Montrose Environmental Group Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
May 7, 2026

Key Takeaways

  • Positive Sentiment: Rebrand and strategic shift: The company rebranded to Onterris to present an integrated environmental science platform aimed at increasing cross-selling and share-of-wallet, which management says should improve long-term organic growth and client engagement.
  • Negative Sentiment: Q1 revenue declined to $168.5 million (down 5.2% YoY), driven primarily by severe winter weather limiting field work and lower environmental emergency response activity, which the company calls transitory.
  • Positive Sentiment: Profitability outperformed expectations with adjusted EBITDA of $17.8 million (10.6% margin) and Consulting & Treatment margins expanding ~370 basis points to 17.6%, reflecting improved project mix, pricing discipline, and operating efficiency.
  • Negative Sentiment: Measurement & Analysis margins compressed to 18.4% from 23.3% due to lower volumes and fixed costs; management expects this to recover as utilization and sample volumes normalize.
  • Neutral Sentiment: Cash flow was negative in Q1 (operating cash flow -$11.6M, free cash flow -$17.2M) largely from $28M of bonus payments and seasonality, but liquidity remains strong with ~$188M available and a 2.8x leverage ratio, plus $10M of stock repurchases this quarter.
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Earnings Conference Call
Montrose Environmental Group Q1 2026
00:00 / 00:00

There are 7 speakers on the call.

Speaker 2

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Onterris first quarter fiscal year 2026 financial results conference call. At this time, all lines are in listen-only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. If any time during the call you require immediate assistance, please press star zero for the operator. This call is being recorded on Thursday, May seventh, 2026. I would now like to turn the conference over to Adrianne Griffin, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations and Treasury. Please go ahead.

Operator

Thank you, operator. Welcome to our first quarter 2026 earnings call. Joining me today are Vijay Manthripragada, our President and Chief Executive Officer, and Allan Dicks, our Chief Financial Officer. During our prepared remarks today, we will refer generally to our earnings presentation, which is available on the investor section of our website. Our earnings release is also available on the website. Moving to slide 3. I would like to remind everyone that today's call includes forward-looking statements subject to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially due to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that should be considered when evaluating our operating performance and financial outlook.

Operator

We refer you to our recent SEC filings, including our annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31st, 2025, as supplemented by the quarterly report, Form 10-Q, for the quarter ended March 31st, 2026, which identifies the principal risks and uncertainties that could affect any forward-looking statements and our future performance. We assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statements. On today's call, we will discuss or provide certain non-GAAP financial measures such as consolidated adjusted EBITDA, adjusted net income, adjusted net income per share, and free cash flow. We provide these non-GAAP results for informational purposes, and they should not be considered in isolation from the most directly comparable GAAP measures.

Operator

Please see the appendix to the earnings presentation or our earnings release for a discussion of why we believe these non-GAAP measures are useful to investors, certain limitations of using these measures, and a reconciliation to their most directly comparable GAAP measure. On April 17, 2026, Montrose Environmental Group rebranded to Onterris. Beginning in the first quarter of 2026, the company realigned its reportable segments to reflect updates made to the organizational structure and operating model. As a result of the reporting segment realignment, the company's Assessment, Permitting and Response segment and Remediation and Reuse segment were aggregated into a newly created Consulting and Treatment segment. The company's Measurement and Analysis and corporate segments were not affected by the realignment. Prior period results have been recast to conform to this new structure.

Operator

With that, I would now like to turn the call over to Vijay, beginning on slide 5.

Speaker 6

Thank you, Adrianne. Welcome to everyone joining us today. I will begin with our first quarter performance, provide perspective on the launch of our new brand, Onterris, which is part of the evolution of our environmental science platform, and then discuss our outlook for the balance of the year. Allan will provide the financial highlights. Following our prepared remarks, we will host the question-and-answer session. Before we get into the numbers, I want to acknowledge the extraordinary work of our approximately 3,500 colleagues around the world. Our results belong to them. We continue to demonstrate that environmental stewardship, human and economic development, and shareholder value creation are not in tension. At Onterris, we are for planet and progress. Regarding our financials, as we have noted each quarter, our business is best assessed on an annual basis.

Speaker 6

Demand for environmental science-based solutions, such as seasonality of field-based projects and the episodic contribution from environmental emergency responses, can be variable in any given quarter and are not reflective of the annual trend. However, on an annual basis, the underlying demand profile and long-term trajectory of our business is very consistent. This is why we manage our operations on an annual basis, and we recommend you similarly view our performance. Before we speak to our financial performance, I want to note that on Earth Day 2026, we rebranded to Onterris. This was an effort that has been underway for approximately 1.5 years and is part of our continued evolution into a more integrated environmental science platform designed to help clients navigate environmental complexity, strengthen performance, and enable responsible progress.

Speaker 6

Our new brand further integrates our existing capabilities across consulting, measurement, analysis, and treatment into a cohesive model that supports clients across the full life cycle of their environmental and operational needs. We believe this rebrand is both timely and important. The environment in which our clients operate continues to evolve, driven by regulatory complexity, environmental stewardship priorities, and an increasing focus on operational risk. Our platform has evolved alongside those needs. We recently published a study alongside the Financial Times that speaks to these trends from our clients' perspectives. Importantly, we are already seeing clients respond to this more integrated approach. Engagement is increasingly on broader coordinated solutions rather than discrete services. We believe this positions us to deepen client relationships and capture greater share of wallet, which we expect will manifest in better organic growth and stakeholder value creation over time.

Speaker 6

We also believe this brand shift will allow us to deliver more comprehensive solutions, improve outcomes for our clients, and create a more durable and scalable growth platform. I want to take a moment to recognize our team because this brand reflects a year and a half of focused effort, and I want to thank our Onterris colleagues for their continued commitment to our clients and for the work they have done to bring this new brand forward. With that context, let me turn to first quarter 2026 results. Revenue for the quarter was $168.5 million, a $9 million decrease from the prior-year quarter. Excluding environmental emergency response variability, revenue was in line with our expectations. The primary driver of the year-over-year change was timing and lower emergency response revenues, not underlying demand.

Speaker 6

First quarter adjusted EBITDA of $17.8 million or 10.6% of revenue were both above our expectations, reflecting continued progress in driving operating efficiency with scale across the business. The first quarter of this year was impacted by unseasonably severe winter weather in North America that limited field activity in certain regions and delayed transportation of samples to our labs in our Measurement and Analysis segment. These impacts were most pronounced in January and February, where weather conditions constrained access to client sites and disrupted sample flows. In addition, environmental emergency response revenue in our Consulting and Treatment segment declined to approximately $8 million from approximately $14 million in the prior year period, reflecting the inherently episodic nature of that work. We view both of these dynamics as transitory, with underlying demand remaining strong and continuing to grow across our core services.

Speaker 6

This is why our annual guidance for 2026 is unchanged. It is also important to contextualize the year-over-year comparison. The first quarter of 2025 represented an elevated baseline relative to historical patterns, driven in part by higher emergency response activity. In contrast, the current quarter reflects a more normalized seasonal profile, which we expected and was factored into our first quarter 2026 outlook provided on this year's February call. I would like to take a moment on environmental emergency response, which remains a strategically important part of our business. These engagements are often mission-critical for our clients and position us at the center of complex environmental challenges requiring rapid mobilization and coordinated technical execution. Importantly, these responses frequently serve as an entry point for broader engagement and multi-phase relationships, which we colloquially refer to as cross-selling.

Speaker 6

They enable us to deploy additional capabilities across our consulting, measurement, and treatment services, often extending into longer duration remediation compliance and monitoring work. In that sense, while the emergency response revenue itself is episodic across quarters, the strategic value is durable, supporting cross-selling, deeper client integration, and longer-term revenue visibility. That durability is also reflected in our outlook for 2026. As a reminder, we expect environmental emergency response to contribute approximately $50 million-$70 million annually, with variability across quarters. As it relates to timing versus demand, more broadly, the impacts we saw in the first quarter were driven by timing, not demand. These timing shifts were concentrated in specific services, such as air and emissions testing and project-based consulting, where execution is closely tied to scheduling windows and field conditions.

Speaker 6

While the first quarter included delayed project starts primarily due to weather, our project awards, sales pipeline, and field work are progressing very nicely, just on a shifted timeline over the course of 2026. This work has not been lost. It remains active, and it is in the process of being executed, which is why our annual outlook and guidance is unchanged. We expect significant growth in the second quarter of this year compared to the first quarter and continued acceleration in the third and fourth quarters. Turning to profitability, we continue to see strong results based on increased efficiency in the business. In our Consulting and Treatment segment, margins expanded by approximately 370 basis points year-over-year to 17.6%, driven by improved project mix, disciplined pricing, and stronger operating execution.

Speaker 6

This was offset by margin compression in Measurement and Analysis, where margins declined to 18.4% from 23.3% in the prior year, primarily due to lower revenue from weather-related disruption. At a consolidated level, margins remained stable despite lower revenue, underscoring the earnings and cash resilience of our model and the benefits of our integrated platform. More broadly, these dynamics are consistent with what we are seeing across the segments where integrated service delivery, improved mix, and operating discipline are contributing to sustained margin expansion over time. Stepping back, underlying demand remains strong across our core services. I'll remind everyone that approximately 90% of our 2025 revenue was generated by a private sector client base consistent with prior year trends.

Speaker 6

We are benefiting from a shift as environmental performance is no longer viewed as a discrete compliance requirement, but increasingly as a driver of operational efficiency, competitiveness, and access to capital. This demand for our services is supported by sustained investment in each of our key geographies in infrastructure and industrial activity and increasing regulatory complexity. We also continue to see strong demand in water and multi-contaminant water solutions, where regulatory requirements and long-term infrastructure investment are driving green shoots of durable growth. The breadth of our platform and the diversity of our client base continue to position us well to perform across a range of operating conditions. Turning to the 2026 outlook, our confidence in the full year remains unchanged.

Speaker 6

We are reiterating our guidance for revenue of $840 million to $900 million and adjusted EBITDA of $125 million to $130 million. Pipeline visibility, backlog conversion, and client engagement remain consistent with our expectations and support our long-term organic revenue growth framework of approximately 7% and 9%. The midpoint of the adjusted EBITDA range represents approximately 10% growth over 2025, and we remain committed to achieving 15% adjusted EBITDA margins for the full year 2026. As of this week, we are also introducing the Onterris Outlook, which was developed in partnership with the Financial Times. We expect to publish the Onterris Outlook annually and provide clients with valuable and actionable insights into the intersection of environmental performance and business performance. This inaugural report reinforces a fundamental shift we're seeing across our markets.

Speaker 6

It provides compelling evidence that environmental performance has crossed a critical threshold. What was once treated as a compliance requirement is now also a core driver of how companies operate, allocate capital, and compete. Organizations embedding environmental performance into strategy are seeing tangible results, including stronger margins, improved access to capital, and greater resilience. What's particularly compelling is the clear performance gap that's emerging. Companies with more advanced environmental programs are significantly more likely to outperform, demonstrating that execution, data quality, and integrated solutions are now true differentiators. At the same time, rising investor scrutiny and regulatory pressure are increasing the need for credible, high-quality environmental data and systems, which plays directly to our strengths. This is exactly where Onterris is positioned to lead. As clients increasingly seek integrated science-based solutions that deliver measurable outcomes, we are positioned to capture long-term growth opportunities.

Speaker 6

In summary, our first quarter margins and EBITDA were consistent with expectations despite revenue being impacted temporarily by weather and lower emergency response activity. Importantly, the underlying demand and long-term drivers of our business remain intact. Our outlook is unchanged, and we expect strong sequential revenue and EBITDA growth in the second quarter, as Alan will further describe shortly. With that, I will turn the call over to Alan. Thank you.

Speaker 1

Thanks, Vijay. I'll walk through our first quarter results in more detail, including revenue, segment performance, profitability, cost structure, and cash flow. Revenue for the quarter was $168.5 million, compared to $177.8 million in the prior year period, a decrease of $9.3 million or 5.2%. The decrease was primarily driven by lower environmental emergency response revenue of $5.8 million and a $5.1 million decline, primarily due to weather in our Measurement and Analysis segment, partially offset by organic growth in our Consulting and Treatment segment. As Vijay discussed, our first quarter results reflect timing-related variability within an otherwise stable operating environment rather than any change in underlying demand. Turning now to our segment performance.

Speaker 1

Let me start by addressing the resegmentation of our Assessment, Permitting and Response and Remediation and Reuse segments into a combined Consulting and Treatment segment effective in the first quarter. This realignment reflects changes made to our organizational and operating structure to further enhance cross-selling collaboration and to drive operational efficiencies, such as improved cross-utilization of our team members. In our Consulting and Treatment segment, first quarter revenue was $114.6 million, compared to $118.8 million in the prior year period. The decrease reflects the $5.8 million reduction in emergency response revenues and the prior year European operations contribution, which you may recall was sold at the end of 2025, partially offset by growth in our core consulting and advisory services.

Speaker 1

Segments adjusted EBITDA was $20.1 million, with a margin of 17.6%, a 370 basis point improvement over the prior year period. This segment, adjusted EBITDA improvement, reflects stronger operating performance, improved project mix, disciplined pricing, and the absence of losses associated with our renewables business in the prior year period. In our Measurement and Analysis segment, revenue was $53.9 million, compared to $59 million in the prior year period. The decrease was primarily driven by severe weather conditions in January and February 2026, which limited field activity and delayed deliveries of sample volumes to our labs. Segment adjusted EBITDA was $9.9 million or 18.4% of revenue, compared to $13.8 million or 23.3% of revenue in the prior year period.

Speaker 1

The decline in margin was primarily due to lower revenue, given the fixed cost nature of much of the segment in the short term. Importantly, we view this margin pressure as temporary and driven by utilization rather than any change in the underlying economics of the business. As volumes normalize over the course of the year, we expect margin performance in the segment to recover accordingly. At the consolidated level, adjusted EBITDA was $17.8 million compared to $19 million in the prior year period. Adjusted EBITDA margin was 10.6% compared to 10.7% in the prior year.

Speaker 1

The decrease in adjusted EBITDA was primarily driven by lower revenue and margin in the Measurement and Analysis segment, as well as investments in marketing, business development and IT, which have an exaggerated impact on margin in Q1 given revenue seasonality, partially offset by improved performance in Consulting and Treatment segment. From a consolidated perspective, higher overall operating segment margin and the maintenance of consolidated margin at prior year levels despite lower revenues, reflects the benefit of improved mix and continued cost discipline and operating efficiency across the business. As we move through the year, we expect improved utilization and project timing to drive both margin expansion and strong cash flow conversion. Turning to costs. Cost of revenue for the quarter was approximately 60.2% of revenue, compared to 61% in the prior year period.

Speaker 1

The margin improvement reflects better operating efficiency, improved project mix, and the absence of prior-year costs associated with the wind down of our renewables business. Selling general and administrative expenses decreased by approximately $4.9 million or 7.4% compared to the prior-year period. This decrease was primarily driven by a $3.3 million reduction in stock-based compensation, lower labor and bonus-related costs, and lower bad debt expense resulting from improved collections. These reductions were partially offset by continued investments in IT systems, data infrastructure, and marketing and business development capabilities. Overall, these cost trends reflect the continued execution of our operating discipline initiatives and provide a solid foundation for margin expansion as volumes normalize. Other income was favorable in the quarter, driven by gains on interest rate swaps and foreign currency hedging instruments compared to losses in the prior-year period.

Speaker 1

Interest expense was approximately $5.5 million, compared to $5.1 million in the prior year period. This slight interest expense increase is primarily the result of the full redemption of the Series A-2 preferred last year, which was funded via our credit facility. Of important note, the Series A-2 dividend was also eliminated and the net result of higher interest and no dividends is cash positive. In the first quarter of 2026, diluted net loss per share attributable to common stockholders was $0.35, compared to a diluted net loss per share of $0.64 in the prior year period, a $0.29 improvement year-over-year.

Speaker 1

The improvement was primarily due to lower net loss and the absence of preferred dividends following the full redemption of our Series A-2 preferred stock in 2025 and an increase in weighted average common shares outstanding. Diluted adjusted net income per share was $0.12 in the first quarter of 2026, compared to $0.07 in the prior year period, or an increase of $0.05. This improvement in adjusted EPS was attributable to the elimination of the Series A-2 dividend and lower fully diluted common shares outstanding. As a reminder, our adjusted net income per diluted share attributable to common stockholders is calculated using adjusted net income attributable to stockholders divided by fully diluted shares. We believe this methodology remains the most helpful net income metric for Onterris and common equity investors.

Speaker 1

Operating cash flow for the quarter was negative $11.6 million, compared to positive $5.5 million in the prior year period. free cash flow was negative $17.2 million for the quarter. These decreases were primarily driven by $16.3 million of higher bonus payments tied to strong 2025 performance, as well as normal seasonal working capital dynamics. As we look forward, we expect a meaningful improvement in cash flow conversion over the balance of the year, consistent with the seasonal cadence of the business and the normalization of working capital. We remain committed to converting at least 60% of adjusted EBITDA into operating cash flow for the full year. We were also pleased with the strength of our balance sheet at quarter end.

Speaker 1

We ended the quarter with $10 million of cash and $178 million of availability under our revolving credit facility for a total liquidity of $188 million. Our leverage ratio was 2.8 times as of March 31, 2026. This provides us with substantial flexibility to support our capital allocation priorities, including organic investment, selective acquisitions and share repurchases. With respect to capital allocation, we continue to take a disciplined and balanced approach to capital allocation. During the quarter, we repurchased 376,313 shares of common stock for approximately $10 million under our board authorized program, leaving $30 million of repurchase capacity. These repurchases reflect our view that the current valuation does not fully capture the intrinsic value and long-term earnings power of the business.

Speaker 1

Over the past year, we have focused on driving operating efficiency and margin expansion. We are delivering on those commitments. As we move forward, we see significant opportunities to drive incremental value through revenue growth, including expanding share of wallet with existing clients, scaling our water and technology capabilities, and selectively pursuing accretive acquisitions. Against that backdrop, we believe our shares represent an attractive opportunity to deploy capital in a way that compounds long-term shareholder value. Turning to our outlook, Vijay discussed that our full year revenue and adjusted EBITDA outlook remained unchanged. For the second quarter, we expect revenue to be between $190 million and $210 million, with an expectation of adjusted EBITDA margin of 16%-18% at the midpoint of that revenue range.

Speaker 1

Our focus on significantly larger multi-service line opportunities, which by their nature take longer to close, is pushing more of our revenue into the back half of the year. We are excited about the momentum building around these opportunities, which tend to be multi-year in nature and therefore will translate into increasingly formal backlog. Overall, we are pleased with our start to 2026 and the continued resilience of our core business. We remain focused on executing against our full year 2026 outlook, driving continued margin expansion and converting a meaningfully higher proportion of adjusted EBITDA into operating cash flow as the year progresses. Our full year guidance remains unchanged and the qualitative factors Vijay discussed reinforce our confidence in the trajectory of the business. Thank you all for joining us today and for your continued interest in Onterris.

Speaker 1

We look forward to the opportunities ahead and to updating you on our progress next quarter. Operator, we are ready to open the lines to questions.

Speaker 2

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question and answer session. Should you have a question, please press the star followed by the 1 on your touch tone phone. You will hear a prompt that your hand has been raised. Should you wish to decline from the polling process, please press star followed by the 2. If you are using a speakerphone, please lift the handset before pressing any keys. One moment please for your first question. Your first question comes from Timothy Mulrooney with William Blair. Please go ahead.

Speaker 5

Vijay, Allan, good morning.

Speaker 1

Hey, Tim.

Speaker 6

Hey, Tim. How are you?

Speaker 5

Doing well, thanks. One, I want to start off about growth. I mean, it looks like first quarter revenue came in a little light on weather and emergency response. Second quarter is coming down relative to prior expectations, but you're holding that full year guide intact. Can you just help us bridge that gap a little bit more? I know you addressed it a little bit in your prepared remarks, but just stepping back, what gives you confidence to maintain the guide given the factors that I just listed?

Speaker 6

Yeah. Hey, Tim. This is Vijay. That's a great question. Let me take it. Tim, if I may, let me just put some context behind it. Not to sound repetitive, I say this on every call. This is not a quarterly business. The quarters fluctuate. The demand is consistent over the year. On the back of that, the reason we're reiterating guidance for the year and where our conviction is coming from is because of projects we've already won, the deployment of our field teams, which is in process and looking very healthy, and because of the rapid strengthening of our pipeline.

Speaker 6

The other dynamic I think that's important to note here is that we're holding or actually slightly increasing our EBITDA for the first half of the year, despite the revenue shifting, and I'll get back to that word in a second, given your question, Tim. That's a function of our increased profitability and efficiency, which is coming through in the numbers. On the revenue side, you're right. Emergency response was slower, and January and February were slow due to the severe winter. Effectively, what that meant, Tim, is that our field teams couldn't go out, samples couldn't come into our labs. It's important to note that the work wasn't lost. It just got delayed, and so it was a slow start.

Speaker 6

Let me give you kind of a more explicit bridge if you kind of, if you map the numbers we provided at the start of the year versus what we're saying now. There's about $10 million of testing revenue that kind of shifted from the first half to the second half. There's about $25 million of Consulting and Treatment revenue that shifted from the first half to the second half. There's about $15 million of emergency response that's kinda shifted from the first half to the second half. The reason for our conviction is on the testing side, these are compliance requirements. It's not something you get to choose to do. It's something you have to do. We're seeing that, as a result, pick up nicely. Again, work not lost, just shift in timing.

Speaker 6

On the Consulting and Treatment segment, that those projects are already underway. On emergency response, this is always tough to predict. As you know, Tim, it's not absolute. When we look over the last 10-20 years, it's around Q3 is when the busy season is from a response perspective, that's not really been the case over the last couple of years. That's why we don't really have many concerns around the timing shift there either. For all those reasons, right, the compliance drivers, projects being underway, strong demand continuing, clients not really changing course, what our historical patterns look like, we're holding our annual revenue guidance and earnings for the first half are staying steady despite the shift because of increased profitability. Does that make sense?

Speaker 5

Yep, that does make sense, Vijay. You know, maybe for my follow-up question, I'll shift gears a little bit. This one might be for Alan, you know, we saw that negative free cash flow in the first quarter, and I can see that the accrued payroll came down, which I guess accounts for the bonuses that you highlighted in your release. I also see larger cash outflow from accounts payable and a larger cash inflow from receivables. I was just hoping you could walk us through those dynamics in a little more detail.

Speaker 1

Yeah. Yeah, happy to, Tim. Recall, Q1 is typically a net outflow quarter. That was not the case in 2025 because we had a catch-up from some of the delayed invoicing in 2024. That was atypical. Q1 this year is a much more typical quarter. There was around $28 million of bonus payments in the quarter. That was up $16 million year-over-year, which accounts for almost all of the change year-over-year, despite, again, Q1 last year being higher than a typical quarter. We were very happy with invoice AR coming down over $30 million from the end of the year. On the collection side, we feel really good about our progress towards reducing day sales outstanding.

Speaker 1

Payables is just a normal, you know, it's just a typical Q1 outflow. What we had said before, Tim, is we expect to convert at least 60% of our adjusted EBITDA into operating cash for the year. That contemplated these higher bonus payments. Q1 is right in line with what we expected, and that 60% plus conversion is still intact for the year.

Speaker 5

Okay. Thanks, Allan. Sounds like it was all contemplated and guided and expected. Appreciate the detail there and yours as well, Vijay. Have a good one.

Speaker 6

Thanks, Tim.

Speaker 1

Thank you, Tim.

Speaker 2

Your next question comes from Tim Moore with Clear Street. Please go ahead.

Speaker 4

Thanks, I appreciate it. Are you hiring maybe more?

Speaker 6

Hey, Tim.

Speaker 4

Hi, how you doing? You know, based on the rebranding, which is great, are you hiring more customer relationship members, you know, for this collaborative integrated effort? I was just curious, you know, as a second part to that question is, you know, what end markets, you know, Vijay, do you think make the most cross-selling penetration uptick sense? I mean, you're already doing a great job in oil and gas cross-selling there as the poster child. If you maybe just, you know, relay any end markets you think, you know, have the most penetration potential, you know, to cross-sell.

Speaker 6

Sure. Yeah. Tim, just on the hiring concept, let me step back and just explain why we rebranded, right? The goal is to make it easier for our clients to understand the breadth of what we offer. One of the data points we received and reflected on was the fact that clients wanted what we were offering but were not fully aware of what we could offer. This makes it much easier for them. It also allows us to increase brand awareness more effectively. In essence, our return on investment on our marketing dollar spent is much higher with this approach. No, there's not really an incremental hiring process per se. Everything that we've decided to do is already baked into guidance.

Speaker 6

There's no change. From that perspective, the brand really is more about client awareness, increased ROI on marketing spend. The other variable with our brand is it deepens our cultural integration, Tim. It's something we don't talk a lot about in this context, but having one voice and having a consistent employee value proposition is just a continuation of our journey that we started last year when we paused M&A. We've been working on this for over a year, as I then reflect on the second part of your question, Tim, which is which other sectors other than energy would we consider attractive, we're seeing a lot of really nice activity on the technology side. More broadly, technology, semiconductors, pharma.

Speaker 6

These are areas where, given some of the onshoring that's occurring, we're seeing really nice demand upticks. In addition to energy, which is both oil and gas, we're also seeing some really nice opportunities within the transportation sector, within the solid waste industry, within the chemical sector. We continue to see really nice demand tailwinds on our water business, and kind of the contaminants side of it, as well as the broader air business. When we kind of look across where the growth drivers would come from, those would be the primary areas we're seeing demand cycles uptick now.

Speaker 4

That's terrific color. Thanks for sharing that. That's it for my questions.

Speaker 6

Thanks, Tim.

Speaker 2

As a reminder, if you wish to ask a question, please press star followed by the one. You now have a question from Tami Zakaria with JPMorgan Chase. Please go ahead.

Speaker 3

Hi, good morning. Thank you so much.

Speaker 6

Hey, Tami.

Speaker 3

I appreciate all the numbers that you gave about revenue shifting in the back half. Wanted to clarify in terms of modeling, are you expecting bulk of those revenues to hit three Q or four Q or evenly split?

Speaker 6

It should be evenly split, as we look at how this should roll out, Tami.

Speaker 3

Understood. That $25 million, $15 million, $10 million, all of it, we should evenly split between?

Speaker 6

Yeah. Look,

Speaker 3

last 2 quarters of this year.

Speaker 6

ER is really hard to predict, but, for modeling purposes, yes, just split that.

Speaker 3

Understood. That's very helpful. My second question, your EBITDA margin guide for 2Q, if I have to go to your full year guide, it seems like it would be a step down in 3Q and 4Q from the 2Q levels. Given the sequential acceleration, I would have thought margin would be better in the back half. Could you elaborate on that?

Speaker 6

Yeah, that's, Tami, that's mostly just project mix. It fluctuates. Q1 revenue was slightly weaker, and yet margins held with prior as an example. We are certainly seeing the benefits of a lot of the operational efficiencies that we were able to put in place with the M&A pause in the prior year and that are still underway. We're very happy with the progress we're making on the operational efficiency side. You're gonna see that some of that manifest in Q2. The back half is just project mix is why we're not going for a much higher margin. There's nothing in the business itself other than mix that would cause back half margins to be slightly lower than the original guide.

Speaker 6

Still up year-over-year, fairly nicely in the back half of the year and for the full year.

Speaker 3

Understood. Thank you.

Speaker 2

You now have a question from Tim Mulrooney with William Blair. Please go ahead.

Speaker 5

Thanks for squeezing me in again. I just wanted to follow up on a couple of things. Just the revenue pushout, Vijay, that you were highlighting to me earlier. In the testing business, could you just help me understand conceptually why that works? Why would a test that you couldn't take in January or February because it's too cold, why would that get pushed out into the second half of the year?

Speaker 6

Yeah.

Speaker 5

Is it all just kind of like dominoes or Yeah, help me understand?

Speaker 6

Yeah. It's, think of it as dominoes, Tim Moore. If typically let's say you had, I'm using very simplistic examples, right? 12 months to do work, and now you lost, call it 2-3 of those months because of weather. You still have to get that work done. Now it has to occur over the course of 9 months. It's a balance between the cadence at which the clients are gonna get that reactivated and our ability to get deployed to address it. It's just a shift in timing as opposed to the work going away because the compliance requirement is still there. As a simple example, I've used this with you in the past, if you scheduled a test in June and instead you now do it in July, that shifts from Q2 to Q3.

Speaker 6

In reality, from our perspective and the client's perspective, it's kind of a meaningless shift.

Speaker 5

Okay. Yeah. Thank you for explaining that. That was gonna bother me if I didn't get on here and ask. The other thing I wanted to ask about was the resegmentation.

Speaker 6

Yeah.

Speaker 5

it's like I understand that in your RNR segment, look, you acquired a lot of companies over the last five years. A lot of those had consulting revenue streams, but they were tucked into RNR, probably belonged better in AP&R. It's like I get the concept of why you bring those together. What I don't get as much is that water treatment business. That does seem more separate and distinct relative to the typical types of work that you're doing in AP&R. Do you agree with that statement? Would you ever consider breaking that out separately for investors to see and understand? How is that performing? Thank you.

Speaker 6

Yes. I mean, right now our consulting and engineering business is deeply integrated with and tied into our water business, Tim, by virtue of our consultants understanding where there may be water treatment pressures and bringing our water experts in. As a simple example, we've seen, and I alluded to this, with the question around where we're seeing sectors with demand increase, for example, the waste industry. Our consultants and our experts are intimately involved with some of the largest waste companies, helping deal with subterranean water-related issues. The water technology team is coming in alongside them to help treat. They are deeply integrated teams, but yes, over time, as that business grows, Tim, we would certainly consider separating it. We expect double-digit growth, very attractive growth in that business this year, and that outlook has not changed.

Speaker 6

We're pretty excited about the prospects for that business independent of PFAS. Certainly as that continues to come in, not only this year but in the medium to long term, the outlook there is looking very encouraging.

Speaker 5

Okay. I appreciate the extra color. Thank you, Vijay.

Speaker 6

Thanks, Tim.

Speaker 2

There are no further questions at this time. I will now turn the call over to Vijay for closing remarks. Please continue.

Speaker 6

Thank you. I just wanna reiterate that as we look ahead, our confidence in the trajectory of the business continues to build. We're seeing strong underlying demand, increasing client need for integrated solutions, and clear progress in improving the efficiency and scalability of our platform, as you saw in the numbers. Importantly, we're reaching a point where the breadth of our capabilities, the depth of our client relationships, and the scale of opportunities in front of us is beginning to reinforce each other in a much more meaningful way. Taken together, these dynamics position us to continue driving sustained growth and higher margins while operating the business at a materially larger scale over the next few years. With that, thank you again for your time and for your continued interest in Onterris.

Speaker 2

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

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