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spk00: Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Bob Tax Wilcox Q2 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star 1 on your telephone. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. On the right hand conference over to your speaker today, Megan Wilson, Vice President of Investor Relations. Thank you. Please go ahead.
spk01: Thank you, Sadie, and good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises' second quarter 2021 earnings conference call. I'm Megan Wilson, Vice President of Investor Relations at B&W. Joining me this afternoon are Kenny Young, B&W's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and Lou Salamone, Chief Financial Officer, to discuss our second quarter results. During this call, certain statements we make will be forward-looking. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, including those set forth in our Safe Harbor provision for forward-looking statements that can be found at the end of our earnings press release and in our quarterly report on Form 10Q filed this afternoon and our Form 10K that is on file with the SEC, and provide further detail about the risks related to our business. Additionally, except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements. We also provide non-GAAP information regarding certain of our historical results to supplement the results provided in accordance with GAAP. This information should not be considered superior to or as a substitute for the comparable GAAP measures. A reconciliation of historical non-GAAP measures can be found in our second quarter earnings release published this afternoon and in our company overview presentation filed on Form 8K this afternoon and posted on the investor relations section of our website at babcock.com. With that, I will turn the call over to Kenny.
spk07: Thanks, Megan. Thanks, everyone, for joining, and good afternoon. We're actually pretty excited to be on the call today discussing our second quarter results. You know, our results for the second quarter of 2021 really demonstrates the momentum of our strategic direction, including our clean energy initiatives and cost reductions. actions and a very strong parts and services platform. This momentum is reflected in our bookings and our increased pipeline, driven by our international expansion and presence, as well as strong demand and new project opportunities for our renewable energy and environmental solutions, including Climate Bright, our decarbonization platform. We achieved another strong quarter of bookings with $168 million in the second quarter of 2021, which is a 100% improvement compared to the second quarter of 2020, and ended the second quarter with $500 million in backlog. Importantly, and keep in mind that generally speaking, our backlog does not include our shorter lead time, parts, and services. Across all of our segments, we are seeing our proposal and engineering activities increase and are continuing to pursue a robust overall pipeline of now more than 6 billion of identified opportunities through 2024. The launch of our Climate Bright decarbonization platform in May is propelling the development of an exciting pipeline of carbon capture and hydrogen combustion opportunities As our customers seek solutions to address some of the world's most urgent climate objectives, including carbon dioxide and methane reductions. As we continue to make progress in converting our pipeline to bookings, we are progressing and anticipate booking three to five renewable energy new build projects in 2021. We're reaffirming our previously stated target of 70 to 80 million of adjusted EBITDA in 2021 based on our current visibility. And our second quarter performance reflects our steady progress to achieve our EBITDA targets with consolidated adjusted EBITDA of 15.1 million, which aligns with our internal expectations for 2021. This is a seven-fold improvement compared to the second quarter of 2020 and a 78% increase compared to the first quarter of 2021. As we previously indicated, our normal cyclical performance typically shows increasing profitability from Q1 to Q4 each year, and we anticipate Q4 will be our strongest quarter of this year based on anticipated or forecasted bookings. We also closed a new four-year senior financing agreement in June, which further demonstrates the confidence our lenders and shareholders have in our growth strategy. The reduction of our total secured debt by over $347 million in 2021 and our improved capital structure have positioned us to grow across all segments as we invest in our climate-bright technology platform, pursue innovative technology agreements such as our recent exclusive long-term energy storage license option with the U.S. Department of Energy and continue to evaluate potential acquisition opportunities. Turning back to our Climate Bright Technologies platform, we are excited about the suite of revolutionary decarbonization technologies designed to help utilities and industry aggressively combat greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. Through advanced research and development, combined with joint efforts with U.S. Department of Energy and various universities, B&W has unparalleled experience in clean energy solutions, backed by more than 90 active patents for carbon capture alone, and has the expertise and technology to lead the world's next industrial revolution towards a zero-carbon future. Our climate bright solutions include, for example, our breakthrough bright loop technology to produce hydrogen, steam, or syngas from a variety of fuels or feedstocks while isolating CO2 for capture or for other industrial purposes. This includes the production of green hydrogen while simultaneously isolating CO2. This technology does not have the same overhead or parasitic load requirements as other carbon capture technologies, which results in a higher efficiency that expands B&W's industrial presence. This technology has the potential to change how industries worldwide use combustion technology. Our Solbright regenerable solvent technology, which is designed to deliver economical and efficient carbon capture across a range of industries, Solbright is our post-combustion carbon capture technology and can be applied to a wide range of industrial or utility boiler technologies to capture CO2. Our Oxibright combustion process, which is a solution for CO2 isolation and sequestration applications for industrial and power generation facilities, and uses an innovative integration of pure oxygen to produce sequestration-ready CO2. And lastly, our BrightGen, our hydrogen combustion technology, which is currently in operation in multiple refineries and industrial facilities around the world and provides zero carbon energy generation. We are currently working on close to 20 potential Climate Bright projects to determine the best carbon capture solution based on customer-specific needs, and as I said, greater than our expectations, we anticipate booking climate bike projects in the coming months. Finally, we are continuing to explore a significant number of attractive targets for investments or acquisitions in both emerging technology and mature markets. Currently, multiple investments or acquisition opportunities are in advanced due diligence phases, including three renewable or emerging technology opportunities that are in exclusive negotiations. In addition to opportunities within emerging technology markets, we continue to explore acquisition opportunities within the thermal services sector with the potential to achieve immediate synergies and higher margins, leveraging the strength of our experienced management team. We remain dedicated to increasing shareholder value through both organic and inorganic growth while driving a worldwide transformation to a green environmental future. Let me turn the call over to Lou now to discuss a few of our financials for Q2 of 2021. Lou?
spk03: Thanks, Kenny. Our second quarter consolidated revenues were $202.9 million. This is a 50% improvement compared to the second quarter of 2020, primarily due to the higher level of construction activity in the quarter. This improvement in revenue was realized even though revenues continue to be, in all of our segments, continue to be adversely affected by COVID-19 as customers delayed projects and travel restrictions limited the ability for the company's workforce to be at job sites. Our GAAP operating income in the second quarter of 2021 improved to an operating income of $2.8 million, inclusive of restructuring and settlement costs and advisory fees of $6.9 million. This is compared to an operating loss of $7.7 million in the second quarter of 2020. Adjusted EBITDA was $15.1 million compared to $1.7 million in the second quarter of 2020. The improvement was primarily due to higher construction volume, improved project execution, and continued positive impact of the benefits of our overhead and G&A reductions, as well as other cost savings and restructuring initiatives. Turning to our cash flow balance sheet and liquidity, Cash flow from operations in the second quarter of 2021 was a use of $32.1 million in cash. As previously disclosed, on May 7, 2021, we closed an underwritten registered public offering of 4 million shares of 7.75% Series A cumulative perpetual preferred stock at an offering price of $25 a share. The offering resulted in net proceeds of approximately $95.7 million after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions, but before expenses. Additionally, on May 26, 2021, we completed the sale of over 400,000 shares of preferred stock at an offering price of $25 per share for net proceeds of approximately $10.7 million after deducting underwriting fees. As previously disclosed, on June 1, 2021, we entered into an agreement with B Reilly for the exchange of approximately 73 million of our existing term loans with B Reilly for 2.9 million shares of preferred stock. As Kenny mentioned earlier, we closed a new four-year revolving credit agreement with PNC Bank on June 30th, 2021, under which PNC has provided a $50 million asset-based revolving credit facility, as well as a letter of credit agreement with PNC which includes the issuance of up to $125 million in letters of credit secured in part by cash collateral provided by an affiliate of MSD partners. The agreements have a maturity date of June 30th, 2025. All obligations under our prior credit agreement have been discharged and the agreement has been terminated. Approximately $9 million in deferred fees under the prior credit agreement have been waived due to our successful refinancing completed prior to July 2021. We ended the quarter with total gross debt of 170.9 million and cash equivalents of restricted cash of 143.6 million. This significantly reduces our net leverage to 0.41 times the last 12 months adjusted EBITDA. Net interest expense for the quarter was 7.9 million as compared to $15.3 million in the prior year quarter, with the decrease primarily driven by the reduction of our total debt, the reduction of the rate on our last out-term loans, and the rate secured on our senior notes issued during the public comments, stock, and senior notes offerings in February of this year. Looking forward, we expect our interest expense to be further reduced to the benefit of a full quarter of reduced debt levels. The common stock preferred stock and senior note offerings we completed earlier this year served to reduce our total secured debt by more than $347 million. Turning to our cost savings initiatives, in addition to the $133 million of cost savings initiatives previously disclosed, we've implemented approximately $4 million of additional cost savings in the second quarter of 2021. for a total of 137 million of savings. We expect to implement an incremental 5 million of cost savings actions during the remainder of 2021. These initiatives reflect the strength of our management team and our commitment to improve EBITDA margins, which we are targeting to reach 10 to 12% over the next few years. We're continuing to target adjusted EBITDA of 70 to 80 million 2021. based on our current assumptions about the impact of COVID and supported by the continued momentum of our financial performance in the second quarter of 2021. Despite the adverse effect of COVID-19 on all of our business segments, we achieved significant year-over-year improvements in revenue, net income, and adjusted EBITDA. We're beginning to see the impact of previously deferred projects resuming with strong bookings and a higher level of construction activity in the first half of 2021. As Kenny noted, our normal cyclical performance typically displays increased profitability from Q1 to Q4 each year. We've demonstrated this momentum in the second quarter of 2021 with a 78% increase in EBITDA as compared to the prior quarter. The strong performance in the first half of this year provides a solid foundation for growth organically and inorganically, and positions us to achieve our full-year adjusted EBITDA targets. I'll now turn it back over to Kenny.
spk07: Lou, thanks. Well, in closing, our ongoing strategic growth initiatives, including expanding internationally, implementing additional cost-saving initiatives that Lou mentioned, launching our Climate Bright platform and significantly reducing our secure debt, our propelling our much improved financial results. Our strong performance in the second quarter of 2021 with another solid quarter of bookings demonstrates our steady progress towards achieving our adjusted EBITDA targets. Our capital structure improvements have positioned us to further invest in our clean energy growth initiatives and take advantage of inorganic opportunities within both mature and emerging technologies. Our acquisition efforts are progressing as we move into advanced due diligence phases on three renewable or emerging technology opportunities that are in exclusive negotiations, and we continue to further evaluate opportunities within mature technologies. Our more than $6 billion pipeline through 2024 is building as the demand for our technology increases, and we see new opportunities emerging across our Climate Bright projects, and renewable new build opportunities. Looking forward, we remain dedicated to increasing shareholder value and shareholder returns as we continue executing our long-term plans to profitably grow our renewable, environmental, and thermal segments. So with that, I'll turn the call back over to Sadie, and we'll open up and answer a few of your questions. Thanks, everyone.
spk00: And as a reminder, to ask a question, you will need to press star 1 on your telephone. Again, if you would like to ask a question, press star 1 on your telephone. We'll pause for just a moment to compile the Q&A roster. For our first question, we have Rob Brown from Lake Street Capital. Rob, your line is open.
spk02: Good afternoon. Hi, Rob. First question is on the renewable projects you talked about. I think you said three to five that are in the pipeline and moving forward. Give us a sense of sort of the revenue levels on those and how those roll out or the timeline of when you think those could close.
spk07: Those would – you know, typically we've talked about renewable energy – our new-built projects and opportunities are going to range. They're going to vary from, you know, on the low end, let's just call it $30 million, $35 million on the high end, They could go up to, you know, $75 or $80 million typically for us on core technologies. It depends on the full scope on a few of those projects. Some could be a little lower and some could even be higher in those scenarios. But we're obviously, you know, well into discussions on those projects and had, you know, anticipated those closing a little bit earlier. Obviously COVID still plays a worldwide role. impact on moving people in and out of countries, working with local governments on permits and other aspects. But we see all of that opening up and breaking through at this point and feel confident enough in our projects and where we are in those to be able to at least give you some indication of where we're thinking about the business. So I wanted to make sure that we got that out. But I don't know if that helps, but that's how we think about it. Rob?
spk02: That's very helpful. Thank you. And then on your climate pride projects, I think you said there are a few that are moving along. What markets are you seeing the activity on in those projects, or is it sort of diversified across your customer or global footprint?
spk07: It is diversified, which is great. I mean, the climate pride aspect and the inbound interest is really exceeding our expectations and where we thought that business would be. A lot of that, obviously, is being driven by the environmental aspects on a global basis. Obviously, probably everybody on the call has read some of the recent UN reports that were put out on environmental issues. But it is diversified. We're seeing opportunities across our biomass and waste energy opportunities, but also in oil and gas, petrochemical food processing opportunities. a wide variety of industrial needs around that and covering actually those opportunities to cover all of our platforms across the board. So it's exciting to see some of the early interest in those technologies from our standpoint. Obviously, there's still some things that we need to do to prove in some of the conceptual aspects around those technologies, but we're building up a pipeline of opportunities working through engineering studies in most cases to be able to provide details around how we would implement those technologies for the clients and more importantly, probably specifically which technologies we should be using for those various opportunities. But it is diversified both in industry types as well as on geography as well, some here in the U.S., some in Europe, some in Southeast Asia and other parts. So it's exciting for us to see that interest in inbound demand. And we're also looking at right now, increasing resources inside the company and some engineering resources to support that growth, and really excited to do so.
spk02: Okay, great. Thank you for that overview. I'll turn it over.
spk07: Thanks, Rob.
spk00: For our next question, we have Brent Tillman from D.A. Davidson. Brent, your line is open.
spk04: Hey, thank you. Good evening. I guess the first question would just be on the guidance, respect the seasonality of the business and certainly how it ran through the year. Just trying to get a sense of how much visibility, the backlog, or even the pipeline gives you today into that back half of the year versus what you've got to pick up in terms of shorter lead time work as you move through the rest of the year. Any help there would be great.
spk07: Good question. As we indicated on the call, obviously, and as you picked up on, our revenues and performance are always cyclical from Q1 to Q4, with Q4 being always the highest, Q1 being the lowest. This year will be no exception to that. As we stated, our parts and services business, which is not in our backlog, is performing very strong. This year, I think we've seen a rebound of that platform back to very strong levels of revenues. Obviously, it's a higher margin of business for us as well, too, so that's very much positive. At the same time, and as we're giving some indication on the call, which is, I think, a little unique, but we wanted to give as much transparency as we could to state that we are seeing these projects come to fruition and confident that we're going to have these new build project bookings this year, and hopefully some of those will be announced sooner. rather than later, but obviously we're well in negotiations, discussions, and contracts, and limited notices and other aspects around those projects, so we wouldn't have made that statement. out there. So the combination of our pipeline, we know what projects are coming, we know what bookings we anticipate getting in and around that, plus the strength of the parts and services in that platform give us a lot of confidence to reiterate our support of those targets. And here we are mid-year, obviously, making those statements. So I hope that kind of paints the picture of how we think about it. But, you know, the combinations of all three of those give us confidence going into this year and finishing it out very strongly and going into next year very strongly as well, too. But clearly Q4 will be higher than Q3 without a doubt, and based on where we see the bookings coming from and the timing of those bookings and where we are against all of that.
spk04: okay i appreciate that kenny and i guess the next question was on climate bright and some of the other newer technologies that you've introduced did those begin to become pretty impactful as we get towards the end of the year or do you do you look at these as you know still a bit early on and these should be you know bigger bigger opportunities as we move into 2022 and beyond
spk07: We are, I think, without a doubt, I think as we're going to 2022 and beyond, we'll see more and more and bigger opportunities there. You know, the demand for this is starting to pick up. You know, having said that, we are in discussions on a few projects that are sizable within our Climate Bright platform that, you know, could have meaningful impacts. Maybe probably, I'm sorry, not so much this year just because of the timing of booking, those projects, but clearly going into next year. We're looking for possible bookings on a few sizable projects even yet this year. We're working through a lot of details associated with those. engineering studies and other aspects associated with those. But, you know, I would say the interest level on our Climate Bright has been better than we anticipated in a very short period of time. And, you know, so we're pretty excited about that. Obviously, we're trying to ramp up other aspects around that to support that demand. And obviously, we're very confident that we'll be able to do that. But I think next year will be a bigger year. And obviously, the following years will be a bigger year. When we talked a lot about Brightloop, which I'm personally very excited about, but Brightloop we think has the potential to be a real game-changing technology within the combustion processes inside industries and really give us a bigger, if you will, addressable market inside the industrial areas. where that bright-loop technology could actually perform a lot of different functions that our, let's just say, our former combustion or boiler technologies wouldn't be able to inside those industrial areas. And we're seeing that unfold in some of the discussions and engineering aspects that we're underway with right now. But it does have a very strong potential. I mean, just the fact that from a global perspective, getting CO2 reductions and this global greenhouse gas approach reduced over the next 15, 20 years, we're launching a technology now that has the ability to capture on a pure stream CO2, but provide all of the necessary heat elements to drive energy or other further industrial processes. with a limit, you know, a really non-loss to efficiency of that particular plant. And that's really important. So this is new technology that we're launching out there that could replace or potentially replace some of the other technologies that capture CO2 accordingly and should become a real game changer out there. So a lot of effort on our part is focused on that, getting that out on a global basis. And so far, the technology studies and feedbacks that we're getting from our customers have been very supportive, and we do look for that to really take off sometime next year to become a lot more meaningful in our revenue aspects as well. But Brightloop is just one part of our platform. OxyCombustion, Solbright, and others are, you know, equal position in the marketplace. Some of those are more applicable to older technologies that exist or boiler technologies that exist. which will be in demand, obviously, as the need to reduce CO2 will continue to grow. So we have a wide variety and a big platform, and so we're pretty excited about getting that out there.
spk04: Okay. That's great. Maybe last one, just expectations for cash flow, either operating cash flow or free cash flow in the back half of the year. And I guess any thoughts on, you know, all the commentary out there about supply chain disruptions. Has that been an hindrance to the business and profitability or just negligible at this point?
spk07: It's negligible at this point. Clearly, the supply chain on a global basis is something we have to watch and focus on, especially as As we build these, design and build out these technologies, obviously the various raw materials that are used to make that happen, there's a lot of fluctuation that's been in the marketplace on those raw materials, i.e. steel, for example. Those are all things that we really have to pay attention to, but we've taken a lot of steps to try to minimize any impacts from that. Obviously not a perfect world or perfect science, but We have taken a lot of impacts there, but it's something that we keep close eye on. The technology side as far as the semiconductor and other aspects that you read about often in the global supply chain are not big impacts for us. It's more in the raw materials around steel and steel fabrication and other components. But, Lou, actually, anything you want to add on the cash flows?
spk03: Yeah, on the cash flows, we should start turning positive. Most of that $32 million in this quarter was the result of interest payments. And as we said in the release, those will be decreasing with the decreased debt. We also had a pickup of where we had a customer that gave us a large advance payment In the first quarter, that was worked off, so that was part of the other reason. And then finally, we had, in the first half of the year, the pension payment that we had to make and which now puts us in a position where we're on a minimum funding basis, our pension's fully funded. So we expect that cash flow to start turning positive as the year continues.
spk04: Okay. Thank you. Best of luck. Thank you. Thank you.
spk00: For our next question, we have Alex Reigel from B Reilly. Alex, your line's open.
spk05: Thank you, and very nice quarter, gentlemen. A couple quick questions here. First, the climate opportunities sound very exciting, but your thermal revenue in the quarter was incredibly strong. So maybe you could comment a little bit more on thermal in the quarter, and then your environmental EBITDAs of 9.7% margin. was also attractively strong, strongest in a couple years. Maybe comment on the success in that business line.
spk07: Yeah, so on the thermal side, which, you know, Alex, what will be interesting about our business, obviously, is any given quarter there will be ebbs and flows on this. You know, we still see the pipeline trend and the long-term trend that, you know, two-thirds of our revenue over the next few years is going to come from a renewable and environmental. We'll just renew-build projects that we have in the pipeline and those that we're investing very actively engaged to book will drive that, without a doubt. But any given quarter, we'll see ebb and flows on that piece. Thermal was a strong quarter for us in Q2 as we were actually in the deep process on the construction side, mainly in the U.S., doing some upgrades and enhancements on some older technologies that needed to be completed in that time period. So we had some increased uplift from revenues from those projects out there. But again, those will ebb and flow each quarter up and down on that piece of it. This quarter actually just picked up a significant amount of that revenue, so we saw some of that project lumpiness impact us in Q2 on the thermal side in a good way. But, yeah, in the environmental aspect, you know, we're seeing, you know, not only in the climate bright aspect, but even in our core environmental technologies, a lot more opportunities out there, you know, in our SGCs, on our ACQS, some of our flue gas and emission technologies right now. We do see a number of those projects that are unfolding and anticipate making more announcements here this year on those. And so we see a good path right now on the environmental side as well.
spk05: And then as it relates to your EBITDA guidance for this year, can you talk about some of the variables that could take you to either the high end or the low end of the arrangements?
spk07: Yeah, no, good question. It's a lot of, obviously, the parts and services business continues to perform at, you know, anticipated and expected rates for us. And we do anticipate that, you know, continuing throughout the rest of the year, and that's been a positive this year. We're moving back to more of a normal, you know, outage period in the fall, in the spring. Fall will be You know, one of the first falls, we didn't have really a fall outage period last year because of COVID. So, you know, we see that returning back. Those outage periods worldwide is where we pick up a lot of parts and other aspects on, you know, performing services during this period. So you'll see that continue. We are seeing some, you know, improvements, modest as they are, on renewable parts and services as we get older. provide more focus around that particular area as well. As long as that continues to perform, which we fully anticipate it will, then the key, you know, other variable piece is really around the timing of these larger new-built bookings and when we can recognize revenue against those bookings. So, you know, if they're delayed a week or two or three because of various, you know, things that naturally would delay those, then, you know, that's just revenue that gets delayed out. It's really around the timing of getting those books in the door and those projects started and executed so that we can start to recognize revenue on those projects. And we're obviously doing the best we can to speed up those projects and get those announced and get those projects started that are out there. But that's always the impact, I think, to our businesses, the timing around those new projects. You know, if more of them get shifted towards the end of Q3 versus earlier than Q3, then, you know, you lose a couple months of revenue. If we can shift them earlier and begin to recognize more revenue or get more costs associated with those projects, which allows us to recognize the margin of revenue, then you potentially could have a better year. You know, so that's the variable aspect, I think, that we have to always focus on from a project standpoint. is the timing of those and how much cost we can recognize on those projects in any given period.
spk03: I think the other thing to consider, Alex, is there's always the idea of mix where construction, as we've talked about before, has a lower gross margin than we have in our parts and certain of our service businesses. In the second quarter, you saw a little bit of that show up because we had, as Kenny talked about, a very large construction project that came in and practically closed out. So we had a very good closeout on that, but that margin's still less than your margin on your parts business. So you saw a little diminution in that, but it was really due to mix, and we continue to see improvement in the margins going forward.
spk05: And then lastly, can you comment on some geographic strengths and weaknesses and any hindrance from the Delta variant?
spk07: You know, the difficulty part in the Delta variant right now is just the, you know, travel aspects, which, you know, adds a little bit of time here and there, which, you know, so the U.K. right now is a little bit more restrictive on getting in and out, and getting from the U.K. into other parts of Europe right now is restricted, for example, on getting in and out. And those, you know, impacts on workforce, you know, outside of BMW, but even, you know, governmental workforce and other aspects. So, you know, where I'm, you know, hypothetically where you need a permit or something to begin a certain site work that would normally take two days to get, you know, now takes 10 days because of, you know, resources locally that just aren't there. So those are always the little things you run into, I think, with COVID is some of those delays. But, you know, there are India right now is a very difficult site. Australia still has reduced their inbound travel flow into those particular areas. You know, the good news for us is we've really ramped up more and more resources locally in these geographies. So that's really helped this year, especially on some of the stronger aspects in our pipeline, you know, in renewable and in other areas. in the Asia market, Australia, for example, Taiwan, some of those areas, even in Southeast Asia, perhaps even China, we have a better presence in those areas. And so opportunities are a little easier for us to respond to and move forward because of that increased international presence where the company didn't have that on a historical basis. So that helps as well too. But the COVID aspect right now is just the overall, it's just that little dimension of things take a little bit longer to get accomplished just because of the human aspect of COVID and, you know, some of the impacts it has overall. But that's, I don't know, Lou, female thoughts, but that's the best way I would describe it.
spk03: I think you've described it pretty well, Kenny. We see the impacts varying around the world, and we just keep monitoring it. Very helpful. Thank you very much. Yeah, thanks, Alex.
spk00: For our next question, we have Ron Chavez, a private investor. Ron, your line's open.
spk06: Good afternoon. Hey, Ron. You talked specifically about acquisition opportunities. Do you want to comment further about that?
spk07: I wouldn't get into, obviously, who they are or what they do. We are in exclusivity on three today. Let me back up, I guess, to clarify a few points here. The company has always been active, and we've increased our M&A approach, obviously, as we previously announced, to acquire and looking at companies that do either one of two things. One, where we have immediate synergies that we can build on, and those are typically going to be more mature markets and or services or local services in different markets worldwide. It could be in North America, Europe. and Asia. Some of those are in new technologies or new type of technologies, especially in the renewable and in the environmental sector that we think augments our platform, those that we can grow and increase their market presence through either our you know, customer presence or our worldwide positioning on those technologies, and that's exciting as well, too. Some of those are in unique, what I would view and describe more as longer-term capabilities from a technology standpoint, you know, so technology that would help improve, let's say, our Climate Bright platform, but may not be material in revenues for a few years, but is an early, easy way for us to broaden and strengthen either our technology or patent portfolio. So we do look at all of those in that respect. On the renewable and environmental, we want those to be growth strategies for us, whether that's you know, a little in 21 or whether that's in 22 or 23 and beyond, but we clearly are looking at those as long-term growth aspects while we also look at others from a synergy and cash flows from an immediate perspective. So, we try to balance those as we look at them and, you know, we're not at a position to announce anything at this point, but, you know, we are evaluating some. We obviously are being specific about where and what we're focused on in these areas and, And hopefully we'll get one or two of these across the goal line here soon.
spk06: Are these more bolt-on acquisitions or focused more on the future?
spk07: I would say a little bit of both, Ron, in the ones that, you know, we mentioned we have three under exclusivity. But I would say two of those are more have revenue growth opportunities, you know, now, when I say now, over the next 12 months. And others are bolt-on, meaning they provide some synergies and capabilities in our core technologies that we wouldn't have had or didn't have before. But, you know, there's still a little bit of both.
spk06: With respect to Climate Bright, that you did not announce any capability for next year, do you expect that to be significant going forward next year?
spk07: clearly has a strong potential to be to do that very thing as i i think i mentioned we are um we have some active projects that are you know sizable um in climate bright um and those will uh you know those projects will will um obviously go hopefully we get those booked this year a few of them booked this year uh but they'll have meaningful impact next year obviously as those are you know the projects that some of those projects are going to take several months to implement So those revenues will have more meaning as we book those, and those roll out into 22. But I think we mentioned on the call that we've got 20-some-odd projects that we're actively involved in right now. Six months ago, we had two. So it's, you know, those are sizable projects. You know, they do range from the small end to high end and, you know, $5 million. Some of those could be up to $70 to $100 million. But those projects will be more meaningful next year, and I think we'll see our pipeline there increase for the rest of this year and going into next year as well.
spk06: These will be more tightly managed than previous difficulties? Oh, of course. Okay, thank you. Thanks, Ron.
spk00: There are no further questions at this time. I would now like to turn the call over back to Megan Wilson for closing remarks.
spk01: Thank you for joining us. That concludes our conference call. A replay will be available for a limited time on our website later today.
spk00: Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. Thank you all for participating. You may now disconnect.
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