マトリックス・サービス（MTRX）2027年度第1四半期決算説明会：収益性と利益率の向上

要点

• マトリックス・サービス（Matrix Service Company）が発表した2027年度第1四半期決算は、受注済みプロジェクトの一部売上計上が将来の四半期へずれ込んだものの、売上高が前年同期の2億1,190万ドルから4%増の2億1,940万ドルとなった。
• 売上総利益率は、プロジェクト遂行力の強化や間接費回収の改善に支えられ、前年同期の6.7%から8.2%に上昇した。希薄化後EPSは、前年同期の0.13ドルの損失から0.22ドルの利益へと改善した。
• 調整後EBITDAは前年同期の250万ドルから770万ドルに増加し、3四半期連続で黒字を確保した。
• 9月30日時点の受注残高は8億7,300万ドルとなった。当四半期の受注高は1億3,880万ドルで、BBレシオは0.6倍となった。
• 商談パイプラインは約11%拡大して82億ドルに達し、LNG、発電、電力インフラ、鉱業・鉱物の各分野で成長が見られた。
• マトリックスの総流動性は2億2,200万ドルに達し、当四半期中に250万ドルの自社株買いを実施したのに続き、新たに2,500万ドルの自社株買いプログラムを発表した。

主要財務データ

事業および営業実績

ストレージ・ターミナル・ソリューション事業の売上高は、前年同期の1億950万ドルから12%増の1億2,290万ドルとなった。特殊タンク関連業務および付随する付帯設備（BOP）工事の増加が増収を牽引した。売上総利益率は、施工の進展と間接費回収の改善を反映し、5.9%から9.0%へ上昇した。

ユーティリティ・電力インフラ事業の売上高は、前年同期の7,450万ドルから21%減の5,910万ドルとなった。天然ガス・ピークシェービング関連業務の減少は、発電関連工事の増加によって一部相殺された。売上総利益率は、プロジェクト構成の影響で9.1%から8.6%に低下したものの、間接費回収の改善により一部相殺された。

同部門は、データセンターインフラを支援する重要な発電プロジェクトを受注した。経営陣は、本プロジェクトを通じて発電分野および拡大するデータセンター市場の双方におけるマトリックスのエクスポージャーが広がると述べた。

プロセス・産業設備事業の売上高は、主に鉱業・鉱物関連工事の増加により、前年同期の2,790万ドルから3,740万ドルに増加した。売上総利益率は5.1%から3.7%に低下した。当四半期には、2023年度に完了したプロジェクトに関する下請業者との紛争解決が含まれている。経営陣は、この和解により2027年度に想定されていた法務費用が削減される見通しであると述べた。

同社は当四半期中、鉱業・鉱物関連のプロジェクトも複数受注した。マトリックスは安全性と品質基準を維持しつつ遂行能力を担保するため、採用リソースの拡充、職業訓練校との連携強化、社内キャリアパスの構築を進めている。

経営陣の見通し

経営陣は、2027年度の残り期間における四半期平均売上高が第1四半期の水準を上回ると予想している。8億7,300万ドルの受注残高は、年度末にかけて売上ランレートが上昇し、継続して黒字を維持できる根拠として挙げられた。

同社は2027年度下半期にプロジェクト受注活動が活発化すると見込んでいる。ただし経営陣は、大型案件の受注は2027年度に大きく寄与するというよりも、主に2028年度の売上高を支えるものになると説明した。

経営陣は、事業活動水準や変動報酬によって左右されるものの、正常化した四半期販管費のランレートはおよそ1,550万ドル〜1,600万ドルになるとの見方を示した。第1四半期の実績は、組織再編に伴う給与・賃金および株式報酬費用の減少に加え、現金決済型株式報酬の会計処理に関する前年同期比190万ドルの好影響が寄与した。

リスクおよび注視事項

• 2027年度第1四半期のBBレシオは0.6倍にとどまり、同年度上半期に予想されていた受注活動の鈍化を反映した。
• 大口顧客の意思決定のタイミングは依然として不透明であり、同社の制御が及ばない。
• 当期中、受注済みプロジェクトの一部売上計上が将来の四半期へずれ込んだ。
• 旺盛なプロジェクト需要が、労働力、人員の確保、その他のリソースへの逼迫要因となっている。
• ユーティリティ・電力インフラ事業の売上高は、天然ガス・ピークシェービング案件のプロジェクト量減少による影響を引き続き受けている。

アナリスト質疑応答のハイライト

販管費について経営陣は、現金決済型株式報酬や変動報酬によって四半期ごとのブレが生じ得るため、第1四半期の費用水準を継続的なランレートと見なすべきではないと述べた。より実態を反映した四半期水準として1,550万ドル〜1,600万ドルのレンジを提示した。

低調なBBレシオについて経営陣は、LNG関連の貯蔵プロジェクトを含め、2027年度後半に顧客の意思決定が近づいている複数の大型案件を挙げた。また、大型EPCプロジェクトと比べて着工が早く、迅速に売上を計上できる小規模な施工単体工事、補修、保守プロジェクトの幅広い案件構成も強調した。

経営陣は、82億ドルのパイプラインがLNG、NGL（天然ガス液）、発電、電力インフラ、鉱業・鉱物に分散されており、特定のプロジェクトや最終需要市場への依存度が低減されていると述べた。

決算説明会 文字起こし全文

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 morning, and welcome to the Matrix Service Company conference call to discuss results for the first quarter of fiscal 2027. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Mr. Patrick Roberts, Director of Corporate Development and Investor Relations of Matrix Service Company.

Patrick Roberts

Thank you, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to Matrix Service Company's First Quarter Fiscal 2027 Earnings Call. Participants on today's call include Chief Executive Officer, Shawn Payne; Interim Chief Financial Officer, A.J. Smith; and Chief Financial Officer-elect Dominic Savarino. Following our prepared remarks, we will open the call up for questions.

The presentation materials referred to during the webcast today can be found under Events and Presentations on the Investor Relations section of matrixservicecompany.com. As a reminder, on today's call, we may make various remarks about future expectations, plans and prospects for Matrix Service Company that constitute forward-looking statements for the purposes of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements because of various factors, including those discussed in our most recent annual report on Form 10-K and in subsequent filings made by the company with the SEC.

The forward-looking statements made today are effective only as of today. To the extent we utilize non-GAAP measures, reconciliations will be provided in various press releases, periodic SEC filings and on our website.

On our last call, I highlighted a project that showcased the depth of our capabilities and the type of complex work Matrix is built to deliver. I'd like to continue that practice today because it provides useful context around the markets we serve and how Matrix has evolved. While many investors may still associate Matrix primarily with storage tanks, today's Matrix supports critical infrastructure across a much broader set of end markets, including power generation, LNG and NGLs, utilities, mining and minerals and increasingly data centers.

One area that illustrates this evolution particularly well is the power sector. For decades, Matrix has supported customers through the construction and maintenance of critical power facilities and systems. Our capabilities extend across power generation facilities, substations and other supporting systems. These capabilities are becoming increasingly important as electrical demand continues to grow and customers seek greater certainty of supply. Whether through additional generation capacity, backup power systems or on-site LNG fuel infrastructure, organizations are investing in solutions that enhance reliability and resiliency.

We continue to see strong growth in our opportunity pipeline associated with these specialized services. That demand comes from a diverse customer base that includes public utilities, private utilities, power producers, industrial customers and energy companies. More recently, we have also begun supporting the rapidly expanding data center market, providing these same services for customer-owned energy and power assets as developers and owners look for ways to secure reliable power, greater certainty of supply and enhanced operational resiliency.

Matrix's experience in power generation, backup fuel, electrical systems and construction execution positions us well to participate in that growth. Most recently, we were awarded a project in this space, which Shawn will discuss in more detail in his remarks. What these opportunities demonstrate is the versatility of Matrix's capabilities. Whether supporting LNG, power generation, electrical infrastructure, mining and minerals, or data centers, we are able to leverage the same core strengths across multiple end markets where critical infrastructure investment continues to grow. Regardless of the market we serve, our focus remains unchanged, delivering projects safely with quality and in a manner that creates value for our customers and shareholders.

With that, I'll turn the call over to Shawn.

Shawn Payne

Thank you, Patrick, and good morning, everyone. Before discussing our first quarter results, I'd like to welcome Dominic Savarino to Matrix as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, effective tomorrow, November 6. Following a comprehensive search, we selected Dominic because he brings a combination of financial leadership and operational experience that is particularly well suited to Matrix.

He has built his career in engineering, construction, energy and industrial infrastructure businesses and has held roles in both financial leadership and with direct operational and P&L responsibility. That experience gives him a strong understanding of how financial discipline, project execution, commercial strategy and risk management come together to drive profitable growth. His perspective will be especially valuable as we continue executing on our win, execute, deliver strategy and position Matrix for its next phase of growth. We are excited to have Dominic on the team and look forward to his contributions.

Now to the quarter. As I discussed last quarter, win, execute, deliver is how we run the company. It turns our strategy into everyday choices about what we pursue, how we work, how we allocate resources and the results we create. Over the past 18 months, we've taken meaningful actions to improve execution, create a more efficient operating model and drive consistent profitability as we grow. Today, I want to focus on how those actions are strengthening our business and translating into better results. Under the win pillar of our strategy, our focus is on building a stronger business by improving the quality and diversity of our backlog, strengthening customer relationships and expanding into attractive end markets.

Since we last reported, our opportunity pipeline has increased from approximately $7.4 billion to $8.2 billion. Importantly, that growth is not concentrated in a single market. We have seen expansion across all of our segments, including LNG, power generation, electrical infrastructure and mining and minerals, reinforcing our confidence in both the demand environment and the opportunities ahead. The breadth of this growth reflects the continued diversification of our business and gives us a stronger, more balanced opportunity set from which to drive profitable growth. We are already seeing tangible results from this approach. This quarter, we were awarded a meaningful power generation project supporting data center infrastructure.

This project is particularly significant because it aligns several strategic priorities for Matrix. It expands our participation in the growing power generation market, strengthens our position in the rapidly developing data center ecosystem, and it also demonstrates the continued importance of construction-only opportunities in supporting a stable and diversified revenue base. As another example of our win strategy in action, we continue to see strong momentum in the mining and minerals space. In addition to the significant award we discussed last quarter, we secured several awards in Q1 with another important client in multiple facilities specifically targeted under our strategic growth plan.

Under the execute pillar of our strategy, our focus is on creating value through safe, disciplined and consistent project delivery. We continue to see encouraging results from the operational discipline we've implemented across the business. Project execution remains solid, and we are seeing greater consistency in how opportunities are evaluated, risks are managed and the work is delivered. During the quarter, we advanced several initiatives designed to strengthen the decision-making process and increase accountability throughout the project life cycle.

Another important component of execution is workforce development. Capturing the opportunities ahead requires not only the right projects, but the right people to deliver them safely and successfully. We have established a more coordinated enterprise-wide approach to recruiting, developing and retaining craft and supervisory talent, including adding field recruiting resources and strengthening our trade school relationships and internal career paths. These efforts are supporting our execution capacity while upholding our rigorous safety and quality standards. Ultimately, the objective of win and execute is to deliver. Deliver means producing consistent results, generating sustainable, profitable growth and creating long-term value for our shareholders, customers, employees and communities.

While we are still early on this journey, our third consecutive quarter of profitability is a clear indicator of the progress we are making. During the quarter, we also purchased $2.5 million of our shares. This effort is consistent with the deliver pillar of our strategy related to disciplined capital allocation and creating long-term shareholder value.

So, in summary, we have a clear strategy, a stronger operating foundation and a leaner, more efficient cost structure. We are a stronger company today with meaningful opportunities ahead and the focus, discipline and capabilities to convert those opportunities into consistent profitable growth and long-term shareholder value. As Dominic officially assumes the Chief Financial Officer position tomorrow, A.J. Smith will be reviewing our first quarter financial results today.

With that, I will turn the call over to A.J.

Andrew John Smith

Thanks, Shawn. Our results this quarter reflect the continued momentum behind our win, execute, deliver framework, culminating in the third straight quarter of profitable performance. During the first quarter, despite some revenue from several booked projects slipping into future quarters, revenue increased 4% to $219.4 million compared to $211.9 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2026. We expect quarterly revenue levels for the remainder of the year to be on average higher than in the first quarter.

Gross profit was $18.1 million, or 8.2% of revenue, during the quarter compared to $14.2 million, or 6.7% of revenue, for the first quarter of fiscal 2026. Gross margins during the period benefited from strong project execution and improved overhead recovery. SG&A expenses were $13.3 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2027, or 6% of revenue. SG&A decreased by $3 million compared to the prior year period due in part to lower salary and wage expense and stock compensation expense resulting from our organizational restructuring plan. Additionally, SG&A decreased $1.9 million year-over-year due to the variable accounting for cash-settled stock-based compensation.

As a result of our higher revenue, higher gross margins and lower SG&A expense, the company had positive EPS during the quarter of $0.22 compared to a loss of $0.13 per share in the prior year quarter. On an adjusted basis, EPS was $0.23 per share compared to an adjusted net loss of $0.01 per share in the prior year period. Adjusted EBITDA also improved to $7.7 million in the first quarter compared to $2.5 million in the first quarter of last year.

Moving to the segments. Storage and Terminal Solutions segment revenue increased 12% to $122.9 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2027 compared to $109.5 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2026, driven by an increased volume of work for specialty tanks and the associated balance of plant work. Gross margin was 9% in the first quarter of fiscal 2027 compared to 5.9% in the first quarter of fiscal 2026. Segment gross margin was driven by improved project execution overall as well as improvement in overhead cost absorption. Utility and Power Infrastructure segment revenue decreased 21% to $59.1 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2027 compared to $74.5 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2026 due to a decrease in volume of work for natural gas peak shaving projects, partially offset by an increase in power generation work. Gross margin was 8.6% in the first quarter of fiscal 2027 compared to 9.1% for the first quarter of fiscal 2026, a decrease of 0.5%, primarily due to mix of work, partially offset by improved overhead cost absorption.

Process and Industrial Facilities segment revenue increased to $37.4 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2027 compared to $27.9 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2026, primarily due to increased revenue volumes for mining and minerals work. Gross margin was 3.7% in the first quarter of fiscal 2027 compared to 5.1% in the first quarter of fiscal 2026. Current quarter margins were impacted by the resolution of a subcontractor dispute for a project originally completed in fiscal 2023. While resulting in a decrease in segment margins in the current quarter, the impact is a net positive for the business based on savings of anticipated fiscal 2027 legal costs.

Moving to backlog. During the quarter, project awards were $138.8 million, resulting in a book-to-bill of 0.6. Awards in the Utility and Power Infrastructure segment include the award of a meaningful power generation project supporting data center infrastructure that Shawn previously mentioned. As we've noted in previous quarters, we believe award activity will pick back up in the second half of our fiscal 2027, but those awards will primarily solidify our fiscal 2028 revenue base. Our backlog as of September 30 of $873 million provides clear visibility into improved revenue run rate through the remainder of the fiscal year, along with continued profitability.

We continue to maintain a strong balance sheet and liquidity position. Total liquidity is $222 million, including $182 million of unrestricted cash and $39 million of borrowing availability under our credit facility. With our liquidity position, we executed $2.5 million of share buybacks during the quarter. Also this week, we amended our credit facility to expand our annual stock repurchase limit, and our Board approved a new buyback program of $25 million, which expires in 2 years. We will opportunistically repurchase stock under the program based on market conditions and our liquidity position.

With that, I will turn the call back to Shawn for a few additional comments.

Shawn Payne

Thank you, A.J. Before moving to Q&A, I want to thank A.J. for his leadership and dedication while serving as Interim Chief Financial Officer while we conducted our search for a new CFO. A.J. helped ensure continuity and stability during an important period of transition for Matrix. A.J.'s contributions have been invaluable, and I appreciate his continued partnership.

With that, I'd like to open up the call for questions.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Our first question will be coming from the line of John Franzreb of Sidoti.

質疑応答

John Franzreb

Welcome aboard, Dominic. I'd like to start with the recent results, particularly the SG&A line. It was down rather noticeably. You kind of called out some of those based on change in the share price. But you also said that there's an organizational restructuring. So, I'm kind of curious how much of the change in SG&A is temporary? And how much of it is it on a permanent basis?

Andrew John Smith

Yes, I'll take this one. So, our SG&A run rate, I think, like you mentioned, was impacted by some of the variable expense rate versus cash stock-based compensation. I think there's always going to be some variability in that line. But, generally speaking, a good run rate probably $15.5 million to $16 million a quarter, depending on activity levels and variable compensation.

John Franzreb

Got it. Got it. And it's hard to ignore the book-to-bill profile. Can you talk a little bit, particularly what's going on in storage, what you're seeing there and maybe a little bit about the competitive landscape and how that's shaping out?

Shawn Payne

Yes, you bet, John. Yes. So, I know the book-to-bill is relatively low. We've discussed that over the last few quarters, right? We expected the award activity to be lighter in the first half of fiscal '27. I'll say that we have several large opportunities that are progressing towards customer decision points later in the fiscal year. And we think that's really going to strengthen the award activity in the second half. Some of those projects are storage, particularly LNG-related. Also, I should note there, those larger awards aren't expected to contribute really meaningfully to full year '27 revenues.

So, our focus with those is really on positioning the business for fiscal 2028. I think also important there is while we can't control the timing -- the exact timing of the customer decisions, larger or small projects, what really gives us confidence there is the strength and the breadth of our opportunity set. As we said on the call, our pipeline increased approximately 11%, up to $8.2 billion with opportunities across LNG, NGLs, power generation, electrical infrastructure and mining and minerals. So, important to note there that we're not dependent on any single project or single project end market.

And then lastly, John, just tell you there that we're also seeing a broader mix of smaller, quick construction projects, like construction-only work and also repair and maintenance work. That's important to us because with those projects, we can convert that revenue faster, we can get to the field faster. And that's one of our strategies, right, is to provide a more consistent baseload of activity to make sure we have that work during the ebbs and flows of some of the large EPC works. So, I think together with those 2 things, those 2 factors, it really gives us a balanced path to rebuilding backlog and entering into fiscal '28 from a stronger position.

John Franzreb

Yes. And just to clarify a bit the competitive landscape, I mean, maybe you could give some color what the margin profile is on new jobs being written today versus, say, 6 months ago? Any kind of color there you could provide would be helpful.

Shawn Payne

Yes. I would -- it really depends on what we're bidding. We're into a lot of different things, different markets, certainly different customers, different contract types. But I would say, in general, there's a lot of demand right now, obviously, going on, a lot of projects that's putting pressure on labor, workforce and just general resources. Typically, when that happens, what you see, John, is the margin on those projects, particularly larger projects.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Seeing there are no more questions in the queue, and I'm going to pass the call back over to Patrick for closing remarks. Please go ahead.

Patrick Roberts

Thank you, everyone, for your participation today. Matrix Service Company will be participating in the upcoming Northland Growth Conference on December 16. If you will be attending, we welcome the opportunity to visit with you. Additionally, if you would like to have a conversation with management, please contact me through the Matrix Service Company Investor Relations website. You may also sign up to receive MTRX news by scanning the QR code on your screen.

Again, thank you for your time today.

Operator

Thank you for participating in today's program. You may now disconnect.