Bristow Group Reports Fiscal Fourth Quarter and Full Fiscal Year 2018 Results

HOUSTON, May 23, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Bristow Group Inc. (NYSE: BRS) today reported the following results for the fourth quarter and full fiscal year ended March 31, 2018. All amounts shown are dollar amounts in thousands unless otherwise noted:

"The New Bristow was successful in executing our fiscal 2018 STRIVE priorities, including agreements to recover $136 million in OEM costs, reducing rent expense by returning aircraft to lessors, deferring approximately $190 million of capital expenditures, and increasing financial flexibility by completing over $700 million in new low cost financings," said Jonathan Baliff, President and Chief Executive Officer of Bristow Group. "Our fourth quarter results reflect our global team's delivery of world-class safety performance during very challenging times and the benefit of increased short-cycle offshore activity which continued to drive higher than expected adjusted EBITDA across all regions for fiscal 2018."

BUSINESS AND FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS

• Net loss was $100.9 million ($2.84 per diluted share) for the March 2018 quarter compared to a net loss of $78.0 million ($2.22 per diluted share) for the March 2017 quarter.
• Adjusted net loss was $17.0 million ($0.48 per diluted share) for the March 2018 quarter compared to an adjusted net loss of $40.3 million ($1.15 per diluted share) for the March 2017 quarter; the March 2018 quarter is adjusted for $83.9 million in net unfavorable special items, including impairment of our investment in Líder in Brazil, and the March 2017 quarter is adjusted for $37.7 million in net unfavorable special items.   
• Fiscal year 2018 adjusted EBITDA of $105.4 million was up 48% over fiscal year 2017 adjusted EBITDA and in-line with increased adjusted EBITDA guidance provided in February 2018.
• Cash increase of $262 million in the March 2018 quarter to $380 million reflects the net benefit of the funding of our $350 million 8.75% five-year Senior Secured Notes, the termination of our Revolving Credit Facility and term loan repayments of $52.6 million.
• We expect fiscal year 2019 adjusted EBITDA to be in the range of $90 million to $140 million.

"I am honored to work with a team that delivered notable successes for our clients and investors in fiscal 2018, especially in the areas of safety on the field and liquidity on the balance sheet," said Jonathan Baliff. "Looking ahead, our fiscal 2019 priorities will focus on continued safety improvement, delivering world-class performance to our clients and proactively managing our cost structure across a more responsive, regionally-focused New Bristow, while we win more business in this short-cycle challenging market."

Operating revenue from external clients by line of service was as follows:

FOURTH QUARTER FY2018 RESULTS

The year-over-year increase in revenue was primarily driven by the increase in U.K. SAR services due to additional bases coming online and an increase from our fixed wing services in our Europe Caspian, Asia Pacific and Africa regions. These revenue increases were partially offset by a decrease in our oil and gas services driven by declines in our Asia Pacific and Africa regions, while revenue from oil and gas services in our Americas and Europe Caspian regions improved.

We reported a net loss of $100.9 million and diluted loss per share of $2.84 for the March 2018 quarter compared to a net loss of $78.0 million and diluted loss per share of $2.22 for the March 2017 quarter. The year-over-year change in net loss and diluted loss per share was primarily due to a loss on impairment in the March 2018 quarter and higher interest expense resulting from additional borrowings, partially offset by the increase in revenue discussed above and an income tax benefit.

The net loss for the March 2018 quarter was significantly impacted by the following special items:

• Loss on impairment totaling $90.2 million ($62.4 million net of tax including an additional $31.2 million in tax resulting from the repositioning of certain aircraft from one tax jurisdiction to another related to recent financing transactions), or $1.76 per share, including:
• Impairment of investment in unconsolidated affiliates of $85.7 million related to impairment of our investment in Líder in Brazil, and
• Impairment on inventories of $4.5 million;
• Organizational restructuring costs of $8.5 million ($6.0 million net of tax), or $0.17 per share, all of which is severance expense; $6.4 million of the restructuring costs are included in direct costs and $2.1 million are included in general and administrative expense;
• Early extinguishment of debt of $1.9 million ($1.3 million net of tax), or $0.04 per share, included in interest expense, which includes $1.8 million related to write-off of deferred financing fees and $0.1 million related to write-off of discount on debt; and
• Loss on disposal of assets of $5.2 million ($40.1 million net of tax), or $1.13 per share; partially offset by
• A non-cash benefit from tax items of $25.8 million, or $0.73 per share, that includes a one-time non-cash tax effect from the true-up of the one-time transition tax on the repatriation of foreign earnings under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the "Act") of $31.2 million and net reversal of valuation allowances on deferred tax assets of $17.3 million, partially offset by a $22.7 million expense related to the true-up of the revaluation of net deferred tax liabilities to a lower tax rate resulting from the Act.

Excluding these items, adjusted net loss and adjusted diluted loss per share improved to $17.0 million and $0.48, respectively, for the March 2018 quarter compared to $40.3 million and $1.15, respectively, for the March 2017 quarter. Adjusted EBITDA also improved year-over-year to $22.9 million in the March 2018 quarter from $3.7 million in the March 2017 quarter primarily due an increase in operating revenue in our Europe Caspian region, primarily due to additional bases coming online for U.K. SAR, and increased activity and in our Americas region, primarily due to increased activity in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.

LIQUIDITY AND FINANCIAL FLEXIBILITY

Our cash balance of $380 million as of March 31, 2018 reflects the net benefit from closing and funding the $350 million 8.75% five-year Senior Secured Notes and the repayment of our April 2019 bank maturities.

Don Miller, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, commented, "Fiscal year 2018 was a very successful year for Bristow as we materially improved our liquidity runway by repaying our 2019 bank maturities with the closing and funding of over $700 million in new low cost capital eliminating near term refinancing risk. The success of these financings will allow us to continue to focus on increasing revenue, reducing costs, and improving returns on our assets."

REGIONAL PERFORMANCE

The increase in operating revenue for the March 2018 quarter and fiscal year 2018 primarily resulted from an increase in activity and short-term contracts in Norway, the start-up of U.K. SAR bases and an increase in fixed wing revenue. Partially offsetting these increases was a decrease in U.K. oil and gas revenue resulting from the continued impact of the industry downturn on exploration activity. Eastern Airways contributed $30.7 million and $24.5 million in operating revenue for the March 2018 and 2017 quarters, respectively, and $118.5 million and $110.4 million in operating revenue for fiscal years 2018 and 2017, respectively.

During the March 2018 quarter and fiscal year 2018, our results for the Europe Caspian region were impacted by a reduction in rent expense of $2.8 million and $9.9 million, respectively, related to OEM cost recoveries that increased operating income and adjusted EBITDA.

During the March 2018 quarter and fiscal year 2018, we recorded an inventory impairment charge of $4.5 million for our fixed wing operations at Eastern Airways as a result of changes in expected future utilization of aircraft within those operations. During fiscal year 2017, we recorded an impairment charge of $8.7 million of goodwill related to Eastern Airways. Both the inventory and goodwill impairment charges were included in operating income, but were adjusted for in our calculation of adjusted EBITDA.

A substantial portion of our revenue in the Europe Caspian region is contracted in British pound sterling, which depreciated significantly against the U.S. dollar in fiscal year 2017 due to Brexit with a modest recovery in fiscal year 2018. As a result of the changes in the British pound sterling, adjusted EBITDA was favorably impacted by foreign currency exchange rate changes of $4.3 million and $9.2 million, respectively, during the March 2018 quarter and fiscal year 2018 compared to an unfavorable impact of $6.3 million and $35.6 million, respectively, during the March 2017 quarter and fiscal year 2017.

Operating income, operating margin, adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA margin increased in the March 2018 quarter and fiscal year 2018 primarily due to the increase in operating revenue, the reduction in rent expense related to the OEM cost recoveries and favorable impacts from changes in foreign currency exchange rates. These benefits were partially offset by increased salaries and benefits and maintenance expense year-over-year due to the increase in activity. Eastern Airways generated a negative $3.3 million and negative $4.3 million in adjusted EBITDA for the March 2018 and 2017 quarters, respectively, and a negative $6.9 million and negative $4.5 million in adjusted EBITDA for fiscal years 2018 and 2017, respectively.