Earnings call transcript: Gulf Island Q1 2025 earnings beat forecasts

Gulf Island Fabrication Inc. reported a strong Q1 2025 performance, with earnings per share (EPS) of $0.23, significantly surpassing the forecasted $0.08. The company also achieved a revenue of $40.3 million, exceeding the expected $36.5 million. This positive earnings surprise led to a 2.28% increase in the stock price during aftermarket trading, closing at $6.94. According to InvestingPro data, the company maintains strong financial health with an overall score of 3.27 (rated as "GREAT"), supported by robust liquidity metrics and positive profitability trends over the last twelve months.

Key Takeaways

• Gulf Island’s EPS of $0.23 beat the forecast by $0.15.
• Revenue of $40.3 million exceeded expectations by $3.8 million.
• The stock price increased by 2.28% in aftermarket trading.
• Strategic acquisition of ENGlobal Corporation’s assets.
• Anticipated decline in Q2 results due to integration costs.

Company Performance

Gulf Island demonstrated robust performance in Q1 2025, with significant improvements in profitability and strategic growth. The company’s adjusted EBITDA rose to $4.5 million from $3.7 million in Q1 2024, indicating effective cost management. Despite a decrease in services division revenue by 22% year-over-year, the fabrication division saw a 21% increase, showcasing resilience in its core operations. InvestingPro analysis reveals the company’s strong financial position, with a current ratio of 4.93 and more cash than debt on its balance sheet, though it faces challenges with relatively weak gross profit margins of 14%.

Financial Highlights

• Revenue: $40.3 million, down from $42.9 million in Q1 2024.
• Earnings per share: $0.23, compared to a forecast of $0.08.
• Adjusted EBITDA: $4.5 million, up from $3.7 million in Q1 2024.
• Cash and short-term investments: Over $67 million.
• Debt obligation: $19 million.

Earnings vs. Forecast

Gulf Island’s Q1 2025 EPS of $0.23 significantly exceeded the forecasted $0.08, resulting in an EPS surprise of $0.15. The revenue of $40.3 million also surpassed the expected $36.5 million by $3.8 million. This marks a substantial earnings beat, suggesting the company’s strategic initiatives and operational efficiencies are yielding positive results.

Market Reaction

Following the earnings announcement, Gulf Island’s stock price rose by 2.28% in aftermarket trading, closing at $6.94. This movement reflects investor confidence in the company’s ability to exceed expectations and execute strategic growth plans. The stock’s performance is notable given the current market volatility and broader economic uncertainties. Trading at a P/E ratio of 7.94 and EV/EBITDA of 4.71, InvestingPro analysis suggests the stock is currently slightly overvalued relative to its Fair Value. Discover more insights and 7 additional ProTips about Gulf Island’s financial health and market position with an InvestingPro subscription, including access to comprehensive Pro Research Reports covering 1,400+ US stocks.

Outlook & Guidance

Looking ahead, Gulf Island anticipates a decline in Q2 results compared to Q1 due to integration costs from the ENGlobal acquisition. However, the company remains optimistic about its long-term market outlook, expecting to remain profitable throughout 2025 despite potential operating losses of $1-2 million during the integration phase.

Executive Commentary

"We are fortunate to be operating from a position of strength, heading into a period of economic uncertainty," stated Richard Huff, President and CEO. Wes Stockton, CFO, added, "Our strong financial position provides us the flexibility to continue executing on our strategic plan." These statements underscore the company’s confidence in its strategic direction and financial resilience.

Risks and Challenges

• Decline in services division revenue poses a challenge for diversification.
• Macroeconomic uncertainties may impact project timelines and capital spending.
• Potential short-term losses during ENGlobal integration.
• Lower capital spending in the Gulf of Mexico affecting demand.
• Trade uncertainties delaying LNG project decisions.

Q&A

During the earnings call, analysts inquired about the overlap in ENGlobal’s customer base and Gulf Island’s existing operations. Management highlighted increased interest in domestic fabrication due to trade uncertainties and explained delays in LNG project decisions. These discussions reflect strategic considerations and ongoing market challenges.

Full transcript - Gulf Island Fabrication Inc (GIFI) Q1 2025:

Conference Operator: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Gulf Island’s Conference Call to discuss First Quarter twenty twenty five Results. All participants will be in a listen only mode for the duration of the call. This call is being recorded. At this time, I would like to turn the floor over to Ms. Cindy Cook for opening remarks.

Cindy, please go ahead.

Cindy Cook, Investor Relations, Gulf Island: Thank you, and good afternoon. I would like to welcome everyone to our first quarter twenty twenty five teleconference. Our results were released this afternoon, and a copy of the press release is available on our website at gulfisland.com. A replay of today’s call will be available on our website after seven p. M.

This evening. Please keep in mind that the press release and certain comments on this call include forward looking statements, and actual results may differ materially. We would like to refer everyone to the cautionary language included in our press release and to the risk factors described in our most recent Form 10 ks and subsequent SEC filings. Please also note that management may reference EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted revenue, new project awards, and backlog on this call, which are financial measures not recognized under U. S.

GAAP. As required by SEC rules and regulations, to the extent used, these non GAAP financial measures are reconciled to their most comparable GAAP financial measures in our press release. Today, we have Mr. Richard Huff, President and CEO, and Mr. Wes Stockton, Executive Vice President and CFO.

Mr. Huff?

Richard Huff, President and CEO, Gulf Island: Thank you, Cindy. Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to our first quarter results conference call. I’m happy to be here with you this afternoon, and I hope that each of you and your families are continuing to stay healthy and safe. During today’s call, I’ll provide key takeaways from the quarter, a review of end market trends, and an update on the progress we have made on our strategic initiatives, including our recent agreement with ENGlobal Corporation. Wes will then discuss our first quarter results in greater detail and provide an update on our outlook for 2025.

We’ll then open up the call for questions and end with closing remarks. Our fiscal twenty twenty five got off to a strong start as the strategic actions we have undertaken in recent years enabled us to deliver solid first quarter results despite the growing macroeconomic uncertainty. We generated revenue of $40,000,000 and adjusted EBITDA of $4,500,000 driven by small scale fabrication activity. While our small scale fabrication and services business provide a more stable base of revenue, we are not completely immune to macro headwinds. During the first quarter, reductions in capital spending by our offshore services customers negatively impacted our services business, and we are seeing an impact on the bookings of our short term small scale fabrication.

Importantly, we remain committed to our strategic framework and made important progress against these key priorities during the first quarter that will position us for continued success as we move past the near term macro uncertainty caused by trade headwinds. As a reminder, our strategic priorities are focused on pursuing profitable growth, maintaining strong execution and operating efficiency, and strategically deploying capital with a focus on driving shareholder value. Some of our accomplishments during the first quarter were as follows: First, we continued in our pursuit to grow and diversify our services business through further investments in our cleaning and environmental services business. We remain optimistic regarding the opportunities in the market and believe we are well positioned to succeed as decommissioning activities in The Gulf pick up. Second, we remain disciplined in our financial management and took the opportunity to return capital through our share repurchase program.

And lastly, we made the strategic decision to enter into a financing arrangement and ultimately enter into an agreement to purchase assets from ENGLobal Corporation. I’d like to take some time now to provide more detail on our transaction with ENGLobal and provide an overview of the strategic benefits we expect to realize from the deal. As we have disclosed, in early March, we entered into a debtor in possession credit agreement as a lender with ENGlobal Corporation. The agreement provided for advances up to $2,500,000 to ENGlobal during their bankruptcy process. Our intent was to use the debt financing as an opportunity to evaluate the potential acquisition of certain assets from ENGlobal.

We have been familiar with ENGlobal business for many years and have always felt these assets could be a strategic fit for Gulf Island. During the first quarter, we made advances of approximately $1,200,000 to ENGlobal, and in April, we funded the remaining amount of our commitment. In April, we also assumed a loan of $2,400,000 from a creditor of ENGlobal in exchange for a $1,500,000 cash payment, bringing our total capital commitment to $4,000,000 On April 25, our stocking horse bid in the amount of our DIP financing was announced as the winning bid for certain assets of ENGlobal, including its automation, engineering and government businesses, and we expect to close on the acquisition in the second quarter. ENGlobal’s automation business represents the most significant operation of the businesses we are acquiring and generated revenues of approximately $10,000,000 for 2024. This business provides engineering, design, fabrication, and integration of industrial automation systems to the oil and gas, renewable energy, and power industries, which coupled with our fabrication business can provide capacity growth opportunities.

The engineering business provides various engineering solutions to the oil and gas and renewable energy industries and helps to complement our fabricated services business by providing additional know how and expertise. And finally, the government services business provides ENGlobal’s engineering and automation solutions to federal, state, and local governments, and education institutions, generally in the form of technical field services, and will open up new end markets for Gulf Island’s existing business. We believe the acquisition will provide several strategic benefits, including further diversifying our business into new end markets, increasing the overall value of our existing offerings, and adding a strong bench of both craft and professional workforce to our company. While the transition will take time and the acquisition is not expected to contribute positively to our operating results during 2025, we are excited by the potential overall value creation of the combination of the businesses. Now turning back to our current business.

As we look at the remainder of 2025, the market outlook has become more difficult to forecast due to the macroeconomic uncertainty, including trade policies. As we look at our fabrication business, we remain well positioned strategically and continue to be optimistic regarding the long term outlook in our markets. However, we’re experiencing extended decision cycles for new project awards due to market uncertainty, even for our small scale fabrication. While we had been encouraged by the pickup in dialogue with customers in the fourth quarter of twenty twenty four and into the early parts of 2025, particularly in the LNG market, the trade related macro uncertainty is delaying decisions for all types of fabrication projects. That said, longer term, we remain optimistic as the favorable structural drivers for the fabrication market remain in place, and we remain well positioned to win as projects eventually move forward, especially in an environment where there is a push for more domestic supply.

Looking at our services business, while the project delays impacting our services activity are subsiding, our customers are targeting lower overall capital spending levels in the Gulf Of America in 2025 as a result of lower demand for crude and the resulting lower margins for our customers. This, coupled with the trade uncertainty, has many of our customers holding back spending. While we expect lower activity near term, we’ll continue to invest in expanding and diversifying our services offering. Our cleaning and environmental services business is beginning to see increased volume as decommissioning activity gains momentum and Spark Safety has started to pick back up. Despite our solid first quarter results, we expect the remainder of 2025 to be challenged based on the previously mentioned economic headwinds and expected losses from ENGlobal as the business transitions out of bankruptcy and is integrated into our existing operations.

While we are disappointed by the near term outlook, our disciplined financial management and emphasis on preserving financial flexibility has enabled us to maintain a strong financial position and puts us in the enviable position of being able to continue investing in our growth strategy and potentially take advantage of market opportunities caused by the uncertainty. Our capital allocation framework will continue to prioritize investing in the business as we have done in the past by adding service lines organically, including hiring key personnel to help us drive growth in our existing services and penetrate UN markets, balanced with the pursuit of acquisition opportunities such as in global and other capital return opportunities. We’re fortunate to be operating from a position of strength, heading into a period of economic uncertainty, and remain committed to our strategic framework and driving value for our shareholders. I will now turn the call over to Wes to discuss our quarterly results in greater detail.

Wes Stockton, Executive Vice President and CFO, Gulf Island: Thanks, Richard. Good afternoon, everyone. I will discuss our consolidated results and then provide some additional details regarding our segment performance, putting in context the factors mentioned by Richard and their impacts on the quarter. I will then conclude with a discussion of our liquidity and full year financial outlook. Now turning to our quarter results.

Consolidated revenue for the first quarter twenty twenty five was $40,300,000 compared to $42,900,000 for the first quarter of last year. The year over year decline was driven by lower services activity, partially offset by growth in fabrication. Adjusted consolidated EBITDA was $4,500,000 for the first quarter twenty twenty five, up from $3,700,000 for the first quarter twenty twenty four. Adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter twenty twenty four excludes a gain of $2,900,000 for the fabrication division related to the sale of excess property and income of approximately $300,000 for our former shipyard division. Specifically for our Services Division, revenue for the first quarter twenty twenty five was $19,900,000 a decrease of 22% compared to the first quarter of last year.

The decrease was primarily due to lower offshore maintenance activity and delayed timing of certain project opportunities. Services EBITDA for the first quarter of twenty twenty five was $2,100,000 or 10.4% of revenue, compared to $3,300,000 or 13.1% of revenue for the prior year period, with the decrease primarily due to lower revenue, a less favorable project margin mix, and ongoing investments associated with the start up of the division’s cleaning and environmental services offering. For our Fabrication division, revenue for the first quarter twenty twenty five was $20,700,000 an increase of 21% compared to the first quarter of last year, with the increase primarily due to higher small scale fabrication activity. Fabrication adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter twenty twenty five was $4,500,000 compared to $2,500,000 for the prior year period. Adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter twenty twenty four excludes the previously mentioned gain related to the sale of excess property.

The increase in adjusted operating results for 2025 compared to 2024 was primarily due to higher revenue, a more favorable project margin mix, and improved utilization of facilities and resources associated with the increased small scale fabrication activity. And for our Corporate Division, EBITDA was a loss of $2,000,000 for the first quarter twenty twenty five, compared to a loss of $2,100,000 for the prior year period. With respect to our liquidity, we ended the first quarter with a cash and short term investments balance of over $67,000,000 consistent with our balance at year end, as the benefit of our operating results for the current quarter were partially offset by working capital increases, DIP advances related to the ENGlobal transaction, capital expenditures, and the repurchase of approximately $600,000 of our common stock under our share repurchase program. In April, we purchased an additional $1,100,000 of our common stock, and as of April 30, we had remaining authorization to purchase approximately $2,000,000 of our common stock under our share repurchase program, which expires in December 2025. At March 31, our debt obligation totaled $19,000,000 and our annual payments of principal and interest of approximately $1,700,000 will be made in December of each year over the remaining fourteen year term of the obligation.

Our cash balance and the long duration of our debt puts us in a strong liquidity position and provides significant flexibility to pursue our growth objectives and evaluate opportunities to return capital to our shareholders. And finally, turning to our outlook for 2025. As Richard discussed, while we generated strong first quarter results, the ongoing trade and macro uncertainty is pushing out project award decisions across our fabrication business. While lower capital spending by our customers in The Gulf is continuing to put pressure on our results for our Services segment. As a result, while we expect to remain profitable, we anticipate a significant decline in our second quarter results compared to the first quarter.

Our operating results for the back half of the year are difficult to predict due to the previously mentioned factors, which may impact the timing of potential fabrication project awards. So at this point, we are not assuming any rebound from the expected second quarter trend. Further, we believe we may incur operating losses of approximately 1,000,000 to $2,000,000 during the six- to twelve month period after the acquisition of the ENGlobal business, as it transitions out of bankruptcy and we integrate it into our existing operations. While the challenges created by the trade uncertainty are frustrating, our strong financial position provides us the flexibility to continue executing on our strategic plan. We remain encouraged by the long term outlook for Gulf Island, including the opportunities as we integrate the ENGlobal business.

This concludes our prepared remarks. Operator, you may now open the line for questions.

Conference Operator: Thank you. You. And our first question comes from the line of Martin Malloy with Johnson Rice. Please proceed.

Martin Malloy, Analyst, Johnson Rice: Good afternoon. Thank you for taking my question. First question on the in global business unit acquisitions. Could you maybe talk a little bit more about their customer base? I remember from a while ago that they did a lot of work with refineries and petrochemical plants in the Gulf Coast region.

Any new important customers that you think you’ll have access to as a result of this and maybe could pull through some other services or fabrication that could be done for these customers?

Richard Huff, President and CEO, Gulf Island: Yeah, that’s a good question, Marty. Surprisingly, there is a lot of duplicity in the customers that we serve and ENGlobal serves. But the important distinction is that ENGlobal serves a lot of the customers on the onshore types of projects, whereas our customer base is offshore. I think that gives us some broader reach with these key large operators. And then secondly, ENGlobal has penetrated definitely on their automation side of the business power plant type operators and also data center construction companies for the automation and integration of system hardware and so forth.

So it does give us now additional reach into different end markets that has been one of the strategic kind of pushes that we’ve been making for in the past four or five years. And then finally, the government technical services business opens up that brand new end market as well for us.

Martin Malloy, Analyst, Johnson Rice: Okay, great. And just on the tariff situation, are you seeing and you talked about you know, some seeing some delays and projects getting pushed out decisions on them. Are you seeing any customers or potential customers inquire about the fabrication capabilities of Gulf Island that maybe they were thinking previously about going to countries abroad for the fabrication, and now they’re maybe looking switching to a domestic provider to take away some of the uncertainty?

Richard Huff, President and CEO, Gulf Island: Oh yeah, absolutely. We have a handful of customers that have reached out to us because their large LNG projects, for example, had material supply from Mexico and China. And as you can imagine, with the uncertainty around tariffs and freight and all of the other factors that impact that overall cost and potentially schedule certainty, now Gulf Island and the domestic supply starts to look more favorable. And so we are having those conversations. Unfortunately, fact of the matter is everything’s just conversations right now and everything’s on pause because of just the trade uncertainties.

I’m hoping that it’s a short term impact. As we settle in on whatever that tariff’s going to be and have some certainty these projects will get released and hopefully Gulf Island can start executing on some of these projects going forward.

Martin Malloy, Analyst, Johnson Rice: Okay. And the delays in the LNG projects, is it related to having difficulty getting a handle on the cost? Or is it taking your estimation, is it taking longer to get the offtake agreements signed or anything else that’s particularly driving it?

Richard Huff, President and CEO, Gulf Island: Yeah, I think the off take agreements are not the ones that we’re worried about, Marty, because we’re really on the supply chain further down the cycle. It is really about minimizing their overall TIC to build. And so these are projects that have already been sanctioned, that have off take agreements, and they’re in the process of execution. And so the projects that again, have broken ground and they’re in material purchase type situations that we’re talking about. The projects where it’s still off take agreements being discussed, obviously you’re seeing delays there as well, but we’re not impacted by that because of just the timing.

Martin Malloy, Analyst, Johnson Rice: Okay, great. Thank you. I’ll get back in queue.

Conference Operator: Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, there are no further questions at this time. I’d like to turn the call back to Mr. Richard Hull for closing remarks.

Richard Huff, President and CEO, Gulf Island: In closing, I want to thank our customers and shareholders for their continued support as well as recognize our employees who continue to demonstrate a commitment to Gulf Island’s success. For those on the call, thanks again for your interest in Gulf Island. If you’re not able to connect during the quarter, I look forward to speaking with you on our next conference call and updating you on our progress. Be safe and take care.

Conference Operator: This concludes the Gulf Island conference call. Thank you and good luck.

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