here. Please also refer to the additional information discussed on this slide as well as in our SEC filings. I’ll now turn to a brief overview of Helix’s first quarter 2026 results. Helix’s team delivered another well-executed quarter, safely and efficiently providing our customers with world-class service. Our first quarter results reflect expected seasonal levels during the winter in the North Sea and Gulf of Mexico shelf, impacting our well intervention, robotics, and shallow water abandonment segments, and they reflect the cost of the successful workover of Thunder Hawk Field.

Revenues for the first quarter were $288 million, with a gross profit of $9 million, resulting in a net loss of $13 million. Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was $32 million, with operating cash flow of $62 million, resulting in free cash flow of $59 million. Highlights for the quarter include strong utilization on the Q4000, performing well intervention work at improved rates, the successful workover and recommencement of production of our Thunder Hawk field, a return to a two-vessel market in the North Sea with the Seawell reactivation and return to operations with good utilization expected in 2026, and strong cash flow generation of $59 million as I shared earlier. With that, our cash position and liquidity remain strong with $501 million of cash and $612 million of liquidity at the end of the quarter.

Overall, our first quarter results were as expected, perhaps even marginally better than expected. The current macro environment remains uncertain, but we are seeing some positive developments in the markets we serve. Oil supply disruptions, increased commodity prices, and increased regulatory enforcement in the North Sea are providing positive catalysts that may drive increased activity by our customers for the balance of 2025 and into 2026 and into 2027. We also expect momentum to continue to build in the offshore market. With the results we delivered in Q1 and supported by our backlog and several key contracts, we are maintaining our guidance for 2026. Revenue of $1.2 billion-$1.4 billion, in line with 2025. EBITDA of $230 million-$290 million, impacted by the Thunder Hawk workover in Q1 and the upcoming Siem Helix 1 docking.

CapEx of $70 million-$80 million, primarily a mix of mandatory maintenance on our vessels and intervention systems and fleet renewal of our robotics ROVs. Free cash flow of $100 million-$160 million. We expect continued meaningful free cash flow generation with variability driven by ultimate working capital movements. Key forecast drivers for our annual guidance include second half utilization on the Q4000 and Q7000, late season North Sea intervention market, strong markets for our robotics fleets, and a stable shallow water abandonment segment. Our quarterly financial performance in 2026 is expected to follow the same cadence as previous year’s results, with the second and third quarters being our most active quarters and the first and fourth quarters impacted by winter weather.

Our balance sheet is strong, $310 million of funded debt, $501 million of cash, and a strong cash flow generation expected in 2026. If you have any questions on our quarterly results, our outlook for 2026, please feel free to reach out to our team directly. With that, we will transition to the transaction announcement portion of the call. For that, I am joined by Bill Transier, Helix’s Chairman of the Board, Scotty Sparks, Helix’s Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Todd Hornbeck’s Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer. Also joining us for the question and answer portion of the call will be Jim Harp, Hornbeck’s Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, and James O. Harp, Jr., Hornbeck’s Senior Vice President of Finance.

Now, before I kick it over to Bill, I do want to note we have slides supporting the following information on each company’s investor relations website. Please feel free to refer to those as we go through the call. With that, Bill, over to you.

Don Johnson, Analyst, Johnson Rice0: Thanks, Erik. By combining Helix and Hornbeck, we’re bringing together two market leaders and establishing a premier integrated offshore services company poised to create value for current shareholders of both Hornbeck and Helix.

There are many compelling benefits to this combination. First, the strategic combination will create a recognized leader in offshore operations with a diversified and expanded high-specification fleet of specialty vessels supported by subsea robotics, well intervention, and technical service capabilities, including trenching subsea pipelines and cables. Also, the combined company will provide innovative and integrated subsea and marine transportation solutions to customers across deepwater energy, defense, and renewables, thereby expanding service offerings moving forward. Further, combining Helix’s well intervention and robotics vessels with Hornbeck’s specialty and ultra-high specification offshore support vessels will allow us to offer a complementary end-to-end service offering that will materially expand the combined company’s ability to meet a broader share of customers’ deepwater needs spanning the offshore cycle.

All of this, in combination with the significant annual revenue and cost synergies the transaction is expected to generate of $75 million or more within three years following the close, make for a strong combination rationale. We’ll dig deeper into the strategic and financial benefits shortly, and I do want to cover the terms of the transaction in more detail too. First, I would be remiss if I didn’t take the opportunity to acknowledge Owen Kratz, Helix’s President and Chief Executive Officer, for the significant role he has held in building Helix into what it is today. Owen announced last year his plan to retire from Helix. I’m sure you saw his quote in the press release reiterating his support for the transaction. He has agreed to support Todd through the close of the deal and will remain available thereafter as needed.

He, along with the entire executive management team, are committed to getting this combination across the line. With that, I’ll turn to the highlights of the transaction. This is structured as an all-stock transaction, which will allow shareholders from both sides to participate in the significant upside potential of the combined company. The terms of the agreement, which are outlined in the press release we issued this morning, have been approved by the boards of directors of both companies. At closing, which we expect to occur in the second half of 2026, subject to approval by Helix shareholders, the receipt of applicable regulatory approvals, and the satisfaction of other customary closing conditions, Helix shareholders will own approximately 45% of the combined company, and Hornbeck shareholders will have approximately 55% ownership.

I will note the parties representing a significant majority of the ownership of Hornbeck, including Ares Management funds, have delivered written consents approving the transaction. Through this combination, we’ll bring together two best-in-class teams with aligned cultures. Following the close, Todd Hornbeck will serve as President and Chief Executive Officer of the combined company. The combined company’s board of directors will comprise seven directors, three of whom will be from Helix and four from Hornbeck, including Todd. I will serve as Chairman of the combined company’s board. Post-closing, the combined company will operate under the Hornbeck Offshore Services name and trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol HOS, with the Helix brand to be retained for well intervention services. The combined company’s headquarters will be in Houston, Texas, and Covington, Louisiana.

I also want to touch on why we’re stronger and more competitive together as a combined company. In 2025, Helix had revenue and EBITDA of $1.3 billion and $272 million respectively, with more than $500 million in cash at the end of the first quarter. When you include Hornbeck’s 2025 annual results, the combined company will increase revenue and EBITDA by 56% and 106% respectively. As well, we will have incremental growth drivers of 2 new build MPSVs and 23 vessels that will be available for reactivation. In summary, we believe this unique combination is a compelling opportunity to enhance value for Helix’s shareholders and deliver sustainable long-term growth. Now Todd will provide you an overview of Hornbeck.

Todd Hornbeck, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer, Hornbeck Offshore Services: Thank you, Bill. Let me start by sharing some background on Hornbeck. We’re one of the preeminent market leading providers of ultra-high spec marine logistics services to a broad range of offshore energy, infrastructure, and defense customers. We have a leading deepwater high and ultra-high spec fleet with geographic footprint across the U.S., Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean, Guyana, Suriname, and Brazil. Our focus at the end of the day is tailored logistics solutions that address a broad spectrum of unique customer life of field requirements, and we have proven operational capabilities and an unwavering commitments to safety and risk management as Helix does as well.

We’ve also included key highlights of the company by the numbers, including approximately 71 vessels in our current fleet, with 2 MPSVs under construction and expected to deliver in 2027, giving us a pro forma fleet of 73 vessels with a fair market value of $2.8 billion. We generated adjusted EBITDA of $288 million and an adjusted EBITDA margin of 40% for fiscal year 2025. I’d also like to note that if you have any additional questions about Hornbeck as a company and our financials, you can find that information in the appendix section of this presentation. We’re also confident that this transaction maximizes value, provides the best long-term prospects to deliver superior returns for our combined investors. We are pleased that this is an all-stock consideration will allow Helix and Hornbeck investors to participate in the upside of this combination.

With that, I’ll turn it over to Scott Sparks, Helix’s Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, to walk you through the combined company’s global presence and complementary business offerings.

Scotty Sparks, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Helix Energy Solutions: Thank you, Todd. Another important benefit of this transaction is the geographical alignment of our two companies. Helix’s global presence in West Africa, Asia Pacific, and the North Sea regions, as well as the United States and Brazil, and Hornbeck’s concentration in the Americas, including Brazil and Mexico, creates a combined global footprint spanning the key offshore basins worldwide. The combined company’s footprint will include cabotage-protected markets and will have direct access to leading offshore customers, enabling the delivery of premier deepwater services through technologically advanced assets. This global presence translates into a diversified revenue stream, with approximately half of the combined company’s revenue expected to come from the United States, followed by Brazil and then the North Sea region. We also want to share more information on our combined customer base and how we expect to serve customers as a combined company.

We provide essential services to many of the key organizations and companies that fuel the global economy. We see the integration of complementary service offerings increasing our combined company’s relevance with customers and creating unique cross-selling opportunities that will drive growth and improve margins. Further, the combined fleet of vessels and specialty equipment will enable comprehensive suites of combined services as a one-stop shop for customers, while enhancing profitability through asset optimization and enhanced scale. Both companies have high-quality, blue-chip customers with whom we have developed strong, in-depth relationships. Among our customers are global market-leading companies operating at the forefront of innovation in their respective fields. We are looking forward to delivering an enhanced offering of integrated solutions to our expanded customer base. Well, I’ll turn it back to Todd to talk for our world-class deepwater fleet and our soon-to-be leading position in the defense industry.

Todd Hornbeck, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer, Hornbeck Offshore Services: Thank you, Scotty. Now, we mentioned a moment ago that together, Helix and Hornbeck will have a fleet of high-quality, deepwater, high-spec vessels. The combined company will focus on well intervention, subsea and specialty services, robotics, marine transportation, and emerging technologies to support the deepwater energy, defense, and renewables markets. The combined company will have the highest specification fleet of specialty vessels designed to support deepwater life-of-field services globally. It will be the only company capable of providing riser-based well intervention, subsea operations, and IRM and surface vessel logistics support. Additionally, we are combining Helix’s market-leading position in subsea trenching of pipeline and cable with Hornbeck’s leading position in providing support to offshore energy development. It’s also important to note that the combined company will have increased exposure to the defense industry through a cutting-edge fleet supporting military operations and related capabilities.

Together, Helix and Hornbeck will have operations that provide multiple types of diverse services. This includes surface and subsea vessels, vessel management, and emerging technologies such as marine autonomy and artificial intelligence. These capabilities, along with advantages like trusted relationship with key officials and decades of experience in the industry, will position the combined company extremely well to increase revenue and diverse customers. Now I’d like to transition to an essential element of growth transactions, the combined company scale and growth platform, and the significant synergy potential. We’re confident that the combined company will be poised for future growth and shareholder value creation with a strong balance sheet, low leverage, and a significant cash at the closing to advance the combined company’s value-driven strategy.

Importantly, this financial strength and projected substantial free cash flow generation will provide significant flexibility for organic growth and investments in the business or other strategic M&A to increase long-term shareholder value creation. The combined company scale life-of-field business is expected to mitigate through cycle earnings volatility, while also enabling flexible global asset deployment where the demand is strongest. As you’ll see in the slide deck, another key part of why we’re so confident in this combined company’s strong financial profile going forward is the significant synergies opportunities this transaction presents. Specifically, we expect to realize $75 million or more in annual cost and revenue synergies just within three years following the transaction. The synergies are expected to result from combined and integrated service offerings, as well as expanded service offered to existing customers, driving revenue pull-through.

The scale of the combined company’s fleet will enable asset optimization, reducing reliance on third-party vessel charters, and delivering efficiencies across maintenance, procurement, and operations.

In short, we expect to operate more efficiently and benefit from growth opportunities post-closing. I’d now like to turn it back to Bill to close us out.

Don Johnson, Analyst, Johnson Rice0: I’ll wrap things up by reiterating that we believe this transaction represents an incredibly exciting opportunity for Helix and Hornbeck, as well as both company shareholders and other stakeholders. By bringing these two leaders together, we will create an even stronger combined company designed to innovate, execute with scale, and grow. I’d also like to take a moment just to thank the talented teams of both Helix and Hornbeck. This transaction reflects their continued hard work and dedication, and we would not have been able to reach this milestone without their efforts. I know I speak for the leadership teams of both companies when I say we are grateful for your many contributions. Thank you for joining us today. I’ll now open the floor to questions. Operator, we’ll take our first question now.

Conference Operator, Moderator: Thank you. At this time, I would like to remind everyone, in order to ask a question, please press the number one on your telephone keypad. We will pause for just a moment to compile the Q&A roster. Your first question comes from the line of Keith Beckman with Pickering Energy Partners. Your line is open.

Keith Beckman, Analyst, Pickering Energy Partners: Hey, thanks for taking my question, and congratulations, guys.

Todd Hornbeck, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer, Hornbeck Offshore Services: Thank you.

Scotty Sparks, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Helix Energy Solutions: Thank you.

Keith Beckman, Analyst, Pickering Energy Partners: I just wanted to ask first, could you bucket the $75 million of synergies a little bit better, and then maybe, that’s over three years. What do you kind of expect the initial capture to be, maybe within the first six months to a year or so?

Todd Hornbeck, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer, Hornbeck Offshore Services: I think the capture will be revenue synergies and being able to combine these assets together to offer a full plentiful offering to the customers that should increase utilization across the board from ROVs to supply vessels to subsea construction vessels and well intervention. That combination and offering life of field services to be able to take to the full field development or full field decommissioning is a real added value to the customer base.

Scotty Sparks, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Helix Energy Solutions: Yeah. The crossover services that we pull together as one company provides some very good revenue synergies, but then there’s also the size of the fleet provides good cost synergies with procurement and engineering and all those things as we create a much bigger fleet on a global basis.

Keith Beckman, Analyst, Pickering Energy Partners: Awesome. Thanks. My second question was just kind of, obviously Hornbeck has had an advantage in kind of cabotage-protected markets on a lot of the OSVs in the Americas. Now with the merger of the two companies, is there any plan over time to move some of the vessels, outside of cabotage markets and potentially go outside of the Americas, maybe West Africa, et cetera? Just any thoughts on that at all?

Todd Hornbeck, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer, Hornbeck Offshore Services: Our plan is we’re gonna be a growth company, and we plan to continue to grow every segment of the business. We’re gonna move the assets where they’re most valuable to the company and returns for the company. We do have assets that can move across the globe, and they’re some of the largest and best assets in the industry, and we’re gonna move where the business is.

Keith Beckman, Analyst, Pickering Energy Partners: Awesome. Really appreciate you guys taking my questions and congratulations again.

Todd Hornbeck, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer, Hornbeck Offshore Services: Thank you.

Scotty Sparks, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Helix Energy Solutions: Thanks.

Keith Beckman, Analyst, Pickering Energy Partners: Thanks.

Conference Operator, Moderator: Your next question comes from the line of Ben Summers with BTIG. Your line is open.

Ben Summers, Analyst, BTIG: Hey. Good morning, and congrats on the announcement. My first question is just on the $2 billion of backlog that you guys mentioned in the presentation. Just kind of curious around the duration of this backlog and any color you can give on just the makeup across now the various business lines.

Scotty Sparks, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Helix Energy Solutions: Helix reports their backlog, and ours is close to $1 billion, covering a significant portion this year and into next year. The Helix portion of it is about $1 billion.

Todd Hornbeck, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer, Hornbeck Offshore Services: Yep. Hornbeck’s about $1 billion as well, and that includes our long-term contracts with the military, and the specialty vessels as well. As you know, we’ve been primarily a shorter-term player because the type of assets we have. We’ve been able to, on shorter-term contracts, you get a lot better returns. This is the biggest backlog we’ve had, I think, in our history, showing you where the market’s going and a lot of opportunity also in our fleet to turn and market those vessels as well.

Ben Summers, Analyst, BTIG: Awesome. Thank you. Super helpful. I know you guys mentioned it in the prepared remarks, but just kind of on the strong balance sheet of the combined company. I guess, kind of any color on what you’re seeing in the market, and then kind of just detailing a bit more on the potential growth opportunities or creation of shareholder value from that strong balance sheet.

Todd Hornbeck, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer, Hornbeck Offshore Services: Yes, I think we got a superior balance sheet. A lot of cash on the balance sheet. Like I said, we’re gonna grow all the divisions between the ROV subsea group and well intervention and supply vessels. We’re looking forward to growing it to be an international player worldwide. Our main focus right now or has been with the company is about 50% of revenue coming out of the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. We see great opportunities of growth in Brazil. The whole South America, northern flank of South America with Colombia and Guyana and Suriname and that whole region. Also, West Africa is showing great signs of opportunity as well. With this balance sheet, we should be able to really move the company forward with a lot of opportunities, whether they’re organic or acquisitions as well.

Ben Summers, Analyst, BTIG: Great. Thank you, guys, and congrats again.

Todd Hornbeck, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer, Hornbeck Offshore Services: Thanks.

Scotty Sparks, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Helix Energy Solutions: Thank you.

Conference Operator, Moderator: Your next question comes from the line of James Schumm with TD Cowen. Your line is open.

James Schumm, Analyst, TD Cowen: Thanks. Good morning. Okay, the $75 million of synergies, did you say what the split was between revenue and cost synergies there? And then-

Todd Hornbeck, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer, Hornbeck Offshore Services: No, we haven’t.

James Schumm, Analyst, TD Cowen: Can you just-

Todd Hornbeck, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer, Hornbeck Offshore Services: We’re going to have more of that in the merger proxy, but the majority of it probably will be from revenue synergies and cost efficiencies by putting the companies together, and streamlining our services.

James Schumm, Analyst, TD Cowen: Okay, thanks. Then-

Todd Hornbeck, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer, Hornbeck Offshore Services: Look, the companies don’t really overlap that much in services. That’s what makes this combination such a strong combination putting together, because where we didn’t have robotics and all the tooling and whatnot, where we had the MPSVs, the heavy iron, Helix has all that. Where we were not in well intervention or decommissioning, that’s when you’re in that business as well, they need supply vessels, MPSVs, and all the things that we have. We don’t overlap a lot. That’s what’s great about this. We’re gonna be able to build all of that and retool the business model to be able to grow in all of those areas.

Scotty Sparks, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Helix Energy Solutions: Whilst we-

James Schumm, Analyst, TD Cowen: Okay.

Scotty Sparks, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Helix Energy Solutions: What we will be able to do is offer a very good bundled service. If you take a deep water field decommissioning program, we have the Helix assets that can do all of the deep water P&A and the well work. Now we have the construction assets to take away the subsea infrastructure. We have the supply boats to support the subsea infrastructure takeaway and the wells P&A work. We can offer that to one client, take away their procurement costs, and give them one contract. That’s quite compelling. There will always be some oil procurement companies out there that won’t like that, but there’ll be a bunch of oil companies out there that see the cost benefits of one contract and one service.

James Schumm, Analyst, TD Cowen: Okay, great. Thank you. I haven’t covered OSVs in 12 or 13 years. Can you help me? What’s the capital intensity of this business now and just in terms of CapEx to sales?

Todd Hornbeck, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer, Hornbeck Offshore Services: Well, I’ll tell you, on the OSV side, we’re strictly deep water, ultra deep water. We’re the largest PSVs in the world. A lot of them are CapEx protected in the U.S. We have a big presence, in Brazil and Mexico and the whole South America. Right now, the market is basically at equilibrium. By the second half of this year, just with the demand that’s coming from the additional rigs coming online, we see that market getting very tight, and a lot of revenue growth there or day rate expansion there as well. With the subsea construction market and you know how many trees and installations that are going in deep water over the next several years, those vessels also work very well in the subsea construction area and also in renewables in the defense market. Our defense market is really looking good, and you know why.

Just read the paper. They like the large PSVs to accommodate that business.

Scotty Sparks, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Helix Energy Solutions: You have vessels.

James Schumm, Analyst, TD Cowen: Okay.

Scotty Sparks, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Helix Energy Solutions: back into the market too.

Todd Hornbeck, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer, Hornbeck Offshore Services: Yes.

Scotty Sparks, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Helix Energy Solutions: It won’t cost you really minor capital.

Todd Hornbeck, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer, Hornbeck Offshore Services: It’s minor CapEx. Yeah. We’ve got 23 vessels that we can reactivate as this market goes undersupplied, whether it’s renewables, defense, or drilling support or subsea support. Those are vessels that have been preserved and in good shape, and in very low cost to reactivate to put in the market.

James Schumm, Analyst, TD Cowen: Thanks. Because I was just gonna ask about the two new MPSVs that you have, like, what the capital requirements are left on those. Are they substantial, or can you say?

Todd Hornbeck, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer, Hornbeck Offshore Services: We really don’t have any capital requirements to talk about very much left. We have about $50 million, I think, left to spend on those vessels, for delivery. Very low cost entry for those vessels. Unique nature, they’ll be the largest MPSVs in the U.S. flag fleet. We’re really excited about the robotics and the subsea infrastructure and on all, everything that Helix is doing and folding that into that program. Defense markets, renewable markets, and deep water subsea construction markets are really anxious to get their hands on those vessels.

Scotty Sparks, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Helix Energy Solutions: When those vessels hit in 2027, they’re gonna be the highest spec Jones Act vessels, and then we’ll be combining Helix Robotics into those vessels as well. It’ll be quite unique and ultra-high spec vessels for the Jones Act Gulf of Mexico fleet.

James Schumm, Analyst, TD Cowen: Great. Thanks a lot, gentlemen. Appreciate it. Congrats.

Todd Hornbeck, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer, Hornbeck Offshore Services: All right. Thank you.

Scotty Sparks, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Helix Energy Solutions: Thank you.

Conference Operator, Moderator: Your next question comes from the line of Don Johnson with Johnson Rice. Your line is open.

Don Johnson, Analyst, Johnson Rice: Morning, guys, and I’ll echo my sentiments for a good deal. Congrats. Since I cover Helix, and have for a while, Scotty, can you walk around the world, and kind of talk about demand like you normally do on an earnings call? I know there’s been a lot of rig contracts let recently that soaked up a lot of white space. Can you just kind of walk around the world and tell us how that is influencing activity for the Q4000 and Well Enhancer and Seawell going forward throughout the rest of the year?

Scotty Sparks, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Helix Energy Solutions: Sure. Yeah. Good morning, Don. Firstly, North Sea. As you know, last year, we had some headwinds against us and had to stack one of the vessels. I’m happy to report now that we have both vessels out actively working, and we’re expecting good utilization for the monohulls in the North Sea. We’re seeing high demand for decommissioning in the North Sea and starting to see a slight improvement in rates. That dip that went with last year is behind us, I’d like to think. In the Americas, we’re seeing more production enhancement activity. We have the Q5000 out currently working for Shell, the Q4000’s out working for Oxy, and Oxy and others are looking to add more wells because of the obvious increase in the price of oil is looking to further enhance activity. The Q7000 has recently finished up with Shell in Brazil.

Sorry, will finish up at the end of this month. We’re very close to taking that vessel to Nigeria again, and that’s looking good, very close to being contracted. We expect to take that vessel back to Brazil where there’s high levels of activity and good tendering activity for that vessel. The two, Siem Helix 1 and Siem Helix 2, are on the long-term contracts in Brazil. Our Well Intervention segment looks very good at the moment, and we’ve been improving activity and increasing rates going forward. The robotics side is very busy. As you know, our trenching side of the company is very, very active. High utilization, very much increased rates, increasing rates year over year.

We have work booked out in 2026, 2027 on trenching, work booked out all the way to 2030, and bid activity in a very good pipeline of activity out to 2032 on the trenching side. Then the robotics business is strengthened and bringing these two companies together, there’s good opportunities for putting ROVs with high-class vessels in the Gulf of Mexico. I’m very confident by the end of this year, we’ll have no ROVs available to the market. We might have to look at starting to place capital to increase spend on growth activity.

Don Johnson, Analyst, Johnson Rice: I appreciate that. Can you just comment on day rates? I know day rates for the offshore drillers have been kind of flat on these contract renewals, but are you seeing any urgency from customers seeing white space go away and urgency in contracting, given recent events in the Middle East and oil price running up?

Scotty Sparks, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Helix Energy Solutions: We talk about this each quarter, Don, and I would say it’s relatively flat at the moment in the Gulf. We are seeing increased rig activity that will lead into end of 2026, 2027 to increased rates. We are definitely seeing an increase in rates and better activity in the North Sea, and we’re stable and locked into long-term contracts in Brazil. It’s a definitely increased and better environment than where we were two or three quarters ago.

Don Johnson, Analyst, Johnson Rice: Okay. I appreciate that. Todd, just one for you. Any changes in Mexico? I know you’ve had a presence there for a while, but not really worked for the government down there. Any improvement down there that can soak up any of the boats that came back to the U.S. side of the Gulf of Mexico going back to Mexico anytime soon?

Todd Hornbeck, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer, Hornbeck Offshore Services: Well, as you know, we’ve got a large component of Mexican flag vessels, in Mexico, and that’s a cabotage protected market. Yes, there’s been upside. Even though the turmoil with Pemex that unfolded over the last few years, we were not levered to that company. Woodside just started the Trion project, and we have four long-term contracts with Woodside. That has started in earnest now in February. That will go for many years. We also have a 10-year commitment for all their marine support for supply vessels for the next 10 years, so for that development of that field. What we’re seeing in Mexico, though, is a little bit of change in tone, with bringing IOCs back into the country. A couple of years ago under Amlo, they really wanted to get all the IOCs out and all the foreign companies out of Mexico.

That’s turned around. It looks like we’re seeing green shoots starting to happen, and other IOCs are interested in doing structures like Woodside had done there. It looks promising. I think over the next couple of years, we’re going to see some growth in Mexico. Mexico is Mexico, so we’ve been down there a long time and done very well in that market.

Don Johnson, Analyst, Johnson Rice: I appreciate the color. Congrats again, guys.

Scotty Sparks, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Helix Energy Solutions: Thank you.

Todd Hornbeck, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer, Hornbeck Offshore Services: Thank you.

Don Johnson, Analyst, Johnson Rice: Thank you.

Conference Operator, Moderator: Your next question comes from the line of Josh Jayne with Daniel Energy Partners. Your line is open.

Josh Jayne, Analyst, Daniel Energy Partners: Good morning. Thanks for taking my question. First one for me. Todd, maybe you could just go into a bit more detail on your views on OSV supply and demand. Ultimately, you mentioned some vessels going back to work. Maybe you could just elaborate on your views on the market, not only in the markets that you serve, but just opportunities elsewhere. It would just be good to hear your views today.

Todd Hornbeck, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer, Hornbeck Offshore Services: Yeah, I think. Look, we’re just really focused on the above 4,000 deadweight class all the way to 6,000. Ultra-deep water is where our bread and butter is, and that market is traded very thinly now. A lot of capacity is term contracted because Petrobras soaked up a lot of tonnage, as we know. With the rigs in the second half of the year coming back online, we see that market tightening. Our rates are, I can say, leading edge rates are in the mid-40s. They’re kind of all over the board because it’s been a little sloppy with the white space. Our rates have seemed to held up very well. The second half of the year is where we really see the growth opportunity and the market getting really, really tight for the supply and demand imbalance.

The subsea construction market, the renewables market, and our defense market is doing extremely well. We’re servicing a lot of that market with the PSVs today. On our total revenue, about 70% of our revenue is coming from the specialty business, not from the drill bit. That’s a testament of the type of equipment that we have.

Josh Jayne, Analyst, Daniel Energy Partners: On the ROV side, it was alluded to a little bit in the last answer. Is this transaction, I know Helix has been a bit conservative to spend capital, but when we think about the tightness of the ROV business, is this the type of transaction that has the potential, just given the tightness of that market, to accelerate capital spending over the next few years? Could you update us on lead times for ROVs today? That’s my final question. Thanks.

Todd Hornbeck, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer, Hornbeck Offshore Services: I think Scotty can answer the lead times, but you’re correct, that market is very tight. I think there’s opportunities there, besides, you can always build ROVs, and he’ll tell you how long that takes and what the cost is. I think there may be opportunities out there now that we’ve put this together of ROV opportunities and other opportunities in the company to do some acquisitive and grow our platform.

Scotty Sparks, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Helix Energy Solutions: I think one of the good sides of the ROV business is we can scale up very quickly.

Josh Jayne, Analyst, Daniel Energy Partners: Mm-hmm.

Scotty Sparks, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Helix Energy Solutions: To build a new ROV right now is a six-month lead time, and if we did a batch build every month after, we can have another ROV. We can scale up the ROV business very quickly. There’s also Hornbeck, at this time they hire ROVs in, and now will be an internal cost to Hornbeck. We can scale up very quickly and

Josh Jayne, Analyst, Daniel Energy Partners: Mm-hmm.

Scotty Sparks, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Helix Energy Solutions: Bring the two services together.

Todd Hornbeck, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer, Hornbeck Offshore Services: Yeah, if we can’t find adequate equipment out there on the ROV side and the tooling side, we can be in the market very quickly with what Scotty’s saying.

Scotty Sparks, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Helix Energy Solutions: We’re well-

Todd Hornbeck, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer, Hornbeck Offshore Services: It’ll happen one way or the other, won’t it?

Scotty Sparks, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Helix Energy Solutions: Yeah. We’re also seeing an increased demand for ROV activity in the renewables business in Taiwan and the APAC region as well. There’s a lot of growth potential on the ROV side, the robotics side. We also have some plans. We, as a robotics company, have never been an IRM company, and as we bring these two companies together, we’re definitely going to build an IRM division, which leads to further growth as well.

Josh Jayne, Analyst, Daniel Energy Partners: Understood. Congrats on the transaction. Thanks for taking my questions.

Scotty Sparks, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Helix Energy Solutions: Thank you.

Todd Hornbeck, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer, Hornbeck Offshore Services: Thank you.

Conference Operator, Moderator: Your next question comes from the line of James Schumm with TD Cowen. Your line is open.

James Schumm, Analyst, TD Cowen: Hey, thanks. The Hornbeck net debt, did I calculate that right? Is that around $480 million?

Todd Hornbeck, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer, Hornbeck Offshore Services: Yes.

Scotty Sparks, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Helix Energy Solutions: No, that’s the gross debt.

Todd Hornbeck, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer, Hornbeck Offshore Services: That’s the other. That’s gross. It’s about James. Jim, what is it?

Jim Harp, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Hornbeck Offshore Services: Yep. That’s gross debt. Our cash is between $75 and $100, $80, $90, something like that. The 440 is gross debt.

James Schumm, Analyst, TD Cowen: I said 480. What do you have as-

Scotty Sparks, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Helix Energy Solutions: Oh, I-

James Schumm, Analyst, TD Cowen: What’s your net debt? Is it $380, or what’s the net debt?

Todd Hornbeck, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer, Hornbeck Offshore Services: Actually, I forgot about the-

Scotty Sparks, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Helix Energy Solutions: It’s all disclosed to that, so yeah, about 380. Yeah, around 380.

James Schumm, Analyst, TD Cowen: Okay. Maybe just one for the Helix guys. How do you position this for your shareholders? Why is this a good deal for the Helix shareholders?

Todd Hornbeck, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer, Hornbeck Offshore Services: This is Bill. I’ll take that on. First of all, if you can’t tell the enthusiasm of these two guys across the table been talking about their combined businesses, it represents a really kind of a unique opportunity for these companies to come together and do more than they could on a standalone basis. I think that’s what Helix has been looking at for quite a while, is it was a good company, well run by Hornbeck, good capital structure, but it was only so big, and the ability to kind of build scale, reduce cost of capital, and do some of the things that Scotty and Todd are talking about in terms of growing the business, it just makes for a better outcome going forward. A real growth company that can deliver significant shareholder value going down the road.

I look at that as the compelling reasons why, and we’re excited about it.

James Schumm, Analyst, TD Cowen: Okay. Thanks a lot, guys. Appreciate it.

Scotty Sparks, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Helix Energy Solutions: Thank you.

Todd Hornbeck, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer, Hornbeck Offshore Services: Thank you.

Conference Operator, Moderator: Thank you. I’m not showing any further questions in the queue. I will now turn it back over to the company for closing remarks.

Scotty Sparks, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Helix Energy Solutions: Thank you for joining us today. We appreciate your interest in today’s call that highlighted the exciting opportunity that the combination of Helix and Hornbeck creates for our investors and customers. Thank you.

Conference Operator, Moderator: Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes today’s call. Thank you all for joining. You may now disconnect.