William George
Analyst · Adam, please proceed
Thanks, Brian. Since most of you probably access this call through our Internet link, slides two through four maybe helpful as I provide some explanation and details of our financial results. First quarter revenue was $465 million, there was an increase of $84 million or 22%, compared to the first quarter of 2017. Same-store revenue increased by 15%, or $59 million, compared to last year with remaining increase coming from the BCH acquisition in April 2017. Our same-store growth is primarily due to project activity as construction activity increased for our businesses this quarter. As you will recall, we have particularly light revenue in the first quarter of 2017. However, as 2018 begins, it has become clear that recent project bookings are now moving into the execution stage. Net income for the quarter was $16.7 million, or $0.44 per share, compared to $7.5 million or $0.20 per share for the first quarter of 2017. Of the $0.44 of earnings per share that we're reporting, $0.07 results from the tax accounting method change, and without that we would have earned $0.37 this quarter. That incremental $0.07 is a discrete one-time benefit. Separate and distinct from that discrete item, we of course also benefited from tax reform this quarter, as the new lower rates offset by the loss of some deductions method, our after-tax income was somewhat higher. We estimate that if we had reported the first quarter under prior year tax law, the $0.37 earnings would have been $0.04 or $0.05 lower, but still historically very, very strong. Gross profit was $89.1 million for the first quarter of 2018, an increase of $13 million or 17.2% compared to the first quarter of 2017. Gross profit as a percentage of revenue was 19.2% for the first quarter of 2018, compared to 20% in the first quarter of 2017. SG&A expense was $70 million for the first quarter of 2017, compared to $63.2 million for the first quarter of 2017. Most of the dollar increases is due to the BCH acquisition. SG&A as a percentage of revenue was 15.1% in the current quarter, and that compares to 16.6% in the first quarter of 2017. Pre-tax income was 18.7% for the first quarter of 2018, an increase of $7.4 million or 65% compared to the first quarter of 2017. Income tax expense was $2.1 million with an effective tax rate of 11.1% as compared to income tax expense of $3.9 million with an effective tax rate of 34.2% for the same period in 2017. The low effective tax rate for 2018 was primarily due to the discrete event I mentioned above which was a decrease in unrecognized tax benefits from federal income tax accounting method change. Excluding just this discrete benefit, our tax rate would have been approximately 26% and we believe our go-forward tax rate will be in the really in the 25% to 30% there are a lot of moving pieces right now. Free cash flow was negative $1.4 million compared to positive free cash flow of $5.3 million for the first quarter of 2017. We almost always have negative cash flow early in the year and our results this year reflect very good cash performance especially considering the working capital that we've allocated to support our growth. We feel good about our cash prospects for the remainder of this year. We returned capital to our shareholders this quarter by repurchasing 150,000 shares and as Brian noted, we increased our dividend earlier in the year than usual and we'll consider incremental increases to our dividends of conditions more. Overall, very pleased with our results for the quarter and optimistic that improved activity levels will continue in 2018 and that's all I have in financial spread.