管理層發言
Thank you for being here. I would like to welcome everyone to Ameresco, Inc. Second Quarter 2025 Earnings Conference Call. I will now hand over the call to Leila Dillon. Please proceed.
Thank you, Tami, and good afternoon, everyone. We appreciate you joining us for today's call. Our speakers on the call today will be George Sakellaris, Ameresco's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; and Mark Chiplock, Chief Financial Officer. In addition, Nicole Bulgarino, President of Federal and Utility Infrastructure; and Josh Baribeau, our Chief Investment Officer, will be available during Q&A to help answer questions. Before I turn the call over to George, I would like to make a brief statement regarding forward-looking remarks. Today's earnings materials contain forward-looking statements, including statements regarding our expectations. All forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties. Please refer to today's earnings materials, the safe harbor language on Slide 2 of our supplemental information and our SEC filings for a discussion of the major risk factors that could cause our actual results to differ from those in our forward-looking statements. In addition, we use several non-GAAP measures when presenting our financial results. We have included the reconciliations of these measures and additional information in our supplemental slides that were posted to our website. Please note that all comparisons that we will be discussing today are on a year-over-year basis, unless otherwise noted. I will now turn the call over to George.
Thank you, Leila, and good afternoon, everyone. We are very pleased to report that Ameresco delivered another quarter of strong financial and operational performance, building upon the momentum generated from our first quarter. Second quarter revenue and adjusted EBITDA grew 8% and 24%, respectively, coupled with very strong earnings per share growth. The Ameresco team continued to focus on profitable execution, leveraging our large project backlog and achieving higher profit margin growth than top line growth. In addition to the contracts awarded in our traditional core business, we also captured significant emerging opportunities to provide energy infrastructure solutions to a number of rapidly growing sectors in both the U.S. and Europe. We believe demand for our diverse portfolio of energy solutions is being driven by the increasing demand for electricity, significant increases in utility rates and growing grid instability. While we continue to execute on our traditional energy efficiency and renewable energy projects, we are very pleased to see an even broader need for comprehensive energy infrastructure and microgrid solutions. The increase in global electricity prices continues to be top of mind for many of our clients, along with reliability of supply. So I wanted to make some quick comments on that topic. With prices projected to outpace overall inflation for many years to come, we believe this trend will be a meaningful catalyst for our continued growth. Higher power prices drive customer demand for both our core energy efficiency solutions and our integrated on-site generation offerings. This dynamic creates better economics and faster project paybacks for our customers. Diversification has been the foundation of our business model and positions us to take great advantage of the growth opportunities ahead. This comes in three key areas. First, our customer base. We are well diversified across a broad range of public and private customers. Our expertise and focus on energy infrastructure solutions has enabled us to grow our business with both domestic and international utilities and independent power producers, which now account for over 20% of our total project backlog. We are also pursuing large and exciting opportunities with the C&I market, which we believe offer tremendous growth potential. C&I now represents over 10% of our total project backlog, and we anticipate continued growth in this segment. Second, our technology portfolio. We offer a complete suite of energy efficiency, storage and generation solutions. Currently, almost half of our total project backlog is comprised of energy infrastructure solutions, including natural gas turbines and engines, cogeneration equipment, hydroelectric and other power generation technologies, as well as battery energy storage systems and microgrid offerings. Finally, in our geographic reach, we cover the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and many key growth markets in Continental Europe, driven by our continued expansion. Europe now accounts for approximately 20% of our total project backlog and we see this as a good balance to the change in policies and regulations in the United States. In short, Ameresco continues to demonstrate that diversification is not just a hedge, it's our strategic advantage. As we prepare for this growth, we continue to stay ahead of the curve by investing in our most important asset, our human capital. Ameresco is well known for hiring and developing industry expertise in cutting-edge technologies well in advance of full commercial potential. Years ago, we demonstrated this with our investments in battery storage, renewable natural gas, and microgrids. Those investments have yielded incredible returns as Ameresco became a go-to provider for all these solutions, and they now account for a material part of our business. We are again looking ahead to technologies such as small modular reactors. We recently hired an executive to focus on developing exciting partnerships in this area of huge potential. We are also investing in our continued European expansion with the hire of a key executive to manage the growing opportunities across Continental Europe. Before I turn the call over to Mark, I wanted to cover the policy and regulatory changes in D.C. and their impact on Ameresco. At this point, we are pleased to have seen an improved business environment with the federal government compared to the beginning of the year. Not only do we continue to execute on our many federal contracts, but we are also engaged in exciting new opportunities that leverage secure federal land for critical energy infrastructure projects. Along those lines, the White House recently announced an executive order aimed at accelerating the construction of data centers by removing some of the regulatory hurdles, primarily at the permitting level. Importantly, the order also opens the potential for federal land to be used for these sites. We are continuing to evaluate the one big beautiful deal and its expected impact on our business, especially as additional details from the bill are worked out. At this time, however, we do not believe the deal will have a significant near-term impact on our business. Now I would like to turn the call over to Mark to provide additional commentary on our excellent results and outlook.
Thank you, George, and good afternoon, everyone. I'll echo George's excitement around another solid quarter. We continue to deliver strong financial results with second quarter revenue growing 8% and adjusted EBITDA growing 24%, supported by consistent execution, steady backlog conversion and expanding contributions from Europe and our energy asset portfolio. Revenue in the quarter exceeded our expectations and reflects broad-based contributions across our business lines. Our projects revenue grew 8%, reflecting strength across our geographies and customer base, with a notably strong performance from our European-based joint venture with Sunel. Europe continues to be an exciting growth market for us and is an important component of our revenue diversification strategy. Energy asset revenue grew 18%, driven largely by the growth of assets in operations compared to last year, with our base of operating assets now standing at almost 750 megawatts. Our recurring O&M revenue maintained steady growth as we continue to win more long-term O&M business. While revenue from our other line of business declined due to the divestiture of our AEG business at the end of 2024, the remaining businesses within our other revenue segment continued to experience growth. Gross margin of 15.5% for the quarter was in line with our expectations and reflected solid improvement both sequentially and year-over-year. Net income attributable to common shareholders was $12.9 million or $0.24 per share with non-GAAP EPS of $0.27, adjusted primarily for certain costs for restructuring activities related to our Canadian operations. Net income and EPS were positively impacted by $4.3 million in non-cash mark-to-market gains on certain unhedged derivatives and $3 million in foreign exchange translation gains. Excluding the impact of these factors, our earnings per share still grew by approximately 30% compared to last year. Adjusted EBITDA increased 24% to $56.1 million with an adjusted EBITDA margin of nearly 12%, reflecting strong performance driven by our revenue growth, improved gross margins and strong operating leverage. Our visibility of future revenues remains outstanding, and we believe the demand for a diverse portfolio of solutions remains strong. We continue to achieve substantial growth in our total project backlog, which increased 16% to a record $5.1 billion, the first time Ameresco has exceeded this milestone. We added over $550 million of new project awards during the quarter. As importantly, we continue to convert a significant amount of our awarded backlog into contracts, driving our contracted project backlog up 46% to $2.4 billion. Including the backlog from our recurring O&M and operating energy assets portfolio, our total revenue visibility now stands at almost $10 billion. Turning to our balance sheet and cash flows. We ended the quarter with approximately $82 million in cash with total corporate debt of $294 million. Our debt-to-EBITDA leverage ratio under our senior secured facility was 3.4 and remains below the covenant level of 3.5. We continue to fuel our energy asset pipeline through the use of innovative financing solutions. During the quarter, the company raised approximately $170 million in new project financing proceeds, including a $78 million note issuance, which we are using to finance an energy storage asset currently under construction. The note purchase agreement also includes an uncommitted private shelf facility to support the development of future solar and battery energy assets. Our cash generation continued to be positive with adjusted cash flows from operations of approximately $50 million. This included the successful sale of approximately $71 million in investment tax credits generated from three of our RNG projects. Our eight-quarter rolling average adjusted cash from operations was approximately $47 million. I want to briefly discuss an update we have made to our non-GAAP adjusted cash flows from operations metric. Historically, we classified the proceeds resulting from the sale of transferable ITCs as operating activities in our GAAP statement of cash flows. In 2025, to better align with current accounting interpretations, we are now classifying these proceeds as investing activities. We are adding these proceeds back to adjusted cash from operations because we believe it enhances comparability with prior periods and better reflects the economic substance of these transactions. I also wanted to quickly touch on an item that you will see in our second quarter 10-Q. Battery supplier, Powin, recently filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 11. Ameresco has a claim of approximately $27 million against Powin related to agreements signed beginning in 2022. We are actively monitoring the proceedings, which are in the early stages and assessing any potential exposure. Importantly, this event will not impact the execution of any of our projects or energy assets. Now let me spend a minute on our 2025 guidance. While we continue to evaluate the industry changes brought about by the one big beautiful deal, we do not expect that these changes will have a material impact on Ameresco in the short term. With our strong first half results and excellent forward visibility, we are pleased to reaffirm our guidance ranges for 2025. Now I'd like to turn the call back over to George for closing comments.
Thank you, Mark. The entire Ameresco team continues its excellent execution, delivering strong results. Over 25 years, we have built a unique energy solutions company, which has evolved into the resilient business you see today and is well positioned to serve the dynamic market opportunities of the future. In closing, I would like to once again thank our employees, customers and stockholders for their continued support. Operator, we would like to open the call to questions.
分析師問答
Your first question comes from the line of Noah Kaye with Oppenheimer.
Great to see the business momentum. I'd like to start with asking about cash generation kind of in the back half here. There are always some puts and takes around, I know project financing. But just wanted to understand how you think about where we may end the year from a net leverage perspective and some of the things that you're watching for and we should be watching for related to finishing up some large projects and any incremental financing.
Sure. Josh?
Thanks, Noah. This is Josh. So we're not putting out leverage guidance or a leverage target. I think we've said that we feel comfortable where we are now. Our lenders do as well as evidenced by the refinancing and the extension that we did back in January. But as EBITDA begins to grow or continues to grow in the second half of the year, and as you pointed out, as we collect things from larger outstanding projects, we have a lot of project financing still planned. We think we should probably get below that level. But again, if something comes up where we need a little bit more working capital to work on an interesting project or something else happens, it might be a little different than that. But either way, we feel very comfortable where we are from a leverage perspective.
I want to ask a little bit about the contracted backlog. I think a trend now for several quarters has been the accelerating conversion to contracted backlog. It was up again very substantially. Can you talk a little bit about the driving factors there, maybe some of the factors that are helping with the increasing conversion? And then also talk a little bit about the margin profile here, whether these could potentially be comparable to or better than the margins on the mix of converting now?
Yes. Well, because of the services that we are in and the expanded offerings with the infrastructure upgrades, there is more demand out there in the market. So you're seeing people moving from the awarded category to the contracted category. That's why our contracted project backlog now year-over-year is up 46%, which is unprecedented but great position to be in, and that's why we feel pretty good about where we are for the end of the year numbers. As far as the margin, and Mark can comment on this a little bit more, we are very pleased to see a slight uptick trend on the projects. Even in Europe, we started early on to establish a good footprint there. We have some lower margin projects, but we established great credibility in the marketplace. And even there, we have established guidelines that we will not take projects below certain margins. We still continue to be very successful in getting projects. I don't know if you want to add something?
Yes. No, that's great. I think we feel really good about the quality of those margins in the project backlog. As George said, we've even seen a bit of an uptick. I think the diversity in that backlog helps to create a little bit of a stabilizer, but we're encouraged to see that they're actually trending slightly up. So that's been great. George mentioned the margins on the projects where we're seeing a lot of growth in Europe. Again, we're really pleased to see those margins heading in the right direction. The margins themselves reflect not only the way we execute on our projects, but we also have taken a more disciplined approach to how we screen projects. We're obviously continuing to focus on developing projects that have better gross margins.
Yes. That's great to hear. I just have to ask one more as a tack on to this. You highlighted the improving permitting environment for data center infrastructure. I think we'd all love to understand a little bit more how you see this playing out for Ameresco. Talk a little bit about your exposure in data centers, what may be in the backlog, what may be in the pipeline and what this means here?
Nicole is spearheading that particular effort. So I will let Nicole take this question.
Sure. We've been working with a variety of players in the data center space from data center developers to end users to commercial developers. Our role in this is certainly focused on the energy center for these data centers. You can well be aware of the power shortage across the country and especially for this new AI load that's presenting itself. So we're well positioned to provide services for the energy supply similar to what we do for the federal government. We've got several projects that we're working on, and a lot of them are in the early stages and different types of projects or different sizes of projects, and we're excited about the opportunity for Ameresco.
Great. I'll follow up offline about that, but excited to hear it.
Your next question comes from the line of George Gianarikas with Canaccord Genuity.
I'd like to ask about equipment supply and how it relates to either natural gas turbines or cell battery cells. How is that potentially impacting your growth trajectory over the next couple of few quarters to years?
It's tight, particularly with transformers and electrical equipment. The timelines for gas turbines are significantly longer. In contrast, the timelines for gas engine reciprocating engines are shorter, and we have better availability. Some clients have already placed orders for gas turbines and are looking for us to handle the project implementation and turnkey installation. For large transformers, delivery schedules can extend to a couple of years, whereas smaller transformers are better suited for distributed generation projects of 5 to 15 megawatts. Occasionally, we need to combine smaller transformers to meet requirements. Overall, we have been successful, and there are no expected delays in our current project implementation schedule over the next 6 to 12 months.
And maybe as a follow-up, given the success you've had in Europe, can you talk about your strategy there to beef up operations? Are there additional acquisitions you're looking at on the continent?
Both of the above. The person we hired is a very seasoned executive. He worked for various American companies, which is good from that perspective, especially for public companies. His mission is to start hiring people, and he already has hired at least one; he's got a couple more to hire. Our strategy will be organic growth, and we have done very well so far, especially in markets like Greece, Italy, Spain, and some of the Balkans such as Romania. We have established a very good track record there, and we see a growing demand for battery storage, which is in the very early stages. You will see us making a concerted effort to build a great reputation in Europe for battery storage as well as solar. We are always looking for good acquisition opportunities; if they present themselves, we will pursue them. But right now, our organic expansion is working very well.
Next question comes from the line of Stephen Gengaro with Stifel.
I have two for me. If I could start, when we're thinking about the deployment of energy assets, can you talk about how we should think about the back half of the year and sort of energy asset deliveries and kind of where you think the deployed assets will look by year-end?
Josh?
Sure, Steve. So we guided 100 to 120 megawatts. That's still our guidance. It seems like that would be a little bit light given how many assets we've put in service in the first two quarters. The next two will be pretty substantial. Mark indicated that we've got a battery asset that we just financed that's in the very late stages of construction, and we had the press release about the Lee County RNG facility, which went COD in July. That was not included in the June numbers. We still feel really good about that number of 100 to 120 megawatts.
No, that was helpful, and I imagine there was no change to the guidance regarding the deployed assets for the year. That was my point. I also wanted to ask about your success in Europe from an order flow perspective mentioned in the last quarter. The margin profile in Europe was somewhat lighter. I'm curious how that is developing and whether you believe we will eventually achieve parity as operations scale up in Europe.
We started out with lower margins, but the projects we have signed over the last six months and going forward have much higher margins than when we started out. We've established our reputation and set guidelines, and our development teams are doing an excellent job. There is no shortage of responding to requests for proposals. That's why our efforts are strong and focused on high-growth areas in Continental Europe, and we will put special focus there to grow that particular unit. Our strategy is no different from what we did in the US: start organically and pursue good acquisition opportunities, while ensuring we understand the culture of the country before entering the market.
Great. If I could just ask one other quick one. Have you had any proposals or looked at battery storage that's not lithium-ion and things that are more domestically sourced? I'm thinking of one in particular, but has there been any progress outside of that for U.S. manufactured products?
Yes. We have; Josh has been working on financing various options, and he will talk about it.
We have. It was just maybe two years ago that we had a pilot project up in Canada with a non-lithium technology. We gained a bit of experience back then and we are in active discussions with similar types of technologies and vendors for projects in the future with some significant industrial C&I customers.
Next question comes from the line of Ryan Pfingst with B. Riley.
Not sure if Michael is on. But how are you thinking about the RNG business broadly following the legislation and the EPA's recent proposed role for cellulosic biofuel requirements over the next couple of years?
I mean we still feel very good about the RNG business, and we continue to be very excited about it, especially with the ITC being able to monetize it. It's important to note that the 10 plants we plan to put in service over the next two to three years already have safe harbor to ship by the end of last year to get the ITC back. The RVO matches the growth of the industry, and that's why the re-prices have not moved significantly. We are excited about the ongoing prospects since we pioneered our first plant back in 2003 and learned a lot since then.
Yes. The 45Z extension just creates another opportunity. We are really encouraged to see that extended as part of the big beautiful deal. Once we get clarity on that, I think it's going to be a great opportunity for us with the RNG.
Appreciate that, guys. And then, George, you mentioned the SMR opportunity, understanding it's very early days. But could you talk about the partnership you announced with Terrestrial Energy and what Ameresco's role might look like in potential projects there?
I will let Nicole handle that particular endeavor.
Yes. This is part of our kind of next-generation firm energy potential. With Terrestrial, we have been following their technology and working on part of a bridge solution for the energy supply, particularly for data centers. We believe that in the later years, they will be able to provide a more solid answer to firm clean energy potential for these customers. It's still a few years out. These large energy projects typically take a while to get off the ground. So we'll need to start the collaboration now to get us on the right track.
Next question comes from the line of Ben Kallo with Baird.
Congratulations on the results. Following up to George's question earlier about turbine cells. I heard the turbine and equipment piece. But just on the battery side, do you have thoughts on being able to get batteries? I saw that in your owned assets, the pipeline also increased the percentage of batteries. So I'm just wondering with the new tariff rules, as well as concerns about foreign entities, if you're still able to source batteries.
Yes. We can get the batteries, especially in the United States. But the broader question is something Nicole can answer, as she knows the mix of various particular assets we are working on.
I think it's more of a matter of closely monitoring the implications of foreign entity concerns. Our first focus is on those projects currently under construction and being delivered within this calendar year. We haven't encountered issues with existing construction projects. We are strategically planning new projects and are confident in our current battery suppliers to ensure availability. As we address tariffs, we are incorporating appropriate language in our customer contracts to guard against unexpected price impacts.
Yes. And then just on the reconciliation bill creating a tighter timeline in some areas and longer timelines in others. Could you discuss the tightness of the engineering construction market and whether that might positively impact margins, which you guys have already said are trending in the right direction? Could you talk about how you can shift between the different areas of your diversification? For example, if you're down in solar, can you move employees more into energy efficiency or another area?
Yes, so certainly. Regarding the pivoting away from solar, we are already proactively transitioning some of that team to battery storage. We can certainly do it there. Within the projects business, Nicole, you might want to speak to that a little more. But, again, I don't think we're seeing significant impacts there, so we won't need to shift as much with respect to labor resources.
So far, we have been able to execute very well, even with material supplies and labor constraints. I cannot say that we have a particular project being delayed due to shortages. The numbers reflect our strong performance.
Next question comes from the line of Eric Stine with Craig-Hallum.
Maybe we could just touch on the federal business. I know if we go back to earlier in the year, you'd called out three projects; then fast forward a quarter and two of them kind of went back to normal while one was being rescoped. You clearly sound more optimistic about it, but it doesn't seem like you're ready to sound the all clear. Would you agree with that characterization? And if so, what do you feel you need to see to conclude that what was happening in late January and February was simply noise, while the business is really performing as expected?
Basically, I'll let Nicole provide more color on that. We are pleased with our progress. The federal government is moving much better than earlier this year. We are at levels comparable to the previous administration, perhaps even better due to larger projects and data centers developing in federal locations. Nicole, would you like to add further comments?
Yes. I think we are in a better place than at the start of the year. Our value proposition of energy savings, particularly in energy savings performance contracting for the federal government, provides bipartisan value. We are providing infrastructure upgrades at military bases and GSA buildings. We are working through GSA projects that may involve rescoping, such as replacing solar with natural gas solutions. The inherent value of these contracts remains strong. As new people come into this administration, there is always an education process, but we are in a much better position than in January as they become more familiar with the benefits of these types of projects.
Got it. And then in relation to that, in the context of the rescoping, several people including myself interpreted that as potentially less content, but it seems that is not the case. It may just be changing some characteristics of the project instead of impacting the overall value to Ameresco.
That's correct. We are just adjusting the scope of projects to align with current needs. The value inherent in these projects remains.
Yes. Got it. Okay. Lastly, how do you see the linearity of the second half of the year shaping up, particularly concerning the impact of the RNG plant? Do you expect Q4 to be stronger than Q3?
Yes, this is Mark. I expect Q4 to be a bit heavier than Q3. With strong execution, we've managed to accelerate some projects, as we've shown in Q2. I would anticipate a slightly heavier Q4 relative to Q3.
Understood. Thank you.
Next question comes from the line of Joseph Osha with Guggenheim.
I wanted to return to the topic of storage. We're awaited clarity on some issues, but it is evident that claiming an ITC is going to be challenging if you're using Chinese cells due to foreign entity concerns. In your conversations with customers, what's the plan? Will they need to absorb any extra costs? Or are there realistic plans to source cells domestically?
Joe, this is Josh. I'll address that. You're correct; there was discussion concerning domestic supply and we are actively investigating that along with other suppliers. One of the larger suppliers in the U.S. is working on a domestic solution. We will explore all avenues to ensure availability, including negotiating with customers on costs. Each project presents unique details, so we will approach it on a case-by-case basis rather than offering a one-size-fits-all solution.
Additionally, we have some customers who have agreed that if X happens, then the price is Y, creating a room for negotiation.
Next question comes from the line of Craig Shere with Tuohy Brothers.
I understand that the big beautiful bill hasn't impacted near-term guidance. However, two questions: Do you foresee it potentially moderating U.S. growth? And considering the strength in Europe, could the geographic mix evolve more towards a 50-50 balance rather than one-third currently?
Look, Europe is currently 20% of our backlog and is likely to grow much faster than the U.S., without a doubt. However, the U.S. market is expanding due to rising energy prices and concerns among commercial and industrial customers about stability. Therefore, we feel very good about our situation.
Great. And I'd like to delve deeper into the timing of SMR deployments and your ideal project size, both domestically and internationally. Do you see Ameresco's role as supportive transition generation until modular nuclear comes online, or could you get into EPC work around SMR infrastructure?
We have been growing into actual infrastructure, and this is not new; the Savannah River project, for example, was a $200 million infrastructure project. Many projects we work on with the federal government, such as cogeneration plants, involve complex R&D as well as high financial stakes. However, our ideal projects would likely range from $100 million to $300 million, particularly concerning battery and turbine projects, where we would act as the EPC contractor.
Seeing no further questions at this time, that concludes our question-and-answer session and today's conference call. Thank you all for joining. You may now disconnect.