Exchange Income Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
August 12, 2026

Key Takeaways

  • Positive Sentiment: Record second-quarter performance: Exchange Income reported records across revenue, adjusted EBITDA, net earnings, adjusted net earnings, and free cash flow. Full-year adjusted EBITDA guidance was raised to CAD 890 million–CAD 920 million, up substantially from the prior outlook.
  • Positive Sentiment: Dividend increased: The annualized dividend rose from CAD 2.76 to CAD 2.88, supported by lower payout ratios and stronger cash flow. Management expects payout ratios to continue declining despite the increase.
  • Positive Sentiment: Strong aerospace and aviation outlook: Expanded Air Canada services, Canadian North demand, medevac contracts, Air Greenland aircraft modifications, and robust aircraft, engine, and parts leasing demand are expected to drive growth through 2026 and into 2027. The SkyAlyne Future Aircrew Training contract is expected to begin contributing in fiscal 2027.
  • Positive Sentiment: Manufacturing momentum and investment: Composite mat production reached record levels with all 2026 output sold, while demand for wooden mats, precision manufacturing, data-center cooling tanks, aerospace, defense, and telecommunications work remains strong. The new Saltillo, Mississippi, composite-mat facility remains on time and on budget, with operations targeted for later in 2027.
  • Negative Sentiment: Risks include costs and market softness: Labor, aircraft parts, maintenance, and overhaul inflation will pressure aerospace margins, while aluminum and potential Section 338 tariffs are affecting manufacturing businesses. Southern Ontario’s condo market remains weak, and higher growth and maintenance capital expenditures will increase depreciation and working-capital needs in the second half.
AI Generated. May Contain Errors.
Earnings Conference Call
Exchange Income Q2 2026
00:00 / 00:00

There are 14 speakers on the call.

Operator

Morning, everyone. Welcome to Exchange Income Corporation's second quarter conference call to discuss the financial results for the three and six months ended June 30, 2026. The corporate results, including the MD&A and financial statements, were issued on August 11, 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 the question 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 Factors section 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 now like to turn the call over to the CEO of Exchange Income Corporation, Michael Pyle. Please go ahead, Mr. Pyle.

Speaker 1

Thank you, operator. Good morning, and thank you for joining us on today's call. With me today are Richard Wowryk, who will highlight our financial results, along with Jake Trainor and Travis Muhr, who will expand on our outlook. Yesterday, we released our second quarter results for fiscal 2026. Our performance was incredibly strong and again demonstrated the resilience of our business model. We set second quarter records in all our key metrics, including revenue, adjusted EBITDA, net earnings, adjusted net earnings, free cash flow, and free cash flow less maintenance CapEx. Those results, coupled with our outlook for the remainder of the year, have necessitated us to significantly update our guidance. We now expect adjusted EBITDA to be between CAD 890 million and CAD 920 million for the 2026 fiscal year.

Speaker 1

Our accelerating performance has also resulted in records in our net earnings per share of CAD 1.01, or 29% higher than the prior period, and adjusted net earnings of CAD 1.13, or 23% higher than the prior period. Along with very strong metrics in our payout ratios, our free cash flow less maintenance CapEx payout ratio of 55% was near an all-time low, while our adjusted net earnings payout ratio was an all-time low of 65%. The strong results, coupled with our confidence in our outlook, which Jake and Travis will talk about shortly, has allowed our board of directors and management to increase our dividend from CAD 2.76 to CAD 2.88 on an annualized basis. We have consistently communicated with our shareholders that we only intend to increase the dividend when we can reduce the proportion of our cash flow and profitability being directed toward the dividend.

Speaker 1

We've been able to make strong progress in this initiative, and we expect, even with the increase announced, that the payout ratios will continue to fall. During the quarter, we announced several highly strategic contracts. Our aerospace business line has finalized the scope of the services under the Future Aircrew Training program. While the definitive agreements will be papered and signed, we anticipate that the modifications of the aircraft will begin in 2027, with the bulk of the modification and missionization services occurring in the first five years. The duration of the contract will be focused on training and in-service support. This was an important milestone for both PAL Aerospace and the SkyAlyne team. During the quarter, we also announced a contract with Air Greenland and the government of Denmark for the modification, configuration, and integration of two ISR aircraft owned by Air Greenland.

Speaker 1

The aerospace business continues to be very busy in fielding inquiries and responding to requests around the globe. Our Essential Air Service and aircraft sales and leasing business lines continued to see strong demand trends. In our Essential Air Service, we saw broad-based strength in our scheduled cargo, charter, and medevac services. With the Air Canada contract expanded and extended starting in the third and fourth quarter, we expect to see continued strength in that business line. Our aircraft sales and leasing business line is continuing to see robust demand for its leasing business, along with its parts, aircraft, and engine businesses. We have put significant growth capital investments in that business, and it is yielding the returns anticipated when we made the investment. Lastly, the integration of Mach II has gone very well, and management teams are working very closely.

Speaker 1

Mach II has also been integral to working with Canadian North to secure spare parts and components to ensure Canadian North can meet the significant demand they are seeing for their northern routes. As I mentioned during our first quarter conference call, we saw accelerating momentum within three of our business lines in our manufacturing segment as we exited the first quarter. That momentum continued through the quarter and was 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 plant has exceeded our own high expectations and were in fact records during the quarter. We are continuing to see market share transition to composite mats in the Southern U.S., hence the excitement for our new plant in Saltillo, which is on time and on budget.

Speaker 1

We hope we'll able to see the plant operational later in 2027. In our Canadian operations, we are seeing significant demand for our wooden mat solutions with the number of rentals continuing to significantly increase quarter-over-quarter. With large linear projects commencing in the latter part of 2026, we're expecting to see strong results by that business line. We continue to see encouraging booking trends at our multi-story windows. The second quarter bookings for our order book were the strongest quarter over the past several years. In the first quarter, I spoke about a positive book-to-bill ratio, and that continued. However, I would say we are early innings of the game as two positive quarter does not mean a longer term trend as we still see market softness in southern Ontario.

Speaker 1

Overall, this was a very solid quarter, coupled with our outlook has led us to a significant increase in our 2026 guidance, a dividend increase while anticipating further reductions in our payout ratios and maintaining our strong balance sheet. Jake and Travis will focus on the outlook for our segments for the third quarter and the remainder of 2026. I will now pass the call over to Rich, who will talk about some of the key highlights from the MD&A and the financial statements.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Mike, and good morning, everyone. I will provide some highlights from our quarterly key performance indicators and focus on our balance sheet, investments in capital expenditures, and pipeline of acquisition opportunities. As Mike mentioned, we set second quarter records at all of our key performance indicators, including net earnings and adjusted net earnings per share amounts. Those per share records are even more impressive when you consider that shares outstanding were approximately 10% higher over the prior year due to the conversion of convertible debentures in the prior year as we completed our goal of simplifying our balance sheet. From a balance sheet and cash flow perspective, we had further investment in working capital during the quarter, highlighted by some significant investments in prepaid and inventory at our aircraft sales and leasing business line.

Speaker 2

In addition to purchases of whole aircraft for resale and growth in parts inventory to support future growth in parts sales, deposits were made for future asset acquisitions that will occur over the back half of the year. Consistent with the seasonality of EIC, we expect that the third quarter will require a further investment in working capital as the third quarter is our seasonally strongest quarter, and then we anticipate a normalization of working capital in the fourth quarter, which is generally an average quarter for the fiscal year. Aggregate leverage remains near historic lows with total leverage at 2.82 times. 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.

Speaker 2

The investments we have made over the past number of years have started realizing the returns envisioned when those investments were made. There is always a lag in growth capital expenditures between the outlay of capital and the ramp up in operations and the generation of the free cash flow, and we are seeing the impact of those investments in our current year results, per share metrics, and payout ratios. In the current year, growth capital expenditures were CAD 120 million on a year to date basis. The manufacturing segment growth capital expenditures 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.

Speaker 2

The growth capital expenditures within the aerospace and aviation segment were primarily focused on the aircraft sales and leasing business, which accounted for about 15% of the investments, with the vast majority of the growth capital expenditures focused on our Essential Air Service with investments in our BCEHS 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 growth. These investments will drive cash flow in future periods. Maintenance capital expenditures were below our internal expectations in the first and second quarters.

Speaker 2

In the second quarter, investment and maintenance capital expenditures were CAD 76 million for aerospace and aviation and CAD 10 million for manufacturing. The increase over the prior year comparatives were due to the acquisition of Canadian North and increases in the utilization of the aircraft sales and leasing fleet. Jake will provide further guidance for Q3 and Q4.

Speaker 2

The collective significant increases in growth and maintenance capital expenditures will result in increases in depreciation over the back half of 2026 when compared with the first six months, as the net book value has increased over the period. Our M&A pipeline remains strong. 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 that we can find ancillary opportunities to support our competitive moats, we are always interested in those accretive opportunities. I will now turn the call over to Jake, who will provide an update for the third quarter and the remainder of 2026 for the aerospace and aviation segment.

Speaker 3

Thank you, Rich. We expect another strong year of growth in aerospace and aviation as the trends both Mike and Rich discussed continue through 2026. Growth investments already made, including ISR assets, the acquisition of Mach2, the startup of the Newfoundland and Labrador Medevac contract, and the expansion of the Air Canada commercial agreement should support higher revenue and profitability. In Essential Air Services, 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 aircraft come online in Q3 until full operational tempo is achieved. We continue to see expansion in contracts, including growth in our BCEHS contract, which will necessitate the purchase of two additional new King Air aircraft, which we anticipate receiving in 2028 and 2029, respectively.

Speaker 3

Offsetting some of these gains is the continued inflationary pressures on labor, aircraft parts, consumables, and overhaul costs. In aerospace, we expect continued strong flying tempo of all aircraft in our fleet, along with the commencement of modification services on the two Air Greenland aircraft, which will start in the third quarter and will continue through 2027. Therefore, we expect that the third quarter profitability will be slightly higher than the comparative, and the fourth quarter is expected to be in line with the prior year comparative as our training business is transitioning between some legacy contracts and new contracts in 2026. Looking forward, the finalization of the scope of services for SkyAlyne's FAcT contract is expected to impact the operating results starting in fiscal 2027, with minimal capital investment required. We remain engaged on several additional opportunities in Canada, Europe, and the U.S. in the aerospace business line.

Speaker 3

Aircraft sales and leasing is also expected to grow as aircraft and engines acquired during 2025 and the current year are placed with customers along with increasing rental rates. Regional One and Mach2's demand remains robust through their various lines of business, including parts, aircraft, and engines. As Mike had commented on the integration of Mach2, it's exceeded our expectations and they're actively working with Canadian North on supply and support of their operations. Maintenance capital expenditures are expected to be higher year-over-year due to growth in our fleet, along with the planned maintenance events that were pushed to the right earlier in the year. Additionally, we'll continue to see continued investment in Canadian North spares and engines and year-over-year increases in our aircraft sales and leasing business due to increased utilization of leased aircraft and engines.

Speaker 3

Growth capital expenditures are expected in Q3 and through the balance of 2026. Including in the last of the initial order of King Air aircraft for British Columbia Emergency Health Services, which is expected in September 2026. Aircraft modifications for the Newfoundland and Labrador Medevac contract, aircraft for the expanded Air Canada agreement, and opportunistic purchases in aircraft sales and leasing to meet robust demand. I'll now pass it off to Travis to provide commentary on the manufacturing segment.

Speaker 4

Thanks, Jake. From a manufacturing perspective, we expect Q3 revenue and profitability to continue with the momentum built during the second quarter, with that trend continuing through the balance of the year. Environmental Access Solutions is expected to generate stronger returns in Q3 and throughout the remainder of the year. The number of mats on rent continued to strengthen as we exited the quarter, along with expansion in rental rates. Composite demand remains robust, and the plant continues to run at full capacity with all of our 2026 output already sold. We continue to see encouraging medium and longer-term demand drivers for our transmission distribution, pipeline, and oil and gas activity and are very bullish on the business line and its operating prospects throughout North America. Multi-story window solutions continues to see strong inquiry levels and booking levels.

Speaker 4

As Mike had mentioned in the second quarter, bookings were the highest quarterly bookings over the past several years. We are encouraged by the results. However, the strong book-to-bill ratio experienced in the first and second quarters are not necessarily indicative 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 hospitals, long-term care homes, student housing, or government institutions. The revenue and profitability were in line with our internal expectations, and we expect that trend to continue throughout the remainder of the year. We anticipate the third and fourth quarters that the profitability will be consistent with the prior period, including the impact of tariffs. Precision manufacturing and engineering is also expected to continue to improve in Q3.

Speaker 4

However, we will have a slightly lower profitability compared to Q4 last year, where our Hydronic Heating Solutions subsidiary had a very strong quarter due to the shipping of the vast majority of their production in the fourth quarter, whereas the business was much more even from a sales and delivery perspective in fiscal 2026. We will continue to see strong inquiry and booking trends with the exposure to attractive end markets such as aerospace, defense, telecommunications, and data farms. On the tariff front, we noted in our report that multi-story window solutions continue to be negatively impacted by the aluminum tariffs, and our Dry Air subsidiary could be negatively impacted by the recently announced Section 338 tariffs. However, we are undertaking active mitigation strategies in both businesses.

Speaker 4

Maintenance capital expenditures are expected to be above the prior year, primarily because of timing and the anticipated demand across the business lines in the back half of the year. We also expect growth capital expenditures across the manufacturing businesses to be broadly consistent with 2025, except Environmental Access Solutions, where spending will support the new composite mat and additional Canadian rental fleet investments due to our strong outlook on that business line. I will now pass the call back to Mike.

Speaker 1

The first and second quarters for 2026 were a very strong start for the year, and we are excited to communicate to the market our significant increase in our guidance for the year. I am extremely confident in the future of our company. EIC is at the intersection of a number of critical 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 your time this morning. We would now like to open the call for questions. Operator?

Operator

Thank you. We'll now conduct a question and answer session. If you do have a question, please press the star followed by the number one on your touchtone phone. You will hear a tone acknowledging your request. Your hands host will be held in the poll. Please ensure that you leave your hands before pressing any keys. Your first question comes from Steve Hansen from Raymond James. Please go ahead.

Speaker 1

Morning, Steve.

Speaker 5

Yeah. Good morning, guys. Thanks for the time. Mike, I know you've described the matting business is starting to improve and some of the project activity picking up. I was hoping you could maybe just give us a broader lens as to how you see the industry shaping up, because that supply-demand backdrop for mats does matter. Effectively, it sounds like it is tightening up, but can you just give us some context around how you see matting supply out there today, after a couple of years of slack supply, and how you think that's going to play into your favor or not? Thanks.

Speaker 1

Sure. In the Canadian marketplace, when the couple of larger jobs were completed in late 2022 and 2023, there was a lot of used mats that came back into the marketplace, things that came from the Trans Mountain and other things. Some of our competitors were heavily discounting to get these older mats into service. The natural life cycle of these mats has brought that trend sort of to a close at the same time as we're seeing a rebound in the number of long linear projects. Just in the last 60 days, we've seen two major new pipelines announce they're going ahead with bidding for RFPs, and the number of our mats that are on the ground is growing significantly and regularly. The advantage to us is twofold.

Speaker 1

As the market tightens up, these discounted mats leave the market and prices increase at the same time as our utilization rate increases. We have increased the production in both of our matting plants, and we continue to expect to make as many mats as we can to meet what we see as a new long-term cycle in the matting business. These long linear projects are not something that are done in weeks or months. They are in years, and so we are really bullish on the Canadian market. The U.S. market is, I would say, more of the same. It has been very busy since we bought Spartan, and that has continued largely because of a migration from wood mats to composite mats in the United States and strong demand in the utility sector.

Speaker 1

We are so excited about getting our new plant up and running to take advantage of opportunities in North America. But not only North America. During the quarter, we had a significant sale of mats into Europe and opportunities in Australia. Right now, capacity constraints really preclude us from attacking those the way we would like to. So I think once that plant is up and running, you will see an increase in the geographic diversity of our sales out of our Spartan subsidiary in the U.S.

Speaker 5

Super helpful. Just one follow-up just around the ISR business. There has obviously been a lot of volatility out there geopolitically in the Middle East, Europe, and otherwise. I just was curious around your thoughts about long-term contract opportunities, and then as a sort of adjacency to that is the idea of having another force multiplier sort of for spot availability. I do not know if that is something you want to build again upfront, but just how do you think about the balance of chasing those long-term contracts with easy, firm commitments relative to some spot capabilities? Thanks.

Speaker 1

It is a really good question, Steve. We do not view that as an either/or. Building another rental aircraft will occur. It is really just a matter of when we have gaps in production. Right now, we are really focused on our new Greenland project and getting those aircraft ready and in service for the customer. So that is where we are focused today. We have talked a lot in the past about opportunities in Europe. I am pleased to say that we are very close to another one there, that we are in final discussion talks that hopefully we will have something to announce later this year. Opportunities in whether it be in Canada, the Middle East, our marketing teams are very busy in that business. So it is hard to predict which is going to come first and where, but I think it is important to know that long-term contracts will not stop us from refilling the short-term rental fleet.

Speaker 3

Appreciate the time. Thanks.

Operator

Your next question comes from Matthew Lee from Canaccord. Please go ahead.

Speaker 6

Morning, Matt. Hey, guys. Hey, thanks for taking my question. By all accounts, the Canadian North business is performing well ahead of expectations. Given that progress, can you help us understand why the province of Nunavut maybe opted out of their equity option?

Speaker 1

Sure. It is always dangerous when you answer a question on behalf of someone else. What I am going to give you is my impression. This is not something that we know in some writing they gave to us. They had an option really to ensure that when they put it all in our hands, the government took risk that we were going to deliver on what we said we were going to do in terms of service and looking after the people in Nunavut. I am very pleased to say that we have done a really strong job of that, and the government has come to a realization that they do not need to own the business for us to do a good job of that. I think part of the reason to invest went away.

Speaker 1

I think secondarily, while they were comfortable with the level of investment they had to make for their participation in the company, we were pretty clear that we intend to put more money into the North, whether we be adding extra aircraft or building additional crew quarters or hangars as the market expands. The focus on Canadian North means there is going to be more passengers, and more passengers requires more fixed assets. I do not think the government really wanted to sign up for an investment now and other investments in the future, given that they were comfortable with the level of service that we were providing. It clearly was not a financial decision because the results we were generating were above what we had anticipated when we bought the company.

Speaker 6

In fact, it might be because they think you are doing such a good job, they do not have to actually step in and guide you in any way.

Speaker 1

Again, that was similar to what they put in their press release, Matt.

Speaker 6

Yeah, understood. Organic EBITDA growth this year, when you take out some of the acquisitions, has been in the mid-teens. Momentum in the business right now, just given the tailwinds you are seeing and the new contracts coming online, is there any reason to believe that cadence will slow as you kind of look in the back half of the year into 2027? I know you have not given guidance yet, but just trying to get my head around it.

Speaker 1

Well, as long as you are not trying to trick me into giving you my 2027 number yet, because I am not ready to do that. There is no reason to believe there is a slowing in the organic opportunity. Sometimes those are a little chunky, as an example, like the Spartan plant. We are putting up money, and you will not see that till the back half of next year, but that is going to generate significant growth in revenue and profitability. We see the increase in the Air Canada contract as we put those aircraft online later this year, and we will have the benefit of that next year. The Newfoundland contract as those go into service, and even the BC medical contract where the government has asked us to put additional aircraft into place to grow that contract.

Speaker 1

So very excited about what we are facing and the sprinkles on the sundae as we are starting to see life in the window business. Again, with the cycle of that business, when we get orders now, it is 18 months before they show up in the financial statements, and it has only been a quarter or two of positive book-to-bill. But in particular, the U.S. market is showing real signs of life and growth. So I do not see any reason for our organic growth rate to decline.

Speaker 6

Understood. Thanks a lot, guys.

Operator

Your next question comes from Cameron Doerksen from National Bank. Please go ahead.

Speaker 1

Hey, Cam.

Speaker 7

Yeah, thanks. Yeah, good morning. I guess I wanted to maybe follow up on some defense opportunities. You talked a little bit about some of the ISR opportunities you're perhaps close. Is there any update, I guess, on the potential for the Canadian in the North surveillance opportunity? Is there any actual RFP out there? I know you have been in some discussions with the government. Just any update there would be useful.

Speaker 1

Sure. There's no real RFP. It's discussions about what exactly they want, when they want, and the biggest challenge with the government right now with all the things they're doing is having people to manage these various programs. We're in discussions with the government about where this would live, who would run it. Jake, maybe you want to jump in here. You're closer to this than I am.

Speaker 3

Sure. Thanks for the question, Cam. Yeah, there's continued engagement, but as Mike pointed out, you've got to keep in mind these are the same people that are wrestling with the future fighter decision, with the naval shipbuilding, the submarine decision. A lot of the large capital asset decisions are being run through the same office. Again, we're just trying to make sure that we keep top of mind and we're continuing to engage because the need has not gone away.

Speaker 7

Okay. No, that's helpful. If I could follow up on the same theme. Obviously, as you mentioned, Jake, there's an awful lot of investment going on into the military and assets. I'm just wondering if we look beyond surveillance opportunities, what other defense opportunities are you seeing that might emerge for your companies? I'm thinking in-service support type contracts. We obviously got a few of those already. Is there anything that's on the horizon or has emerged in the last few months that is potential opportunity for you down the road?

Speaker 1

Well, there's some of the things that we've talked about where it may be perhaps assisting in the installation of Canada's over-the-horizon radar system, where we'll look to participate in that when they're ready for bids. We'll be looking at providing services to the government as they expand military bases and build a deep water port in the north. One of the things important to understand, if it's not going on a barge in the summer, it's going on one of our airplanes. Those are really the only ways things get there. You'll see growth out of defense that will show up in our scheduled and charter businesses. Those would be the main exposures. Jake, have you got anything else you want to add there?

Speaker 3

No, I was going to make the point. It's very valid that regardless of what's happening in the north, there's going to be increased activity, whether it's construction or actual capability being delivered, and that's going to be reflective in enhanced charters, enhanced demand for cargo, enhanced demand for passengers, and we're seeing some of that now. Again, we're going to be the beneficiaries of both direct and indirect activity.

Speaker 7

Okay. That's helpful. I'll pass the line. Thanks very much.

Operator

Your next question comes from James McGarragle from RBC Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Speaker 1

Morning, James.

Speaker 8

Hey, good morning. Appreciate you having me on. Just wanted to ask a question on the 2027 framework for EBITDA guidance. You've committed to providing the 2027 guidance with Q3 results in November, but just given the momentum that we're seeing across your segments, obviously aerospace remains strong. Seems like manufacturing is starting to turn a corner. Can you just give us any preliminary directional commentary on how you're thinking about that growth trajectory into next year?

Speaker 1

Yeah, we saw big growth this year, even with our original guidance in the CAD 825 million to CAD 850 million. CAD 875 million, I'm sorry, midpoint CAD 850 million. Now our midpoint is up a little over CAD 900 million. To get to that billion-dollar framework we've talked about is 10% growth. I don't think that's an unreasonable thought, although we're not prepared to commit to that quite yet. The one thing I would say is within our range we've given you, to get to the very top of the range, we're going to have to execute in some things that may be our plan for next year, but we get them done earlier, so improvements in performance and those kinds of things. So for us, if we perform above our midpoint of our range, it'll be things that otherwise might have been done next year.

Speaker 1

I want to be careful that if we get to the top of our range, people don't take exactly the same growth rate because we'll be pulling forward some of the things we think we can do in 2027 to get to the top of that range. The other thing is that we've really increased our guidance three times already this year, and that even for us is pretty rare, going from CAD 825 million to CAD 875 million to mid to upper to the top end to the new guidance. I'm reticent to look too far into the future, but if I were to prognosticate, if that's a word, I would say that our continued growth rates are reasonable and achievable, particularly if Adam is successful on some of the things he's looking at on the acquisition front.

Speaker 8

Yeah, just to follow up on that and some of the things that Adam's looking at. You have over CAD 2 billion of liquidity. You kind of alluded to there being a good pipeline in the press release. Can you just talk about that pipeline? Is there a size or geography bias in what you're seeing? Just any color on how we should be thinking about that into next year. I can turn the line over after that. Thank you.

Speaker 1

Yeah. I don't really think there's a bias geographically. There is a bias to finding expansion opportunities in some of the businesses we're already in. Things that are tangential to our matting business, we're very active looking in things that are tangential to our precision metal manufacturing. Most of the things we're looking at now wouldn't be described as new segments or even new sectors. They'd be things that would add on to our capabilities we already have.

Speaker 8

Appreciate it. Thank you.

Speaker 1

Thank you.

Operator

Your next question comes from Jeff Fenwick from ATB Cormark. Please go ahead.

Speaker 1

Morning, Jeff.

Speaker 9

Hi, good morning. One to ask one here on Canadian North. You are coming through the one-year anniversary of that deal. One of the things I know that was on your list was renegotiating some of the charter contracts that were there. I think we are seeing maybe a little bit of inflated revenue there without a lot of earnings contribution. Just maybe an update on the progress on that front.

Speaker 1

We're making progress on a couple of the contracts. I'd maybe hand this over to Jake to talk about what we're prepared to disclose that's been done to date.

Speaker 3

Sure. We're working our way through some of the contracts and some of the renegotiations. You got to keep in mind as well, the next phase of the LNG contract, which has not commenced, will be another driver, we hope. We're looking at just continued activity and strong

Speaker 3

activity even on an ad hoc basis. For example, Canadian North did all the FIFA security charters. So we're in a position where we can be very opportunistic and seek out higher margin opportunities there and look to continue that trend moving forward. So it's something that we're certainly putting some attention to.

Speaker 1

We are making progress on the extension and renegotiating of some of our oil sands work.

Speaker 3

Yep.

Speaker 3

Okay. That's helpful. Thank you. I wanted to ask one on the precision manufacturing. We don't often talk a lot about that, but it sounds like there's certainly been some uptick, and you mentioned some of the areas there were like telecom and data centers where there's obviously a lot of opportunities. Could you just comment on what you're seeing across those businesses? When those opportunities come, are they sort of a relatively short run, one-off contract, or is there some things getting baked in here that might offer a little maybe longer runway to pursue those kinds of opportunities?

Speaker 1

That's a good question, Jeff. We are very focused on maintaining our core relationships in those businesses. When new things come, sometimes people chase them very hard, and then when that wave ends, they've lost their core business. Our first thing is looking after our core businesses. But for example, in our tank manufacturing business, we're very active building cooling tanks for data centers. Our business there is literally sold out for 12 months. I don't remember the last time we had a 12-month order book at Stainless Fabrication, Inc. Our folks in southern Ontario at Ben Machine are looking at opportunities with other players in the satellite business, in the space business, in the defense business. Order books are growing, and they're not one-offs. They're things that have the potential to be customers for years.

Speaker 1

While we're early days in the cycle, there's reason to believe that will continue to grow in the future. Our guys at WesTower dealt with some of the strangest weather in Saskatchewan and Alberta this summer, which slowed their numbers, but that only delayed the work. It didn't make it go away. We'll see a rebound in that business in the back half of the year as well.

Speaker 9

Okay. Thanks for that color. I appreciate it. I'll pass it along.

Operator

Your next question comes from Razy Hasan from Paradigm Capital. Please go ahead.

Speaker 10

Good morning. Thanks for taking my question.

Speaker 1

Hey, Razy.

Speaker 10

Maybe just following up on your comment on what gets you to the top end of your guidance range. You mentioned maybe the pull forward of projects. Is there anything that is at risk this year where you reach the bottom of the range, that could result in that?

Speaker 1

To be honest with you, we don't see any flies in the ointment at this point. A lot of times you don't see when those things are coming, but the demand in essentially our service remains strong. Our forward ticket sales are strong. The cadence of our flying in the maritime surveillance world is strong. Our order book in the manufacturing business is good, and the biggest challenge we're going to face in the environmental matting business is keeping up and making sure we have enough product to keep up with the demand. The forest fires in B.C. make it a little harder to get lumber than it normally is, so we're working hard to make sure we have enough lumber to keep our plants running two shifts a day.

Speaker 1

At this point, pretty confident that the growth trends that we're seeing are sustained and that we'll be within that range we provided.

Speaker 10

Okay. That's helpful. Maybe just on the matting business. You spoke in the past about potentially starting to rent out mats. Obviously, there's a lot of backlog there. Does that become a back half of 2027 story when you see the cadence there? Or is it more of a 2028 when you're able to start rolling out the rental side of things?

Speaker 1

It's hard to answer that question at this point. The first thing we're going to do is make sure we take care of our customers from a sales point of view, and we aren't anywhere near being able to keep up with one plant. So once that's up and running, that'll be the first thing we're going to run with. And we're very excited about what we've seen on the international marketplace. So building mats for ourselves, while that is in the long-term plan, that's not in the near-term plan.

Speaker 10

Okay, great. And maybe just lastly on medevac. Is there any further room for expansion within Canada, or have you reached the full extent of the available contracts available at this point?

Speaker 1

In which area, sorry?

Speaker 10

Just in Canada. Provincially, are there any other contracts that are coming up for bidding, or are you reaching the maximum?

Speaker 1

On the medevac business you are talking of, Razi?

Speaker 10

Yeah.

Speaker 1

There is nothing major in the next little bit. Our joint venture subsidiary in Ontario is working on some medevac work with Ornge. There are some opportunities, but right now we are largely just focused on finishing off the fleet for British Columbia, getting the extra aircraft for the enhanced stuff they would like, and getting Newfoundland up and running are our near-term focuses.

Speaker 10

Okay. Great. Thank you.

Speaker 1

I guess in response to one of the other questions earlier, the only other thing I guess that could be a speed bump would be depending on what happens with tariffs. We got a pretty good idea of what happens with the tariffs that are announced now. But no one saw 50% tariffs coming under the Section 338 tariffs. I need to be clear that if there is something happens that we do not know about now, that could cause challenges. Although, we really do not sell that much stuff across the border. It is not ever going to be a huge problem for us.

Speaker 10

Thanks very much. Pass the line.

Operator

Your next question comes from Michael Goldie from BMO Capital. Please go ahead.

Speaker 1

Morning, Michael.

Speaker 11

Thank you.

Speaker 11

Morning. Thank you for the question. With the strength that you are seeing in aircraft sales and leasing, can you provide an update on the supply chain for engines and to what extent you have visibility into continued demand momentum?

Speaker 1

Yeah. That's a really good question. We don't see any end right now in the supply shortage. The MROs can't keep up. Even our engines for our own businesses that are in for normal overhauls. I think we've got, correct me if I'm wrong here, eight or nine of them sitting that we're waiting to get back, Jake.

Speaker 3

Yeah.

Speaker 3

While our particular instances are just anecdotal, that's what we see across the business. Our ability to take full aircraft and monetize the airframes as parts and then lease or sell the engines is creating the opportunity for margins. I think one of the things I'm fairly confident you'll see in the back half of the year, Michael, is continued investment by us in growth opportunities in that business where we can buy one or two or three aircraft at a time and then figure out the best way to monetize them. I think one of the advantages we have is that we're prepared to take an operating aircraft and treat it as a supply of parts and a supply of engines, as opposed to just a single operating entity.

Speaker 1

I think you'll see us invest some more money there in the back half of the year.

Speaker 11

It sounds like Mach2 running ahead of expectations. Can you unpack that a bit more and specifically where that outperformance is, be it revenue, margin, commercial collaboration with Regional One? Anything there would be much appreciated.

Speaker 1

Yeah. I would like to take credit that the acquisition by EIC is driving it. It is really not. It is the core business of Mach2 that is doing well. They specialize in certain parts of 737 aircraft thrust reversers, as an example. They are a leader in the sale and leasing of thrust reversers. That market is strong. We are looking to invest further into that marketplace. What you will see in future quarters, not in the next one or two, but over the next couple of years, you will see us investing in more parts inventory, bigger acquisitions as we fit their data into Regional One's proprietary asset management system, which will help us decide what to buy at what price.

Speaker 1

I always come back to, in Regional One's model, the secret sauce is we know who we are going to sell it to and what we think the price of the parts are. So when we buy things, we are not taking market risk. It is a matter of digesting all the information we have, first of all, from Canadian North, as someone who has operated these 737s for decades, and then the information that Mach2 has, and then having our two management teams work together for where we are going to invest the capital. Coming back to summarizing your question was most of the outperformance has been in the core business of Mach2 that they had before we bought the company. The things we are going to do to make it better are still to come.

Speaker 11

Thank you.

Operator

Your next question comes from Gary Ho from Desjardins Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Speaker 1

Morning, Gary.

Speaker 12

Hey, morning. Sorry I jumped on the call late. Mike, I think you mentioned you're looking at some of the tuck-ins to expand some of your existing business. Maybe talk about some of those competitors that you run into. Any concerns in terms of Competition Bureau Canada if some of these businesses is a bit niche? Then maybe just second part to that, and thanks for the details on the tank business. I think it was kind of Jeff Fenwick's question there and data center tailwinds. On the M&A side, if valuation makes sense, could you look at more businesses to tap into those trends?

Speaker 1

You may have to remind me. That's a lot of questions for me to remember all at once. On the first one about the tuck-ins, we're always careful of the Competition Bureau Canada. Most of the things that we're looking at in a tuck-in basis aren't of a size that they would generally attract the attention of the Competition Bureau Canada. We're very careful on how we treat customers and how we deal with things. The easiest way to prevent problems with the Competition Bureau Canada is to be competitive, and we will continue to do that. I'm not overly concerned there.

Speaker 1

In terms of opportunities, if we can find things that are in the price we're prepared to pay and have management teams and have market niches with CAD 2 billion of capital sitting there, I wouldn't pay the standby fees if I wasn't excited about opportunities to put that money to work. The answer to that is we're definitely looking for those opportunities. I think I missed your middle question. Could you remind me of what that one was?

Speaker 12

No, I think you answered it. It was specifically on the M&A side, but tank business and data center tailwinds. Are you specifically looking at some of those silos?

Speaker 1

Yeah. Those are more growth in our existing business. One of the things that we've learned from previous cycles is to make sure we don't jump too hard into new areas that can change rapidly. The example I'd give you on the tanks is, if you go back a decade, ethanol was a huge deal, and nobody could get enough tanks, and the demand for it was insane. Then it came to an end very quickly. We had been careful not to abandon our normal customers during that cycle, and so we didn't get hurt by that. I would say the same on the data center business. We are going to look after that. We're going to service the heck out of the orders we take, but we're not going to move away from our core customers in pharmaceuticals and beverages, to take care of new customers.

Speaker 12

Okay, got it. Thanks for taking my questions.

Operator

Again, if you would like to ask a question, please press star then the number 1 on your telephone keypad. Your next question coming from Konark Gupta from Scotiabank. Please go ahead.

Speaker 1

Morning, Konark.

Speaker 13

Morning, Mike and team. Thanks for taking my question. Sorry, I joined in late, so apologies if this question has already been asked. I was curious. With Regional One, you guys have invested a lot of money recently on acquiring assets. With Mach II, I think you are also ramping up. What sort of inventory of aircraft and engines do you have sitting on your books right now, and what do you plan to do with that?

Speaker 1

Well, what we have on the books changes regularly. In our MD&A, we spell out the number of assets. I do not have that in front of me. As a general trend, we have seen a slight increase in engines and aircraft over time. Some of those are more expensive aircraft and engines as we have moved into this ERJ platform in the 170s, 190s, 195s. I think you will see us continue to invest in those. A lot of the things, the engines and stuff, are not in production. As those planes keep flying, it is overhaul and recycling of those aircraft. Given the tightness in the MRO world, the demand for our services are very strong. You are right that we have made investments there, and I think you will see us continue to make more investments.

Speaker 1

That is driving the performance we are seeing in Regional One, where we are getting large increases in EBITDA returns quarter-over-quarter.

Speaker 2

The other thing I'd point out quickly here is just, when you look at the disclosure in the MD&A over the last number of quarters, and it really comes back to a question that was asked previously, the number of engines in our lease portfolio has continued to increase, and the size of those engines has continued to increase, which is really driving the book value of our lease portfolio. There's such a demand for rental engines at this point in time that we've been able to, in many instances, buy whole aircraft and just lease out the engines and part out the airframe. Not only within the capital assets, but the other thing that we pointed out within the disclosure documents is that we made significant investments in whole aircraft, and that are parked in inventory because we plan to sell them in future quarters.

Speaker 2

When you look at the portfolio as a whole, the book value of whole assets, either for sale or for lease, has increased. It's always been our intention to grow that portfolio over time.

Speaker 3

Yeah, just last point I'd say is, it is important to say we are going to continue that trend because both from a perspective of attractive opportunities, but also because we're getting into bigger engines, so the per-unit cost decreases.

Speaker 13

Okay. No, that's really helpful, guys. Thanks a bunch. If I can follow up on the Spartan second facility you're building. I think it's still coming online in 2027. I'm curious how you're planning to manage advanced orders for the mats as well as raw materials ahead of that facility coming online.

Speaker 1

Really good question. We talked about that internally at our board meeting. We are going to be careful about taking new orders till we are sure of when it is up and running. We have tweaked our technology in that new plant, so we want to make sure that it runs exactly the same way as our new stuff. We will be cautious in the early stages of opening that plant about how much customer demand we take. I will be able to give you a lot better clarity on that, perhaps as we report our year-end numbers in February. We will be a lot closer to opening the factory and be in better place to say, "Hey, we will take orders for October," or whatever the case may be.

Speaker 13

Okay. I appreciate it. Thanks so much, Mike.

Speaker 1

Thanks.

Operator

There are no further questions, so I will turn the call back over to Mr. Pyle.

Speaker 1

Well, I really want to thank everybody for joining us on this call. It was an exciting quarter to report. We have been consistent to our strategy, and it has generated great returns. I look forward to speaking to you all in November. Thanks for calling, and have a great day.

Operator

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

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