Pason Systems Stock

Welcome. The content of today's call are protected by copyright and may not be reproduced without the prior written consent of Pason Systems, Inc. Please note that the advisory is located at the end of the press release issued by Pason Systems yesterday, which describes forward-looking information.

Certain information about the company that is discussed on today's call may constitute forward-looking information. Additional information about Pason Systems, including the risk factors relevant to the company, can be found on its annual information form.

Thank you. And good morning. My name is Kelsey, and I will be your conference operator for today's call. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Pason Systems, Inc. Third Quarter 2026 Earnings Call.

[Operator Instructions] Ms. Celine Boston, CFO, you may begin your conference.

Thank you, Kelsey. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for attending Pason's 2026 Third Quarter Conference Call. I'm joined on today's call by Jon Faber, our President and CEO. I'll start with an overview of our financial performance in the third quarter. Jon will then provide his perspective on industry conditions, our strategic priorities and our outlook before we open the call for questions.

Our third quarter results reflect continued improvement in North American drilling activity, record revenue per industry day and increased control system deliveries in our Solar and Energy Storage segment. These gains were partially offset by scheduled gaps in our completions customers' activity. Pason generated consolidated revenue of $119.1 million, an 18% increase from $101 million in the third quarter of 2025. Adjusted EBITDA increased 17% to $45.1 million or 37.9% of revenue compared to $38.5 million or 38.1% of revenue a year ago.

The strength of our North American Drilling business again demonstrated the operating leverage inherent in that segment. At the consolidated level, the significant increase in lower-margin Solar and Energy Storage revenue affected our revenue mix and largely explains why adjusted EBITDA margins were slightly lower year-over-year.

I'll start by discussing results by segment. Our North American Drilling segment delivered another strong quarter with revenue growth exceeding the improvement in underlying industry activity. North American drilling activity increased 11% from the third quarter of 2025. Against that backdrop, we generated a new quarterly record revenue per industry day of $1,125, up 5% from $1,071 a year ago.

Improved product adoption and a greater proportion of Canadian activity, which carries higher average revenue per day than the United States, both contributed to this result. Segment revenue increased 16% to $80 million from $68.8 million in the prior year quarter, which is the highest level of quarterly revenue seen since the first quarter of 2015 when drilling activity was more than double the level seen in the current -- while operating expenses remain mostly fixed in nature, they increased to $23.4 million this quarter. This reflected more supplies consumed with higher drilling activity, along with additional repairs in anticipation of continued activity increase.

Our International Drilling segment generated revenue of $12.8 million, up 3% from $12.5 million in the third quarter of 2025. Growth across nearly all of our operating regions was partially offset by a particularly strong comparative quarter in Brazil last year. On a year-to-date basis, revenue remained below the prior year level, primarily reflecting lower activity in Argentina as a large customer transitions from conventional towards unconventional development. We have maintained a cost discipline through that transition with year-to-date operating expenses down 11%.

Our Completions segment generated revenue of $13.8 million, a 6% decrease from $14.6 million in the third quarter of 2025. Several scheduled gaps in existing customers' activity resulted in an average of 25 active jobs compared to 30 a year ago and 31 in the second quarter of this year. Partially offsetting the lower job count, revenue per IWS day increased 11% year-over-year to $6,010 from $5,393. This reflects an increasing proportion of more complex Completions operations and the associated mix of technology deployed. The segment's operating expenses are largely fixed in nature, like our Drilling segment, and increased slightly by 4% year-over-year.

Our Solar and Energy Storage segment generated revenue of $12.4 million compared to $5.1 million in the third quarter of 2025. The 145% increase reflects a higher number of control system deliveries during the quarter. Operating expenses of $12.1 million includes the cost of goods sold associated with those deliveries. As we've discussed previously, quarterly revenue in this business can fluctuate meaningfully with the timing of control system project deliveries. The lower margin nature of this revenue also affects our consolidated margin mix.

On a consolidated level, net income attributable to Pason increased 51% to $18.9 million or $0.24 per share compared to $12.5 million or $0.18 per share in the third quarter of 2025. The increase reflects higher adjusted EBITDA generated year-over-year. Similarly, cash from operating activities increased 14% to $33.7 million from $29.4 million. Higher earnings were partially offset by working capital investment, including higher accounts receivable and inventory as North American Drilling activity and revenue increased.

Net capital expenditures were $14.8 million compared to $10.7 million a year ago. These investments supported the growth and scalability of our pressure control automation technology, increasingly complex completions operations and the ongoing refresh of our Drilling technology platform. After these investments, free cash flow was $18.8 million, relatively consistent with the $18.7 million in the third quarter of 2025.

Our balance sheet remains very strong. We ended September with $76.8 million of total cash, $115 million of working capital and no interest-bearing debt. During the quarter, we returned $11.6 million to shareholders, consisting of $10.1 million in dividends and $1.5 million in share repurchases. In summary, the third quarter demonstrated strong performance in North American Drilling, a new record revenue per industry day, and we are well positioned nearing the end of the year.

I will now turn the call over to Jon for his comments on our outlook.

Thank you, Celine. We anticipate that Drilling and Completions activity will continue to increase through the remainder of 2026 and into 2027, supported by reductions in global oil supplies and drawdowns in crude and product inventories. Geopolitical uncertainty is likely to lead to ongoing commodity price volatility. However, supply and demand fundamentals support an upward activity trend over time. Within that context, Pason's growth objectives remain unchanged.

Our medium-term objective remains to double revenue from 2023 levels over a 5- to 7-year horizon. We continue to pursue that objective through 5 areas of growth: first, scaling our Completions business; second, increasing adoption and price realization from our established North American drilling products and services; third, bringing compelling new technologies to the drilling market, including Mud Analysis; fourth, deploying additional products internationally as a growing share of activity shifts towards unconventional drilling and completions; and fifth, pursuing additional data management opportunities in adjacent oil and gas well construction activities.

Our underlying progress in each of these growth opportunities is often not directly correlated to our quarterly revenue as near-term results reflect the timing of activity among individual customers, while longer-term performance depends on building and reinforcing strong fundamentals for growth and profitability. In Completions, the recovery in activity has lagged drilling and several of our customers had meaningful gaps in their schedules during the third quarter.

For several quarters, new customer additions largely served to offset slowdowns among existing customers. As a result, the benefits of expanding our customer base have not been readily apparent in reported revenue. We began to see the benefits of increasing activity across that larger customer base later in the third quarter and into the fourth, with our active IWS job count exceeding 30 in October compared to an average of 25 jobs in the third quarter. Importantly, a higher proportion of our jobs now involve more complex completions operations, generating greater revenue per IWS day.

We expect the continued move toward more advanced completion designs and techniques to support additional growth in interest and demand for our offering. We are applying decades of experience from our Drilling business in product design, deployment, field service and ongoing customer support to our completions efforts, and we expect to generate greater profitability as revenue grows over time as a result.

In North American Drilling, our leading competitive position and increasing activity supported record revenue per industry day and strong revenue performance. At the same time, increasing well complexity and the adoption of data-driven automation and analytics continue to support the value of our technology. These applications depend on reliable, high-quality operational data, an area where Pason has built a distinctive competitive position over more than 4 decades.

Customers' desire to use a greater amount of data in their operations provides opportunities for further product and service development. Within the North American segment, revenue from Mud Analysis continues to grow, and our product development efforts in this area are focused on providing solutions across a wider range of drilling applications. Internationally, the shift toward unconventional drilling and completions remains an opportunity to deploy more of our products, including both Mud Analysis and Completions products.

At Energy Toolbase, a significant increase in control system deliveries drove revenue to more than double the level of a year ago. We expect continued strength in that business while recognizing that quarterly revenue will remain dependent on the timing of project deliveries. Consolidated adjusted EBITDA margins of approximately 38% this quarter reflect the effect of a much larger contribution from lower-margin Solar and Energy Storage revenue.

Across all of our segments, our focus remains on improving profitability as revenue grows. Our approach to capital allocation is unchanged. We balance the discipline and predictability of our regular quarterly dividend, which remains at $0.13 per share, with the flexibility to pursue organic investments and share repurchases, and we evaluate both through the lens of expected returns on capital. Any acquisition opportunities must compete against the expected returns from investing in our own business or repurchasing our shares. We continue to see the highest expected returns from organic investments.

With the gaps in Completions customer activity during the third quarter, we now expect 2026 capital expenditures to be near the lower end of our previously announced $60 million to $70 million range. With some capital spending pushed from 2026 to 2027, we anticipate '27 capital expenditures to be between $65 million and $75 million, supporting both growth in activity and a more rapid transition to next-generation technologies, which are better suited to increasingly complex completions operations.

We are well positioned to respond as activity increases. Our leading market share and high operating leverage are particularly valuable in an improving activity environment. Our focus remains on the areas that are within our control, extending our service and technology advantages, investing in growth, maintaining a strong balance sheet and returning capital to shareholders in a disciplined manner.

And with that, we would be happy to take your questions.

[Operator Instructions] And your first question comes from Keith MacKey from RBC Capital Markets.

First question here, just around capital allocation. Certainly, a pretty good free cash flow conversion this quarter. Looks like a cash on the balance sheet has increased sequentially and up a little bit from the beginning of the year, did a little bit of buybacks in Q3. Just curious how we should be thinking about buybacks going forward? Could you get a little bit more aggressive given the volatility in the marketplace and perhaps keeping cash flat where it is now? Just curious on the thinking around buybacks as we go forward here.

Thanks, Keith. Appreciate the question. As we would have said, and I think we've said for quite a while, we always look at the expected returns on capital from organic investments as opposed to share repurchases. And one of the reasons we moved a few years ago from a little less priority on the dividend more to the share repurchase side was to enable flexibility to adjust the organic investment capital program up or down.

And so as we've mentioned, we expect probably a little bit more on the capital expenditure side in 2027 than in '26, a result of both a little bit of activity delays on the completion side, but also when we look to '27, a move to more next-generation equipment and more activity will drive a little more on the capital expenditure side. But to the extent that activity does grow and we grow free cash flow faster than that small increase on the capital expenditure side, that would free up additional capital for us to look at capital allocation. And again, we prioritize repurchases over the dividend in the current environment.

And maybe, Keith, just to add to that a little bit. In terms of your comment on the cash balance, it would be fair to say that we're not looking to grow the cash balance from these levels. The cash balance grew a little bit from quarter-to-quarter, but it is kind of within that range that we would consider to be acceptable going forward and not continue to grow from here.

Okay. Okay. I appreciate the commentary. Maybe just one on Solar. Certainly, revenue can be lumpy and increased quarter-over-quarter. Some are talking about potentially renewable projects becoming more valuable given the "blue wave" we saw in the U.S. midterm elections. Can you just kind of maybe run us through your thoughts on this business, Jon? Are you seeing any of that tailwind? Or do you expect to see any of that tailwind as well? Any commentary there would be appreciated.

Well, we haven't seen a lot of tailwinds in the first 36 hours. But I think to your point, when you look at the situation where you have Democrats now in control of the House and the Senate, I think there is a little bit of enthusiasm around whether that will be more support of the renewables industry, tax incentives to support growth of that industry in advancement of that industry. I think there is some hope that we'll see a little bit more certainty and stability on the global trade policy side, which would be helpful for the Solar business. I think that business has been a little bit more exposed to some of the tariff strike than maybe we've been exposed on the Drilling and Completion side.

So I mean, to the extent that those things translate from expectations to policy over time, I do think it's likely to encourage more project development and more project development would be good for our Solar business, both in terms of the economic modeling of projects, but also then the deployment of energy storage assets and the deployment of all systems to optimize those assets.

And your next question comes from Aaron MacNeil from TD Cowen.

I wanted to inquire about your two new directors. From the Birch Hill perspective, if they've built a 19% position and now have taken 2 Board seats. What do you think they ultimately hope to get from their investment? Is it just simply to participate in the value creation from the existing strategy? Or are there particular areas where they believe that they can help accelerate the corporate value creation?

Yes. I appreciate the question, Aaron, and not surprised to have it this morning. Obviously, the addition of new directors from a large shareholder would stimulate that kind of a question. Look, I think, first of all, what I would say is we're delighted to have them as partners and shareholders. They are in the business of doing an awful lot of research to find opportunities where they think they can generate outsized returns over time.

And the fact that they've identified Pason as an opportunity in that subset is obviously something we're quite proud and happy about. I think if you look at their history, they have a number of different ways that they look to create value. And sometimes it is through continuing to hold companies where they believe that they're undervalued in the market and just let the business continue to perform over time and to accrue returns on that basis. So we're delighted to have them.

I think what I would point out is -- as it relates to what should we expect for changes and those sorts of things, it would be fair to say that their desire to join the Board was somewhere between interest and an ask, and it certainly wasn't a demand. We've known Birch Hill for quite a long time. We've shared perspectives with them for quite a long time around how the business was built, what our strategy is for building value over time, how we think about capital allocation. And there's always been tremendous alignment and support of the management team as it relates to all these various topics that we've discussed.

And as it relates to the timing question, just to sort of speak to that as well, their desire is really to get closer to understanding some of the opportunities on the Drilling and Completion side in a little more detail, and our AGM isn't for another 6 months. And so their desire is to get closer to it sooner to be able to better understand.

So Birch Hill, they're great investors. But I think the other thing I would point out, Aaron, is they're great human beings. And any time you put together a bunch of people in a room where you have 3 core ingredients around intelligence, curiosity and humility, you create an environment where people say, look, all of us are smarter than any of us, and we can move this thing forward. And I've seen that at Pason over the last 12 years, and I've seen it in every encounter I've had with the folks at Birch Hill, and we are really excited to work with them.

Okay. Fair enough. Maybe switching gears to IWS. You highlighted next-generation technologies better suited for more complex completions operations. I guess, can you better or in more detail, describe the sort of customer problem that these technologies address and how differentiated the -- this new opportunity is and whether -- and how different it would be versus what your current offering is?

I guess on a simple level, Aaron, I would say, as you introduce more valves that need to be sort of sequenced in terms of their ability for when they should be open and close, which ones reading for pressure to modulate all these sorts of things, you need a little bit more sophisticated equipment. And so some of the earlier generation things that we would have built would have been around simpler jobs with less valves kind of in motion, if you will.

And as you move to things like Simul-Frac, Quad-Frac, continuous pumping, et cetera, that drives the demand for more of these next-generation valves, which is just more capable on the more complex types of operations. And because the market is moving in that direction and our activity -- participation is moving in that direction, we see the need to move a little more quickly in the transition to that type of equipment.

[Operator Instructions] At this time, there are no further questions. I would like to turn it back to the management team for closing remarks.

Thank you very much, Kelsey. We really appreciate your continued interest and your joining Pason for this morning's call on a Friday morning. If you do have further questions, Celine and I are certainly open to your calls, and we would encourage you to reach out. And otherwise, we will look forward to speaking to you again in February after the release of our fourth quarter and annual results.

Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude our conference call for today. We thank you very much for your participation, and you may now disconnect. Have a great day, everyone.

The contents of today's call are protected by copyright and may not be reproduced without the prior written consent of Pason Systems Inc. Please note, the advisory is located at the end of the press release issued by Pason systems yesterday, which describe forward-looking information. Certain information about the company that is discussed on today's call may constitute forward-looking information. Additional information about Pason Systems, including the risk factors relevant to the company can be found in its annual information form. Thank you.

Good morning. My name is Ina, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Pason Systems Inc.'s Second Quarter 2026 Earnings Call. [Operator Instructions]

Celine Boston, CFO. You may begin your conference.

Thank you, Ina. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for attending Pason's 2026 Second Quarter Conference Call. I'm joined on today's call by Jon Faber, our President and CEO. I'll start today's call with an overview of our financial performance in the second quarter. Jon will then provide his perspectives on industry conditions, our strategic priorities and our outlook before we open the call for questions.

I'm pleased to report on Pason's second quarter 2026 results, which reflect improving levels of drilling and completions industry activity, continued execution on our completion efforts and the strength in meaningful operating leverage of our North American drilling segment. Pason generated consolidated revenue of $100.8 million in the second quarter of 2026, a 5% increase from the $96.4 million generated in the second quarter of 2025. Adjusted EBITDA was $35.7 million or 35.4% of revenue, exceeding $31.6 million or 32.7% of revenue in the prior year period.

I'll begin by discussing results by segment. Our North American Drilling segment delivered another strong quarter, outperforming industry conditions. As a reminder for listeners in the second quarter of 2025, North American activity levels began falling with geopolitical and macroeconomic uncertainty introducing headwinds of global commodity prices. Conversely, in the second quarter of 2026, while geopolitical uncertainty remains prevalent, we saw increasing levels of drilling activity through the quarter.

On an average basis, industry drilling activity was relatively flat year-over-year. Against this backdrop, Pason generated a record quarterly revenue per industry day of $1,078, a 5% increase from $1,026 in the second quarter of 2025.

Revenue for the segment increased 7% to $67.1 million from $62.5 million in the prior year period. Improved product adoption and a greater proportion of Canadian activity, which carries higher average revenue per day than the U.S., both contributed to the increase. Operating expenses in the segment remained largely fixed in nature and declined 3% year-over-year. As a result, segment gross profit increased 14% to $38.6 million compared to $34 million in the second quarter of 2025, highlighting the operating leverage inherent segments.

Our international drilling segment continued to navigate a mixed operating environment across the regions that we serve. Revenue in the second quarter was $13.1 million compared to $13.6 million in the second quarter of 2025. Activity remains below prior year levels, particularly in Argentina, where a large customer shift from conventional to unconventional development has reduced active rig count stream and transition period.

Operating expenses declined 9% year-over-year to $6 million as we remain disciplined in managing costs in this environment. Gross profit for the segment was $6 million compared to $6.4 million in the prior year quarter. Our Completions segment continued to outperform underlying frac activity levels with the number of active frac spreads in the U.S. declining 4% and revenue growing 3% from $15.3 million to $15.9 million in the current period.

The business averaged 31 active jobs during the quarter compared to 33 a year ago, and while active jobs were slightly lower, revenue per IWS increased 11% year-over-year to $5,625, reflecting our continued strategic focus away from lower value ancillary only jobs. Sequentially active jobs have increased from 28 in the first quarter of this year to 31 active jobs this quarter. As expected for our business in its current stage of growth, we continue to invest in our service infrastructure and technology deployment.

Operating expenses increased slightly to $8.8 million, while depreciation and amortization increased $7 million, reflecting continued investments in the hardware platform and approximately $2.2 million of amortization expense related to intangible assets acquired through the IWS transaction.

I'll remind listeners that this acquisition-related intangible amortization expense is not indicative of ongoing capital requirements for the segment. Gross profit for the segment reflects these investments.

Our solar and energy storage segment generated revenue of $4.8 million in the second quarter of 2026, relatively consistent with the level generated in the comparative prior year period. As we've discussed previously, quarterly revenue in this segment is largely driven by the timing of control system deliveries and can fluctuate meaningfully in the quarter.

Turning back to consolidated results. Across all segments, we remain disciplined on our approach to costs and our incremental adjusted EBITDA margins of 95% in the second quarter highlight the mostly fixed cost nature of our business and the resulting operating leverage, particularly from our North American Drilling segment. Net income attributable to Pason was $14.1 million or $0.18 a share compared to $12.6 million or $0.16 a share in the second quarter of 2025. The increase reflects higher adjusted EBITDA, partially offset by higher depreciation and amortization associated with our ongoing capital investments.

Funds flow from operations totaled $33.5 million in the second quarter, a 27% increase from the level generated in the second quarter of 2025 and reflective of improved results in the North American drilling segment year-over-year. While our cash collection trends remained strong, increasing levels of revenue through the quarter resulted in higher levels of accounts receivable at the end of the quarter, and we absorbed this increase within cash from operating activities of $20.5 million in the quarter.

In contrast, cash from operating activities of $20.2 million in the second quarter of 2025 benefited from a declining accounts receivable balance. Net capital expenditures were $17.1 million in the quarter and included investments supporting the continued expansion of our pressure control automation technology within completions as well as ongoing investments in our drilling technology platform.

Free cash flow in the quarter was $3.5 million and includes these capital expenditures as well as the increased accounts receivable balance. Our balance sheet remains exceptionally strong. We ended the quarter with $68.3 million of total cash, $107 million of working capital and no interest-bearing debt.

We returned $11.5 million to shareholders during the quarter through our regular dividend and share repurchases consisting of $10.1 million in dividends and $1.4 million of share buybacks.

In summary, the second quarter demonstrated the strength and operating leverage of our North American drilling segment, record revenue per industry day and improving momentum across our completion segment.

I will now turn the call over to Jon for his comments on our outlook.

Thank you, Celine. As Celine noted, our second quarter results demonstrate the continued strength of Pason's competitive position and the operating leverage embedded in our business.

Through the quarter, we saw North American industry activity increase. While the quarterly average U.S. land rig count was largely unchanged from the second quarter of 2025, this year, the industry exited at higher levels of activity on an increasing trajectory, whereas in 2025, the industry has decreased through the second quarter in the midst of global trade uncertainty.

Our medium-term goal has not changed. We are targeting a doubling of revenue from 2023 levels from our oil and gas well construction activities over a 5 to 7-year horizon. As we have said before, we believe that Pason can grow revenue and earnings in a meaningful way without meeting a step-up in North American land drilling activity. That said, clearly, increasing activity is a strong tailwind for our business. We expect to generate growth over and above industry activity in 5 areas: first, scaling our completions business. Second, increasing adoption and improving price realization of our established drilling products and services. Third, bringing compelling new technologies to the drilling and completions markets with the Mud Analyzer being the most current example. Fourth, expanding our international revenue, particularly as more work shifts towards unconventional drilling and completions and fifth, addressing data management opportunities in adjacent well construction activities.

Across our business, customers continue to place increasing emphasis on automation, analytics, artificial intelligence and centralized real-time operating centers. These trends increase the strategic value of consistent, accurate and reliable operational data, an area where Pason has developed a unique competitive position for more than 4 decades.

Our business has long been recognized for strong margins and return on capital, and it can be easy to overlook the continued strength of our core drilling-related business while we scale earlier-stage businesses. Lower margin and return profiles at their earlier stage of development in completions and solar and energy storage can obscure the strong margins from our drilling business.

As an illustration of this point, our North American Drilling segment gross profit increased by $4.6 million from the second quarter of 2025 on a $4.6 million increase in revenue in the same period. The reality of a rental business model at an earlier stage of development is that capital intensity appears higher as we make capital expenditures in the short term that are expended -- are expected to generate rental revenue and corresponding earnings over a period of several years.

Over time, as rental revenue streams continue from prior capital investments, free cash flow conversion is expected to migrate higher as aggregate capital intensity decreases. As we generate additional free cash flow, we look to allocate capital responsibly between shareholder returns and growth-oriented investments. We balanced the discipline and predictability of our regular quarterly dividend, which we are holding at $0.13 per share with the flexibility to invest organically and to repurchase shares, both of which we evaluate through the lens of expected returns on capital.

Any M&A opportunities that surface have to compete against the expected returns from reinvesting in our own business or buying back our own shares. Today, the highest expected returns we continue to see come from organic investment in our business. We continue to expect capital expenditures for 2026 to be between $60 million and $70 million. Focusing on generating valuable products and services for customers in areas where we have a unique and distinctive advantage and being disciplined in our costs allows us to outpace underlying North American land drilling activity.

Continued outperformance over time leads to strong financial performance through the benefits of compounding over time. We are well positioned to respond as activity continues to increase. The benefits of our leading market share and high operating leverage are the most pronounced when activity is rising. Recent trends in North American drilling and completions activity have been constructive. And we expect the longer-term direction of customer spending and demand for efficiency enhancing technologies to support greater adoption of Pason technologies going forward.

Pason is exceptionally well positioned to benefit from those trends, particularly with our leadership in real-time operational data, the growing relevance of automation across both drilling and completions workflows and the operating leverage of our business. We continue to build our business with a focus on ensuring we have the foundation for continued growth and compounding over the medium and longer term.

Our focus is on delivering exceptional performance in the areas within our control, extending our service and technology advantages, investing in growth opportunities that are not directly available to shareholders, keeping a strong balance sheet and returning capital to shareholders in a disciplined way.

And with that, we would be happy to take your questions.

[Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from the line of Aaron MacNeil from TD Cowen.

You guys highlighted that the North American Drilling segment generated $4.6 million of additional revenue and essentially dropped down to the gross margin line. So I'm just hoping you can speak a bit more about the operating leverage embedded in the business. And if you see this quarter is representative of what we should expect in the near term? Or maybe if that was exceptional in your view, if you have sort of a rule of thumb that you think would be helpful for forecasting purposes.

Thanks for the question. So in previous cycles, we would have spoken about the fact that the North American Drilling segment's ability to generate incremental margins of around 75% on an additional $50 million of revenue. And I would say that's a good rule of thumb that you can use as you think about going forward. That segment continues to have very meaningful operating leverage opportunities. As you pointed out, the second quarter was a little bit higher than that. I will point out though that on a consolidated basis you have to keep in mind the revenue mix by segment when you're looking at incremental EBITDA. As you know, we have some earlier stage segments, they have lower margins today than on the drilling side. And so that will impact the consolidated figure in any given quarter. He will also build it up a little bit by segment, but we continue to see the drilling segment being significantly leveraged activity, and that would be consistent with what we've seen in previous cycles.

That's helpful. And then, Jon, I want to better understand the market landscape for IWS today as well as how you're thinking about the future market opportunity. And specifically, like what do you think IWS' current market share is today? And how do you think about sort of the potential total addressable market changing in the future?

Yes. So Aaron, if you look at what we would report for connective jobs in and around 30 jobs or so in a market that's reported in and around the 200 range depending on what you read for industry, that would suggest a market share in and around that kind of 15% overall. We think there's a lot of opportunity for all participants in the market to grow that 15% maybe represents our best information is maybe about half of the opportunity that's currently in the market.

So there's a lot of people who aren't using the type of technology yet. So we see just greater adoption of technology benefiting sort of all players in the industry. I don't think it would be 100% of the market for the type of technology we're talking about. There are some simple fracturing operations, which it's a little less applicable or harder to sort of make that translation of value versus cost potentially. But as you look at the landscape and completions, but the market is moving towards a greater proportion of activity being more complex operations, and we stand to benefit from that. So we think there's lots of additional addressable market with where the market is today, and we see the addressable market growing naturally as you go to larger and more complex completions operations.

Maybe if I can sneak one more in on that theme, like what do you think the friction point is today for a potential client that has that complex well profile that's not using either IWS or one of its competitors?

Did you have a follow-up at all, Aaron.

Did I cut out there. Can you hear me now?

I think we'll take the next question then operator.

And your next question comes from the line of Keith MacKey from RBC.

Over the last 3 to 6 months, commodity prices have increased and it certainly brought more rigs to market.

Bear with us if you can hear us. We can't hear you on the other end. I think we might have another question or 2 yet, but we will just pause here for going to check with the operator if there's a problem on the line here.

Please continue to standby. We will resume shortly.

Thank you. And this concludes today's call. Thank you for participating. You may all disconnect. Please contact Celine, if you have further questions. Thank you.

The content of today's call are protected by copyright and may not be reproduced without the prior written consent of Pason Systems Inc. Please note, the advisory is located at the end of the press release issued by Pason Systems yesterday, which would describe forward-looking information. Certain information about the company that is discussed on today's call may constitute forward-looking information. Additional information about Pason Systems, including the risk factors relevant to the company can be found on its annual information form. Thank you, and good morning, everyone. My name is Kelsey, and I will be your conference operator for today's call. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Pason Systems Inc. First Quarter 2026 Earnings Call. [Operator Instructions] Thank you. Ms. Celine Boston, CFO, you may begin your conference.

Thank you, Kelsey. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for attending Pason's 2026 First Quarter Conference Call. I'm joined on today's call by Jon Faber, our President and CEO. I'll start today's call with an overview of our financial performance in the first quarter. Jon will then provide a brief perspective on the outlook for the industry and for Pason and we'll then take questions. Pason generated consolidated revenue of $102.4 million in the first quarter of 2026, a 9% decrease from $113.2 million in the first quarter of 2025. The year-over-year decline reflects lower drilling and completions industry activity in North America, along with negative impact of a weaker U.S. dollar relative to the Canadian dollar on our U.S. dollar-sourced revenue. On this revenue, we generated $38.2 million in adjusted EBITDA or 37.3% of revenue.

I'll now walk through each of our 4 reporting segments, starting with North American Drilling. Industry conditions in North America were more challenging in comparison to a year ago. As a reminder, industry rig counts fell after meaningful tariff announcements out of the U.S. administration on April 2, 2025. Since that decline, rig counts have remained relatively stable through the last 4 quarters. However, when comparing Q1 2026 results with Q1 2025 results, rig counts in both the U.S. and Canada were below prior year levels and industry drilling days were down 6% year-over-year. Against that backdrop, our North American Drilling segment generated revenue of $69.8 million, an 8% decline from $75.8 million in the first quarter of 2025.

Revenue per Industry Day was $1,046 compared to $1,067 in the prior year quarter, a 2% decrease driven primarily by foreign exchange. While operating expenses declined slightly year-over-year with strong discipline around costs, segment gross profit was $41.7 million compared to $46.8 million a year ago as a result of the more challenging industry conditions over the segment's mostly fixed cost base. International Drilling generated $11.7 million of revenue in the first quarter compared to $14 million in the same period of last year. The decline reflects 2 factors: our largest customer in Argentina shifted focus from conventional to unconventional drilling, which has reduced the active rigs during that transition and foreign exchange headwinds on U.S. dollar lift revenue.

Operating expenses fell 22% to $5.7 million on lower activity and segment gross profit was $5 million compared to $5.8 million in the prior year. Our Completions segment generated $15 million of revenue, a 6% decline from $16 million in the prior year but achieved against a 21% decline in active U.S. frac spreads, which represents meaningful outperformance relative to industry activity. IWS averaged 28 active jobs in the quarter compared to 32 in Q1 of 2025 and up from 23 in Q4 of 2025. The Revenue per IWS Day was $5,883, a 7% increase year-over-year despite the negative effect of foreign exchange, reflecting a more complex technology mix being adopted by our customers. We continue to invest in the technology platform for completions, which in a daily rental business model shows up in advanced revenue.

As such, gross profit or loss for the segment includes depreciation and amortization expense of $7.5 million on this continued investment, which includes $2.2 million of amortization on intangibles acquired in the IWS transaction. Our Solar and Energy Storage segment generated $5.9 million of revenue, a 21% decrease from $7.4 million in Q1 of 2025. As we've noted in the past, revenue in this segment will continue to fluctuate with the timing of control system deliveries. For context, Q4 of 2025 was a record quarter for the segment with $16.2 million of revenue. Pason continued to demonstrate strong cost discipline in the first quarter with many fixed cash operating costs declining slightly year-over-year. Notably, SG&A was $10.1 million, down 6% year-over-year.

Resulting adjusted EBITDA of $38.2 million compared to $45.2 million generated in the first quarter of 2025 with lower revenue generated from the company's drilling and completions segments over the company's mostly fixed cost base. Net income attributable to Pason was $13 million or $0.17 per share compared to $20 million or $0.25 per share in the prior year period and was impacted by lower adjusted EBITDA along with higher levels of depreciation and amortization expense with ongoing investments in the company's technology offering. Cash from operating activities was $20.9 million compared to $39.9 million in the prior year reflecting the lower adjusted EBITDA and higher cash taxes paid for amounts owing under the renewed advanced pricing arrangement finalized in Q4 of 2025.

Net capital expenditures were $12.4 million, down from $16.7 million in Q1 of 2025 due to timing of purchases. Resulting free cash flow was $8.5 million compared to $23.2 million in Q1 of 2025. We returned $13.5 million to shareholders during the quarter, $10.1 million through our quarterly dividends of $0.13 per share and $3.4 million through share repurchases. We ended the quarter with $73.5 million in total cash, $97.9 million of working capital and no interest-bearing debt. In summary, our Q1 results reflect a more challenging industry environment but our business continues to demonstrate the durability that comes from a leading market position, a largely fixed cost base and a strong balance sheet. We remain well positioned to support continued growth across our segments and to return meaningful capital to shareholders. With that, I'll turn the call over to Jon for his comments on our outlook.

Thank you, Celine. Let me turn to how we see the operating environment and where we're headed. The U.S. land rig count has stayed in a fairly tight band between 525 and 535 rigs since mid-2025. As we have said before, we believe that Pason can grow revenue and earnings in a meaningful way without needing a step-up in North American land drilling activity. Our medium-term goal has not changed. We are targeting a doubling of revenue from 2023 levels from our oil and gas well construction activities over a 5- to 7-year horizon. That growth is expected to come from 5 places. First, scaling our completions business; second, increasing adoption and improving price realization of our established drilling products and services. Third, bringing compelling new technologies to the drilling and completions markets with the mud analyzer being the most current example.

Fourth, expanding our international revenue, particularly as more work shifts towards unconventional drilling and completions. And fifth, addressing data management opportunities in adjacent well construction activities that we believe the industry has underserved. We are pleased with the progress that we are making in each of these areas. In completions, slowing activity from some of our existing customers has been offset by new customer wins and deploying technologies aimed at more complex jobs. The data demands that come from the rapid spread of artificial intelligence are a tailwind, both for our core drilling products and for new product opportunities in completions.

Uptake of the mud analyzer continues to build, and we are working on additional mud analysis products that broaden the set of drilling operations that we can serve. Internationally, as customers move toward more unconventional development, we see a path to wider product adoption across more of our product portfolio over the medium term. We are also building a presence within certain surface rig operations and are tailoring our products and support to fit the unique requirements of that market. Yesterday, at our Annual General Meeting, I took a few minutes to speak to some of the foundational principles of Pason. I spoke of the power of simplicity, the importance of discipline and the benefits of compounding technology deployed simply. That has been our slogan and our operating philosophy for many years.

The technologies that ultimately get the broadest use in the market are the ones that take complex problems and solve them with products that are intuitive and simple in the hands of the user. Simplicity also shapes how we think about scaling the business. We are investing to streamline and simplify our product and service offerings so that the operating and capital cost per job comes down over time. Simplifying our business also means staying focused on areas where we have a distinctive and durable competitive advantage. We played the long game by concentrating where our unique capabilities can generate significant free cash flow and attractive returns over time. We are disciplined in our operating and capital costs.

The benefits of operating leverage are greatest when we carefully manage our fixed cost base. Our capital expenditures are increasing as we invest in building out our completions business but we only do so with high expected returns on capital on addition to investments. We expect 2026 capital expenditures to be between $60 million and $70 million. We currently anticipate full year spending to come in near the lower end of that range, and we will continue to monitor our plans as industry conditions and our competitive position evolve. In completions in particular, we are adding new customers at an accelerating rate. Average job size is moving up and more customer activity is shifting toward the complex jobs that utilize our newest technologies.

Any M&A activities that surface have to compete against the expected returns from reinvesting in our own business or buying back our own shares. Today, the highest expected returns we see continue to come from organic investment in our business. Focusing on generating valuable products and service for our customers in areas where we have a unique and distinctive advantage and being disciplined on our costs allows us to outpace underlying North American land drilling activity. Continued outperformance over time leads to strong financial performance through the benefits of compounding. We continue to build our business with a focus on ensuring that we have the foundation for continued growth and compounding over the medium and longer term.

As we generate additional free cash flow, we look to allocate capital responsibly between shareholder returns and growth-oriented investments. On capital allocation, our framework is unchanged. We balance the discipline and predictability of our regular quarterly dividend, which we are maintaining at $0.13 per share, with the flexibility to invest organically and to repurchase shares both of which we evaluate through the lens of expected returns on capital. We are also mindful of potential supply chain disruptions and inflationary pressures tied to ongoing U.S. trade dynamics as well as tensions in the Middle East. The effective closing of the Strait of Hormuz has materially tightened global oil and LNG supply concerns of an oil glut from earlier in the year have faded.

As the long end of the oil futures curve has strengthened, we are starting to see producers accelerate capital programs and contract incremental rigs. We are well positioned to respond as activity picks up. The benefits of our leading market share and high operating leverage tend to be most pronounced when activity is rising. Uncertainty is likely to stay with us for a while. Our focus is on delivering exceptional performance in the areas within our control, extending our service and technology advantages, investing in growth opportunities that are not directly available to shareholders, keeping a strong balance sheet and returning capital to shareholders in a disciplined way. simplicity, discipline and compounding have shaped Pason for decades and we believe they continue to position us well for the opportunities ahead. And with that, we would be happy to take your questions.

[Operator Instructions] At this moment, there are no further questions. I would like to turn the call back over to Mr. Jon Faber, you may continue.

Thank you very much for taking the time to join us this morning. We appreciate your continued interest and your support. And we'll look forward to speaking with you again following our second quarter results after our August release. If you have any further questions in the meantime, Celine and I will always welcome your calls and we look forward to talking. Thank you very much, and have a great day.

Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude your conference call for today. We thank you very much for your participation, and you may now disconnect. Have a great day, everyone.

Good morning. My name is Joanna, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Pason Systems, Inc.'s Fourth Quarter 2025 Earnings Call. [Operator Instructions] The contents of today's call are protected by copyright and may not be reproduced without the prior written consent of Pason Systems, Inc. Please note the advisories located at the end of the press release issued by Pason Systems yesterday, which describe forward-looking information.

Certain information about the company that is discussed on today's call may constitute forward-looking information. Additional information about Pason Systems, including the risk factors relevant to the company, can be found in its annual information form. Celine Boston, CFO, you may begin your conference.

Thanks, Joanna, and good morning, everyone. Thanks for attending Pason's 2025 Fourth Quarter Conference Call. I'm joined on today's call by Jon Faber, our President and CEO. I'll start today's call with an overview of our financial performance in the fourth quarter and for the full year 2025.

Jon will then provide a brief perspective on the outlook for the industry and for Pason, and we'll then take questions. Pason's results in 2025 demonstrate the resilience of our business model through lower industry activity. In 2025, Pason generated $419 million in consolidated revenue 1% higher than revenue generated in 2024, even through -- even though there were declines in industry activity in both drilling and completions markets. Despite a 6% decline in North American drilling activity, our North American Drilling segment generated $275 million of revenue and achieved a record annual revenue per industry day of $1.053 up 3% year-over-year.

In Completions, Pason generated $59 million in revenue, a 12% increase from revenue generated in the segment 2024 despite a 24% decline in active frac spreads in the U.S. during that time. Our International drilling segment also saw challenging industry conditions and a strategic shift by a large customer in Argentina impacted revenue generated of $52 million in 2025, which was down from $60 million in 2024.

Based on solar and energy storage segment grew 87% year-over-year to $33.7 million in revenue generated driven by increased control system sales, particularly in the fourth quarter. Adjusted EBITDA was $153.4 million in 2025 or 37% of revenue compared to $161.8 million or 39% of revenue in 2024, reflecting lower activity levels in Pason's drilling segments as well as more revenue generated in 2025 from earlier stage segments at lower margins.

The company reported net income attributable to Pason of $53.2 million or $0.68 per share in 2025 compared to $121.5 million or $1.53 per share recorded in the prior year period. This primarily reflects the nonrecurring noncash gain recorded in 2024 related to the revaluation of our previously held equity interest in IWS.

Pason generated $117.7 million in cash from operations in 2025, only a 4% decline from $123.2 million generated in 2024 benefiting from strong working capital management through more challenging industry conditions. In 2025, Pason invested $54.3 million in net capital expenditures compared to $69.1 million in 2024.

Resulting free cash flow in 2025 was $63.3 million, a 17% increase from $54.1 million generated in 2024. With this free cash flow, Pason returned $62.7 million to shareholders through the quarterly dividend of $40.7 million and $22 million of share repurchases, while ending the year with a strong balance sheet and $77 million in total cash as of December 31, 2025.

Now turning to the fourth quarter. Pason generated consolidated revenue of $109 million and adjusted EBITDA of $38.1 million or 35% of revenue in the fourth quarter of 2025. Pason's fourth quarter results include a record quarterly results for the company's solar and energy storage segment with $16.2 million generated in revenue by Energy Toolbase.

As a reminder, revenue in this segment will fluctuate based on the timing of control system deliveries. The North American drilling industry continued to be challenging in Q4 of 2025 with reductions in both U.S. and Canadian land rig counts when compared to the prior year period.

North American land drilling activity fell by 6% from the fourth quarter of 2024 to the fourth quarter of 2025. During that time, Pason held revenue for Industry Day consistent at $1,044. Industry conditions for Completions activity in North America also continued to be challenging in the fourth quarter of 2025 with active frac spreads in the U.S. declining by 23% from this prior year comparative period.

Against this backdrop, the company's completion segment generated $13 million of revenue, which represents only a 5% decrease from $13.6 million generated in the fourth quarter of 2024, significantly outpacing industry conditions. Within our Solar and Energy Storage segment, operating expenses increased with the record level of sales given the variable cost nature of the segments.

While within our drilling and Completion segment, operating expenses remain mostly fixed in nature, and the company continued to focus on disciplined cost management in the context of lower industry activity. Pason generated $38 million in adjusted EBITDA or 35% of revenue in the fourth quarter of 2025 compared to $42 million or 39% of revenue in the fourth quarter of 2024.

Current quarter adjusted EBITDA reflects the impact of more challenging industry conditions on the company's drilling and completions revenue over a mostly fixed cost base. And further, a comparison of adjusted EBITDA margins year-over-year reflects higher levels of revenue generated by the company's Solar and Energy Storage segment at lower margins.

We continue to maintain a strong balance sheet, ending the quarter with total cash, including short-term investments of $77 million and no interest-bearing debt. In the fourth quarter of 2025, net capital expenditures were $12 million, which includes investments in building out our [ valve ] management and automation technology within completion and the ongoing investments in our drilling-related technology platform. Free cash flow in the fourth quarter of 2025 was $16.1 million, only slightly down from $17.6 million generated in the same quarter in 2024 despite lower industry activity levels.

With this free cash flow, we returned $13.1 million to shareholders, $10.1 million through our quarterly dividend and $3 million through our share repurchase program. In summary, 2025 was defined by challenging industry conditions across both drilling and Completions markets. Through this environment, though, we achieved record annual revenue per Industry Day in our North American drilling segment.

We significantly outperformed industry conditions in our earlier stage completion segment. We increased free cash flow year-over-year, all of which was returned to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases, and we maintained a strong balance sheet. We remain very well positioned as we enter 2026.

I'll now turn over the call to Jon.

Thank you Celine. Pason's 2025 financial results represented the eighth consecutive year for Pason's consolidated revenue growth outpace change in North American land drilling activity. Over that time period, we have strengthened our competitive position in North America, grown our international business and entered the completions in solar and energy storage markets. .

This demonstrates that our growth prospects are not solely reliant on increases in North American land drilling activity. In 2025, consolidated revenue grew by 1% despite North American drilling declining by 6%. Notably, more than 20% of consolidated revenue for the year was contributed from our nondrilling segments, namely Completions and Solar and Energy Storage.

The higher revenue contribution from these earlier-stage segments impacts consolidated margins in the short term, and we anticipate margins will improve as revenue grows in these segments. The compound effect of continued outperformance has been significant. Over the past 10 years, Pason's consolidated revenue has increased by 47% despite a 35% decline in the North American land rig count. Notwithstanding the margin effects of the revenue contribution from earlier-stage segments, our 2025 adjusted EBITDA margins of 37% were higher than 2015 margins and over the 10-year period, we have reduced our share count by 7%, returned over 560 million to shareholders through share -- dividends and share repurchases.

And we completed the acquisition of Intelligent Wellhead Systems with no dilution to shareholders. In our drilling-related business where North American revenue per Industry Day of $1,053 represented the highest annual result in Pason's history, we continue to focus on delivering innovative products, best-in-class service and exceptional support to our customers.

We look to increase both product adoption and price realization over time through delivering expanded features and functionality in both existing and new products. In our Completions segment, we were able to offset activity reductions among larger incumbent customers through the addition of new customers, resulting in a 12% revenue growth annually as compared to a 24% reduction in the average number of active U.S. frac spreads during the year. We have narrowed our focus in the market by shifting away from jobs, which utilize only a small number of ancillary products.

This results in a reduction in active or IWS active jobs. At the same time, revenue per IWS state increases as we focus on larger jobs, which are more closely aligned with our unique equipment and capabilities and more profitable. In our International Drilling segment, a 14% revenue decrease in the year was largely the result of an operational shift of a large customer in Argentina away from conventional drilling toward more unconventional development.

As unconventional drilling becomes a focus in international markets, we anticipate opportunities to achieve greater adoption of our more advanced technology, including those for the Completions market. Our Solar and Energy Storage segment posted an 87% increase in revenue from 2025 -- in 2025 to $33.7 million as a result of a record number of deliveries of energy storage control systems.

With pending changes in the regulatory environment for renewable energy project developers, we have maintained a strong pipeline of new project opportunities. As a reminder, revenue from our solar and energy storage segment can vary significantly based on the timing of deliveries of energy storage control systems. We expect industry conditions to remain relatively flat over the next few quarters, driven by ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty and concerns about the potential for oversupplied oil markets.

Increasing adoption of existing products and rolling out new products are both significantly more difficult in the current environment. We see, however, several supportive industry trends that should provide tailwinds to our efforts over the medium to longer term. Artificial intelligence benefits Pason as a result of increased demand for both high-quality data and power.

Our position as the leading provider of drilling data and our efforts to expand our data management capabilities to the completions market, serves us well as AI technologies drive increasing demand for data as inputs to the artificial intelligence models being deployed. The anticipated growth in demand for natural gas as a source for baseload power for data centers is expected to result in increases in natural gas-directed drilling activity.

Technology has played an essential role in driving efficiency improvements in drilling and completions operations, and we expect customers will look for further efficiency gains, driving greater demand for data and technology. We also anticipate that over time, the efficiency gains from technology will see diminishing returns, while geological degradation will accelerate as top-tier locations are drilled resulting in additional drilling and Completions activity to see in production.

Pason also benefits from the additional data and technology requirements associated with increasing complexity of drilling and completions operations. Over time, we anticipate that overall decline rates for global oil and gas production will increase, driving higher levels of drilling and completions activity as a result of more natural gas-directed drilling, more offshore development and unconventional drilling, which have higher decline rates than oil-directed, onshore and conventional drilling.

Our capital allocation priorities are unchanged and are driven by a focus on return on invested capital. We are making investments in areas where we can generate high returns on capital, which are not directly available to shareholders in the market, and we are returning excess capital to shareholders in a disciplined and flexible manner.

Our highest expected returns on capital continue to come from the organic investments we are making to generate additional free cash flow in our existing businesses. Our experience through previous cycles has been that maintaining investments focused on technology development and service quality through periods of uncertainty provides the greatest opportunity to enhance our competitive position.

2025 capital expenditures of $54.3 million came in below the low end of our previously provided range of $55 million to $60 million and we anticipate our 2026 capital program will be broadly in line with 2025 levels at between $55 million and $60 million.

We evaluate our capital program with a focus on increasing revenue, generating free cash flow and creating value for shareholders over time rather than simply in response to prevailing near-term industry conditions. We will continue to pursue shareholder returns over time through our regular quarterly dividend, which we are maintaining a $0.13 per share and share repurchases. This combination of shareholder returns provides disciplined returns to shareholders over time while retaining flexibility to adjust our capital allocation during times of changing industry conditions.

Our priorities in navigating the current environment of uncertainty are centered on expanding our service and technology advantages, maintaining a strong balance sheet and returning capital to shareholders in a disciplined and flexible manner. And we would now be happy to take any questions you might have.

Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question-and-answer session [Operator Instructions]. The first question comes from Aaron MacNeil with TD Cowen.

In the North America -- in the North American drilling market, you mentioned the revenue per Industry Day outperformance over the last 8 years. Based on the granular data that you see, has the outperformance in 2025 been a function of rig mix as the rig count declines, you get sort of higher quality revenue per Industry Day -- or are same-store sales basically growing based on new product adoption. I'm sure it's a bit of both. But I guess I'm wondering if the rig count either stabilizes in 2026 or increases, is it possible that you could see or be negatively impacted as maybe incremental rigs don't have the same kit that some of the ones do today?

Yes. Good question, Aaron. To your earlier or to your comment, it is always a mix of both. But I would say more of it would be, as you categorized it same-store sales and increased adoption of products. And that's true on both some of the new product side, but also on the existing product side. And so I think our expectation would be that we had a flattish environment that, that metric would be probably the same to slightly up this year based on how we would see it today.

Okay. And just to maybe as my follow-up, a bit more details on that. Like -- is this the Mud Analyzer or is it other products? Like what's sort of driving that growth?

Well, I think the Mud Analyzer is the one that probably gets the most attention, right from ourselves and investors candidly. But it's not the only one. There's always a portfolio of products. There are some things that we have done that I would classify as kind of lower revenue per unit, but a lot more units going out. Mud Analyzer would be a higher dollar per unit with less units going out. But it's been a combination of a few things on the new product side and then adoption on the existing as well.

Fair enough. Maybe I'll sneak one more in. Obviously, I got asked a question about the solar business this quarter, given the strength big picture, how are you thinking about that business in the context of the Pason portfolio? And what's sort of the end game for you with it?

Sure. So that business is a really good business as evidenced by the performance it's had. There's been a couple of things that have been pretty helpful for that business in the last year in particular, but even the last couple of years. I would say the competitive landscape in that industry has shifted in a way that would be to the positive for Energy Toolbase.

And there's been some changes on the regulatory environment and some coming changes in the regulatory environment for renewable projects, which has caused people to probably accelerate some things on the project side to sort of remain captured under the existing regulations. So that's all been positive. But longer term, we think it's a great business. The question will become over time, how much is it consistent with our focus to say, look, at the end of the day, what we are best at is providing data that helps people make decisions around well construction activities in the oil and gas market.

And so that becomes less clear over time, Aaron. And so we like the business a lot. We think it's excellent what it does. The question is whether it fits with a different set of capabilities than what the existing and core Pason business does.

[Operator Instructions] We have no further questions in queue. I will turn the call back over to Jon Faber for closing remarks.

Thanks very much, Joanna. We do appreciate the time. Those of you taken on a Friday morning to join today's call. This is not a unique opportunity to ask questions to the management team. If you have questions, certainly don't hesitate to reach out to Celine or myself at any point, and we'd be happy to discuss further. And otherwise, we look forward to talking to you following the release of our first quarter results, which will happen in May. So take care, and we'll talk to you in a few months.

This concludes the conference. Thank you, everyone. You may now disconnect.

The contents of today's call are protected by copyright and may not be reproduced without the prior written consent of Pason Systems Inc. Certain information about the company that is discussed on today's call may constitute forward-looking information. Additional information about Pason Systems, including the risk factors relevant to the company can be found in its annual information form.

Good morning. My name is Andrew, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Pason Systems Inc.'s Third Quarter 2025 Earnings Call. [Operator Instructions]

Celine Boston, CFO. You may begin your conference.

Thanks, Andrew. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for attending Pason's 2025 Third Quarter Conference Call. I'm joined on today's call by Jon Faber, our President and CEO. I'll start today's call with an overview of our financial performance in the third quarter. Jon will then provide a brief perspective on the outlook for the industry and for Pason, and we'll then take questions.

Pason's results in the third quarter of 2025 continues to demonstrate the resilience in our business model through very challenging industry conditions. Pason generated consolidated revenue of $101 million and adjusted EBITDA of $38.5 million or 38.1% of revenue in the third quarter of 2025. In our North American drilling segment, Canadian drilling activity increased through the third quarter as is seasonally expected after spring breakup. However, at a more moderate pace than the increases seen in the third quarter of 2024, resulting in a 15% decline in Canadian industry drilling activity year-over-year.

U.S. drilling activity fell slightly through the third quarter, resulting in a 9% decline in overall North American industry drilling activity in Q3 2025 versus the prior year comparative period. Despite this decline, revenue in the segment only decreased by 7% year-over-year. In this challenging environment, Pason grew revenue per industry day by 1% to a new quarterly record level of $1,071 as the company continues to make progress with growing product adoption across its technology offering.

Within the North American drilling segment, Pason generates a higher revenue per industry day with Canadian activity as compared to U.S. activity. In the third quarter of 2025, Canadian activity represented a lower percentage of total when compared to Q3 of 2024, and this muted the growth seen in consolidated revenue per industry day year-over-year. The segment's operating expenses remained mostly fixed in nature and fell by 6% year-over-year as the company focuses on disciplined cost management in the context of more challenging industry conditions and has seen lower levels of repair expenses, which can fluctuate with revenue levels.

Resulting segment gross profit of $42.2 million was consistent as a percentage of revenue at 61% when compared to Q3 of 2024 despite the more challenging industry conditions. Continuing from earlier this year, our International Drilling segment faced headwinds in the third quarter with a larger customer in Argentina reducing activity levels through a pending shift in operational focus away from conventional wealth towards more unconventional drilling.

The segment generated $12.5 million in quarterly revenue and $5.2 million in segment gross profit in the third quarter. Operating expenses for the segment are mostly fixed and came down by 11% year-over-year as the segment remains focused on disciplined cost management during a period of lower activity levels. Even more pronounced in our drilling segments, industry conditions for completions were very challenging through the third quarter of 2025 with several of IWS' existing customers beginning to slow their number of active frac spreads.

In the third quarter of 2025, IWS had 30 active jobs, up from 28 in the prior year comparative period despite a 27% decline in active frac fleets in the U.S. Revenue per IWS Day also grew year-over-year by 11%. Revenue per IWS Day will fluctuate depending on the mix of technology adopted amongst new and existing customers going forward. Reported revenue for the segment was $14.6 million, up from $12.5 million in the third quarter of 2024 which represents a 17% increase against industry activity that fell by 27% during that time.

Gross loss of $1.2 million for the segment represents operating expense investments made for the segment's current stage of growth, along with $7.6 million in depreciation and amortization expense associated with the property and equipment and intangible assets acquired on and since January 1, 2024.

Our solar and energy storage segment generated $5.1 million in quarterly revenue, an increase of 30% from the 2024 comparative period with the timing on deliveries of control system sales driving the difference year-over-year. As we've noted in previous calls, the segment's revenue will continue to fluctuate with timing of these deliveries going forward.

Sequentially, Pason's results were mostly impacted by the seasonal increase in Canadian drilling activity partially offset by further reductions in U.S. drilling and completions, resulting in a 5% increase in revenue quarter-over-quarter. Demonstrating the company's mostly fixed cost base and resulting operating leverage, revenue grew by $4.5 million quarter-over-quarter and adjusted EBITDA grew by $7 million at that time.

Net income attributable to Pason for the third quarter of 2025 was $12.5 million or $0.16 per share, down from $24.2 million and $0.30 per share in the third quarter of 2024 reflecting lower levels of industry activity year-over-year and higher levels of depreciation and stock-based compensation expense. We continue to maintain a prudent balance sheet ending the quarter with total cash, including short-term investments of $75.6 million and no interest-bearing debt. In the third quarter of 2025, net capital expenditures were $10.7 million, which includes investments in building out our valve management and automation technology offering within Completions and the ongoing investments in our drilling-related technology platform.

Free cash flow in the third quarter of 2025 was $18.7 million compared to $16.7 million in the third quarter of 2024 reflecting lower levels of capital expenditures and working capital investments year-over-year. With this free cash flow, we returned $13.1 million to shareholders, $10.1 million through our quarterly dividend and $3 million through our share repurchase program. Year-to-date, we've returned $49.6 million to shareholders through our quarterly dividend totaling $30.6 million and $19 million in share repurchases. In summary, we remain very well positioned in the face of challenging industry conditions.

I will now turn the call over to Jon for his comments on our outlook.

Thank you, Celine. Our third quarter financial and operating results again demonstrated the continued strength of Pason's competitive position even in challenging industry conditions. Revenue from our North American Drilling segment decreased by 7% year-over-year despite a 9% decrease in North American land drilling activity over the same period. International drilling saw an 18% decline in revenue resulting from an operational shift of a large customer in Argentina away from conventional assets.

Our Completions segment grew revenue 17% year-over-year from the third quarter of 2024 despite a 27% decrease in industry activity. Solar and Energy Storage segment revenue increased 30% year-over-year in the quarter on the strength of increased control system project deliveries. Adjusted EBITDA margins compressed slightly from 2024 levels as a result of the reduction in consolidated revenue and a higher contribution of revenue from the Completions and Solar and Energy storage segments where segment margins are lower given their current stage of development. We expect margins in these segments to expand over time as revenues increase.

The third quarter of 2025 marked more than 20 consecutive quarters across a wide range of industry conditions in which the change in Pason's consolidated revenue outpaced the change in North American land rig counts. This track record speaks to the progress that we have made in reducing the correlation between our financial performance and underlying industry activity. The compound effect of outperformance over time has been significant. In the 6-year time period between the third quarter of 2019 and the third quarter of 2025, Pason's consolidated revenue has increased by 40% while North American land rig counts have decreased by 32%, representing a spread of more than 70%.

Over that same 6-year time period, we have reduced our share count by 8.5%, completed the acquisition of Intelligent Wellhead Systems with no dilution to shareholders and paid over $200 million in dividends to shareholders through free cash flow generated within the business. When we completed the acquisition of the remainder of Intelligent Wellhead Systems at the start of 2024, we believe we have the opportunity to double Pason's revenue from 2023 levels. We continue to believe this opportunity exists over the next 5 to 7 years, even if industry activity remains near current levels.

To do so, we are focused on executing against a number of priorities. We will build on our competitive position in the North American land drilling market. Our focus is on delivering on innovative products, best-in-class service and exceptional customer support in order to earn the ongoing trust and confidence of our customers. We also look to offer expanded features and enhanced functionality in our existing products and to develop new products that provide additional benefits for customers.

We are expanding our presence in the Completions market with our valve management and automation technologies, and we are working to develop compelling data management products for completions that leverage Pason's decades of experience in the drilling industry.

We look to grow our international revenue, particularly as unconventional drilling becomes a focus in international markets, we anticipate opportunities to achieve greater adoption of our more advanced technologies, including those for the completions market. The path to our medium- to longer-term growth aspirations is unlikely to be linear. In the near term, we expect ongoing economic uncertainty and concerns about the potential for oversupplied oil markets to result in the challenging industry conditions.

Increasing adoption of existing products and rolling out new products are both significantly more difficult in the current environment. The near-term trajectory of our completions revenue is more closely tied to the activity levels of particular customers rather than the overall market. Newer products and services will likely benefit over time from revenue acceleration that comes from a growing market presence and awareness. We see several supportive industry trends that should provide tailwinds to our efforts over the medium to longer term.

Pason stands to benefit from the growing proliferation of artificial intelligence. Our position as the leading provider of drilling data and our efforts to expand our data management capabilities to the completions market serve us well as AI technologies drive increased demand for data as inputs to the models being deployed. The anticipated growth in demand for natural gas as a source of baseload power for data centers is expected to result in increases in natural gas-directed drilling activity. Artificial intelligence tools also play a role in our product development efforts and in improving the efficiency of our own business operations.

Technology has played an essential role in driving efficiency improvements in Drilling and Completions operations and we expect customers to look for further efficiency gains, driving greater demand for data and technology. Pason also benefits from the additional data and technology requirements associated with the increasing complexity of Drilling and Completions operations.

Over time, we anticipate overall decline rates for global oil and gas production to increase, driving higher levels of drilling and completions activity as a result of more natural gas-directed drilling, more offshore development and more unconventional drilling, which have higher decline rates than oil-directed onshore and conventional drilling.

Our capital allocation priorities are unchanged, and they are driven by a focus on return on invested capital. We are making investments in areas where we can generate high returns on capital, which are not directly available to shareholders in the market and we are returning excess capital to shareholders in a disciplined, flexible manner. Our highest returns on capital continue to come from the organic investments we are making to continue the growth of our Completions business coupled with the ongoing rollout of the Mud Analyzer in our drilling-related business.

With the slowdown of industry activity, we anticipate our 2025 capital program will total between $55 million and $60 million, and we expect a similar level of capital investment in 2026. We evaluate our capital program with a focus on increasing revenue, generating free cash flow and creating value for shareholders over time rather than simply in response to prevailing near-term industry conditions. We will continue to pursue shareholder returns over time through our regular quarterly dividend, which we are maintaining at $0.13 per share and share repurchases.

This combination of shareholder returns provide disciplined returns to shareholders over time while retaining flexibility to adjust our capital allocation during times of changes in industry conditions. Our balance sheet remains strong. At September 30, we had $75.6 million in total cash, including short-term investments and positive working capital of $111.9 million.

At this point, we would be happy to take any questions that you might have.

[Operator Instructions] Your first question is from Keith Mackey from RBC Capital Markets.

Just the first question on the capital spend for this year and next year, kind of maintaining around that $55 million to $60 million level. Can you just talk about maybe I know it's Mud Analyzer and Completions weighted for anything beyond general maintenance. But can you talk about the mix of spending this year and next year? Will it be the exact same types of products that you're building? Or will it move on to a different stage of what you're actually spending the capital on related to those 2 products? Just curious for some more color on the growth CapEx for next year.

Yes. So I would say, similar level as you think about 2026 in comparison to 2025. We talked about in previous calls, we would have said roughly $25 million of the CapEx that we saw for 2025 goes towards growth-related investments in completions and expectations of growth into 2026 and beyond. And I would say that's a similar level that you can expect in terms of split in 2026. .

And then on the drilling side, which would be the balance of that $55 million to $60 million, the majority of that CapEx actually would relate to the refresh investments that we're making on our existing hardware platform as we continue to look towards opportunities to grow product adoption and improve price realization on our existing technology base there.

Okay. Got it. And can you just maybe talk a little bit more about the completion data management projects? How are you inserting yourself, I guess, in the product development life cycle, what kind of things are customers asking you for or looking to do as they use more of these IWS products?

Keith, I'll speak at a pretty high level at this point because we're still sort of in the early days of getting that sort of built out. But I think what is clear to us is that there are at least some parameters from the drilling process which could be helpful for somebody who's involved in the Completions process to understand perhaps what the rock properties might look like, which might help them think about how a fracture might propagate and so being able to make some of that information available during the completions process would be an example of an area where we think we're uniquely positioned having access to both the Drilling and Completions data sets.

Okay. Got it. And maybe just one final one, if I could. Jon, can you talk about a little bit more about the growth drivers that you see in the target to or potential to double revenue from 2023 levels in 5 to 7 years? If industry activity stays roughly where it is now, what are sort of the general buckets of improvement that you'd see to be able to double that revenue?

Yes, sure. So I guess I kind of break it into a few things. There's obviously within the core drilling business, we've got an established track record over 15 to 20 years of growing revenue per industry day in the order of 6% to 7% compounded over time. And when we look at simply kind of inflationary effects of pricing over time, increased adoption of data-driven technologies related to people doing more with our automation and intelligence. And when we look at the rollout products like a Mud Analyzer, we're pretty confident that we can continue that sort of a track record in the drilling-related business.

In the Completions side, we see, of course, opportunities just for all players in the industry to grow by as a result of people using more technology of the type we're offering in the Completions market. So we think there's sort of a broad-based technology adoption story that all participants would benefit from. And then as I would have referenced earlier, we think we may have some unique opportunities in that space related to the fact that we have access to both the Drilling and Completions data, and making those kind of available to customers in a uniform way.

There's some ancillary services that happen around Drilling and Completions that probably would also stand to benefit from some data management capabilities which stand-alone have maybe been not attractive to people independently the drilling market or the completions market by participating in both markets, those sorts of opportunities we would think we would benefit from.

And then in the international business, as I mentioned, we moved to more unconventionals, that tends to drive higher-value products from our product offering, things that are impacting drilling performance more directly. And so we think there's opportunities to grow on the international side as well. So at a high level, those are sort of the areas where we see growth. And as we said, it's probably a 5 to 7 years sort of a time frame, and it requires execution and hard work and focus on the things that we can be most impactful with.

Your next question is from Aaron MacNeil from TD Cowen.

I want to sort of build on Keith's last question. Obviously nice to see those longer-term ambitions. How do you suggest we sort of evaluate the success or failure of these initiatives in real time? And what sort of milestones would you point us to over the next couple of years?

Yes. Unfortunately, Aaron, these are very intentionally medium to longer-term priorities that we're talking about because they're nonlinear. It's a little bit easier to establish very near-term measurable things for you to evaluate against when you're talking about doing things you're already doing in a market that's already adopting this type of technology. And so because we're talking about, in a lot of cases, new things that are ramping into the industry, some of it, if you're honest, in the short term is much more around capability development, streamlining the product offerings to be able to scale in a more profitable manner. And those things are a little bit less directly visible.

So we will certainly provide commentary on an ongoing basis around things we're doing in each of those sort of broad areas to ensure that we're moving them all forward. But it's not obviously that you're going to have very specific line items in our financials to point to in the next 12, 18, 24 months as interim measures when we're building towards where we need to be in 5 to 7 years as an outcome.

It could be operational milestones as well, though, like if you're developing a new product or et cetera, like is there anything maybe not in the financials, but something more than qualitative that you could point to?

Well, I think we will provide comments on an ongoing basis about the types of things that we are working on to establish the ability to hit those objectives.

Yes. Fair enough. Sorry to needle you. But maybe one more question on IWS. Presumably, you'll have some capacity expansions next year. How do you think of line of sight in terms of having homes for that incremental equipment today?

Well, when we look at the equipment, like a lot of what we're talking about on that capital build and Celine talks about CapEx, a lot of that's based on conversations with customers around what they expect to do going into 2026 type of a world. So I think as you can see from lots of folks in the completions market, the expectation in the fourth quarter, probably always is that it's lower than the third quarter. You hear things in Completions around white space, budget exhaustion and terms maybe those of us from the drilling world don't hear quite as often. But certainly hear lots of talk about what people plan to do early into 2026. And so we are certainly building with visibility towards where we think that equipment would go to work.

Your next question is from Sean Mitchell from Daniel Energy Partners.

Just wanted to hit on the Completion side, maybe a little follow-up or color around, as you see the E&P consolidation and maybe a structural shift in completion design and strategies going from zipper to simul-fracs. How has that evolution really influencing your completions business in terms of utilization cycle times, customer engagement, maybe more sophisticated or a different kind of technology demand. Can you provide any color on that, that would be great.

Yes, you bet. In completions as with drilling, increased complexity, certainly increases the value proposition of the types of products that we're bringing to market. So when you're talking about ensuring that you can manage a more complex operation efficiently and very importantly, safely the types of technologies that we're deploying to those space become -- I don't say exponential that probably is overstating it, but it's significantly more important as you start adding more valves to the equation. And so that certainly is a driver of increased demand for the product and the value proposition resonates increasingly on a safety and efficiency perspective when you start to talk about more complex types of fracs happening.

The other side of the question you asked around more consolidation. One of the things that we see is certainly a desire from customers to do things consistently across their operations and ensuring they're deploying standard operating procedures. And so a number of the technologies we offer to that market are really around ensuring consistent workflows and standard operating procedures are being followed as well. And so as you get larger, more sophisticated companies looking to do more complex operations, they are driving more standardization and how they do things, and that would also be a net benefit to things we do on the completion side.

Got it. And then maybe one more. Just as you think to expand internationally, where do you see the best opportunity set on the international front?

Well, certainly, Argentina is an opportunity in terms of it being one of our larger markets today. And so they're looking to do. We've talked a lot about part of the reason the revenue in the international decline is because of a shift to unconventionals. And so that shift to unconventionals starts to drive a lot more of a product offering from the drilling side, but also earlier enthusiasm for things around the Completion side. And then the Middle East, there's quite a bit of talk around unconventionals as well. There's opportunities for us there as well. So I'd point to those 2 specifically, not to say exclusively, but I think those two come top of mind if you think about kind of opportunities in the near term.

[Operator Instructions] There are no further questions at this time. Mr. Faber, please proceed with closing remarks.

Thank you, Andrew, and thanks to those who joined us for this morning's call. As always, we appreciate your interest. We appreciate the questions and your support. If you do have other questions, you certainly are welcome to connect with Celine or myself at any point. And otherwise, we wish you a very good day and weekend.

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes your conference call for today. We thank you for participating, and ask that you please disconnect your lines.