Dredging & Marine Construction

Orion Reports Lower Net Income In First Quarter

Orion Group Holdings Inc. reported net income of $0.9 million for the first quarter of 2021, compared to net income of $2.7 million for the first quarter of 2020.

Headquartered in Houston, Texas, Orion Group Holdings is a specialty construction company serving the infrastructure, industrial and building sectors. Its marine segment provides construction and dredging services related to marine transportation facility construction; marine pipeline construction; marine environmental structures; dredging of waterways, channels and ports; and specialty services. Its concrete segment provides turnkey concrete construction services across the light commercial, structural and other associated business areas.

In its April 28 report, the company noted that its adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) for the first quarter was $9.5 million, down from $12.2 million a year ago. The adjusted EBITDA measure excludes the impact of various non-recurring items.

Orion’s backlog as of March 31 was $364.8 million, compared to $591.9 million as of March 31, 2020.

“Our results for the first quarter were in line with our expectations,” said CEO Mark Stauffer. “First quarter results reflect the impact of the historic winter storm that affected our Texas operations, causing work on Texas projects in both segments, including for dredging projects, to stop for up to 10 days. This reduced revenue for the quarter by approximately $8.2 million and lowered earnings per share by approximately $0.03. Also, worth noting was the year-over-year EBITDA comparison in our marine segment wherein the first quarter of 2020 was up as a result of execution related margin gains on several large projects.

“… Our overall bidding opportunities are proceeding at a high level, and we see our intermediate-to-long-term prospects as strong as they have ever been,” Stauffer added. “We continue to watch end market drivers, including a possible new federal infrastructure bill, which would be a catalyst for even greater expansion of our addressable bidding landscape. Given the breadth of our end markets and our unique and highly versatile construction capabilities and expertise, we are very well positioned to capitalize on a wide range of attractive project opportunities as they emerge throughout our operating footprint.

“Additionally, we are in an increasingly strong liquidity position. In the first quarter we generated solid free cash flow, which further enhanced our balance sheet, providing us with the flexibility to continue to execute on projects in backlog and pursue new awards, while at the same time enabling us to execute on our strategic plan, including positioning ourselves for potential accretive acquisition opportunities. We would expect our pending asset sales to contribute to additional improvement in our financial position in the coming quarters.”

Stauffer concluded, “Overall, with the project opportunities we see on the horizon, our continuously-improving execution resulting from our ISG program and our strong financial position, we remain confident in our ability to achieve our goals for the current year and generate growth in profitability and shareholder value as we move toward a post-pandemic economy.”