Major Drilling Group Intl reports strong Q1 2026 results with 21% revenue growth, driven by Latin America, despite challenges in North America and Australasia.

OPERATOR - (00:00:00)

To ask a question, please wait for the moderator to start the conference, then press star 1. A system tone will be heard when your request has been accepted. To cancel your question, press star two. Please stand by. Your conference will begin momentarily. To ask a question, please wait for the moderator to start the conference, then press star 1. A system tone will be heard when your request has been accepted. To cancel your question, press 2. This conference is being recorded. All participants please stand by. Your conference is ready to begin. Good morning ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the first quarter 2026 results conference call. I would now like to turn the meeting over to Ryan Henley. Please go ahead, Mr. Henley.

Ryan Henley - (00:02:10)

Thank you and good morning everyone. As mentioned, we would like to welcome you. You to Major Drillings conference call for the first quarter of fiscal 2026. With me on the call today are Denis Larocque, President CEO and Ian Ross, CFO. Our results were released last night and can be found on our website at Major Drilling Group Intl website. we also invite you to visit our. Website for further information. Before we get started, we'd like to caution you. Caution you that during this conference call we will be making forward looking statements about future events or the future financial performance of the company. These statements are forward looking in nature and actual events or results may differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements. I'll now turn the presentation over to Denis Larocque, President and CEO.

Denis Larocque - President and CEO - (00:02:51)

Thanks Ryan and good morning everyone and thank you for joining us today to discuss our first quarter results. So we got off to a slower start to the calendar year due to delayed mobilizations, but we're pleased to see activity levels steadily accelerate through the beginning of fiscal 2026 as we reach our previously stated growth target, achieving 21% revenue growth over the last three months, showing momentum across the business. We were particularly pleased with activity levels in Peru and Chile, with Peru's revenue run rate continuing to increase following the completion of the Expomin acquisition last November. This growth is expected to more than offset temporary softness in the Australasian market, where pauses at certain projects caused by changing exploration plans led to a reduction of activity in the quarter. While the North American market was impacted by forest fires and permitting delays and continues to see elevated levels of competition, activity levels began to improve toward the end of the quarter. That recovery, combined with our strong positioning in Latin America, gives us confidence in our platform as we face further growth in exploration budgets over the years to come. Overall, we remain optimistic as we move into the second quarter of fiscal 2026. I'll discuss the rest of the outlook once Ian has taken us through the financials.

Ian Ross - Chief Financial Officer - (00:04:28)

Thanks Dee Revenue for the quarter was 226.6 million, up 20.8% from the prior quarter and 19.3% from the 190 million recorded over the same period last year. Revenue growth was driven by continued strength in the south and Central American region, in particular Peru, but partially offset by Australasia, which were impacted by unexpected modifications to certain drill programs. The unfavorable foreign exchange translation impact on revenue when compared to the effective rates for the same period last year was approximately 1 million, while the impact on net earnings was minimal. Expenditures in foreign jurisdictions tend to be in the same currency as revenue. The overall adjusted gross margin percentage excluding depreciation was 25.2% for the quarter compared to 28.9% for the same period last year. The decrease in margins was attributable to the continued competitive environment in North America as well as by some mobilization costs as a few additional projects ramped up in the quarter. Additionally, Expo Min's margin profile is reflected given its focus on longer term contracts and a higher proportion of underground drilling. While these programs typically result in lower margins, they provide increased revenue diversification and stability. GNA costs increased $3.2 million compared to the same quarter last year due to the addition of Expomin along with annual inflationary wage adjustments. The company generated EBITDA of $32.1 million in the quarter compared to $34.3 million in the prior year period with net earnings of $10.1 million or $0.12 per share, compared to net earnings of $15.9 million or $0.19 per share for the prior year period. The company ended the quarter with $2.8 million in net debt while working capital grew by $13.1 million to $206.8 million, driven by an increase in receivables which coincided with the ramp up in activity levels. With total available liquidity of $127 million and strong levels of cash flow expected to be generated through the busier months of the year, the company remains very well positioned Moving through fiscal 2026. During the quarter, we strategically relocated drill rigs within certain regions to areas experienced higher levels of demand which when combined with prior investments in the fleet, resulted in lower than expected CapEx spending of 14.4 million in the quarter and improved utilization. Total of five new drill rigs and support equipment were added while four older, less efficient rigs were disposed of, bringing the total rig count at fleet is now at 709 to 709 breakdown of our fleet and utilization in the quarter is as 307 specialized drills at 46% utilization 163 conventional drills at 50% utilization 239 drills underground drills at 54% utilization for a total of 709 drills at 50% utilization as we've mentioned before, specialized work in our definition is not necessarily conducted with a specialized drill. Rather, it is work that requires that we meet the rigorous standards of our customers in terms of technical capabilities, operational and safety standards, and other related factors. These standards are becoming increasingly important to our customers. In the first quarter, specialized work accounted for 60% of our total revenue. We continue to see high levels of demand for our specialized services and expect this trend to continue as deposits become increasingly more challenging to find, with discoveries continuing to be made in remote locations. Conventional drilling, which is mostly driven by juniors, increased slightly to 14% of revenue for the quarter, while underground drilling contributed 26% of total revenue, aided by the contribution of exponent. We continue to see the bulk of our revenue driven by senior intermediates representing 92% of our revenue this quarter as they continue their elevated efforts to address depleting reserves. While junior financings have begun to increase, the amount of capital raised is still well below the levels seen in prior cycles. As a result, juniors continued to represent approximately 8% of our revenue in the first quarter. In terms of commodities, gold represented 41% of revenue in the first quarter with continued record high gold prices, while copper accounted for 34% of revenue, driven primarily by strength in the south and Central American region. Iron ore continues to make a meaningful contribution at 11%, aided by our Australian operations and demonstrating the diversity in the commodities for which we drill for around the world. With that overview of the financial results, I'll now pass the presentation back to Denis to discuss the outlook.

Denis Larocque - President and CEO - (00:09:07)

Thanks Ian. As we head into Q2, we expect to see some top line momentum driven by additional projects, particularly in South American region. As we previously discussed our Peru revenue base, our Peru revenue run rate has continued to grow since the acquisition of Expomin that was closed back in November. This trend is expected to continue in the second quarter as more long term contracts are added. While our Peruvian operation also addresses the growing demand for underground drilling, these types of projects provide stable and diversified streams of incremental revenue as well. We remain optimistic on the North American region as the junior financing market has begun to show signs of life, while discussions surrounding more streamlined permitting processes in both Canada and US are also expected to lead to an increase in activity on the commodity side, as you probably know, gold just hit another record high and the outlook for copper and other base metals is looking strong. We anticipate these elevated prices to support further growth in exploration budget over the years to come as mining companies use the additional cash flow generated from these high commodity prices to address their need to replace depletion and continue to build reserves. From an operational standpoint, we're in great shape, our fleet's in a great condition, inventory levels are solid and our crews are doing an outstanding job on safety and performance thanks to prior investments in infrastructure and equipment. We do not foresee the need for significant incremental capex. This positions us to unlock meaningful operational leverage as activity scales up and demand continues to grow. With that, we can open the call to questions. Operator thank you.

OPERATOR - (00:11:23)

We will now take questions on the telephone lines. If you have a question, please press Star one. You may cancel your question at any time by pressing Star 2. Please press Star 1 at this time. If you have a question. There will be a brief pause while participants register for questions. We thank you for your patience. Our first question is from Don Angelo Valqui from Beacon Security. Please go ahead.

Don Angelo Valqui - (00:11:54)

Hey, good morning, guys. First question for me. Can you talk about the dynamics you guys are seeing in North America? We've been seeing a modest uptick in junior financings. Just wondering how you view the pipeline in Canada versus the United States. And I was just wondering if you could provide any additional commentary related to the streamlined permitting processes you're seeing in both regions.

Denis Larocque - President and CEO - (00:12:19)

Yeah, well, in Canada, the activity has. We've seen, as we said we've seen as we progressed through the quarter, we've seen a pickup in activity, some of that driven by juniors, but they're still not back in great force, if I might say, as the financings that were done. There's always a period before we see that come through in the field. And I think we certainly saw some of that coming near the end of the quarter. We didn't see that uptick in the US though, at this point. From the permitting perspective, I must say that we haven't seen. Well, we definitely haven't seen an impact in terms of drilling because it takes again, it takes a bit of time before you see that coming through. And frankly, it's still not moving as quick as I personally would have thought it would following our Canadian election. And in the US you had resolutions, for example, just as an example in the US that still got blocked a few weeks ago. So we're still not seeing a great uptick in permitting in North America while we're certainly seeing more activity coming from that in other areas of the world. Okay, thank you.

Don Angelo Valqui - (00:14:17)

And then I guess that kind of segues into my next question with the outlook pointing towards continued top line growth driven by outperformance in South America. Can you discuss some of the stronger regions you foresee in the future and what some of the dynamics are there that will be driving that growth?

Denis Larocque - President and CEO - (00:14:37)

Yeah, well, Peru, we're seeing that operation continue to grow over the next quarter for sure, lots of activity. But at the same time, as we said, lots of mobilization activity, preparation of rigs, additional people that were brought in and with its load of onboarding costs since the beginning of the year. But we're looking forward to all of that basically hitting cruising altitude by next quarter. So Peru is certainly an area we see North America like financings, with financings, as you said, picking up lots of time that comes in North America. So we are seeing Canada continuing to increase going into next quarter as well. We'll see in the US if that happens as well. And then the rest is going to be really dictated by what mining companies, where mining companies end up spending their next budgets. Okay, perfect.

Don Angelo Valqui - (00:16:04)

I appreciate the color. And then last question for me, just CapEx was about $14 million for the quarter. Can you just discuss some of the dynamics that led to the lower than expected capex and can we to be in the 60 to 70 million dollars range on an annual basis?

Denis Larocque - President and CEO - (00:16:23)

Yeah, part of it really was as I mentioned, I mean we prepared 30 some rigs for Peru and the good news is that we were able to, we were able to move some of those rigs to some of those rigs from other operations to Peru which helped you saw that come through. On the utilization rates which are higher. We've hit 50% for the first time in a long time. And so that played part of it in terms of the growth that we expected and not having to spend as much on CapEx going forward, we don't foresee having to spend a lot more than what we had expected. So we'll see how it plays out. Again, it all depends which region, where the demand comes from and the type of demand. But at the moment we don't foresee needing more CAPEX than what we had guided. Guided at the last quarter. Okay, thank you.

Don Angelo Valqui - (00:17:42)

I'll hop back in queue.

Denis Larocque - President and CEO - (00:17:45)

Thank you.

OPERATOR - (00:17:47)

Thank you once again. Please press Star one at this time for any questions or comments. The following question is from Brett Kearney from American Rebirth Opportunity Partners. Please go ahead.

Brett Kearney - (00:18:04)

Hi guys. Good Morning. Thanks for taking my question. Good morning. Terrific to see the continued strength in your major markets and your team's ability to capitalize and execute on that. In the precious metals and copper front. Just curious as there's been a heightened focus on critical minerals. And I guess. The expanded list of the resources included there. I know they're all small individually but just curious kind of in aggregate whether you're seeing any opportunity across some of more niche mining areas from rare earths, tin, tungsten, antimony in aggregate currently or going forward that can impact your operations.

Denis Larocque - President and CEO - (00:19:01)

Yeah, well like you said, all of those individually are not big contributors to exploration but in aggregate can certainly have an impact. So I mean you mentioned tin. We have part of our operation in Peru that's drilling for tin. Sometimes lithium comes back on and off depending on the times and you've got nickel, you've got uranium down the road that could be a contributor in terms of the whole electricity and everything that is needed there. So. So again when you put it, it's still going to be, we're still going to have between 70 to 80% of our activity that's going to come from gold and copper. But those other metals, I always use the focus of the moment kind of comment and critical mineral is certainly the focus of the moment. So we expect to see, we expect to see activity from some of these metals for sure.

Brett Kearney - (00:20:29)

Excellent. And then maybe an extension of that. Given your company's size and trusted position as a mining services provider to Canada, North America, the West. To the extent you can comment, are you all actively engaging in or been approached at all in some of the security discussions as the importance of these metals, including even copper, takes heightened priority? Are you guys being looped in at all to conversations involving discussions around NATO the West?

Denis Larocque - President and CEO - (00:21:24)

Well I mean not directly because we're just a supplier to the mining industry but we are certainly having discussions with different people involved with ministers and trying to drive the point that our Canadian economy really need resources and we need to get on if we're going to track investment. We need to make the, we certainly need to make the environment or the business environment conducive to that. So we're certainly participating in those discussions and making that heard. It's just a matter of. Speed. The intentions are there and it's just a matter of speed of making this happen. And we certainly see other countries basically taking action much quicker than we see in Canada. But the conversation is certainly heading the right way, let's put it that way. It's more a Question of more questions. Yeah. Great.

Nae - (00:22:40)

Thank you very much.

James Bell - (00:22:41)

Nae, thank you. Following question is from James Bell from Acadia Advisors llc. Please go ahead. Morning, gentlemen. Good morning. Denis, you said that the second quarter top line is showing momentum. I guess I'll get to the bottom line is do you see. Change the dynamics of the third fiscal quarter and expecting maybe less of a slowdown that you've had historically so that the activity wouldn't slow down as quickly as it did last year and slower to pick up in the spring. Is that a possibility or is that. Will those historic dynamics still be in place?

Denis Larocque - President and CEO - (00:23:33)

Yeah, to be frank, Jim, we. It's too early to tell because we typically have those discussions when we get to October, November, when they start to have plans. And lots of times, lots of time. Even those decisions of continuing or not close to Christmas are made when they get to October, November, if they haven't spent all of their budgets or the environment like right now with gold running up, they say, okay, well, let's just add more, you know, two more months of budget to this year and keep going. And so those decisions typically happen in October, November. So it's early to tell, but the environment with commodity prices is certainly positive for that to maybe continue later in the season. But again, too early to tell.

James Bell - (00:24:36)

Okay. And then just finally I'm looking at the segment information and there's the asterisk that says Canada, U.S. includes revenues for Canada. If you do the arithmetic, it looks like the US was down 20% in the quarter. Is that correct? Is that accurate?

Denis Larocque - President and CEO - (00:24:54)

Yeah, it is. There's been a slowdown. We've seen some slowdown in the US A lot of that was driven by juniors. That's where last year we had a lot of junior customers that didn't come back this season. And we're waiting to see that. But then basically, as you mentioned, Canada has certainly grown from last year.

James Bell - (00:25:30)

Yeah, that's up 20%. That's encouraging. That is good. Okay. Are you going to present at Beaver Creek, Denis?

Denis Larocque - President and CEO - (00:25:39)

No, we're not. Basically, Beaver Creek is only for mining companies for presentations, so we won't be at that conference.

James Bell - (00:25:51)

Okay, well, all the best for the rest of the year. Thank you so much.

Denis Larocque - President and CEO - (00:25:55)

Okay, thank you.

OPERATOR - (00:25:58)

Thank you. Once again, please press Star one at this time if you have a question. And we have no further questions registered at this time. I would now like to turn the meeting back over to Daniel Arachnid.

Daniel Arachnid - (00:26:13)

Well, thank you. And please don't forget to join us at our AGM today, which will be held in person and virtually today at 3:30 Eastern Time. And all the details related to the AGM can be found on our website. So thank you for joining us today and hope to see you at our agm.

OPERATOR - (00:26:37)

Thank you. The conference has now ended. Please disconnect your lines at this time. And we thank you for your participation. Thank you.