NATURAL GAS SERVICES GROUP INC 10-Q

Item 2. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations The discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations are based on, and should be read in conjunction with, our condensed consolidated financial statements and the related notes included elsewhere in this report and in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023 filed with the SEC (the "Annual Report"). This report and our Annual Report, as amended, contain certain forward-looking statements, within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and information pertaining to us, our industry and the oil and natural gas industry that is based on the beliefs of our management, as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to our management. All statements, other than statements of historical facts contained in this report as well as our Annual Report, including statements regarding our future financial position, growth strategy, budgets, projected costs, plans and objectives of management for future operations, are forward-looking statements. We use the words “may,” “will,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “believe,” “continue,” “intend,” “plan,” “budget” and other similar words to identify forward-looking statements. You should read statements that contain these words carefully and should not place undue reliance on these statements because they discuss future expectations, contain projections of results of operations or of our financial condition and/or state other “forward-looking” information. We do not undertake any obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements. Although we believe our expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, no assurance can be given that these expectations or assumptions will prove to have been correct. Please read Item 1A, Risk Factors, in our Annual Report, as it contains important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements. Overview We rent, operate and maintain, as well as sell natural gas compressors and related equipment. We also design, fabricate and manufacture compressor units both for sale and rental to our customers. Some fabrication work is done in-house with an increasing amount done by third-party contractors. Our primary focus is on the rental of natural gas compressors. Our rental contracts generally provide for initial terms of six to 60 months, with our larger horsepower units having longer initial terms than our small and medium horsepower units. After the initial term of our rental contracts, most of our customers have continued to rent our compressors on a month-to-month basis. Rental amounts are billed monthly in advance and include maintenance of the rented compressors. As of March 31, 2024, we had 1,245 natural gas compressors totaling 444,220 horsepower rented t o 80 customers compared to 1,245 natural gas compressors totaling 335,314 horsepower rented to 74 customers at March 31, 2023. We also fabricate natural gas compressors for sale to our customers, designing compressors to meet unique specifications dictated by well pressures, production characteristics and particular applications for which compression is sought. Fabrication of compressors involves our purchase of engines, compressors, coolers and other components, and our assembling of these components on skids for delivery to customer locations. These major components of our compressors are acquired through periodic purchase orders placed with third-party suppliers on an “as needed” basis, which presently requires a minimum three to twelve month lead time with delivery dates scheduled to coincide with our estimated production schedules. Although we do not have formal continuing supply contracts with any major supplier, we believe we have adequate alternative sources available. Finally due to supply chain disruptions as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russian invasion of the Ukraine and the increased rate of inflation, we continue to experience cost increases and sporadic unavailability of many of our parts needed to fabricate and maintain our rental fleet. While we have a robust supplier network, pricing pressure from our customers and competitors may present challenges in increasing our rental rates to offset these increased costs which could have a material adverse effect on the results of our operations and financial condition, particularly if we were unable to increase our rental rates and sales prices proportionate to any such component price increases. We also use third-party contractors for fabrication and these companies may experience the same risks. In December 2023, we decided to cease fabrication of new compressor units for sale or rental to customers at our Midland, Texas facility. We continue to maintain new unit compressor fabrication capability at our Tulsa, Oklahoma facility as well as having relationships with multiple outsourced compressor fabrication providers. We also manufacture a line of compressor frames, cylinders and parts, known as our CiP (Cylinder-in-Plane) product line. We use finished CiP component products in the fabrication of compressor units for sale or rental by us or sell the finished component products to other compressor fabricators. Although we have significantly de-emphasized our flare product line, we continue to hold a limited inventory of flare stacks and related ignition and control devices for onshore and offshore incineration of gas compounds such as hydrogen sulfide, carbon dioxide, natural gas and liquefied petroleum gases. To provide 14 customer support for our compressor and flare sales businesses, we stock varying levels of replacement parts at our Midland, Texas facility and at field service locations. We also provide an exchange and rebuild program for screw compressors and maintain an inventory of new and used compressors to facilitate this business. We provide aftermarket services to our non-rental customers under written maintenance contracts or on an as-required basis in the absence of a service contract. The oil and natural gas equipment rental and services industry is cyclical in nature. The most critical factor in assessing the outlook for the industry is the worldwide supply and demand for oil and natural gas and the corresponding changes in commodity prices. As demand and prices increase, oil and natural gas producers typically increase their capital expenditures for drilling, development and production activities, although recent equity capital constraints and demands from institutional investors to keep spending within operating cash flow have meaningfully restrained capital expenditure budgets of domestic exploration and production companies. Generally, increased capital expenditures result in greater revenues and profits for service and equipment companies. Generally, higher commodity prices lead to higher capital expenditures by oil and natural gas producers and higher levels of production. In general, we expect our overall business activity and revenues to track the level of activity in the oil and natural gas industry, specifically production levels, with changes in crude oil and condensate production and consumption levels and prices affecting our business more than changes in domestic natural gas production and consumption levels and prices. In recent years we have increased our rental and sales in unconventional oil shale plays, which are more dependent on crude oil prices. With this shift towards oil production, the demand for overall compression services and products is driven by two general factors; an increased focus by producers on artificial lift applications, e.g., production enhancement with compression assisted gas lift; and declining reservoir pressure in maturing natural gas producing fields, especially non-conventional production. These latter types of applications have historically been serviced by wellhead size compressors, and continue to be, but there has also been an economic move by our customers towards centralized drilling and production facilities, which have increased the market need for single and multiple larger horsepower compressor packages. We recognized this need and shifted our focus towards designing, fabricating and renting gas compressor packages that range from 400 horsepower up to 2,500 horsepower. While this is a response to market conditions and trends, it also provides us with the opportunity to compete as a full-line compression provider. We typically experience a decline in demand during periods of low crude oil and natural gas prices. In recent years, our level of activity has become more largely driven by the price of crude oil as opposed to natural gas. During the first quarter of 2020, due to COVID, we saw a substantial decline in the prices for oil and natural gas. While prices largely recovered in 2021 and then stabilized more recently, activity levels of exploration and production companies have been and will continue to be dependent not only on commodity prices, but also on their ability to generate sufficient operational cash flow to fund their activities. Generally, we feel that the level of demand for our compressor services is more closely tied to production activities, which are likely to fare better than drilling activity in periods of declining commodity prices. For fiscal year 2024, our forecasted capital expenditures will be directly dependent upon our customers’ compression requirements and our capital availability, while maintaining prudent levels of debt. We believe that cash on hand, cash flows from operations and borrowings under our revolving credit facility will be sufficient to satisfy our capital and liquidity requirements through 2024. If we require additional capital to fund any significant unanticipated expenditures, including any material acquisitions of other businesses, joint ventures or other opportunities, this additional capital could exceed our current resources, might not be available to us when we need it, or might not be on acceptable terms. Industry Update We typically experience a decline in demand during periods of low crude oil and natural gas prices. During the first quarter of 2020, we saw a substantial decline in the prices for oil and natural gas. Commodity prices stabilized somewhat during 2021 and increased in the first half of 2022 and declined in the second half of 2022 but have remained relatively stable since that time. Historically, activity levels of exploration and production companies have been dependent on commodity prices. However, recent capital market focus on cash returns from exploration and production companies has restricted capital spending below levels that have historically been observed during higher commodity price environments. Generally, though, we believe that production activities (in which we are involved) will fare better than drilling activity. This is reflected in both the stability of our rental revenues, which is driven by production activities, and the volatility of our compressor sales, which tends to fluctuate with customers' capital allocations. As such, we still expect compressor sales to be low for the foreseeable future, as exploration and production companies have elected to rent compression units rather than allocating capital dollars to purchase new compression. Accordingly, we have chosen to deemphasize the new unit fabrication portion of our business and instead focus our efforts on our rental business. 15 Results of Operations Three months ended March 31, 2024, compared to the three months ended March 31, 2023. The table below shows our revenues and percentage of total revenues of each of our product lines for the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023. Three months ended March 31, 2024 2023 (in thousands) Rental $ 33,734 91.4 % $ 22,723 85.4 % Sales 2,503 6.8 % 2,992 11.2 % Aftermarket service 670 1.8 % 905 3.4 % Total $ 36,907 $ 26,620 Total revenue increased 38.6% to $36.9 million for the three months ended March 31, 2024 compared to $26.6 million for the three months ended March 31, 2023. This increase was primarily a result of higher rental revenue (48.5% increase) during 2024. Rental revenue increased to $33.7 million for the three months ended March 31, 2024 compared to $22.7 million for the same period in 2023. This increase during the first quarter of 2024 was attributable to an increase in high horsepower compression rentals and rate increases. As of March 31, 2024, we had 1,894 compressor packages in our fleet, up from 1,875 units at March 31, 2023 due to the additional of high horsepower units during 2023 partially offset by the retirement of units during the fourth quarter of 2023 and th e disposition of a small number of compressors from the fleet during this year. The Company's total unit horsepower increased to 542,256 horsepower at March 31, 2024 compared to 433,013 horsepower at March 31, 2023, due to additions to the Company's fleet of 78 high horsepower compressors over the past 12 months. As of March 31, 2024, we had 1,245 natural gas compressors with a total of 444,220 horsepower rented to 80 customers, compared to 1,245 natural gas compressors with a total of 335,314 horsepower rented to 74 customers as of March 31, 2023. As a result of the addition of high horsepower units during 2023 and these units being rented to customers, our total rented horsepower as of March 31, 2024 increased by 32.5% over the last twelve months. Our rental fleet had unit utilization as of March 31, 2024, and 2023, respectively, of 65.7% and 66.4%, and our horsepower utilization for the same dates increased to 81.9% from 77.4%. Our total rented horsepower increased by 32.5% contrasted against a flat number of total rented units. This illustrates the growing demand for our high horsepower units while the demand for our smaller and medium horsepower units has remained relatively constant over this time period. Sales revenue decreased (16.3)% to $2.5 million for the three months ended March 31, 2024 compared to $3.0 million for the three months ended March 31, 2023. This decrease is primarily attributable to lower compressor sales during the first quarter of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023. Sales are subject to fluctuations in timing of industry activity related to our customers' capital projects and, as such, can vary substantially between periods and due in part to this, we have decided to shift the focus of our business away from sales of new compressor packages to renting our owned units to our customers. Aftermarket service revenue decreased 26.0% to $0.7 million for the three months ended March 31, 2024 compared to $0.9 million for the three months ended March 31, 2023. This decrease is primarily attributable to lower revenue from commissioning of new units during the three months ended March 31, 2024 compared to the same quarter in the previous year. Cost of rentals increased t o $13.1 million during the three months ended March 31, 2024 compared to $11.6 million during the three months ended March 31, 2023. This 12.6% increase in costs of rentals is primarily due to more rented horsepower during the first quarter of 2024. Cost of sales decreased 32.7% to $2.2 million during the three months ended March 31, 2024 compared to $3.2 million during the three months ended March 31, 2023. This decrease was primarily due to lower sales activity. 16 Selling, general, and administrative ("SG&A") expenses increased 3.1% to $4.7 million for the three months ended March 31, 2024 compared $4.6 million during the same period in 2023. SG&A increased due to higher consulting and health insurance expenses partially offset by lower legal fees. Depreciation and amortization expense increased to $7.1 million for the three months ended March 31, 2024 compared to $6.2 million for the three months ended March 31, 2023, due to depreciation expense for high horsepower units acquired during 2023. We recorded an income tax expense of approximately $1.5 million for the three months ended March 31, 2024 compared to an income tax expense of $0.2 million for the three months ended March 31, 2023. For interim periods, our income tax expense is computed based upon our estimated annual effective tax rate and any discrete items that impact the interim periods. Our estimated annual effective tax rate differs from the U.S. federal statutory rate of 21% primarily as a result of certain expenses not being deductible for income tax purposes. Non-GAAP Financial Measures Our definition and use of Adjusted EBITDA “Adjusted EBITDA” is a non-GAAP financial measure that we define as earnings (net (loss) income) before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, as well as non-cash stock compensation, severance expenses, impairment expenses, an increase in inventory allowance and inventory write-offs, and retirement of rental equipment. This term, as used and defined by us, may not be comparable to similarly titled measures employed by other companies and is not a measure of performance calculated in accordance with GAAP. Adjusted EBITDA should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for operating income, net income or loss, cash flows provided by operating, investing and financing activities, or other income or cash flow statement data prepared in accordance with GAAP. However, management believes Adjusted EBITDA is useful to an investor in evaluating our operating performance because: • it is widely used by investors in the energy industry to measure a company’s operating performance without regard to items excluded from the calculation of Adjusted EBITDA, which can vary substantially from company to company depending upon accounting methods and book value of assets, capital structure and the method by which assets were acquired, among other factors; • it helps investors to more meaningfully evaluate and compare the results of our operations from period to period by removing the impact of our capital structure and asset base from our operating structure; and • it is used by our management for various purposes, including as a measure of operating performance, in presentations to our Board of Directors, and as a basis for strategic planning and forecasting. Adjusted EBITDA has limitations as an analytical tool, and you should not consider it in isolation, or as a substitute for analysis of our results as reported under generally accepted accounting principles. Some of these limitations are: • Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect our cash expenditures, future requirements for capital expenditures, or contractual commitments; • Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect changes in, or cash requirements for, our working capital needs; • Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect the cash requirements necessary to service interest or principal payments on our debts; and • although depreciation and amortization are non-cash charges, the assets being depreciated and amortized will often have to be replaced in the future, and Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect any capital expenditures for such replacements. There are other material limitations to using Adjusted EBITDA as a measure of performance, including the inability to analyze the impact of certain recurring items that materially affect our net income or loss, and the lack of comparability of results of operations of different companies. Please read the table below under “Reconciliation” to see how Adjusted EBITDA reconciles to our net (loss) income, for the three months ended and the nine months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023, the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure. 17 Reconciliation The following table reconciles our net income, the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure, to Adjusted EBITDA: Three months ended March 31, 2024 2023 (in thousands) Net income (loss) $ 5,098 $ 370 Interest expense 2,935 — Income tax expense 1,479 150 Depreciation and amortization 7,087 6,165 Non-cash stock compensation expense 274 487 Severance expenses — 612 Retirement of rental equipment 5 — Adjusted EBITDA $ 16,878 $ 7,784 For the three months ended March 31, 2024, Adjusted EBITDA increased $9.1 million, or 116.8%, due primarily to an $11.0 million i ncrease in rental revenues partially offset by a $1.5 million increase in costs of rentals. Liquidity and Capital Resources Our working capital positions as of March 31, 2024 and December 31, 2023 are set forth below: March 31, December 31, 2024 2023 (in thousands) Current Assets: Cash and cash equivalents $ 5,239 $ 2,746 Trade accounts receivable, net 42,341 39,186 Inventory 18,811 21,639 Federal income tax receivable 11,512 11,538 Prepaid expenses and other 938 1,162 Total current assets 78,841 76,271 Current Liabilities: Accounts payable 12,431 17,628 Accrued liabilities 11,995 15,085 Total current liabilities 24,426 32,713 Total working capital $ 54,415 $ 43,558 For the three months ended March 31, 2024, we invested $10.9 million in rental equipment and other equipment by adding approximately $10.9 million in new equipment to our rental fleet and less than $0.1 million primarily in other machinery and equipment. Our investment in rental equipment and other equipment also includes any changes to work-in-process related to our rental fleet jobs at the beginning of the period compared to the end of the period. Our rental work-in-process increased by $7.6 million during the three months ended March 31, 2024. We financed our investment in rental equipment, property and other equipment with cash flow from operations, and borrowings under our Amended and Restated Credit Facility. We anticipate that our cash flows from operations as well as our borrowing capacity under our Amended and Restated Credit Agreement will provide adequate liquidity for our planned capital expenditures during the remainder of 2024. For any new capital expenditures in 2024 and beyond that exceeds our cash flow from operations and our borrowing base under our Amended and Restated Credit Agreement, we anticipate that we would need to negotiate an expansion of our borrowing capacity under our Amended and Restated Credit Agreement or raise money in the capital markets through sales of equity or 18 debt securities. While we control the timing and extent of our capital expenditures, there is no assurance that any such borrowing expansion would be granted. At March 31, 2024 we had approximately $46.1 million available for borrowing under the Amended and Restated Credit Agreement, subject to borrowing base determination. Cash flows At March 31, 2024, we had cash and cash equivalents of $5.2 million compared to $2.7 million at December 31, 2023. Our cash flows from operating activities of $5.6 million were offset by capital expenditures of $10.9 million during the three months ended March 31, 2024. We had working capital of $54.4 million at March 31, 2024 compared to $43.6 million at December 31, 2023. We generated cash flows from operating activities of $5.6 million during the first three months of 2024 compared to cash flows provided by operating activities of $18.2 million for the first three months of 2023. Business Strategy Our long-term intentions to grow our revenue and profitability are based on the following business strategies; • Optimize existing utilized fleet. We believe there are opportunities to modestly improve the profitability of our existing utilized rental fleet through targeted price increases, particularly in geographic areas that have experienced high rates of cost inflation, along with operational efficiencies by using improved data collection and analysis to optimize our costs in labor, parts, and maintenance costs. • Improve asset utilization. We believe we can improve the overall cash flow of the business by increasing utilization of the existing fleet as well as creating investable cash from non-cash assets. We have a significant number of unutilized units—we will review these assets to determine where relatively low-cost capital expenditures can improve the marketability and cash flow potential of the units. We also have a significant amount of capital tied up in non-cash assets (including working capital and fixed assets) that we believe can be monetized and invested back in the fleet at or above target levels of return on invested capital. • Expand rental fleet . We intend to prudently increase the size of our rental fleet mainly through pre-contracted agreements with our customers. We believe our future growth in this part of our strategy will be primarily driven through our placement of larger horsepower, centralized wellhead natural gas compressors for unconventional oil production, with select increases in medium horsepower units to meet customer demand beyond our inventory. • Execute accretive mergers and acquisitions. We believe there are opportunities in mergers with or acquisitions of competitive rental compression companies or related businesses providing similar services. While there is no certainty as to the probability of any particular deal, we will continue to evaluate potential acquisitions, joint ventures and other opportunities that could enhance value for our shareholders. Critical Accounting Policies and Practices Our condensed consolidated financial statements are prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States. In the ordinary course of business, we have made a number of estimates and assumptions relating to the reporting of results of operations and financial condition in the preparation of our financial statements in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States. Actual results could differ significantly from those estimates under different assumptions and conditions. Management has determined that our critical accounting policies are those that relate to revenue recognition, estimating the allowance for doubtful accounts, accounting for income taxes, accounting for long-lived assets and accounting for inventory. There have been no changes in the critical accounting policies disclosed in the Company's Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023. Recently Issued Accounting Pronouncements Please read Note 2, Summary of Significant Accounting Policies, Recently Issued Accounting Pronouncements in our condensed consolidated financial statements in this report. 19 Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements From time-to-time, we enter into off-balance sheet arrangements and transactions that can give rise to off-balance sheet obligations. As of March 31, 2024, the off-balance sheet arrangements and transactions that we have entered into include purchase agreements. We do not believe that these arrangements are reasonably likely to materially affect our liquidity or availability of capital resources. Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements Except for historical information contained herein, the statements in this report are forward-looking and made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which may cause our actual results in future periods to differ materially from forecasted results. Those risks include, among other things, the loss of market share through competition or otherwise; the introduction of competing technologies by other companies; a prolonged, substantial reduction in oil and natural gas prices, which could cause a decline in the demand for our products and services; and new governmental safety, health and environmental regulations, which could require us to make significant capital expenditures. The forward-looking statements included in this Form 10-Q are only made as of the date of this report, and we undertake no obligation to publicly update such forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances. A discussion of these and other risk factors is included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023 filed with the SEC. Item 3. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk There have been no changes in the market risks disclosed in the Company's Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023.