ABM Industries Incorporated (NYSE:ABM) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

We’re going to be growing obviously faster probably than any other place €“ than any other segment. And then RavenVolt, again, super excited about that. I mean, if there was anything with RavenVolt like their experiencing what everyone’s experiencing in terms of supply chain issues, that hasn’t led up, but the backlog is growing. I made mention in my prepared remarks about this massive contract that we just won. So, for us, it’s about just rolling it out and actually like we said, we don’t recognize revenue till we turn the wrench or install the micro grid. And I think we’re all just hoping that in 2023, or at least the back half of 2023, we’ll start seeing some relaxing on the supply chain.

Faiza Alwy: Great. And then just follow-up on the labor point. I think you said, although I could be wrong, that over time, you expect labor costs to ease, which I think is a fair point, but I also know that you do have a pretty heavily unionized work force and those contracts, I believe, are up for renewal in 2024, 2025. Give us a sense of like how far in advance do those negotiations start like are you anticipating that you might see, sort of a big increase, sort of almost like a catch-up payment with that, that might happen? Like how do you think about that?

Scott Salmirs: Yes. So, typically these negotiations start anywhere from six months to four months before. So, we have some time on that. And there could be a catch up. For us, it’s less worrisome because with collective bargaining agreements, they’re public documents. A lot of time Faiza, the management companies and the owners help negotiate this. So, it’s very transparent and it’s €“ when we’re going for customer increases, it’s the easier part of the market because they know about what the wage progression is going to be. They help negotiate it a lot of times. So, it’s an easier conversation when you say to them. Listen, the wage and benefit portions going up 4.5%, you know we’re a lower margin business we have to recapture that. So, that doesn’t cause us a lot of .

Faiza Alwy: Got it. Perfect. Thank you so much.

Scott Salmirs: Thank you.

Operator: Thank you. Our next question is from Sean Eastman with KeyBanc Capital Markets. Please proceed with your question.

Sean Eastman: Hi, everyone. Thanks for taking my questions. I just wanted to start with a granular one, just given the initial guidance came in below the forecast I had and I want to make sure we frame exactly why because the margin is coming in line with expectations was good to see. So, maybe one of the other, kind of missing pieces is the DNA, especially in light of RavenVolt being folded in there? Earl, would you be able to help us out with that?

Earl Ellis: Yes. I would say, just based on what I’ve seen from some of the consensus, I think the biggest outline is really the interest and I think based on what we put out in the script where we’re suggesting that our interest is going to be anywhere between $72 million to $74 million, which is a significant increase year-over-year. That’s probably the biggest that you actually have to your current consensus.

Scott Salmirs: Yes. And what I would say Sean is like if you strip out interest expense and you look at where we’re guiding and the range we’re guiding in, we are growing this firm, and the reason I wanted to jump in is we’re just so proud of that, right? We all know the macroeconomic environment. We know the wage pressures. We know people are thinking about potential recession, all that good stuff. And we’re continuing to grow this firm operationally, which says that we’re agile, we know how to manage our labor. We’re aggressive in getting price escalations from our clients. So, like super, super proud of where we’re coming in, you know ex the interest expense portion.