John Hewitt
Analyst · Stephens. Your line is now open
Thank you, Kevin. Good morning, everyone. Last quarter we discussed the difference between total recordable incident rate and loss timings in the rate and why at Matrix we hold ourselves to this standard. As it is a better representation of overall safety performance. For the first six months of this fiscal year, LTIR stands at 0.64. The value holding ourselves to this high standard is a clear differentiator which was confirmed with the recent extension of our contract at BP Cherry Point Refinery where our team has been the primary on-site contractor providing turnaround, maintenance and repair services since 1995. As you may know, working in that refinery is by nature dangerous and in an environment where an outage could mean temporary bringing on 700 or more new employees. Maintaining in a consistently growth TRIR can be challenging. Yet this team has achieved zero total recordable incidents rate year-after-year. They stand as prove that our work can be completed with zero recordable incidents in the leading industry in our commitment to safety and build the culture in which that commitment drives. It is for these reasons that these operating unit has been recognized with our companies highest honor the 2015 Board of Directors safety award. Matrix Service has been recognized as a contractor responsible for starting the safety revival at the BP Cherry Point and has set the new standard of excellence by which all other contractors are measured. Together with exceptional quality work, it is also the safety record that allowed Matrix Service to recently be awarded a five year contract extension guided at nearly $4 million man-hours. I’m extremely proud that the safety leadership and culture Matrix Service and his team has built at BP Cherry Point. Please join me in congratulating those achievements. Moving on, I want to set the stage for today's call by discussing current market conditions, and the effect of those conditions have on our various operating segments. I also want to spend some time discussing our company's growth strategy, the strength of that strategy and how especially in times like this its brings value to our employees and our company and shareholders. Before I address these topics, I want to give you some perspective on our decisions to revise the guidance range. This revision is primarily due to two factors, first a short fall in revenue as a result of slower ramp ups on certain projects which in turns shifts revenue and profit to future quarters. Secondly, a non-recurring bad debt charge related to unexpected client bankruptcy. Now let me share you with some of our views about the markets. There is no question upstream oil and gas companies had pulled back significantly on spending plans over the past six months in response to the dramatic decline in oil prices over the past year and in particularly the acceleration of this trend more recently. However in the midstream and downstream segments of the North American Energy Sector, our most of all work in this market segment takes place, we have seen minimal changes in our clients planned projects and in fact continue to see significant opportunity. The single exception is TransCanada's Hardisty project now delayed indefinitely by President Obama's rejection of the Keystone Pipeline. We do believe current market conditions have owners taking a more cautious approach to timing in a sub instances like tightening of credit they make financing for the larger scale projects more strenuous. As we discussed on prior calls timing of awards especially on larger projects will create variability in our backlog. However that said, the bid final for our storage solutions segment remains strong at $5.3 billion and we continue to earn strategically significant awards. One such example is the recently announced Eagle LNG project in Jacksonville, Florida. This award is the first of what we expect to be a sequence of awards in the LNG transportation fuel space with the shift of greater use of LNG transportation fuels in trucking and shipping will create ever increasing demand. We've also just received a limit notice received on a second LNG transportation fuels project. We expect to release a formal announcement of this project in the coming weeks once the contract terms have been finalized. Need of these awards are included in the December 31 backlog. These smaller LNG facilities represent significant market opportunity for Matrix. Given our expertise and cryogenic storage tanks and terminals, this market is one where our ability to provide full EPC services uniquely positions Matrix to take the lead. Matrix is also well positioned to act and partnership with others on large LNG facilities as evidenced by having [inferably] [ph] selected as a contractor for the tanks and associated on tank mechanical work on a large scale LNG export facility in the Gulf. This work is also not in our December 31 backlog as it is pending negotiation of all take agreements by the facility owner. Across the rest of our storage business including flat bottom crude oil opportunities continue to be strong. Even in our Western Canada operation which is experienced at the press market, we picked up project awards at 7 different client locations in the second quarter. Our engineering division, Matrix PDM is also generating significant EPC prospects as they have taken the lead on numerous feed studies for both crude storage and cryogenic opportunities. The current level of feed work is creating up high work load for our teams as they engage in multiple feed stays with the total construction value in excess of $1.2 billion. In our oil gas and chemical segment, refiners continued to drive turnaround maintenance repair work in order to take advantage oil crude pricing. While doing so may push plan work later in the fiscal year '16 or early fiscal year 2017, the work itself is inevitable and ongoing delays only create a pressure wave in future work. Inspite of these delays, we have 23 mechanical or specialty turnarounds planned for the balance of fiscal 2016. In power generation, the low cost of natural gas is positive news for Matrix driving continued momentum to large scale project opportunities in one of our key business segments. The unprecedented shift away from coal to natural gas as a fuel source to generate electricity in the U.S. continues and is accelerating supporting the new build natural gas combined cycle power plants as a primary source of clean energy. Hosted by the recently signed Paris Climate Accord and the EPA clean power plant, the pipeline of power generation is very strong with industry experts reporting 150x high probability U.S. projects through 2020, valued at nearly 46 billion. Power delivery is equally strong with 85 billion transmission, distribution and substation infrastructure investment projected through 2018. Currently our focus is on projects in the Northeast, Mid Atlantic and upper Midwest. This work is being driven not only by ageing infrastructure but also new sources of generation such as gas supplier combined cycle and renewable. In power generation and power delivery, we’re currently tracking a combined total of 5.4 billion in projects and as stated in our previous calls, expect our book on next major power generation project by the end of calendar year 2016. Given these market opportunities, the electrical infrastructure segment of our business represents a key focus area for significant acquisitive growth. The markets represented by our industrial segment continue to face significant challenges. There is a decline in non-ferrous metal pricing, continue pull back on major CapEx projects and mining minerals is underway. Our integrated iron and steel customers also continue to suffer from a strong dollar position and aggressive supply from China and while the strength of the automotive industry is creating significant demand for their products, a decline in the upstream oil and gas drill pipe market is currently offsetting this demand. In the fertilizer segment, while low cost feedstock has created opportunity for new fertilizer facilities, some owners face funding challenges for new projects. However, we're currently in final negotiations for the storage and refrigeration components on a Greenfields fertilizer facility located in the midcontinent. We hope to finalize this agreement and taking it to backlog in the third quarter. Against this backdrop, I also want to affirm our company's position and strategy for growth. Our current market conditions present both challenges and opportunities. Our deliberate measured approach to diversification in both acquisitive and organic growth along with our conservative approach to managing our balance sheet has positioned us well and has resulted in a strong and sustainable company. Across our key business segments, we continue to evaluate, pursue and acquire strategic bolt-on acquisitions that position us to provide better service to our customers. Most recently we announced the acquisition of Baillie Tank Equipment, a premier provider of geodesic domes, aluminum internal floating roofs and other key storage tank engineering components. As mentioned in our press release earlier this week, Baillie Tank Equipment is headquartered in Sydney, Australia with manufacturing in Seoul, South Korea. Its customer base spans more than 85 countries with existing annual revenues approaching 20 million. Moving forward, the company will operate under our Matrix supply technologies brand. In addition to serving and growing their existing base of international customers, this acquisition allows us to provide a high standard and above ground storage tank products to our storage solutions customers across North America. These products will also be a catalyst to grow our tank maintenance and repair services. Given our strong financial position, we will continue to look at strategic bolt-on acquisitions as an ongoing investment opportunity to grow and diversify the business, as well as increase our fundamental bench strength. Finally, the current market environment combined with our financial strength also allows us to take advantage of larger acquisition opportunities to greater accelerate our strategic growth plan. With that said, I will turn the call back to Kevin to review our second quarter results.