Nick Swyka
Analyst · Piper Sandler
Thank you, John and good morning, everyone. During the first quarter, our business grew across all segments, benefited by organic growth, pricing improvements and strategic acquisitions. As John mentioned, revenue increased by 16% quarter-over-quarter with each segment reaching revenue levels not seen since the third quarter of 2019. Additionally, we expanded margins and delivered positive net income. We saw a positive monthly trajectory through the quarter while our $295 million of first quarter revenue increased $40 million from the fourth quarter and $90 million from the third. Cost inflation remains a challenge. But overall, we are finding success in our ongoing integration efforts and pricing discussions. Gross margin for the company improved from 7% to 8.4% and adjusted EBITDA increased from $26.4 million to $32.2 million. Net income of $8 million was slightly below last quarter's $11.2 million due to lower other income related to bargain purchase price gains from recent acquisition. Free cash flow of negative $20.5 million reflected a substantial working capital build of $44.9 million during the quarter due to increasing revenue and acquisitions, most notably Nuverra which closed in late February. Other significant uses of cash included $18.8 million for the retirement of Nuverra's debt obligations, $16.4 million for open market share repurchases, $5.6 million in total deal cost from expenses related to our acquisitions, as well as the closing of our sustainability-linked asset-backed lending facility, $3.5 million of partnership investments and net CapEx of just $3.4 million. Ultimately, we finished the quarter with a cash balance of $27.4 million, no bank debt and approximately $215 million of total liquidity. As we look forward, we anticipate substantial positive free cash flow over the remainder of the year, as integration cost diminish, working capital levels normalize and adjusted EBITDA continues to grow. With about $15 million of gross CapEx during the first quarter, we continued to invest in new recycling facilities and gathering pipelines, among other core business assets that are identifying and liquidating substantial redundant or underutilized equipment and real estate to do so. In Q1, we monetized just over $12 million in asset sales, much of which came from our acquisitions. We've been able to streamline our operations, while capitalizing on very strong retail markets, particularly for rolling stock and real estate, allowing us to reallocate capital to our high return opportunities. On the financing front, we were pleased to close on an amended $270 million sustainability-linked asset-backed lending facility, extending the term by an additional five years. We appreciate the partnership with our lending institutions and structuring what we believe is a first-of-its-kind facility in the oilfield service industry. With this agreement, we've taken on additional accountability in regards to water recycling and employee safety, with financial incentives and penalties applicable to both. We intend to at least double our volumes of recycled water provided over the next five years and substantially outperformed the industry and our employee safety performance. Employee safety has long been a core value of our company with accountability applied throughout our management compensation structure. While water recycling alleviates demand for freshwater sources and water-stressed regions, as well as limiting waste disposal, which is particularly important in areas with seismicity concerns. While these two priorities are part of the core foundation of our approach to sustainability, we are excited about many of our other near-term sustainability initiatives, including additional technology, emissions reduction and green chemistry R&D investments. We've also begun tracking and publicly reporting many other metrics in our inaugural corporate sustainability report, which, as John mentioned was published last week. I would encourage everyone listening to access the report from the sustainability section on our website and we welcome any feedback you have as we continue our sustainability journey. As the industry continues its strong recovery and our earnings improve, we renewed our shareholder capital returns program with open market repurchases of 2.3 million shares for $16.4 million. An additional 362,000 shares were repurchased for $2.5 million as part of annual tax-related vesting activity that took place during the quarter. We expect these higher earnings to translate to higher sustained free cash flow in the coming quarters, which would provide increased opportunity to allocate more funds to shareholder returns and evaluate new or expanded options to apply to this program. Finally, before moving into segment guidance, I'll touch on our strategic M&A activities. There is no doubt that our 2021 acquisitions contributed meaningfully to the bottom line this quarter and we have confidence the legacy Nuverra operations will soon as well as we consolidate them into our systems and operations. We are removing duplicative costs and inefficiencies, while we initiate highly accretive and targeted investments around much of the acquired infrastructure. We still expect to complete the bulk of our integration and consolidation efforts by the end of the summer, which should drive further profitability over the course of the year. Looking at the segments individually, the Water Services segment grew its revenues by 16% in the first quarter to $164 million, while advancing gross margins to just over 16%. Carefully increased fuel pricing through the quarter especially leading up to and following the Russian invasion of Ukraine was a significant headwind. However, we were able to put it in place pricing adjustments to recapture much of this going forward by the end of the quarter. Looking forward to the second quarter, we expect 8% to 12% revenue growth for this segment with some continued modest improvements to margins resulting from integration efficiencies and pricing improvements. Water Infrastructure revenue grew by 25% to $59 million in the first quarter as recycled volumes increased through recently constructed facilities in our New Mexico pipelines reported meaningful growth. However, gross margin slipped slightly to 24% as integration efforts, as well as maintenance upgrades and other investments around acquired infrastructure necessitated taking some facilities offline for periods of time, while winter weather impacted some operations especially in the Bakken. Second quarter is typically seasonally weaker in the Bakken. However, the full quarter contribution of Nuverra assets coupled with the return to service to some upgraded facilities should increase the segment's revenues in the second quarter by 5% to 10% with increased gross margins in the mid-to-high 20% range. Additionally, our recent business development effort should continue to drive revenue improvements over the coming quarters as new projects and expansions are brought online. The Oilfield Chemicals segment consolidated its recent market share gains with a revenue increase of 7.5%, while growing gross margins nearly 200 basis points to 14.4%. Raw materials costs and supply chain disruptions remain significant challenges. However, our team has been quite successful at dynamically adjusting pricing as quickly as terms have permitted. In spite of these challenges, we expect the local Chemicals segment to demonstrate generally stable financial performance in the second quarter relative to the first, with modest room for upside. Looking at SG&A, acquisition-related costs accounted for about $3.6 million of our total SG&A of $28.3 million during the first quarter. Absent another major transaction, we anticipate transaction and integration-related costs will decline in the coming quarters. For the remainder of 2022, SG&A should settle modestly lower between this quarter's total and the $25.2 million of SG&A reported in the fourth quarter of 2021. Our continued strong growth at minimal levels of net CapEx demonstrates the value of our recent acquisitions and operational leverage of our asset-light business model. While our pipeline of high-return investment opportunities remains robust, the speed and success with which we have monetized acquired or redundant assets to date at attractive valuations, while increasing our revenues and margins enables us to lower our 2022 net CapEx guidance from $50 million to $70 million to $45 million to $60 million. Generating robust free cash flow will be our top priority for the remainder of 2022. This level of targeted net CapEx when combined with continued pricing and activity growth and a reduction of working capital needs amid continuing integration efforts provides us with additional opportunities to build on our recent allocation of funds for shareholder returns. In addition to cash flow and return of capital, we are also intently focused on return on capital and anticipate continuing to generate solid positive net income in 2022. We've made considerable progress in consolidating strategic assets at attractive valuations, while bolstering liquidity and diversifying our earnings capabilities. Select is a recognized leader in providing sustainable water and chemical solutions and we seek to convert this leadership into sustained, enhanced valuations for our investors through disciplined investing in capital management. Thank you. And with that, we'll open it up to questions. Operator?