Q4 2022 Consolidated Water Co Ltd Earnings Call
Speaker 2: Good morning, and thank you for joining us today to discuss Consolidated Water Company's full year 2022 results.
Speaker 2: Hosting the call today is the Chief Executive Officer, Consolidated Water Company, Rick McTaggart and the company's Chief Financial Officer, David Sassnett.
Speaker 2: Following their remarks, we'll open the call to your questions.
Speaker 2: At any time during the call, you may join the Q&A queue by pressing star 1 on your telephone keypad.
Speaker 2: If you would like to remove yourself from the queue, please press star and 2. And if you need any assistance during the call, please press star then 0.
Speaker 2: Before we conclude today's call, I'll provide some important cautions regarding the four looking statements made by minutes during the call.
Speaker 2: I'd like to remind everyone that today's call is being recorded and it will be made available for telecom replay for the instructions in yesterday's press release which is available in the investor relations section of the company's website.
Speaker 2: Now, I'd like to turn the call to D'You, Consolidated Water Company CEO Rick McTaggart. Sir, please go ahead.
Speaker 3: Thank you, Joe, and good morning, everyone. Thanks for joining us today.
Speaker 3: As you saw in our earnings release issued yesterday afternoon, we reported a 41% increase in our revenue to a record $94.1 million for the full year of 2022. We generated increased revenues across all four of our business segments last year.
Speaker 3: Our retail water revenues benefited from a 12.5% increase in the volume of water sold in Grand Cayman, and this large increase was due to the return of tourist activity to the Cayman Islands. Our services segment revenue increased by $15 million.
Speaker 3: With most of this due to the progress of PERP water on the construction of a new $82 million advanced water treatment plant in Goodyear, Arizona, we announced this contract in May of last year.
Speaker 3: The project is progressing as planned and we anticipate recognizing significant additional revenue from this project this year and until the construction is completed in mid 2024.
Speaker 3: Also, in Q4, we broke ground on the new desalination plant that we designed and are presently constructing on Grand Cayman under a 10-year design, build, and operate contract with the Water Authority of the Cayman Islands. podcasts on YouTube at reven traiteli.us
Speaker 3: We also announced this project in May of last year.
Speaker 3: The revenue we recognized from this contract also contributed to the year-over-year increase in service segment revenues.
Speaker 3: We expect the revenue generated over the approximate 11 and a half year term of this contract to total about $20 million based on January 2022 values.
Speaker 3: We anticipate the majority of this $20 million to be generated by the construction of the desalination plant during the first 18 months.
Speaker 3: with the rest earned from the operation of the plant over the following 10 years. So that's how we get to the 11 and a half year term.
Speaker 3: In October , we announced a milestone win for PERC with the award of an expanded 10-year $49.2 million contract to operate and maintain Each step iswow, that was the start of our
Speaker 3: to advanced water treatment facilities in Southern California.
Speaker 3: So this contract was the longest, or is the longest term contract that PERC has ever signed.
Speaker 3: This win affirms the world class services that PERC provides and supports our plans for growing this segment of our business in the Western US.
Speaker 3: a region that has experienced unprecedented drought conditions over the last 10 years, certainly.
Speaker 3: In all, we secured more than $150 million in major multi-year projects in 2022.
Speaker 3: which we expect to have a positive impact on earnings over the coming quarters.
Speaker 3: Now, before discussing more about these projects and our outlook for the rest of the year, I would like to turn the call over to our CFO , David Sassenet, who will take us through the financial details of the year.
Speaker 4: Thanks Rick and good morning everyone. Yesterday we issued our full 2022 fiscal year results in a press release and you can find that press release in the investor section of our website.
Speaker 4: As Rick mentioned, revenue for 2022 totaled $94.1 million, which was up 41% compared to the 66.9 million we reported in 2021.
Speaker 4: This increase was driven by increases of the following amounts in all of our
Speaker 4: for business segments. 3.8 million in our retail segment, 6.2 million in our bulk segment.
Speaker 4: $15 million in our services segment and an additional $2.3 million in manufacturing segment revenue.
Speaker 4: As we discussed earlier, our retail revenue increased primarily due to a 12.5% increase in the volume of the water we spilled on Grand Cayman.
Speaker 4: Our retail revenue also increased due to higher energy costs that increased the energy pass-through component of our water rates, and it increased slightly as a result of a more favorable rate mix. The increase in our bulk segment revenue was due to an increase in energy costs for the Bahamas, with this increasing the energy pass-through component of the Bahamas rate.
Speaker 4: The increase in our manufacturing segment revenue was due to increased production activity.
Speaker 4: Our gross profit for the full year of 2022 was $30.4 million.
Speaker 4: or 32% of total revenue, which is up 29% from the $23.5 million, or 35% of total revenue.
Speaker 4: 2% of total revenue, which is up 29% from the $23.5 million, or 35% of total revenue, in 2021.
Speaker 4: They then come from continuing operations attributable to the
Speaker 4: to CWCO stockholders for 2022 was $8.2 million or $0.54 per basic and diluted share compared to net income of $3.4 million or $0.23 per basic and diluted share in 2021.
Speaker 4: Net income attributable to consolidated water stockholders, which includes the results of discontinued operations, was $5.9 million or $0.38 per basic and fully diluted share. This is up a net income of $876,000 or 6 cents per share in 2021.
Speaker 4: Now, turning to our balance sheet, our cash and cash equivalents total $50.7 million as of the end of the year.
Speaker 4: This compares to 51.1 million as of the end of the September 30, 2022 quarter.
Speaker 4: As of December 31, 2022, our working capital totaled 69.9 million, our debt was only 300,000, and our stockholders equity totaled 159.7 million.
Speaker 4: As of December 31st,
Speaker 4: 2022, our projected liquidity requirements for 2023 include capital expenditures for existing operations of approximately 14.1 million.
Speaker 4: This includes $2.8 million that is expected to be incurred in 2023 for replacing our West Bay desalination plant and approximately $7.5 million for construction of the new desalination plant on Grand Cayman. Thank you for your attention!
Speaker 4: In order to January this year, we exercised, well actually in October of 2022, we exercised our option to purchase the remaining 39% equity of the
Speaker 4: of our subsidiary PERT Water, and we completed this transaction in January of 2023. We paid approximately $7.8 million. This was comprised of $2.44 million in cash.
Speaker 4: In 368,383 shares of common stock value is about 5.4 million.
Speaker 4: We paid approximately $1.4 million for dividends in January 2023. And of course our future liquidity requirements.
Speaker 4: They also include any future dividends declared by our board.
Speaker 4: In the third quarter of 2022, we obtained a $10 million revolving credit line with Stosha Bank in the Cayman Islands to assist us with some of our short-term financing and working capital needs.
Speaker 4: However, to date we have not been required to utilize any of the borrowings that are available under this line.
Speaker 4: So that completes our financial summary for the quarter and I'll turn the call back over to Rick.
Speaker 3: Thanks, David.
Speaker 3: Looking at our retail operations in Grand Cayman, we've been pleasantly surprised by the rapid return of tourism to the island, which appears now back to normal levels early this year.
Speaker 3: Last August , all COVID-related restrictions for travel to the Cayman Islands were eliminated by the government, and cruise ship visits returned.
Speaker 3: It has been reported that airlift capacity to the islands is still 10 to 15 percent less than early last year
Speaker 3: due to challenges in the aviation industry. However, this seems to be driving up ticket costs more than limiting the number of visitors to the island.
Speaker 3: According to recent local paper posted an article posted last week rental cars are selling out boat trips are being booked weeks in advance and hotel rooms are in demand across the islands.
Speaker 3: Overall, for 2022, visitor numbers for the Cayman Islands were still below pre-COVID levels.
Speaker 3: However, so far in 2023, it looks like the islands may see a full return to historical levels soon.
Speaker 3: As I mentioned earlier, during the fourth quarter, we broke ground for the new Red Gate seawater reverse osmosis plant that we're building.
Speaker 3: and Grand Cayman for the Water Authority. Construction is now well underway with the main structural parts of the building completed in February .
Speaker 3: So looking ahead at D-Style opportunities.
Speaker 3: We continue to follow some very interesting opportunities.
Speaker 3: for desal projects in a more active Caribbean market, which we haven't actually seen for quite a few years.
Speaker 3: We're hopeful that our strong regional presence will give us a decisive advantage in what's becoming a crowded competitive landscape in this market.
Speaker 3: We are also awaiting the official announcement of the contract award for the designing, building, and operating of a new 1.7 million gallon per day seawater desalination plant in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Speaker 3: We bid this project in June last year and we've been extending our bid at the request of the client.
Speaker 3: this project in June last year and we've been extending our bid at the request of the client several times now.
Speaker 3: and we anticipate an award announcement to be made sometime soon. This project in Hawaii is comparable to the types of projects that we've successfully completed in the Caribbean over the last 50 years. Just note, in August the company will celebrate its 50th anniversary.
Speaker 3: We believe our extensive experience designing, building and operating seawater desalination plants
Speaker 3: coupled with perks, deep knowledge, and strong relationships.
Speaker 3: the US design build market.
Speaker 3: puts us on the short list as a top company for this project and similar projects in the future.
Speaker 3: I'm looking at PERC.
Speaker 3: our California-based company, their performance continues to exceed our expectations. We have successfully integrated and are growing its operations by enabling it to capitalize on our financial strength and leverage our management expertise and other corporate resources.
Speaker 3: You can see from last year's results PERC was a big factor in our improved financial performance.
Speaker 3: In May last year, PERC won the contract to design, construct, and commission a 4 million gallon per day wastewater treatment facility in Arizona for Liberty Utilities.
Speaker 3: We believe PERC was awarded this project from Liberty because of our unique project delivery model.
Speaker 3: Under this model, we provide our clients with a full turnkey solution where they only deal with PERC as opposed to several engineering companies and contractors
Speaker 3: And this is for all aspects of the project, including design, cost, schedule, and plant performance.
Speaker 3: Our process enables us to design, construct, and commission water treatment plants on an accelerated schedule and at a lower overall cost compared to traditional design-bid-build project delivery models.
Speaker 3: This Arizona project is proceeding as planned and generated $9.5 million in revenue for us in 2022.
Speaker 3: Looking ahead, we are following one potential seawater desalination project.
Speaker 3: and a couple of wastewater recycling opportunities in Southern California, all of which look very interesting.
Speaker 3: California very much likes to recycle wastewater, and we believe that we are a prime candidate with PERC for such projects, given PERC's award-winning designs and long track record of high quality operations and maintenance.
Speaker 3: Now looking at our manufacturing business.
Speaker 3: We were pleased to see continued quarterly and year-over-year growth in our manufacturing segment.
Speaker 3: During the quarter, we began to see some relief from supply chain constraints and challenging economic conditions.
Speaker 3: This allowed us to advance more of our large order backlog through the manufacturing process.
Speaker 3: We continue to leverage our manufacturing capabilities to enhance our competitiveness across our other business segments.
Speaker 3: For example, our manufacturing business is providing air piping, stainless steel piping for PERC's water project in Goodyear, Arizona.
Speaker 3: Similarly, our manufacturing operation provided all of the reverse osmosis equipment.
Speaker 3: For the two seawater desalination plants we are currently building on Grand Cayman, so one for ourselves and one for the Water Authority.
Speaker 3: desalination plants we are currently building on Grand Cayman, so one for ourselves and one for the Water Authority and we expect that
Speaker 3: that Air-X will continue to provide piping and similar equipment for all future projects we might obtain.
Speaker 3: So, looking ahead, we expect improved results from our manufacturing business.
Speaker 3: On the acquisition front, we're presently evaluating two potential transactions.
Speaker 3: If completed, the first one would be complementary to perp water.
Speaker 3: The second would involve a partnership for the development and introduction of membrane process technology to an industrial and mining application.
Speaker 3: Our 2022 results reflected our successful acquisition and integration of perp water and how we effectively applied our financial and management expertise to grow it exponentially.
Speaker 3: Also looking ahead, we see many positive factors driving continued growth for consolidated water.
Speaker 3: These include the continued recovery of tourism in Grand Cayman.
Speaker 3: the ongoing construction projects there in the US, as well as increased project bidding activity in the US and the Caribbean.
Speaker 3: We expect that more than $150 million in major multi-year projects that we secured in 2022 will have a greater positive impact to our earnings and future quarters.
Speaker 3: And with this supporting our positive outlook.
Speaker 3: for continued growth in our services segment. We believe all of these activities and trends are strong indicators for continued growth and positive returns ahead.
Speaker 3: So, Joe, I'd like to now open up the...
Speaker 3: So, Joe, I'd like to now open up the call for questions.
Speaker 2: We will now begin the question and answer session.
Speaker 2: To ask a question, you may press star, then one on your telephone keypad.
Speaker 2: If you're using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing the keys. And if at any time your question has been addressed and you would like to withdraw your question, please press star then 2.
Speaker 2: At this time, we will pause just momentarily to assemble our roster.
Speaker 2: And our first question here will come from Jerry Sweeney with Roth Capital. Please go ahead.
Speaker 5: Good morning, Rick and David. Thanks for taking my call. Yes, Jerry. How are you doing? I'm doing well.
Speaker 5: I wanted to add a few questions on PERC, maybe at a macro level. Obviously,
Speaker 5: There's been a long term drought in California. This year has been somewhat of an anomaly. Lots of rain. Some of those drought conditions have been alleviated. No doubt probably this is a short term, probably positive for California. Curious if you're seeing any projects.
Speaker 5: or project talk around slippage or pushing back opportunities or how do we look at that.
Speaker 3: The stuff that we're following, we haven't seen any indication that they're delaying it.
Speaker 3: The stuff that we're following, we haven't seen any indication that they're delaying it at this point. Got it.
Speaker 5: Secondarily, obviously, big year last year for PERC. How much capacity or utilization do they have for projects and managing projects?
Speaker 5: This year, next year, they certainly have a lot on their plate, but I just want to understand that a little bit further.
Speaker 3: Well, I mean, I think that we have a great management team there, Jerry, and it's all about finding the right talent and the right people to grow the business.
Speaker 3: So far, the team we have out there has been very successful.
Speaker 3: and finding the right people to expand the business.
Speaker 3: several projects on our plate right now that we've had to...
Speaker 3: you know, identify and recruit additional staff, engineers, project managers, and so far it's all been working very well from the standpoint of financial resources. I mean I can let David speak to that. Yeah, it's important to remember, Jerry, that on a lot of these big design-build contracts, we're subcontracting out the major portion of the work.
Speaker 4: What we really need is the management personnel to oversee the construction process. We've been very successful.
Speaker 4: in hiring the right people so far. And you know Perks gained an excellent reputation in the industry.
Speaker 4: I think people are excited about the opportunity to work for us. The only true limiting factor we have at this point in time that I see is that we are IS inconsistent with social
Speaker 4: a $250 million market cap company, and we have limited bonding capacity.
Speaker 4: So that's the only thing that's restricting us at this point in time. At some point in time, our growth will be slowed until we can gain more capacity, and that capacity comes with the completion of the projects. Once you finish a project, for example, when we finish the project in Goodyear, it's going to decrease throughout that week.
Speaker 4: Arizona, that'll fill you up. $80 million worth of bonding capacity right there. Plus, it's a feather in our cap. We've demonstrated to the.
Speaker 4: to the surety that we can complete these projects without issues so they're willing to raise our cap and take more risk with us.
Speaker 5: So that's the only thing that slows down at the moment. Okay, perfect. And speaking of Liberty, I think $82 million project, $9.5 million was done in 2022. I know schedule completion in first half of 2024, I believe.
Speaker 5: But isn't there a, you have to have a majority of the project completed by the end of this year, is that correct? Yes, there is.
Speaker 5: and meaning there would be a big chunk of that remaining revenue coming through on the income? The majority of the $72 million will be recognized next year.
Speaker 3: When I say next year, in 2023, we're into next year. Okay, gotcha. In 2023, got it.
Speaker 5: And is that, as much as you can say, is that consistently spread over four quarters, or is that a lot of it back and loaded because... It's never consistent. It's never consistent. Yeah, it's never consistent because... Okay. …if there's any other data to bring it or we just do an email for that.
Speaker 4: based upon the inputs and some months we'll have.
Speaker 4: we'll put in more expensive equipment than we do the following months or the preceding months. So it'll be somewhat sporadic. It won't be consistent.
Speaker 5: And then final question.
Speaker 5: Sounds like the Caymans are back coming along pretty good. But do you know what percent utilization or volume or, you know, Taurus levels were in the fourth quarter of 2022 versus maybe pre-COVID? I'm assuming fourth quarter was a little bit slower and things really ramped up after the new year. I'm not sure if that's exactly right, but because I think the restrictions were lifted in October , so it took a little bit of time to get back to sort of...
Speaker 3: of full capacity. Just curious if you have any input on that. Yeah, I don't have those numbers in front of me, Jerry. I mean, I can tell you when we were there in February for our board meeting, it was very busy. And I think most of the
Speaker 3: The you know tourist growth has occurred, you know after December 15th of last year
Speaker 3: the tourist growth has occurred after December 15th of last year, when you get into the colder months.
Speaker 2: here. Our next question will come from Matt Spottis with May's Investments. Please go ahead.
Speaker 3: Hey, good morning. Thanks for letting me ask the question. Obviously, you have an extremely solid balance sheet, but I have a question about your idle Baja Land and Rosarito purchased. It looks like about...
Speaker 3: 10 years ago.
Speaker 3: Can you let me know what you paid for that land, what the value of it is today, and what your current plans are for that asset?
Speaker 4: Well, the land's reflected on our balance sheet, Matt. It's about $21.5 million. That's what we paid for it.
Speaker 4: We're presently marketing the land, attempting to sell it. I don't want to give you the... What we have is the appraised value, because I think that would infer that that would be the price that we would sell the land for.
Speaker 4: but it's significantly higher than the amount that we have recorded on the balance sheet. We continue to market this land. We'd like to sell it at the right price. We're certainly not going to sell it for an amount we think is significantly below market value. But the land is indirectly involved in our claim against the Mexican government.
Speaker 4: If you read our financial statements, you know that we've initiated arbitration in international court against the government of Mexico for the cancellation of their contract with us to build a plant on that land in Baja, California. But we feel confident that when we do sell the land, we'll get more than what we have invested. Okay. And that if the land does get s...
Speaker 2: Yep. And again, if you have a question, you may press star then one to join the queue.
Speaker 2: Our next question will come from John Bear with the SIN Wealth Advisors. Please go ahead..
Speaker 4: Thank you. Good morning Rick and David. Good morning. Nice nice quarter and good momentum. A couple of questions on your M&A.
Speaker 4: front, if those two were to go forward, do you anticipate a similar type structure that you did with PERC and AREX where it's not a full 100% acquisition and would you consider these into a material that wasn't temptable thus far, and certainly is more of a stole look?
Speaker 3: Would it be a cash deal or cash in stock or how do you look at that? Well, I mean it's a little early to say right now but we look at a transaction that is in the best interest of the shareholders. It depends on the size of it.
Speaker 3: It depends on the selling party's willingness to continue in the business and that sort of thing. I can tell you that the
Speaker 3: You know the the industrial deal is more of a joint venture type
Speaker 3: Industrial deal is more of a joint venture type Artillo, Phillip, a MA in proceeding to Alliance
Speaker 3: the other acquisition you know, well, it's a little early to say how that's going to work out, but we'll
Speaker 3: you know, we'll do the best that we can for the shareholders, which includes making sure that, you know, there's a transition period for the business.
Speaker 6: John .
Speaker 4: When we bought the other 39% of PERC, we sold stock for the acquisition cost at the request of the PERC minority shareholders.
Speaker 4: Given the amount of cash we have on our balance sheet, I would presume that most of the acquisition costs for anything we do going forward, unless it's a very large acquisition.
Speaker 4: would be just paid in cash and not through the issuance of our stock.
Speaker 7: That's good.
Speaker 7: I wanted to also ask you in your press release and Rick touched on this in his prepared remarks about the supply chain constraints easing up a little bit. So the question is, I'm assuming this means that you were able to get the components listed in the news page. Okay.
Speaker 4: that you needed to satisfy the orders that you had sooner than previously expected. Is that the way to look at it? No, I think it's better to look at it as things were really quite terrible before John and the supply chain has improved. It's not back to where it was before we had all this economic chaos that was...
Speaker 4: touched off initially by COVID, but then, you know, carried on due to other factors.
Speaker 4: Our supply chain still isn't humming like it was four years ago, but it's improved to the point where now we can start getting materials and cushion production to the plant. But still, we've seen an increase in cost.
Speaker 4: and a delay in delivery times. It still takes a long time to get some of this stuff. It's just gotten better. This will be the best description for it.
Speaker 7: So if your input costs have gone up are you able to pass that along to you know previous orders that
Speaker 7: you know, add that on to, you know, improve your margins and so forth.
Speaker 3: Some of the contracts we have...
Speaker 3: In particular, the Water Authority contract for the desal plant allows for inflationary adjustments to the purchase costs of the plant.
Speaker 3: You know other other orders that we may have through air X through manufacturing do not so You know it's all about locking in the pricing
Speaker 3: with the suppliers as close as possible.
Speaker 3: is as close.
Speaker 3: for the projects for that matter. I mean locking in subcontractor and supplier costs as early as possible after you sign the contract. So and then any new you know any new orders we're getting through manufacturing I mean those are all being priced at the new cost so I don't think we've seen any
Speaker 3: There's not been a substantial amount of inflationary pressure on our margins yet, John .
Speaker 7: That's good. Hopefully, the margins will continue to improve. Very good. I appreciate you taking my questions and good luck continuing going forward. Looking forward to it. Thank you.
Speaker 3: Thank you, John . Take care.
Speaker 2: All right, at this time this concludes our question and answer session. I'd now like to turn the call back over to Mr. McTaggart. Sir, please go ahead.
Speaker 3: All right, thank you, Joe. Just want to thank everybody for joining us today.
Speaker 3: Good questions, and we certainly look forward to hearing from you again in May when we release our first quarter results.
Speaker 2: So have a great day. Ladies and gentlemen, before we conclude today's call, I would like to provide the company's safe harbor statement that includes cautions regarding forward-looking statements made during today's call.
Speaker 2: The information that we provided in this conference call includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including but not limited to statements regarding the company's future revenue, future plans, objectives, expectations, and events, assumptions, and estimates.
Speaker 2: Forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words or phrases usually containing the words belief, estimate,
Speaker 2: project, intend, expect, should, will or similar expressions.
Speaker 2: Statements that are not historical facts are based on the company's current expectations, beliefs, assumptions, estimates, forecasts, and projections for its business in the industry and markets related to its business.
Speaker 2: Any forward-looking statements made during this conference call are not guarantees of future performance and involve certain risks, uncertainties, and assumptions which are difficult to predict. Actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed in such forward-looking statements. Factors that would cause or contribute to such different outcomes may be considered form of natural93.
Speaker 2: The differences include, but are not limited to, tourism and weather conditions in the areas we serve, the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic, particularly on our retail and manufacturing segments, the economic, political, and social conditions of each country in which we conduct or plan to conduct business.
Speaker 2: Our relationships with the government entities and other customers we serve.
Speaker 2: regulatory matters including resolution of the negotiations for the renewal of our retail license on Grand Canyon.
Speaker 2: our ability to successfully enter new markets, and various other risks as detailed in the company's periodic report filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. For more information about risks and uncertainties associated with the company's business, please refer to the management's discussion and analysis of financial discussions or results of operations and risk factor section of the company's SEC filings, including but not limited to its annual report.
Speaker 2: in its events, conditions, or circumstances of which any forward-looking statement is based, except as required by law.
Speaker 2: Before we end today's conference call, I would now like to remind everyone that this call will be available for replay starting later this evening.
Speaker 2: Please refer to yesterday's earnings release for dial and replay instructions available via the company's website at www.cwco.com. Thank you for attending today's presentation. This concludes the conference call. You may now disconnect your lines.