GDI Integrated Facility Services Inc.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the GDI Integrated Facility Services 4th Quarter 2023 Results Conference Call. At this time, all phone lines are in a listen-only mode. But following the presentation, we will have a question-and-answer session. And if at any time during this call you require immediate assistance, please press star 0 for the operator. Also note that the call is being recorded today, Thursday, February 29, 2024. And I would like to turn the conference over to Stéphane Levigne, Senior VP and Chief Financial Officer. Please go ahead.

Thank you. Good morning to all, and welcome to GDI's conference call to discuss our results for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2023. My name is Stéphane Alling. I'm Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of GDI. I'm with Claude Bigras, President and CEO of GDI, and David Inchi, Executive Vice President of Corporate Development. Before we begin, I would like to make you aware that this call contains forward-looking information, and we ask listeners to refer to the full description of the forward-looking safe harbor provision that is fully described at the beginning of our MD&E file on CELR last night. I will begin the call with an overview of GDI's financial results for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2023, and then I will invite Lone to provide his comments on the business. In the fourth quarter, GDI recorded revenue of $622 million, an increase of $34 million, or 6%, over Q4 of last year, which is due to organic growth of 2% and 4% growth from acquisition. We recorded adjusted EBITDA of $37 million in the quarter, representing an adjusted EBITDA margin of 6%. In the fourth quarter, GDI delivered a net working capital reduction of $36 million, resulting in long-term debt repayment of $33 million before business acquisition payment. On a year-to-date basis, revenue increased by $265 million, or 12%, to reach $2.4 billion, compared to $2.2 billion last year. Organic growth was 8% year-over-year, and revenue growth from acquisition was 2%. Adjusted EBITDA in 2023 amounted to $143 million, representing an adjusted EBITDA margin of 6%. Moving to our business segment, our Business Service Canada segment recorded revenue of $146 million in Q4, an increase of $2 million, or 1%, compared to the fourth quarter of 2022. This segment reported a adjusted bid of $13 million compared to $16 million in the fourth quarter of 2022, representing an expected decrease of $3 million. Our Business Service USA segment recorded revenue of $215 million in Q4, representing an increase of $39 million when compared to Q4 of 2022, which is attributable to increases in revenue with new customers and the Athalan acquisition in November 2023. This segment reported adjusted bidder of $16 million compared to $14 million in the fourth quarter of 2022, representing an increase of $2 million. Our technical service segment recorded revenue of $239 million an adjusted EBITDA of $14 million, representing an adjusted EBITDA margin of 6%. The segment experienced an organic growth revenue decline of 5%, which is attributable to lower project revenues. Finally, our segment, corporate and auto, reported revenue of $22 million, compared to $18 million in Q4 of 2022, with the difference attributable to organic growth generated by GDI's Integrative Facility Services business, GDI IFS, launched at the beginning of 2022. I would like now to turn the call to Claude, who will provide further comments on GDS performance during the quarter.

Well, thank you, Stéphane, and welcome, everyone, to our fourth quarter conference call. Bienvenue à tous. Merci d'être présents. Overall, I'm pleased with our results in the fourth quarter. Our business service Canada segment was able to deliver modest organic growth while maintaining a 9% adjusted EBITDA margin, despite the challenges we are reading about in the commercial real estate sector. As you know, this segment's principal exposure in commercial real estate is in Class A office towers, which makes up approximately one-third of our Canadian portfolio. Despite all of the negative headlines about commercial real estate, we believe that Class A buildings will not disappear, that facility services will still be required, and that vacancy caused by tenant moving or reducing space requirements will be filled with new tenant demands. Our business service USA segment also had a good quarter, with 10% organic growth and an adjusted growth of 14% over the prior year. During Q4, we completed the acquisition of the U.S. Facility Service business of Italian Global Services, which added approximately 2,000 employees to our team and considerably strengthens our footprint in the Northeast U.S. Acquisition is a turnaround opportunity where we paid the reduced price for a business of this size and have been implementing a business reorganization plan since the closing date to bring margins to our target levels. We have been making good progress in this regard and are on track with our plans. Finally, at the beginning of Q1, we were informed that by one of our large customers, that they will be undergoing a supplier realignment in Q1, which will negatively affect our segment organic growth rate during 2024. Due to our flexible cost structure, we have right-sized our costs, and when paired with our new business wins, we will be able to mitigate almost completely the net impact of this loss. Our ends work technical service segment faced some challenge in Q4, with underperformance on a few large projects in the U.S., that caused the business to deliver results that were below expectations, which we feel may also carry over a bit in Q1 2024 to complete those projects. Hemsworth EBITDA performance was explained by these few large projects. Our Canadian business and the remainder of the U.S. business performed well during the quarter. In 2024, Hemsworth project business grew rapidly, causing a working capital surge and a degradation in some project margins, which we supported with free cash flow. At the end of Q2, we started implementing certain strategies to both reduce working cap requirements and increase overall margins in projects. I am happy to report that these efforts are starting to bear fruit as we were able to reduce working capital by $36 billion since the end of Q3 2023, which helped to increase free cash flow. We're not there yet, but the work is actively, we are working actively towards it. We also have begun to move away from very large projects in some markets and focus on projects globally with a higher margin profile, which, while resulting in short-term revenue pressure, this will ultimately result in a more stable business with a more consistent margin profile. Of that being said, despite the challenging quarter, Hensworth was still able to deliver 14 million of EBITDA, an adjusted margin of 6%, even considering somehow those non-recurring project issues. Also during the first quarter, we announced the sales of our superior solution janitorial product distribution segment, which is expected to close at the end of Q1. We entered this business in 2013, and we're able to grow it into one of the larger genitorial products distribution business in Central and Eastern Canada. Ultimately, we decide to focus on our two main business segments and partnering with the large well-established business in this sphere would be more beneficial to GDI stakeholder and enable us to redeploy the capital in our core businesses where we are achieving attractive returns. Financially, we were able to transact at a very favorable multiple, as in addition to the purchase price, we expect to monetize certain old real estate assets that directly support this business. Additionally, we are retaining our chemical manufacturing business that has recently been realizing positive momentum in its white label manufacturing segment. I'd like to conclude on this by saying how proud I am on the team at Superior. who essentially rebuilt this business from scratch in 2014, turning Superior into a strong business, servicing clients both side and outside, inside and outside of the GDI family. And they were a dependable go-to supplier for all of their clients at the height of the COVID-19 pandemics when many of their competitors were short in supply. I would like to thank all of the team at Superior and feel that they will be transitioning into a good home at Imperial Dade Canada, who will become a strong partner for GDI going forward. Overall, I am happy with how GDI business segments performed in Q4 last year. We faced some challenge, but as always, when that happens, our team shows resilience, develop plans and implement strategies to mitigate, arm, overcome obstacles, and ultimately deliver growth and profitability. Our flexible cost structure enables our business to be resilient. Looking forward to 2024, I feel we are well positioned to deliver growth. Competitively, we are the largest facility service provider in Canada and amongst the largest in North America. Our reputation is excellent and our culture is entrepreneurial and dynamic. Financially, our free cash flow profile is improving due to the working capital management strategy we are implementing. Our leverage ratio are well within our comfort range. Our balance sheet has plenty of room to support our growth through acquisition strategy, and our pipeline is healthy. I look forward to the opportunity to deliver growth and profitability in 2024. Now, operator, please open the call for questions.

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, if you would like to ask a question, please press star followed by one on your touchtone phone. You will hear a three-tone prompt acknowledging your request. And then if you would like to withdraw from the question queue, please press star followed by two. And if you're using a speakerphone, you will need to lift the handset before pressing any keys. Please go ahead and press star one now if you have a question. And your first question will be from Derek Lessard at TD Cowan. Please go ahead.

Yeah, thanks and good morning, everybody. Hope you're well. Hi, good morning. Good morning, guys. I want to start out on a positive note. Super strong results in your U.S. business services segment. Could you maybe just help us with how much of that organic growth was price versus volume, and then maybe talk about what's driving the incremental revenue from the new clients?

Okay, well, listen. Okay, first, I would say that the growth comes from probably three areas. First of all is pricing adjustments and prices increases among the portfolio. Secondly, we had a good project win and good organic growth in last year. And thirdly, for sure, the acquisition of Italian in the last couple of months in the quarter really helped us also to implement the revenue growth on the top line. And again, very happy to have the end results.

Yeah, great result there. And how should we think about the organic growth opportunity going forward?

Yeah. You know, that's a $10 question. You know what? We have a business where contract wins are not always organized in a sequence. So, so far, we are experiencing good wins this year. And I can only tell you that we're focusing a lot. We have grown our sales teams. We're really focused on organic because we feel that it's the most – rewarding value creation in the business. So we are implementing our sales strategy. We're growing our sales teams. So far, it does deliver good results. Now, this being said, you know, again, this company was able to deliver results by focusing more on the bottom line than the top line. Easy to get clients if you lose money. So we are always very cautious. So, you know, I'd rather be a little bit more Prudent on organic growth, but deliver margin.

Okay, thanks for that, Claude. And just maybe on the technical services side, you guys, you said again that you're focusing sort of on the smaller, higher margin projects. Just curious on how much of the revenue drop in that segment was tied to that versus the timing, as you pointed to in the MD&A, and then maybe finally any comment on your backlog and whether you feel the... the drop was more of a one-time issue and transitory.

Well, listen, let me be a little bit more specific because I don't want us to start with the wrong assumptions. You know, project profiles, there is no such smaller project as a higher margin profile, and we do a lot of those. You know, we do thousands of those projects during a year, so we're acquainted to that. But on larger projects, what we're focusing on is There are project profiles that offer a better margin expectation, which focusing on more an example like our control division. But overall, what we are implementing is a higher margin at the bid process. So this way, you know what, it eliminates probably by naturally eliminates lower margin project profile. So we decide to be not competing head to head with larger margin guys. we are keeping a margin policy, which is probably more rewarding for us. Okay, so that's one thing. Secondly, yes, in a couple of markets, we undertake a couple of projects that did not deliver the margins, and we had to adjust our Q4 according to these project delivery. We still have a little bit of wins on one project in Q1, But again, those projects will be finished in the next weeks, and I'm going to be very happy to move on.

Okay. Thanks for that, Collier and Claude. I'll read you.

Oh, and you know what? We have a very healthy backlog and with overall increased margins. So you know what? I'm positive for the rest of the year.

Thank you.

Thank you. Next question will be from John at CIBC. Please go ahead.

Thank you. Good morning. I wanted to follow up on that last answer, please, Claude. The cost overruns that happen at those larger projects, can you give some color into what drove those and why you consider them one time and what gives you confidence they won't occur elsewhere?

Well, when we analyze, you know, because for sure we work extensively on in analyzing and shielding ourselves for those to repeat in time. You know, example one project, we were very aggressive on margin expectations. So at the end of the day, the project, example this very large project, delivered an okay margin. But since we were expecting a lot more, we had to adjust our expectation on margin. And that's one thing that we had to do. So this adjustment, you know, it is what it is. And another one is there was a mishap in the bidding and the execution. So, you know what, then we have to live with it to deliver because we have a reputation. But this would be behind us. But out of the 3,500 projects we do a year, I don't remember seeing this type of mishap happening very often. So we're just, you know, we just implemented more cautious approach on margins. We are more conservative in the way we structure our margin profile on project estimates. So it will help us. It will give more positive surprise than negative surprise.

Yeah, fair enough. Okay. And does the ERP implementation, once that's completed, is that something that that helps with in analyzing project costs and projecting margins and ultimately what your bid is? Is that related to the ERP implementation?

Well, listen, you know, an ERP is not an AI system, so it helps to get more accurate information. Mind you, we do ERP to centralize our business systems and, you know, centralize our information system and streamline our operating. Our systems actually are pretty robust in giving us the information, I can tell you this. But now, this being said, We are finishing the implementation of our HRIS system, which is critical for us. At 35,000 plus more employees, it was the time to do it, so we're completing that. We are still evaluating how we will implement our ERP. We are in the last miles of our business case into that, and decisions will be made very shortly on how we proceed, and I'll be happy to share with you when we are fully aligned on the ERP implementation.

Okay, understood. A couple more on the technical services business. Looking back historically, that had grown organically well into double digits on the top line. You mentioned a couple reasons why it moved the way it did. Some of that timing, some of that intentional because you're not chasing lower margin jobs. I wonder if you can say how much of the decline was those two factors versus something related to to the industry or otherwise?

You know what? We have to look at it. It's a decline on the quarter over quarter. Overall, this business did 18% growth year over year. You know what? The jump on revenue of projects quarter over quarter, you have to take it with a grain of salt. But we still have a healthy backlog, so I expect us to continue in the same that we are revenue-wise. But for sure, you know what, by putting, how can I say this, is by implementing a higher margin profiles on our project bidding, for sure it will end up being, you know, our win rate might diminish. But again, focusing on the bottom line is, I think, more healthy than top line.

Yeah, understood. Okay. And then just one more on the working capital front. I wonder, is there a target that you can share for 2024 on what you hope the improvement is or at least some goalposts on that?

Well, listen, my dream is to be a negative working cap, but I don't think it will happen this year. But this being said, you know, we have a working capital profile, you know, project execution. We are totally vertically competitive. integrated with our staff and it's all self-performing. And industrial clients, as you know, have payment policies. But this being said, we are streamlining our process. Our strategy is to reduce the order to cash timing and also increase project billing during the execution. So we're implementing three or four strategies to actually continue to reduce our working cap. You know what? It will move quarters over quarters in 2024, but we are still aiming at our $50 to $60 million reduction of working cap by the end of 2024.

Got it. Okay, that's helpful. I'll leave it there. Thank you.

No problem, sir.

Thank you. Next question will be from Frédéric Tremblay at Desjardins. Please go ahead.

Bonjour. Good morning.

Good morning, sir.

Maybe to go back again to technical services briefly, you mentioned a focus on margin and bottom line. Can you remind us what sort of margin profile you'd be targeting there? I think in the past you mentioned like 7% adjusted in the dumb margin. Is that still roughly what you'd like to achieve in that segment?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know... Frederic, you know me, maybe I'm not transparent in many aspects. Remember, we started acquiring and these businesses were delivering negative in the margin. So from minus one to one and a half, now we're at six. I think, you know, an healthier margin would be seven, considering that there's a little heavier on CapEx, but it's not terminal. Seven, by working on the maintenance mix, on project mix, We hope that we still continue to increase to 7.5. But my next target is to be at 7. And after that, we'll do another phase plan to increase it another 100 bps. But my focus is 7. Until we have a regular 7, we work very hard on it. After that, we'll move on.

Okay, great. Thanks for that. And with the working capital improvements that we're starting to see, can you maybe talk about some capital allocation priorities for 2024? Maybe your thoughts on CapEx and potential M&A.

Okay. You know what? You said capital allocation? Well, listen, we have our acquisitive strategy, and we are very opportunistic in that front. So, yes, our priority is for sure is, you know what, M&A activities. On the CAPEX, we're prudent on the CAPEX. We spend CAPEX in implementing our HRIS. I cannot give you visibility on the ERP as a decision has not been fully done. So I'm waiting to see exactly what's involved on that front over the next four to six quarters. But, yes, M&E is still a priority. We're very opportunistic. We want to make sure we do the right size acquisitions. and the rest goes on the debt for sure.

Okay. And just on the M&A, does the current, I guess, environment or current things that you're going through in technical services, does that change how you think about potential acquisitions in technical services, or there's no change there? You'd still be open to making other transactions there in the near to mid-term, that's right?

It's a very good point, Frédéric, and... Again, you know what, very blunt, but lesson learned. We're focusing a lot more on a heavier maintenance recurring revenue package when we look at new technical businesses where we are also looking at the size of our acquisitions we do and how can we build densities within our acquisitions. So yes, you know what, we are more We're more focused on our technical acquisitions, and we're focusing on promising acquisition in energy, decarbonation, expertise in energy projects. So, yes, we are focused on more futuristic technical services, developing concentration, and moving with the higher recurring revenue technical businesses.

Very helpful. Thank you.

Thank you. Once again, ladies and gentlemen, if you do have any questions, please press star followed by one on your touch-tone phone. And your next question will be from Zachary Evershed at National Bank. Please go ahead.

Good morning, Mr. Zachary.

Good morning, Ms. Mira. Starting with GDI IFS, could you give us an update on your outlook for the sub-segment there?

You know, 2024 delivered. We're still young in the game. Am I totally happy with the growth? No. I would have expected that we would capture a couple of major clients. We have some good stuff in the books, but nothing really heavy and tangible. So it's still a work in progress. If you were to ask me, we will still continue to focus on the U.S. side to capture some good clients. But no, the business is not yet where I want it to be.

Good color. Thanks. And then if we think about the impact of U.S. layoffs and the other actions you're taking to mitigate the large contract losses, How does that flow through organic growth and the margin profile throughout this year?

Okay, margin profile, you know what? At the end of the day, what we did to cope for it, I don't think there would be another significant margin move. That's the good news. You know, organically, depending on the rate of winds we'll have in the U.S., it can change. But the lesson by losing, you know what, I would say... by starting up with probably a net, I would say a net of 8% organic decline with this client, I mean on the business service segment in the U.S., so we need to focus on sales win. So probably maybe it would be a negative couple of points, but again, I don't want to do forward looking, but we're working very hard to make sure that we mitigate sales First of all, margin has been working on them, and on the revenue side, we're working very hard to compensate the revenue.

Gotcha. Thanks. And so then just digging in on that, given that you're not foreseeing a significant margin move, is that on the percentage side or framed the other way in terms of the reason for part?

In dollars, actually, you know what? By reducing revenue and keeping in dollars, we would be in line with... Yeah, it will bump up a little bit the percentage if you make the math, you know, it's a rule of three. But on the dollar side, I think we did, you know, these large projects, you know, they are good for growth, for healthy top lines. Margins, you know, are always not to the level of other smaller projects. And when these happen, we're very happy to capture them. Not so happy when they go somewhere else for service, but we have a flexible business, so we were able to adjust the business accordingly and rapidly. That's the key element.

That's a good clarification. Thank you. And then just one last one. In terms of onboarding Italian and your outlook for HRIS spend, how much of the upside from integration experience relies on the new system, and what other buckets are you looking at?

No, I have not done a relation between HRIS and how we will be more efficient integrating business. For sure, we did it to do that, but I did not put time into getting a number on that front, to be very honest, Zachary. This being said, November and December were transition times. We were working with The vendor, in their systems, will retain most of the people. And even in those two months, we did not do dramatically bad. And without teasing, very happy so far in Q1 of what's happening there. Am I saying enough to give you a good sense?

Great sense. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you.

I'll turn it over.

Next question will be from Derek Lessard at TD Cowan. Please go ahead.

Yeah, thanks. Just a follow up for me. I was curious on if you could add any, I guess, color on the sale of Superior Sani with respect to the revenues and EBITDA and free cash flow. And then maybe just maybe tell us how you're thinking about as that your free cash flow and your balance sheet improve, how you're thinking about or your views on returning capital to shareholders, whether it's by dividend or share buybacks.

Okay. First thing. Let's resolve two things. We never paid a dividend in this company so far and there's no intentions to start anytime soon as we focus our capital on growth and creating value through this channel. Secondly, share buyback. We did some in 2024 to be very prude, very honest. I don't think we will continue at this time in the sense that Besides organic growth and business acquisitions, the latter is for me, as far as I'm concerned, the last value creations, understanding that the two other segments can deliver far more value. So we will continue to focus our capital on what we feel is the right way to continue to create value. Okay, that's one thing. So the second part is, you know, superior... You know, it's basically two operating segments, manufacturing and distribution. We have actually spinned up our distributions because, you know, the market has consolidated a lot in this sphere, and we felt that we could not offer the more efficient or competitive solutions to the market. So we rather work, you know, there's a saying, you cannot beat them, join them. So for us, I think it was a good solution for them and us. Now, on the revenue side, I would say that probably it would be, if I look at the year, it would be in the 40-ish millions of revenue with maybe, you know, what, again, I don't want to drive too much, but You know, with, I would say, you know, our target is the delivery. So hopefully it gives you a good sense.

Oh, thanks for that, Claude. Very good call. Thank you.

Thank you. And at this time, we have no other questions registered. Please proceed.

Okay, well, again, you know, interesting quarter. You know, a lot of moving parts. Nice acquisition that we did. You know, we're starting the year with a very, very interesting, you know, backlog and business ahead of us. We have to be smart. 2024 is another year where we see volatility and market pressure, so working very hard, very focused in the business. This year is a year of, you know, efficiency, consolidation, but we always keep our momentum and acquisitions. So I look forward to continuing the year, and I want to thank you for being on the call.

Thank you, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, this does indeed conclude your conference call for today. Once again, thank you for attending. And at this time, we do ask that you please disconnect your line.