Tidewater Inc. (NYSE:TDW) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Sam Rubio: Hi, Don. The debt is, I guess, amortized on the balance sheet, but as far as free cash flow, their free cash flow, we report is unlevered. But yes, we do have some amortizations running through the debt for 2024.

Quintin Kneen: But in general, I don’t see a need to delever. It’s certainly not a priority. As I think about the capital allocation waterfall, I certainly would like to find value accretive acquisitions, and we’ll continue to look for solid opportunities. But right now, I’m real comfortable with the leverage of the business, especially where we’re at in the cycle. The only thing I would probably change on the debt capital side would be just terming out the debt a little bit longer. And my hope is that the capital markets in the US will be constructive during 2024 and we’ll be able to do some of that. But we do have, as Sam stated, some principal amortization, but that’s a requirement under the debt agreements and certainly not anything that we would elect to do.

Don Crist: Okay. And as far as size of M&A, are you — I guess you’re not really limited as to a certain dollar amount, but is there a size that you would target? Would you target five boats in the Americas or something like that, or would it be a much bigger deal than that?

Quintin Kneen: We generally prefer bigger deals, but if we can’t find bigger deals, doing smaller deals is certainly acceptable. Very often it’s the same amount of work to do 10 boats as it is to do 40 boats. And if you can get a comparable quality of fleet but a larger number of vessels, I would definitely do that, but facts and circumstances will dictate it. I’m not against it, but I have been focused on larger fleets over the past few years.

Don Crist: I appreciate all the color. I’ll turn it back. Thanks.

Operator: There are no further questions at this time. This concludes today’s call. You may now disconnect.