Bird Construction Q2 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
August 8, 2024

There are 9 speakers on the call.

Operator

ladies and gentlemen, to the Byrd Construction Second Quarter 2024 Results Conference Call and Webcast. We will begin with Terry McKinnon, President and Chief Officer's presentation, which will be followed by a question and answer session. Press the star then 1 on your telephone keypad to be placed into the question queue. You will hear a tone acknowledging your request. When we are ready for questions, you will be introduced into the conference in the order that you were received.

Operator

As a reminder, today all participants are in a listen only mode and the webcast is being recorded. Before commencing the conference call today, the company reminds those present that certain statements which are made express management's expectations or estimates of future performance and thereby constitute forward looking information. Forward looking information is necessarily based on a number of estimates and assumptions that while considered reasonable by management are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies. Management's formal comments and responses to any questions you might ask may include forward looking information. Therefore, the company cautions today's participants that such forward looking information involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual financial results, performance or achievements of the company to be materially different from the company's estimated future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward looking information.

Operator

Forward looking information does not guarantee future performance. The company expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward looking information, whether as a result of new information, events or otherwise. In addition, our presentation today includes references to a number of financial measures, which do not have standardized meanings under IFRS and may not be comparable with similar measures presented by other companies and are therefore considered non GAAP measures. At this time, I would now like to turn the conference over to Terry McKibbin, President and CEO of BRERC Construction. Please proceed, sir.

Speaker 1

Thank you, operator. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining our Q2 2024 conference call. With me today is Wayne Gingrich, Bird's Chief Financial Officer. Before we proceed with today's call, I'd like to take a moment to honor the memory of Karen A.

Speaker 1

Brooks, our esteemed Board member and Chair of our Audit Committee, who recently passed away. Karen joined us in 2017 and was a pillar of integrity and dedication. Her leadership and insight profoundly impacted Bird. Our thoughts are with her family during this difficult time and we will commemorate her legacy with a donation to a charity chosen by her loved ones. Karen will be deeply missed and her contributions to Byrd over her tenure will continue to deliver benefits to the company going forward.

Speaker 1

Turning to today's presentation, Byrd continues to execute on our disciplined growth strategy and reinforce our proven track record of operational excellence. The company's strategic focus on being a leading collaborative construction company continues to drive growth and better outcomes for all parties and the strength of our balance sheet positions us to invest in profitable organic growth and pursue attractive acquisitions in today's active market. Turning to our Q2 financial highlights, Bird had another quarter of significant growth in revenue and profitability. Revenue was up 27% over a year ago to $874,000,000 and adjusted EBITDA increased 58% to 47,000,000 dollars Adjusted EBITDA margin continued to improve reaching 5.3% for the quarter, a full 1% better than a year ago. The company's operating cash flow before investments in non cash working capital also grew significantly compared to last year.

Speaker 1

Our sustained financial performance reflects the progress we've made to date on our 2022 to 2024 strategic plan, setting a solid foundation as we head into the next phase of planning. The company's diverse and well balanced combined backlog at work reached record levels in the quarter and remains over 90% low to medium risk contract types with over 75% of the work being collaborative in nature. The demand environment is robust and remains a healthy pipeline of opportunities we are pursuing at accretive margins. Bird added almost $825,000,000 in securements to its backlog in the 2nd quarter, maintaining a backlog of contracted work totaling $3,400,000,000 at quarter end. Company's pending backlog of awarded work grew by over $300,000,000 in the second quarter to $3,700,000,000 and includes almost $900,000,000 of MSAs and other recurring revenue contracts.

Speaker 1

For its combined backlog continues to reflect increased embedded margins driven by the company's strategic focus on higher margin sectors and disciplined pursuit of new work, which gives us confidence that we will continue to improve margins through the second half of twenty twenty four and beyond. Bird remains committed to profitability, discipline, diversification and growth through our focus on margin accretion, organic growth and accretive M and A opportunities. We continue to improve margins in our core business through disciplined project selection, a risk balance mix of projects, collaborative contracts and increasing our self perform capabilities to cross sell our scopes and services. We keep our sights set on productivity and efficiency enhancements as we grow to further leverage our cost structure, as well as targeting M and A sectors with specialized capabilities with higher margin potential. In line with this strategy, we're pleased to announce the successful completion of our acquisition of Jacob Brothers last week, which I will touch on more later in the presentation.

Speaker 1

Centered on driving growth across key markets and sectors that present robust opportunities over the longer term, our strategy includes expansion in our nuclear, mechanical, electrical, civil infrastructure, utilities with an emphasis on energy transition and data related infrastructure. Bird continues to be a go to partner for collaborative delivery on sophisticated complex projects during the Q2 of 2024, the company announced the award of 5 projects with a combined total of over $625,000,000 These projects include multiyear mine infrastructure in Eastern Canada, 3 long term care projects and a multi building institutional project in Western Canada. Overall, we continue to be intentional in our project selection as we increase our self perform capabilities and cross selling opportunities throughout the organization and we remain focused on long term value creation. Electrification market continues to experience significant growth and transformation. In Canada, several key trends are shaping the market, including expansion of clean energy infrastructure, investment in renewable energy, regulatory support and positive market projections.

Speaker 1

Our successful track record of serving top tier energy and power clients across the country has set us up as a preferred partner in key markets including wind, hydroelectric, nuclear, critical mineral, uranium mining, battery manufacturing and other EV supply chain support infrastructure. Bird is well positioned for future opportunities in the energy transition landscape through our strong commercial systems and utilities, civil infrastructure, industrial construction and industrial maintenance teams. Recently, we announced our collaboration in the Canadians for CANDU campaign. This initiative aims to promote the use and deployment of CANDU nuclear technology at home and abroad to not only help Canada achieve net 0 emissions, but maintain a strong domestic nuclear industry. Bert is proud to champion expansion of our domestic technology for a cleaner, more prosperous future for Canadians and contribute to global efforts towards a net zero future.

Speaker 1

Ferd is well positioned to capitalize on the significant tailwinds presented in both the public and private sectors, driven by global population growth, urbanization, aging infrastructure and energy transition investments, we are seeing elevated spending across our key industrial buildings and infrastructure markets. As we look ahead, we expect these positive conditions to propel our business forward over the medium to long term. Our transformed business model continues to create value a collaborative framework, allowing us to leverage our self perform and cross selling abilities to capitalize on future opportunities. We remain focused on higher margin market sectors for continued bottom and top line growth. Public sector continues to present a robust market for opportunities with growth, innovation and sustainable development.

Speaker 1

The recently announced launch of the Canada Public Transit Fund, $30,000,000,000 investment that represents the largest public transit investment in Canadian history will invest an average of $3,000,000,000 per year to help cities and communities across the country to deliver better, more accessible public transit systems for Canadians. As mentioned in the previous slide, the energy transition continues to grow the renewable energy market in response to Canada's need to roughly double its electrical supply. Investments into energy generation projects continue to climb in the 2024 federal budget, reiterating commitments to invest in nuclear as clean energy technology, including Canada's Infrastructure Bank's $970,000,000 investment in Ontario Power Generation's grid scale SMR project and a proposed $3,100,000,000 investment over 11 years in support of Canadian Nuclear Laboratories work. In the province of Ontario, the government is investing $155,000,000 to fast start construction of the next tranche of long term care homes, as well as an additional $1,000,000,000 investment in core infrastructure projects and $50,000,000,000 over the next 10 years in health Currently, BC represents the largest infrastructure market in Western Canada with a robust pipeline of opportunities through longer term cross transportation utilities, power, housing, institutional and public facility sectors. Both the provincial and municipal governments substantial funds to various infrastructure projects, including significant modernization and expansion efforts across transportation and power sectors.

Speaker 1

Examples of these efforts include Vancouver International Airport's $9,000,000,000 expansion plan that is underway until 2,030 7. The Port of Vancouver's $3,000,000,000 expansion to enhance capacity and efficiency over the next 6 years. BC Hydro's 1,000,000,000 dollars plan to upgrade the electrical grid in 2024 with a 10 year plan indicating over $36,000,000,000 in investments. Additionally, BC Mining Association has reported a near term investment of $36,000,000,000 to help 16 proposed critical mineral mines. Last week, we're happy to officially welcome Jacob Brothers to the Byrd team, supporting our capability to capitalize on these significant opportunities available in BC.

Speaker 1

This acquisition allows us to pursue projects of varying size, complexity and scope, allowing us to cross sell our combined self perform services and offer more comprehensive solutions to our clients. Baker Brothers was a privately owned civil infrastructure construction business headquartered in Surrey, BC with a highly skilled workforce of approximately 3 50 salary and craft personnel who continue who will continue to deliver their services under the Jacob Brothers brand. Jacob Brothers brings significant self perform capabilities that complement Bird's already extensive scopes and services, specializing in infrastructure projects including airports, seaports, rail, bridges, structures, earthwork, energy projects and utilities. Jacob Brothers also brings expertise in specialized projects that require innovative purpose built custom solutions and leverage our suite of comprehensive services. These projects range across multiple sectors including healthcare, education and light industrial.

Speaker 1

The leadership team has built a strong people first culture and like Bird provides their employees with the tools they need to execute successful projects and build long term construction careers. The company has a strong culture of safety and a proven track record of safe operations. The current leaders Scott and Tom Jacob bring extensive experience and leadership to Bird. Both leaders will continue as part of the Bird executive team and as previously announced will lead our Western Infrastructure business, including Jacob Brothers. The acquisition of Jacob Brothers was compelling for several key strategic operational financial reasons.

Speaker 1

The transaction advances Bridge strategy to build out a national full service infrastructure vertical. Over the past few years, we have strategically diversified our revenue sources through organic growth and strategic M and A, while at the same time we have significantly enhanced our profitability. On a full year basis, Jacob is expected to generate approximately $300,000,000 in revenue, dollars 37,000,000 of adjusted EBITDA, adding significant growth to Bird's infrastructure vertical. The company also brings a robust project backlog of approximately $350,000,000 including significant infrastructure projects across multiple sectors. Jacob Brothers self performed services along with a special projects expertise is expected to accelerate Bird's adjusted EBITDA margin accretion and support further shareholder value creation with an anticipated 10% increase to adjusted EPS on a full year basis.

Speaker 1

As with past acquisitions, we're heavily focused on post acquisition growth and we see significant upside potential from cross selling opportunities and other synergies in the combined business. Wayne will now cover the financial highlights for the quarter.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Terry. 3rd, second quarter continued to deliver substantial revenue and earnings growth, executing record high volumes of work in the quarter and delivering earnings growth that significantly outpaced revenue growth. Construction revenue for the 2nd quarter of 873,500,000 represented a 27% increase compared to the same period in 2023. On a year to date basis, revenues of $1,560,000,000 for the first half of twenty twenty four were $339,000,000 or 28% higher than 2023. The growth for both the quarter and first half of twenty twenty four was over 90% organic.

Speaker 2

The company's gross profit margin improved in the quarter compared to 2023, increasing to 8.6% from 7.9%. The improvement continues to be driven by the company's highly collaborative work program with higher embedded margins and backlog and pending backlog resulting from Bird's strategic focus on higher margin sectors, disciplined project selection and the benefits of leveraging Bird's self perform capabilities and cross selling opportunities across our business units. On a year to date basis, gross profit margin was up 60 basis points to 8.3% compared to last year. General and administrative expenses were $43,600,000 or 5 percent of revenue for the quarter and include $1,300,000 of transaction costs related to our recently completed acquisition of Jacob Brothers. This compares to $36,200,000 or 5.3 percent of revenue in the Q2 of last year.

Speaker 2

The company continues to gain leverage on its cost base, gaining efficiencies as the company continues to grow. Adjusted EBITDA in the 2nd quarter was 46,600,000 dollars a 58% increase over the $29,500,000 reported a year ago. Adjusted EBITDA margins continue to increase on a year over year basis, reaching 5.3% for the quarter and 1% better than last year. Turning to earnings, net income and earnings per share were 21 $400,000 $0.40 respectively, compared to $13,700,000 $0.26 in 2023. Adjusted earnings and earnings per share were $22,700,000 $0.42 compared to $15,700,000 $0.29 in 2023.

Speaker 2

The weighted average shares outstanding for the Q2 of 2024 was 117,000 shares higher than 2023 due to the acquisition of Norkan in the Q1. For the company and support our strategic growth initiatives, including the ability to pursue attractive M and A opportunities such as the Jacob Brothers acquisition we announced in June and completed in August. In connection with the acquisition, Bird took the opportunity to amend its syndicated credit facility, extending maturity of one additional year to 2027 and expanding the revolving facility to $300,000,000 to support the larger combined company. The company also increased its term loan facilities to $125,000,000 allowing for the repayment of existing term loans and funding a portion of the Jacob Brothers acquisition. Byrd closed the 2nd quarter with $102,000,000 in cash and cash equivalents and an additional $197,000,000 available under our revolving credit facility, allowing the company to continue to invest in growth related working capital, project driven capital expenditures and potential tuck in acquisitions to further enhance our service offerings and self perform capabilities.

Speaker 2

We expect Bird's operating cash generation will remain strong for the year, commensurate with the significant revenue and profitability growth being delivered. Excluding seasonal and growth related investments in non cash working capital, operating cash flow generation was up 65% for the quarter and 69% year to date compared to last year. With the seasonal increases in non cash working capital unwinding over the second half of twenty twenty four, we continue to expect positive operating cash flows for the full year. The company's working capital of over $244,000,000 at the end of the second quarter supported by liquidity available under a syndicated credit facility are more than sufficient for the company to execute its backlog and to accommodate expected growth in our diversified work program. The company has a current ratio of 1.25x and our adjusted net debt to trailing 12 month adjusted EBITDA ratio stands at 0.86x.

Speaker 2

Byrd's long term debt to equity ratio was 20% at the end of the quarter. Over the past 4 years, Byrd's revenue, adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA margins have experienced a period of sustained growth. Trailing 12 months revenue has grown at a compounded annual growth rate of 22%, over doubling the company's annual revenue. Adjusted EBITDA has grown at a compounded annual growth rate of 35% over the same period. Trailing 12 months adjusted EBITDA margins increased from 3.6% to 5.2%, reflecting management's strategic focus on margin accretion with further opportunity to expand through 2024 and beyond.

Speaker 2

As Terry mentioned earlier in today's presentation, the company's margins have been continually improving in our backlog and pending backlog. These improvements have been driven by efforts over the past several years to diversify into higher margin sectors with a disciplined focus on project selection and an appropriately risk balanced work program with greater use of collaborative contracting methods, which Bird believes delivers better outcomes for all stakeholders. Margins have also benefited from leveraging Bird's expanding self perform capabilities and increased cross selling opportunities between our business units and newly acquired assets. This can be seen in the results for the Q2 of this year, where we took another big step up in our margins leading into the second half of

Speaker 1

the year.

Speaker 2

FERC continues to follow a balanced capital allocation strategy, supporting the company's business growth, profitability and enhanced long term shareholder value through a combination of M and A, smart capital investments and returning capital to shareholders through dividends. The company continued to invest in equipment to support our growing work programs in the Q2 and returned over $13,000,000 to shareholders through our monthly dividends in the first half of twenty twenty four. Bert completed the acquisition of Norkan in the Q1 and announced the acquisition of Jacob Brothers in the Q2, which was completed on August 1. For full year 2024, the company expects to retain greater than 2 thirds of net income to support growth. I will now turn

Speaker 1

the call back to Terry to comment on the outlook for the company. Bruce combined backlog along with a robust pipeline of attractive opportunities actively being pursued continue to reflect higher embedded margins provide confidence in the company's ability to drive further growth and margin accretion. Focusing on the right sectors and selectively pursuing work that has a strategic alignment between capabilities, project type and delivery model with a strong focus on early contractor involvement and collaborative opportunities continue to drive improved outcomes for all parties. We anticipate strong full year growth in earnings, revenue and operating cash flows bolstered by the recent acquisition of Jacob Brothers on August 1st. The 5 months of Jacob Brothers revenue to be consolidated in Bird's results for 2024, the company expects combined revenue to approach $3,500,000,000 for the year.

Speaker 1

In addition, Jacob Brothers is expected to immediately add over $350,000,000 of risk balance margin accretive backlog and pending backlog with a wealth of significant opportunities being pursued with public and private clients throughout Western Canada where Jacob Brothers maintains strong relationships. What enables us to pursue attractive opportunities in the current M and A environment and support our strategic growth initiatives such as the Jacob Brothers acquisition is our healthy balance sheet. We expect to have strong cash flow generation in the second half of twenty twenty four with seasonal unwinding of investments in non cash working capital towards the end of the year. Longer term, we remain committed to a dividend payout ratio of net income of approximately 33%. We are pleased to announce that we will be hosting our 2024 Investor Day on October 9, where we will share our plans of Bird's next phase of growth.

Speaker 1

During this hybrid event with attendees both in person and virtually, we will unveil our 2025 to 2027 strategic plan and provide more specific guidance for the upcoming 3 years. More details and registration information will be available in the near future.

Speaker 3

We will now begin the question and answer session.

Speaker 4

On their telephone

Speaker 3

keypad to join the question queue. You will hear a tone acknowledging your request. If you are using a speakerphone, please ensure that you lift your handset before pressing any keys. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star then 2. And today's first question comes from Chris Murray with ATB Capital Markets.

Speaker 3

Please proceed.

Speaker 5

Thanks folks. Good morning.

Speaker 4

Good morning, Chris.

Speaker 5

Maybe turning back to this revenue growth rate. I guess it took a lot of us by surprise just the strength of it. And I think as you pointed out Wayne in your presentation, you're running at around a 22% growth CAGR. You talked about kind of approaching $3,500,000,000 I guess for this year. I guess a couple of questions on this.

Speaker 5

I mean, 1, the sustainability of this on top of M and A is, I guess, the question we're all trying to get our heads around as we go further into maybe 'twenty 5 or 'twenty 6. Percent. Book to bill on a trailing basis is still kind of supportive of at least kind of 10% maybe more. But I guess what we're trying to also understand is how the collaborative contract model because I guess the even the projected backlog kind of took a big step up as well. So maybe can you help us understand what you think your that CAGR looks like over the next couple of years as we try to maybe gauge this a little bit better, that would be helpful.

Speaker 1

Yes, I think, obviously, the performance in the 20s is certainly yes, I don't think we would sit here confidently and suggest that's sustainable over multiple years. But there certainly is a lot of strength in the projects that we're in. I think what's really paying off Chris for us is we're highly diversified now into a lot of sectors and we diversified into sectors that have a lot of momentum. And when you get some momentum behind you, certainly you attract a lot of talent. Being public, obviously, we're out in the markets and you see a lot of things about us and the sectors we're focused on are really not that cyclical to be honest with you.

Speaker 1

We got a nice balance now east west in which we've been focused on in terms of geographical diversity and we've got a I think a really nice end market balance with a nice balance between public and private markets. So, yes, there's certainly lots of wind in our sales. And I think the space we're in certainly gives us a lot of confidence that we're going to have strong demand for our services for the next few years.

Speaker 5

Okay. And then Wayne, I think you talked about the ability of you folks to start getting some additional operating leverage on SG and A. And you back us the kind of the one time costs for acquisitions in the quarter. Now if you think about G and A expenses, even as you layer on Jacobs, is that kind of normalized run rate, kind of that kind of call it just over $40,000,000 a quarter number. Like how far can you drive revenue before that number needs to move or is it something that just sort of you think you've got everything you're going to need to have today?

Speaker 5

So any color you have on that operating leverage would be helpful.

Speaker 2

Yes, certainly. So I think in terms of G and A, yes, I you take out transaction costs and those types of things, I think $40,000,000 or just over is not a bad run rate when you think about our business today. But at the same time, one of the things we have been doing is making strategic hires over the last couple of years, kind of adding key people every quarter, but it's not on their own. They're not individually material enough to move the needle in a single quarter when you make those hires. But for us to continue the growth we're on, it's important to have the people to deliver those projects.

Speaker 2

Direct costs. But I guess the short answer to your question is, yes, probably $40,000,000 is not a bad estimate on run rate.

Speaker 5

Okay. And along those lines, I mean, I think when you did the Stuart Olson acquisition, we spent a lot of time talking a little bit about systems and processes. I guess the other piece of this is growth is great, but you still have to manage it. Do you feel like you've got, call it, the base now that the organization can support those these types of growth levels over the next couple of years?

Speaker 1

Yes, we're very confident in that, Chris. We're 80% through a new ERP for the company. That's gone very well. Certainly, it's tracking on schedule and ahead of budget at this point. So that gives us a very strong foundation to obviously integrate the companies that we have in our mix.

Speaker 1

And like I said, we're 80% through that. But it's also the type of technology we're using will be leading edge in terms of giving us the tools to lead in the environment across many different aspects of our business, not just specifically financial controls, a lot of operational controls, a lot of safety aspects that are revolving technology, obviously efficient management of our fleet. It's really impressive the new tools that we're rolling out to our operational teams and we had tremendous feedback on the uptake of the use of those tools.

Speaker 3

And the next question comes from Sean Jack with Raymond James. Please proceed.

Speaker 6

Hey, good morning guys.

Speaker 1

Good morning, Phil. Good morning, Phil. So

Speaker 6

there's been definitely more mention lately on the MSA work and reoccurring revenue work that's embedded in the backlog. Just wondering if you wanted to describe any new opportunities that for that style of work that's going to be unlocked by the Jacobs deal coming up?

Speaker 1

Well, on the Jacobs side, certainly they have a regular run rate of work they do, for example, at YVR in Vancouver, that you would I don't know that they would characterize it as an MSA per se, but it is in that sort of that framework. A lot of the work they do exists across a number of different government type clients and repeatable clients that they have performed work for that's special in nature. And then obviously the civil side, they work across a number of different sectors. But Jacobs certainly is we're excited about integrating that acquisition now that's well underway. And obviously with the demands in the BC marketplace, it really positions us nicely to cross sell that business into some of our other activities that we already have underway in BC.

Speaker 1

So very excited about it, but.

Speaker 6

Perfect. Okay. That's helpful. So kind of in the same vein as well, wondering if you could provide any sort of details on the projects or the backlog project mix at Jacobs. I know that you guys had mentioned that it's risk balance.

Speaker 6

Is there any sort of goalpost you would put out between fixed price and collaborative style projects for that?

Speaker 1

So they have a mix of things. Again, they work across a number of diversified areas in BC. They do what we would call unit price work where they work for governments where the government takes risks on quantities and design and that kind of thing. And Jacobs obviously with their history and experience provides the enterprise for a lot of that kind of work. So in that regard, I think we like it.

Speaker 1

We obviously did our thorough due diligence on their backlog and work through the types of things they were doing and we're quite impressed. And the skill set they have, the margin profile they have is reflects how what a quality business that company is and how well they operate and how professionally they operate.

Speaker 6

Okay, awesome. Yes, that's all for me guys. I'll turn it over. Thanks.

Speaker 2

Thanks, John.

Speaker 3

And our next question comes from Ian Gillies with Stifel. Please proceed.

Speaker 7

Good morning, everyone.

Speaker 1

Good morning. Good morning.

Speaker 7

You've talked a little bit about adding senior talent in various places. Are you maybe able to flag for us some of the end markets that those folks would have focused on and whether they may be new to Bird or where they may be additive to Bird?

Speaker 1

Yes, it's a mix of things. Certainly, with our growth in nuclear, we've added some top tier leaders to support that growth with the demands that we're seeing now in a mix of energy related projects and the scale of these projects, We've got certain some new horsepower that's supporting that. You think about our infrastructure business, we've got obviously a broad scale of opportunity. So we've been that business has been growing organically in Eastern Canada and ultimately in the West with Jacob Brothers bringing top tier team to the table. Moving across some of the other sectors, I'd say, on our building side, demand is high, both East and West.

Speaker 1

So we're continuously adding new resources. Our modular business is gaining some momentum and we have new certainly new leadership supporting that business. So I'd say overall it's we are very careful to obviously have the horse before the cart. And as such, we are often well advanced in adding the leadership capacity to balance the demands, not the other way around. We typically have that on the front end and move from there.

Speaker 7

That's helpful. And as we think about the 2024 revenue guide, the first half growth was quite frankly outstanding and looks like there's going to be a little step down in the back half of the year. Is it a reflection of conservatism in the back half of the year right now? Or was there some benefits from weather that allowed you to be more productive in the first half of the year? I'm just trying to understand why it's changing a little bit?

Speaker 2

Yes. I guess a couple of things. So in the back half of the year, like I wouldn't say the growth growth is low. We did have a strong second half of twenty twenty three in terms of revenue. So the comparables are a little bit tougher than the first half of twenty twenty three versus first half of twenty twenty four.

Speaker 2

But in our outlook section of the MD and A, including 5 months of Jacob Brothers, we had said that revenue was going to approach 3,500,000,000 and without Jacob Brothers, just kind of the rest of Bird, if you will, including Norkan, would approach $3,400,000,000 So the growth in the second half is still 20% plus, which is still pretty healthy growth. Now some of that's organic, obviously, with Jacob Brothers being plus or minus 100,000,000 that we called out there, but still pretty strong organic growth on the bird side.

Speaker 7

No, that makes sense. And I was not trying to imply that it's not a strong organic growth, just trying to understand the change. The other thing I was perhaps hoping to spend a little bit of time on was, as you think about self performed capabilities within the business now versus 24 months ago and perhaps where you want to be 2 years from now, can you maybe talk about how you're thinking about driving that change and how that ties in with your call it margin aspirations?

Speaker 1

Well, certainly, I think we've built a really strong foundation with the business. We've got the 3 pillars now, well established in industrial and buildings and in infrastructure. The demands in those 3 verticals certainly have been quite strong and we've positioned ourselves in each of those to focus on segments that have considerable demand in that regard. So I think we're you add the new capabilities we have in the various sectors with this army of electricians that we employ that can position ourselves in a good place with some of the large data center work that's evolving and that's not certainly going away anytime near, anytime soon. So, yes, I think overall as we transition now into the next couple of years, we're in a really good spot.

Speaker 7

Okay. Thanks very much. I'll turn the call back over.

Speaker 2

Thank you.

Speaker 3

Our next question is from Maxim Sytchev with National Bank Financial. Please proceed.

Speaker 8

Hi. Good morning, Chairman.

Speaker 1

Hi, Doug. Hi, Mike.

Speaker 3

I was wondering if

Speaker 8

it's possible to get any color around the pricing dynamic in the private sector right now. Because I mean it feels like some of the other data points maybe are not as positive what you guys are seeing on this call. So, yes, just wondering what you can tell us about the pricing? Thanks.

Speaker 1

Yes. So we haven't I wouldn't say, Max, we've the demands for our services are still very high. We say no a lot to clients mainly because of our specific selections of the types of things we want to do in the margin profile that we are looking for. There's many different opportunities that we come through our office that we decide that just aren't the right fit for us. So I'd say that the market in the sectors we're in and again, they're often very specialized things like nuclear, things like obviously the capability to deliver an LNG facility, the ability to deliver a new chemical facility, production facility.

Speaker 1

If you start to look through those renewable side, hydroelectric, nuclear, those are our sectors that it's a steep hill to climb to get to the entry level of those sectors. So I think with us, we have that benefit of a very high portion of the work we do is very specialized and there's only a few companies that obviously have that capability. We're also seeing, I'd say, a decent pull from some of the entities that would focus in North America that are being pulled into the U. S. With the demands there and some of the companies that historically have worked in Canada from different parts of the world or from the U.

Speaker 1

S. Are pulling back now to focus on their opportunities in the U. S. So that creates a stronger marketplace or at least a strengthened market that in the sense of strengthened demand and obviously margin profiles, there's no pressure on margins because of that. So I think where we positioned ourselves has given us some really strong momentum and confidence for the next 3 years.

Speaker 8

Okay. That's a very good point. And I just had one operationalsort of HR question. As you are obviously pushing this 1 bird team approach, I'm wondering about when you move people around sort of across the country, like how easy it is to do? Is it a little bit easier to have at work kind of like over the hump of flexo challenges to find people?

Speaker 8

Maybe just any color on the subject. Thanks.

Speaker 1

I think we've had really good success with that and I think it's the types of individuals that we're looking for. It's they really enjoy what we're doing now that we're on what I would call a common technology platform they can plug and play no matter where they go. Young people today, I think have a higher interest in learning different types of things and are excited to put that. The big remote projects that we used to do that used to be more difficult to get our employees to go to now are very modern facilities. We don't call it camps anymore.

Speaker 1

They're really lodges. The uplift in pay for those projects is high. So young people, they like the mix. They like the fact that they can go out in a project and work for 2 weeks and then have a week off on a rotation, they go somewhere in the world for a whole day. So there's just a there's it's become a nice balance and there's still going to be individuals that are attached to a certain location in the country because of family reasons aren't as easy to move.

Speaker 1

I'd say coming through COVID, we've all learned to be very efficient with virtual capabilities. And now with the new technology platforms that are evolving, you do a lot of things in a virtual framework at times. So, I think in that regard, we don't but our district leaders don't raise flags about their ability to attract employees or move employees from one location to the other at all. So that's a leading indicator for me. So I think in that regard, we're obviously managing it well.

Speaker 8

Yes. Okay. No, that's really the point, sir. Thank you so much for all the color.

Speaker 3

And the next question comes from Atharva Zaveri with TD Cowen. Please proceed.

Speaker 4

Good morning everyone. It's Louisa Varese here on behalf of Michael Tupholme. And so obviously the strong margin performance has been seen year to date and there will be an impact of Checkov Pro's acquisition. So in terms of EBITDA margin, where do you see for full year 2024? And do you still expect similar margin

Speaker 7

that?

Speaker 2

Yes. I would say, so on a trailing 12 month basis, I think we're 5.2 percent EBITDA margin. We see that building and continuing to improve through 2024. I think consensus estimates probably have us around 5.9 or something like that. And I think certainly that is a floor and probably something with a 6 in front of it is where we end 2024.

Speaker 2

And then, yes, with a full year of Jacob Brothers, like an extra 7 months of Jacob Brothers in 2025, certainly we expect that to be accretive to our margins. But what we also tried to say in our outlook section is, when you look at our backlog and you look at our pending backlog and you look at the embedded margins that we have, those are at a higher level than where we're at. So we would expect our margins just organically to also improve. So I think in 2025, you're going to get the double benefit of having a 12% EBITDA business, so Jacob Brothers having 12 months in the figures and then Bird itself is just organically improving its margin profile as well.

Speaker 3

And at this time, there are no further questions in the queue. And this does conclude our question and answer session. I will now hand the call back over to Mr. McKibben for any closing remarks.

Speaker 1

Thank you all for joining us this morning on our earnings call. We look forward to providing you with more details on our new 3 year strategic plan and updated long term financial outlook at our Investor Day on October 9 in Toronto. We hope to see you there. Thank you very much.

Speaker 3

And this brings to the close today's conference call and webcast. You may now disconnect your lines. Thank you for participating and have a pleasant day.

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Earnings Conference Call
Bird Construction Q2 2024
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