HELIX ENERGY SOLUTIONS GROUP INC (HLX)

Item 2. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS AND ASSUMPTIONS

This Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q (this “Quarterly Report”) contains or incorporates by reference various statements that contain forward-looking information regarding Helix and represent our current expectations or forecasts of future events. This forward-looking information is intended to be covered by the safe harbor for “forward-looking statements” provided by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 as set forth in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). All statements included herein or incorporated by reference herein that are predictive in nature, that depend upon or refer to future events or conditions, or that use terms and phrases such as “achieve,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “budget,” “expect,” “forecast,” “plan,” “project,” “propose,” “strategy,” “predict,” “envision,” “hope,” “intend,” “will,” “continue,” “may,” “potential,” “should,” “could” and similar terms and phrases are forward-looking statements although not all forward-looking statements contain such identifying words. Included in forward-looking statements are, among other things:

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Although we believe that the expectations reflected in our forward-looking statements are reasonable and are based on reasonable assumptions, they do involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. These factors include:

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Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

The following management’s discussion and analysis should be read in conjunction with our historical consolidated financial statements located in Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data of this Annual Report. Any reference to Notes in the following management’s discussion and analysis refers to the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements located in Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data of this Annual Report. The results of operations reported and summarized below are not necessarily indicative of future operating results. This discussion also contains forward-looking statements that reflect our current views with respect to future events and financial performance. Our actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of certain factors, such as those set forth under Item 1A. Risk Factors and located earlier in this Annual Report.

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Our Business

We are an international offshore energy services company that provides specialty services to the offshore energy industry, with a focus on well intervention, robotics and decommissioning operations. We operate through our four business segments: Well Intervention, Robotics, Shallow Water Abandonment and Production Facilities. Our services are key in supporting a global energy transition by maximizing production of existing oil and gas reserves, decommissioning end-of-life oil and gas fields and supporting renewable energy developments.

We maximize production of existing oil and gas reserves for our customers primarily in our Well Intervention segment. Historically, drilling rigs have been the asset class used for offshore well intervention work, and rig rates are a pricing indicator for our services. Our customers have used drilling rigs on existing long-term contracts (rig overhang) to perform well intervention work instead of new drilling activities. Current volumes of work, rig utilization rates, the rates quoted by drilling rig contractors and existing rig overhang affect the utilization and/or rates we can achieve for our well intervention assets and services.

Once end-of-life oil and gas wells have depleted their production, we P&A and decommission wells and infrastructure in our Well Intervention and Shallow Water Abandonment segments. We believe that our well intervention vessels have a competitive advantage in performing these services more efficiently than rigs, and with our suite of shallow water assets and capabilities, we are the only provider capable of providing all facets of decommissioning services in the Gulf of America shelf.

We support renewable energy primarily in our Robotics segment through our services in offshore wind farm developments, including subsea cable trenching and burial as well as seabed clearance and preparation services. Demand for our services in the renewable energy market is affected by various factors, including the level of offshore wind farm projects, the pace of industry shift towards renewable energy sources, global electricity demand, technological advancements that increase the generation and/or reduce the cost of renewable energy, expansion of offshore renewable energy projects to deeper water and other regions, and government subsidies for renewable energy projects and/or other governmental regulations supporting or restricting renewable energy developments.

Current Market Environment

Commodity prices dropped 20% during 2025 and have been volatile throughout the year. The current energy market remains uncertain following the ongoing escalation of tariffs and geopolitical tensions globally and their impact on the global economy and energy demands. The offshore oil and gas market continues to evaluate governmental regulations and changes thereto, including the ongoing effects of the U.K. government’s Energy Profits Levy, geopolitical instability and uncertainty, regional conflicts and tensions, unrest in the Middle East, Ukraine and Venezuela, and customer spending declines following mergers in the U.K. North Sea. These factors have shifted spending decisions of our customers into 2026 and prolonged a supply and demand imbalance for offshore vessels, which has negatively impacted activity levels and rates in regions in which we operate.

The international wind market continues to be robust, with continued activity and sanctioned work primarily in Europe and Asia Pacific. U.S. wind farm activity has decreased and remains uncertain following the 2025 Wind Energy Ban, a Presidential Memorandum issued in the U.S. in January 2025 temporarily withdrawing wind energy leasing in the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf.

Business Activity Summary

During 2025, we experienced declined activity levels in the North Sea and Gulf of America with lower customer spending due to the uncertain market environment. However, we were able to maintain significant backlog that will provide strong utilization for our vessels and equipment over multiple years. Notable new contracts executed in 2025 include:

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During 2025, we executed and/or extended various leases including the charters on the Trym, the North Sea Enabler, and the Patriot, which was delivered to us in January 2026.

We continue to maintain our capital allocation policy of maintaining low levels of Net Debt, maintaining our existing assets, opportunistically targeting markets that complement and further our strategy, and using Free Cash Flow to return cash to shareholders through share repurchases (See “Results of Operations — Non-GAAP Financial Measures” below for definitions of Net Debt and Free Cash Flow).

Outlook

Our 2026 performance should be supported by our existing backlog, of which $694 million is for contracts over the next 12 months, as well as expected new contracting and the materialization of work that had been deferred from 2025. We expect to see continued strong market demand for our Robotics services, in particular our trenching and site preparation offerings. We anticipate an ongoing challenged market for certain of our assets not under long-term contracts, namely in spot markets for our Well Intervention segment, specifically in the North Sea and on the Q4000 and the Q7000, and in our Shallow Water Abandonment segment, during which time we expect a soft rate environment and uncertain utilization of those vessels and systems.

Beyond 2026, we anticipate increasing energy consumption will continue to place demand for our services in both the oil and gas and renewable energy sectors. We believe these needs will continue to increase customer operating expenditure budgets and demand for our production enhancement offerings and decommissioning services internationally, which should grow over the mid- to long-term as the subsea tree base expands and as customers discharge their decommissioning obligations. We expect long-term growth in our renewables services as the global demand for energy increases and the international energy market continues offshore renewable energy developments. We expect the demand for shallow water decommissioning services in the Gulf of America to also improve over time as former owners address their decommissioning obligations related to oil and gas properties that have reverted to them following bankruptcies.

Backlog

Our backlog is represented by signed contracts. As of December 31, 2025, our consolidated backlog totaled $1.3 billion, of which $694 million is expected to be performed in 2026. As of December 31, 2025, our various contracts with Shell and Subsea 7 globally, our contracts with Petrobras in Brazil, our contracts with Talos in the Gulf of America, and our new multi-year agreements with NKT and CNR in the North Sea collectively represented approximately 82% of our total backlog. As of December 31, 2024, our consolidated backlog totaled $1.4 billion. Backlog is not necessarily a reliable indicator of revenues derived from our contracts as (i) services are often added but may sometimes be subtracted; (ii) contracts may be renegotiated, deferred, canceled and in many cases modified while in progress; and (iii) reduced rates, fines and penalties may be imposed by our customers. Furthermore, our contracts are in certain cases cancelable without penalty. If there are cancellation fees, the amount of those fees can be substantially less than amounts reflected in backlog.

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RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

A non-GAAP financial measure is generally defined by the SEC as a numerical measure of a company’s historical or future performance, financial position or cash flows that includes or excludes amounts from the most directly comparable measure under U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”). Non-GAAP financial measures should be viewed in addition to, and not as an alternative to, our reported results prepared in accordance with GAAP. Users of this financial information should consider the types of events and transactions that are excluded from these measures.

We evaluate our operating performance and financial condition based on EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA, Free Cash Flow and Net Debt. EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA, Free Cash Flow and Net Debt are non-GAAP financial measures that are commonly used but are not recognized accounting terms under GAAP. We use EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA, Free Cash Flow and Net Debt to monitor and facilitate internal evaluation of the performance of our business operations, to facilitate external comparison of our business results to those of others in our industry, to analyze and evaluate financial and strategic planning decisions regarding future investments and acquisitions, to plan and evaluate operating budgets, and in certain cases, to report our results to the holders of our debt as required by our debt covenants. We believe that our measures of EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA, Free Cash Flow and Net Debt provide useful information to the public regarding our operating performance and ability to service debt and fund capital expenditures and may help our investors understand and compare our results to other companies that have different financing, capital and tax structures. Other companies may calculate their measures of EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA, Free Cash Flow and Net Debt differently from the way we do, which may limit their usefulness as comparative measures. EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA, Free Cash Flow and Net Debt should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for, but instead are supplemental to, income from operations, net income, cash flows from operating activities, or other data prepared in accordance with GAAP.

We define EBITDA as earnings before income taxes, net interest expense, net other income or expense, and depreciation and amortization expense. To arrive at our measure of Adjusted EBITDA,

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