George Ball
Analyst · Truist Securities
Thank you, Carey. Today, I will organize my remarks into the following five key areas: the income statement, cash flow results, balance sheet, contract awards and 2021 guidance. As Chuck and Carey described, our 2020 performance was highlighted by our ongoing margin expansion, overall sound program performance and the benefits of reduced operating expenses, resulting in record adjusted EBITDA and associated margins. In addition, we also delivered record operating cash flow of $289 million. For the full-year, total revenue declined by 1% and was impacted by the aforementioned COVID-19 -. Excluding this impact, total revenue grew by 4%, of which 3% was organic. Federal Solutions growth, excluding COVID, was 8%, of which 6% was organic and Critical Infrastructure revenue grew 1%, excluding COVID, all of which was organic. Adjusted EBITDA margin for the year increased 50 basis points, driven by a 120 basis point expansion in Critical Infrastructure, primarily as a result of increased contract profitability. Federal Solutions' adjusted EBITDA margin decreased 20 basis points as a result of loss fees associated with the CARES Act and higher IG&A costs driven by increased allocations and public company costs. Regarding the details of our fourth quarter financial results, total revenue for the fourth quarter decreased 7% from the prior year period. Excluding $45 million of adverse impact from COVID, total revenue and revenue for both segments decreased 3%. Primary driver of this total net revenue decline, excluding COVID, was a decrease in pass-through revenue and contract transitions. I should also note that fourth quarter 2019 was an all-time record high. Indirect G&A expenses decreased $8 million from the fourth quarter of 2019, driven by lower compensation costs related to pre-IPO equity-based programs. Fourth quarter 2020 adjusted EBITDA of $90 million increased $2 million from last year, and adjusted EBITDA margin increased 90 basis points to 9.4%. These increases were driven primarily by increased contract profitability, offset by the $11 million write-down on an unconsolidated JV that Chuck described in his earlier remarks. I will turn now to our operating segments, starting first with Federal Solutions, where fourth quarter revenue decreased by $46 million or 9% year-over-year. Excluding $32 million in COVID impact, total revenue decreased 3% and 5% organically. These net decreases were driven by lower pass-through revenue and contract transitions, offset by $10 million of acquisition revenue. Federal Solutions adjusted EBITDA was relatively flat from the fourth quarter of 2019. However, our adjusted EBITDA margin increased 80 basis points to 9.3%, resulting from increased contract profitability. And now a few words regarding our Critical Infrastructure segment. Fourth quarter revenue decreased $27 million or 5% from the prior year period. This decrease was driven by $13 million from COVID impacts and lower volume on contracts with pass-through revenue. Critical Infrastructure adjusted EBITDA increased by $3 million or 6% year-over-year, and our adjusted EBITDA margin increased 100 basis points to 9.4%. These increases were primarily driven by increased overall contract profitability. Next, I will discuss cash flow and balance sheet metrics. Our net DSO at the end of the year was 64-days compared to 55-days at the end of 2019 and 69-days at the end of Q3 2020. Operating cash flow totaled $176 million for the quarter and $280 million for the year, driven by strong collections in both segments. We also benefited from income and payroll tax deferrals, totaling approximately $9 million and $35 million for the quarter and full-year, respectively. As noted earlier by Chuck, our balance sheet remains very healthy. We ended the quarter with a net debt leverage ratio of 0.3 times and closed the quarter with more than $500 million of undrawn capacity on our revolver. Regarding awards, we reported a book-to-bill ratio of 1.1 times for both the fourth quarter and full-year. Our backlog at the end of the fourth quarter totaled $8.1 billion, representing approximately two-years annual revenue. Now let's turn to our guidance. For 2021, we expect revenue to be between $3.85 billion and $4.05 billion. Our adjusted EBITDA is expected to be between $350 million and $375 million with a margin of approximately 9.2% at the midpoint of our revenue and adjusted EBITDA guidance ranges. This represents margin expansion of approximately 50 basis points from 2020 and 230 basis points from 2018. Our cash flow from operating activities is expected to be between $280 million and $310 million. Free cash flow conversion is expected to remain above 100% of adjusted net income. From a timing perspective, as it relates to revenue and adjusted EBITDA, we expect the first quarter to be our lowest quarter of the year and follow last year's historical pattern of down approximately 5% to 10% sequentially from Q4 2020, with a similar adjusted EBITDA margin as Q1 2020. From Q1 onward, we again expect sequential improvements through Q3 and then down sequentially in Q4. From a free cash flow perspective, we expect typical seasonality throughout the year with negative operating cash flow in Q1 and then sequential improvements as we move through the balance of the year. Other key assumptions in connection with our 2021 guidance are outlined on Slide 10, in today's PowerPoint presentation, located on our Investor Relations website. With that, I will turn the call over to Chuck.