Mitcham Industries Inc Q4 2013 Earnings Conference Call Transcript

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

Question: Veny Aleksandrov - FIG Partners - Analyst : My first question is on the US land. It was not so strong in the quarter. And can you just -- can we drill down a little bit on this weather and permitting issues? You say that you have a very high number of bid requests. Can we see a revival on big sites in 2014?

Question: Veny Aleksandrov - FIG Partners - Analyst : (laughter) It's US land; one question.

Question: Veny Aleksandrov - FIG Partners - Analyst : Correct. 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: Veny Aleksandrov - FIG Partners - Analyst : Great. And only one question, Bill, I promise. (laughter) South America, the quarter was again weaker than last year; but how much was because of the rainy season? And how much was because still of permitting delays?

Question: Veny Aleksandrov - FIG Partners - Analyst : Right, but you're seeing some improvement, hopefully?

Question: Veny Aleksandrov - FIG Partners - Analyst : Okay. Thank you so much for answering my questions. (multiple speakers) 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: Ryan Fitzgibbon - Global Hunter Securities, LLC - Analyst : I'll start off on Canada and Russia. Can you maybe help us quantify the leasing revenue impact? Or, I guess, increase you're expecting in Q1 versus Q4 of fiscal '13? I guess -- or, if it's easier, what was the contribution last year from that market, those two markets? Now we're supposed to be up

Question: Ryan Fitzgibbon - Global Hunter Securities, LLC - Analyst : Yes, sir.

Question: Ryan Fitzgibbon - Global Hunter Securities, LLC - Analyst : Okay. No, that's very helpful.

Question: Ryan Fitzgibbon - Global Hunter Securities, LLC - Analyst : Yes, yes. Second question will be on the Seamap side of the business. Where does the backlog stand today? I know Q1 of last year, you delivered several GunLink and BuoyLink systems in the quarter. So I understand it's going to be down on a year-over-year basis. But should we expect some deliveries, maybe flat with Q4 levels, in Q1? And how does that backlog trend throughout the year? I know it sounds like the majority of the revenues are more back-half weighted, if I understand it correctly? 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: Ryan Fitzgibbon - Global Hunter Securities, LLC - Analyst : Okay, that's definitely helpful. And then if I can, a follow-up to that question. What are you seeing as a good aftermarket revenue run rate for that business right now? And is there any additional capital you need to maybe deploy to the Seamap side to increase capacity? Or are we not capacity-constrained at this point in time?

Question: Ryan Fitzgibbon - Global Hunter Securities, LLC - Analyst :

Question: Joel Luton - Westlake Securities - Analyst : Just a couple questions, since I'm only allocated two. (laughter) But in terms of your CapEx expectations for '13, what is that? And also -- and then, I'm going to count this as one question. Now, in talking with you all before, you really -- the bulk of your cable is -- your channels are cabled versus cable-less. And there definitely seems to be a trend, at least talking with a lot of, like, Global GEO and Dawson, that they are switching their systems to a cable-less network. Do you anticipate doing that going forward, spending more of your CapEx to build a cable-less or nodal system to replace your cabled systems?

Question: Joel Luton - Westlake Securities - Analyst : Do you think in this year you'll be -- the bulk of your CapEx will be going toward cable-free?

Question: Joel Luton - Westlake Securities - Analyst : Okay. (multiple speakers)

Question: Joel Luton - Westlake Securities - Analyst : And then just one more question. What's your -- what do you expect your effective tax rate to be this year?

Question: Joel Luton - Westlake Securities - Analyst : Yes.

Question: Joel Luton - Westlake Securities - Analyst : okay. Thanks, guys. 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 - Kansas City Capital Associates - Analyst : Quick question. Given these delays that we've experienced in Latin America, can you give us a sense -- obviously, you've got 20,000 channels sitting in a warehouse. You must have some degree of confidence that will be utilized sometime this year and especially through the summer months. Give us a sense of the permit life, and why you are feeling fairly confident that those channels will be put to use this summer, maybe as opposed to the last year or other types. Are we compressed in any way or have any kind of deadlines that we're hitting?

Question: Tyson Bauer - Kansas City Capital Associates - Analyst : Well, that sounds good. Second question, then, is when do we start to get a sense on the real activity and the true demand coming from Eastern Europe and the CIS area, to transition some of those channels from Russia into that new summertime geographic region?

Question: Tyson Bauer - Kansas City Capital Associates - Analyst : Will we have any loosening up of regulations or anything like Poland, down in those areas that have been tied up in prior years?

Question: Tyson Bauer - Kansas City Capital Associates - Analyst : All right. Thank you, gentlemen. 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: Georg Venturatos - Johnson Rice & Company - Analyst : (multiple speakers) Just wanted to talk about winter season. You know, obviously, we're hoping it extends a little longer in Canada and Russia. Given we typically have that transition period in 2Q moving those channels, and we seem to have some incremental channels in those regions, given what we know today, where are those likely to be relocated, if you had to think about it right now? I mean, do you put more back down in Latin America, hoping that we'd kind of move through some of these permit issues by then? Or what are you thinking right now?

Question: Georg Venturatos - Johnson Rice & Company - Analyst : Right, understood. And you guys touched on this a little bit earlier. But on the Seamap side, remind me how far out our visibility is there. I know you mentioned some orders that you had for 2Q. I mean, the back-half weighted comment -- is that based on discussions? Or do we have some things booked? How should we think about that?

Question: Georg Venturatos - Johnson Rice & Company - Analyst : Okay, great. Appreciate the answers, guys.