Gulf Island Fabrication, Inc. (NASDAQ:GIFI) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Tom Spiro: Thank you. And as I recall, the party with whom we have the large fab job, it was paying us a reservation fee so that we would have facilities personnel available for them when they were ready to move forward. Now that they’re reconsidering and sort of thinking, are they again paying us a reservation fee? Or are we sort of waiting without compensation?

Wes Stockton: Yes. At this point, we were €“ we had moved from the reservation fee part of that contract into the full-blown fabrication contracts. So we’re operating under that contractual arrangement. And until €“ at this point, the suspension is early on, so we’re still evaluating that, and we’ll see what happens over the next month or so.

Tom Spiro: I see. I see. I am sorry. Go ahead.

Richard Heo: Just to be clear €“ yes, Tom, just to be clear, as Wes said, this is not a fixed-price lump sum contract. It is reimbursable. So we are, through this entire process, even today, covering our costs.

Tom Spiro: I see. That’s helpful. Thank you. And if another large job comes our way tomorrow morning, can we take it? Do we have the facilities, personnel, et cetera? Or would we have to defer that because we may have obligations to the prior customer?

Richard Heo: Yes. So that’s a great question. We would have to obviously have a conversation with the existing customer before we take it. But one thing that gives me a lot of confidence in these large jobs is that we were able to ramp up in preparation in the fourth quarter and part of the first quarter, and so I was happy with the €“ our ability to ramp up in the fab yard. So I feel very good about and confident about our ability to execute a large project. And if we were to get one, we would obviously look to take it but, obviously, have to have a conversation with the existing customer to make sure that we’re in line to do that properly.

Tom Spiro: Thanks. Just a couple more on the subject of LNG. As I read the newspaper, magazines and such, my impression is that LNG, a number of LNG projects are moving forward as we speak. And contracts have been awarded over the last several months that are being awarded now. I don’t see that you folks have actually won anything, even though there seems to be lots to be won. Should that concern me?

Richard Heo: No. It’s €“ so the LNG projects that you’re talking about that have been made FID, a lot of the projects are not €“ so essentially, there has to be a relevant scope, and it’s this modular fabrication or things that we can build in our yard. So it has to be appropriate in terms of the type of project and what the opportunity set is for the fabricated materials. So there has been a string of FID announced for LNG projects, and we are actively bidding on those projects that have recently been announced.

Tom Spiro: I see. And lastly, the turmoil in the banking sector in the last week or 10 days, I’m sure you read about it as I have. I was curious whether you expect that to impact your business in , in either some of the jobs that you’re bidding or some of the jobs that you have in hand? What impact, if any, do you think that will have on Gulf Island?

Richard Heo: I don’t think it will have any impact in terms of the jobs that we’re bidding.

Tom Spiro: Okay, thanks very much.

Richard Heo: All right, thanks, Tom.

Operator: Our next question comes from the line of Richard Greulich with REG Capital Advisors. Please proceed with your question.

Richard Greulich: Thank you. With regard to the MPSV litigation, if things were ultimately not to go your way, what would the liability or expense structure result in?