ORBIT GARANT DRILLING REPORTS FISCAL 2024 FIRST QUARTER RESULTS

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VAL-D'OR, QC, Nov. 13, 2023 /CNW/ - Orbit Garant Drilling Inc. (TSX: OGD) ("Orbit Garant" or the "Company") today announced its financial results for the three-month period ended September 30, 2023 ("Q1 2024"). All dollar amounts are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise stated.

Financial Highlights

($ amounts in millions,

except per share amounts)

Three months ended
September 30, 2023

Three months ended
September 30, 2022

Revenue

$44.3

$53.3

Gross Profit

$4.1

$6.2

Gross Margin (%)

9.4

11.7

Adjusted Gross Margin (%)1

15.2

16.3

EBITDA2

$3.0

$5.8

Net earnings (loss)

$(0.4)

$1.1

Net earnings (loss) per share



       - Basic and diluted

$(0.01)

$0.03

1 Adjusted Gross Margin is a non-IFRS financial measure and is defined as Gross Profit excluding depreciation expenses. See "Reconciliation of Non-IFRS financial measures".

2 EBITDA is a non-IFRS financial measure and is defined as earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, See "Reconciliation of Non-IFRS financial measures".

"The decline in revenue and profitability in the quarter reflect the temporary suspension of drilling projects in Québec during July due to forest fires, as well as customer decisions to temporarily suspend or reduce drilling activity on certain other projects in Canada during the fourth quarter of last fiscal year. All our projects that were impacted by forest fires were back at full operation by July 26, and we are gradually resuming operations on projects that were suspended or reduced due to customer decisions. Two of these projects have already resumed and we expect to restart operations on the others by January 2024," said Pierre Alexandre, President and CEO of Orbit Garant.

"We recently renewed a large, specialized drilling contract in Canada with a senior gold mining customer for a three-year term. This contract renewal will result in the continued operation of 15 to 20 of our surface and underground drill rigs on the customer's project sites and is in line with our strategy to focus on projects with senior and well-financed intermediate gold mining customers in Canada. Customer demand remains strong in Canada, and we are seeing increased demand in Chile. Prices for gold and copper remain favourable to support mineral exploration and development spending in our markets."

First Quarter Results

Revenue for Q1 2024 totalled $44.3 million, a decrease of 16.8% compared to $53.3 million for the three-month period ended September 30, 2022 ("Q1 2023"). Canada revenue totalled $33.0 million in Q1 2024, a decline of 23.0% compared to $42.8 million in Q1 2023. Approximately $2.0 million of the decline is attributable to the suspension of the Company's drilling projects in Québec during the month of July due to forest fires. The remaining year-over-year decline in revenue was primarily attributable to customer decisions to temporarily suspend or reduce drilling activity on certain projects during the fourth quarter of Fiscal 2023. The Company restarted operations on all its drilling projects that were impacted by forest fires by July 26, and expects to resume full operations on other projects that were temporarily suspended or reduced due to customer decisions by January 2024. One of these projects resumed in mid-August and another resumed in early September. International revenue increased 8.7% to $11.3 million in Q1 2024 from $10.5 million in Q1 2023, reflecting increased drilling activity in Chile and Guinea, partially offset by a reduction of drilling activity in Guyana and Burkina Faso.