ORBIT GARANT DRILLING REPORTS FISCAL 2024 SECOND QUARTER RESULTS

VAL-D’OR, QC, Feb. 7, 2024 /CNW/ – Orbit Garant Drilling Inc. (TSX:OGD) (“Orbit Garant” or the “Company”) today announced its financial results for the three-month (“Q2 2024”) and six-month periods ended December 31, 2023. All dollar amounts are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise stated.

“Our second quarter results reflect customer decisions to temporarily suspend or reduce drilling activity on certain projects in Canada beginning in the fourth quarter of Fiscal 2023,” said Pierre Alexandre, President and CEO of Orbit Garant. “This reduction in drilling activity impacted revenue, while our labour costs remained stable as we retained key personnel given the competitive workforce market and in expectation of these projects gradually resuming. We also incurred additional costs to ramp the projects back up, which further impacted profitability in the quarter. As expected, all these projects were fully resumed as of January 2024.”

“With this issue now behind us, we are well positioned to benefit from continued strong customer demand in Canada. Gold prices recently reached record levels above US$2,100 per ounce, giving our senior and intermediate gold mining customers strong incentive to maintain or expand their exploration and development spending. We are also experiencing increased customer demand and improved performance in our Chilean operations.”

“During the second quarter, we completed our final drilling projects in Burkina Faso and Guinea and are currently in the process of exiting West Africa. We expect this decision will positively impact our future margins. We are now primarily focused on our core Canadian gold drilling operations, while selectively pursuing attractive opportunities in South America.”

Revenue for Q2 2024 totalled $43.4 million, a decrease of 16.0% compared to $51.6 million for the three-month period ended December 31, 2022 (“Q2 2023”). Canada revenue totalled $29.6 million in Q2 2024, a decline of 22.7% compared to $38.3 million in Q2 2023. The decline was primarily attributable to customer decisions to temporarily suspend or reduce drilling activity on certain projects during the first six months of Fiscal 2024. These projects started to gradually resume in August 2023, and were fully resumed by January 2024. Orbit Garant elected to keep its drilling personnel employed in anticipation of the gradual resumption of these projects. International revenue increased 3.0% to $13.8 million in Q2 2024 from $13.3 million in Q2 2023, reflecting increased drilling activity in Chile, partially offset by a reduction of drilling …

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