Clean harbors announces fourth-quarter and full-year 2021 financial results
Norwell, mass.--(business wire)--clean harbors, inc. (“clean harbors”) (nyse: clh), the leading provider of environmental and industrial services throughout north america, today announced financial results for the fourth quarter and year ended december 31, 2021. “the fourth quarter marked a strong close to the year for clean harbors and demonstrated the ongoing success of our comprehensive growth strategy,” said alan s. mckim, chairman, president and chief executive officer. “favorable market dynamics for both our operating segments drove our performance – including high demand for hazardous waste disposal, industrial services and re-refined products. this positive market environment, combined with strong execution by our entire team, enabled us to exceed our guidance for both adjusted ebitda and adjusted free cash flow. with contributions from hydrochempsc (“hpc”), which we acquired in october, we delivered more than $1 billion in quarterly revenue for the first time in our company’s history.” fourth-quarter results revenues increased 41% to $1.12 billion from $796.2 million in the same period of 2020. income from operations grew 33% to $82.2 million from $61.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2020. net income was $49.0 million, or $0.90 per diluted share. this compares with net income of $39.3 million, or $0.71 per diluted share, for the same period in 2020. adjusted for certain items in both periods, adjusted net income was $48.6 million, or $0.89 per diluted share, for the fourth quarter of 2021, compared with adjusted net income of $35.0 million, or $0.63 per diluted share, for the same period of 2020. (see reconciliation tables below). net income and adjusted net income results for the fourth quarter of 2021 included pre-tax integration and severance costs of $8.6 million. comparable costs in the fourth quarter of 2020 were $1.9 million. adjusted ebitda (see description below) increased 23% to $174.3 million from $141.8 million in the same period of 2020. benefits from canadian government assistance programs accounted for $0.3 million of contributions in the fourth quarter of 2021, compared with $5.6 million in benefits from both canadian and u.s. government programs in the same period of 2020. q4 2021 review “revenues in our environmental services segment increased 36%, reflecting the hpc acquisition, robust demand for our disposal and recycling services, and healthy growth in our industrial services and field services businesses,” mckim said. “our incineration network utilization was 92% in the quarter, compared with 84% in the prior year, reflecting some project opportunities, as well as a focused effort to drive additional volumes and make progress on our considerable backlog. we saw a pickup in small remediation projects that drove our landfill volumes up 15%. safety-kleen environmental continued its steady rebound, growing 6% through wins across its core service offerings. for the third consecutive quarter, our legacy industrial services business, which excludes hpc, grew substantially, rising 26% due to market demand as customers work to address deferred maintenance that resulted from the pandemic. “revenues in our safety-kleen sustainability solutions (skss) segment grew more than 60% from a year ago and adjusted ebitda nearly tripled,” mckim said. “as we saw throughout 2021, demand for both our base oil and blended products in the quarter drove strong pricing. we complemented that product pricing with highly effective management of our collection costs throughout our network. waste oil gallons collected were up 14% in the quarter to 56 million gallons.” 2021 financial results clean harbors’ revenues were $3.81 billion compared with $3.14 billion in 2020. income from operations increased 38% to $347.9 million from $251.3 million in 2020. net income was $203.2 million, or $3.71 per diluted share, compared with net income of $134.8 million, or $2.42 per diluted share for 2020. adjusted for certain items in both periods, the company reported adjusted net income for 2021 of $199.6 million, or $3.64 per diluted share, compared with adjusted net income of $129.4 million, or $2.32 per diluted share, for 2020. (see reconciliation table below). net income and adjusted net income results for 2021 included pre-tax integration and severance costs of $19.7 million, with the hpc acquisition representing the largest factor. comparable costs in 2020 were $12.5 million driven by pandemic-related workforce reductions. adjusted ebitda (see description below) increased 18% to $676.6 million, which included $12.0 million of benefits from government assistance programs, compared with adjusted ebitda of $573.8 million in 2020, which included $42.3 million of benefits from government assistance programs. the company also generated record adjusted free cash flow of $326.3 million in 2021, a 23% increase from the prior year. “our results reflect the continuation of a multi-year growth trend in our revenues, adjusted ebitda and adjusted free cash flow generation,” mckim said. “beyond our financial accomplishments, 2021 was a year of significant achievement for the company, including the hpc acquisition, commencing the expansion of our incineration network in nebraska and overcoming the deep freeze in the southern u.s. that temporarily shut down six of our incinerators in early 2021. in addition, we addressed inflationary conditions not seen in decades with rigorous pricing initiatives and navigated the various phases of the pandemic, while generating $59 million of covid decontamination revenue. overall, it was another year of delivering exceptional performance for our stakeholders as we improved our roic for the fourth consecutive year.” business outlook and financial guidance “we see momentum continuing across all our key business lines, which will support our plans for profitable growth in 2022,” mckim said. “the new year began with a healthy backlog of waste streams in our disposal facilities and at customer sites, with underlying trends in regulations and u.s. manufacturing further supporting our positive view. we are seeing a robust pipeline of remediation and waste projects heading into the year; that is only likely to increase as the market contemplates its strategy to address pfas and the government moves forward with its infrastructure spending plan. “the outlook for our industrial services business is also promising, and we are excited about the prospects for hpc, which has given us a leadership position in the space,” mckim said. “hpc has a talented team with great assets including industry-leading automation technology. in the short time we’ve owned the company, the cultural fit has been excellent, and we see enormous potential to generate cross-selling and capture synergies. “within skss, we continue to see a favorable pricing environment for our sustainable lubricant products and base oil. coupled with the effective systems we have in place to manage our waste oil collection costs and improve transportation efficiencies, we expect to maintain a healthy re-refining spread in that segment again in 2022,” mckim concluded. “overall, we are confident that we have pricing and cost reduction strategies in place to offset inflation in full year 2022. given the positive demand environment across north america, we expect clean harbors to deliver strong profitable growth and solid free cash flow this year.” for the first quarter, clean harbors expects adjusted ebitda to increase 30%-35% from the prior year, largely due to the addition of hpc and higher profitability in the skss segment. for full-year 2022, clean harbors expects: adjusted ebitda in the range of $765 million to $795 million. this range is based on anticipated gaap net income in the range of $204 million to $237 million; and adjusted free cash flow in the range of $250 million to $290 million, based on anticipated net cash from operating activities in the range of $560 million to $620 million. non-gaap results clean harbors reports adjusted ebitda, which is a non-gaap financial measure and should not be considered an alternative to net income or other measurements under generally accepted accounting principles (gaap), but viewed only as a supplement to those measurements. adjusted ebitda is not calculated identically by all companies, and therefore the company’s measurement of adjusted ebitda may not be comparable to similarly titled measures reported by other companies. clean harbors believes that adjusted ebitda provides additional useful information to investors since the company’s loan covenants are based upon levels of adjusted ebitda achieved and management routinely evaluates the performance of its businesses based upon levels of adjusted ebitda. the company defines adjusted ebitda in accordance with its existing revolving credit agreement, as described in the following reconciliation showing the differences between reported net income and adjusted ebitda for the three and twelve months ended december 31, 2021 and 2020 (in thousands, except percentages): for the three months ended for the twelve months ended december 31, 2021 december 31, 2020 december 31, 2021 december 31, 2020 net income $ 48,993 $ 39,332 $ 203,247 $ 134,837 accretion of environmental liabilities 3,120 2,902 11,745 11,051 stock-based compensation 6,053 5,763 18,839 18,502 depreciation and amortization 82,929 71,418 298,135 292,915 other (income) expense, net (1,994 ) (307 ) 515 290 loss on sale of businesses — — — 3,376 interest expense, net of interest income 23,704 18,272 77,657 73,120 provision for income taxes 11,495 4,444 66,468 39,713 adjusted ebitda $ 174,300 $ 141,824 $ 676,606 $ 573,804 adjusted ebitda margin 15.6 % 17.8 % 17.8 % 18.3 % this press release includes a discussion of net income and earnings per share adjusted for the loss on sale of businesses and the impacts of tax-related valuation allowances and other items as identified in the reconciliations provided below. the company believes that discussion of these additional non-gaap measures provides investors with meaningful comparisons of current results to prior periods’ results by excluding items that the company does not believe reflect its fundamental business performance. the following shows the difference between net income and adjusted net income, and the difference between earnings per share and adjusted earnings per share, for the three and twelve months ended december 31, 2021 and 2020 (in thousands, except per share amounts): for the three months ended for the twelve months ended december 31, 2021 december 31, 2020 december 31, 2021 december 31, 2020 adjusted net income net income $ 48,993 $ 39,332 $ 203,247 $ 134,837 loss on sale of businesses — — — 3,376 tax-related valuation allowances and other* (428 ) (4,303 ) (3,649 ) (8,805 ) adjusted net income $ 48,565 $ 35,029 $ 199,598 $ 129,408 adjusted earnings per share earnings per share $ 0.90 $ 0.71 $ 3.71 $ 2.42 loss on sale of businesses — — — 0.06 tax-related valuation allowances and other* (0.01 ) (0.08 ) (0.07 ) (0.16 ) adjusted earnings per share $ 0.89 $ 0.63 $ 3.64 $ 2.32 * for the twelve months ended december 31, 2020, other amounts include a $1.6 million benefit, or $0.03 per share, related to tax benefits from impacts of amendments to prior period tax filings. adjusted free cash flow reconciliation clean harbors reports adjusted free cash flow, which it considers to be a measurement of liquidity that provides useful information to investors about its ability to generate cash. the company defines adjusted free cash flow as net cash from operating activities excluding cash impacts of items derived from non-operating activities, less additions to property, plant and equipment plus proceeds from sale and disposal of fixed assets. the company excludes cash impacts of items derived from non-operating activities such as taxes paid in connection with divestitures and in 2020 also excluded cash paid in connection with the purchase of its corporate headquarters and certain capital improvements to the site as these expenditures are considered one-time in nature. adjusted free cash flow should not be considered an alternative to net cash from operating activities or other measurements under gaap. adjusted free cash flow is not calculated identically by all companies, and therefore the company’s measurement of adjusted free cash flow may not be comparable to similarly titled measures reported by other companies. an itemized reconciliation between net cash from operating activities and adjusted free cash flow is as follows for the three and twelve months ended december 31, 2021 and 2020 (in thousands): for the three months ended for the twelve months ended december 31, 2021 december 31, 2020 december 31, 2021 december 31, 2020 adjusted free cash flow net cash from operating activities $ 177,771 $ 113,165 $ 545,997 $ 430,597 additions to property, plant and equipment (95,202 ) (45,899 ) (241,856 ) (196,256 ) purchase and capital improvements of corporate hq — — — 21,080 proceeds from sale and disposal of fixed assets 5,732 2,316 22,156 9,623 adjusted free cash flow $ 88,301 $ 69,582 $ 326,297 $ 265,044 adjusted ebitda guidance reconciliation an itemized reconciliation between projected gaap net income and projected adjusted ebitda is as follows (in millions): for the year ending december 31, 2022 projected gaap net income $204 to $237 adjustments: accretion of environmental liabilities 13 to 12 stock-based compensation 26 to 29 depreciation and amortization 340 to 330 interest expense, net 104 to 100 provision for income taxes 78 to 87 projected adjusted ebitda $765 to $795 adjusted free cash flow guidance reconciliation an itemized reconciliation between projected net cash from operating activities and projected adjusted free cash flow is as follows (in millions): for the year ending december 31, 2022 projected net cash from operating activities $560 to $620 additions to property, plant and equipment (320) to (340) proceeds from sale and disposal of fixed assets 10 to 10 projected adjusted free cash flow $250 to $290 conference call information clean harbors will conduct a conference call for investors today at 9:00 a.m. (et) to discuss the information contained in this press release. during the call, management will discuss clean harbors’ financial results, business outlook and growth strategy. investors who wish to listen to the webcast and view the accompanying slides should visit the investor relations section of the company’s website at www.cleanharbors.com. the live call also can be accessed by dialing 201.689.8881 or 877.709.8155 prior to the start time. if you are unable to listen to the live conference call, the webcast will be archived on the company’s website. about clean harbors clean harbors (nyse: clh) is north america’s leading provider of environmental and industrial services. the company serves a diverse customer base, including a majority of fortune 500 companies. its customer base spans a number of industries, including chemical, energy and manufacturing, as well as numerous government agencies. these customers rely on clean harbors to deliver a broad range of services such as end-to-end hazardous waste management, emergency spill response, industrial cleaning and maintenance, and recycling services. through its safety-kleen subsidiary, clean harbors also is north america’s largest re-refiner and recycler of used oil and a leading provider of parts washers and environmental services to commercial, industrial and automotive customers. founded in 1980 and based in massachusetts, clean harbors operates in the united states, canada, mexico, puerto rico and india. for more information, visit www.cleanharbors.com. safe harbor statement any statements contained herein that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the private securities litigation reform act of 1995. these forward-looking statements are generally identifiable by use of the words “believes,” “expects,” “intends,” “anticipates,” “plans to,” “seeks,” “should,” “estimates,” “projects,” “may,” “likely,” or similar expressions. such statements may include, but are not limited to, statements about future financial and operating results, and other statements that are not historical facts. such statements are based upon the beliefs and expectations of clean harbors’ management as of this date only and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially, including, without limitation, those items identified as “risk factors” in clean harbors’ most recently filed form 10-k and form 10-q. forward-looking statements are neither historical facts nor assurances of future performance. therefore, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. clean harbors undertakes no obligation to revise or publicly release the results of any revision to these forward-looking statements other than through its filings with the securities and exchange commission, which may be viewed in the “investors” section of clean harbors’ website at www.cleanharbors.com. clean harbors, inc. and subsidiaries unaudited consolidated statements of operations (in thousands, except per share amounts) for the three months ended for the twelve months ended december 31, 2021 december 31, 2020 december 31, 2021 december 31, 2020 revenues $ 1,119,481 $ 796,190 $ 3,805,566 $ 3,144,097 cost of revenues: (exclusive of items shown separately below) 792,183 548,775 2,609,837 2,137,751 selling, general and administrative expenses 159,051 111,354 537,962 451,044 accretion of environmental liabilities 3,120 2,902 11,745 11,051 depreciation and amortization 82,929 71,418 298,135 292,915 income from operations 82,198 61,741 347,887 251,336 other income (expense), net 1,994 307 (515 ) (290 ) loss on sale of businesses — — — (3,376 ) interest expense, net (23,704 ) (18,272 ) (77,657 ) (73,120 ) income before provision for income taxes 60,488 43,776 269,715 174,550 provision for income taxes 11,495 4,444 66,468 39,713 net income $ 48,993 $ 39,332 $ 203,247 $ 134,837 earnings per share: basic $ 0.90 $ 0.72 $ 3.73 $ 2.43 diluted $ 0.90 $ 0.71 $ 3.71 $ 2.42 shares used to compute earnings per share - basic 54,398 54,982 54,514 55,479 shares used to compute earnings per share - diluted 54,658 55,264 54,761 55,690 clean harbors, inc. and subsidiaries unaudited condensed consolidated balance sheets (in thousands) december 31, 2021 december 31, 2020 current assets: cash and cash equivalents $ 452,575 $ 519,101 short-term marketable securities 81,724 51,857 accounts receivable, net 792,734 611,534 unbilled accounts receivable 94,963 55,681 inventories and supplies 250,692 220,498 prepaid expenses and other current assets 68,483 67,051 total current assets 1,741,171 1,525,722 property, plant and equipment, net 1,863,175 1,525,298 other assets: operating lease right-of-use assets 161,797 150,341 goodwill 1,227,042 527,023 permits and other intangibles, net 644,912 386,620 other 15,602 16,516 total other assets 2,049,353 1,080,500 total assets $ 5,653,699 $ 4,131,520 current liabilities: current portion of long-term debt $ 17,535 $ 7,535 accounts payable 359,866 195,878 deferred revenue 83,749 74,066 accrued expenses and other current liabilities 391,414 295,823 current portion of closure, post-closure and remedial liabilities 25,136 26,093 current portion of operating lease liabilities 47,614 36,750 total current liabilities 925,314 636,145 other liabilities: closure and post-closure liabilities, less current portion 87,088 74,023 remedial liabilities, less current portion 98,752 102,623 long-term debt, less current portion 2,517,024 1,549,641 operating lease liabilities, less current portion 117,991 114,258 deferred tax liabilities 314,853 230,097 other long-term liabilities 78,790 83,182 total other liabilities 3,214,498 2,153,824 total stockholders’ equity, net 1,513,887 1,341,551 total liabilities and stockholders’ equity $ 5,653,699 $ 4,131,520 clean harbors, inc. and subsidiaries unaudited consolidated statements of cash flows (in thousands) for the year ended december 31, 2021 december 31, 2020 cash flows from operating activities: net income $ 203,247 $ 134,837 adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash from operating activities: depreciation and amortization 298,135 292,915 allowance for doubtful accounts 8,018 10,133 amortization of deferred financing costs and debt discount 4,245 3,666 accretion of environmental liabilities 11,745 11,051 changes in environmental liability estimates 2,979 10,698 deferred income taxes 1,482 (9,748 ) other expense, net 515 290 stock-based compensation 18,839 18,502 loss on sale of businesses — 3,376 environmental expenditures (15,506 ) (12,401 ) changes in assets and liabilities, net of acquisitions: accounts receivable and unbilled accounts receivable (96,551 ) 22,422 inventories and supplies (31,689 ) (7,933 ) other current and non-current assets 9,268 (12,602 ) accounts payable 108,398 (80,328 ) other current and long-term liabilities 22,872 45,719 net cash from operating activities 545,997 430,597 cash flows used in investing activities: additions to property, plant and equipment (241,856 ) (196,256 ) proceeds from sale and disposal of fixed assets 22,156 9,623 acquisitions, net of cash acquired (1,253,232 ) (8,839 ) additions to intangible assets including costs to obtain or renew permits (3,848 ) (2,029 ) purchases of available-for-sale securities (129,234 ) (70,891 ) proceeds from sale of available-for-sale securities 98,412 61,220 proceeds from sale of businesses, net of transactional costs — 7,712 net cash used in investing activities (1,507,602 ) (199,460 ) cash flows used in financing activities: change in uncashed checks (1,806 ) 5,404 tax payments related to withholdings on vested restricted stock (10,805 ) (5,331 ) repurchases of common stock (54,410 ) (74,844 ) deferred financing costs paid (13,737 ) (2,171 ) payments on finance leases (8,458 ) (4,469 ) principal payments on debt (7,535 ) (7,535 ) proceeds from issuance of debt, net of discount 995,000 — borrowings from revolving credit facility — 150,000 payment on revolving credit facility — (150,000 ) net cash from (used in) financing activities 898,249 (88,946 ) effect of exchange rate change on cash (3,170 ) 4,919 (decrease) increase in cash and cash equivalents (66,526 ) 147,110 cash and cash equivalents, beginning of period 519,101 371,991 cash and cash equivalents, end of period $ 452,575 $ 519,101 supplemental information: cash payments for interest and income taxes: interest paid $ 73,440 $ 72,535 income taxes paid, net of refunds 65,192 53,123 non-cash investing activities: property, plant and equipment accrued 19,264 3,536 supplemental segment data (in thousands) for the three months ended revenue december 31, 2021 december 31, 2020 third party revenues intersegment revenues (expense), net direct revenues third party revenues intersegment revenues (expense), net direct revenues environmental services $ 906,051 $ 2,071 $ 908,122 $ 668,196 $ (641 ) $ 667,555 safety-kleen sustainability solutions 213,348 (2,071 ) 211,277 127,922 641 128,563 corporate items 82 — 82 72 — 72 total $ 1,119,481 $ — $ 1,119,481 $ 796,190 $ — $ 796,190 for the twelve months ended revenue december 31, 2021 december 31, 2020 third party revenues intersegment revenues (expense), net direct revenues third party revenues intersegment revenues (expense), net direct revenues environmental services $ 3,025,907 $ 6,547 $ 3,032,454 $ 2,637,641 $ (1,740 ) $ 2,635,901 safety-kleen sustainability solutions 779,360 (6,547 ) 772,813 506,166 1,740 507,906 corporate items 299 — 299 290 — 290 total $ 3,805,566 $ — $ 3,805,566 $ 3,144,097 $ — $ 3,144,097 for the three months ended for the twelve months ended adjusted ebitda december 31, 2021 december 31, 2020 december 31, 2021 december 31, 2020 environmental services $ 176,952 $ 163,817 $ 659,718 $ 665,918 safety-kleen sustainability solutions 61,598 20,966 227,354 83,214 corporate items (64,250 ) (42,959 ) (210,466 ) (175,328 ) total $ 174,300 $ 141,824 $ 676,606 $ 573,804
