BuildDirect.Com Technologies Inc.

Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to BuildDirect's Q4 and full year 2025 earnings conference call. My name is Prit Singh, and I will be your moderator for today. For those unfamiliar, BuildDirect trades on the TSXV under the ticker BUILD, that's B-I-L-D, and on the OTCQB under the ticker B-D-C-T-F. Before we begin, I would like to remind everyone that certain statements made during this call may constitute forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. These statements are based on management's current expectations and are subject to risks and uncertainties. Please refer to the detailed forward-looking statements and advisories in today's earnings deck and press release. In addition, please note that all dollar amounts mentioned in this presentation today are in U.S. dollars unless otherwise stated. Following comments from BuildDirect's management team, the call will be open for questions. Questions can be sent in using the Zoom chaining function at the bottom of your screen. If you're calling in to listen to the webinar today, please email your questions directly to ir at builddirect.com. That's ir at builddirect.com. A replay of this call will be available approximately 24 hours after the conclusion of this presentation today. It will be posted on the investor relations section of our website at ir at builddirect.com. With that out of the way, I would like to turn the call over to Sean Wilson, CEO of BuildDirect.

Thank you, Greg, for everyone. Good morning. Thanks for joining us today. So, 2025 was a year of disciplined execution and tangible progress for BuildDirect. Despite a challenging macro environment and industry headwinds, we delivered on our key priorities, gross margin expansion, EBITDA growth, and balance sheet strengthening. As you'll see in today's materials, we grew full-year revenue 1.1% to 66.2 million, expanded gross margin 170 basis points, and increased adjusted EBITDA 39% to 3.1 million. Our pro-center segment continued to scale while e-commerce achieved a full-year EBITDA turnaround of close to 2 million. We also strengthened our liquidity position with 8.2 million in cash and working capital up to 6.1 million. to 8.8 million following a successful 5.2 million equity raise. These results reflect the ability of our omnichannel model and the focus we place on operational efficiency and higher margin product mix. I'll now hand the call over to Kerry to walk through the detailed financial results.

Yeah, thanks very much, Sean, and good morning to everyone. So, let me start with Q4 here, fourth quarter. 2025, Q4 revenue was 16.2 million, down slightly from last year Q4, but with strong margin performance overall. Gross margin expanded 240 basis points to 41.7% and driving gross profits of 6.7 million. Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter reached 0.9 million, up 140% year over year. On a full year basis, the story is even clearer with revenue of 66.2 million, as Sean noted, gross profit of 26.7 million, which is up 5.5%, and adjusted EBITDA of 3.1 million, which was up 39%. Operating cash flow was positive, 2.4 million, and as noted, we ended the year with significantly improved working capital on the balance sheet. So let's break down the business by segment. I think that's probably the next slide. On the e-commerce segment, revenue was $14.3 million, down 5.8% as we deliberately shifted toward higher margin SKUs and direct imports. Gross margin reached a record, 57.8%, and the segment adjusted EBITDA turned positive at 1.5 million for the e-comm segment, over 2 million improvement year over year. The drivers were direct import optimization, meaningful OpEx reductions, and headcount restructuring, that right-sized our current revenue base as we press release in early 2025. Moving on to the next slide in the Pro Center segment, this remains our largest and most stable growth engine. Revenue grew 3% to $51.9 million. Gross margin improved 35 points to 35.6%. And segment-adjusted EBITDA was $5.8 million for the pro centers. We opened the new Orlando Pro Center early in 2025 and continue to integrate recent acquisitions, delivering operating leverage across our network. Advancing to the next slide, slide eight, balance sheet and liquidity. You see that we ended the year with $8.2 million of cash, as Sean noted, up $5.4 million. Networking capital of $8.8 million was up $6.1 million, and the strengthened equity position following the $5.2 million raise. Total debt remains prudent. and we have ample liquidity to support 2026 and our growth initiatives that we expect to undertake. So with that, I will hand it over to Sean for our 2026 priorities and outlook. Sean?

That sounds great. So as we enter 26, we're seeing some near-term softness in Q1 driven by macro headwinds and really terribly the cost pressure. However, we view this as a typical entry point for M&A, especially flooring. Our cooperations remain focused and have an active pipeline for acquisition, really targeting deep value, cash flow, positive businesses that fit our pro center platform. That's really the main focus for our expansion. So, looking ahead, we have three clear priorities for 2026. I'll keep building on our foundation we put in place. You know, first, we closed the acquisition of Grain, which was an e-commerce platform, in February. And then, based on unaudited pre-deal information, Grain generated approximately $6 million in revenue and about $300,000 in adjusted EBITDA in 2025. We expect that deal to deliver strong cost energy to logistics for housing optimization. And full integration is already well underway. Looking forward to the revenue contribution as well as the synergies in the second half of this year. At the same time, we're continuing to prioritize our pro centers in e-commerce operations. That means scaling our online reach, striving for their margin, expanding the traditional product categories, which will unlock more operating leverage across our brick-and-mortar network. And then third, we're actively working on our pipeline. We have a strong list of opportunities, especially flooring. Our focus remains squarely on deep value, margin-created targets that fit in with our platform, and really viewing the software system market as a good opportunity on the buy side. As mentioned, demand recovery is expected to improve as macro improves. Short-term, we're focused on being opportunistic where possible across our strategies. With that, I'll turn it back to Prit for any Q&A.

Thanks, Gary. Sorry. Thanks, Gary. And thanks, Sean. As mentioned at the top of the call, if anyone does have any questions, you can submit them to the Q&A function at the bottom of your screen. Alternatively, if you're calling in today, you can email us directly at ir at builddirect.com. Again, that's ir at builddirect.com. The first question, can you please walk us through your balance sheet? and any significant changes that took place throughout the year.

Okay, you got it? Yes, yes. Yeah, I think, yeah, obviously, I think, you know, from a balance sheet perspective, the first and foremost is the cash position. Obviously, we did the equity deal. So, we have, you know, at this point, the dry powder to support, as I've noted, the the 2026 growth profile. Overall, again, working capital, you know, if we focus on AR, AP, AR is, you know, in line with prior year. Right-sized AP as well. We've flushed through some of our payables that were at the end of the prior year. So, overall, we're in an extremely strong position from a working capital perspective with right-sized AP, AR and and obviously our cash position. I'd also kind of note the RBC credit facility remains as dry powder as well. We are in a good spot with a facility close to Canadian $8.5 million. We drew to support some of our acquisitions this year, but again, we have significant capacity on that credit facility. And finally, I'll point out those that kind of know the balance sheet. You know, we have had a vendor take back prom note associated with FloorSource acquisition over the last number of years, which was an outflow of approximately 1.3 million US of principal payments to pay those vendors back. That now is gone. We made our last payment in early January. So, that incremental $1.3 million will go directly to the bottom line to support our growth. So, overall, we're in a great spot on the balance sheet and cash flow perspective.

Okay. Thank you. Just touching on the macro market, I guess, Sean, can you please touch base on the overall conditions in the foreign market and how it's affecting your overall business?

Yeah, I agree. I'll talk to that. Feel free to add anything on the let's go end. So, you know, last year, actually the last couple of years have been quite challenging. One of the primary drivers for residential flooring is, you know, housing turnover in the U.S. With the exception of the, you know, COVID and the nesting phenomenon that happened where people had nothing but time and money to renovate their houses, typically housing turnover drives both flooring and And then also, you know, like a part of that is new construction, which is related. So the last few years have been very soft on that front, with interest rates being where they are, people stuck in their homes, they have hands on and so forth. And so we've, you know, really have turned this business around and built a foundation during difficult times, which is, um which is great right because you're effectively getting things in a great spot and uh and ready to pounce as conditions improve but i was saying q1 um really q4 towards the very tail end like december and coming into into q1 uh you know macros and intuitively uh been more challenging with the uh tariffs changes uncertainty things like that in the market pouring as a discretionary purchase and It was not tied to housing turnover, but rather residential remodeling, people changing their floors out in the place they already live. You can find uncertain times or disruption like that can delay projects. So, what you normally see is you see backlog increase, projects get delayed. kind of things like that. The other part I mentioned, we have a considerable business in Michigan that is tied to new construction as well, and it's been unseasonably cold Q1 there. So that means, practically speaking, is you have backlog that increases and projects that will come through just the time it will be a bit off in the initials. I think overall that's what we're seeing. As I mentioned, we've kind of built this business for the conditions that we were in and using the opportunity to aggressively pursue acquisitions and deals along the way, both on the product side and a few others that take advantage of the spot that we're in. In tougher times, that's how we approach it, opportunistically, and build things for when they pick back up and be able to ride that tailwind. Anything to add, Kerry?

No, no, that's great.

That's great, Sean. Thank you. Next question, can you talk about the e-commerce division and your thoughts for 2026?

Yeah, so our commerce business, as I mentioned previously, is one of those businesses that we have that can scale very well from an operating leverage perspective. That business doesn't really need a lot on the support side for higher revenue volumes. You know, really, you look at the tail end of last year and going into this year, that category of business, rather, of all of our businesses is heavily tied into discretionary homeowner traffic. So, like, Specifically, we don't do a lot of large commercial projects or new construction or things like that out of that business. It's typically a homeowner who's working with a pro or vice versa doing a project. And so that segment can be a bit sensitive to macro. Like you have the same thing I mentioned before. You have backlog that piles up and projects that get pushed out. Thankfully, the floor doesn't improve in someone's home. If it's ugly today, it just gets uglier. So it's a bit of pent-up demand. We try to stay close to customers and nurture along the way. But I would say still an area, it's one of our segments that I'm probably the most excited about pulling up, but also along with that, being mindful that it can be adversely impacted by the macro. And what that means practically speaking is that business is primarily driven by by digital advertising, and you want to be a bit cautious. It's upper market. They don't go too hard, too heavy, and have their marketing expense explode, but rather, you know, kind of ride that wave. So still a bright spot for us to believe in the future, you know, for sure, along with that. That's how, you know, we've kind of shown up so far with it towards the end of last year and also in, our earlier leads for this year.

Okay, thank you. Next question. Can you please walk us through same-store performance in 2025 for some of the pro-center locations?

Yeah, trade along.

Can I add that one?

Yeah. Yeah, I won't get into the specific details here, but I guess what I'd say, like if you take a look in our MD&A, uh, in the segmented area, we do split out some of the, the revenue, uh, with and without Orlando. So like, um, in our, in our ending and page eight, you know, we note, uh, pro center sales for Q4, uh, 25 versus Q4, 24 with and without the Orlando location. So really that's just the, the only store that, uh, came on stream April 1st of 25, which kind of, uh, will impact the results. So without Orlando, Q4 25 versus Q4 24, same store sales would have decreased approximately 9% as disclosed in the MD&A. On the next page, on a consolidated basis for the 12 months, you know, again, pro center revenue was 51.8 million for the full year 2025. Without the Orlando Pro Center revenue for 2025, that number would have been $48.4 million. So, you compare that with a prior year, would have been an increase of 4% for the full year. So, yeah, same store sales as, you know, kind of Sean noted. overall stock, but that kind of gives you an idea of the Pro Center contribution from Orlando. And again, if you kind of continue through the MD&A on the operating expense side of things, if we kind of split that out as well, where without Orlando, OpEx is down year over year. So I'll just kind of guide you to the MD&A for further details.

Okay, great. Next question. Can you give some color on the acquisition pipeline? If you can, how many are you currently looking at? What parts, categories, and geographies are you focused on? And how do you view the valuation multiples that are attractive to you? Sorry, it's a few questions.

Yes, it sounds good. So I would say kind of first and foremost, we are the most interested in the Sun Belt. It's an area of the country intuitively a lot of people are moving to and also have a lot of growth. But along with that also helps balance out our geographical mix. You know, intuitively, you know, freight, you know, ships in the east and insulates west, so it's a good place for us. For us, Orlando was kind of step one in that area. The second part I mentioned, so, you know, our company today does not have a strong presence in tile. We've talked a lot about that category specifically. And so businesses who operate in the Sunbelt intuitively also are heavier on the tile side and tile is a very large segment of the overall flooring industry and pretty decent margins. It's a good category for people like us, our company, on the import side since most of the competitors in the U.S. are procuring from, like, two-step distribution due to complexities around the categories. We like that as well. When it comes to, like, when it comes to, you know, what's attractive to us, you mentioned kind of before, we look for businesses that have a good mix of, of pro customers. A lot of times that's a mix of homeowner slash, you know, pro or vice versa. Those two things, you know, very often go together. You know, versus like full service, fully installed retail. You know, we tend to prefer the more pro focus DIY locations. And then from a deal size, like the last two acquisitions we've done, each location was around $5 million range, right? We'll talk about that a lot. a sweet spot for our ideal footprint, warehouse inventory need to support it, things like that. And this year, we do want to continue to point capital in that regard to, you know, to boost our pro center account in the Sunbelt area, definitely a priority. When it comes to deals, like, look, the very straightforward play hasn't changed in many years. On the back of COVID, the flowing industry got very soft. Saw a big opportunity coming to likely buy the dip. The extra macro pressure that's out there that was definitely unforecasted kind of across the board has made deals more available, more attractive, but also at the same time being mindful that when you're doing deals, you typically have to do a little bit of restructuring to make sure to right-size them, make sure it's a good fit. When we do deals, we tend to look for intrinsic value. So it's not so much about the multiple of EBITDA as the business has performed in the past, but rather what is the business, how are the customers acquired, at what cost, and then what are you buying specifically. We prefer, you know, if I could be purchasing working capital, inventory, little bit of AR, but typically quality inventory. And then we back into what that multiple might look like. But first and foremost, you know, value from an intrinsic perspective, not a business has done four or five times EBITDA until you pay some kind of multiple, you know, against that. It's not how this business is designed to buy or how we think about deals. And so intuitively, as I mentioned before, because of that, it's a good time to go out and do deals, but also to be very mindful at the same time and operate and make those adjustments, those changes when you do the other transactions. Anything you want to add, Terry, to that?

You know, I'd just say that, you know, the valuation metrics, as you point out, haven't changed really. They've only gotten better, right, over the last six months. And that's what we're seeing. You know, buying, you know, X dollars worth of assets at an 80% or 90% discount is a good thing. So, yeah, that's our focus.

Well, not a discount, but a discount. We'll add value, right? Correct. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, very good.

Okay, excellent. I think that's it for questions. Sean and Kerry, thank you today for being on the call. Thank you for everyone who joined today. A replay and the full earnings deck will be available within 24 hours on the IR website. We look forward to speaking with everyone again next quarter. That concludes today's call. Have a great day. Thanks, everyone. Thanks, all.