Philip J. Hawk
Analyst · Stephen's Inc
Thanks, Ted. Let me add a couple of additional comments to Ted's summary. We are off to a good start in this fiscal year, and we remain on track with respect to our full year performance expectations and previously issued earnings guidance. As Ted indicated, total revenues for the quarter were $161 million, up about $20 million. We are delighted with our 14% revenue growth in this quarter, especially considering that we are comparing to a very strong first quarter last year, which was itself, up 35% versus the prior year quarter. Let's now discuss a more detailed review of our revenue results by geographic segment and by service line over the past 2 years, which both highlight the sources of our recent growth, as well as the impact of our strong growth in the prior year quarter. On a regional basis, the U.S. was the primary source of our revenue growth this quarter, with a growth rate of over 20% versus 18% last year. Other regions had weaker growth rates due primarily to the very strong comps to last year's first quarter. For instance, Canadian revenues were up 4% this quarter, but they had increased 77% in the comparable quarter last year. Our Eurasia region experienced a slight decline in revenues this quarter that compares to a 57% quarterly growth last year. On a service line basis, a similar growth picture exists. Inspection and assessment service revenues grew more than 40% in the first quarter versus 25% in the prior year quarter. Turnaround services were flat this year but that compares to a 75% growth rate last year. Our expectations of Team's overall revenue growth rate for our full year are roughly comparable to our overall first quarter rate in the 10% to 15% range. However, we do expect the mix of growth for the full year to be more similar to the relative growth rates we achieved over the past couple of years. On a geographic basis, we expect balanced overall growth from all major regions. On a service line basis, we expect 5% to 10% growth in on stream services, with 10% to 20% growth in turnaround services and 20%-plus growth in inspection and assessment services. Let's now shift the discussion to operating profit performance. As Ted indicated, Team achieved record first quarter net income, up about 11% from last year. This is a solid start for the year. Similar to our discussion of revenues, our strong profit growth in the prior year quarter also made for some tough comparisons as well. As examples, while operating profit for the quarter was 9% higher than last year, it was 91% higher than the first quarter results 2 years ago. Similarly, while the 7.9% operating profit margin was slightly below last year's 8.3% level. It was well ahead of the 6.4% profit margin achieved in the first quarter 2 years ago. The source of the decline in the operating profit margin versus last year is a 0.8 percentage point decline in gross margin, partially offset by an improved SG&A expense ratio as a percentage of revenue. We do not believe this quarter's lower gross margin is indicative of any trend, but rather, it reflects the composite impact of project mix and activity distribution across our service network. We expect comparable gross margins and improved operating profit margins over the course of our full fiscal year compared to last year. We maintain a positive view of our markets and our growth prospects. As a reminder, the seasonally most active quarters for our business are the second and fourth quarters when the bulk of customers' turnaround activity takes place. We expect normal turnaround and project activity levels within the U.S. this fall and above-normal activity levels in the spring. In Canada, we expect very active above normal project and turnaround activity for the remainder of our year, and we expect stable market conditions in our service territories in both Europe and the rest of the world. As a reminder, Team's growth prospects are not primarily driven by the growth of our markets. Instead, Team's growth is mainly the result of market share growth opportunities from our expanding service presence, service capabilities and the inherent advantages from our large service network. Reflecting the good start to our year and our positive outlook, we are affirming our current full fiscal year earnings forecast of $1.85 to $2 per fully diluted share. As mentioned in our earnings release, we are pleased to report that we acquired 2 small companies in the past couple of months that extend Team's presence and capabilities in interesting related markets. In August, Team's subsidiary, Quest Integrity Group, acquired a specialty remote digital video inspection company based in New Zealand. The company's involved both with the upfront engineering of new facilities to accommodate remote inspection approaches, as well as with providing remote inspection services. While our near-term opportunities will be primarily in the Eastern Hemisphere, the company has strong relationships with several major energy companies, which could provide the basis for future expansion in other geographic markets. On Monday, we completed the acquisition of TCI Services, a Tulsa, Oklahoma-based company, specializing in the inspection and repair of above-ground storage tanks. While Team has participated to a minor extent in this segment historically, TCI provides Team with industry-leading capabilities in this large market segment. The aging of the existing tank infrastructure, as well as the projected future growth due to dramatically changing pipeline and storage network within North America, we are excited to have a very strong base from which we expect to build and expand our presence in this segment. On a combined basis, the trailing 12-month revenues of these 2 companies are approximately $24 million. Combined EBITDA for the 2 companies are approximately $4 million. Total purchase consideration is expected to be about $25 million, subject to working capital true-ups and future performance of the businesses. While these acquisitions will be modestly accretive in the near term, our primary interest and focus is the opportunity to drive additional organic growth by extending these new capabilities across the Team network or to use the combination of our new and existing capabilities to provide higher value services to our customers. In sum, we are delighted with our new Team colleagues. To wrap up, we are pleased with our start to this new fiscal year. It reflects the continued positive business momentum and the attractive market opportunities available to us. We continue to believe we are very well positioned going forward. That now concludes my remarks, Janeda, so let's now open it up for questions.