Robb LeMasters
Analyst · Truist. Please go ahead
Thanks Rex for thanks of support and good evening everyone. I agree there as much honing we can do as we prepare for these interesting growth markets to bear fruit after years of investments and strategic positioning under Rex's leadership. I look forward to taking on that challenge with an excellent team around me. Let's start with total company results on slide four their earnings presentation. Fourth quarter revenue was strong at $592 million, up 6% compared with the fourth quarter last year, driven by growth in both nuclear operations and nuclear power segments. This resulted in about $2.1 billion for the full year, at slightly lower nuclear operations revenue was offset by higher nuclear power segment revenue. Fourth quarter adjusted EBITDA was also robust at $123 million, up 18% with EBITDA margins 200 basis points higher than the fourth quarter of 2020, driven by stronger operating margins in the nuclear power segment, and increasing depreciation in both NOG and NPG. For the full year, EBITDA was down 2% to $418 million. This result also included $15.6 million of net FAS/CAS pension headwind or 4% of adjusted EBITDA. So, underlying EBITDA would have been up in 2021 despite the multiple businesses -- business challenges we faced last year. Fourth quarter earnings were $0.95 per share, a high watermark for the company and up 28% when compared with $0.74 per share in the fourth quarter of 2020. I would note that fourth quarter earnings benefited from a lower tax rate that was driven by a state tax reimbursement that had a corresponding negative impact to NOG operating income. State taxes are considered part of our cost base in government contracts and this change required a reversal. Full year 2021 earnings were $3.06 per share, a modest 1% increase compared with the prior year. Again, these results include a significant step down and government reimbursed pension costs, as well as some of the challenges throughout the year related to COVID-19 and award delays. We have a detailed 2021 EPS bridge on slide five to provide all of the puts and takes. Let me quickly step through fourth quarter and full year 2021 segment results on slide six and seven, which are reported into the old segmentation. In the fourth quarter, Nuclear Operations generated $453 million of revenue, up 6% driven by higher labor volume and higher long lead material production. Operating income was $85.8 million also up 6% and NOG operating margin was 18.9%. In the Nuclear Power Group, revenue was $114 million, up 7% driven by higher fuel and fuel handling and more field service activity on the commercial power side. Revenues also benefited from higher BWXT Medical sales, which were up 15%. Segment operating income was $23 million, up significantly driven by higher revenue and a more favorable sales mix. Segment margins were a robust 21.1 20.1% for the quarter. Lastly, Nuclear Services' operating income was down $2.2 million to $6.1 million on lower contract fees and some higher costs in the fourth quarter. For the full year, NOG revenue was down about 1% as higher labor volume and incremental revenue from uranium processing was more than offset by lower long lead material production. Operating income was down 5%, primarily driven by less FAS/CAS income. But this year's performance was also negatively impacted by productivity inefficiencies that came from capital equipment installation bottlenecks and persistent COVID-related absences that we were unable to overcome throughout the year despite our best efforts to work overtime and hire additional labor. Operating margins finished the year at 19%. Nuclear Power segment revenue was up 10% on higher fuel and fuel handling and increased field service activity on the commercial power business. BWXT Medical sales were also a driver as that business was up more than 20% this year. NPG's operating income was down slightly and margins compressed to 13.1%, primarily driven by less government COVID release. And finally, Nuclear Services finished the year with $27.9 million in operating income, a little higher than last year on better overall contract fees performance. Before turning to guidance, I would like to spend a minute on the RE segmentation that Rex spoke of earlier. As you can see on slide eight, we are combining the legacy NOG and NSG segments into the new Government Operations segments. Legacy NPG is moving to the new Commercial Operations segment. We are eliminating the legacy other segments which held R&D activity as well as Tc-99 pre-commercialization costs. Those costs will be moved to their respective new segments on a project-by-project basis. You will recall at our Investor Day that we outlined the Tech-99 pre-commercialization spend as having been running at about $20 million per year of P&L investment in 2021. And our expectation was that it would run a little higher in 2022 before that effort is fully stood up. So, the unification of those costs was a logical next reporting step to get a full picture of our commercial business' financial performance. And as these new growth vectors emerge, we will continue to evaluate how to optimize, manage, and report the businesses. But we expect some cost efficiencies. The main reasons for making this re-segmentation were operational and are found in two core opportunities. First, as our technical services business grows, the transfer and cross training of personnel and capabilities will need to be managed seamlessly. The unification of NOG and NSG under one roof will provide more cohesive decision-making. Second, as our micro reactor and advanced fuel efforts begin to become larger business lines, they can benefit from the facilities and supporting costs already present in other parts of the Government Operations family. Real synergies seem highly possible with this new structure. Moving to 2022 guidance on slide nine, today's guidance closely aligns with our medium term guidance that we establish in early 2021, which includes the addition of annual EBITDA growth expectations and EBITDA ranges for the reporting segments. We have also included cash from operations guidance. Note that we are providing guidance on the new reporting segments as we affect this transition in the first quarter of 2022. As we laid out at our Investor Day, we see total company revenue and EBITDA growth of about 3% to 4% this year. We are reiterating our 2022 EPS range of $3.05 to $3.25. We anticipate about $260 million to $290 million of operating cash flow and see our capital expenditures in the range of $180 million to $200 million. In the business segments, we expect Government Operations revenue to grow 3% to 4% and EBITDA is expected to be in a range of $400 million to $410 million, representing high single-digit growth. In Commercial Operations, we anticipate a range of 2% to 6% revenue growth, with more of the upside variability around the medical business. Given continued investment in commercializing the Tc-99 product line, Commercial Operations EBITDA is expected to be $40 million to $45 million. We have provided other information on this page to support modeling 2022 expectations. I also want to provide some color on the cadence for how we see earning shaping up this year. There are a number of business items that are influencing the shape of the year, but by and large, not dissimilar to prior years. First, as Rex mention and in line with the others are -- what others are seeing in this industry, we see some pressures from COVID-related absences early this year with the Omicron variant spike. Most of its impact manifested itself and an inability to get efficiency gains and labor productivity in our core Navy business. So, we expect that part of our business to be a little depressed in the first quarter. In Government Operations, the transition on Savannah River is occurring in the first quarter and this is non-fee-bearing work, which is also expected to have outsized earnings in the fourth quarter when we typically conduct award fee true-ups. In the Commercial Operations segment, we see increased field service activity in the spring and fall, driving higher second and fourth quarter profit, and a typical low cycle for medical isotopes in the first quarter, due to a regular planned maintenance outage of a large cyclotron where we generate some products. All said, we expect about 20% of our annual earnings guidance coming through in the first quarter, stepping up for the middle part of the year, and finishing strongly in the fourth quarter similar to, but not as sharp, as the 2021 profile. On slide 10, we have provided the 2022 guidance bridge. Since Investor Day, we have made some minor updates to some of the components on this slide. In core operations, we originally provided a range of $0.10 to $0.30 of earnings growth in 2022, which was predicated around large potential services awards. We have revised that range to $0.15 to $0.25, give an update on service contract awards. We raised the lower end of that range given that we have successfully begun transition on the Savannah River contract. However, we are lowering the high end of the range given that the Pantex Y-12 contract has been pulled back for DoE corrective action, ultimately resulting in a delayed transition. Besides those items, the businesses are largely in line with how we saw it in November. There's been no change to expect a net FAS/CAS headwind of $17 million in 2022. Other below the line adjustments include pension, interest expense, and tax rates that result in modest headwinds, which are generally offset by a lower share count. Lastly, I want to wrap-up with some remarks on M&A. Since leading that function for over a year and a half, I have taken a close look at several acquisition targets, but many have fallen short of meeting enough of our strategic and financial criteria. We will remain disciplined in our approach and continue to strongly prefer small tuck-ins to our core Government and Clean Energy businesses. On the other side of M&A, we continuously and unemotionally evaluate the current portfolio as we think about the best ways to optimize shareholder value. While it is an iterative process and circumstances can change, we have looked at our businesses and do not see anything that would unlocked shareholder value through separation at this time. We believe that as new growth materializes, the value will manifest in the share price or we will evaluate suitable alternatives. Now, that we've been through the financials, let me just pause and say that I'm very eager to be part of this unique company and to have the opportunity to help drive BWXT's exciting long-term durable growth prospects. With solid businesses underpinning our advancements in new technologies, we plan to expand and explore new growth vectors, all of which I believe will create meaningful value over time. With that, let me hand it back to Mark.