Ameresco reports first quarter 2019 financial results
Framingham, mass.--(business wire)--ameresco, inc. (nyse:amrc), a leading energy efficiency and renewable energy company, today announced financial results for the fiscal quarter ended march 31, 2019. the company has also furnished supplemental information in conjunction with this press release in a current report on form 8-k. the supplemental information includes non-gaap financial metrics and has been posted to the “investor relations” section of the company’s website at www.ameresco.com. management commentary “we are off to a great start in 2019, with solid financial results and tremendous growth in our assets in development pipeline,” said george p. sakellaris, president and chief executive officer of ameresco. “energy assets in development more than doubled year over year, and now represents 267 mwe. this important growth in asset development is complemented by the expansion of our project backlog, greatly improving our long-term visibility. across north america, our regional teams are now highly engaged in both winning projects and developing energy assets. growing our visibility toward high margin, recurring revenue deepens our confidence, both in the outlook for this year and over the longer-term.” financial results (all financial result comparisons made are against the prior year period unless otherwise noted.) first quarter 2019 revenues were $150.1 million, compared to $167.4 million. operating income was $6.5 million, compared to $8.3 million. net income attributable to common shareholders was $4.1 million compared to $7.0 million, and net income per diluted share was $0.09 compared to $0.15. non-gaap eps was $0.02 compared to $0.16. net income attributable to common shareholders for prior year included a discrete tax benefit resulting from the extension of energy efficiency deductions available under irc section 179d. the benefit was approximately $3.8 million or $0.08 per diluted share. adjusted ebitda, a non-gaap financial measure, was $14.2 million, compared to $15.8 million. additional first quarter 2019 operating highlights: cash flows used in operating activities were $58.1 million, compared to $37.1 million, and adjusted cash used in operations, a non-gaap financial measure, was $18.5 million, compared to $0.5 million. total project backlog was $2.0 billion and consisted of: fully-contracted backlog of $753.6 million, representing signed customer contracts for installation or construction of projects, which we expect to convert into revenue over the next one to three years, on average; and $1.3 billion of awarded projects, representing projects in development for which we do not have signed contracts. fully-contracted backlog of $753.6 million, representing signed customer contracts for installation or construction of projects, which we expect to convert into revenue over the next one to three years, on average; and $1.3 billion of awarded projects, representing projects in development for which we do not have signed contracts. assets in development were $549.3 million or 267 mwe. fy 2019 guidance based on year to date performance and expectations for the remainder of 2019, ameresco is raising the lower end of its 2019 earnings guidance. ameresco now expects net income per diluted share to be in the range of $0.77 to $0.85 and adjusted ebitda to be in the range of $95 million to $103 million in 2019. ameresco reaffirms total revenue to be in the range of $845 million to $885 million. this guidance excludes the impact of any non-controlling interest activity, our restructuring activities, our deconsolidation of a vie, as well as any related tax impact. also 2019 guidance does not assume any benefit from irc section 179d deductions, which in 2018 provided a benefit of $5.8 million, and has since expired. share repurchase program through the end of the first quarter, the company repurchased 2,091,040 shares of its class a common stock for $11.6 million. the company has approximately $3.4 million of remaining authorization under the share repurchase program it announced in may 2016. webcast reminder the company will host a conference call today at 8:30 a.m. et to discuss results. the conference call will be available via the following dial in numbers: u.s. participants: dial 1-877-359-9508 (access code: 4059384) international participants: dial 1-224-357-2393 (access code: 4059384) participants are advised to dial into the call at least ten minutes prior to register. a live, listen-only webcast of the conference call will also be available over the internet. individuals wishing to listen can access the call through the “investor relations” section of the company’s website at www.ameresco.com. an archived webcast will be available on the company’s website for one year. use of non-gaap financial measures this press release and the accompanying tables include references to adjusted ebitda, non-gaap eps, non-gaap net income and adjusted cash from operations, which are non-gaap financial measures. for a description of these non-gaap financial measures, including the reasons management uses these measures, please see the section following the accompanying tables titled “exhibit a: non-gaap financial measures”. for a reconciliation of these non-gaap financial measures to the most directly comparable financial measures prepared in accordance with gaap, please see other non-gaap disclosures and non-gaap financial guidance in the accompanying tables. about ameresco, inc. founded in 2000, ameresco, inc. (nyse:amrc) is a leading independent provider of comprehensive services, energy efficiency, infrastructure upgrades, asset sustainability and renewable energy solutions for businesses and organizations throughout north america and europe. ameresco’s sustainability services include upgrades to a facility’s energy infrastructure and the development, construction and operation of renewable energy plants. ameresco has successfully completed energy saving, environmentally responsible projects with federal, state and local governments, healthcare and educational institutions, housing authorities, and commercial and industrial customers. with its corporate headquarters in framingham, ma, ameresco has more than 1,000 employees providing local expertise in the united states, canada, and the united kingdom. for more information, visit www.ameresco.com. safe harbor statement any statements in this press release about future expectations, plans and prospects for ameresco, inc., including statements about market conditions, pipeline and backlog, as well as estimated future revenues and net income, and other statements containing the words “projects,” “believes,” “anticipates,” “plans,” “expects,” “will” and similar expressions, constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the private securities litigation reform act of 1995. actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including the timing of, and ability to, enter into contracts for awarded projects on the terms proposed; the timing of work we do on projects where we recognize revenue on a percentage of completion basis, including the ability to perform under recently signed contracts without unusual delay; demand for our energy efficiency and renewable energy solutions; our ability to arrange financing for our projects; changes in federal, state and local government policies and programs related to energy efficiency and renewable energy; the ability of customers to cancel or defer contracts included in our backlog; the effects of our recent acquisitions and restructuring activities; seasonality in construction and in demand for our products and services; a customer’s decision to delay our work on, or other risks involved with, a particular project; availability and costs of labor and equipment; the addition of new customers or the loss of existing customers; market price of the company's stock prevailing from time to time; the nature of other investment opportunities presented to the company from time to time; the company's cash flows from operations; and other factors discussed in our annual report on form 10-k for the year ended december 31, 2018, filed with the u.s. securities and exchange commission on march 8, 2019. in addition, the forward-looking statements included in this press release represent our views as of the date of this press release. we anticipate that subsequent events and developments will cause our views to change. however, while we may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, we specifically disclaim any obligation to do so. these forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release. ameresco, inc.consolidated balance sheets(in thousands, except share amounts) ameresco, inc.consolidated statements of income(in thousands, except per share amounts) ameresco, inc.consolidated statements of cash flows(in thousands) non-gaap financial measures (in thousands) (1) represents estimated future revenues from projects that have been awarded, though the contracts have not yet been signed (2) estimated total construction value of all energy assets in construction and development non-gaap financial guidance exhibit a: non-gaap financial measures we use the non-gaap financial measures defined and discussed below to provide investors and others with useful supplemental information to our financial results prepared in accordance with gaap. these non-gaap financial measures should not be considered as an alternative to any measure of financial performance calculated and presented in accordance with gaap. for a reconciliation of these non-gaap measures to the most directly comparable financial measures prepared in accordance with gaap, please see other non-gaap disclosure and non-gaap financial guidance in the tables above. we understand that, although measures similar to these non-gaap financial measures are frequently used by investors and securities analysts in their evaluation of companies, they have limitations as analytical tools, and investors should not consider them in isolation or as a substitute for the most directly comparable gaap financial measures or an analysis of our results of operations as reported under gaap. to properly and prudently evaluate our business, we encourage investors to review our gaap financial statements included above, and not to rely on any single financial measure to evaluate our business. adjusted ebitda and adjusted ebitda margin we define adjusted ebitda as operating income before depreciation, amortization of intangible assets, accretion of asset retirement obligations, contingent consideration expense, stock-based compensation expense, restructuring charges, and gain upon deconsolidation of a variable interest entity ("vie"). we believe adjusted ebitda is useful to investors in evaluating our operating performance for the following reasons: adjusted ebitda and similar non-gaap measures are widely used by investors to measure a company's operating performance without regard to items that can vary substantially from company to company depending upon financing and accounting methods, book values of assets, capital structures and the methods by which assets were acquired; securities analysts often use adjusted ebitda and similar non-gaap measures as supplemental measures to evaluate the overall operating performance of companies; and by comparing our adjusted ebitda in different historical periods, investors can evaluate our operating results without the additional variations of depreciation and amortization expense, accretion of asset retirement obligations, contingent consideration expense, stock-based compensation expense, restructuring charges, and gain upon deconsolidation of a vie. we define adjusted ebitda margin as adjusted ebitda stated as a percentage of revenue. our management uses adjusted ebitda and adjusted ebitda margin as measures of operating performance, because they do not include the impact of items that we do not consider indicative of our core operating performance; for planning purposes, including the preparation of our annual operating budget; to allocate resources to enhance the financial performance of the business; to evaluate the effectiveness of our business strategies; and in communications with the board of directors and investors concerning our financial performance. non-gaap net income and eps we define non-gaap net income and earnings per share ("eps") to exclude certain discrete items that management does not consider representative of our ongoing operations, including restructuring charges, gain upon deconsolidation of a vie and impact from redeemable non-controlling interest. we consider non-gaap net income and non-gaap eps to be important indicators of our operational strength and performance of our business because they eliminate the effects of events that are not part of the company's core operations. adjusted cash from operations we define adjusted cash from operations as cash flows from operating activities plus proceeds from federal espc projects. cash received in payment of federal espc projects is treated as a financing cash flow under gaap due to the unusual financing structure for these projects. these cash flows, however, correspond to the revenue generated by these projects. thus we believe that adjusting operating cash flow to include the cash generated by our federal espc projects provides investors with a useful measure for evaluating the cash generating ability of our core operating business. our management uses adjusted cash from operations as a measure of liquidity because it captures all sources of cash associated with our revenue generated by operations.
