John Hewitt
Analyst · Stephens Incorporated. Your line is now open
Thank you, Kevin, and welcome everybody. Good morning. First, a quick stage reminder for our call today. As we begin the school year, it’s a good time to take stock of our driving habits, especially around schools and school buses. According to the National Safety Council, most of the children who lose their lives in bus-related incidents are just 4 to 7 years old and are hit either by the bus or by a motorist illegally passing a stopped bus. Children walking, riding their bikes or being dropped off, and picked up by parents are also in danger. It’s important to slow down and pay attention when kids are present. Here are just a few tips offered by the National Safety Council: Don’t double park; it blocks visibility for other children and vehicles. Don’t load or unload children across the street from the school. Pull up next to the school and be sure your children exit your vehicle on the curb or sidewalk side. Carpool, if you can, in order to help reduce the number of vehicles at the school. Don’t block the crosswalk when stopped or waiting to making a turn. Doing so forces pedestrians to go around you potentially putting them in the path of a moving vehicle. Don’t pass the school bus or vehicle that is stopped for any reason. Take extra care to look out for children in school zones, near playgrounds and parks and in residential areas. And finally, stay alert and be aware of what might be behind you or below your line of sight. Let’s all do everything we can to make this a safe school year for our children. Now, related to our fiscal year of safety performance, our employees achieved a recordable incident rate of 0.55, which is a record low performance for Matrix. We are very proud of our employees’ focus on our culture of safety and the differentiation it creates in the market. Turning now to fourth quarter and full year results, we believe that our financial performance in this quarter provided a strong close to the fiscal year. We began the fiscal year with a record level of backlog. And while our business was impacted by significant variability in the commodity markets as well as an unexpected client bankruptcy, we delivered solid results for the year. Looking to the coming fiscal year, we begin the year with a backlog that is at a statistically normal range for the business and we continue to see a strong pipeline of project opportunities across our segments. Two of the key projects in our existing backlog are TransCanada’s Napanee Generating Station and all 6 terminals for Energy Transfer’s Dakota Access pipeline. At Napanee, major foundations are nearing completion and underground works are being finalized, while the heat recovery steam generator erection and centerline equipment installation is underway. Other project areas are also progressing well, including the construction of the switchyard, cooling tower, control room, water treatment building, as well as the placement of major structural components over the power block. While significant amount of work has been completed, there is still critical work ahead of us. Related to the 6 terminals for Dakota Access pipeline, civil work is substantially complete, while storage tanks are being prepared for hydro testing. Balance of plant piping and electrical work are also fully underway. As a reminder, our work on Dakota Access is scheduled to be substantially complete before the end of this calendar year, while the Napanee project will continue through the middle of our fiscal 2018. Moving on, backlog was $869 million at the end of fiscal 2016 compared to $1.4 billion at the end of fiscal 2015. It’s important to remember that both of the major projects I just discussed were taken into backlog in the third and fourth quarters of fiscal 2015 with Dakota Access Pipeline coming just before the close of that fiscal year. This $1.4 billion of backlog represented a record for the company, but is not consistent with our normal historical opening backlog percentage. Keeping that in mind, we traditionally start the year with between 50% to 60% of upcoming annual revenue included in backlog. This year our opening backlog represents more than 60% of anticipated fiscal 2017 revenue. When we look forward, the overall opportunity pipeline continues to be very strong. The ability to convert these opportunities into future backlog for 2017 and beyond will be driven by variability in the commodities market, a tough competitive environment and general economic and regulatory uncertainties. Despite these factors, we believe that our strong brand position, top tier safety performance and reputation for quality delivery will be the differentiators we need to support our backlog development. Within the month, we will be announcing a critical construction award for Matrix North American construction and anticipate further strategic awards to be announced in other parts of our business. Let me now make a few comments related to the macroeconomic backdrop in which we are operating and how Matrix is navigating this environment. Economic growth across North America has slowed. Commodity prices in general will remain low as demand continues to lag supply and the federal election cycle has created a period of uncertainty that may delay investment decisions. Having said that, the projects we focus on at Matrix are critical, fundamental to our customers’ long-term business plans, ongoing operational integrity and North America’s infrastructure investment needs. Many of these projects are not speculative. They are fundamental with only project timing in question. At Matrix, we have consistently taken the conservative approach to managing our balance sheet and the inherent risks in our business. In doing so, our strong liquidity position enables us to weather the variability of the current business environment, positions Matrix to take advantage of strategic opportunities and protects our shareholders’ long-term investment. We continue to make investments in areas that help create differentiation and enhance our competitiveness, such as safety, leadership and people development as well as systems and process improvements. These investments are essential to improving the overall efficiency, competitiveness and sustainability of the company. Finally, before I turn over the call to Kevin, I want to talk about current market conditions and the impact to each of our segments. As you know, over the last 5 years, our employees have worked hard to diversify our business beyond the midstream and downstream oil and gas markets to include the energy, power and industrial markets. It is this diversification in both the work we do and the markets we serve that has created a more balanced book of business and enhanced our long-term growth prospects. In each of these markets, the need for the critical infrastructure services we provide persists. In electrical infrastructure, we have shared on past calls the infrastructure needs across North America are substantial. In power generation, the costs for [indiscernible] facilities are estimated in excess of $100 billion through 2025. As a highly qualified contactor with expertise in natural gas-fired generation, we are in a leading position to bid and win work. As utilities customers shift focus toward a full EPC solution versus an approach where engineering construction are managed separately, we are positioning ourselves to be a preferred partner on the construction side. In fact, under these market dynamics, substantial opportunity exists for Matrix to provide specific subcontract services in centerline erection, electrical and other mechanical services, which represent the legacy expertise for which we are known. Refining our strategy to meet the demands of the market allows us to take on multiple smaller projects simultaneously, which reduces overall risk and will produce a steadier conversion of backlog or revenue. In power delivery, about $880 billion is expected to be spent by utilities in the U.S. and $100 billion in Canada over the next two decades. Matrix expects to be a key provider of these services. This is an area where projects can range from a few thousand dollars to multiple millions. And while we may not often make specific project announcements, our teams consistently bid and win multiple projects on a weekly basis. We enjoy a longstanding relationship with major utilities across the Northeast and expect to expand beyond this region through both organic growth and acquisitions. They are also adding to leadership base with national experience in electrical infrastructure to support growth ambitions. In storage solutions, we see infrastructure opportunities for crude oil, refined products, natural gas and natural gas liquids in both the U.S. and Canada as well as select projects in Latin America. Considering the planned build-out of additional pipeline systems across the U.S. and Canada, the demand for new and expanded storage terminals is anticipated to increase. As a recognized leader in the design, construction, maintenance and repair of storage tanks and terminals, we continue to see strong bid opportunities for both above ground storage tanks, specialty vessels and related balance of plant. Overall, while some projects have been delayed due to regulatory permitting or low commodity pricing I discussed earlier, we believe these delays are only temporary. The required infrastructure is integral to our customers’ long-term business plans to support both domestic energy demands as well as international export opportunities. In oil, gas and chemical, overall market sentiment remains cautious as crack spreads on gasoline and diesel have narrowed and refined products supply is at record levels results in refineries completing fewer major revamps and reducing capital expenditures. The number of turnarounds is consistent for the period where project scopes are being minimized. Generally, while refiners are holding down spending now, the maintenance work itself is inevitable. And as we have indicated on prior calls, ongoing delays may result in additional maintenance and repair work. However, the timing of the work remains uncertain. We expect plant maintenance to be slightly below normal for the rest of this calendar year, but we do anticipate that it will pick up significantly in early 2017, especially at the refiners along the Gulf Coast. We continue to add bench strength to our leadership team responsible for these areas and have also restructured some of our business units to allow for more seamless integrated project delivery model for our customers. We are pleased with our current market position, which is creating the opportunity to expand the geographic reach of this business and remain opportunistic about our project pipeline and anticipate new awards to be forthcoming. In our industrial segment, low commodity pricing continues to impact iron and steel industries as it is does mining and minerals. That said, we are seeing signs of improvement related to maintenance work in the iron and steel market, but their capital construction opportunities are still limited. Our work supporting the U.S. fertilizer industry is also accounted for in this segment. The outlook for this work is stronger due to the fundamental changes happening to this industry, over three decades ago rising natural gas prices and price volatility results in the North American fertilizer manufacturing moving offshore. Now with the low cost of natural gas, developers see an opportunity to bring this production back. Our work at the Orascom project was substantially completed in fiscal 2016. And today, we have begun work on the 20,000 ton ammonia tank for a new Greenfield fertilizer facility in Nebraska taking into our backlog in just in July. The press release will be forthcoming. Other opportunities are going to delay due to difficult in securing financing and off-take agreements remain. While we believe the long-term opportunities in this segment remains positive, especially given our strong brand position, in the interim, we are focusing on minimizing costs while maximizing resource utilization and cross business synergies. In summary, we begin the new fiscal year with a solid backlog and the company has forthcoming project award with significant opportunities in the pipeline. Our employees continue to provide quality service and leadership resulting in our position as a top tier contractor in the markets we serve. With that, I will turn the call over to Kevin to discuss fourth quarter and full year financial results.