Brad Handler (Wachovia Capital Markets): Is the 10% to 12% margin guidance the margin target with respect to bids that are outstanding?
Bruce Wilkinson: That is correct.
Brad Handler (Wachovia Capital Markets): You mentioned utilization of the vessels in the quarter was under the standard days. Would you expand?
Bruce Wilkinson: The company was about 72% of standard in the quarter in the marine business and that was primarily the DB101 that was moved from the Gulf of Mexico in Asia in the last curtail of a major upgrade and dry dock, the 26 was in dry dock for considerable time. McDermott just had a period where it had several vessels not in the game.
Brad Handler (Wachovia Capital Markets): What might you expect utilization of the vessels to be in the second quarter?
Bruce Wilkinson: The company would expect once it gets them back out there, it will be above standard again. That is the way where it ran in 2006 and entered this year and yet there is a practical matter if the company had 30 vessels and two or three were down it would not be noticed much but these were major vessels that have major value added and so two over seven is seen, and then like wise when its seven over seven working, it is also reflected in the bottom line.
Brad Handler (Wachovia Capital Markets): When are those two expected to be back?
Bruce Wilkinson: The DB101 is expected to come out of dry dock in mid July and the 26 is already gone back to work or if not will shortly. the 101 is expected to work course in Asia and the Mid East and it has got a considerable amount of money invested in it and a considerable amount of time out of the game having transit it all always from dearer cruise to dry dock in Singapore and then ultimately will be going to be Mid East as well.
Brad Handler (Wachovia Capital Markets): There are $120 million in revenues booked associated with termination agreement on units 4 through 8 in the second quarter. Is that correct?
Michael Taff: That is correct.
Brad Handler (Wachovia Capital Markets): How much might be recognized for units 1 through 3 in the second quarter in terms of revenues?
Michael Taff: In the first quarter the company recognized about a $100 million in revenues related to the TXU agreement and half of that was related to units 1 through 3 and half related to 4 through 8. The company expects similar trend in the second quarter as well.
Marty Malloy (Southcoast Capital): How significant might the prospects for the Government Operations in the UK and the USA be relative to Los Alamos contract?
Bruce Wilkinson: One in the UK would be that one is buying a minority or third interest in a consortium, but it has to be in the 80 million a year of fee potential. Another one referred to solar field where McDermott partnered with Becktel. That quantum was about 90 million. The fees split among the various partners but, that was either of those would certainly be in the category of a Y-12 or Los Alamos so as McDermott’s major project. Lawrence Livermore is smaller than that may be half that size. McDermott’s percentage would be a percentage of call it 45 to 50 million a year in annual ongoing fee opportunity.
Marty Malloy (Southcoast Capital): You made comments on putting fabricated modules in Morgan City. Could you talk about the bidding there and the timing of opportunities?
Bruce Wilkinson: There are two or three sub-markets which the company has began pursuing, when its offshore market went away from it at Morgan City. This is going to be an ongoing strategy for Morgan City similar to what one of its competitors has been doing. The company started chasing modules for the power plant business in the upper Ohio Valley because it fabricates in Morgan City, ships up barges up the river and avoids high cost boiler maker. That business is started with McDermott tracing its own sister company B&W but it has gone beyond that and has projects with Washington Group and other competitors of B&W in that same market. The other the company has done a number of just plano barges are for the casino operators rebuilding structures after the hurricanes and also for new casinos upriver including Hayat’s. the larger alternative market that the company is pursuing taking the same approach it isdoing on LNG down in Southeast Asia are tipping to modularize certain amount of the fabrication that will go into refinery upgrades and expansions that are occurring all over the Gulf Coast and up and down river system. The company has bids outstanding in that market both from Morgan City and from Altamira. In other words, it would consider some projects during some or all of them for the US market in Mexico or some jointly done at Morgan City and in Mexico. In all cases McDermott’s strategy is to have that be an ongoing sustaining series of sub-markets and reserve its major fire power for the offshore market which is beginning to show life again in the Gulf of Mexico. The company does not want to put itself back in a situation where for all the good that came out of doing the bid work for DB the real fact is the company left the market at the other customers for about a 4 year period. McDermott likes other kind of work but does not like it so much that it is going to overload the facility again for its sales out of the being competitive in the bread and butter business.
Roger Read (Natexis Bleichroeder): Is fabrication a more profitable business just typically not well managed across the industry or as the vessels come back the opportunity for you to be at the higher end of that 10 to 12 range becomes a more likely event in the second half of 2007 and 2008?
Bruce Wilkinson: The company is an integrated epic contractor and it has human assets and physical assets and they leverage each other. Each of its businesses could be analyzed separately. Often in the Gulf of Mexico the DB50 is doing pipelay or heavy lift projects where the company did no fabrication. Virtually throughout the rest of the world in the Mid-East and in Asia, they two tend to go together and so there are different phases of projects. McDermott views fabrication and vessels all as a mutually supportive strategy.
Roger Read (Natexis Bleichroeder): Bids outstanding on B&W are $2.7 million. Is that correct?
Bruce Wilkinson: That number goes up and down and will be different next week or the week after. It is a different number because the company bid some new stuff and may lose something and it goes away or may win some thing and either event it comes out of bids outstanding win or lose. The company will focus on projects which should be larger universe things. |