Matrix Service (MTRX) Fiscal Q4 2026 Earnings Call: Profitability Improves

Key Takeaways

• Fiscal Q4 2026 revenue increased 13% year over year to $244.5 million, led by higher activity in Storage and Terminal Solutions.
• Gross profit rose 140% to $19.5 million, while gross margin improved to 8.0% from 3.8% a year earlier.
• Adjusted EPS reached $0.16 versus a $0.28 loss in the prior-year quarter. Adjusted EBITDA improved to $6.3 million from a $4.8 million loss.
• Fiscal 2026 revenue grew 14%, gross margin expanded by 210 basis points, and full-year adjusted EPS improved by $1.19 to $0.26.
• Year-end backlog was $953 million. Management expects approximately 70%–80% of that backlog to be worked off during fiscal 2027.
• Matrix ended the quarter with $283.9 million of liquidity, including $223 million of unrestricted cash and cash equivalents, and no outstanding debt.

Key Financial Data

For fiscal 2026, Matrix reported 14% revenue growth and a 210-basis-point gross margin improvement. SG&A declined by $7.6 million from fiscal 2025, while full-year adjusted EPS was $0.26.

Business and Operating Performance

Storage and Terminal Solutions generated fiscal Q4 revenue of $137.4 million, up 43% from $96.1 million. Higher volumes from specialty vessel and LNG storage projects drove the increase. Segment gross margin improved to 6.4% from negative 1.1%, with the prior-year result affected by a legacy project arbitration that was fully resolved in fiscal 2026.

Utility and Power Infrastructure revenue was broadly stable at $73.5 million versus $73.0 million. Gross margin increased to 12.8% from 9.1%, reflecting strong project execution. Matrix highlighted ongoing substation construction supporting data-center-related power demand in Northern Virginia and Eastern Pennsylvania.

Process and Industrial Facilities revenue declined to $33.6 million from $47.3 million, primarily because of lower refinery activity and a change in project mix. Gross margin fell to 2.9% from 5.9%. However, the segment received $108 million of awards during the quarter, including a significant mining-related project, producing a 3.2x book-to-bill ratio.

Total fiscal Q4 awards were $169 million, representing a 0.7x book-to-bill ratio. Backlog ended the year at $953 million, while the company’s opportunity funnel exceeded $7 billion. More than 40% of the pipeline consists of LNG and NGL projects.

Matrix was also selected to perform front-end engineering and design work for the storage tank farm at the America First Refining facility in Brownsville, Texas. Management described it as a very large opportunity but emphasized that only the FEED work is currently in backlog.

Management Outlook

Matrix is not providing formal fiscal 2027 guidance while it searches for a permanent Chief Financial Officer. A.J. Smith will become Interim CFO effective September 10, 2026, following Kevin Cavanah’s departure from the role.

Management expects 70%–80% of year-end backlog to be worked off during fiscal 2027. It said the backlog margin profile is consistent with double-digit performance, with current projects delivering close to that level. The company aims to increase backlog margins above 10%, subject to project mix and execution.

For the America First Refining project, Matrix expects to complete FEED work by the end of fiscal Q2 2027. Management anticipates a potential main project award in late fiscal Q3 or early fiscal Q4, following the client’s final investment decision. Early procurement or site work could begin before the end of calendar 2026.

The company expects to use cash during the first half of fiscal 2027 to support active projects for which it previously received advance payments. Management said it seeks to maintain a net positive cash position on its projects. Matrix is also actively evaluating a stock buyback based on its balance sheet and return to profitability.

Risks and Areas to Watch

• Total quarterly awards of $169 million were below revenue, resulting in a 0.7x book-to-bill ratio. Award activity in Storage and Terminal Solutions and Utility and Power Infrastructure was described as modest.
• Management is focused on securing awards needed to sustain revenue through the second half of fiscal 2027 and establish a foundation for fiscal 2028.
• Conversion of major opportunities can depend on FEED work, permitting, customer investment decisions and project timing.
• Process and Industrial Facilities experienced lower revenue and weaker margins because of reduced refinery work and an unfavorable mix shift.
• Fiscal 2027 guidance is deferred until a permanent CFO is appointed and has assessed the business.

Analyst Q&A Highlights

Management said the major organizational restructuring actions have largely been completed. Fiscal 2027 restructuring charges are expected to be relatively insignificant, although individual quarters could include costs of a few hundred thousand dollars.

On backlog, management said the recent booking pattern was anticipated because major projects require extended FEED, permitting and approval processes. The company expects to work through a substantial portion of its larger projects during the first three quarters of fiscal 2027 while seeking replacement awards.

Regarding America First Refining, management clarified that the project is included in the opportunity pipeline, but only the FEED scope has entered backlog. Any larger conversion is expected in late fiscal Q3 or early fiscal Q4 2027, subject to the client reaching a final investment decision.

Full Earnings Call Transcript

Complete Earnings Call Transcript

Management Remarks

Unknown Speaker

Thank you. I'm sorry. Thank you.

Operator

Patrick Roberts, Director of Corporate Development and Investor Relations for Matrix Service Company. Please go ahead.

Unknown Speaker

Welcome to Matrix Service Company's Fourth Quarter Fiscal 2026 Earnings Call. Participants on today's call include Chief Executive Officer Shawn Payne and Chief Financial Officer Kevin Cavanah. 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 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. Before we get started, I want to share a project highlight that also illustrates our commitment to safety and quality. This is 1 of 4 air raises that Matrix has safely completed in the last 4 months, each supporting infrastructure for different fuels and feedstocks, including LNG, ethane, liquid propane gas, ammonia, and butane. An air raise is a complex process that uses air pressure to safely lift and position a large steel dome roof. The weight of which can be well over 1 million pounds. This is a pivotal step in the construction of the storage tank. The project being highlighted here is for Dominion Energy's Brunswick-Greensville storage facility, which is a greenfield project for Matrix and supports the Brunswick County and Greensville County power stations. The project features a 25 million gallon full containment LNG storage tank, providing backup fuel supply for 700,000 businesses and homes.

Logics like these are core to our mission of supporting major energy companies, advancing American infrastructure, and connecting U.S. energy to the world. The successful execution of these consecutive air raises on complex high-profile projects highlights Matrix's technical expertise, commitment to safety, and dedication to delivering exceptional outcomes for our clients and the communities that rely on these critical assets. I now turn the call over to Shawn.

Shawn Payne

Thank you, Patrick.

It is a privilege to address you as President and Chief Executive Officer of Matrix Service Company. I am grateful for the confidence of our Board of Directors and excited to lead the company into its next chapter. As I begin, I also want to recognize and thank our dedicated employees in the field and across our offices. Your commitment to safety, quality, and execution is the foundation of everything we do and the driving force behind our success. Throughout my 30-year career in the industrial engineering and construction industry, I have had the privilege of leading high-performing operations, project controls, and finance teams, helping deliver complex projects, improving organizational performance, and creating lasting value for customers and stakeholders. Those experiences have given me a genuine understanding of what good looks like and a deep appreciation for the characteristics required to achieve it. They have reinforced my belief that sustainable success is built on exceptional people, a strong culture, operational excellence, customer focus, and an unwavering commitment to the safety and well-being of everyone involved.

These are the very same characteristics that have defined Matrix for decades and helped establish our reputation as a leading heavy industrial contractor that engineers, constructs, and maintains the critical infrastructure that supports industries and communities across North America. While those characteristics have shaped our history, they are equally important to our future and provide the foundation from which we will continue to grow and evolve. As the needs of our clients continue to develop, we are evolving alongside them, expanding our capabilities, strengthening our expertise, and reinforcing our position as a trusted partner in the markets we serve. Today, our expertise, brand, and reputation provide a distinct advantage as many of our core and emerging markets are experiencing generational levels of investment. But I want to recognize that while Matrix has long been well positioned to benefit from these opportunities, our past performance has not always reflected the strength of our capabilities or the opportunities before us. The company has yet to unlock its full potential, and we have more work to do. In 2025, the Board and Executive Leadership tasked me with bringing a fresh perspective to the organization, first as President of Engineering and Construction and then as Chief Operating Officer.

Together, with an enterprise-wide team, we established a strategic framework: Win, Execute, Deliver. This comprehensive business strategy addresses growth, revenue diversification, operational excellence, accountability, and organizational effectiveness, ultimately delivering sustainable profitability and value to our shareholders. More than just a list of goals or business as usual, this framework represents a deliberate shift towards a culture of consistent performance, excellence, and value creation. While we still have work to do, we have accomplished a lot in a relatively short period of time. Once our strategy was defined, we ensured the organization was properly sized and structured to support its successful execution. Recognizing our overhead had been built to support a larger anticipated revenue base, we took decisive action to streamline and flatten the organization, establishing a more sustainable cost structure that increased our speed to market while preserving our ability to capitalize on future growth opportunities. At Parallel, we transformed our commercial organization by strengthening strategic account management, improving opportunity qualifications, aligning our business development operational resources around targeted markets and focusing on opportunities that provide the best risk and reward profile for our business.

With a clear strategy guiding our decisions, a transformed commercial focus, and an optimized cost structure, we built a stronger, more agile organization, positioned to deliver consistent execution, profitable growth, and long-term value creation. Today, every role and resource is aligned around our Win, Execute, and Deliver strategic framework. Our progress is tangible, evidenced by our return to profitability in the third and fourth quarters of fiscal 2026. Looking forward, our strategy is straightforward. Win the right work, execute with excellence, and deliver the results expected by our customers, employees, and shareholders. Each pillar plays a critical role in strengthening our business and creating long-term value. To provide greater context around our progress, I would like to highlight several key initiatives within each pillar.

First, our WIN strategy is centered on pursuing opportunities that align with our capabilities, our risk parameters and create the greatest potential for profitable growth. This includes expanding our presence in both legacy and selected new and re-emerging markets, growing our geographic reach, expanding our construction-only services, and strengthening our relationships with existing customers, as well as increasing new customer acquisitions. Market intelligence and client insight continue to support strong demand across our traditional LNG and NGL infrastructure markets, particularly for peak shaving facilities, backup fuel terminals, and related infrastructure. In fact, over 40% of our current opportunity pipeline is comprised of LNG and NGL projects. Another example of our Win strategy at work and our legacy markets is a project for which we have been selected subsequent to the quarter, which we announced by press release after market closed yesterday. This project is for the Front End Engineering and Design of the storage tank farm for the America First Refining facility in Brownsville, Texas, the first new major refinery to be constructed in the U.S. in more than 50 years. We are extremely proud to have been selected to complete this major step for AFR in reaching financial investment decision.

At the same time, we are actively pursuing opportunities being driven by new and re-emerging markets, such as power generation and related infrastructure investments that is driven by the rapid growth of data centers, aging power infrastructure, and the increasing domestic electricity demand. Specific to data centers, our ability to deliver power infrastructure and substation solutions that support our customers' expanding energy requirements is critical. Evidence of our Win strategy at work in this end market includes 2 recently completed substation projects to bring more power to the Northern Virginia Data Center Alley. We are currently on site constructing additional substations in the same geographical area as well as the Eastern Pennsylvania region. Another example of us leveraging our experience to participate in a re-emerging market is our focus on the mining and mineral sector, where increased commodity pricing and the demand for critical minerals essential to energy, technology, defense, and AI infrastructure continues to grow. To support our position in this market, we have invested additional capital and resources into our existing Southwest operation. As a result, we have received and have mobilized on a significant award, which was taken into backlog in the fourth quarter.

Beyond our market focus, we are also heavily focused on expanding our geographic reach across key strategic regions and pursuing more construction-only opportunities. As a result of our construction-only initiatives, we have also been able to we have received several balance plan awards across the organization in the fourth quarter. At the same time, our improved strategic account management approach enables us to strengthen relationships with key customers while expanding our presence among new clients. This reinforces our position as a trusted long-term partner across multiple service offerings and project life cycles. Collectively, these initiatives with our improved speed to market and lower cost structure will strengthen our backlog, expand our market share, diversify our revenue stream, and drive sustainable, profitable organic growth. The Execution pillar is where our reputation is earned and trust is built. That trust depends on our ability to deliver high-quality projects safely, on time, and on budget.

Like our Win strategy, our Execute strategy is built around many initiatives, 45 in this case. These initiatives were developed to strengthen project delivery and drive consistent operational excellence across the organization. Each initiative is supported by dedicated teams with clear accountability for solution development, implementation, and results. These initiatives focus on improving proposal and contracting discipline, enhancing engineering and construction processes, strengthening our safety culture and protocols, advancing change management practices, and reinforcing quality management systems. Collectively, these efforts are intended to improve project outcomes and reduce execution risk. During the year, we also completed the final phase of our enterprise services transformation by transitioning project controls and proposal delivery into the organization. These were the last remaining service-related functions that had not yet been centralized. With this transformation now complete, our shared services organization, operating under dedicated leadership, is focused on delivering consistent support, improving resource efficiency, and driving continuous improvement across the company.

By bringing greater discipline and standardization to critical business processes, this structure allows our operations teams to concentrate on what they do best, winning the right work, executing projects with excellence, and delivering successful outcomes for our customers. The function is exact. Our entire enterprise is focused on execution and measurable results. Moving on to the third pillar, Deliver. We are committed to delivering consistent results and sustainable value. Our operational strategies and focused capital deployment create a resilient, future-ready enterprise. Already, we have reduced SG&A expenses by 11% year-over-year and driven improvements in operating performance. These are not isolated actions, they are evidence of a company committed to change, discipline, and results. Overall, our strategic framework ensures we are aligned around a common purpose, focused on both organic and targeted acquisitive growth and executing consistently across the enterprise.

As we enter this next phase, we do so from a position of financial strength, supported by a healthy balance sheet, robust liquidity, and no debt. The actions we have taken have strengthened our foundation, enhanced our ability to pursue profitable growth, and positioned Matrix to create sustainable long-term value for our shareholders, customers, employees, and the communities we serve. On behalf of the entire Matrix team, we look forward to earning your trust and support as we build on our legacy and pursue the opportunities ahead. I will now turn the call over to Kevin Cavanah.

Kevin Cavanah

Before I get into the fourth quarter, I want to highlight a few ways this strategic framework is already having a positive impact. Successful execution of our backlog allowed us to achieve 14% revenue growth and a 210 basis point gross margin improvement in fiscal 2026. We have successfully leveraged our experience and reputation to re-enter the mining and mineral space as demonstrated by significant project taken into backlog this quarter. Our focus on flattening our organizational structure to achieve greater efficiency and effectiveness contributed to a decrease in SG&A expenses, which fell by $7.6 million in fiscal 2026 compared to fiscal 2025. As a result of these efforts, we returned to profitability this year with full year adjusted EPS of $0.26 and an increase of $1.19 compared to last year. Now to the quarter. Our results represented a good finish to fiscal 2026, as well as positive indicators of the opportunity ahead. In the fourth quarter, our revenue increased 13% to $244.5 million compared to $216.4 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025.

The increase in the quarter was expected and driven by the Storage and Terminal Solutions segment, partially offset by lower revenue in the Process and Industrial Facilities segment. Gross profit increased 140% to $19.5 million compared to $8.1 million in the prior year quarter. The quarter gross margin was 8% compared to 3.8% in the prior year. While SG&A in the fourth quarter was impacted by higher variable compensation costs related to returning to profitable performance, SG&A still decreased to $16.9 million in the fourth quarter versus $17.6 million last year. The lower SG&A cost combined with the higher revenue allowed SG&A as a percent of revenue to decrease to 6.9% compared to 8.1% in the same period last year. The company also incurred $3.4 million of restructuring costs in the fourth quarter associated with executive transitions and previously announced corporate realignment. Including the restructuring costs, the company produced an operating loss of $0.9 million in the recent quarter compared to an operating loss of $12.9 million in the prior year fourth quarter. The company continues to generate interest income.

On the company's strong cash position, interest income was $2.2 million in the quarter compared to $2 million in the prior year quarter. Bottom line, the company produced EPS of $0.04 in the quarter compared to a $0.40 loss in the prior year. Adjusted EPS, which excludes restructuring, was a positive $0.16 in the fourth quarter versus a $0.28 loss in the prior year quarter. Adjusted EBITDA was also improved to $6.3 million in the fourth quarter compared to a $4.8 million loss in the prior year fourth quarter. Moving to the segments, Storage and Terminal Solutions segment revenue increased 43% to $137.4 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026 compared to $96.1 million last year due to increased volume of work for specialty vessel and LNG storage projects. Gross margin in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, which was 6.4% compared to a negative 1.1% in the prior year quarter, which was impacted by lowered recovery expectations on a legacy project completed in fiscal 2021 that was in arbitration. The matter was fully resolved in fiscal 2026. In Utility and Power Infrastructure, segment revenue was $73.5 million in the fourth quarter compared to $73 million in the same period a year ago. Gross margin improved to 12.8% in the fourth quarter compared to 9.1% last year.

The increase was due to strong project execution, and Process Industrial Facility segment revenue decreased to $33.6 million in the fourth quarter compared to $47.3 million last year, primarily due to lower revenue from refinery work, due to a change in mix of work. Gross margin was 2.9% in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026 compared to 5.9% last year. Now let's discuss backlog. Project award activity was mixed in the fourth quarter with total awards of $169 million for 0.7x book-to-bill. The Process and Industrial Facility segment had a strong fourth quarter with awards of $108 million, including a significant mining related project, resulting 3.2x book-to-bill. Fourth quarter award activity in the other 2 segments was modest. The company entered the quarter with backlog of $953 million. The year-end backlog level is supportive of strong revenue performance as we move into fiscal 2027 and we are heavily focused on the awards that are required to maintain strong revenue through the back half of fiscal 2027 and to build a strong foundation for fiscal 2028.

As previously mentioned, our markets are strong throughout the business as evidenced by the opportunity funnel, which is over $7 billion. Moving to the balance sheet, we ended the quarter with total liquidity of $283.9 million. Liquidity is comprised of $223 million of unrestricted cash and cash equivalents and $60.9 million of borrowing availability under the credit facility. The contribution is $2.3 million. The company continues to have $25 million of restricted cash to support the credit facility and has no outstanding debt as of the end of the quarter. While the company expects to utilize cash in the first half of fiscal 2027 to support current project activities. We enter the year in a strong financial position that provides the liquidity needed to support the execution of our backlog and to deploy capital toward growth. Based on the strength of our balance sheet and our return to profitability, we are actively evaluating a stock buyback.

With that, I will turn the call back to Shawn for additional comments. Thank you, Kevin. Before we open the call for questions, I would like to take a moment to recognize Kevin Cavanah, who will be transitioning from his role as Chief Financial Officer at the end of the week. Kevin joined Matrix in 2003 and has been an integral part of our success for more than 23 years, including the last 15 years as our Chief Financial Officer. Throughout his tenure, Kevin helped guide Matrix through significant industry cycles, evolving regulatory requirements, and major strategic initiatives. His leadership played an important role in strengthening our financial discipline, enhancing our reporting and control processes, and helping position the company for long-term success. On behalf of the Board of Directors and everyone at Matrix, I want to thank Kevin for his many contributions to the company. On a personal level, I am grateful for his partnership and support over the years and have always valued his expertise, thoughtful perspective, and commitment to Matrix. We wish Kevin and his family all the best in the next chapter. We have been selecting a thorough process over the past several months to identify the right long-term financial leader for Matrix.

We continue to make good progress and remain committed to finding the best candidate to join me in Houston to drive the company's next phase of growth. While we are being deliberate and patient in that process, A.J. Smith has been appointed as the Interim Chief Financial Officer effective September 10, 2026. A.J. has been serving as Senior Director of Accounting and Treasury overseeing our accounting, SEC reporting, and Treasury functions. His deep knowledge of the business and strong leadership make him well positioned to support the organization during this transition. As we search for our next Chief Financial Officer, we believe it is important that the successful candidate have the opportunity to become familiar with the business and our strategy. As a result, we will not be providing guidance at this time.

Once our next CFO is onboarded and has had the opportunity to assess the business, we will evaluate our approach going forward. With that, I would like to open the call for questions.

Operator

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, if you have a question or a comment at this time, please press star 1-1 on your telephone. If your question has been answered and you wish to remove yourself from the queue, please press star 1-1 again. We will pause for a moment while we compile our Q&A roster. Our first question comes from John Franzreb with Sidoti & Company. Your line is open.

Question-and-Answer Session

John Franzreb

Good morning everyone and Shawn, welcome aboard and Kevin. It has been a pleasure working with you over the years. Shawn, I would like to start with your perspective in the firm. Can you talk a little about the current cost structure? You have been there for a while. You had a chance to evaluate. Are you satisfied with the way the company is currently constructed, or do you still envision additional restructuring charges in the year ahead?

Shawn Payne

Yes, John, in the last 18 months we have made measurable progress, right, getting that to where we think it needed to be, not just from a cost perspective, but also from an efficiency and a focus perspective. So today I feel like we really got it where we need to be. There could be some future tweaking. But right now I am satisfied that we have got the right organization, the right size to do the work that we have today as well as what we have got in our growth plans.

John Franzreb

So, how should we think about the nearly $10 million of restructuring actions in 2026? How much will continue to flow through the P&L in fiscal 2027?

Kevin Cavanah

John, this is Kevin. Enjoyed working with you too. I think when you look at the restructuring, you are not going to see anywhere near that level. There may be a few things, but it would be relatively insignificant. And as Shawn said, there may be some tweaks with the organization, but over the last 18 months we have implemented the majority of the changes we plan on doing right now. So I would not expect that restructuring to be significant. There will be some time, but it will not be major.

John Franzreb

Okay. I guess when I think about the $950 million in backlog, I guess 2 things. Can we kind of walk through why the diminishing order book we have seen in the past 4 quarters has been the case. And maybe on that $950 million backlog, how much is deliverable in the coming 12 months?

Shawn Payne

Yes, so I would say this, John. So 1, we are not surprised by the latter of bookings and the activity over the last few years. Certainly don't want that to overshadow the opportunities that we have in the pipeline. All of these projects have their different time to wind up going from the early process of a FEED or a permitting process. Good news is a lot of that has not changed for us. We knew this was going to look that way for a while. As far as the exact numbers on the backlog that we have in hand, certainly in the first quarter, second quarter, and third quarter, we will be getting through a fair share of the larger projects that we have been carrying.

But, again, we have got our outlook is to start replacing that with new projects.

Kevin Cavanah

Yes, I do not have the exact number in front of me, but I think 70-80% of that backlog will be worked off during fiscal 2027.

John Franzreb

Got it. And just 1 last question on the backlog. Is the margin profile, is it heading north from the fourth quarter or is that a stable kind of level? How should we think about that?

Kevin Cavanah

Well, so the margin profile of our backlog is in line with our, you know, with double-digit level performance. I think you will, you know, we made a big move in revenue in 4Q, and that helped under recovery. There is still a little bit more work to do there. But our projects are delivering close to that double-digit level now and I think when you look at the quality of the backlog plus the quality of opportunities in the funnel, I think that will continue to support that. And obviously we want to continue to grow that backlog margin above 10%. As we move forward, I think we have probably got the markets to do that.

John Franzreb

Great.

Operator

1 moment for our next question. Our next question comes from Ted Jackson with Northland. Your line is open.

Unknown Speaker

Thanks very much. So, Shawn, I had like a list of a half-dozen questions and in the course of your presentation you took almost all of them out. So you clearly did a good job in preparing your presentation. I have 2 questions for you. I would like to start out with, the, America First Refining. Can you provide a little more color with regards to, you know, like the size of the initial work you are doing on the front end and what it could mean in terms of just like the actual size of this project as it moves forward. How much of some of this stuff is in your project pipeline, is it what drove big jump that we saw in your project pipeline with regard to this quarter and then kind of what is the timeline for the family's board and then I have a follow-up.

Shawn Payne

Sure. Yes, I guess first, Ted, I will say I probably will not want to talk too much about the specifics of the dollar value. This has not gone through FID yet. Obviously, it is a very large project on any scale. Just give you a little bit background on kind of what we are doing there in the timeline. So we have been awarded, we have been contracted the FEED, and that is due at the end of our fiscal Q2, at which point when we turn that over to the client, they will look to finalize FID. At that time, we will work to convert that FEED estimate to a lump sum price utilized in an open book process with the client. We anticipate that the award will be in late fiscal Q3 or early Q4. But I think it is worth mentioning here that it is possible that we could start some early purchasing and/or site work prior to the calendar year-end to support the client's desired schedule.

Unknown Speaker

And then when you move forward with some of the early purchasing and such, is that part of what would drive you to some, I guess you would say, call cash use in the first half. I believe that was referenced in your presentation that the first half of '27 would be kind of digging into your cash position and then flip over, I assume, in the second half. Is that what drove that? Yes.

Shawn Payne

The utilization for the cash is primarily going to be the projects that are being executed in the field that we have got advanced payments on. This cash here, we have not worked out exactly what that will look like, but we always look to maintain a net positive cash position on any of the work that we are doing, and we will certainly do that for this. Okay.

Unknown Speaker

So, in summary then, America First Refining, a very large project. It is not, it is really not in your project pipeline at this point because you are in the process of defining it and we would see that, you know, kind of move through in second half of fiscal '27 and then potentially, you know, once you get the product and then move into your bookings sometime in the second half of '27 that cover basically America First Refining.

Shawn Payne

Yes, so just to be clear, it is in our opportunity pipeline. We have been pursuing this effort and working closely with a client for for for several years on this developing this but to your point, yes, we do not have anything outside of the FEED work booked right now and within our backlog and that would be something we would be looking to convert again late Q3 or early Q4 to backlog.

Unknown Speaker

Okay. And then shifting over to pipeline and backlog, you know, in the past, as a management team, I think that the message has been pretty consistent. That you did expect to see the backlog work down, you know, you know. You know, as it has been through, you know, kind of we pull up mid-fiscal '27, and then some of the opportunity pipeline should be converting into bookings and rebuild back. That scenario still holds and. You know, we should be viewing this America First Refining in the last line as an indication of the kind of things that drive your backlog north as we get to the second half of fiscal '27.

Shawn Payne

Yes, that is accurate. That is what we see happening.

Unknown Speaker

Okay. And then my final question, which was kind of touched on, but just to make sure I am right, is that essentially as we roll through '27, that we should not be expecting to see any large-scale restructuring line items, expenses, in the numbers. It will be, anything in there will be in the numbers, correct?

Kevin Cavanah

That is correct. You would not expect anything significant. I mean, you might have a quarter that has a couple hundred thousand. But no, the big changes have been implemented in in fiscal 2025 and in fiscal 2026. Okay.

Unknown Speaker

But hey, I appreciate it. That is it for me. Congrats on the quarter. Thank you. Appreciate it.

Operator

And I am not showing any further questions at this time. I would like to turn the call back over to Patrick for any further remarks.

Unknown Speaker

Great. Thank you everyone for your participation. Before we close the call, I wanted to mention that we will be presenting at the upcoming 25th Annual Diversified Industrials and Services Conference in Nashville, Tennessee. If you will be attending, we would welcome the opportunity to connect 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, and have a good rest of your week.

Operator

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. That will conclude today's presentation. We thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect and have a wonderful day.

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