Dexterra Group Q1 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
May 10, 2023

There are 6 speakers on the call.

Operator

This conference is being recorded. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the Dexterra Group's First Quarter Results Conference Call. I would now like to turn the meeting over to Drew Knight, Chief Financial Officer. Please go ahead.

Speaker 1

Thank you, Marie, and good morning. My name is Drew Knight and I am the Chief Financial Officer of Dexterra Group, Inc. With me today on the call are Mark Becker, CEO And our Board Chair, Bill McFarland, who will provide some brief introductory comments. After a brief presentation, we will take questions with the call ending by 9:15 We will be commenting on our Q1 2023 results with the assumption that you have read the Q1 earnings press release and MD and A and financial statements. We will be discussing our longer term vision at the AGM meeting later this morning, so please join us at 11 am.

Speaker 1

The slide presentation which supports today's comments is posted on our website and we encourage participants to access the slides and follow along with our presentation. Before we begin, I would like to make some comments about forward looking information. In yesterday's news release And on Slide 2 of the presentation that we have posted to our website, you will find cautionary notes in that regard. I won't read the content of the cautionary notes Excuse me. I won't read the content of the cautionary notes in their entirety.

Speaker 1

We do claim their protection for any forward looking information that we might disclose on this conference call today. I will now turn it over to Bill MacFarlane for his introductory comments.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Drew, and good morning. I'd like to start by welcoming Mark Becker in his new role as CEO effective March 1 to the call. The Board is very pleased that the CO transition has gone smoothly over the past few months and our results show the team hasn't missed a beat. Q1 was an important step in executing our 2023 full year business plan. It included continued success and growth in WASS, A step change with improved IFM profitability, a significant portion of the BC based modular fixed price contracts were completed And the modular business is now on the pathway towards better results.

Speaker 2

Dexterra is Also in a very strong financial position with good prospects for the rest of 'twenty three and beyond as we execute on our plan. Taking all of these factors into account, the Board announced yesterday that the company will file a normal course Both management and the major shareholder believe Dexterra's shares are significantly undervalued

Speaker 3

in the market. So Mark, with that introduction And welcome. I'll pass things over to you. Thanks very much, Bill. And first and foremost, let me say I'm very excited to To be speaking here today as the Dixera Group CEO.

Speaker 3

As Bill said in his remarks, Q1 is The Q1 of our 2023 business plan, which had a goal to significantly improve our profitability. And I'm happy to say we achieved that. Practically speaking, we completed much of what we set out to do, which is itemized on Slide 5, Producing strong results with improved profitability. It's generally a quiet quarter, just the way we like it with few unusual items. I'll speak to each business unit specifically, but suffice it to say it was overall a very good start to the year.

Speaker 3

So starting with IFM on Slide 6, The IFM team is focused on margin improvement through contract rationalization, effective execution and inflation management. Our 2022 acquisitions drove significant new revenue growth, including recent new contract wins, but now with improved profitability demonstrating their accretive acquisition thesis. For example, the Dana Foodservice business benefited from the lack of COVID restrictions in Q1 than what we saw in Q1 of 2022 with educational contracts now returning to normal capacity levels. The 2022 acquisitions are expected to deliver about $130,000,000 of revenue in 2023 at good margins. Also across the business, rationalization of loss contracts has improved margins in IFM.

Speaker 3

Proactive inflation management continues to yield results, managing the impacts and getting ahead of or minimizing the impact of the timing gap to recover cost increases from clients. Our Q1 results yielded margin improvement of 6 point 4% compared to 5.9% in Q4, excluding the impact of loss contracts, which are near to being fully rationalized at this point. Margin optimization and expansion continues to be our focus going forward in 2023 as well as continued organic growth. In Q1, we completed the acquisition of VCI Controls. This acquisition adds to our building and automation controls capability, which is a key proficiency for us as clients focus on ESG requirements, energy efficiency and carbon footprint reductions.

Speaker 3

New sales in the quarter was strong in IFM providing good momentum to start the year and revenue growth That will take effect in the back half of the year. A number of new contracts won recently are in the educational sector which will that will also tend to marginally increase our business seasonality in IFM. We continue to review and explore acquisition targets We continue to win market share and capitalize on high activity levels in the mining and energy sectors in Q1. Occupancy across Our network of workforce accommodations is strong at about 66% of about 19,000 total beds under management. Asset utilization energy services which is really access and relocatable rentals remains high at over 70 The Energy Services division proceeded with a special access matting investment in Q1 of $5,900,000 which is supporting a rental agreement to a key client under an advantaged multiyear contract.

Speaker 3

The Kitimat Crossroads Lodge is increasing, our occupancy is Forester activity is also expected to be slightly higher this year with 30,000,000 trees, total trees expected to be planted And our wildfire support activity in Q2 is off to a very strong start with dry conditions and heavy fire activity in Alberta as everybody has been seeing on the news. The Q1 adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of revenue was 14% for our loss business, which is consistent With Q1 of 2022, it is lower than 17% in Q4 of 2022. However, it is consistent once Q4 is normalized for the retroactive price increases of $2,800,000 that we had in Q4. Similar to IFM, we're also having a strong start to the year in new sales opportunities in WAFs, particularly focused around oil sands as well as Ontario Quebec Mining Projects and Workforce Accommodations. A key focus for Ross going forward is replacing major projects like Coastal Gasoline that have been tapering off to scheduled completion this year.

Speaker 3

With the new sales momentum, we are seeing on significant good margin opportunities in WOS are making good progress towards that goal. So lastly, Modular on Slide 8. The modular solution business delivered expected revenue and improved profitability over the quarter as a result of the continued execution of our 4 point business turnaround plan. Efforts around commercial contract improvement, stronger project and supply chain management Are creating better cost certainty in our projects with the further diversification of the business progressing as our remaining medium term initiative. We continue to work through the backlog of BC Housing fixed price affordable housing projects.

Speaker 3

The business completed about $13,000,000 of that backlog in Q1 with no margin contribution. The remaining $35,000,000 of that backlog is expected to be substantially completed by Q3 or Perhaps into Q4. The provision booked in Q4 to cover higher costs to complete these projects remains reasonable based on current project status and negotiations. Revenue in the quarter outside of the BC housing projects had roughly a 4% EBITDA margin. The demand for affordable housing in Canada also continues to grow.

Speaker 3

Our pipeline and backlog of modular projects and business activities, We expect to expand over the course of the summer as federal municipal governments approve funding on new projects. We put in a substantial number of quotes and proposals may result in some temporary slowdowns in manufacturing capacity at our plants and overall project activity in Q2 and Q3. However, we still expect to exceed $200,000,000 in modular revenue in 2023. Also the modular diversification plan with our U. S.

Speaker 3

Supply only projects has been impacted by the higher interest rate environment as clients are deferring or slowing down projects with weakening demand for new project starts. Building the backlog is a priority. In spite of the challenges I described, we are seeing other areas of opportunities in industrial and indigenous housing projects as well as an active educational portables market. With that, I'll turn it now back to Drew for comments on our financial position.

Speaker 1

Thank you, Mark. I'll speak about our financial position in Capital Markets on Slide 10. Our financial position and liquidity remained strong with $78,100,000 of unused capacity on our credit lines at March 31. Debt was at $110,600,000 at March 31. The increase of $16,000,000 in Q1 versus Q4 is due to three things.

Speaker 1

1st, the cash paid on the VCI acquisition of $3,200,000 second, the special access matting investment of $5,900,000 and third, additional working capital investments related to the growth of the business in the quarter. Our leverage is well less than 1 0.5 times go forward EBITDA at March 31 and we expect leverage to be below 1 times EBITDA by the end of this year in the absence of any acquisitions. We started work to renew our debt facilities and expect to be able to conclude the renewal in Q3 on favorable or similar terms. The debt facility renewal terms will incorporate our working capital needs for organic growth and seasonality with dry powder available for acquisitions. I'm pleased to say there was little impact from non recurring items in Q1, which made my job easier as the quarter was much cleaner to report.

Speaker 1

But the real benefit is having reliable results, which translate to EPS and cash. More reliable results and improved forecasting Are also important as we have assessed the impact of a recession. We expect currently that any recession will be mild and short in duration and have minimal impact on our business. However, we have run also run scenarios and prepared action plans to be quickly executed if the recession is deeper and for a longer period. Our prime focus is building a portfolio of profitable businesses.

Speaker 1

The conversion of EBITDA to free cash flow for 2023 is expected to be approximately 50% excluding any non recurring items. This cash flow will easily cover our dividend payments of $22,000,000 per year. The strength of our financial position and excess free cash flow In conjunction with the strength of LOFS, the IFM robust and growing business and stabilization of modular results have resulted in Dexterra making a normal course issuer bid commencing May 15. The NCIB will allow us to repurchase 1,300,000 shares. That number will keep Fairfax's ownership interest below 50%, which will preserve our tax losses which total roughly $90,000,000 Fairfax does not intend to tender any shares under the NCIB.

Speaker 1

The share repurchases will help support the share price. More importantly, the Dexterra shares currently trade at a large discount to the real value. So this is a good investment for our capital. The maximum investment will be less than $10,000,000 which will be quickly recovered from free cash flow. Lastly, we have declared a dividend for Q2 2023 of $0.0875 per share for shareholders of record at June 30, 2023 to be paid July 17, 2023.

Speaker 1

I will now turn it over to Mark for closing comments.

Speaker 3

Great. Thanks, Drew. I won't cover all the points on Slide 11 in detail. They're effectively a recap of our comments in the presentation and I encourage everyone to use that as a summary. Suffice it to say, my focus and the focus of the Dexterra team in upcoming quarters It's driving strong execution, continuing to improve profitability and capture profitability sales across all the business units.

Speaker 3

We have a talented team of focused people and plans in place to deliver these outcomes. Big picture, we know our company is undervalued in the market as continue to execute, improve and sustain our profitability and grow, we believe the market will recognize our value over time. I'm confident and energized about our plans and excited about the future ahead for our company, a future that will deliver strong stakeholder value to shareholders, employees, customers, suppliers and in our communities. This concludes our prepared remarks. And I'll turn the call back to Marie, sorry,

Operator

From Chris Murray from ATB Capital Markets. Please go ahead. Your line is now

Speaker 3

Yes, thanks guys. Good morning. Mark, first congratulations on taking over the CEO role. Anne, I know you've only been in the seat officially for a few weeks, but I know you've been with the company for some time. With that being said, can you Talk a little bit about your thoughts around strategy for the company.

Speaker 3

I know there's always been this big push on trying to make IFM the growth driver, maybe just Operate waves the way it's been and try to do something with modular. But any thoughts around the strategy? And then any opinion you may have On ways that it may shift or morph over the coming couple of years? Yes. Thanks, Chris, and good morning.

Speaker 3

And I encourage you to dial into the AGM later this morning, check my time zones here. I know you're in Alberta or no, you're in Toronto. But we will talk more about the strategy and kind of our broader path forward. But at the AGM, we've got a Prepared presentation at that time. But suffice it to say, we are building on the foundation.

Speaker 3

Our near term Goal of $1,000,000,000 $100,000,000 EBITDA, we're very close to achieving that and we're confident we're going to achieve that in the short term. And then our broader goal to take us to a $2,000,000,000 profitable growth to a $2,000,000,000 company, with strong growth still in WAS, We see growth we've had 25% growth in lots in the 3 years since merger and we see as we'll say this afternoon Getting that business to a $500,000,000 or $600,000,000 business as very achievable. Getting modular, More profitable and a growing business unit is a key part of that strategy. And then as you mentioned, We really do see IFM as our growth engine for our overall broader target Of $2,000,000,000 and driven by organic growth as well as acquisitions and really driven Not only by the things that we know we do well already in the scope of IFM services, But also continuing to develop our foundation that we have around integrated IFM, which is really getting into healthy buildings, ESG, a lot of clients are looking to optimize building carbon footprint. And with our VCI acquisition and other things we're looking at, we're continuing to build our capability around that.

Speaker 3

We see a significant market growth. So with that focus in IFM and IFM growth, both organic and through likely acquisitions, We see us rounding out that business as potentially up to $1,000,000,000 business in of itself. Chris, I would urge you to dial into the AGM. We'll have a little more detail for you on that later today. Okay.

Speaker 3

That's great. And then maybe Turning to IFM, which is a growth engine. I mean, the expectation was between contract wins and acquisitions. You at least the indication was that we'd be looking at something kind of, call it, high teens growth rates, maybe margins In that 7% to 8% range. We saw margins this quarter maybe a little bit below that.

Speaker 3

I know you were doing some contract adjustments and rightsizing in Q4. But with that being said, like are those numbers still kind of feasible longer term targets? And maybe I'm getting ahead of myself, but certainly it's an important part of the business. Maybe even near term, can we get there? Yes.

Speaker 3

I mean, we still see, as I said, the IFM part and the IFM growth It would be an advantageous part of the business. Of course, 2022 inflation impacts the things that we saw that impacted us and we're seeing a good recovery from that in our margins. You do get a range of margins within the IFM business. We see Kind of the soft FM services, which are good services and good foundations for us around food service and industrial Cleaning and those kinds of things in that kind of 6% to 7% range. We would see, Chris, the more integrated services And we see that in the integrated services and contracts that we have currently at higher margins than that.

Speaker 3

And in fact, we find the more we do for our clients, the more comprehensive a scope we have for client, the more opportunity for us To deliver to our clients, but also to build margin within those opportunities and we see that time and again. So we continue Believe and that is our strategy to pursue that approach kind of as we go forward and kind of We'll review that kind of or build that balance of business that kind of gives us a range of margins. But Suffice it to say, we want to be at least 7% and higher depending how much we get in terms of The integrated business that will tend to bring our margins up even higher than that.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from Michael Doumet from Scotiabank. Please go ahead. Your line is now open.

Speaker 3

Maybe sticking to IFM, I believe maybe going a year back, maybe a little bit more, but you guys provide a pipeline in which you were bidding on. And I think you used to highlight A track record of closing about 40% of this, correct me if I'm wrong there. But I wonder if you can talk about the pipeline today, Maybe some of the drivers behind it, your confidence in terms of executing on that pipeline and Maybe a little bit of a commentary on the expectations for the second half growth as well. Yes. I think, good question, Michael.

Speaker 3

And I would say our pipeline, We monitor it fairly carefully. It's similar to what we had talked about that you're referencing. And I'd say certainly post pandemic, we would say that we're seeing a lot Even more activity and we're ways out of the pandemic, but people are still bringing more and more work to the table. Call it, dollars 300,000,000 Pipeline is kind of an active number for us if we kind of look at what we have in our roster of pursuits and that would be similar What we had talked to you about before and just continuing to figure out where we again, Focusing on the things that we know we have a good presence, we know we have a good value offering, we know we have a good win rate. And then building on that IFM strategy, we are seeing those coming forward.

Speaker 3

And just work on kind of building our hit rate higher than it currently is. And it's currently around 30%. We'd like to see that higher. It's a very competitive environment out there, but kind of as we build our repertoire and our capabilities, we see a strong capability to do that. And again, things like VCI and our sales focus is driving some of that.

Speaker 3

Okay. Thanks for the color. Maybe flipping to modular. I'm wondering how you think about the potential risks there of additional onetime costs related to the lost projects in modular because I think this quarter you ran effectively 0 EBITDA through P and L On the $14,000,000 of revenues. So have cost trend used?

Speaker 3

Or do you think that the accrual It's sufficient. I'm just wondering again for the balance of the $35,000,000 and again commentary on how the $35,000,000 splits in Q2 versus Q3 as well too. Yes. I mean, in terms of the, I guess, the progression of it, I mean, you see a $13,000,000 progress there. As the project as we complete projects in that repertoire, that's the remaining $35,000,000 The amount we do per quarter will taper off.

Speaker 3

But you'll see similar bites probably Q2 and Q3 as we complete those projects ideally by the end of Q3, but they may We bleed into Q4. We watched that provision that we took we thought through that pretty carefully in Q4. And And what we've seen so far, we see that provision to be reasonable to cover kind of the additional costs that we're seeing on those projects. And then our focus is really getting through those projects and looking forward on the new projects that we're bringing forward. Rob Johnston, that's been part of the team now, is doing a lot of things to really Better commercialize how we're building contracts, how we're contracting work, how we're subcontracting work And kind of build our better sustainability or I guess, let me say it this way, a better reliability in In terms of our profitability on new projects going forward, in Q1, we had about 30 in just the affordable housing space alone, had about 30 proposals and bids that went in.

Speaker 3

So that's going to help us with our pipeline going forward. And we're also seeing things outside of that as well. We've 1 indigenous community housing projects or even doing things in the industrial space as well. So I think We view that provision and completion of those challenged BCE projects as being reasonable for the rest of the year and then really just Building our pipeline, winning work that for sure that strength will carry over into 2024 and just build that reliability of our profitability on that business.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from Zachary Evershed from National Bank Financial. Please go ahead. Your line is now open.

Speaker 4

Thank you. Good morning, everyone. Congrats on the quarter.

Speaker 3

Great. Thanks, Zach.

Speaker 4

What kind of revenue contribution can we expect from VCI? And how does that ramp up through revenue synergies It says it's integrated and the capabilities are spread through the network.

Speaker 3

Yes. Good question, Zach. VCI initially will bring about $8,000,000 in revenue to us. And that's good work and they've got a really good repertoire clients and service segments That they work on and they're now integrated within our business. But really it's about the build.

Speaker 3

The people that we brought over, Their expertise around building controls, building management, energy system management is really what we're looking to leverage there. We like the revenue. We like the EBITDA that they bring, but it's really the expertise that we're leveraging. And so as we put in proposals and bids And work actively with our current clients. Those folks and those that came across and their experience bringing that to bear kind of across Our IFM network as we kind of pursue those integrated opportunities that I was talking about.

Speaker 4

Thank you. And then still in IFM, any pushback from clients to the way you're approaching pricing? Any chance of losing market share as margins are right

Speaker 3

I mean, it's a challenging business and I would say it's act like in some of the More commodity style facility management like more some of the cleaning work and that kind of thing, things can be pretty unbelievably competitive and we do look for opportunities. Our hotel, rail and leisure group that's got us work now in that space down in the U. S. Has been Developing some advantaged margins. So you really got to look for where you're competing and how you're competing on it.

Speaker 3

And really look for your opportunities where the margins are adequate. Like the other thing I would say too is another example is within food service, With Dana Hospitality, we're doing really well in the educational space. And we're just looking for those opportunities where The combination of the service model that the institution is looking for and delivery, I mean, if they're actually looking for the absolute lowest cost, we tend not on those, but we focus on the ones that are looking for kind of fresh from scratch offering that we see with Dana and we won a few contracts this year already on that basis, Which then tends to give us more of a reasonable margin. So I think Zach, it's a bit of a selectivity model, right, looking for the Sectors, the clients, the geographies where we know we can make adequate margins and focusing on that and then try to stay away from The highly commoditized, highly competitive segments, if that makes sense.

Operator

The next question is from Frederic Bastien from Raymond James.

Speaker 4

Good morning. Sorry, I jumped on the call late, so apologies if you've covered this already. But

Speaker 3

does your intention to buy back

Speaker 4

stock at the current levels take You mentioned to buy back stock at the current levels, take priority over potential M and A transactions that you May I add in the pipeline?

Speaker 1

Yes. Thanks, Fred. This is Drew. Yes, absolutely not. The NCIB, as you saw, it's quite small.

Speaker 1

It's only a maximum of 1,300,000 shares. So it'd be less than $10,000,000 And As you know, it happens over time. We can only buy 6,000 shares a day roughly. So it's going to be 10,000,000 spread over a long period of time. So it will Impact our acquisitions.

Speaker 1

We're still aggressively targeting acquisitions.

Speaker 4

Okay. Thanks for clarifying this. You also mentioned in your prepared remarks that at least or at least in the press release, I noticed that this lower demand for supply only projects in the U. S. Would impact the pace of modular profitability recovery.

Speaker 4

Can you please expand on that? From what I recall that, that wasn't a big part of the business, but obviously had potential, but just wondering where you're reminded that on this particular opportunity?

Speaker 3

Yes. Good question, Fred. And I would say, I'd agree with you like on the size of the work. But the strategic significance of that work like getting us down into the U. S, some of our clients down there, we were doing Kind of multiunit residential housing supply.

Speaker 3

They're very happy with what we were doing. They're very happy with our supply. They do tend to continue to Developed, it just kind of slowed down their development profile. So, we've kind of learned how to build those products And deliver those products successfully. We also supplied an affordable housing project in Washington State as well Through a business partner that we have in the U.

Speaker 3

S, we still see that as a really strong opportunity for us. And part of that diversification strategy for modular, it's just a matter of timing and kind of what our clients are seeing As bringing their new developments online that are going to come, it's just really delayed because of the high interest rate environment. I guess, in terms of profitability, we're going to be profitable on whatever we take on. So, when we impact our profitability, it's really our kind of our revenue mix And our diversification strategy that's going to be the foundation for more of a growing business within modular.

Operator

The next question This is from Trevor Reynolds from Acumen Capital. Please go ahead. Your line is now open.

Speaker 5

Hey, guys. Just building on the modular question, just maybe your guys' target On when you guys expect to kind of return to your target margins in the business? And on those new deployments, maybe what sort of margins you're expecting on those New deployments and if those have changed at all since what has happened over the last few years in the modular division?

Speaker 3

Yes. Good morning, Trevor. I'd say around modular kind of as soon as possible Would be where we'd want to get our profitability to. Obviously, these BC based projects that we're kind of working through At a new margin is kind of balancing itself. But as I mentioned, the balance right now in Q1 was about 4%.

Speaker 3

And you know like we've actually been in this business a while and we know we can do the types of projects that we're doing currently in modular Turnkey projects at a 6% margin and we'd aim to get back to at least that or get back to that for sure would be our objective. And the challenging thing sometimes about modular is it's a project based business. The good thing about modular is you can Reprice everything, right, as projects come in. So it is an opportunity to kind of get back to our margins. The only thing I would say, and I'll make this Comment at the AGM later this morning, but we are looking to get into some other potential segments within modular that give us a better foundation.

Speaker 3

So we're not so Kind of dependent on the larger turnkey projects that we get more of a foundational type productization market going within our manufacturing plant capacity, which will also kind of give us a more of a capacity, which also kind of give us a more of a foundation as well for those profitability levels I mentioned.

Speaker 5

Okay, that's helpful. Thanks. Just on the WASP business, a couple of quick ones there. Just The Coastal GasLink assets you guys mentioned, what opportunities are you seeing for redeployment on that front? And then What does a strong year look like for in terms of the fire assistance business?

Speaker 5

And obviously, it looks like we're off to a strong start on that business. So what could that look like in A year that's heavily impacted by forest fires?

Speaker 3

Yes. Good questions. And kudos to you for fitting in 3 questions. But I'll answer them both for you. First of all, Coastal GasLink, Coastal GasLink is a huge project, everybody knows this.

Speaker 3

And it's been tapering The last couple of years and we've had a huge for a pretty large component of work as part of Coastal GasLink. It is finishing, but it is extending as well. So we're certainly happy about that, but it is going to complete and it is going to complete somewhere towards the end of this year and Maybe into next year to some degree. But as I mentioned in my comments, lots, we're also in addition Like IFM, we're having a pretty good start to the year on new opportunity new sales opportunity. Seeing some of that within the oil sands on operational support type work and then also In workforce accommodations and also in the Northern Ontario, Northern Quebec mining, we're seeing some projects And Coastal GasLink is good margin work and big work, but we're seeing new opportunities that are of good size and good margin.

Speaker 3

That's given us probably some good confidence that on our quest to kind of Replace that major projects flow at good margin. We're seeing some good opportunities to replace that and kind of continue our growth profile for Wass. Fire situation, very active for us in Alberta. Our main focus efforts around firefighting wildfire support is Alberta and Ontario. So we're kind of on the front of that.

Speaker 3

We've actually the Alberta government's got 21 Fire based camps, permanent fire based camps that we operate for them and support for them. We've got 18 out of 21 fire based camps in Alberta As well, like last count, it's in the last 24 hours. I think we've got 4 incident camps that are being mobilized to support Alberta Wildfires. So very we like that business because it's a strong community support initiative for us and we're happy to Provide that service, the primary provider in Alberta. So yes, it is going to be a strong year For wealth, it looks to be going to be a strong year in wildfire support in Alberta.

Speaker 3

We also have to keep it in mind the size of the business relative The overall size of WAS, we will probably see if it does continue the way it looks An increment to EBITDA related to wildfire, but of course keeping that in mind, it's a smaller or moderate increment

Operator

question is from Zachary Evershed from National Bank Financial. Please go ahead. Your line is now open.

Speaker 4

Hey, guys. Quick follow-up. Could you quantify some of the actions that fall under the recession action plan? How would you react to a deeper recession?

Speaker 3

Yes. Good question, Zach. And it kind of is a range Across our businesses, the good thing about our business and a lot of our business segments, including things like IFM and others, even in a recessionary environment, a lot of our institutions, a lot of our defense airports do cut back and we certainly I saw that in the pandemic very significantly, but not necessarily we'll see it as heavy in that maybe in a recession environment. So we do see some good support because we are an operational support business And short of a pandemic, a recession, we can tend to do better. The one we've got to kind of keep our eyes on is just obviously the energy space, Very strong for us, especially in the oil and gas space, perhaps the mining space.

Speaker 3

So it depends what Kind of precious metals and gold does and what oil price does. But some of our energy based stuff is pretty high margin work or good margin work and we say it that way. So we have to watch those sectors because they are pretty strong foundations for things like WAF's business. But As Drew talked about, we've kind of looked at across the space and I do want to say we've kind of been here before Around energy volatility and cyclic conditions. So it's really a matter of just sort of looking at our workload, Making sure we look at our staffing, which kind of has a bit of a direct drive on direct staffing, if I could say it that way as the workflow the work But also our overheads as well.

Speaker 3

We would have plans and again we've done this before Well, we kind of take a careful look at our overheads and make plans around that to sort of manage Our SG and A costs over top of the business. AccessMatting is another piece of the business that can be pretty volatile. So we're making sure like now it's crazy. And I mentioned earlier on, we're doing a pretty we're doing a We did a very a pretty large investment, capital investment on behalf of a client for a long term rental contract. We're not overspending in that world because You don't want to kind of overspend and overcommit and then have something kind of fall off if we get into a significant recession.

Speaker 3

So it's kind of a delicate balance And we do kind of we are kind of running both sides of that.

Speaker 4

And since you brought it up, the special Investment. Can you give us a little bit more detail around the length of that contract versus the investment that you've made and what kind of return metrics can expect?

Speaker 3

Yes, I mean, kind of a 3 year contract. The average mat life is kind of 5 years, but so we'll get substantial amount of life around that. I think you know that, Zach, I mean margins In the access matting business and other energy support businesses are reasonably good. So it would be very typical margins that we would see around that. I guess what we would see with that particular situation is just a long term commitment, which we like and an extendable commitment as well.

Operator

Thank you. The conference has now ended. Please disconnect your lines at this

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