Anthony Scaglione
Analyst · Andy Wittmann with Robert W. Baird. Please proceed with your question
Thanks Scott. I will now review the details behind our third quarter results. As Scott just mentioned we completed our acquisition of GCA Services Group on September 1 of last year. As a result, this will be the last full quarter in which our GCA business will be reflected on an inorganic basis for all impacted segments. Of course, our overall results for future periods will continue to reflect higher amortization, interest expense and share count dilution resulting from the transaction. In addition, our government services sale occurred in May 2017 and this will be the last quarter in which any year-over-year comparison reflects this year’s absence of that business. Now on to the third quarter, total revenues for the quarter were $1.6 billion, up 23.2% versus last year driven by GCA revenues of $260 million and organic growth within the Business & Industry, Technical Solutions and Technology & Manufacturing segment. More specifically, our organic growth rate for the quarter was 4.5%, which includes $8 million of higher management reimbursement revenue, primarily in our B&I and Aviation segments. On a GAAP basis, our income from continuing operations was $33.7 million or $0.51 per diluted share versus $32.9 million or $0.58 per diluted share. Last year’s GAAP income from continuing operations reflected favorable adjustments for certain tax positions of approximately $15 million. Our results also reflect the following items that are predominately related to our acquisition of GCA, higher amortization of approximately $11 million, which is embedded within each impacted reportable segment, higher interest expense of $10.1 million, and an increase in weighted average shares outstanding on a diluted basis. Excluding the impact of segment related amortization, our overall operational results benefited from GCA related revenue predominantly within Education, Technology & Manufacturing and B&I segment. On an adjusted basis, income from continuing operations for the quarter was $38 million or $0.57 per diluted share compared to $29.1 million or $0.51 per diluted share. During the quarter, we had adjusted EBITDA of $88.4 million at a margin rate of 5.4% compared to $57.3 million at a rate of 4.3% last year. Turning to our segment results, which are described on Slide 12 of today’s presentation. As we have noted all year, our 2018 operating segment results reflect the remapping of overhead expenses related to GCA, including allocation and additional amortization. Therefore, year-over-year comparisons will not be meaningful. As a result, we have provided full year operating margin guidance to help you track our segment performance for this year. Starting with B&I, B&I achieved revenue of $735 million, growing 12.7% versus last year driven by $45 million of additional revenue related to GCA and solid organic growth both domestically and internationally. B&I’s organic growth this year has benefited from our UK-based TSR win. Additionally, organic growth was also driven by expansion through key clients and an increase in management reimbursement revenue. Operating profit for the quarter was $38.9 million for a margin rate of 5.3%, reflecting approximately $2 million of amortization related to GCA. Excluding GCA-related amortization, the operating margin for B&I was 5.5% this quarter. Overall, B&I has proven resilient and we are pleased with how well the team has executed this year. We continue to believe B&I will produce operating margins in the low 5% range for the full year as we have previously guided. Aviation reported revenues of $256.8 million, with an operating profit of $9.7 million and a margin of 3.8% for the quarter. Results were generally in line with our expectations as a slight decline in revenue versus last year was primarily attributable to the loss of certain airline contracts. Also, as you will recall last year we had the revenue and margin associated with a single contract which we have since terminated. While the quarter was flat from a top line perspective, we are encouraged by several recent catering logistic cross-sells that we have won, solidifying our entry into that market and proving our ability to compete as a provider of specialized services in the industries we serve. This year’s operating margin increased by more than 170 basis points year-over-year as last year’s margin reflects the terminated contract, which I just referenced. GCA had a relatively small impact on this segment. For the remainder of the year, our renewal strategy remains in focus and we believe it will be prudent to remain conservative in light of the current labor market. Last quarter, we discussed the acute impact this labor cycle can have on specific segments such as Aviation and Education. Given these considerations, for the full year, we now expect Aviation operating margins in the high 2% range compared to our previous outlook for 3%. Moving to Technology & Manufacturing, Technology & Manufacturing revenues increased to $231 million for the quarter, up 43% versus last year. This was due to strong expected organic growth during the quarter in addition to $60 million of GCA related revenue. Organically, we expanded with our high-tech clients and from tag revenue through both the GCA and Legacy ABM portfolio. Operating profit was $16.9 million and our margin was 7.3% reflecting new wins and better margins and prudent expense management. Including amortization, we still expect operating margin in the low 7% range for the full year. Revenue in Education was $211 million, reflecting $144 million in GCA business. During the K-12 summer buying season, we won key contracts with the Huntley Community School District in Illinois, one of the state’s fastest growing K-12 district as well as the Portland Public School system in Michigan. However, the Education segment continues to experience a greater degree of pressure related to labor, which among other things, impacted some renewals and buying decisions. While we are slightly disappointed in our total number of K-12 awards, we remain encouraged by our pipeline in the higher education market, which is year round. We are also targeting first-time outsourcing opportunities across the segment as well as improving the retention moving forward. Operating profit for the quarter was $12 million for a margin of 5.7%. Excluding the impact of amortization, operating margins were 8.8% as this segment is impacted most from GCA. On a total basis, we believe we will end the year in a high 4% operating margin range compared to our prior guidance of low 5%. Healthcare revenue was $69 million for the quarter, including $7 million from GCA. Operating profit was $2.5 million and operating margin was 3.7%. Excluding GCA and amortization, operating margins were 3.9% for the quarter. We continue to expect to end the year with operating margins in the low 4% range. Finally, Technical Solutions, they reported revenues of $122 million, a year-over-year increase of 14% for the quarter. As expected, based on the pace of bookings and the pipeline we discussed in the first half of this year, Technical Solutions had one of their strongest quarters ever as project and revenue churn normalized. For the quarter, margins were 9.8% compared to 8.8% last year primarily due to greater operating leverage driven by higher revenues. Overall, strength in our domestic business more than offset underperformance in the UK. Operating margins for the year are now expected to be approximately 9%, above the high 8% range we previously announced. Looking forward, all of our industry groups will be focused on our contract renewal cycles and retention while continuing to grow our already robust sales pipeline. Turning to cash and liquidity, cash flow from operations was roughly $74 million for Q3. We are seeing sustained improvements in our management of working capital. Due to this better management and timing of certain capital investments, we expect to end the year with free cash flow between $175 million to $200 million, excluding the proceeds from last quarter’s swap termination. We remain focused on improving our front and back office processes as free cash flow remains a key metric for our organization. We ended the quarter with total debt, including standby letters of credit of $1.2 billion and a bank adjusted leverage ratio of 3.6x. I am pleased at the pace of our de-leveraging to-date. During the quarter, we paid a quarterly cash dividend of $0.175 per common share for a total distribution of $11.5 million to shareholders and our Board has approved our 210 consecutive quarterly cash dividend. Turning to the macro environment, given the continued uncertainty surrounding today’s labor environment and the potential impact any change could have on our results, we believe our existing guidance outlook range remains appropriate due to the actions we have taken to-date. The outlook continues to contemplate the full year annualized 60 basis points headwind we are facing due to the current operating environment. While the mitigation efforts we have put in place allow us to achieve our full year guidance, we see no sign of significant labor pressure abatement or worsening for that matter and we believe it’s too early to predict a longer term impact. However, we are actively managing our labor and customer renewal cycles and feel confident that our outlook will not materially worsen from our full year margin run-rate. In addition, we remain steadfastly committed to our strategic investments in systems to further drive operating and back office efficiencies. As Scott discussed, investments that are fundamental to these initiatives include the first half and second half launches of our cloud-based human capital management and time and attendance systems as well as our new ERP system that will converge our legacy GCA and ABM infrastructure. In closing, we are formally reiterating our GAAP and non-GAAP guidance outlook for the year. We continue to expect GAAP income from continuing operations to be in the range of $1.73 to $1.83 per diluted share and on an adjusted basis $1.85 to $1.95 per diluted share. This guidance assumes a tax rate between 28% to 30% for fiscal 2018. This rate excludes discrete tax items such as the 2018 Work Opportunity Tax Credit and the tax impact of stock-based compensation award, which collectively will be a little more than $10 million in discrete tax items for the full year as we disclosed last quarter. We are currently finalizing our fiscal 2019 tax expectation, including the full impact of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. At this time, while we continue to benefit from a lower overall federal tax rate. There are a number of items which did not impact us in fiscal 2018 that will come into effect in the new calendar year. Mainly limitations or deductions related to meals and entertainment and executive compensation and executive compensation plus some form of provision. In addition, we also expect a benefit related to FAS 123R to decrease in fiscal 2019. As always, we will provide you with a detailed discussion of our fiscal 2019 outlook in December, but I hope this additional context will help inform some of your expectations for next year. With that operator, we are now ready for questions.