Shimmick Q1 2024 Earnings Report

Shimmick EPS Results

• Actual EPS: -$1.18
• Consensus EPS: -$0.37
• Beat/Miss: Missed by -$0.81
• One Year Ago EPS: N/A

Shimmick Revenue Results

• Actual Revenue: $120.04 million
• Expected Revenue: $127.20 million
• Beat/Miss: Missed by -$7.16 million
• YoY Revenue Growth: N/A

Shimmick Announcement Details

• Quarter: Q1 2024
• Date: 5/13/2024
• Time: N/A
• Conference Call Date: Monday, May 13, 2024
• Conference Call Time: 5:00PM ET

Shimmick (NASDAQ:SHIM) provides water and other critical infrastructure solutions in the United States. The company undertakes water and wastewater treatment infrastructure; water storage and conveyance, including dams, levees, flood control systems, pump stations, and coastal protection infrastructure; and mass transit, bridges, and military infrastructure projects. It serves federal, state, and local governments. The company was formerly known as SCCI National Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to Shimmick Corporation in September 2023. Shimmick Corporation was founded in 1990 and is headquartered in Irvine, California. Shimmick Corporation operates as a subsidiary of GOHO, LLC.

Shimmick Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

Key Takeaways

• Schimmick reported Q1 2024 revenue of $120 million and a net loss of $33 million (adjusted EBITDA loss of $24 million), reflecting short-term delays in new project startups and the winding down of legacy contracts.
• Cost overruns on a subset of legacy fixed-price contracts triggered front-loaded loss recognition, leading to weaker gross margins on those projects now nearing 80% completion.
• At quarter-end, core “Shemik” water projects composed over 80% of the backlog (with an overall pipeline of ~$1 billion), and two new irrigation and advanced water treatment awards were secured in California.
• To bolster liquidity and move toward an asset-light strategy, Schimmick will sell its non-core foundation drilling assets and pursue a sale-leaseback of its equipment facility, expected to raise ~$39 million in Q2 for debt reduction.
• Full-year 2024 guidance (excluding foundations) calls for 7–13% revenue growth and 7–13% gross margins on core projects, with legacy project revenue forecast to decline 45–55% and margins improving in the back half.

Presentation

[Operator]

Greetings, and welcome to Shimmick's First Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star then zero on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Anthony Rasmus with Investor Relations at Shimmick. Please go ahead, sir.

[Anthony Rasmus, Investor Relations Officer at Shimmick]

Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us on today's conference call to discuss Shimmick's first quarter 2024 results. Slides for today's presentation are available on the Investor Relations section of our website, www.shimmick.com. During this conference call, management will make forward-looking statements based on current expectations and assumptions, which are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from our forward-looking statements if any of our key assumptions are incorrect. We identify the principal risks and uncertainties that may affect our performance in our reports and filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which can also be found on our Investor Relations website. We do not undertake a duty to update any forward-looking statements. Today's presentation also includes references to non-GAAP financial measures.

[Anthony Rasmus, Investor Relations Officer at Shimmick]

You should refer to the information contained in the company's first quarter press release for definitional information and reconciliations of historical non-GAAP financial measures to comparable GAAP financial measures. With that, it is my pleasure to turn it over to Steve Richards, Shimmick's CEO.

[Steve Richards, CEO at Shimmick]

Thanks, Anthony, and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you all for joining today's call. I'm joined by Devin Nordhagen, Shimmick's CFO. As noted in our earnings press release issued earlier today, we are in the process of negotiating with one of our lenders a waiver of default under our credit facility. As a result, we do not expect to file our quarterly report on Form 10-Q by the prescribed deadline and expect to file an extension on Form 12b-25 with the Securities and Exchange Commission. While our first quarter results, which are based on currently available information, are subject to revision as management completes its internal review, we do not expect the waiver to result in changes to our first quarter 2024 results. Our independent registered public accounting firm has also not finalized its review of our first quarter 2024 results.

[Steve Richards, CEO at Shimmick]

Our first quarter results were challenged due to the combination of short-term delays in new projects commencing operations and the winding down of Legacy projects. We delivered first quarter 2024 revenues of $120 million and experienced a net loss of $33 million with an adjusted EBITDA loss of $24 million. As we did on our last call, we'll provide a breakdown of results Shimmick projects, projects that began after the AECOM sale transaction, and Legacy projects, those that started before the AECOM sale transaction. Devin will provide more details specifically related to the breakdown of these results.

[Steve Richards, CEO at Shimmick]

However, of note, our overall gross margin was weaker in the first quarter, primarily related to a subset of Legacy projects, those defined as legacy loss projects, that experienced cost overruns as well as additional legal fees in order to continue pursuit of contract modifications and recoveries from project owners. It is important to note that these legacy loss projects, any change in the overall estimate to complete flows into the current period, not as actually incurred, and thus changes are front-end loaded. To refresh your memory on the specific accounting treatment for gross margin in our business, we have provided a detailed explanation in our 10-K.

[Steve Richards, CEO at Shimmick]

In summary, for the legacy loss projects, we have recognized the estimated cost to complete and the loss expected from those projects. If the estimated cost to complete on fixed-price contracts indicated further loss, the entire amount of the additional loss expected over the life of the project is recognized as a period cost in our cost of revenue. We continue to work down the Legacy projects' backlog with $23 million of revenue in the quarter, down from $56 million last year at this time.

[Steve Richards, CEO at Shimmick]

Shimmick project gross margins were slightly negative for the quarter as we incurred costs that have not yet received expected change orders. Regarding backlog, although we are experiencing near-term headwinds due to project timing and cost issues with Legacy projects, remain encouraged by the progress we've seen converting our backlog to Shimmick projects versus Legacy projects. At the end of the first quarter, Shimmick projects represented over 80% of our backlog. Additionally, our overall pipeline remains at approximately $1 billion as of the end of the first quarter. I'm pleased to report that Shimmick secured two projects in the first quarter of 2024. Shimmick will construct a new box culvert to function as a new irrigation drainage ditch and storm drain for over 10,000 acres of land to accommodate future rail upgrades east of the San Francisco Bay near Stockton, California.

[Steve Richards, CEO at Shimmick]

In southwest of Stockton, at the Sunol Water Treatment Plant, Shimmick secured an electrical subcontract to support new advanced water treatment through the addition of new ozonation system. Here, Shimmick will install electrical systems at multiple new facilities, including an ozone generator building, an electrical building, and a large liquid oxygen and nitrogen facility. We continue to have a robust pipeline of future work which we expect to grow alongside increases in federal funding and a growing demand for water. We added estimating personnel late in the first quarter to be responsive to this pipeline of work. More than 75% of our work is generated from repeat customers. Public customers and associated public funding allows for a predictable long-term flow of programs and projects.

[Steve Richards, CEO at Shimmick]

Subsequent to quarter end, we entered into a transaction expected to raise $39 million, an Asset Purchase Agreement for the sale of our foundation drilling assets for a total consideration of approximately $17.5 million, and a letter of intent for the sale-leaseback of our equipment facility in Tracy, California, which we expect to receive approximately $22 million at closing. Both transactions are expected to close in the second quarter of fiscal 2024. We intend to use the net proceeds of both of these transactions to repay borrowings under our existing credit facility with MidCap. In addition, selling the foundation drilling assets, which are not core to our water business, enhances liquidity while lowering our annual capital expenditure requirements.

[Steve Richards, CEO at Shimmick]

Shimmick's core market vision is becoming a reality with a more asset-light, higher-margin, water-focused company targeting projects that make use of significant insourcing technical skills and projects that average three years in duration. While our industry continues to face headwinds, including labor shortages and price inflation, modernizing water infrastructure was recently identified as a hotspot in a 2024 industry report published by GovWin. The demand for this work is forecasted to grow faster than in any other sectors, in turn increasing demand for Shimmick services. According to the American Water Works Association, the U.S. needs to invest $1 trillion over the next 20+ years to meet the water infrastructure needs of a growing population and economy. The investment, as previously reported, includes $50 billion from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, plus an additional $5.8 billion announced last year from State Revolving Funds.

[Steve Richards, CEO at Shimmick]

Another identified hotspot is disaster response, which drives the demand for infrastructure required to mitigate or prevent damage from severe storms, hurricanes, droughts, and flooding, further driving demand for Shimmick services. For both of these hotspots, modernizing water infrastructure and disaster response, California was identified as the second and fourth largest spender, respectively, by state, showing increased demand in Shimmick's core geographic market. Spending on infrastructure is expected to strengthen in 2024 with the IIJA funding peak still to come. According to S&P Global's first quarter analysis, the strong spending increase was in one of Shimmick's core markets, the combined water and sewer segment, with a 23.3% year-over-year gain. Additionally, infrastructure spending in California is expected to remain robust.

[Steve Richards, CEO at Shimmick]

To make the next slide, I'd like to spend the time highlighting another one of our high-profile jobs: a $360 million water treatment facility, the North City Pure Water Treatment Facility and Pump Station in San Diego, California. Shimmick is implementing new technology to purify recycled water, providing a safe and sustainable water supply which will reduce the city's dependence on imported water and also reduce wastewater discharge into the ocean. Shimmick has finished most concrete activities and is now working on the mechanical and electrical elements of the facility, including electrical rooms, exterior conduit, fire protection, HVAC, and more. Treatment equipment, including ozone equipment, has been delivered and is being installed. We're a little over halfway complete with the project, and the work is progressing on schedule for the reverse osmosis and biological activated carbon treatment areas of the facility.

[Steve Richards, CEO at Shimmick]

This is just another example of the highly sophisticated level of installing and integrating technologies that our insource team does every day. With that, I'd like to turn the call over to Devin, who will discuss our financial results.

[Devin Nordhagen, CFO at Shimmick]

Thanks, Steve. All comparisons made today will be on a year-over-year basis compared to the same period in 2023. For the first quarter, we reported revenue of $120 million compared to $164 million for the prior year period, primarily as a result of the decline in legacy revenue and in foundation drilling revenue in the quarter. We had a net loss of $33 million compared to a net loss of $9 million for the prior year period, again, largely as a result of the negative gross margins in legacy and foundations. First quarter adjusted EBITDA was a loss of $24 million compared to a loss of $1 million in the prior year period. In the first quarter, after factoring out our non-core foundations projects, Shimmick's projects revenue increased $2 million to $90 million compared to 2023, while gross margin contracted to a -$1 million.

[Devin Nordhagen, CFO at Shimmick]

The $2 million increase in revenue was primarily the result of the timing of new jobs and jobs ramping up. The decline in gross margin was primarily the result of jobs winding down and those costs tied to pending change orders. As noted by Steve earlier, the company has entered into an agreement to sell the assets of our non-core foundation projects in the second quarter of 2024 and will be winding down any remaining work during the year. As the revenue will decline during the year, the company will be reporting revenue related to these projects separately for 2024. Revenue recognized on foundation projects was $7 million and $20 million for the three months ended Q1 2024 and Q1 2023, respectively. The $13 million decline in revenue was the result of timing of multiple jobs winding down.

[Devin Nordhagen, CFO at Shimmick]

Gross margin recognized on foundations projects was -$4 million and $2 million for the three months ended Q1 2024 and Q1 2023, respectively. The decline in the gross margin was the result of cost overruns on multiple subcontract jobs and timing of jobs winding down. Legacy projects revenue decreased by $33 million to $23 million compared to 2023, and gross margin contracted to a -$11 million. As Steve explained, Legacy projects' results were primarily impacted by a subset of projects that we define as legacy loss projects, which experienced cost overruns as well as additional legal fees in order to continue our pursuit of contract modifications and recoveries from these project owners. On this subset, we have recognized the estimated cost to complete and the loss expected from these projects.

[Devin Nordhagen, CFO at Shimmick]

As these legacy loss projects continue to wind down to completion, no further gross margin will be recognized, and in some cases, there may be additional costs associated with these projects, which will all be recognized in the period. Revenue recognized on these legacy loss projects was $15 million and $27 million for the three months ended Q1 2024 and Q1 2023, respectively. Gross margin recognized on these legacy loss projects was -$11 million and -$1 million for the three months ended Q1 2024 and Q1 2023, respectively. We continue to actively pursue all opportunities to offset these costs. The loss for the quarter has put us out of compliance with the covenants in our existing credit facility with MidCap. We are in the process of negotiating a waiver and amendment with MidCap, as well as pursuing alternative financing arrangements with other potential lenders.

[Devin Nordhagen, CFO at Shimmick]

As a result of these ongoing discussions, we are unable to file our quarterly report on Form 10-Q within the prescribed deadline. For additional information, see the extension of Form 12b-25 that we will file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. For the full fiscal year ending December 27th, 2024, after excluding non-core foundations projects revenue of $64 million for the fiscal year ending December 29th, 2023, and assuming successful resolution with MidCap, we expect Shimmick's projects revenue to grow 7%-13% with gross margin between 7%-13%, trending towards the lower end of the range for gross margin. Legacy projects revenue to decrease by 45%-55% with negative gross margin of 5%-10%, trending towards the lower end of the range for gross margin.

[Devin Nordhagen, CFO at Shimmick]

The guidance reflects our execution on our strategy, our robust pipeline, the improving quality of our backlog, and our continued operational execution, as well as our efforts to work off our Legacy projects. We believe that our results will be back half-weighted in 2024 with further strong momentum for growth in 2025. With that, I'd like to turn it over now to Steve for some additional remarks.

[Steve Richards, CEO at Shimmick]

Thanks, Devin. In conclusion, we're encouraged by the continued progress made in working off the legacy loss projects backlog. We're confident that the slow start in the first quarter for Shimmick projects will correct itself over the year as new project startups advance and ongoing projects work through completion. It's not unusual to see project startup costs accrue faster than revenue collection and earnings recognition, and then become more balanced as the project progresses. We believe these challenges to be short-term in nature as Shimmick continues to be favorably positioned to take advantage of the sizable market opportunities ahead. It is important to reinforce that our strategy for our core business remains unchanged. Our vertical integration minimizes risk, and our strategic shift towards a higher-margin, low-cost export portfolio, coupled with potential M&A activities, positions us well for enhanced margins and growth.

[Steve Richards, CEO at Shimmick]

We want to once again thank our team for their tireless efforts as we work to transform Shimmick into one of America's best water infrastructure companies. Operator, you may now open the line for questions.

[Operator]

Thank you, Sir. At this time, we will be conducting a question-and-answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star and then one on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press star and then two if you would like to remove your question from the queue. For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up your handset before pressing the star keys. Again, if you would like to ask a question, please press star and then one now. The first question we have comes from Gerry Sweeney of ROTH Capital. Please go ahead.

[Gerry Sweeney, Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst at ROTH Capital]

Good afternoon, Devin and Steve. Thanks for taking my questions.

[Steve Richards, CEO at Shimmick]

Hey, Gerry. Good afternoon.

[Gerry Sweeney, Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst at ROTH Capital]

Hey. On the sale of the equipment, how confident are you that you can close that in the second quarter and you're confident in achieving the numbers that you prescribed in your remarks and takeaways?

[Steve Richards, CEO at Shimmick]

Highly confident, Gerry. It'll be early in the quarter, so we're very confident before that.

[Gerry Sweeney, Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst at ROTH Capital]

Okay. And you did talk about getting better as we went through the rest of this year, and you kept some of your guidance in place. Obviously, Q1 was a challenge. Again, similar question: confidence that things are turning around and you can achieve that guidance?

[Steve Richards, CEO at Shimmick]

We do. We feel that I mentioned that the projects kind of slow start and ramping up, and costs like mobilization kind of lead the project cost side, and then we don't get a lot of earnings recognition in that way. And so once the projects stabilize and we've got a good run, we're off and going with earnings recognition and so keeping pace with the costs and revenues. We've mentioned in the past the Elsinore project as an example. The team is now well in place, moving in the field with construction activities. And we look at that project, for example, to be one that improves from a margin recognition standpoint and catching up with revenues.

[Gerry Sweeney, Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst at ROTH Capital]

As we go into the second quarter, obviously, we're a little bit into the quarter now. Q1 was a challenge. Are there any other large issues percolating that we should be aware of when we're looking at 2Q, or should we see an improvement in 2Q and then further improvement through the rest of the year?

[Steve Richards, CEO at Shimmick]

Let's stick with our guidance. We feel that we are back half-weighted, so 2Q. We're early in 2Q, obviously. So we see that as being a continuing improvement and climbing the curve, so we feel good about it.

[Gerry Sweeney, Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst at ROTH Capital]

Got it. Change orders. Obviously, change orders have actually, I think, hit some of the gross profit. Are you collecting change orders, and is that cadence going to change? Could that actually become a net positive at some point?

[Steve Richards, CEO at Shimmick]

Yeah. Devin mentioned that in his remarks, and he can add on to this, but we feel good about a couple of things. One is that we've got an excellent team that can complete contract administration activities on a timely basis so that when we go and are ready to negotiate change orders, we've got all of our paper and materials in place to have a timely change order execution. But not uncommon to see some of those change orders lag in a project as it gets towards the end. And that's what we're kind of seeing in some of our not only Legacy projects but some of our newer, smaller projects. Devin, if you wanted to add anything there.

[Devin Nordhagen, CFO at Shimmick]

No, I think that covers it pretty good. I think with the lag in the change orders, most of our jobs, as we've mentioned before, are firm-fixed price jobs. And so oftentimes we incur the cost and then have to work with the client and follow the contract and go through the procedures to get the change order tied to those costs.

[Gerry Sweeney, Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst at ROTH Capital]

Got it. Does the current state of the balance sheet impact your ability to go out and bid jobs? Will that be a headwind?

[Steve Richards, CEO at Shimmick]

No. See, we work closely with our surety company. That's a big part of the stakeholder group that we work with. We look at this MidCap covenant as being something that we'll overcome quickly, just a timing issue for us, and so really don't see anything. And in fact, the things we've done to improve our balance sheet with the sales transaction that we mentioned for our foundations business and then the sale-leaseback are real positive things for us. And I look at that as strengthening our liquidity so that we can go and pursue the work we want to pursue.

[Gerry Sweeney, Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst at ROTH Capital]

Okay. That's it from me. Thank you.

[Steve Richards, CEO at Shimmick]

Thanks, Gerry.

[Operator]

The next question we have comes from Aaron Spychalla of Craig-Hallum. Please go ahead.

[Aaron Spychalla, Senior Research Analyst at Craig-Hallum]

Yeah. Good afternoon, Steve and Devin. Thanks for taking the questions. First, on the legacy loss projects, can you just give us an update there? How much work is still remaining on those couple of projects, and just kind of what's on the balance sheet as far as kind of potential claims and the outlook to kind of get a potential positive resolution there?

[Steve Richards, CEO at Shimmick]

Yeah. Right now, at the end of the quarter, the projects are nearing 80% completion. So they're largely tracking with the high-risk parts of the job are really behind us now. And we're looking forward to kind of a downward turn, whether it be the amount of labor on the jobs or, if you will, that risk that remains. So feel good about the trajectory, and the teams in the field have accomplished huge milestones in getting to where they're at right now at this nearing 80% level. I don't think that we're able to really talk, Aaron, about what's in the balance sheet for the, if you will, the change order settlements. But Devin, you can clarify that for me.

[Devin Nordhagen, CFO at Shimmick]

No, that's right, Steve. Yes.

[Aaron Spychalla, Senior Research Analyst at Craig-Hallum]

All right. Thanks for that. And then it sounds like the pipeline, you're still expecting kind of back half-weighted for conversion there. But can you just talk to that a little bit, the outlook for self-performing as much of these projects as you can, given some of the supply chain and labor kind of issues you talked about. Just availability of these projects out in the market? It seems like you're still confident in that in the back half of this year.

[Steve Richards, CEO at Shimmick]

We are. Shimmick has always had a strong following of not only our superintendents but the foreman and the craft that follow the foreman. So we've got a great network of craft that stays with the company, so feel good about being able to service the jobs that we need and get the craft that we need to complete the work. From a pipeline standpoint, definitely are encouraged by the pipeline that's coming through. I mentioned briefly - you may have caught it in my remarks - that, in fact, we're adding new estimating members to our team so that we can even bid more and feel real good about that where, as we finish work, we bring our operations team back into the office to estimate work and to go back and run that work at the end. So feel good about it.

[Steve Richards, CEO at Shimmick]

Feel good about our resource base and how we're tackling the work.

[Aaron Spychalla, Senior Research Analyst at Craig-Hallum]

All right. And then just given the kind of recent EPA ruling on PFAS, can you just kind of talk about that a little bit how you think that opportunity could look for you guys moving forward? Anything on size and timing potentially there?

[Steve Richards, CEO at Shimmick]

Yeah. We're still waiting for kind of that outcome. We're watching the major design firms get some of their assignments, and so we're encouraged by that. I think I've mentioned in the past to some of our calls that PFAS is kind of regionally driven or where it's going to be needed to be treated. It's very specific to that groundwater source in that local area. So we see an opportunity, but we're going to have to track them to those geographies that we're in. Sometimes the opportunities come in the smaller forms, and so we're kind of measuring those.

[Steve Richards, CEO at Shimmick]

Kind of looking for some of these PFAS opportunities to maybe become a larger scope of work so that we are more competitive in that some of the smaller ones kind of tend to go to the local contractors that don't have kind of the overhead layer that we have. So it's looking forward to the opportunity, but a little bigger is what we need right now.

[Aaron Spychalla, Senior Research Analyst at Craig-Hallum]

All right. And then just maybe last for me, I appreciate the guidance and how you kind of broke things out there, but can you just kind of talk to longer-term, still the margin targets on kind of Shimmick Projects going forward from a gross margin standpoint? Are you still kind of thinking those kind of low double-digit, potentially mid-teens over time type gross margins still?

[Steve Richards, CEO at Shimmick]

We do. We've maintained our discipline. Some companies, I think you'll see in the early quarter, they'll say, "Oh, I need to go fill my backlog," and they'll maybe dive on their margins. That's not Shimmick. What we are looking for is complicated work. Work that's in that $50 million-$150 million range, kind of a three-year duration average-wise. And work that we can use at least 80% of our team to complete these self-perform elements of the work. And so it's really haven't changed our formula, and we're definitely maintaining our discipline on the margins that we're seeking for this new work.

[Aaron Spychalla, Senior Research Analyst at Craig-Hallum]

All right. Appreciate the color. Thanks for taking the questions. I'll turn it over.

[Steve Richards, CEO at Shimmick]

Thanks, Aaron.

[Operator]

Thank you, Sir.

Participants

Executives

• Anthony Rasmus, Investor Relations Officer
• Devin Nordhagen, CFO
• Steve Richards, CEO

Analysts

• Aaron Spychalla, Senior Research Analyst at Craig-Hallum
• Gerry Sweeney, Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst at ROTH Capital