Exchange Income Q3 2026 Earnings Results & Report

Exchange Income EPS Results

• Actual EPS: C$1.81
• Consensus EPS: N/A
• Beat/Miss: N/A
• One Year Ago EPS: N/A
• EPS Beat Rate: 7 of last 8 quarters

Exchange Income Revenue Results

• Actual Revenue: C$1.06 billion
• Expected Revenue: N/A
• Beat/Miss: N/A
• YoY Revenue Growth: N/A

Exchange Income (TSE:EIF) is a diversified acquisition-oriented company, focused in two segments: Aerospace & Aviation and Manufacturing. The Corporation uses a disciplined acquisition strategy to identify already profitable, well-established companies that have strong management teams, generate steady cash flow, operate in niche markets and have opportunities for organic growth.

Exchange Income Q3 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Key Takeaways

• Positive Sentiment: EIC reported record third-quarter results across key metrics, including revenue, adjusted EBITDA, earnings, free cash flow and per-share results. Management now expects fiscal 2026 adjusted EBITDA to be at or above the top of its CAD 890–920 million range.
• Positive Sentiment: The company issued fiscal 2027 adjusted EBITDA guidance of CAD 1.0–1.06 billion, representing more than 20% growth from the midpoint of its original 2026 guidance. The outlook excludes unannounced contract wins and acquisitions.
• Positive Sentiment: Leverage improved to 2.64x EBITDA, a 15-year low, while available liquidity exceeded CAD 2 billion. Adjusted net earnings and free cash flow less maintenance CapEx payout ratios were 60% and 52%, respectively; management expects both payout ratios to fall further while continuing dividend growth.
• Positive Sentiment: Management cited broad-based demand and growth opportunities, including stronger aircraft and engine demand, rising mat rentals and rates, and expansion in aerospace services. The TerraPro acquisition and investments in capacity are expected to support growth, particularly in 2027 and beyond.
• Negative Sentiment: Higher aircraft utilization, fleet growth, inflation and OEM parts shortages are expected to increase maintenance capital expenditures in 2027 and may cause quarter-to-quarter variability. The window business also faces continued Southern Ontario market softness and competitive pricing, while some fuel-cost increases take time to pass through to customers.

Presentation

[Operator]

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to Exchange Income Corporation's third quarter conference call to discuss the financial results for the three and nine months ended September 30th, 2026. The corporation's results, including the MD&A and financial statements, were issued on November 12th, 2026, and are currently available via the company's website or SEDAR+. Before turning the call over to management, listeners are cautioned that today's presentation and the responses to questions may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of Canadian provincial securities laws. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, and undue reliance should not be placed on such statements. Certain material factors or assumptions are applied in making forward-looking statements, and actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements.

[Operator]

For additional information about factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from expectations and about material factors or assumptions applied in making forward-looking statements, please consult the quarterly and annual MD&A, the risk factor sections of the annual information form, and EIC's other filings with Canadian securities regulators. Except as required by Canadian securities law, EIC does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements. Such statements speak only as of the date made. Listeners are also reminded that today's call is being recorded and broadcast live via the internet for the benefit of individual shareholders, analysts, and other interested parties. I would like to turn the call over to the CEO of Exchange Income Corporation, Mike Pyle. Please go ahead, sir.

[Mike Pyle, CEO at Exchange Income Corporation]

Thank you, operator. Good morning, and thank you for joining us for today's call. With me today are Richard Wowryk, who will highlight our financial results, the easiest job of the day, along with Jake Trainor and Travis Muhr, who will expand on our outlook. Yesterday, we released our third quarter results for fiscal 2026. Our performance was exceptional. We set records in all our key metrics, including revenue, adjusted EBITDA, net earnings, adjusted net earnings, free cash flow, free cash flow less maintenance capital expenditures, including records in our per-share amounts, payout ratios, and 15-year best debt leverage ratio. This was accomplished through operational excellence at our subsidiaries and the benefit of past growth capital expenditures being realized in our results. When comparing period-over-period results, there were no material acquisitions impacting the comparison, which demonstrates the operating leverage achieved by our various business lines.

[Mike Pyle, CEO at Exchange Income Corporation]

Based on our momentum achieved, we expect to be at the top or above our previously adjusted EBITDA range of CAD 890 million-CAD 920 million for fiscal 2026. We also announced a number of milestones for our company. I call this quarter the billion-dollar quarter for several reasons. We announced our 2027 adjusted EBITDA guidance with a range of CAD 1.0 billion-CAD 1.06 billion, representing growth of over 20% compared to the midpoint of our original 2026 guidance. Q3 was also the first quarter where we recorded over CAD 1 billion of revenue in a single quarter. Lastly, with our third quarter reporting, we updated our 2026 guidance for the fourth time, indicating that we now expect to be at or above the top of the previously issued range of CAD 890 million-CAD 920 million for adjusted EBITDA.

[Mike Pyle, CEO at Exchange Income Corporation]

This quarter also saw the combination of records being set in our net earnings and adjusted net earnings per share, even taking into account that our weighted number of shares increased by 8% for the quarter due to the simplification of our balance sheet and removing the convertible debentures from our financing structure last year. Those record EPS results were reported along with historically strong adjusted net earnings payout ratio of 60% and free cash flow less maintenance CapEx payout ratio of 52%. Lastly, we have achieved the 15-year best in our leverage ratio at 2.64X EBITDA. By all accounts, each one of the accomplishments would be something to celebrate. Reporting records in all per-share, payout ratio, and leverage metrics while deleveraging and increasing dividends demonstrates how strong our business model and strategy is. Additionally, we are benefiting from significant structural tailwinds today and long into our future.

[Mike Pyle, CEO at Exchange Income Corporation]

During and subsequent to the third quarter, we announced highly strategic contracts and acquisitions. The acquisition of TerraPro will allow us to realize the exciting tailwinds in the Environmental Access Solutions business line that, coupled with the investments in our fleet, has our business set up for 2027 and beyond as large nonlinear projects are slated to get going. Cartel allows greater diversification for WesTower and allows them to expand into adjacent industries and expand their relationship with telecommunication companies and infrastructure players. Our aerospace business line signed definitive agreements confirming the scope of services under the Future Aircrew Training Program with SkyAlyne. We anticipate that the modification efforts on aircraft will start in 2027, with the bulk of the modification and missionization services occurring in the first five years. The remainder of the 25-year, CAD 750 million contract will be focused on training and in-service support.

[Mike Pyle, CEO at Exchange Income Corporation]

The aerospace business line continues to be very busy, fielding inquiries and responding to requests from around the globe. Our Essential Air Services and aircraft sales and leasing business lines continue to see strong demand trends. In our Essential Air Services, we saw broad-based strength in our scheduled air service, cargo, charter, and medevac services. Our aircraft sales and leasing business line is continuing to see robust demand, along with its parts, aircraft, and engine business. We have invested in significant growth CapEx in that business, and it is yielding the returns we anticipated when making those investments. Lastly, the integration of MACH 2 has gone very well, and the management teams are working very closely together. MACH 2 has also been integral in working with Canadian North to secure spare parts and components to ensure Canadian North can meet the significant demand they are seeing in the northern routes.

[Mike Pyle, CEO at Exchange Income Corporation]

Our manufacturing results were highlighted by strong results in both our Environmental Access Solutions and Precision Manufacturing and Engineering business lines. We are continuing to see significant demand for our composite mats, and our output from our existing plants has exceeded our own high expectations, and were, in fact, records for the quarter. We are continuing to see market share transition to composite mats in the southern U.S. There is market demand for our new plant in Saltillo, which is on time and on budget, and we should see the plant operational in the latter part of 2027, with mats being sold from production in later 2027. In our Canadian operations, we are experiencing significant demand for our wood mat solutions, with the number of rentals continuing to increase, and we are experiencing expansion in rental rates as well.

[Mike Pyle, CEO at Exchange Income Corporation]

The timing of the TerraPro acquisition will allow us to realize the significant tailwinds that exist in that business line in 2027, and even more importantly, in 2028 and beyond. We also continue to see encouraging booking trends in our Multi-Storey Window Solutions business line. The third quarter saw a third consecutive positive book-to-bill ratio. However, I would say that we remained in the early innings of the game, as three quarters does not mean a longer-term trend, as we still see highly competitive pricing and strong market softness in the Southern Ontario region. Overall, an exceptional quarter, highlighted by records in every key performance indicator, underpinned by tailwinds within the vast majority of our business lines, which is exciting for 2027 and beyond. Jake and Travis will focus on the outlook for our segments for the fourth quarter and into next year.

[Mike Pyle, CEO at Exchange Income Corporation]

I will pass the call over to Rich, who will talk about some of the key highlights from the MD&A and the financial statements. Richie?

[Richard Wowryk, CFO at Exchange Income Corporation]

Thank you, Mike. Good morning, everyone. I will provide some highlights from our quarterly key performance indicators and focus on our balance sheet, investments and CapEx, and pipeline of acquisition opportunities. As Mike mentioned, we set third quarter records in all of our key performance indicators, including net earnings, adjusted net earnings, and per-share amounts. Those per-share records are even more impressive when you consider that shares outstanding were approximately 8% higher over the prior period due to conversion of convertible debentures, as we completed our goal of simplifying our balance sheet. From a balance sheet and cash flow perspective, we had a recovery of working capital in the third quarter and a net investment for year to date. We continue to have further investments in prepaids and inventory for our aircraft sales and leasing business line in the quarter.

[Richard Wowryk, CFO at Exchange Income Corporation]

The purchases of whole aircraft for resale and growth in parts inventory will support further parts sales, and further deposits were made for future asset acquisitions. These investments were offset by a reduction in working capital throughout our operations due to prudent management of cash flows. Consistent with the seasonality of EAS, we expect the fourth quarter of 2026 will see a release of cash from working capital, as the third quarter is our seasonally strongest quarter, and therefore, the recovery of working capital during the third quarter is even more remarkable. We also expect the sale of whole aircraft during Q4 to reduce the value of working capital, as these assets were purchased for resale earlier in 2026. Aggregate leverage is at 15-year total leverage ratio best at 2.64 times.

[Richard Wowryk, CFO at Exchange Income Corporation]

More impressive, we have been able to delever while delivering significant growth on a per-share basis, all while continuing to invest for the future. With over CAD 2 billion of available liquidity, we are well-positioned to pursue acquisitions and invest in our existing businesses while maintaining our established disciplined capital allocation. The investments we have made over the past number of years have started realizing the returns envisioned when those investments were made. Growth CapEx generates free cash flow over time as operations ramp up following the initial capital outlay, and we are seeing the impact of those past investments in our current year results. Per-share metrics. In the current year, growth CapEx were CAD 210 million on a year-to-date basis.

[Richard Wowryk, CFO at Exchange Income Corporation]

The manufacturing segment growth CapEx are primarily related to the Spartan state-of-the-art facility in Saltillo, Mississippi, which will be an important growth engine and provide significant operating leverage to that business line to meet market demand. Within the A&A segment, year-to-date growth CapEx included investments in the aircraft sales and leasing business, which accounted for approximately 30% of the investments, with the majority of growth capital investments focused in our Essential Air Services, with expenditures for our BC EHS contract, finalization of our full-motion King Air simulator, which is now fully certified and operational, investments in aircraft for the Air Canada expanded and extended commercial arrangement, investments in the Canadian North state-of-the-art cargo facility, which is now operational in Ottawa, and various growth investments in our air operators for additional capacity to meet scheduled service and charter demand.

[Richard Wowryk, CFO at Exchange Income Corporation]

These investments will drive cash flow growth in future periods. Maintenance CapEx were above our beginning year internal expectations as deferrals in the first and second quarters were pushed into the third quarter. In the third quarter, investments in maintenance CapEx were CAD 95 million for Aerospace & Aviation and CAD 8 million for manufacturing. The increase over the prior year comparatives were due to timing, inflationary pressures, increases in utilization of aircraft, and growth in the aircraft sales and leasing fleet. Jake will provide further guidance for Q4, but I'll note despite being over our internal expectations, we still had record low payout ratios. The collective significant increases in growth and maintenance CapEx will result in increases in depreciation over the prior year Q4 comparative as the net book value of assets has significantly increased. Our M&A pipeline remains strong.

[Richard Wowryk, CFO at Exchange Income Corporation]

Adam and his team continue to work on a number of opportunities across both segments. Generally, the more advanced opportunities are those that are tangential to our existing businesses and are in high-growth areas. We have a great foundation of businesses, and to the extent we can find accretive opportunities to expand our competitive moat, we are always interested in those accretive opportunities. I will now turn the call over to Jake, who will provide an update for the fourth quarter and 2027 for the A&A segment.

[Jake Trainor, President at Exchange Income Corporation]

Thank you, Rich. We expect another strong period of growth in aerospace and aviation as the trends that Mike and Rich discussed continue through the fourth quarter. Growth investments, the acquisition of MACH 2, the startup of the Newfoundland and Labrador medevac contract, and the expansion of the Air Canada commercial agreement are all expected to support higher revenue and profitability as we exit 2026 and into 2027. In Essential Air Services, we expect that revenue and profitability in the fourth quarter of 2026 will be higher than in the fourth quarter of 2025. The largest driver will be continued strong load factors and strength in cargo, charter, and medevac services, coupled with the expanded Air Canada commercial agreement, as all but one of the aircraft for that contract are now deployed.

[Jake Trainor, President at Exchange Income Corporation]

For 2027, we anticipate such trends will continue and that the operations of the Air Canada commercial agreement will reach full operating tempo. Operations in the Newfoundland medevac contract will ramp also throughout the year. Offsetting some of these gains is the continued inflationary pressures on labor, aircraft parts, consumables, and overhaul costs. In aerospace, we expect increased revenue and profitability in the fourth quarter compared to the prior period due to continued strong flying tempo of our aircraft in the fleet, along with the modification services on the two Air Greenland aircraft, which started in 2026 and will continue through 2027. As we look forward to 2027, the FAcT contract is expected to impact the operating results with minimal capital investment required. Further, we remain engaged on several additional opportunities across the globe in Canada, Europe, and the U.S. in the aerospace business line.

[Jake Trainor, President at Exchange Income Corporation]

Aircraft sales and leasing is also expected to continue its momentum in the fourth quarter compared to the prior period. Further, revenue and profitability are expected to grow in 2027, and the overall trends are consistent with the periods as we are seeing significant demand for our aircraft on lease, with increasing rental rates coupled with strong parts demand around the globe. We've made significant investments in growth CapEx and inventory for Regional One, and we expect continued monetization of those investments in 2027. We don't anticipate having any material end-of-lease adjustments in the fourth quarter or of any significant magnitude in 2027 when compared to the third quarter of 2026. Maintenance capital expenditures are expected to improve for the fourth quarter compared to the fourth quarter of 2025 due to the timing of maintenance events, as spending was significant in that prior year quarter.

[Jake Trainor, President at Exchange Income Corporation]

With the OEM parts shortages, the ability to forecast the timing of release of engines from the MRO provider is becoming less predictable, which may result in quarter-to-quarter variation as parts are being inducted into engines at our repair shops. For fiscal 2027, we're expected to see increases in maintenance capital expenditures in line with our growth in EBITDA due to a couple of factors. Firstly, the OEM parts shortage is increasing costs on a per-event basis, and secondly, the growth in our fleet and utilization of the fleet. With the increased size of our fleet, including aircraft sales and leasing, we anticipate greater maintenance CapEx in line with the fleet growth. Growth Cap expenditures are expected in Q4 for the last of the initial order of the King Air 360 aircraft for Carson Air's BC EHS medevac contract.

[Jake Trainor, President at Exchange Income Corporation]

We're also incurring additional costs towards aircraft modifications for the Newfoundland and Labrador medevac contract, and we're forecasting opportunistic purchases and aircraft sales and leasing to meet the robust demand. I'll now pass it off to Travis to provide commentary on the manufacturing segment.

[Travis Muhr, COO at Exchange Income Corporation]

Thanks, Jake, and good morning. From a manufacturing perspective, we expect Q4 revenue and profitability to be higher than in the comparative period. We also expect that revenue and profitability for fiscal 2027 will increase compared to fiscal 2026 based off of continued momentum, industry tailwinds, and growth investments, particularly in Environmental Access Solutions and Precision Manufacturing and Engineering business lines. Environmental Access Solutions is expected to generate stronger returns in the fourth quarter compared to the prior Q4, driven by four factors: strong demand for composite matting solutions in the U.S., strengthening rental rates in Canada, an increase in the number of mats on rent in Canada, and the acquisition of TerraPro. Looking forward to fiscal 2027, we see similar trends driven by the industry tailwinds in Canada and the completion of the Saltillo, Mississippi composite mats, with production expected in the fourth quarter of 2027.

[Travis Muhr, COO at Exchange Income Corporation]

We continue to see encouraging medium and longer-term demand drivers from the transmission and distribution, pipeline, and oil and gas activity, and are very bullish on the business line and its operating prospects. Multi-Storey Window Solutions continue to see strong inquiry levels and booking levels. As Mike had mentioned, we experienced our third consecutive quarter of positive bookings-to-bill ratio. We are encouraged by the results. However, the environment remains highly competitive, and we don't yet consider the trend as an indicator of an industry-wide recovery, as we still see softness in the Southern Ontario condo market, which was our largest market in the past. The team has done a great job in diversifying geographies and end markets, whether it be providing cladding in hospitals, long-term care homes, student housing, and government institutions.

[Travis Muhr, COO at Exchange Income Corporation]

The revenues and profitabilities were in line with our internal expectations and consistent with the prior year, and we expect that trend to continue in the fourth quarter of 2026. We are expecting that 2027 will be a slight improvement from a revenue and EBITDA perspective when comparing it to 2026. Precision Manufacturing and Engineering is expected to slightly decline in revenue and profitability for the fourth quarter of 2026 compared to the fourth quarter of 2025, as our hydronic heating solutions subsidiary had a very strong quarter in 2025 due to the vast majority of their annual production being shipped and recognized in revenue in the fourth quarter of that year, coupled with the deferral of customer orders due to the Section 338 tariffs implemented in August of 2026.

[Travis Muhr, COO at Exchange Income Corporation]

The remainder of the businesses are very strong, and we continue to experience strong inquiry and booking trends with exposure to attractive end markets such as aerospace, defense, telecommunications, and data farms. We anticipate moderate growth across the business line from a revenue and profitability perspective in 2027. On a tariff front, we noted that in our reports that Multi-Storey Window Solutions continue to be negatively impacted by the aluminum tariffs, and our DryAir Manufacturing subsidiary was negatively impacted by the Section 338 tariffs, as it caused a temporary customer deferral of orders. That being said, we are undertaking an active mitigation strategy in both those businesses. However, this morning, we are happy to report that the Section 338 tariffs that relate to DryAir Manufacturing were actually removed from the HTS codes, and our subsidiary is actively calling our customers to recognize any deferred customer orders this year.

[Travis Muhr, COO at Exchange Income Corporation]

Maintenance capital expenditures are expected to be above the fourth quarter of 2025, primarily because of the timing and anticipated demand across the business lines. For 2027, we expect that maintenance CapEx to be higher than 2026, primarily due to investments in our Environmental Access Solutions, due to increase in their rental fleets, and the timing of replacement of yellow iron. Growth capital expenditures are expected in the fourth quarter of 2026 and for fiscal 2027, primarily related to new composite mat plants and additional Canadian rental fleet investments due to our strong outlook on that business line. I'll now pass the call back to Mike.

[Mike Pyle, CEO at Exchange Income Corporation]

The third quarter was incredibly strong and continued the positive momentum we experienced in the first two quarters. The quarter saw numerous records, and the combination of record-setting per-share figures coupled with a 15-year best leverage ratio and record payout ratios all point to the incredibly strong operations within our various business lines. The combination of those records points to the fundamental strength of our business model, coupled with macroeconomic trends which are providing tailwinds throughout the business. That strength has allowed us to provide an adjusted EBITDA range of CAD 1.0 billion-CAD 1.06 billion for 2027, and it's a significant milestone for EIC. I would point out that the guidance does not include any unannounced contract wins or unannounced acquisitions. Those would be additive to the guidance provided. I remain extremely confident in the future of the company.

[Mike Pyle, CEO at Exchange Income Corporation]

EIC is at the intersection of a number of important themes and trends. We have remained true to our principles and our business strategies, and those will continue to drive our long-term success. Thank you for taking your time with us this morning, and we would now like to open the call to questions. Operator?

[Operator]

Thank you, sir. We will now conduct a question-and-answer session. If you do have a question, please press star followed by the number one on your touch-tone phone. You will hear a prompt acknowledging your request. Your questions will be pulled in the order that they are received. Please ensure that you lift the handset if you are using a speakerphone before pressing any keys. Please go ahead and press star one now if you have any questions. Thank you. First is James McGarragle at RBC Capital Markets. Please go ahead, James.

[James McGarragle, Analyst at RBC Capital Markets]

Hey, good morning.

[Mike Pyle, CEO at Exchange Income Corporation]

Morning, James.

[James McGarragle, Analyst at RBC Capital Markets]

Thanks for having me on. Yeah, I just wanted to ask on the M&A strategy here, given how well the balance sheet's positioned. You kind of have the most capacity you've ever had in terms of being able to execute on a large deal. Can you just give us an update on the pipeline? It seems like a lot of your recent deals have had strategic alignment with an existing unit, but has your view changed on potentially pursuing a deal outside of either aviation or manufacturing?

[Mike Pyle, CEO at Exchange Income Corporation]

Sure. The pipeline itself I would describe as robust. You are bang on in that most of the things we have announced have been tangential to what we are already doing. By and large, I think that is what you will see through the balance of 2026 and into 2027. We are in discussions in a number of opportunities. Nothing is at a stage where it is announceable, or I would. But optimistic that we will have something to talk about. As for outside of our current sweet spot, we are always prepared to look. We did not know that we loved the matting business till we saw it with Northern Mat and then Spartan. So, we are prepared to be creative. Having said that, I think our focus will largely be within what we are doing, unless we find something we really like.

[Mike Pyle, CEO at Exchange Income Corporation]

But one of the things that is really exciting for us is, because we are not the guys who pay so much that we convince people to sell purely on price, we need to have make it be easy for the vendor to sell to us. Sitting with CAD 2 billion worth of liquidity at the same time as your leverage is at a 15-year low lets us be able to do deals without having to tap the equity market, so there is not a dilution impact. As a result, the transactions are more accretive and will still stay way below our historical trends for leverage. It is about discipline and not paying too much and not financing too much. In terms of our pay-down of debt that we have experienced, we are in a position to really grow on a very accretive per-share basis.

[James McGarragle, Analyst at RBC Capital Markets]

Appreciate the color there. Then just a quick follow-up on Regional One. Obviously, the results there were quite strong. So, anything that is like one-off there? Just kind of trying to get a view of how sustainable this might be into 2027, as we look a little bit further out. I can turn the line over after that. Thanks.

[Mike Pyle, CEO at Exchange Income Corporation]

Regional One is, for lack of a better word, smoking right now. They are super busy. The world has a shortage of engines, so people who can help solve those problems are in a great spot in the market. Your question about whether there is any one-offs, the nature of Regional One's business is they are always these unique transactions. We had where we bought a fairly new plane and flipped the engines off of it. That is not something we do every day. We had a lease return revenue. That happens occasionally, not every quarter. But there is nothing outside of the norm of the business. You will see that actually this quarter, the revenue number is not huge for R1 because we did not sell as many big aircraft. We sold engines, we leased engines, we sold parts. So, the earnings were very good, EBITDA was strong, revenue was modest.

[Mike Pyle, CEO at Exchange Income Corporation]

That's going to bounce around, and it will continue to bounce around. There is nothing in the quarter that's outside of the core business we do. So, sustainability. I'd caution against fixating on the EBITDA margin, because if we sell a plane for $10 million or $12 million that we make $1 million on because we flipped it quickly, it's a great $1 million pickup, but that EBITDA margin is much lower than the 40 points we would make selling parts. So, I would focus on the aggregate level of EBITDA in your modeling as opposed to percentage of sales. One other thing I'd like to point out, actually two other things. One is, Regional One, outside of the profitability it's delivered, has provided a great hedge for us on maintenance capital in our aircraft.

[Mike Pyle, CEO at Exchange Income Corporation]

There's shortage of engines, there's delays in getting engines back from the overhaul providers, and their capability of solving those problems for our airlines has been fundamental not only to our cost profile, but our operating reliability. Finally, the one other thing I would like to touch on is MACH 2. It's been ticking along the way we expected it to. They've combined themselves into our operating sales floor at Regional One in Florida, which is super exciting. But we walked before we ran in terms of buying assets and adding more 737 parts to our part portfolio. I'm ecstatic to tell you that I've got on my desk as of last night a capital request to buy two or three 737s. So, we're going from dipping our toe into the pool to dipping our whole ankle in now.

[Mike Pyle, CEO at Exchange Income Corporation]

You'll see us grow that over time, but we're excited about it giving us another product line to grow.

[James McGarragle, Analyst at RBC Capital Markets]

I appreciate it, and congrats on the strong result there.

[Mike Pyle, CEO at Exchange Income Corporation]

Appreciate it, James. Thank you.

[Operator]

Next question comes from Steve Hansen at Raymond James. Please go ahead, Steve.

[Mike Pyle, CEO at Exchange Income Corporation]

Morning, Steve.

[Steve Hansen, Analyst at Raymond James]

Yeah, hi, guys. Thanks for the time. I don't usually say congrats on quarters, but I think given the milestones, it's pretty warranted here, so congrats. Just wanted to focus on the matting business for a minute. You referenced utilization rates and pricing starting to move. I know we're still early in the cycle, but just thinking about the cadence or the sequence of that ramp here. If I think back to prior comments, you talked about late 2026 as being the starting point for some of the obvious points of the cycle. But just where are we in terms of the next 12 months in terms of ramp-up? Is it still early innings, and how do you feel? How confident are you in that outlook? Thanks.

[Mike Pyle, CEO at Exchange Income Corporation]

I will maybe hand that off to Travis.

[Travis Muhr, COO at Exchange Income Corporation]

Yeah, great question. We are seeing a significant ramp-up in terms of the number of mats on rent. We are looking at mats on rents equivalent to the numbers back in 2023. Along with that, you start seeing expansion in rental rates. We are really excited as we move through 2027 and into 2028 with some of the longer-term nonlinear projects coming online. That will really drive some of the operating leverage and really drive the results down to EBITDA and to net earnings from that perspective. We see lots of projects on the go and coming up, especially starting next year and into the latter part of next year, and then even growing more so even into 2028. So, very, very strong viewpoint on that business.

[Mike Pyle, CEO at Exchange Income Corporation]

I think the one thing I would add is the acquisition of TerraPro, they have some great people, some good customers, it is a good company, but a big part of our interest was simply accessing inventory. The demand that we see coming to that business is going to require more and more mats, and we are at a time when the lumber business in B.C. is slow, and a very limited number of the trees that they cut are big enough to provide timber for matting. One of the things we have seen a little bit of and anticipate seeing more of is perhaps shortages of that lumber. We are the biggest provider of a user of that kind of product, which is a huge competitive advantage for us. As that becomes more scarce, we are better at sourcing that, which lets us grow our fleet more rapidly.

[Mike Pyle, CEO at Exchange Income Corporation]

TerraPro gave us a shot in the arm, and then we are going to continue to invest in growing the mats as fast as we can make them.

[Steve Hansen, Analyst at Raymond James]

That's great. Just a quick follow-up is just on the payout. Clearly getting down to attractive levels here relative to past history and starting to think about next year, because we're looking at it all on a trailing basis today, but is it possible that we get sub-50 next year? Is that how you think about the capital allocation approach, or how are you thinking about that payout as it moves forward? Thanks.

[Mike Pyle, CEO at Exchange Income Corporation]

Yeah, I mean, when we announced the dividend increase last quarter, I think we got there quicker than some people thought we would. Our point was, is that we could do that and reduce our payout ratio. You see it this quarter, we've got last year's Q3 dividend increase plus the Q2 from this year, and it continues to fall. We fully anticipate the payout ratio breaking the 50% level in the near future. Quite frankly, almost as important is the net earnings payout ratio falling below 60. If you go back pre-COVID, we had set 50 and 60 as goals. I think 2027 sees us break both of those. I don't think you see us stopping there.

[Mike Pyle, CEO at Exchange Income Corporation]

We will continue to grow our dividend, and we're proud of that 5% CAGR we have, and I don't see that going anywhere unless something changes in our business. But we could continue that growth at the same time as reducing the amount of our capital we're directing towards the dividend.

[Steve Hansen, Analyst at Raymond James]

Okay, again, appreciate the time. Congrats.

[Operator]

Next question comes from Cameron Doerksen at National Bank. Please go ahead, Cameron.

[Mike Pyle, CEO at Exchange Income Corporation]

Morning, Cam.

[Cameron Doerksen, Analyst at National Bank]

Yeah, thanks. Good morning, everyone. I guess, question around the outlook for 2027, obviously very positive here. You mentioned, Mike, that you're not including any potential new large contract wins. I'm wondering if you could maybe, I guess, talk about what you're seeing, particularly on the aerial surveillance and on the defense side, as far as new pipeline of contract opportunities. And if you were to win some of these, are these things that could potentially impact 2027 and provide upside to where you're guiding, which obviously is already still quite strong, but it seems like there could be potential upside here if you do win some of these contracts.

[Mike Pyle, CEO at Exchange Income Corporation]

Yeah, I'll take a stab at this, and when I get it wrong, Jacob, feel free to correct me. I think the thing I would point out first of all on the maritime surveillance business is something that's changed in the last, call it 18 months, is a movement away from RFPs. They take too long. They're multi-year processes, and with the uncertainty in the world, we're seeing governments want to move more quickly than that. So, they tend to be negotiated discussions. They may not be sole sourced. They may be negotiating with more than one. I wouldn't say that we have a whole bunch of RFP stuff underway. We do, however, have a lot of negotiating things going on. We're in discussions with the government in Canada. We're in discussions in two or three countries in Europe. I'm under NDAs, so I can't say where.

[Mike Pyle, CEO at Exchange Income Corporation]

We're in discussions on expanding what we do in the Middle East. I do anticipate that over the next couple of quarters, you'll see some of those awarded. We likely don't win them all, but I'd be very surprised if we don't win some of them. I think the other thing I'd point out is that what we're negotiating on is very different in every situation. In Canada, if we were to do the work, it's going to be very similar to what we do on the East and West Coasts, where we own the plane, they tell us where to look out, where to watch, we watch, and then charge them for the service. So, high capital, high return. There's also going to be opportunities like Greenland, where we're building a plane and selling it to them, so we don't have capital in.

[Mike Pyle, CEO at Exchange Income Corporation]

We have tail revenues from training and maintenance and those kinds of things. I think you'll see a combination of both of those kinds of projects.

[Jake Trainor, President at Exchange Income Corporation]

Yeah, absolutely. Mike touched on a good point, is the capital intensity in some of these, and it's varied from circumstances where we own the aircraft, we're operating and providing a service. Typically, that's high capital involvement, meaning we've got to buy the aircraft and operate it, to places where we're either modifying or we're providing integration or services to manage the data. Again, that's low capital work, but attractive margins, or to something like Future Aircrew Training, where it's a large contract and we don't have any capital or next to very limited capital in to execute that. Again, we're making sure that we keep a balanced portfolio and keep an eye to the capital we're engaging. As Mike said, we've got a very robust pipeline across all segments.

[Cameron Doerksen, Analyst at National Bank]

Okay. No, that's great. Super helpful. Just maybe one quick follow-up just on, I guess, the capital and I guess CapEx as we look ahead to 2027. I'm thinking more about the growth CapEx here. Maybe you could just sort of directionally talk about what you see there for 2027, I guess, say what big projects that you have on the books now that are going to drive growth CapEx as we look ahead to next year. Obviously, the completion of the new matting plant, but is there anything else, I guess, of a large scale that we should think about as we look ahead to 2027?

[Mike Pyle, CEO at Exchange Income Corporation]

Yeah. I don't remember a year where we have less programs ongoing. We've closed off a lot of stuff. We've got our simulator finished. That's just killing it in Winnipeg. We're training ourselves. We're going to train others. The Saltillo plant will be done mid, three-quarters of the way through the year. I think where you're going to see, quite frankly, most of our money go is in things that fly, whether it's expanding our fleet in the Essential Air Services and the medevac services. We're very close in our negotiations with the government in Nunavut on a long-term extension of that contract, and it's my anticipation that were we to win that, we'd put a bunch of money into it because the government wants more things from us, which makes us very happy. Then probably the biggest use of capital is Regional One.

[Mike Pyle, CEO at Exchange Income Corporation]

We've seen that company grow more than tenfold. That's remarkable. We've only owned it since 2013, and we're over 10x the size. When Hank and his team find opportunities, I mentioned earlier on the 737 front, that's kind of the new horizon for us. We'll go slow. We'll make sure we don't overpay. We're not going to chase. But as we develop our customer list, know more about where we're going to put the parts, you'll see us invest in that. It's very much, for the people who are newer to our story, it's very much like what we did with Embraers. If you go back 10 years ago at Regional One, it was essentially a Bombardier company. We did big turboprops, maybe a little bit of the ATRs as well from Europe, but the CRJ product line. We dipped our toe into the ERJs.

[Mike Pyle, CEO at Exchange Income Corporation]

We helped out a couple of U.S. institutions liquidate some fleets. Now, we probably do more dollar value in Embraers than in any other aircraft type. I think you see that happening over time in the 737 and perhaps other wide bodies as part of that in the future.

[Jake Trainor, President at Exchange Income Corporation]

If I could just make one more comment on the manufacturing side, and this is to much lesser of an extent, and set aside the Spartan expansion, we're seeing or financing expansion at at least five of our manufacturing companies to meet demand that we're experiencing in the market. Again, that just gives an indication of some of the tailwinds that we are experiencing through our manufacturing portfolio as well.

[Cameron Doerksen, Analyst at National Bank]

Okay. No, that's great color. I'll pass along. Thanks.

[Jake Trainor, President at Exchange Income Corporation]

Thank you.

[Operator]

My question comes from Konark Gupta at Scotiabank. Please go ahead, Konark.

[Mike Pyle, CEO at Exchange Income Corporation]

Morning, Konark.

[Konark Gupta, Analyst at Scotiabank]

Thanks. Morning, Mike and team, and congrats on becoming billionaires. First one, I guess

[Mike Pyle, CEO at Exchange Income Corporation]

I am sitting here, Konark, with my pinky up to my mouth and going, "One billion dollars.

[Konark Gupta, Analyst at Scotiabank]

No, absolutely. Congrats on putting out good performance and milestone.

[Mike Pyle, CEO at Exchange Income Corporation]

It is a big one.

[Konark Gupta, Analyst at Scotiabank]

Okay. Just on the 2027 guidance first. I mean, I know you are starting at CAD 1 billion plus right here, and as you maybe win more contracts and then maybe do more acquisitions or something, you might probably move up there. But, I mean, just the starting point is like CAD 100 million plus growth from 2026. From what I am hearing today, it sounds like you guys are still ramping up the contracts, be it Air Canada and Newfoundland, even like B.C. perhaps, and then you have matting opportunities in front of you, manufacturing business that is doing itself good here. Also, I think windows business seems to have turned around on EBITDA for the first time in three years at least, profitability-wise.

[Konark Gupta, Analyst at Scotiabank]

Are you more bullish on one segment versus the other in 2027 in terms of EBITDA growth, or are we expecting something more balanced this time?

[Mike Pyle, CEO at Exchange Income Corporation]

I think I can honestly say that 2027 is strong across the board. But I do think there is certain businesses that can flex faster, that torque faster, and I think you see that in matting, and I think you see that in the Regional One businesses. They are the ones that can change the most quickly. But I do not want that to come across as we do not have opportunities in the other businesses. Just anecdotal things. We are so busy in the stainless steel plant business that SFI is opening a second facility across the street in a big leased warehouse. We have added a new facility in B.C. for our precision metal guys there. Our control group in Winnipeg has built a new facility. We see opportunities across the board. We are going to see revenue growth in the windows business.

[Mike Pyle, CEO at Exchange Income Corporation]

Margins are still tight in that, so it will be better, but we are early in the game. What is exciting is that the American market is getting better. We are doing commercial work. We actually added some production equipment in Dallas to keep up with what we see coming. I will be ecstatic, and I will talk about windows the way I talk about matting when we start to see a recovery in Southern Ontario. Right now, that has not started yet. So, the improvement in windows is everywhere except our core market. I hope that answers your question, but it is kind of across the board.

[Konark Gupta, Analyst at Scotiabank]

Yeah, absolutely. Thank you for that. Appreciate the color. Then, I think in your disclosures, when you were kind of providing guidance for 2027, I think you were saying that you are assuming contract renewals in 2027 in your guidance. Any specific contracts, especially the big ones that are due for renewal next year, we should keep an eye on, and would that be a competitive process?

[Mike Pyle, CEO at Exchange Income Corporation]

Some of them are. What I tried to cover off in that, Konark, is stuff that we have had for multiple periods, and it is ongoing. I do not want to mislead the market so that when we had announced that we had the renewal, that it was shocking to us. So, it is status quo. If there are things that are highly competitive, we would tell you guys about that. But what I am really talking about there is blocking and tackling the everyday stuff. We have got stuff we do for the courier companies. We have got stuff, freight contracts in the north. Things that get renewed in the normal course of business is really what I am trying to cover off there.

[Konark Gupta, Analyst at Scotiabank]

I see. Okay, so nothing specific there. Perfect. Thanks. Last one for me before I turn over. On the ISR opportunities, I think you guys have been talking about Canada, the Arctic for some time. I know it is not an RFP at this point, and you guys are, I guess, discussing with the government here. What is the process like right now? I mean, there are too many things, there are too many irons in the fire, I guess, for the Canadian government and nation-building and defense and a lot of things going on right now. Are they too distracted to focus on this opportunity, or are we stuck on some sort of technicals to push through?

[Jake Trainor, President at Exchange Income Corporation]

Konark, I will take that question, and I think you characterized it in the correct fashion in that they have a lot of irons in the fire. You can imagine with the amount of capital flowing into the segment, with the amount of activity, and as you put it, nation-building and other large procurements. Again, the government is faced with pivoting to undertake an approach to procurement that they have not had for 15 or 20 years. That requires a wholesale change at the bureaucratic level. But despite the politicians and the public's best wishes to move quickly, you have still got a limiting factor of you have got to deal with the machinery of the procurement. So, I think this is a common thing that not only ourselves, but a lot of the suppliers to the government are finding, is just the slowness of the process.

[Jake Trainor, President at Exchange Income Corporation]

Now, that said, I have got to give the government a lot of credit because they have developed a new Defence Investment Agency. They are bringing the Canada Invests, another Crown corporation as well, to bear. They are trying to take active steps to, and they recognize this limitation, but again, it is going to take some time.

[Konark Gupta, Analyst at Scotiabank]

Perfect. Thanks, and I appreciate the time.

[Operator]

Next question comes from Gary Ho at Desjardins Capital Markets. Please go ahead, Gary.

[Gary Ho, Analyst at Desjardins Capital Markets]

Hey, good morning, Greg, guys. Morning. Hey, I want to just maybe just tackle Konark's last question just another way. With the federal focus on the north defense and national building projects, where do you expect to see the first tangible benefits come in first? Is it the northern aviation? Is it the ISR? Is it the matting business? Is any of that kind of reflected in your 2027 guidance?

[Mike Pyle, CEO at Exchange Income Corporation]

Yeah. We already see it in our aviation business. The amount of projects that they're looking at doing in the far north, extending runways and ranking, building new facilities. There's people going up there, professionals to start those projects. The work's not started yet, so there's more to come, but we're definitely seeing it in load factors in the north. I think the second thing we've seen it is in the clear desire for nation-building projects. We're seeing it not just at the federal level. I think the election of the new government in BC is going to be very good for fast-tracking some of the projects. Another one I would point out just anecdotally is the LNG Canada Phase 2 getting the go-ahead. That's a big part for our aviation business. We fly a lot of workers in for that.

[Mike Pyle, CEO at Exchange Income Corporation]

The stuff we know about is included in our guidance. So, we expect higher volumes on the airlines. That's in our guidance. We expect more matting work. That's in our guidance. Big projects that we haven't won yet, those aren't in our guidance. So, there is upside to the billion-dollar guidance we provided. I think one of the things, and I just want to take a step back, and it's tangential to what you're talking about, Gary Ho, is we've proven over the last two decades that we're a good compounder. We're a good compounder because we invest in our subsidiaries. Adam Terwin and his team are great at buying companies, but EIC's success is much more than that. It's buying these great niche companies, but then putting money into them.

[Mike Pyle, CEO at Exchange Income Corporation]

We've consistently told the market, "This is what we will do based on what we've already invested. When we invest more, we'll update you on future growth." As it relates to your question specifically, the things we know about are in the model. If we win something else, if there's, just as an example, the whole southern pipeline that Trump wants to build gets built, that would be additions to this.

[Gary Ho, Analyst at Desjardins Capital Markets]

Okay, great. No, thanks for those comments. I wanted to switch gears. Some of the other companies through this reporting period have flagged fuel costs kind of creeping in as the geopolitical situation kind of drags on. I know most of your aviation exposure is kind of passed through with a short bit of lag, but are you seeing fuel or related costs anywhere else in the business that cannot be fully recovered? Is there anything else on the cost side that we should note for 2027?

[Jake Trainor, President at Exchange Income Corporation]

Yeah, we're seeing. First of all, we are seeing it, but not to a material extent. We're seeing it a little bit in where some of our operations consume diesel, whether it's the matting business, whether it's our tower construction business. But again, where we can, we're passing that through to the customer through fuel surcharges perhaps. But by and large, on our aviation side, the enhanced fuel expense is mitigated through pass-through contracts.

[Mike Pyle, CEO at Exchange Income Corporation]

The jet fuel thing, I think that one of the things that's hidden in our strong results in Q3 is we did take it in the chin for the last 30 days of the month when fuel prices skyrocketed. Now, at the end of the day, we're going to get that back, but we do get short-term bids to our margin because our contracts either pass it on in the next 30 days or the next 90 days. So, when it ramps up fast, it hurts us. It'll hurt us in October as well. But conversely, when these things come off, we're going to get a boon because we get to charge the higher price for 30 to 90 days. So, in the long run, it's not relevant. In the short run, it creates a little noise.

[Jake Trainor, President at Exchange Income Corporation]

Yeah. The only other thing I'd say is as you have more and more fuel surcharges, we typically, we don't charge a margin on fuel surcharges that goes through, so you'll see a bit of EBITDA margin compression because obviously revenues are up without the corresponding earnings.

[Mike Pyle, CEO at Exchange Income Corporation]

Yeah. The EBITDA dollars are the same, but percentages are lower because the fuel's a straight pass-through.

[Gary Ho, Analyst at Desjardins Capital Markets]

Yeah. Got it. Okay. Thank you. Those are my two.

[Operator]

Next question comes from Krista Friesen at CIBC. Please go ahead, Krista.

[Krista Friesen, Analyst at CIBC]

Morning, guys. Thanks for taking my question. Congrats on the quarter here. Just another question on the announcements that have been coming out of the government. Do you see much in terms of opportunity for you on the Productivity Mega Deduction, and is that having you maybe consider additional investments that maybe you wouldn't have been willing to make before?

[Mike Pyle, CEO at Exchange Income Corporation]

I think the answer to the question is, are we doing things we wouldn't have done? The answer is no. If the answer is, are we doing them sooner than we otherwise would have done them? The answer is yes. Particularly when you look at fleet opportunities in the airlines, and we think we're going to need to add frequencies, particularly flying into Nunavut. We will add those sooner because of the tax efficiency of buying things. I think you see it in our wood mat fleet. We're prepared to be more aggressive because of the tax efficiency of that. But it doesn't really incent us to do anything we weren't already thinking about doing. If you know what I mean, it's really more about, hey, should we do this now instead of waiting?

[Richard Wowryk, CFO at Exchange Income Corporation]

Yeah, I think the other thing to point out, the target that we've stuck with for 20-plus years is a 15% cash-on-cash return, but it's pre-tax. So, a change in the tax regime, we're sticking with the, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. A change in the tax regime isn't going to make us make an investment decision that's below our return thresholds.

[Krista Friesen, Analyst at CIBC]

Thanks. That's great color there. Maybe also just on the budget, there were some comments in there around investments in regional and northern airports. Anything there that you're particularly excited about or maybe weren't expecting? Thank you.

[Mike Pyle, CEO at Exchange Income Corporation]

The answer really is that they actually execute on some of these, and I believe they will. The question is how fast. Canada's northern airports have a dearth of instrument landing equipment. So, the rules about when you have to see the runway are much more difficult than they are in the south. So, a landing in the south where you can land when you can see it at 200 feet, that same landing up north might be 600, 700, 800 feet. When you get to 600 feet and you can't see it, you got to turn around and go back. So, there's a lot more non-revenue hours and a lot more service challenges. As the government installs that kind of additional instrument landing equipment, it's going to make our operations more efficient because we won't pull coals out of the sky.

[Jake Trainor, President at Exchange Income Corporation]

The other thing I'd say is, and it goes without saying, is any activity in the north, we're the natural provider of transportation services and logistics up there, and we'll be a net beneficiary of that as well. So, people need to get up there and rotate and construct and survey. Again, all these things that will happen both at the front and the tail end of the project, we will benefit from.

[Krista Friesen, Analyst at CIBC]

Right. Thank you. Those are good points. I will jump back in with you. Thanks, guys.

[Mike Pyle, CEO at Exchange Income Corporation]

Thanks, everybody.

[Richard Wowryk, CFO at Exchange Income Corporation]

Thank you.

[Operator]

Next question comes from Tim James at TD Cowen. Please go ahead, Tim.

[Tim James, Analyst at TD Cowen]

Good morning. Thanks for the time. Congratulations on a great quarter here. My first question, I just want to return to the ISR landscape in general, on a global scale, I guess. I am just wondering if you could talk about how it is evolving. I am thinking about competition in particular. It has been a pretty hot area, hot topic now for a while. Are you seeing new competition or companies that were on the periphery of that space that are trying to get involved here? Maybe as part of that, if you can comment on the dynamic you are seeing with respect to space-based contributions to ISR versus aircraft, and if that is even playing into your addressable market.

[Jake Trainor, President at Exchange Income Corporation]

Sure. The first thing I would say is, obviously, there is a significant interest across the globe in all defense-related activities, and that undoubtedly attracts attention and entrance into the market. Again, the thing that I would say government procurements and government agencies are looking at is, how do I conduct procurements with the lowest risk? We are established, we have a wonderful track record, we are safe, and that carries a lot of weight. To talk to your second question about other types of technology in the market, I would characterize it that the ISR market is not shrinking by any means. It is growing and growing rapidly. Tools such as space-based, unmanned, manned, other types of data analysis, again, those are all going to be tools in the box that will ultimately deliver a product or a data stream to the end client, to a decision-maker.

[Jake Trainor, President at Exchange Income Corporation]

At that point, AI is applied to it or some other type of processing, and that turns that information into insights. We have been in a very strong position, especially with some of the investments we have made in CarteNav, is not only are we working with the aircraft and collecting data off that, CarteNav sits on unmanned platforms. But the most important thing is we control that data stream through to the end customer. Should the end customer, and as space-based capabilities need to be incorporated and utilized, we have that capability, and it has positioned us very strongly across a lot of different capacities. I think that goes back to Mike's comment to say, we are seeing opportunities across the whole spectrum, not just, "Please build me an aircraft and go fly it," if that makes sense.

[Tim James, Analyst at TD Cowen]

Yeah, that is helpful. Thank you. My second question, and you kind of maybe touched on this or almost answered it earlier, Mike, the Multi-Storey Window Solutions business you mentioned, kind of Ontario is the one market that is not starting to show signs of life just yet. My question was going to be, given that this business has been challenged and is obviously weaker than you would like here from a revenue and a margin perspective, I assume the margins are below the segment average. Is there a time when you look at adjusting or making decisions around your capacity to right-size that business anywhere? I am thinking about making it smaller, or it sounds like you are confident enough that there are green shoots in most markets that that would not be necessary.

[Mike Pyle, CEO at Exchange Income Corporation]

Yeah. The first part of your question is we have rationalized the business during this slow period. It was something we were going to do anyway between BV and Quest, because we had a lot of duplication. A lot of that we've taken advantage of the slower period to do. As we ramp back up, we still have the capacity, but we'll be more efficient. From a margin point of view, the windows business is always at the lower end, and right now it's at the lower end of the lower end. Having said that in no way should be taken as a lack of commitment to us in this business. I think it's more likely that we buy something else than that we'd sell the business. We know we're going to have to wait. We got to be patient.

[Mike Pyle, CEO at Exchange Income Corporation]

If you look at our track record, this isn't the first time something's gotten slower to get faster. When we bought the Northern Mat in 2022, it generated way more than we anticipated, and that fell down in 2025 when it was less than we anticipated what we bought it off of. Yep. Now it's going to be one of our stars. During COVID, the window business helped carry us when they had big projects. I think the one thing that's interesting about the window business right now is the recovery of the business isn't really in our core area, which is typically high-rise residential. We're seeing a lot more institutional work. We're building hospitals, we're building schools, we're building big universities. We even skid the data center, if you can believe it. So we're seeing a diverse opportunity. Margins are still low.

[Mike Pyle, CEO at Exchange Income Corporation]

In no way would I say windows is back, but they're in training camp and the season's going to start soon.

[Travis Muhr, COO at Exchange Income Corporation]

You hit a very good point that we are seeing green shoots, and Mike commented on that previously, that we are starting to see strength in the U.S. In just talking to people who live in Toronto, there still is a need for affordable housing. There is a need for the two and three-bedroom condos, and we are starting to see some positive impacts, whether it be reduced development fees, the HST cuts that is starting to drive some demand. There still is a supply-demand imbalance in the Toronto market, but we are seeing strength elsewhere, whether it be Ottawa, Halifax, Calgary in Canada, and then throughout the U.S., we're seeing some strength. So, really much invested in that business, and the long-term tailwinds are still there in terms of the need for affordable housing.

[Travis Muhr, COO at Exchange Income Corporation]

We just pivoted to work on those additional projects, which have been great new end markets, which will help us continue to grow and increase our profitability when everything comes back from a condo and rental perspective.

[Tim James, Analyst at TD Cowen]

Okay. That's great. That's helpful. Thank you. My last one, I just wanted to clarify something. I think earlier you were commenting on, I believe it was specifically the Canadian matting business, and were you indicating that it's kind of approaching the 2023 levels from a revenue perspective? Did I understand that correctly?

[Mike Pyle, CEO at Exchange Income Corporation]

Close. What we said was we're approaching the 2023 levels from mats on rent. So we're starting to get. The pricing isn't as tight as it was then, and you'll see that ramp as supplies get tighter in the business. The halcyon days was late 2022 was the absolute best, and 2023 was very good. What we see here, though, is we've got a lot of mats out, and we're very early in the cycle. There's a lot of pipeline work. There's some smaller stuff that we're doing now, but there's a whole bunch of stuff that we aren't even in the ground on yet. That's why you see us so bullish, buying TerraPro to increase our access to the market, and building mats as quickly as we can get lumber.

[Travis Muhr, COO at Exchange Income Corporation]

Maybe I'd add on that, on those nonlinear projects, you start getting multiplier effects as the mats stay on the ground, coupled with bridge rentals. If you have to go over waterways, and when we see those come online, that's when we'll see sort of the 2022 levels from a revenue and profitability perspective. We're very bullish on that in the medium term as we exit 2027 and into 2028.

[Tim James, Analyst at TD Cowen]

Okay. That's great. Thank you very much for the time.

[Mike Pyle, CEO at Exchange Income Corporation]

Thanks, Jeff.

[Operator]

Our next question comes from Rob Goff at Ventum. Please go ahead, Rob.

[Mike Pyle, CEO at Exchange Income Corporation]

Hi, Rob.

[Rob Goff, Analyst at Ventum]

Good morning. Let me join the others and say congratulations on a tremendous quarter and year-to-date.

[Mike Pyle, CEO at Exchange Income Corporation]

Thank you.

[Rob Goff, Analyst at Ventum]

My question would be back to the windows business. This is one where you definitely have the staying power and the power to build during a countercyclical move. Are you seeing that your competitors in the marketplace are reducing capacity, seeing greater financial pressures that might lead to a consolidator strategy for you?

[Mike Pyle, CEO at Exchange Income Corporation]

Yeah, I think definitely. There's still some guys that are very active, and we have some well-capitalized competitors. I don't want to give the impression that it's imploding, but there are definitely less players in the high-rise place than there were in the past. I think one of the things that I think is really important people understand is EIC's model was always, from day one, built on the fact that not everything is going to be going perfectly at the same time. So, the fact that windows subsidized airlines in the first two months of COVID when you weren't allowed to fly, and that windows business kept ticking along, and now the aviation business is kicking ass and taking names, and it lets us be patient with our windows business. We got great people there. We've got artisans.

[Mike Pyle, CEO at Exchange Income Corporation]

When the demand comes, we're going to be at the front of the line. We'll be patient. I get a lot of questions of like, "Why don't you just get rid of it?" Because that's the opposite of our strategy. We know it's still a good business. There's way more likely we'll book more by the year, not less. The strengths of our other things lets us wait patiently for windows to attack when it's the right time. That's what we're going to do.

[Rob Goff, Analyst at Ventum]

Very good. You mentioned that you were considering two or three 737s. Are the current dynamics in the aircraft parts leasing outright sale market leading you to considering shifting your capital deployment within the group or actually accelerating your capital deployment in the group?

[Mike Pyle, CEO at Exchange Income Corporation]

I mean, it's opportunistic, right? It's not a thing where I tell Hank and my head there that, "Hey, you've got CAD 150 million this year." It's really him telling me when he finds something, why we want to do it. What I think I will tell you is that we're starting to get more comfortable with where we would deploy some of the assets when we buy these teardowns, what we're going to do with them, who the customers are going to be. Quite frankly, just supplying our own company at Canadian North has been a boon for our knowledge in that business. So, yeah, I think you're going to see in future quarters more 737s in our portfolio.

[Jake Trainor, President at Exchange Income Corporation]

Yeah. The one other thing to think about, and this is really the culmination of a multi-year strategy, in that we've always discussed the fact that we won't get into an airframe type until we know something about it. You look at, we acquired Canadian North last year, which was our first operator of 737s. We've acquired MACH 2, which was a parts supplier in the narrow body segment. This has allowed us now, it's about the right time to make that venture in. Obviously, no different than any other type of our types of airframes or engines, we'll do it on a disciplined basis, and we're doing it in an educated fashion. This timing kind of fits with that right in line.

[Richard Wowryk, CFO at Exchange Income Corporation]

Even one other thing, just the question you asked is, would we be shifting kind of our capital allocation? The answer to that is no. We always make sure that we have enough capital available to ensure that the deals that come across our desk that hit our return thresholds can all be funded, because they are all accretive if they hit our return threshold. This is not a case where we would have to, where capital is scarce and we have to allocate it to the best opportunity. We want to make sure that the opportunities in the markets that are hot meet our return thresholds and we are comfortable with them, and we will deploy capital there on that basis.

[Rob Goff, Analyst at Ventum]

Very good. Thank you. Good luck.

[Operator]

Ladies and gentlemen, a reminder to please press star one should you have any questions. Thank you. Next is Michael Goldie at BMO Capital Markets. Please go ahead, Michael.

[Michael Goldie, Analyst at BMO Capital Markets]

Morning, guys.

[Mike Pyle, CEO at Exchange Income Corporation]

Good morning, Michael.

[Michael Goldie, Analyst at BMO Capital Markets]

What is the pipeline looking like for next year for aircraft and engine acquisitions? Is there good visibility or is asset availability lumpy from year to year?

[Mike Pyle, CEO at Exchange Income Corporation]

It, quite frankly, to be honest with you, it is bumpy from week to week. There are opportunities where China is moving away from Western aircraft and towards their own, which is creating buying opportunities there. We are prepared to buy whole aircraft to access the engines. Our ability to arbitrage makes us active in that. The shortage of engines in the aircraft we operate is not going anywhere. There is not enough production to solve the problem. So, I think you will see us be very active traders in that. Sometimes that is inventory where we buy and sell, and sometimes it is fixed assets where we buy and lease.

[Jake Trainor, President at Exchange Income Corporation]

Yeah, I was just going to say, it is a very dynamic market, and speed to action is critical, and having the capital to act on it quickly is also critical, both advantages that we have, so.

[Mike Pyle, CEO at Exchange Income Corporation]

Jake's bang on. Cash and being able to write a check fast is fundamental to jump in when those opportunities are there. You got to be able to go, and Hank and his team are very creative. I generally probably don't go more than a week or two without a proposal from them on something we should be doing.

[Michael Goldie, Analyst at BMO Capital Markets]

What share of the portfolio, be it engines or aircraft, comes up for renewal in 2027? Can you expand a bit more on how rates for leases and parts are trending versus what's expiring?

[Mike Pyle, CEO at Exchange Income Corporation]

The rates on engine leases are high and rising because of the shortfall. We have everything from multiple month leases to multi-year leases, and they're spread over the next three or four years. I'm not sure that I could give you a very useful breakdown with you in that period. I would say there's no more or less than typical. It's a typical bell curve, and it's spread over that. As some of those renewal options come, that's a positive opportunity. Sometimes as those renewal options come, we've got to make a decision if we want to park that engine out or send it to the overhaul shop and put $3 million, $4 million, $5 million back into it. We're doing both depending on the engine and the demand and the customer. It's a full breadth of opportunity.

[Jake Trainor, President at Exchange Income Corporation]

The last point, Mike touched on this, and I can't understate it enough, is Regional One is also a provider of parts and components to our own airlines. Again, we have the ability to be very selective and make sure that our own airlines can continue to fly and have the access to parts that I'd argue a lot of others don't have that advantage.

[Mike Pyle, CEO at Exchange Income Corporation]

Just to-

[Michael Goldie, Analyst at BMO Capital Markets]

Okay

[Mike Pyle, CEO at Exchange Income Corporation]

for color, not really for the financial side of this, but Regional One was recently successful at a U.S. government auction, and at the opportunity, we bought three big turboprops at what we think are exceptional prices. It turned into a mud-wrestling opportunity at our meetings here, because all my airlines want the planes, and so Regional One to sell them to third parties. So, it's a big part of it is being opportunistic.

[Michael Goldie, Analyst at BMO Capital Markets]

Okay. Last question, if I may. What assumptions are actually in the guide for Regional One in 2027? Is there a level of expected growth investment in the outlook, or does the guidance only contemplate assets currently owned or with down payment? Thanks.

[Mike Pyle, CEO at Exchange Income Corporation]

It includes a modest amount of CapEx, but it's largely driven by the CapEx that have already been done.

[Michael Goldie, Analyst at BMO Capital Markets]

Okay, thank you.

[Mike Pyle, CEO at Exchange Income Corporation]

When we look at these opportunities, Michael, there's always a I shouldn't say always, because sometimes we buy something that's already on lease. But generally speaking, you're talking about a couple months or even a couple quarters till they generate anything. So, things we buy at the back half of next year are really going to be fiscal 2028 stories. If we get something good in the back half of this year, the last couple months or in the first quarter of next year, that should have an impact on next year. But most of what the guidance is, I think we already have.

[Michael Goldie, Analyst at BMO Capital Markets]

Thank you.

[Operator]

Next question comes from Razi Hasan at Paradigm Capital. Please go ahead, Razi.

[Razi Hasan, Analyst at Paradigm Capital]

Good morning. Thanks for taking my questions. Good morning, guys. Just the first one. Can you touch on which business lines in specific had the biggest impact on the sequential increase in EBITDA margin? Was there anything that stood out? I know you mentioned quite a number of them, but was there anyone specific that had a larger impact than the others?

[Mike Pyle, CEO at Exchange Income Corporation]

Yeah. I will answer that on the larger impact on EBITDA as a whole. Margin and product mix, they spend too much time analyzing our percentages, kind of a long scale. But the biggest drivers of the improvement were Regional One. They have. Then on the manufacturing side, it is the MRO business. Those two were the biggest drivers of this quarter. But having said that, the balance of our manufacturing improved. Windows was flat, but everything else improved. Then our core, what everyone knows us for, our Essential Air Services flying, that was also strong, both from a schedule point of view, charter point of view, and a medevac point of view. All were good. But the delta is biggest in MRO and Regional One.

[Razi Hasan, Analyst at Paradigm Capital]

Okay, fair enough. That is helpful. Do you expect that to continue through the remainder of the year? I know you mentioned some color on growth in Q4 versus Q4 last year, so expect that to continue to some extent?

[Mike Pyle, CEO at Exchange Income Corporation]

I think that is a reasonable assumption, yes.

[Razi Hasan, Analyst at Paradigm Capital]

Okay, great. Then maybe just shifting gears on the aerospace business, and I know you mentioned quite a few things there as well. Going back to the Australia contract, at the time, you had said that was the biggest one available. Can you comment on which contracts globally are available? Is there anything that size that is up for grabs, or are they just smaller ones currently?

[Mike Pyle, CEO at Exchange Income Corporation]

Yeah. I am not going to give you the names of countries because specifically three of them are under NDAs, so I cannot disclose that. But the opportunity in Canada is significant. There is a couple opportunities in Northern Europe that are significant. And we are in discussions in the Middle East. We have always had a great relationship in UAE. They are looking at their future opportunities, and were we to do something with them, history says those are big numbers when we do work over there.

[Razi Hasan, Analyst at Paradigm Capital]

Okay, great. That is helpful. I will pass the line. Thanks.

[Operator]

Thank you. At this time, gentlemen, we have no other questions registered. Please proceed.

[Mike Pyle, CEO at Exchange Income Corporation]

I just want to say thanks to everybody for being with us on the call. It's an exciting day at EIC. It's fun when the work you do shows up in the numbers. Look forward to seeing you all soon and talking to you again in February with our year-end results. Have a great day.

[Operator]

Thank you, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, this does indeed conclude the conference call for today. Once again, thank you for attending. At this time, we do ask that you please disconnect your lines. Have a good weekend.

Participants

Executives

• Mike Pyle, CEO
• Richard Wowryk, CFO
• Jake Trainor, President
• Travis Muhr, COO

Analysts

• James McGarragle, Analyst at RBC Capital Markets
• Steve Hansen, Analyst at Raymond James
• Cameron Doerksen, Analyst at National Bank
• Konark Gupta, Analyst at Scotiabank
• Gary Ho, Analyst at Desjardins Capital Markets
• Krista Friesen, Analyst at CIBC
• Tim James, Analyst at TD Cowen
• Rob Goff, Analyst at Ventum
• Michael Goldie, Analyst at BMO Capital Markets
• Razi Hasan, Analyst at Paradigm Capital