Earnings call transcript: Southland Holdings sees Q3 revenue rise, stock drops

Southland Holdings Inc. reported a significant year-over-year increase in revenue for the third quarter of 2025, yet the company's stock fell by over 11% following the earnings call. The company's gross profit also improved markedly, although a substantial net loss was recorded due to a one-time tax expense.

Key Takeaways

• Revenue for Q3 2025 increased by $40 million year-over-year.
• Despite revenue growth, the company recorded a net loss of $75.2 million.
• Stock price dropped by 11.04% following the earnings announcement.
• Southland completed 27 infrastructure projects and added $151 million in new contracts.
• The company is focusing on high-margin, short-duration projects for future growth.

Company Performance

Southland Holdings showed a strong performance in Q3 2025 with revenue reaching $213.3 million, a $40 million increase from the previous year. The company also reported a gross profit of $3.3 million, a stark improvement from a gross loss in the prior year. This improvement is attributed to the completion of several key projects and strategic contract acquisitions. However, the net loss of $75.2 million, largely due to a $57.3 million one-time tax expense, overshadowed these gains.

Financial Highlights

• Revenue: $213.3 million, up $40 million year-over-year
• Gross Profit: $3.3 million, up $54.4 million year-over-year
• Gross Profit Margin: 1.5% (improved from -29.5% last year)
• Net Loss: $75.2 million, or $1.39 per share

Market Reaction

Following the earnings announcement, Southland Holdings' stock dropped by 11.04%, closing at $4.8. This decline comes despite the company's notable revenue growth and improvements in gross profit margin, suggesting investor concerns about the net loss and future profitability. The stock's performance is now closer to its 52-week low of $2.52, highlighting market apprehension.

Outlook & Guidance

Looking ahead, Southland Holdings anticipates a stable tax rate of 15-20% for 2026 and expects operational cash flow to turn positive. The company remains focused on high-margin, short-duration projects and aims to improve profitability by 2027. The total project backlog stands at $2.26 billion, with significant opportunities in infrastructure and water resources driven by public market projects.

Executive Commentary

CEO Frank Renda expressed optimism about the company's future, stating, "We expect to deliver strong and consistent results." He emphasized the company's strategic focus on core markets and high-margin projects, adding, "We're excited to really improve profitability in the years to come."

Risks and Challenges

• The substantial net loss due to a one-time tax expense may impact short-term financial stability.
• Market volatility and investor sentiment could affect stock performance.
• Execution risks associated with new project types, such as data centers, may pose challenges.
• Dependence on public infrastructure spending could be influenced by government policy changes.
• Competitive pressures in the civil infrastructure sector may affect future contract wins.

Q&A

During the earnings call, analysts inquired about the company's data center projects and competitive advantages in tunnel boring. Southland's management confirmed ongoing efforts to resolve legacy project disputes and highlighted their unique capabilities in infrastructure development.

Full transcript - Southland Holdings Inc (SLND) Q3 2025:

Sergio, Conference Operator: Good morning. My name is Sergio, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Southland third quarter 2025 earnings conference call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, please press star followed by the number two. Thank you. Alex, you may begin your conference.

Alex Murray, Vice President of Corporate Development and Investor Relations, Southland: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to the Southland Third Quarter 2025 conference call. This is Alex Murray, Vice President of Corporate Development and Investor Relations. Joining me today are Frank Renda, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Keith Bassano, Chief Financial Officer. Before we begin, I'd like to remind everyone that this conference call may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are uncertain and outside of Southland's control. Southland's actual results and financial condition may differ materially from those projected in forward-looking statements. Therefore, you should not rely on any of these forward-looking statements, and we do not undertake any duty to update these statements.

For a discussion of some of the risks that could affect results, please see the Risk Factors section of our Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024, that was filed with the SEC on March 5, 2025, and discussion on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2025, that was filed with the SEC last night. We also refer to non-GAAP financial measures, and you'll find reconciliations in the press release related to this conference call, which can be found on the Investor Relations page of our website. With that, I will now turn the call over to Frank.

Frank Renda, President and Chief Executive Officer, Southland: Thank you, Alex. Good morning, and thank you for joining Southland's Third Quarter 2025 conference call. Before we jump into this quarter's results, I'd like to highlight that this quarter marked the five-year anniversary of our acquisition of American Bridge Company. This quarter, we also achieved substantial completion on the last of the 27 highly technical projects assumed in the acquisition. These projects included the Queens Ferry Crossing in Scotland, Edmonton Valley Light Rail in Canada, Queensborough Bridge in New York, and the SR 520 Montlake project in Washington. Closing out this final construction phase of the Legacy $8 billion backlog is a major accomplishment and testament to our operational expertise, technical knowledge, and ability to successfully execute some of the world's most complex infrastructure projects. Now to turn to this quarter's results. We reported third quarter revenue of $213 million and gross profit of $3.3 million.

Consolidated gross profit margin was 1.5%, an increase from negative 29.5% in the prior year period. The improvement was driven by strong performance in our new core work and fewer impacts from legacy projects in this quarter versus the same quarter last year. Our new core work continues to perform at double-digit gross margins. Our civil business continues to perform very well with 10.5% gross margin in this quarter. This was inclusive of unfavorable non-cash adjustments from dispute resolutions that impacted revenue and gross profit by $8 million in the quarter. We continue to make progress resolving smaller disputes. A vast majority of our contract assets balance consist of money we are owed from legacy projects that were started prior to COVID where construction is complete. We expect our contract assets balance to continue to decrease and to collect a significant amount of cash from these legacy disputes.

We have a clear plan to finalize the remaining legacy projects and are making progress toward their completion. As this work wraps up, we expect to significantly de-risk our earnings profile as we progress through next year. We have some more work to do, but we are getting closer to putting these projects completely behind us and focusing solely on our high-quality new core backlog. During the quarter, we added approximately $151 million in new awards and contract adjustments. This was led by a $77 million bridge rehab contract in our Transportation segment for a private client in the Pacific Northwest and a $53 million water resource contract in our Civil segment in Texas, bringing our total backlog to approximately $2.26 billion. All indications are that the robust demand for infrastructure will continue for years to come. Our outlook on the market remains positive.

We continue to successfully execute our strategy of targeting short-duration, high-margin projects in both public and private markets. In private markets, we are seeing strong demand for large-scale data centers. We have been carefully evaluating data center opportunities over the last couple of years, maintaining a highly selective and disciplined approach to ensure we remain within our core capabilities. Many new data center sites are very large and are being built in rural areas, resulting in an ongoing need to build additional water resources to support these buildouts. Utility packages on the data center projects are getting larger, and the margin potential is very attractive. We are in discussions on several data center opportunities to leverage our utility and site development capabilities. The construction activities we are pursuing are very similar to the scopes in our existing core backlog and match our team's expertise very well.

We expect to convert some of these opportunities to backlog in the coming quarters. While data center projects present a unique opportunity, our strategy remains the same, and we will continue to pursue a mix of private and public market opportunities. We continue to see strong demand for public market projects from federal, state, and local levels. The IIJA is well underway and driving strong demand for public market projects. Significant opportunities remain across our core business, with hundreds of billions in authorized funds still to be spent under the IIJA. At the state level, last week, Texans voted in favor of Proposition 4, the amendment proposed by the House Joint Resolution 7, which will allocate $20 billion to the Texas Water Fund over the next two decades. This is a major commitment to one of our core markets, and we are positioned well to help expand Texas' water resources.

Upcoming public market opportunities include numerous water resource projects in the Midwest and the Southwest. We are also excited about several bridge opportunities in the Southeast. We have great visibility into future demands. We will continue to be focused on improving margins first, then growing backlog and revenue. We will ensure we have the right resources to build the work and continue to pursue projects that align with our core capabilities. In closing, as we reflect on the quarter, we have a similar message to the past few quarters. While we have more work to do to get the legacy projects completely behind us, our core business is performing well. As we wrap up legacy projects, we expect to deliver strong and consistent results. With robust opportunities across our end markets, we expect to win our fair share of high-margin projects.

We maintain confidence in our long-term outlook and future direction of our business. With that, I'll now turn the call over to Keith for a financial update.

Alex Murray, Vice President of Corporate Development and Investor Relations, Southland: Thank you, Frank. Good morning, everyone. I'll discuss an overview of our financial performance during the third quarter for 2025. You can find additional details and information in the financial statements, footnotes, and management's discussion and analysis that were filed on Form 10-Q last night. Revenue for the quarter was $213.3 million, up $40 million from the same period in 2024. Revenue in the quarter was lower than anticipated due to the timing of new project starts, impacts from dispute resolutions, and project delays. Gross profit was $3.3 million, an increase of $54.4 million from the same period in 2024. Gross profit margin in the quarter was 1.5% compared to negative 29.5% in the prior year. Selling, general, and administrative costs in the third quarter were $14.6 million, a decrease of $2.9 million compared to the same period in 2024.

The decrease was primarily due to lower compensation expenses as well as a reduction in legal and professional fees compared to the same period in 2024. Interest expense for the quarter totaled $9.2 million, up $1.6 million from the prior year. This increase was primarily driven by an increase in interest rates on external borrowings. We anticipate interest expense to average approximately $9.5 million per quarter going forward. Income tax expense was $57.2 million for the quarter compared to income tax benefit of $17.1 million in the same period last year. Included in this quarter's income tax expense was a $57.3 million one-time non-cash expense from a valuation allowance placed on our net deferred tax assets. This valuation allowance is required under US GAAP. However, this does not limit utilization of the respective tax assets in the future.

We expect our effective tax rate for 2026 to be in the 15%-20% range based on current forecasts. We reported a net loss of $75.2 million or a net loss of $1.39 per share in the quarter compared to a net loss of $54.7 million or a net loss of $1.14 per share in the same period last year. It is important to note that approximately $1.06 per share of this quarter's loss was due to the one-time non-cash tax expense related to the valuation allowance. In the third quarter, we produced EBITDA of negative $3.5 million compared to EBITDA of negative $58.7 million for the same period in 2024. Now to touch on segment performance for the quarter. Our Civil segment had revenue of $99.5 million compared to revenue of $55.8 million in the same period in 2024.

Our Civil segment gross profit was $10.4 million, an increase of $28.7 million from the same period in the prior year. As a percentage of revenue for the quarter, our Civil segment had gross margin of 10.5% compared to negative 32.8% in the same period in 2024. In the quarter, we had unfavorable adjustments from dispute resolutions on two projects in our Civil segment that impacted revenue and gross profit by $8 million. These resolutions resulted in cash collections of approximately $6.5 million in the quarter, with an additional $3 million expected in the coming months. For the quarter, our Transportation segment had revenue of $113.9 million, a decrease of $3.6 million from the same period in 2024. Our Transportation segment had a gross loss of $7.2 million, an increase from a gross loss of $32.8 million in the same period in the prior year.

As a percentage of revenue for the quarter, our Transportation segment had a negative gross margin of 6.3% compared to a negative gross margin of 27.9% for the same period in 2024. The Materials and Paving business line contributed $22.9 million to revenue and $3 million in gross loss in the third quarter. At the end of the quarter, we had approximately $89 million of remaining M&P backlog. This is down from $99 million at the end of last quarter. I'd like to highlight that one M&P project's contract value was increased by $21 million in the quarter. This was a result of ongoing discussions with the owner and is a positive outcome as we expect to get paid more to complete the remaining scope of work on this contract. Last quarter, we noted that we expected three of these projects to tail into 2026.

We now expect the final four paving projects to be completed in 2026. Our Transportation segment margin was also impacted in the quarter by an unfavorable adjustment of $7 million on a legacy bridge project in the Midwest. The project experienced delays and has significantly impacted results over the past several years. Our remaining non-M&P legacy backlog is now $32 million, down from $40 million last quarter. Excluding the impacts from M&P, unfavorable adjustments in our non-M&P legacy backlog and dispute resolutions, gross profit in our core business produced double-digit margins. We expect legacy projects to have less impact on the overall results in 2026 as we continue to wind down these projects. We finished the quarter with approximately $2.26 billion of backlog, of which we expect to burn approximately 39% over the next 12 months. Now to touch on the balance sheet.

We are exploring debt solutions that would provide us with additional capacity and offer flexibility in accelerating work on the legacy backlog. We are currently in discussions and expect to be able to close a facility before we report next quarter's results. We will share more details as this process progresses. Thank you for your time and interest in Southland. I'll now pass the call back to the operator for questions.

Frank Renda, President and Chief Executive Officer, Southland: Thank you. Mason Yeoman, we will now begin the question and answer session. Should you have a question, please press the star followed by the number one on your touch-tone phone. You will hear a prompt that your hand has been raised. Should you wish to decline from the polling process, please press the star followed by the number two. If you are using a speakerphone, please lift the handset before pressing any keys. One moment, please, for your first question. Your first question comes from Adam Palmer from Thompson Davis. Please go ahead.

Adam Palmer, Analyst, Thompson Davis: Hey, good morning, guys.

Speaker 2: Hey, good morning, Adam.

Frank Renda, President and Chief Executive Officer, Southland: Morning.

Adam Palmer, Analyst, Thompson Davis: I want to start with your comment on data centers. I was curious if you were looking at anything else on the private side, and what is the scope that or how big are those packages potentially for you?

Speaker 2: Yeah, so what we're looking at, Adam, is stuff that's in our core market. There are some larger data centers out there. The data centers are obviously a very active market right now. Just tons of opportunities across the country. The past couple of years, these developments have just exploded. We've spent time getting our arms around the scopes, and they're very similar to what we've done for public owners. Now, it's just for a slightly different customer base. The opportunities on the public market side are still really strong. We see data centers as an opportunity to supplement our existing work and really turn some cash quickly. We're excited about the potential and hope to talk more about these here soon.

As far as other work on the private side, we've always had a mix of private and public, more heavily weighted to the public sector. There are a lot of opportunities with new manufacturing coming to the U.S. that we're looking at as well. Our scope specifically would be in that water, wastewater site development type market on those developments.

Adam Palmer, Analyst, Thompson Davis: Got it. You took an $8 million hit to gross profit from claim settlement in Q3, but that is going to lead to $9.5 million in cash, so not a terrible trade-off there. I am just curious. Frank, you sounded like you had a little better sense and you had a little bit more, I do not know, momentum, or it seemed like you had a higher confidence that maybe a lot more of these legacy claims would get settled, call it, in the next 12 months. Is that fair to say?

Speaker 2: Yeah, we've made some small progress this quarter on some of the smaller disputes, which leads to some optimism. It's good to see our contract assets' balances coming down. No, these things can't wait to be settled forever. We're at the table on numerous claims. Yes, we expect to see some progress, some real progress over the next 12 months.

Adam Palmer, Analyst, Thompson Davis: Just a last one for me. The project delays that impacted you in Q3, have those projects started in Q4? I know you're not giving guidance, but just curious if you kind of expect to end the year on a higher note.

Alex Murray, Vice President of Corporate Development and Investor Relations, Southland: Yeah, so as it relates to some of the delays that we've encountered, we would, so it's delays, and then we also had some derecognition in the revenue just due to some of the adjustments that we took in the quarter. I would expect Q4 to be pretty similar to Q3 with maybe a slight uptick.

Adam Palmer, Analyst, Thompson Davis: I'll turn it over. Thanks, guys.

Speaker 2: Thanks, Adam.

Alex Murray, Vice President of Corporate Development and Investor Relations, Southland: Thank you.

Frank Renda, President and Chief Executive Officer, Southland: Thank you. Your next question comes from Julio Romero from Sidoti & Company. Please go ahead.

Julio Romero, Analyst, Sidoti & Company: Thanks. Hey, good morning, Frank, Keith, and Alex. Wanted to talk about the free cash flow outlook for the fourth quarter, just given the decrease in the contract assets, which is certainly notable, but also the increase in the receivables. I believe you called out the $3 million in cash collections expected in the fourth quarter, but just I keep looking at that increase in receivables and just trying to see if you could help us out with kind of a finer point on free cash for the fourth quarter.

Alex Murray, Vice President of Corporate Development and Investor Relations, Southland: Absolutely. We did generate positive cash flow from ops in the quarter, and we're there year to date. We may see a decrease in Q4 and Q1 of 2026, but we do expect to see some positive cash flow overall from ops in 2026.

Julio Romero, Analyst, Sidoti & Company: Okay, understood. Can you help us size up the pipeline for some of these additional quick-turn projects in the Civil segment? Has the size and runway evolved at all since Texas's passage of Proposition 4 to fund water infrastructure projects?

Speaker 2: Julio, you broke up a little bit there. Could you just repeat that?

Julio Romero, Analyst, Sidoti & Company: Yeah. Can you hear me? You broke up as well, so I couldn't hear you. I was just trying to see if the size and the runway of these quick-turn high-margin projects in the Civil segment, and has that changed at all since Texas's passage of Proposition 4?

Speaker 2: Yeah, no, civil margins have been strong, and we expect this to continue. This quarter, civil margins were 10.5%, which included impacts of $8 million from dispute resolutions. If you look year to date, gross margins are roughly 17%, which is very strong. Overall, we're excited about the success we're seeing in the civil market, and we really like those $50-$150 million quick-turning cash projects on the civil side and that the bill that Texas passed, adding another $20 billion to critical water projects, should provide some great tailwinds for us. It will take some time for that $20 billion to be deployed. Sorry.

Julio Romero, Analyst, Sidoti & Company: No, no, you're fine. I know last quarter you talked about those tunnel boring machines that you have that kind of give you a competitive advantage there. Are you guys kind of the only game in town with those, or can you just speak to how that kind of differentiates you there?

Speaker 2: Yeah, so there are quite a few tunnel jobs out there. We feel like we have a significant advantage producing our own tunnel boring machines in some cases, and we have a really good fleet, probably one of the larger fleets in the United States of existing TBMs. Hopefully, we're able to really take advantage of the tunnel opportunities bidding over the next 12-24 months. Excited about that market as well. Great question.

Julio Romero, Analyst, Sidoti & Company: Very good. I'll pass it on. Thank you.

Speaker 2: Thank you.

Frank Renda, President and Chief Executive Officer, Southland: Thank you. Your next question comes from Christian Schwartz from Craig-Hallum Capital Group. Please go ahead.

Christian Schwartz, Analyst, Craig-Hallum Capital Group: Great. Thanks for taking my question. Frank, I'm just wondering if you could give us an idea of the size of the projects for a typical data center that you're looking into.

Speaker 2: Yeah, so for us, Christian, we're looking for data centers that are close to where we have existing projects in that water wastewater market. You could see projects as small as probably $15-$20 million. As far as the top end, we're going to feel the market out around that $50-$75 million range maybe to start, but they could grow from there.

Christian Schwartz, Analyst, Craig-Hallum Capital Group: Great. It sounds like we're finally coming to the end of legacy work and should finish that up in calendar 2026. As we go into 2027, would you expect your core businesses to run at the current margin profile, or do you think that could actually improve in 2027?

Speaker 2: Yeah, so 2025, as we talked about, was kind of that reset year. We were really going to focus on cleaning up legacy projects and use that as a springboard into 2026, getting into more of our core work. 2027, as you stated, being completely into our core market, and we're excited to really improve profitability in the years to come.

Christian Schwartz, Analyst, Craig-Hallum Capital Group: Okay. Great. No other questions. Thank you.

Speaker 2: Thank you, Christian.

Frank Renda, President and Chief Executive Officer, Southland: Thank you. Mason Yeoman, there are no further questions at this time. You may proceed.

Speaker 2: Thanks, everyone, for joining us. Look forward to speaking with you all next quarter.

Frank Renda, President and Chief Executive Officer, Southland: Mason Yeoman, this concludes today's conference call. Thank you all for your participation. You may now disconnect.

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