Mitcham Industries Inc Q4 2011 Earnings Conference Call Transcript

The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.

Question: Veny Aleksandrov - Pritchard Capital - Analyst : My first question is on the marine side. You had a couple of sales in the quarter, but also of the service and parts appraisement work. It looks like this market starts to revise and there are talks about possible starting to buildings of new vessels. Can you give us your take, how many new vessels do you expect to see entering the market, what's your potential market for Seamap in the next couple of years, and also what are you hearing about the two vessels that Polarcus put on hold a couple of years back? Are these coming back?

Question: Veny Aleksandrov - Pritchard Capital - Analyst : Thank you and I promise my second one is going to be much shorter.

Question: Veny Aleksandrov - Pritchard Capital - Analyst : In terms of the US, and again you talked a lot about the shales, but we're seeing indications that the seismic demand is getting stronger by the day. When do you see the operators reaching full utilization of equipment and when do they start renting more from you? Is it going to be calendar 2011 or more like calendar 2012 event?

Question: Veny Aleksandrov - Pritchard Capital - Analyst : In the US?

Question: Veny Aleksandrov - Pritchard Capital - Analyst : Well, that sounds great. Thank you so much.

Question: Morgan Frank - Manchester Management - Analyst : I just have a question on equipment purchases. It looks like you've got $20 million bought and contracted so far for 2012 and as I look back over 2011 yet again equipment purchases were $2 million above cash flow from ops. Can we expect that to turn around at some point and start seeing free cash flow or what's your thinking there?

Question: Morgan Frank - Manchester Management - Analyst : Is that $20 million a good number for the year as a whole in 2012 or are we going to see that go up (multiple speakers)?

Question: Morgan Frank - Manchester Management - Analyst : What qualifies as a bit?

Question: Morgan Frank - Manchester Management - Analyst : Got it. Okay, thanks very much. REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies.

Question: Tyson Bauer - Wealth Monitors - Analyst : Good morning, gentlemen, and great progress.

Question: Tyson Bauer - Wealth Monitors - Analyst : A couple of quick questions. Can you give us a sense on the pricing environment given the robust utilization rates you're talking about and your outlook going forward? Are we starting to see some of that pricing work its way through and expanding those margins or is that still yet to come where we get the real benefits?

Question: Tyson Bauer - Wealth Monitors - Analyst : Should we expect a strong shift from those Russian channels going toward Eastern Europe the CIS states this summer? It's really soft in that seasonality that we've seen in the past. Is that kind of what you're seeing in that part of the world?

Question: Tyson Bauer - Wealth Monitors - Analyst : All right. And I'm going to be bold and take my third question and that is you filed a significant $60 million shelf in the middle of March. Obviously, you can't give us specifics, but is that something you expect to utilize in this calendar year or in the near-term? REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies.

Question: Tyson Bauer - Wealth Monitors - Analyst : All right. Thanks a lot, gentlemen.