Black Diamond Reports First Quarter 2024 Results And Declares Dividend

CALGARY, Alberta, May 02, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Black Diamond Group Limited (“Black Diamond”, the “Company” or “we”), (TSX:BDI), a leading provider of space rental and workforce accommodation solutions, today announced its operating and financial results for the three months ended March 31, 2024 (the “Quarter”) compared with the three months ended March 31, 2023 (the “Comparative Quarter”). All financial figures are expressed in Canadian dollars.

Key Highlights from the First Quarter of 2024

• Consolidated rental revenue of $35.1 million was up 2% from the Comparative Quarter, while Adjusted EBITDA¹ of $19.4 million was down 9% from the Comparative Quarter, driven primarily by lower sales revenue for several custom sales projects were deferred into subsequent periods.

• The Company’s consolidated contracted future rental revenue at the end of the Quarter grew 5% from the Comparative Quarter to $137.1 million.

• MSS rental revenue was $21.5 million, an increase of 5% from the Comparative Quarter, and was achieved with an 81% utilization rate.

• MSS average monthly rental rate per unit increased 8% from the Comparative Quarter (or 9% on a constant currency basis).

• Despite utilization falling to 64% due to the completion of camp rentals related to two larger pipeline projects, WFS rental revenue of $13.6 million, was relatively consistent compared to the Comparative Quarter, driven by meaningfully higher average rates.

• LodgeLink net revenue of $2.6 million grew 18% from the Comparative Quarter on higher booking volumes than the Comparative Quarter.

• Total capital expenditures were $17.3 million for the Quarter, including maintenance capital of $2.7 million. Total capital commitments at the end of the Quarter of $39 million is 11% greater than the Comparative Quarter, with the majority of growth capital being allocated to contracted project specific fleet units.

• Long term debt and Net Debt¹ at the end of the Quarter increased 5% and 2% since December 31, 2023, respectively, to $199.8 million and $187.9 million, respectively. Net Debt to trailing twelve month (“TTM”) Adjusted Leverage EBITDA¹ of 1.8x remains below the Company’s target range of 2.0x to 3.0x while available liquidity was $148.3 million at the end of the Quarter.

• Subsequent to the end of the Quarter, the Company declared a second quarter dividend of $0.03 payable on or about July 15, 2024 to shareholders of record on June 30, 2024.

Outlook
Results for the Quarter were impacted by lower sales revenues due to project-specific deferrals which has shifted some sales revenue into subsequent quarters which provides reasonable visibility for sales revenue to recover to typical volumes in first half and full year. The Company’s outlook for the remainder of 2024 remains optimistic driven by the strong uptake of organic growth capital to start the year, along with $137.1 million of future contracted rental revenue at the end of the Quarter. Capital expenditures in the Quarter are up modestly compared to the Comparative Quarter, and capital commitments of $39 million at the end of the Quarter are more than 11% higher year-over-year. Subsequent to Quarter end, capital deployment opportunities for organic growth have continued to accelerate based on a robust opportunities pipeline in both MSS and WFS. This is expected to drive continued forward growth in the Company’s high-margin, recurring rental revenue stream. 

MSS generated $21.5 million in rental revenue in the Quarter, up 5% from the Comparative Quarter, driven primarily by increased average rental rates and ongoing organic fleet investment, slightly offset by moderating utilization. Utilization of 81% is down 320 basis points from the Comparative Quarter, but on average, remains at healthy consolidated levels across the MSS business. MSS contracted future rental revenue continues to grow and ended the Quarter at $102.5 million, with an average rental duration of 53 months. Demand for modular rental buildings remains strong and management anticipates healthy activity levels in key infrastructure and education verticals which are continuing to drive ongoing deployment of organic fleet growth in 2024. Sales revenue and non-rental revenue in the Quarter declined 55% and 19%, respectively from the Comparative Quarter, while Adjusted EBITDA¹ declined 10% from the Comparative Quarter. While sales revenues and the ancillary non-rental revenues associated with these projects can be variable on a quarterly basis, the Company expects relative growth to prior trends in these revenue line items on an annual basis as sales opportunities remain robust. Specific to the Quarter, several sales projects were deferred into subsequent periods.

Despite the conclusion of camp rental contracts for two sizable pipeline projects in the fourth quarter of 2023, WFS rental revenue and Adjusted EBITDA¹ were relatively flat for the Quarter as the Company’s geographical and industry diversification efforts have continued to drive improved rental revenue stability. Rental revenue of $13.6 million and Adjusted EBITDA¹ of $10.9 million compared to $14.0 million and $11.0 million, respectively, in the Comparative Quarter. WFS contracted future rental revenue of $34.6 million for the Quarter was up 5% from the Comparative Quarter and management continues to see a robust opportunity set for redeployment of assets in a generally higher rental rate environment across North America. Also, organic growth opportunities in Australia continue to be attractive. The Company continues to expect improving WFS rental revenue and Adjusted EBITDA¹ performance in the back half of 2024 and into 2025 driven by redeployment of rental assets, organic fleet growth and further customer and geographic diversification.

LodgeLink continues to scale, with Gross Bookings¹ up 16% and net revenue climbing 18% from the Comparative Quarter. Total room nights sold in the Quarter were 115,063. Net Revenue Margins¹ for the Quarter were up 20 basis points versus the Comparative Quarter, reaching 12.1%, driven by additional higher margin ancillary revenue. The Company continues to believe that LodgeLink is well-positioned for continued, ongoing growth within a large, addressable North American workforce travel market with an expanding base of corporate customers, and the ongoing support of our supply partners that represent over 1.5 million rooms of capacity in over 15,000 North American properties.  

Black Diamond continues to focus on driving growth and compounding the Company’s high-margin, recurring rental revenue streams by pursuing numerous opportunities for organic and inorganic investment in both North America and Australia. The Company is well positioned to fund this continued growth with ample liquidity of $148 million, and Net Debt to TTM Adjusted Leverage EBITDA¹ of 1.8x, which remains below the Company’s target range of 2.0x to 3.0x. The outlook for the balance of 2024 remains positive, and is further supported by growing contracted rental revenues, a robust sales pipeline, and continued scaling and value creation within LodgeLink.

¹ Adjusted EBITDA and Gross Bookings are non-GAAP financial measures. Net Revenue Margin and Net Debt to TTM Adjusted Leverage EBITDA are non-GAAP ratios. Refer to the Non-GAAP Financial Measures section of this news release for more information on each non-GAAP financial measure and ratio.

First Quarter 2024 Financial Highlights

Additional Information

A copy of the Company’s unaudited interim condensed consolidated financial statements for the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023 and related management’s discussion and analysis have been filed with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities and may be accessed through the SEDAR+ website (www.sedarplus.ca) and www.blackdiamondgroup.com.

About Black Diamond Group

Black Diamond is a specialty rentals and industrial services company with two operating business units – MSS and WFS. We operate in Canada, the United States, and Australia.

MSS through its principal brands, BOXX Modular, Britco, CLM, MPA Systems, and Schiavi, owns a large rental fleet of modular buildings of various types and sizes. Its network of local branches rent, sell, service, and provide ancillary products and services to a diverse customer base in the construction, industrial, education, financial, and government sectors.

WFS owns a large rental fleet of modular accommodation assets of various types. Its regional operating terminals rent, sell, service, and provide ancillary products and services including turnkey operated camps to a wide array of customers in the resource, infrastructure, construction, disaster recovery, and education sectors.

In addition, WFS includes LodgeLink which operates a digital marketplace for business-to-business crew accommodation, travel, and logistics services across North America. The LodgeLink proprietary digital platform enables customers to efficiently find, book, and manage their crew travel and accommodation needs through a rapidly growing network of hotel, remote lodge, and travel partners. LodgeLink exists to solve the unique challenges associated with crew travel and applies technology to eliminate inefficiencies at every step of the crew travel process from booking, to management, to payments, to cost reporting.

Learn more at www.blackdiamondgroup.com.

For investor inquiries please contact Jason Zhang at 403-206-4739
or investor@blackdiamondgroup.com.

Conference Call
Black Diamond will hold a conference call and webcast at 9:00 a.m. MT (11:00 a.m. ET) on Friday, May 3, 2024. CEO Trevor Haynes and CFO Toby LaBrie will discuss Black Diamond’s financial results for the quarter and then take questions from investors and analysts.

To access the conference call by telephone dial toll free 1-844-763-8274. International callers should use 1-647-484-8814. Please connect approximately 10 minutes prior to the beginning of the call. 

To access the call via webcast, please log into the webcast link 10 minutes before the start time at:
https://www.gowebcasting.com/13221

Following the conference call, a replay will be available on the Investor Centre section of the Company’s website at www.blackdiamondgroup.com, under Presentations & Events.

Reader Advisory
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain information set forth in this news release contains forward-looking statements including, but not limited to, expectations for and opportunities in different geographic areas, opportunities for organic investment, the sales and opportunity pipeline, expectations for asset sales, timing and payment of a second quarter dividend, management’s assessment of Black Diamond’s future operations and what may have an impact on them, opportunities and effect of deploying investment capital, financial performance, business prospects and opportunities, changing operating environment including changing activity levels, effects on demand and performance based on the changing operating environment, expectations for demand and growth in the Company’s operating and customer segments, timing of deferred projects, the expected rate environment, expectations for revenue run rate for 2024, future deployment of assets, amount of revenue anticipated to be derived from current contracts, sources and use of funds, expected length of existing contracts and future growth and profitability of the Company. With respect to the forward-looking statements in this news release, Black Diamond has made assumptions regarding, among other things: future commodity prices, the future rate environment, that Black Diamond will continue to raise sufficient capital to fund its business plans in a manner consistent with past operations, timing and cost estimates of the ERP, that counterparties to contracts will perform the contracts as written and that there will be no unforeseen material delays in contracted projects. Although Black Diamond believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements contained in this news release, and the assumptions on which such forward-looking statements are made, are reasonable, there can be no assurances that such expectations or assumptions will prove to be correct. Readers are cautioned that assumptions used in the preparation of such statements may prove to be incorrect. Events or circumstances may cause actual results to differ materially from those predicted, as a result of numerous known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of Black Diamond. These risks include, but are not limited to: volatility of industry conditions, the Company’s ability to attract new customers, political conditions, dependence on agreements and contracts, competition, credit risk, information technology systems and cyber security, vulnerability to market changes, operating risks and insurance, weakness in industrial construction and infrastructure developments, weakness in natural resource industries, access to additional financing, dependence on suppliers and manufacturers, reliance on key personnel, and workforce availability. The risks outlined above should not be construed as exhaustive. Additional information on these and other factors that could affect Black Diamond’s operations and financial results are included in Black Diamond’s annual information form for the year ended December 31, 2023 and other reports on file with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities which can be accessed on Black Diamond’s profile on SEDAR+. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Furthermore, the forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as at the date of this news release and Black Diamond does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any of the forward-looking statements, except as may be required by applicable securities laws.

Non-GAAP Measures
In this news release, the following specified financial measures and ratios have been disclosed: Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EBIT, Adjusted EBITDA as % of Revenue, Net Debt, Net Debt to TTM Adjusted Leverage EBITDA, Funds from Operations, Return on Assets, Gross Bookings, Net Revenue Margin and Free Cashflow. These non-GAAP and other financial measures do not have any standardized meaning prescribed under International Financial Reporting Standards (“IFRS”) and therefore may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other entities. Readers are cautioned that these non-GAAP measures are not alternatives to measures under IFRS and should not, on their own, be construed as an indicator of the Company’s performance or cash flows, a measure of liquidity or as a measure of actual return on the common shares of the Company. These non-GAAP measures should only be used in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements of the Company.

Adjusted EBITDA is not a measure recognized under IFRS and does not have standardized meanings prescribed by IFRS. Adjusted EBITDA refers to consolidated earnings before finance costs, tax expense, depreciation, amortization, accretion, foreign exchange, share-based compensation, acquisition costs, non-controlling interests, share of gains or losses of an associate, write-down of property and equipment, impairment, non-recurring costs, and gains or losses on the sale of non-fleet assets in the normal course of business.

Black Diamond uses Adjusted EBITDA primarily as a measure of operating performance. Management believes that operating performance, as determined by Adjusted EBITDA, is meaningful because it presents the performance of the Company’s operations on a basis which excludes the impact of certain non-cash items as well as how the operations have been financed. In addition, management presents Adjusted EBITDA because it considers it to be an important supplemental measure of the Company’s performance and believes this measure is frequently used by securities analysts, investors and other interested parties in the evaluation of companies in industries with similar capital structures.

Adjusted EBITDA has limitations as an analytical tool, and readers should not consider this item in isolation, or as a substitute for an analysis of the Company’s results as reported under IFRS. Some of the limitations of Adjusted EBITDA are:

• Adjusted EBITDA excludes certain income tax payments and recoveries that may represent a reduction or increase in cash available to the Company;
• Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect the Company’s cash expenditures, or future requirements, for capital expenditures or contractual commitments;
• Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect changes in, or cash requirements for, the Company’s working capital needs;
• Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect the significant interest expense, or the cash requirements necessary to service interest payments on the Company’s debt;
• depreciation and amortization are non-cash charges, thus the assets being depreciated and amortized will often have to be replaced in the future and Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect any cash requirements for such replacements; and
• other companies in the industry may calculate Adjusted EBITDA differently than the Company does, limiting its usefulness as a comparative measure.

Because of these limitations, Adjusted EBITDA should not be considered as a measure of discretionary cash available to invest in the growth of the Company’s business. The Company compensates for these limitations by relying primarily on the Company’s IFRS results and using Adjusted EBITDA only on a supplementary basis. A reconciliation to profit, the most comparable GAAP measure, is provided below.

Adjusted EBIT is Adjusted EBITDA less depreciation and amortization. Black Diamond uses Adjusted EBIT primarily as a measure of operating performance. Management believes that Adjusted EBIT is a useful measure for investors when analyzing ongoing operating trends. There can be no assurances that additional special items will not occur in future periods, nor that the Company’s definition of Adjusted EBIT is consistent with that of other companies. As such, management believes that it is appropriate to consider both profit determined on a GAAP basis as well as Adjusted EBIT. A reconciliation to profit, the most comparable GAAP measure, is provided below.

Adjusted EBITDA as a % of Revenue is calculated by dividing Adjusted EBITDA by total revenue for the period. Black Diamond uses Adjusted EBITDA as a % of Revenue primarily as a measure of operating performance. Management believes this ratio is an important supplemental measure of the Company’s performance and believes this measure is frequently used by securities analysts, investors and other interested parties in the evaluation of companies in industries with similar capital structures.

Return on Assets is calculated as annualized Adjusted EBITDA divided by average net book value of property and equipment. Annualized Adjusted EBITDA is calculated by multiplying Adjusted EBITDA for the Quarter and Comparative Quarter by an annualized multiplier. Management believes that Return on Assets is a useful financial measure for investors in evaluating operating performance for the periods presented. When read in conjunction with our profit and property and equipment, two GAAP measures, this non-GAAP ratio provides investors with a useful tool to evaluate Black Diamond’s ongoing operations and management of assets from period-to-period.

Reconciliation of Consolidated Profit to Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EBIT, Adjusted EBITDA as a % of Revenue and Return on Assets:

Net Debt to TTM Adjusted Leverage EBITDA is a non-GAAP financial ratio which is calculated as Net Debt divided by trailing twelve months Adjusted Leverage EBITDA. Net Debt, a non-GAAP financial measure, is calculated as long-term debt minus cash and cash equivalents. A reconciliation to long-term debt, the most comparable GAAP measure, is provided below. Net Debt and Net Debt to TTM Adjusted Leverage EBITDA removes cash and cash equivalents from the Company’s debt balance. Black Diamond uses this ratio primarily as a measure of operating performance. Management believes this ratio is an important supplemental measure of the Company’s performance and believes this measure is frequently used by securities analysts, investors and other interested parties in the evaluation of companies in industries with similar capital structures. In the quarter ended June 30, 2022, Net Debt to TTM Adjusted EBITDA was renamed Net Debt to TTM Adjusted Leverage EBITDA, to provide further clarity on the composition of the denominator to include pre-acquisition estimates of EBITDA from business combinations. Management believes including the additional information in this calculation helps provide information on the impact of trailing operations from business combinations on the Company’s leverage position.

Reconciliation of Consolidated Profit to Adjusted EBITDA, Net Debt and Net Debt to TTM Adjusted Leverage EBITDA:

Funds from Operations is calculated as the cash flow from operating activities, the most comparable GAAP measure, excluding the changes in non-cash working capital. Management believes that Funds from Operations is a useful measure as it provides an indication of the funds generated by the operations before working capital adjustments. Changes in long-term accounts receivables and non-cash working capital items have been excluded as such changes are financed using the operating line of Black Diamond’s credit facilities. A reconciliation to cash flow from operating activities, the most comparable GAAP measure, is provided below.

Free Cashflow is calculated as Funds from Operations minus maintenance capital, net interest paid (including lease interest), payment of lease liabilities, net current income tax expense (recovery), distributions declared to non-controlling interest, dividends paid on common shares and dividends paid on preferred shares plus net current income taxes received (paid). Management believes that Free Cashflow is a useful measure as it provides an indication of the funds generated by the operations before working capital adjustments and other items noted above. Management believes this metric is frequently used by securities analysts, investors and other interested parties in the evaluation of companies in industries with similar capital structures. A reconciliation to cash flow from operating activities, the most comparable GAAP measure, is provided below.

Reconciliation of Cash Flow From Operating Activities to Funds from Operations and Free Cashflow:

Gross Bookings, a non-GAAP measure, is total revenue billed to the customer which includes all fees and charges. Net revenue, a GAAP measure, is Gross Bookings less costs paid to suppliers. Revenue from bookings at third party lodges and hotels through LodgeLink are recognized on a net revenue basis. LodgeLink is an agent in the transaction as it is not responsible for providing the service to the customer and does not control the service provided by a supplier. Management believes this ratio is an important supplemental measure of LodgeLink’s performance and cash generation and believes this ratio is frequently used by interested parties in the evaluation of companies in industries with similar forms of revenue generation.

Net Revenue Margin is calculated by dividing net revenue by Gross Bookings for the period. Management believes this ratio is an important supplemental measure of LodgeLink’s performance and profitability and believes this ratio is frequently used by interested parties in the evaluation of companies in industries with similar forms revenue generation where companies act as agents in transactions.

Reconciliation of Net Revenue to Gross Bookings and Net Revenue Margin:

Readers are cautioned that the non-GAAP measures are not alternatives to measures under IFRS and should not, on their own, be construed as an indicator of Black Diamond’s performance or cash flows, a measure of liquidity or as a measure of actual return on the shares of Black Diamond. These non-GAAP measures should only be used in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements of Black Diamond.