クエスト・リソース・ホールディングス（QRHC）2026年第3四半期決算説明会：EBITDAと利益率が改善

主要ポイント

• 2026年第3四半期の売上高は6,380万ドルとなり、前年同期比で約1%増加、前期比ではほぼ横ばいとなった。非産業分野の成長が産業分野の取扱量減少を補った。
• 売上総利益は1,140万ドルと前年同期比でほぼ横ばいだったものの、第2四半期比では約10%増加した。売上総利益率は前年同期の18.1%に対し、前期の16.3%から17.8%へと前期比で改善した。
• 調整後EBITDAは、2025年第3四半期の290万ドル、2026年第2四半期の280万ドルから340万ドルへと増加した。GAAPベースの純損失は前年同期の130万ドルから50万ドルへと縮小した。
• 顧客獲得やウォレットシェアの拡大による純新規事業が前年同期比で約170万ドルの増収に寄与した一方、一部の産業向け顧客による約120万ドルの減少によって一部相殺された。
• 年初来の営業キャッシュフローは440万ドルに達し、Quest社はほぼ同額を高金利のタームローンの削減に充当した。年初来の支払利息は約9%減少した。
• 経営陣は季節要因により第4四半期の売上高と売上総利益が前期比で減少すると見込んでいるものの、売上総利益および売上総利益率は前年同期比で堅調に増加すると予想している。

主要財務データ

事業および業績動向

クエスト・リソース・ホールディングス（Quest Resource Holdings Corporation）によると、2026年第3四半期は事業ポートフォリオのバランスが一段と向上した。産業向け売上高は小幅に軟化したものの、複数の産業向け顧客において利益率が改善した。非産業向けポートフォリオは、外食、小売、ホスピタリティなどの市場全体で前期比で拡大した。

経営陣によると、同社は条件の譲歩を行うことなく顧客4社との契約を更新した。当四半期中に大幅なウォレットシェア拡大の成約はなかったものの、小規模な追加契約は継続しており、経営陣はウォレットシェアのパイプラインは健全であると説明した。

利益率の改善は広範に及んだ。その主な要因として、規律ある価格設定、ベンダーネットワークの効率化、サービスレベルの最適化、ならびにQuest社の「ランド・アンド・エクスパンド」戦略のもとで新規獲得したアカウントの収益性向上が挙げられる。

販管費は前年同期比8%減の850万ドルとなった。同社が経費を削減し営業レバレッジを改善させたことで、年初来の販管費は16%減となり、500万ドル近いコスト削減を達成した。

Quest社は成長力の強化に向けた再投資を開始している。同社はプラットフォーム開発、データ機能、自動化、および大規模な全国アカウントの導入を支援するため、テクノロジー担当シニアバイスプレジデントにヴィグネシュ・ラル（Vignesh Lal）氏を任命した。

経営陣の業績見通し

経営陣は、特に産業向けポートフォリオにおいて、第4四半期特有の季節要因を見込んでいる。その結果、第4四半期の売上高と売上総利益は前期比で減少する見通しである。ただし、売上総利益および売上総利益率は前年同期比で堅調に拡大すると予想している。

Quest社は、顧客および最終市場の構成によって変動が生じる可能性があるものの、第3四半期に達成した前期比での利益率改善はある程度の範囲で持続可能であるとみている。一方、利益率の低い産業向けの取扱量が大幅に回復した場合、連結ベースの利益率の重荷となる可能性がある。

経営陣はまた、Quest社が営業、テクノロジー、成長分野に再投資するに伴い、2027年の販管費合計が小幅に増加すると予想している。同社は、効率化と新規事業の獲得を通じてその増加分の大半を相殺することを目指している。

大手ナショナルブランドとの複数の商談が最終段階にあると説明された。これらの案件は、小売、外食、ホスピタリティ、レストラン、運輸、物流などの非産業分野におけるものである。経営陣は、成約に至る時期の予測は依然として難しいとしつつも、次の四半期に一部の獲得案件を発表できることへの期待を示した。

リスクと注視点

• 第4四半期の季節要因により売上高と売上総利益が前期比で減少すると予想されており、産業向けの顧客基盤において最も大きな影響が出るとみられる。
• 産業向けの取扱量は依然としてばらつきがあり、一部の産業向け顧客が引き続き前年同期比での売上総利益率の押し下げ要因となっている。
• 営業プロセスの複雑さから、大規模なナショナルアカウント案件の成約時期は依然として不透明である。
• ディーゼル燃料価格の高止まりや地政学的な出来事がコスト圧力となる可能性がある。Quest社は、これまでの影響は限定的であり、必要に応じて契約に基づき一部のコストを価格転嫁できると説明した。
• 顧客3社における一時的な支払い障害の影響により、DSOは約71日高止まりした。経営陣はこの問題は解決済みであるとし、DSOを60日台半ばとする短期目標を維持した。

アナリストQ&Aの主なポイント

ナショナルアカウントのパイプライン：経営陣は、非産業分野における複数の大規模案件が営業プロセスの最終段階にあると述べた。同社はパイプラインに引き続き自信を持っているものの、成約時期の予測については明言を避けた。

利益率の持続可能性：Quest社は、第3四半期の利益率改善の要因として、価格設定、ベンダーネットワークの最適化、業務効率化、および新規アカウントの利益率向上を挙げた。経営陣は、事業ミックスによる影響はあるものの、これらの改善効果はある程度の範囲で継続すると見込んでいる。

成長投資：同社は事業基盤を強化する間、業績不振の営業人員の入れ替えを意図的に遅らせていた。現在、経営陣は成長およびテクノロジー関連のリソースを追加する計画であり、自動化と新規ビジネスによって追加コストの大半が相殺されると見込んでいる。

債権回収とキャッシュフロー：経営陣は、当四半期の回収遅延について、信用リスクの懸念ではなく顧客側の一時的な業務上の問題であると説明した。これらの障害がなければ、DSOは目標である60日台半ばに達していた可能性が高いとQuest社は述べた。

決算説明会トランスクリプト（全文）

決算説明会の完全なトランスクリプト

経営陣による説明

Operator

Good day and welcome to the Quest Resource Holdings Corporation third quarter 2026 earnings conference call. Participants will be in listen-only mode and the conference is being recorded. Should you need assistance, please signal an operator by pressing the star key followed by the zero. today's presentation there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To join the question queue you may press star then one on your telephone keypad. To withdraw your question, please press star then two. I would now like to turn the conference over to Nick Nelson, Investor Relations for Quest. Please go ahead.

Nick Nelson

Thank you, Operator, and thank you, everyone, for joining us for Quest Resources' third quarter 2026 earnings call. Before we begin, I'd like to remind everyone that this conference call may contain predictions, estimates, and other forward-looking statements regarding future events or future performance of the company. Use of words like anticipate, Project, estimate, expect, intend, believe, and other similar expressions are intended to identify those forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are based on the company's current expectations, estimates, projections, beliefs, and assumptions and involve significant risks and uncertainties. The actual events or the company's results could differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, which are discussed in greater detail in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such statements and to consult SEC filings for additional risks and uncertainties. The company's forward-looking statements are presented as of the date made and the company undertakes no obligation to update such statements unless required by law to do so.

In addition, this call may include industry and market data and other statistical information, as well as the company's observations and views about industry conditions and developments. The data and information are based on the company's estimates, independent publications, government publications, and reports by market research firms and other stakeholders. sources. Although Quest believes these sources are reliable and the data and other information are accurate, we caution that Quest has not independently verified the reliability of the sources or the accuracy of the information. Certain non-GAAP financial measures will be disclosed during this call. These non-GAAP measures are used by management to make strategic decisions, forecast future results, and evaluate the company's current performance. Management believes the presentation of these non-GAAP financial measures is useful to investors' understanding and assessment of the company's ongoing core operations and prospects for the future. Unless it is stated otherwise, it should be assumed that any financials discussed in this call will be on a non-GAAP basis.

Full reconciliations of non-GAAP to GAAP financial measures are included in today's earnings release. With that, I'd like to turn the call over to Perry Moss, Chief Executive Officer.

Unknown Speaker

Thanks, Nick, and thanks, everyone, for joining this afternoon. Our third quarter results reflect the progress we've been making in building a more balanced and diversified business. Improved performance across our broader portfolio, combined with the continued benefits of our operational excellence initiatives drove adjusted EBITDA growth both sequentially and compared to the prior year. While revenue was relatively flat, gross profit increased sequentially and flowed through to the bottom line. incredibly proud of the entire Quest team for staying focused on what we can control. We're pleased with the quarter and will stay disciplined as we move into a seasonally softer period. Through the first half of the year, our progress came from two sources, stabilizing volumes within our industrial portfolio and growing contributions from new customer wins and wallet share expansions, many of them outside the industrial sector. In the third quarter, our performance was more balanced.

Industrial revenues softened modestly, which led to the slight sequential decline in total revenue, but we saw meaningful margin improvement with several of our industrial customers. Meanwhile, the non-industrial portion of our portfolio grew sequentially and continues to perform across markets like food service, retail, hospitality, and more. That's exactly the type of balance our diversification strategy is designed to deliver, and it is encouraging to see it in our results. During the quarter, we renewed contracts with four customers. These renewals reflect the value we deliver and the trust we've built, and those relationships make it easier to grow with our customers and continue to expand share of wallet across the portfolio. Over the past year, we've also onboarded several new customers outside the industrial sector. As those accounts and our recent wallet share expansions mature, they contribute to both revenue and margin.

We are optimistic about our sales pipeline and trends so far in October have been consistent with our expectations. Several of our discussions with large national brands are now well advanced. A number of them in markets where Quest doesn't operate today and winning them would add another counterweight to industrial seasonality. Adding brands of this caliber would also bring additional credibility in the market as we pursue other national accounts. While While the timing of the conversion is difficult to predict, we believe our value is being recognized more broadly than ever. Gross margin was 17.8% in the quarter, a meaningful step up from the second quarter. This improvement was driven by ongoing optimization of our service network. disciplined pricing and maturing margins from recently onboarded accounts, and several of our industrial customers contributed to it.

Compared to the prior year, gross margin was down slightly from 18.1%, reflecting margin pressure from certain industrial customers that was partially offset by improvements across the rest of the business. We believe the drivers behind our sequential improvement can be sustained, and we'll keep working to build on them. Operationally, we continue to execute well, and our operational excellence initiatives are delivering real results across the business. Brett and his team continue to do a terrific job optimizing our cost structure and improving our cash cycle, and he'll walk through those details shortly. On the cost side, diesel prices remain elevated amid ongoing geopolitical events, but the impact on our results has been limited to date. While we've seen attempts to push through surcharges, we've been successful at fighting them on behalf of our customers. As a reminder, our contract structure continues to allow us to pass through certain costs where needed.

Having made significant progress building a more efficient operating foundation, we are now investing in our team and capabilities to capture the opportunities in front of us. We recently welcomed Vignesh Lal as our Senior Vice President of Technology. Vignesh is a technology leader who already knows our business well, and we're thrilled to have him on the team. We're excited about what this addition will bring as we continue to enhance our technology platform and the data capabilities we deliver to our clients, and strengthening our ability to scale as we add larger national accounts. Looking ahead, we remain cautiously optimistic about our customer portfolio, though we're mindful of the typical fourth quarter seasonality, which is most pronounced within our industrial base. We believe the continued growth and diversification of our non-industrial business will help counterbalance these dynamics. As we head into the fourth quarter, we'll stay focused on converting our pipeline into new wins, expanding share of wallet with existing customers, building on this quarter's margin gains, and continuing to strengthen cash generation and our balance sheet.

With that, I'd like to turn the call over to Brett to review our third quarter financial results in greater detail.

Brett Johnston

Brett? Thanks, Perry, and good afternoon, everyone. Revenue for the third quarter was $63.8 million, a slight increase of approximately 1% from one year ago. essentially flat compared to the sequential second quarter. The year-over-year increase was primarily driven by net new business of approximately $1.7 million from new client wins and wallet share expansions with existing customers. This was partially offset by a decline of approximately $1.2 million in revenue from certain clients in the industrial end market. Sequentially, solid growth across the broader non-industrial portion of the portfolio brought offset by softer industrial volumes. Coming into the quarter, we had expected another quarter of sequential revenue growth, which we achieved across the majority of our business, but the improved industrial volumes from Q1 to Q2 did not carry over into Q3. While revenue was slightly softer than we expected, we continued to do a nice job driving margins and profitability.

In the third quarter, gross profit dollars totaled 11.4 million, essentially flat compared to the prior year, but sequentially up approximately 10%. This resulted in a gross margin of 17.8% compared to 18.1% in the prior year. and up sharply from 16.3% sequentially. The slight year-over-year decline in gross profit dollars and gross margin is isolated to margin pressure with select industrial clients. This was partially offset by improved gross profit across the remainder of the business, where our operating initiatives and wallet share expansion continue to take hold. Sequentially, we saw meaningful and broad-based margin improvements across most of the portfolio from the ongoing optimization initiatives. Looking ahead to the fourth quarter, we would anticipate gross profit and margin to be up solidly compared to the prior year. However, it is a good time to remind everyone that our business does experience seasonality in Q4.

So sequentially, revenue and gross profit will decline. However, we will be well-positioned entering 2027 as we build off the momentum gained in 2026. Over time, we'll continue to support our margin profile by focusing on what we can control. growing in non-industrial markets, optimizing service levels across the portfolio, Winning incremental wallet share with existing customers. And executing our land and expand strategy to grow margin levels at recently onboarded accounts. Moving on to SG&A, which came in at $8.5 million, amounting to an 8% reduction compared to the prior year. The year-over-year decrease was driven by lower bad debt expense and facility rent. as well as the accumulation of cost savings initiatives across multiple departments. On a sequential basis, SG&A was up modestly from the second quarter, primarily due to higher business expenses during the period.

Year-to-date, SG&A is down 16% compared to the prior year, which amounts to almost 5 million in cost reductions as we have right-sized the business and improved operating leverage. Looking forward, we do expect that total SG&A will likely be up slightly next year as we begin to reinvest in growth. But we expect to offset much of that through additional efficiencies and new business wins, which will demonstrate improvements to our operating leverage. GAAP net loss for the quarter was $0.5 million, an improvement from a net loss of $1.3 million in the prior year. Adjusted EBITDA was $3.4 million, up from $2.9 million in the third quarter of 2025, and $2.8 million in the second quarter, reflecting the strong flow-through of our sequential profit gains. Moving on to a review of the cash flows and balance sheet. We ended the quarter with approximately $1 million in cash and approximately $17.4 million in availability on our ABL credit facility.

Cash used in operating activities was $0.3 million as of the third quarter, with the timing of collections with a few specific clients impacting the quarter. Year to date, we have generated $4.4 million of operating cash flow, which we have used to reduce the balance of our higher interest term debt by approximately the same $4.4 million. Debt reduction remains a key priority, and with interest expense already down roughly 9% year-to-date, Each payment further improves our cash generation in the future. Our DSOs finished the quarter at roughly 71, essentially flat with the second quarter, and our working capital days were also flat sequentially. During the quarter, we worked through three unique and short-term collection challenges with a few specific clients, including one large client that saw temporary payment interruptions as it brought its payment processing in-house. All of these three issues have since been resolved, however for the quarter, they led to a brief pause in our progress towards our previously stated target for DSO and largely masked the additional improvements in billing efficiencies and collection gains that were made across the rest of the portfolio. To reiterate, we remain confident in our path to our near-term DSO target of the mid-60s.

Overall, as Perry noted, we are encouraged by the more balanced performance across our portfolio. The organic initiatives we've taken to diversify the business and increase productivity across the organization are driving improved profitability. even as volumes from the industrial portions of portfolio remain uneven. Our financial priorities are unchanged, investing in our talent and growth opportunities, optimizing our cost structure, leveraging our operational excellence initiatives to drive cash flow, and paying down debt. On the cash cycle, we were able to quickly resolve the one-time issues, and we have already moved past this quarter's timing headwinds. We believe that positions us for stronger cash generation and further debt reduction as we close out the year and head into 2027. With that, I'll turn the call back over to Perry for some closing comments before we open it up for Q&A.

Unknown Speaker

Perry? Great. Thank you, Brad. In the third quarter, the more balanced and efficient business we've built delivered a sequential step-up in gross margin and adjusted EBITDA growth both year over year and sequentially. Looking ahead, we're encouraged by the quality of opportunities in our pipeline and the investments we're making in our team to capture them. While we remain mindful of a seasonality and the broader macro environment, we are cautiously optimistic that our increasingly diversified portfolio combined with the initiatives within our control, positions us for the future growth. With that, I'd like to turn the call over to our operator to move us to Q&A.

Operator

Thanks. Thank you. We'll now begin the question and answer session. To join the question queue, you may press star then one on your telephone keypad. If you're using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing any keys. If at any time your question has been answered and you'd like to withdraw from the queue, please press star then two. The first question is from Erin with Craig Hallam. Please go ahead.

質疑応答

Aaron Spychalla

Yes. Hi, Perry and Brett. It's Aaron Spahalo. Thanks for taking the questions. Maybe first, just on the pipeline, so it sounds like continued confidence, just tough to call timing, but some opportunities late stage. Could you maybe give a little bit more detail? You kind of talked about some new markets. You know, anything you can share there as you look to further diversify the end markets in the business?.

Unknown Speaker

Sure, I'll address that one, Aaron. So, you know, we're talking about some late-stage large national brands, and these large national brands are certainly a bit more complex to sell through. So, you know, when I refer to late stage, we are, it's about as late as we can get in the stage. And I don't want to get ahead of myself, but we, you know, we feel very confident and bullish about some of these opportunities that essentially are right on the goal line. Right. I can't predict when they'll convert, and I wouldn't attempt to, but we're right where we expect to be. And hopefully we'll be able to at least make some announcements next quarter.

Aaron Spychalla

All right. And, you know, any details you can give on, you know, where some of these end markets might be or, you know, just curious if there's any other color there. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker

So, you know, it's consistent with our strategy to continue to diversify our portfolio. I don't want to get too specific, but they're in non-industrial sectors. And as we have said, we're focused on retail, food service, hospitality, restaurants, transportation, and logistics. So they're all within those four categories.

Aaron Spychalla

Okay, great, thanks. And then on some of the contract renewals, Any kind of wallet share gains that are noteworthy there and didn't hear anything but any – you know, any concessions or kind of customer attrition that you might've seen there or anything?.

Unknown Speaker

Yeah, I mean, obviously we don't get specific on contracts. contract terms, but these, I will tell you the renewals did not did not come with concessions. So, we felt very good about it. What I think it reflected is the confidence that these customers have, both on our service execution and our model. And we continue to grow the business through share wallet opportunities. I didn't mention any this quarter. We didn't, you know, it's a timing issue. We didn't really close any what I would consider significant share of wallet in Q3.

While we did have some smaller opportunities, you know, added to the book of business. I won't mention every single share of wallet opportunity because some of them are pretty not material, but they reflect the confidence that our customers have in our service execution. So, you know, like the new sales pipeline, share of wallet pipeline is also looking really healthy.

Aaron Spychalla

Great, good, thanks for that, Collier. And then on the margin gains you saw in industrial, can you just talk about some of the drivers behind that and initiatives you had?.

Brett Johnston

have there where you're at with some of those. Yes. Hey, Aaron. This is Brett. I'll take that one. So as a reminder, what I think we were most excited about with the quarter is not just the gains in the industrial side. We really saw broad-based gains on margin across the portfolio. So that came with... some increased pricing, but through better efficiencies gained and some improvements on the vendor network side as well. So, it was really broad-based. Some of those industrial volumes are just the timing of bringing on additional performances to those clients. And we've talked about that in previous quarters that we would expect to see some margin improvements overall with those.

So, you know, just like Perry talked, it's just about executing what we've committed to.

Aaron Spychalla

Good. Thanks for the color. I'll turn it over.

Operator

Once again, if you have a question, please press star then 1. Next question is from Jerry Sweeney with Roth Capital. Please go ahead.

Gerard Sweeney

Good afternoon, Brett and Perry. Thanks for taking my call. Yes. Just to follow up on the margin side, it sounds as though these gains are sustainable, all things being equal. I mean, obviously, pricing is pricing. You're working with your vendors, you're optimizing that, and then I guess there's probably some internal efficiencies. But suffice to say, these are sustainable improvements.

Brett Johnston

Yes, Jerry, and the other thing I did mention is what we talked about all along is the land and expand approach, right? Get in. Those margins are going to be lower over time. So that's another factor that's played into this margin improvement that we've made across this year is optimizing that book of business. that new book of business that we brought online. But certainly, we look at this more confidently from a margin standpoint. There's always going to be mix. We've talked about if industrial volumes come back meaningfully, those can weigh down overall margins. But we've got some mix things on the other side that can help bring those up as well.

So we do, we are confident within a range, these margins continuing.

Gerard Sweeney

Got it. The other aspect is, I mean, you did highlight maybe next year going into, like, re-enrollment. investment mode. And, you know, I, with the sales pipeline and everything else, Yes, was that a little bit of a hindrance in driving sales in the short term as you were a little bit more focused on expenses? And adding to that group, would that potentially accelerate some sales or help uncork that? What should we think about on that front? Yes.

Unknown Speaker

Yes, that's a really good question, Jerry. And I would tell you that this was really part of our strategy. I don't know if you recall the very first earnings call I was on, but I made a comment and I said, you know, if you have water trickling through a pipe, you probably don't see any. any leaks, but once you pressurize the pipe, that's when the leaks will spring. And it came at a time when we onboarded a number of customers. So, you know, our intention was to build a strong foundation and an efficient foundation before we pressurize that pipe again. So partly to address the cost reduction initiatives that we had, there were, you know, we had some sales, sales resources that just weren't performing. So, you know, we moved them out and we intentionally did not replace them.

So we kept our best team in place. Yes. So, you know, we now have a very sound foundation. We've got our processes defined. We can take on that new business So there's a lot of things at play. So, yes, we intend to invest in growth. We also intend to invest in technology. But we think those two things can really offset a large portion of any incremental cost. You know, the technology will help us to automate, become more efficient, do a lot more with fewer resources.

And we certainly expect that, you know, added resources on the sales team will pay for themselves or they probably won't be, you know, long-term members of the team. Got it.

Gerard Sweeney

That's kind of how we get started. That's helpful. I know, listen. Business owners. that's kind of how we're going Business isn't linear, so I get that and respect that. Maybe one for Brett. well on the cash flow or collections this sounded like discreet issues in terms of, especially one of them sounded like they brought payment system in house. And this was more of a, operational dysfunction on the other end as opposed to bad payments? And then secondarily, if those payments had come in or those collections had come in, what potentially could have been the cash flow this quarter? Yes.

Brett Johnston

Yes, so you're right on. These were not self-inflicted issues with collections or anything that's at risk of collections. We've resolved those, as I mentioned in the script earlier. That was a positive that we were able to get those resolved before we got on here and talked to them. So we're in a good position to really end the quarter and the year strongly there. And in terms of what could have been, without speaking to a specific dollar range, I can tell you we most likely would have been at our target of mid 60s DSO. I'm really proud that we were able to hold DSOs relatively flat, given those real short-term challenges, and it really speaks to what the team has been able to do in terms of billing efficiencies, other improvements broadly across the clients with pulling in collections and getting more current. continue to be really impressed of what we've been able to accomplish. Okay, great. I appreciate all that detail.

Thanks, guys.

Operator

This concludes the question and answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Perry Moss for any closing remarks.

Unknown Speaker

Thank you, Operator. And thank you and thanks to everyone for joining this afternoon. We really appreciate your continued support and interest in Quest. And we look forward to updating everyone next quarter.

Operator

Thank you. The conference is now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.

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