Dan Hollenbach
Analyst · Taglich Brothers
Thank you, Beth and good morning, everyone. This is my final earnings call as the CFO of BGSF. Some might just for joy not having to do these calls anymore. Hardly it is with deeply mixed emotions that I will be leaving my post as CFO this great organization. It is truly been an honor and privilege to serve in this role since May of 2015. And I look forward to helping the transition with John and the team as the company starts a new chapter in its strategic growth plan. Today I'll be discussing results based on earnings released filed last night. Our annual report on form 10-K will be found next Wednesday. I will also be using the term Property Management real estate to describe that segment. As Beth mentioned, we sold our line industrial segment in early 2022. And our financial results are discussed as continuing operations and except where noted, exclude discontinued operations for this year and last year. And now for the numbers. Fourth quarter revenues were up 14.2% to 77.3 million. By segments, property management grew 16.6% and professional increased 8.9 on an organic basis. Horn Solutions contributed 1.4 million in revenue in December for three weeks. Professional wage rates increased 17% while property management wage rates increased 10% Q-o-Q and permanent placement revenues remained consistent. As we expected our Q4 revenues returned to more normalized patterns in 2022 and declined sequentially coming off a strong COVID recovery quarter a year ago. Between Q3 and Q4 professional was essentially flat due to more ends in December this year versus last year, and the department of the managed services projects in the late Q1 and Q2 of '23. Property management was down 4% as expected. We continue to see solid demand and projects related to cloud migration, ERP selection and implementation as well as customizations. Fourth quarter gross profit dollars increased by 15.5% compared to the prior year quarter, to 27.1 million. Professionals was up 7.6% on an organic basis, and property management up over 17%. As a percentage of revenue, total gross profit margin increased by 40 basis points to a strong 35%. Compared to a year ago, quarter selling general administrative expenses were 23.2 million, compared to 16.5 million last year. The increase was driven by $4 million of annualized headcount costs for new roles, primarily in the second half of the year associated with strategic investments for internal talent to support known projects and fuel future growth plans. The additions for property management relate to the return to the commercial business post COVID, as well as planned growth in multifamily this year. In addition, the fourth quarter of '21 included a $2 million CARES Act credit. Finally recorded M&A deal cost of $265,000 and bonus accruals and have a year-end reserves of approximately $500,000 in the fourth quarter of '22 over '21. Fourth quarter net income from continuing operations was 1.4 million or $0.14 per diluted share compared with net income of 4.3 million or $0.41 per diluted share a year ago, which included a net cares credit of 1.6 million or $0.15 per diluted share. Adjusted EBITDA for Q4 was 4.3 million or 5.6% of revenues, compared to 5.1 million or 7.5% of revenues in '21. Although revenues and gross profit margins grew year-over-year, as mentioned, we invested in people to drive growth in 2023, which impacted our actual and adjusted EBITDA margins in Q4 '22. Our effective Q4 tax rate was 33% for '22, compared with 24.3% in last year's fourth quarter. As Beth mentioned, for the year we reported record 22 revenues of 298.4 million up 24.8%. While gross profit was 103.5 million up 27.9%. Property management revenues grew 31.6% but professional up 19.7% organically. Our managed services division led by our momentum solutions acquisition in 2021 doubled in sizing. Permanent placement revenues were up 13.5% year over year. Our gross profit percentage increased 80 basis points to 34.7% in 2022. Property management group 36.4% with professional at 19.8% organically. SG&A a cost as a percentage of sales grew 60 basis points this year, compared with last year, a detail of our '22 versus '21 SG&A and a cost is included in the MD&A section of our annual report on form 10-K. Net income from continuing operations was 11.3 million for $1.07 per diluted share, compared to 10.5 million for $1 per diluted share for the '21 period. Benefiting 21 were two things, a $1.9 million net gain on contingent consideration, and a $1.7 million cares credit. Adjusted EBITDA from continuing operations totaled 21.7 million, or 7.3% of revenue, compared to 15 million, or 6.3% of revenue last year. Finally, the global year effective tax rate from continuing operations was 23.1% for '22, compared to 20.1% a year ago. Regarding the company's financial position, we continue to maintain a strong liquidity position in balance sheet. At the end of Q4 accounts receivables grew to 66 point 3 million driven by our growth and additional foreign solutions. While day sales outstanding remain consistent with the end of Q3 and our working capital ratio straight them to 2.7 for 1.95 last year. Based on our strong EBITDA during 22, we continue to invest in our IP roadmap and return capital to our shareholders to the dividend program. Our banking leverage ratio of funded debt to trailing 12 months pro forma adjusted EBITDA moved to 2.4 times due to the foreign solutions acquisition. As Beth mentioned, the company's board of directors recently approved management's plan to rebrand all of our businesses to BGSF, which eliminates the various trade names currently in use. It is management's intent to complete this rebranding by the end of Q2. The decision to rebrand create an indication of impairment of the trade name, assets and assets the company will record right off of approximately 22.5 million, its basis in the trade names in 2023. As the trade names were classified as indefinite lived intangible assets, the company has not been advertising the carrying values. There is no cash impact or any adjustments to amortization expense related to the suspected impairment charge that will provide more details in her closing remarks. As we've said previously, we believe our prudent financial management and capital allocation strategy are sufficient to provide ample flexibility to fund operations, invest for future growth and return value to shareholders through cash dividends and stock appreciation. I will now turn the call back to Beth.