Herc Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
April 23, 2024

There are 11 speakers on the call.

Operator

Good morning. My name is Dennis, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Herc Holdings First Quarter 2024 Earnings Call and Webcast. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question and answer session.

Operator

I would now like to turn the conference over to Leslie Hunsicker, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Speaker 1

Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to Herc Rentals' Q1 2024 earnings conference call and webcast. Earlier today, our press release and presentation slides were furnished and our 10 Q was filed with the SEC. All are posted on the Events page of our IR website. Today, we're reviewing our Q1 2024 results with comments on operations and our financials, including our view to the industry and our strategic outlook.

Speaker 1

The prepared remarks will be followed by an open Q and A. Now let's move on to our Safe Harbor and GAAP reconciliation on Slide 3. Today's call will include forward looking statements. These statements are based on the environment as we see it today and therefore involve risks and uncertainties. I would caution you that our actual results could differ materially from the forward looking statements made on the call.

Speaker 1

You should refer to the Risk Factors section of our annual report on Form 10 ks for the year ended December 31, 2023. In addition to the financial results presented on a GAAP basis, we will be discussing non GAAP information that we believe is useful in evaluating the company's operating performance. Reconciliations for these non GAAP measures to the closest GAAP equivalent can be found in the conference call materials. A replay of this call can be accessed via dial in through our webcast on our website. Replay instructions were included in our earnings release this morning.

Speaker 1

We have not given permission for any other recording of this call and do not approve or sanction any transcribing of the call. Finally, please mark your calendars to join our management team at 3 industrial conferences this quarter. We'll be at Bank of America's Conference on May 14 in New York KeyBanc's Conference in Boston on May 30 and Wells Fargo's Chicago Conference on June 11. This morning, I'm joined by Larry Silber, President and Chief Executive Officer Aaron Birnbaum, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer and Mark Humphrey, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. I'll now turn the call over to Larry.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Leslie, and good morning, everyone. Let's turn to slide number 4. We're off to a solid start in 2024. Revenue and adjusted EBITDA were 1st quarter record highs, driven by continued strong volume growth and a 5% increase in rental rate year over year. These results reflect total company performance, including our CentaLease business.

Speaker 2

Our flexible business model, diverse customer base and broad equipment portfolio enabled us to generate top line growth in the Q1 across both core and specialty categories and local and national accounts. By capturing an outsized share of market volume, generating rate growth to offset fleet inflation and delivering operating efficiencies, adjusted EBITDA increased 10% over the prior year. Reported adjusted EBITDA margin in the Q1 benefited from operating leverage and the early stages of recovery in the studio entertainment market after last year's labor strikes. Mark will take you through the core business performance excluding Synelis in just a minute. The core business is where we align with our full year guidance.

Speaker 2

Moving to Slide 5, you can see that the successful execution of our strategies is driving our continued improved performance. As we scale our business for sustainable growth, we are investing in expanding our branch network. In the Q1, we completed 4 strategic acquisitions and opened 4 greenfield locations in key markets. We also invested in our high margin Pro Solutions fleet to address growing demand, capture cross selling synergies and support new specialty locations. Our specialty offering is expanding with our investments in trench shoring over the last 2 years.

Speaker 2

In fact, in the Q1, we acquired our largest trench shoring business to date, bolstering our expert solutions offerings for our customers. Our innovative customer facing digital capabilities are also improving the customer experience while streamlining trend actions and enhancing productivity. When it comes to capital allocation, our current strategy reflects where we are in terms of opportunity to grow the business. With all of the capabilities we've built over the last 8 years from systems to procurement to logistics to product and end market expertise and at a time in the cycle where federally funded mega projects and manufacturing and reassuring are setting the stage for a multiyear foundational growth, investments in fleet and M and continue to be priorities of our capital allocation framework. We view capital allocation as a strategic lever for us to generate value, and we feel really good about our progress on that front.

Speaker 2

One of the ways we're ensuring we create value from those investments is through the rollout of our business operating system, E3OS. Through standardized processes and continuous improvement mindset, E3OS touches every aspect of our business with a goal of ensuring HURC Rentals is easier to do business with, expert at what we do and efficient in serving our customers. E3OS initiatives are already being put in place across the organization and incremental progress will go a long way to delivering a superior experience for our customers and greater operating leverage for our business. With that, I'll turn it over to Aaron to take you through the Q1 operating details and provide some color on market trends. And then Mark will walk you through a more detailed financial review both with and without Synelis.

Speaker 2

Aaron?

Speaker 3

Thanks, Larry, and good morning, everyone. There is a lot to like about how our teams are delivering for our customers. Everyone is laser focused on leveraging our scale, go to market approach, ProControl next gen technology and one stop shop equipment offering to support our customers' success. In the Q1, new accounts are up year over year and contributions to revenue growth are being delivered across the board. I'm really proud of the way our team continues to focus on delivering a superior customer experience while executing well against our strategic growth initiatives.

Speaker 3

Execution starts with safety and of course safety is always at the core of everything we do. As you can see on Slide 7, our major internal safety program focuses on perfect days, and we strive for 100% perfect days throughout the organization. In the Q1, on a branch by branch measurement, all of our operations achieved at least 97% of days as perfect. Equally notable, our total recordable incident rate remains better than the industry's benchmark of 1.0, reflecting our high standards and commitment to the safety of our people and our customers. On Slide 8, you can see that we are making great progress on our urban market growth strategy by expanding through greenfield locations and acquisitions in the top 100 metropolitan markets.

Speaker 3

In the Q1, we spent $148,000,000 in net cash on 4 acquisitions in the West and in the Northeast adding a total of 11 locations to our network. We also opened 4 Greenfield locations in the 1st 3 months of the year, bringing our total over the last 12 months to 22, which is nearly a 50% increase over the comparable trailing 12 month period. As you know, we are focused on opportunities in high growth markets that complement our current branch network and fit our strategic, financial and cultural filters. Moreover, many of the mega industrial and manufacturing restoring projects being announced are in the geographies where we have focused our acquisitions and greenfield additions like Texas, Ohio, Arizona and along the Eastern Seaboard of the United States. Our acquisition process is now a core competency having successfully integrated 46 businesses with 98 locations into the Herc network since initiating the strategy in late 2020.

Speaker 3

As a result of revenue efficiencies, we've been generating synergized multiples of approximately 3.5x to 4.5x. New acquisition opportunities are as robust as ever, and we are actively focused on those that make the most strategic sense for our business in the top MSAs. On Slide 9, in addition to acquisitions, growing our core and specialty fleet through new equipment investments is a key strategy to expanding our share and keeping up with the increasing demand opportunities. Our fleet composition at OEC is on the right side of the page. Total fleet is now a record $6,400,000,000 as of March 31, 2024.

Speaker 3

Sinalise fleet represents about 5% of the total. So when you exclude the Sinalise assets held for sale, our base fleet would have been about $6,100,000,000 You'll note that higher margin specialty fleet represents approximately 24% of the total today. Excluding the Senalees fleet, specialty makes up about 20% of the total with plenty of room to continue to grow. When it comes to fleet investments, you can see we slowed our intake to a more seasonal level in the Q1 of this year versus last year when the recovery in the supply chain meant we were onboarding a high level of back order deliveries of 2021 2022 fleet out of season. For the full year, we still expect to spend in the range of $750,000,000 to $1,000,000,000 on new fleet purchases.

Speaker 3

That gross amount along with last year's growth fleet purchases should provide for incremental demand from general market expansion, greenfields and the mega projects that are either underway or that we have a high probability line of sight to. Our level of fleet investment this year also reflects our goal to improve fleet efficiency. Now that we have more confidence in delivery timing, disciplined investment will support that goal as we head into the peak season. Finally, we are planning for a lower level of replacement fleet compared to last year when we worked aggressively to get caught up on deferred fleet disposals as the supply chain recovered. This year, you should expect to see a more normal seasonal cadence of dispositions where Q1 and Q4 are the highest levels of fleet sales and Q2 and Q3 are lower as we focus on bringing in new equipment.

Speaker 3

You could see that last year's trend was unusual with dispositions peaking in the Q3. In the 2024 Q1, fleet disposals at OEC were essentially flat compared to last year, but we continue to gain traction on our retail channel capabilities, utilizing technology, training and sales force incentives to participate more in this higher return channel. The amount of fleet at OEC that we sold to retail and wholesale customers increased 900 basis points from last year. Proceeds at 50% of OEC were slightly lower year over year despite the successful channel shift due to the more favorable mix of equipment being sold in the Q1 last year. So a bit of a tougher comp year over year.

Speaker 3

But overall, we have a nice opportunity ahead as we execute our more profitable channel shift strategy. We are still planning for about $550,000,000 $650,000,000 of planned fleet disposals at OEC in 2024. Turning to Slide 10. Today, our fleet is well positioned to address the needs of large national accounts and local contractors operating in North America. Local accounts, which represented 55 percent of rental revenue in the Q1 are growing due to HURC's penetration through our acquisition and greenfield strategy as well as regional growth in infrastructure, education, local utilities and facility maintenance and repair.

Speaker 3

Our national accounts are capitalizing on new projects for battery and EV utility maintenance, renewables, semiconductor plants and data centers. Long term, we'll continue to target a sixty-forty revenue split between local and national accounts. Turning to Slide 11. Overall, we are continuing to see solid demand across a variety of end markets, customer segments and geographies in 2024. This diversification provides for growth and resiliency.

Speaker 3

Based on the timing of our mega projects this year, revenue growth will be more weighted towards the 3rd and 4th quarters and our disciplined fleet onboarding, which starts building through the Q2 is aligned with the expected seasonal ramp in demand to October's peak. Teamwork is already gearing up and I want to thank them for their commitment to operational excellence and safety. Their professionalism shows up in the execution of our services to our customers every single day. It's a big reason for the long tenure of our national account customers and for the new business we're winning on local and mega projects. Now I'll pass the call on to Mark.

Speaker 4

Thanks, Aaron, and good morning, everyone. I'm starting on Slide 13 with a summary of our key metrics for the Q1. For clarification, these are our GAAP results and include the Center Lease performance. Rental revenue increased 10% year over year. DOE and SG and A as a percent of rental revenue improved 50 basis points in the quarter, supporting a 12% improvement in adjusted REBITDA.

Speaker 4

The adjusted REBITDA margin of 43.1% was a 70 basis point increase year over year and adjusted REBITDA flow through was roughly 51%. Net income reflected 27% higher interest expense year over year from increased borrowings on our ABL revolver to fund acquisitions and a 75 basis point increase in the Fed funds rate. Additionally, our effective tax rate increased by 9 10 basis points in the latest quarter, primarily as a result of a reduced benefit related to stock based compensation specific to the Q1. Let's walk through some of the other key performance drivers on Slide 14. Here you can see the rental revenue and adjusted EBITDA walks from the Q1 2023 to Q1 2024.

Speaker 4

In the revenue chart, the roughly 10% increase year over year was made up of a 5.1% increase in rate and an 8% increase in OEC fleet on rent. Mix was an offset of about 3% reflecting the net of higher equipment inflation and a more favorable mix of equipment on rent. For clarification, when it comes to revenue, fleet inflation is included in the mix to adjust the volume measured at OEC dollars to a unit metric. Adjusted EBITDA benefited from higher rental revenue and lower operating expenses as a percent of revenue. Adjusted EBITDA margin was 60 basis points higher year over year driven by a $10,000,000 or 53% increase in center lease revenue in the 2024 Q1, partially offset by last year's higher fleet disposition proceeds.

Speaker 4

Our core financial results on Slide 15 exclude Studio Entertainment from both periods in order to give you a better sense of how the base business performed in the quarter. A full reconciliation of quarterly performance metrics excluding studio entertainment can be found on Slide 25 in the appendix of our presentation. Fleet efficiency ratio, rental revenue growth divided by fleet growth improved sequentially from 0.65 in the Q4 of 2023 to 0.86 in the Q1 of 2024 on average fleet growth in the Q1 of 11% as our fleet rotation returns to a normal cadence. Strong rental revenue growth of 9% translated into a 20 basis point improvement in adjusted REBITDA margin as a result of favorable operating leverage. Core REBITDA flow through declined to 40 point 4 percent in the Q1 of 2024.

Speaker 4

To preserve REBITDA flow through at the Q1 2023 level, we would have only needed to generate an additional $1,000,000 of REBITDA in Q1, twenty the transition in 2024 to a normalizing macro environment on the higher cost basis of our new greenfields and acquisitions compared with the post COVID hyper demand environment which more easily absorb these pre synergized expenses. These locations are strategic investments in expanding network coverage and scale benefits, but initially can put pressure on efficiency for approximately 24 months until we can get them up to speed. That impact is amplified as growth adjust to more historic average annual rates and shows up in flow through. Despite the timing differential of the normalizing demand and the synergy realization, we expect our flow through for the full year to be at or above 50%, which is still in scope with our 2026 plan as we deliver on the higher targeted 10% to 14% rental revenue CAGR. Trailing 12 month ROIC for the core business declined 30 basis points to 10.9% at the end of the quarter.

Speaker 4

Absorbing all the back order in an out of season fleet that was delivered throughout 2023 had a negative impact on ROIC. However, with the prudent onboarding of fleet in the 2024 Q1 and the focus on improving fleet efficiency, we expect to see improvement in the coming quarters. Shifting to capital management on Slide 16, you can see we have no near term maturities and ample liquidity to fund our growth goals as we continue to allocate capital to invest in our business and drive fleet growth into this cycle. Higher operating cash flow and significantly lower net capital expenditures resulted in $92,000,000 of free cash flow in the Q1. Our current leverage ratio at 2.5 times is well within our 2 to 3 times target range and in line with our expectations as we invest in growth.

Speaker 4

We remain confident in our business model and are committed to increasing shareholder value. In the Q1, we announced a 5% increase in our quarterly dividend for 20.24 to $0.665 which represents $2.66 per share for the year. Finally, we're pleased to report that S and P upgraded our corporate credit rating to BB earlier this month, while also raising the rating on our senior unsecured notes to BB-. This stable stock this stable outlook reflects S and P's view that the U. S.

Speaker 4

Equipment rental industry is poised for continued growth and that FERC will benefit from our position as one of the largest industry players with a sizable and diverse fleet. On Slide 17, you can see that continued strength in our primary end markets. In the upper left, the ARA estimate for 2024 North American rental industry revenue is $83,000,000,000 On the bottom left is the architectural billing index that recorded a score of 49.5 in the March release, up significantly from February's 46.2. Inquiries into new projects grew at their fastest pace since November and the value of design contracts increased at their fastest pace since last summer. These are positive signs for future growth according to API.

Speaker 4

Taking a look at the industrial spending forecast on the top right, industrial info resources is projecting 2024 to be the 2nd highest level on record at $436,000,000,000 on top of last year's peak $442,000,000,000 spend. In the lower right quadrant is Dodge's forecast construction starts. 2024 starts are estimated to increase 4% to 441,000,000,000 dollars The dotted line on both of these charts reflects growth over pre pandemic peak levels. You can see that last year and the next 3 years are projected to be the strongest periods of activity that this industry has ever seen. Additionally, there's another $333,000,000,000 in in infrastructure projects slated for 2024.

Speaker 4

That's a 10% increase over 2023. 2 of our key end markets are industrial and non residential construction. Combined, these end markets reflect about 2 thirds of our customer base and both are likely to outperform other consumer driven due to new mega project construction and as the reshoring of U. S. Manufacturing capacity continues to gather steam.

Speaker 4

If you flip to Slide 18, you can see that we are affirming the 2024 guidance that was set in February. As noted, our guidance excludes the performance of CentaLease, which is held for sale. We feel good about the 7% to 10% rental revenue growth range for the full year based on current visibility, more experience with the pace of the mega project rollout, and normalizing growth trends in the local market and of course feedback from our team in the field. When it comes to the quarterly rental revenue cadence, our lower fleet investment in the 1st 3 months of the year will result in a sequential moderation of 2nd quarter year over year top line growth compared with the Q1's 9%. But as the bulk of our net fleet investment comes in, in the second and third quarters, that will drive higher sequential year over year revenue growth in the 3rd and 4th quarters.

Speaker 4

So should we expect to exit the year above the average rental revenue growth rate for 2024. With improved fleet efficiency and operating leverage, we estimate adjusted EBITDA will be between $550,000,000 $1,600,000,000 representing another year of profitable growth ranging from 6% to 9%. When comparing the adjusted EBITDA growth rate with the equipment rental revenue growth rate, the roughly 100 basis point difference is our expectation for a lower amount of used equipment sales versus 2023. Overall, the strong demand we're experiencing across the manufacturing, industrial and infrastructure markets along with the stability that comes from industrial and commercial maintenance project is consistent with an industry in an upcycle and our guidance reflects that. We intend to continue to deliver strong financial metrics as we

Operator

Your first question is from the line of Rob Wertheimer with Melius Research. Please go ahead.

Speaker 5

Thank you. Good morning, everybody.

Speaker 4

Good morning, Rob.

Speaker 2

So my question is going

Speaker 5

to be basically on supply demand in the industry and trying to square up a few numbers that are pointing in different directions. And so specifically, rental PPI kind of released by the government is in theory a broad metric, was basically 0 for March February. You had really strong rate up 5. And I'm curious, you guys see the numbers and we don't, but does the rental PPI tend to track what you think of as being the rate environment? Sometimes it looks like it, sometimes it diverges.

Speaker 5

I'm curious if you think there's any signal in that weak

Speaker 3

number? No, we don't. That's not one of the metrics we actually focus on. It's got a lot of volatility in it and it isn't representative of what's going on at the local markets on rates and pricing. It's our experience on that.

Speaker 6

Okay, perfect.

Speaker 5

Yes. And then so if I got it right, your average fleet, I'm doing total average fleet was up 10%, your rate was up 5%, Implied time unit is down. I know it's 1Q, there's seasonal, there's weather. Is there any kind of weakness in the market? Are you losing any business on having to or choosing to push aside any business on having higher rates?

Speaker 5

Or how would you characterize the, I guess, the timing of market if you can?

Speaker 2

Yes. Look, Rob, there's always weather in every year at every time and we don't really sort of report out weather as being any kind of a significant factor unless of course there's a major hurricane or something like that that has a significant impact. So we wouldn't even turn to weather. But no, we don't believe we are losing any business on the basis of rate or any kind of pricing. We do see a normalizing of the seasonality of the business, more back to pre COVID levels.

Speaker 2

And I think that's what we're experiencing and that's what we'll continue to see.

Speaker 6

Great. I'll stop there. Thank you.

Operator

Your next question is from the line of Steve Ramsey with Thompson Research Group. Please go ahead.

Speaker 7

Hey, good morning. This is actually Brian Biros on for Steven. Thank you for taking my questions. On the large trench flooring acquisition, can you maybe just talk about, 1, the qualities of that business there and maybe 2, the valuation of that deal versus your usual multiples paid?

Speaker 4

Yes, I mean from an overall multiples perspective, obviously, it's more viewed in a specialty light. So it would trade at a higher multiple than your GenRents business, but we won't publicly disclose that multiple. In terms of the overall business, we're really excited about that opportunity, right? I mean, trench has been an area where we have been trying to develop and we've had a few M and A activities over the last couple of years and this is just another in that step.

Speaker 7

Got you. And then maybe on a follow-up, just do you still have a, I guess, positive growth outlook from your local customers? We heard a large peer a couple of months ago kind of stating mid single digit growth. Our channel checks kind of align with that. So just wanted to kind of reconcile how that is maybe a little bit below your 7% to 10% growth outlook and just kind of how to connect the dots there?

Speaker 7

Thank you.

Speaker 3

Yes. Brian, that's how we see the local markets. It's a mid single digit activity. Inflation interest rates have had some effect on the local markets, but they're stable. We think it's the fundamentals are really good in the market.

Speaker 3

And then the large reshoring and mega projects really has added that extra balance for the business and the industry to continue the growth story.

Operator

Your next question is from the line of Jerry Revich with Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.

Speaker 4

Good morning, Jerry. Good morning, Jerry.

Speaker 8

Hey, this is Clay on for Jerry. Can you update us on the capital allocation plan for the year? I know specifically any changes in equipment availability from last year? I know particularly there was some constraint in booms previously. I'm curious how the equipment supply market has changed.

Speaker 3

Yes. So we've commented on what categories are constrained over the last several updates here. I'd say over that time it's gotten better and better. There's still a few very specific aerial access type categories that are in high demand. But for the most part, things have really corrected itself and we feel like we can get most of the fleet that we plan to deliver this year on schedule when we want it.

Speaker 3

And if we have incremental situations, 90 day lead time, we can usually get that fleet.

Speaker 8

Thanks. And as a follow-up on the Synalease business, is there any can you update us on the anticipated timeline around that decision and potential use of those proceeds? Thanks.

Speaker 2

Yes. Look, we're really not going to comment much on the Synelis business during the call because we're in the middle of negotiations and due diligence with several parties, both strategic and financial sponsors in the business. We said the assets should be disposed of within the year. And as far as any proceeds that we obtained from the business, it will go to reduce our ABL and roll back into our capital allocation strategy and determining what's the best appropriate use of that on a go forward basis.

Speaker 8

Thanks. I'll pass it

Operator

next question is from the line of Ken Newman with KeyBanc Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Speaker 9

Hey, morning guys.

Speaker 4

Good morning, Ben.

Speaker 7

So, just wanted

Speaker 9

to back into the core fleet utilization. I think ex Senalees, it's probably somewhere in that low 40% range. 1, just wanted to confirm if that's the right way to think about it? And then 2, I think you mentioned expectations for rental revenue to step down sequentially 1Q to 2Q. Just curious how should we think core dollar use of the fleet still stays in this 40% range throughout the year and improve to the back half or just any other color there?

Speaker 4

Yes, good questions, Ken. Just take the dollar you first and foremost. Yes, it was right about $40 in Q1. And I think our anticipation is dollar utilization cadence should follow that of any other sort of annual view you want to take. I think you'll see a run, it will increase into 2, it will top in Q3 and then slightly come off of that for Q4 just based on seasonality.

Speaker 4

2nd part of that was what, Ken?

Speaker 9

Yes. I guess, I mean, you've pretty much answered it, which was how to think about dollar use for the rest of the year if we think we stay above this 40% range?

Speaker 6

Yes, I think so.

Speaker 4

And then your second question was on sort of the cadence of revenue growth fleet growth as you sort of work your way through the year. Prepared remarks, I mean, if you just look at sort of in fleet year over year, right, the fleet growth is slowing as we move into Q2 just based on the planned actions, the goal of fleet efficiency here. And so you'll see fleet growth slowing Q2 as compared to Q1. And then as those fleet actions take place and we buy our gear in 2nd and third quarter as Aaron talked about, you'll see fleet growth in 34 and the revenue should follow that.

Speaker 9

Got it. And then just a follow-up here. Just going back about to a prior question about the visibility for these new projects. I know you mentioned inquiry levels are very strong. It sounds like you're expecting a stronger back half with some of these mega projects breaking ground.

Speaker 9

Where is the confidence or how confident are you in terms of the timing of those projects coming through? Because obviously, you do have a larger peer who has mentioned some push outs to some of these larger projects out into 2025 versus 2024. And how much risk is there in the guidance as we think about potential timing issues, not necessarily that these don't actually happen, but more so just a push out rather than a pull in?

Speaker 3

Yes, Ken, right, there's a lot of announcements of projects that come out on a daily basis. You have to weave through when those are actually going to start and track the projects. You really have to have a beat on the projects that you think you would service well and have a beat on when those things are really starting. And they have had as all projects always had over time, not just this current modern time, they get delayed. There's things that cause them to delay.

Speaker 3

Sometimes it's funding, sometimes it's labor, sometimes it's permitting. So when you have this many big projects out there, there's going to be a lot of ebb and flow going on. But we feel like our line of sight on what's going on for us particularly is pretty clear. We tracked all these projects. We communicate with our sales team and we really that's how we demand plan the fleet that's coming in and where it's going to go in this environment.

Speaker 3

So we believe our line of sight is really good and we have a, I'd say, a strong confidence level of what we're giving us guidance as it relates to where we see the project flow coming in for our business.

Speaker 2

Yes. And Ken, remember, we're not trying to be Benjamin Moore and cover the earth here. We're only focused on a, I would call, a segment of those mega projects and not 10% to 15 percent of the total that's out there. So as Aaron said, we're pretty confident that our line of sight is good and that we don't really see any risk at this point on what we've talked about.

Speaker 9

Helpful. Thanks guys.

Speaker 4

Thank you. Thanks, Dan.

Operator

Your next question is from the line of Brian Sponheimer with Gabelli. Please go ahead.

Speaker 10

Hey, good morning, everyone. Hi, Brian. Just one question on the balance sheet. Obviously, a pretty concentrated debt stack for a few years out. As you think about capital allocation, Mark, maybe talk about some optionality, the current rate environment, etcetera, and what you want to do regarding the balance

Speaker 4

sheet? Great question, Brian. As we sit here today, right, we're sort of 65, 35 floating to fixed. And the reality of that is, as I'd rather it be the inverse. I'd rather be about 70% fixed floating, 30 floating.

Speaker 4

And so with that, we've got a big stack in 2027. So nothing necessarily overly pressing today. But we would like to be opportunistic into that market, right? Obviously the markets and the 10 year treasury needs to play along at some level for us to begin to sort of make that move from fixed to floating or floating to fixed. But absolutely, it's an opportunistic play and we are keeping our eye on it every day.

Speaker 10

And I appreciate that. And assuming you all can get reasonable value for Cinelis, use of proceeds would simply be X. Talk about that.

Speaker 2

Yes. We just paid down the ABL at this point and it would go into our general funds and then we go back to our capital allocation strategy and follow that path.

Speaker 10

Understood. Well, appreciate that and best of luck for continued success.

Speaker 4

Thanks, Brian. Thanks, Brian. Thank you.

Operator

Your next question is from the line of Mig Dobre with Baird. Please go ahead.

Speaker 6

Yes. Thank you. Just back to the mega projects discussion. Can you maybe frame for us what percentage of the fleet or what percentage of your 24 revenue is associated with what you internally define as a mega project? And sort of how you see this component of the business growing over the next couple of years?

Speaker 3

Yes, we don't display or disclose that piece of the mega piece of our revenue MIG. But the visibility is

Speaker 7

looks like

Speaker 3

it's a 3 year run, right? These things continue to get released. The Dodge data, you can track the progress on them. And I think clearly the reshoring, the mega, the investment in the chip manufacturing here, the data centers, these are happening now. Those are some of the biggest projects going on in North America and there's more plans.

Speaker 3

So that's a real activity that's going on in the marketplace.

Speaker 6

In a way you report, do you have this business as part of your national or as part of the local component of the reporting?

Speaker 3

Yes. These the revenue streams that come from the megas are almost 85% always national type revenue relationships. These are the larger contractor specialty contractors that are performing that work in any geography.

Speaker 6

Understood. Final question. We talked a little bit about rental rates, but I'm wondering if you can sort of give us an update as to how you think about the full year relative

Speaker 4

to what you've been able to put

Speaker 6

up in Q1? Thank you.

Speaker 4

Yes. I mean, good question, Mig. I mean, I think as a reminder, right, we sort of entered the year fairly balanced between contract and non contract with an overarching goal to sort of negate the inflationary impacts of 2024, which sort of began the year in this 5% range. And I don't think anything has changed there. Obviously, we posted a really good strong Q1 and with sequential improvement inside the quarter.

Speaker 4

And so that will continue to be our focus and goal and strategy as we move forward throughout the year.

Speaker 6

All right. Good luck.

Speaker 4

Thank you. Thank you.

Operator

At this time, I would like to turn the call back over to Leslie Hunsicker for closing remarks.

Speaker 1

Thank you for joining us on the call today. We look forward to updating you on our progress in the quarters to come. Of course, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to us. Have a great day.

Operator

This concludes the Herc Holdings Q1 2024 Earnings Call and Webcast. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

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Key Takeaways

  • Record Q1 performance: Rental revenue rose 10% year-over-year and adjusted EBITDA climbed 10%, driven by a 5% increase in rental rates and strong volume growth across core and specialty categories.
  • Strategic footprint expansion: In Q1 the company completed four acquisitions and opened four greenfield branches—adding 11 locations—bringing 22 new branches in the past 12 months in key high-growth markets.
  • Robust fleet investment strategy: Total fleet reached a record $6.4 billion (24% specialty), with $750 million–$1 billion in planned 2024 purchases and $550 million–$650 million in disciplined disposals, while shifting 900 basis points more sales to higher-margin retail channels.
  • Solid financial positioning: Generated $92 million in first-quarter free cash flow, maintained a 2.5× leverage ratio within target, raised the dividend 5%, and earned an S&P credit upgrade to BB stable.
  • Affirmed full-year outlook: Reaffirmed guidance for 7%–10% rental revenue growth and 6%–9% adjusted EBITDA growth, underpinned by diversified demand across industrial, infrastructure and mega-project pipelines.
AI Generated. May Contain Errors.
Earnings Conference Call
Herc Q1 2024
00:00 / 00:00