Baker Hughes Company (NASDAQ:BKR) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Scott Gruber: Yes, it does. And then just thinking about a couple unique items that impact EBITDA for the year. I think you mentioned that the restructuring benefit is really going to kind of build over the course of the year and hit more in late. So some additional color there and just how to think about how much of the $150 million cost out actually impact EBITDA this year? And then also, we’ve seen a big swing in the euro here and the dollar starting to weaken across a number of other currencies. Just thoughts on the FX that’s built into the guidance. I know the euro weakness in the second half last year was impactful, but just how did you guys think about that in terms of putting together the guidance for this year?

Nancy Buese: So on the cost out, we really put that program together last September and have identified a number of ways to remove cost from the organization and create a more efficient operating structure overall. I put the cost out efforts really in two categories. The first is cost reduction from structural changes in our organization identified around simplifying and streamline operations from four product companies to two business segments and the leaner HQ. That’s about two thirds to three quarters of the $150 million in cost out we’re targeting. These also include headcount reductions from removing layers and really thinking about implementing a strategically managed business structure where we can push some activities down into the business from HQ and then do it on a more cost efficient basis.

The second bucket is really cost optimization or cost controls. So things — headcount reductions to optimize our support and then also areas to optimize our cost in technology, third party services, external expenses, those sorts of things. And we should, in terms of timing, have all the process completed by the end of Q2 and all actions taken by the end of Q4 of this year. And then we should hit the annualized run rate sometime in the fourth quarter. So our plan today considers pretty conservative guides in terms of FX. And then the other piece on that is if the euro appreciates versus the USD, there could also be some upside to our revenue outlook for IET.

Lorenzo Simonelli: And Scott, just to give some more color. I think on the cost out, we’ve been operationalizing a lot of the actions since we made the announcement in September. We’ve got a dedicated team that’s set up to go and execute this. And you’ve seen some of the changes we’ve made within Baker Hughes. And I feel very good about the annualized run rate of the $150 million coming through and we’ll see a lot of the actions in the first half of this year, which then will yield in the second half.

Operator: Our next question comes from Chase Mulvehill with Bank of America.

Chase Mulvehill: I guess, first question, if we can come back to kind of the order outlook for ’23 for the IET segment, it looks like you kind of bumped up your order outlook by about 5%. The new guidance is about $10.5 billion to $11.5 billion. And you bumped up the orders despite having a really strong fourth quarter order. So I would have thought you maybe pulled some orders into ’22, but just given that you raised your order outlook probably means that you didn’t really — you don’t think you kind of pulled any orders forward. So when we think about ’23 and the bump like what was really driving the bump to orders in ’23? And kind of when we think about that, obviously, LNG is a big driver, but kind of walk through some of the drivers as well.

Nancy Buese: And really, as within a year, there’s a lot of moving pieces when we think about the orders, particularly with some of the large projects that are still out there. ’22, as you noted, was an exceptionally strong year for orders for IET at $12.7 billion and then a record 4Q at $4.2 billion. And so, broadly speaking, as we think about ’23 Gastech equipment orders should be down versus 2022 primarily driven by onshore/offshore orders. And as you asked about the drivers, ’22 was just a huge year for onshore/offshore and then LNG orders are likely to be down modestly. The biggest driver, though, will be the onshore/offshore. We do think Gastech services orders will be up modestly in ’23 versus ’22 with growth somewhat in line with ’22.

And then industrial tech orders will probably grow at a modestly slower pace than in 2022, and those were up about 6% in ’22. So as you mentioned, overall, we now do expect IET orders to be in the $10.5 billion to $11.5 billion range for the year.

Lorenzo Simonelli: And I think Chase as we go through it, again, activity right now is pretty strong out there internationally. And again, we think that $10.5 billion to $11.5 billion increase reflects the activity we’re seeing.

Chase Mulvehill: Lorenzo, maybe a quick follow-up here with new energy opportunities. Obviously, a lot of color on the conference call and in the press release around CCUS and hydrogen and clean power as well. So we obviously got some legislation that’s helping accelerate some of these markets. So talk about the outlook that you have and the opportunity for Baker alongside some of these markets for ’23 and beyond.