Chris DeAlmeida
Analyst · Stevens. Your line is now open
Thank you, Mark and thanks again for joining us. For the first quarter, 2015 we reported a net loss of approximately $258,000 or $0.01 per diluted share. This compares with a net loss of $210,000 or $0.01 per diluted share in the prior year period. During the quarter, the company elected to accelerate divesting of certain stock compensation grants, our former Chief Operating Officer who passed away during the quarter. Excluding the one-time expense related for this acceleration, results for the quarter would have been breakeven. First quarter 2015 contract revenue was $81.5 million of which 53% was generated from the federal, state and local government agencies while 47% was generated from the private sector. This compares to the 40% being generated from the federal, state and local government agencies and 60% from the private sector in the prior year period. First quarter 2015 gross margin was 10.4% or $8.5 million, which compares to gross margin in the prior year period of 9.4% or $7.6 million. The improvement on our gross margin is attributable to both incremental bid margin improvement and a change in the mix of work performed during the quarter, which was offset by certain jobs that experienced higher than expected cost, which we're hopeful will result in additional revenue in the future. It is our belief that we will continue to see slowly improving bid pricing throughout the year. During the first quarter of 2015, we bid out approximately $320 million of opportunities and were successful on approximately $75 million. This resulted in a 23% win rate for the quarter and a book-to-bill of 0.92 times. SG&A expense for the first quarter of 2015 was $8.7 million, which compares to $8 million in the prior year period. The year-over-year increase was primarily attributable to stock-based compensation expense. Finally, our tax rate for the quarter was 38% which was in line with historical norms and our full year expectations. Turning to the balance sheet, as on March 31, 2015, we had approximately $34 million of cash on hand, which compares to approximately $39 million of cash on hand at the end of the last year. At the end of the quarter, we had access to $11.4 million under our revolver and total debt outstanding of $33 million. Our credit agreement expires in June and we're currently working with our -- working on a new agreement with our lender to meet our future capital needs. Additionally, our bonding programs remains solid and it is more than adequate to support our bid activities. We continue to enjoy excellent relationships with both our lender and our surety. As part of our capital allocation strategy, we continue to execute on our stock repurchase program. So far this year through our 10b-5 plan, we have purchased approximately 238,000 shares totaling $2.1 million. As we go forward, we will remain opportunistic with regard to our share repurchases. However, the specific timing and the amount of actual future share repurchases if any will vary based on our capital needs, market conditions, security law limitations and other factors. Cash flow from operations for the quarter was $5.5 million as compared to $6.5 million in the prior year period. EBITDA for the first quarter of 2015 was $5.3 million on an EBITDA margin of 6.5%, which compares to EBITDA of $5.4 million on EBITDA margin of 6.6% in the prior year period. Our free cash flow for the first quarter of 2015 was negative $460,000 which compares to a positive $3.4 million in the prior year period. We define free cash flow as EBITDA less CapEx. Our free cash flow was lower during the first quarter of 2015 as a result of the timing of certain CapEx projects this year versus the prior year period. As a reminder, we expect full year 2015 CapEx to be in the mid teens. Overall, we're pleased with the financial health of the company and we're focused on maintaining a solid financial position and returning value to shareholders. As we look ahead, we continue to have a solid bid market. As of March 31, 2015, we had backlog of work under contract of $208.5 million of which 16% is for federal projects, 14% is for state projects, 52% is for local projects and 18% is in the private sector. Additionally, we continue to have -- we currently have a record $374 million worth of bids outstanding of which we've been notified that we're the apparent low bidder on approximately $37 million. Of the $374 million of bids outstanding, approximately 64% are for private sector clients and 36% are in the public sector. As Mark said, we're hopeful that we will begin to see awards on these opportunities soon with construction beginning in the second half of 2015. However, the exact timing of awards can fluctuate based on several factors, which can impact the amount we bid on and our win rate in any given period. We believe the level of bids outstanding highlights the robust market we have and this combined with our backlog and projects we're tracking gives us optimism about 2015 and beyond Additionally, we continue to see pockets of bid pricing improvement. Going forward, we'll continue to test margins upward when appropriate. Given our solid level of backlog our focus remains on improving margins and getting back to our historical norms. As Mark mentioned, we do faced some near term challenges in regard to utilization in the second quarter as a result of slower lettings from the Corps of Engineers and the timing of anticipated awards for work floated that we now expect to begin in the second half of 2015. As a result we will have gaps between projects during the second quarter, which will pressure Q2 margins. However, we believe this is a timing issue and we remain excited about our opportunities for growth. Specifically, we anticipate to see the majority of the delayed opportunities from the core to be led in our third quarter, which should bode well for the remainder of the year. In conclusion, continued strength in the private sector, opportunities from local port authorities to expand our water side infrastructure and an encouraging project list from the Corps of Engineers should provide opportunities for good asset utilization in the second half of 2015. Beyond 2015, our market drivers remain strong which should lead to continued high demand for our services. Further we believe we are well positioned to meet this high demand with the right talent and equipment, also as Mark mentioned, we continue to explore acquisition opportunities to further expand and grow our business. We are excited about the road ahead and we believe Orion with a strong future with opportunities for continued growth. With that I will turn the call back to Drew to begin the Q&A portion of the call. Drew?