APi Group Corporation (NYSE:APG) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Kevin Krumm: Andy, yes, thanks. So the 50-50 was on the safety side of the business. And I would say that’s what we’re seeing on a year-to-date basis and sort of our baseline expectation as we move through the back half of the year. The material costs, we look at it a little bit inflation, not necessarily year-on-year, but versus where costs were when we started proposing our business. And the work we worked on in the second quarter was largely work that we were — let’s just talk on safety side of the business, was work we were proposing sort of late Q4 last year. And versus Q4, we have seen a run-up in material costs in both steel and hot rolled coil. We — so that creates a bit of a headwind as we work on that. Similarly, as those come down, and it looks like they’re going to continue to come down in Q3 and the back half of the year, we should see that margin pickup that we lost on the run-up in the first half.

Andrew Kaplowitz: Appreciate all the color.

James Lillie: Andy, its Jim. I just want to chime in. Martin and I were in Minneapolis earlier this week, meeting with both the international team and the domestic team. And everybody went through their growth plans to get to the 13% plus EBITDA margin. But you said earlier in your question you have lower growth in the international business. I just want to level set people who may be new that remember, most of our international business was acquired by Carrier. And historically, that had negative growth over the last 10 years or so. And so the growth that we’re seeing is well within our strategic plan and in line with making sure that we’re spending behind the right initiatives. But we couldn’t be more pleased with the performance of the international side of the business. It’s measured and balanced and thoughtful growth as compared to its historical performance.

Andrew Kaplowitz: Appreciate the additional color, Jim.

Operator: Your next question comes from Chris Snyder of UBS.

Christopher Snyder: Thank you. So organic growth in the first half of the year is kind of hanging around this low double-digit level. And it feels like, ultimately, the drivers of the business are regulation and also share gains, which feel long-lasting and really not macro-dependent. So with that, what are the drivers or the headwinds for just the normalization that’s going to push the organic growth from the low doubles to the kind of the more mid-single-digit normalized levels? Is it the project selection that you guys have been talking about?

Russell Becker: 100%. And we’ve been very purposeful in the installation work in our HVAC business and trying to make sure that we’re selecting the right opportunities to pursue as well as in our Specialty Services segment just as a whole. And as I mentioned earlier, I’m really proud of our team for the discipline that they’re showing and making sure that we’re pursuing the right opportunities. And I think it’s making a difference.

Christopher Snyder: Thank you for that. And then for my follow-up, I wanted to maybe ask about the 2 — or the bolt-ons that the company talked to in the preannounced last month. I guess what kind of surprised us was that you guys said these transactions are immediately accretive to EBITDA margins despite obviously being kind of smaller businesses. Can you just maybe talk a little bit about that? And is that what we should expect on all bolt-ons? Or is there something unique about these that they’re coming on at an EBITDA margin premium? Thank you.

Russell Becker: Well, I mean, these — the bolt-ons that we recently executed when we talked about them being immediately accretive, their performance is at an EBITDA margin that’s currently higher than fleet average at APi. And so you make the assumption that they’re going to continue to form where they’re at. We’re going to start to integrate those businesses very quickly and hopefully continue to improve their margin performance, which is really a big part of our model. So from day 1, those businesses will be accretive, making that assumption. I would say that in general, I mean, that’s our focus. We want to as we continue to acquire companies, we want to acquire companies that are accretive, right? Does that mean that we wouldn’t acquire, say, a business that’s in a geographic area that maybe the performance of that business is only 11% or 12% on a pre-synergy basis?

If it was in the right geographic area, it met all of our criteria from culture, values and fit, and we can see a clear path to how we can get that business performing at, say, 15% EBITDA margin, we would certainly look at doing something like that. So a lot of these businesses, to be totally honest, with you, Chris, when we acquire them, they might tell you that their inspection service and monitoring is 35%, 40% of their total revenues. And usually when you start digging in you find out that it’s less than that. We have a very clear road map and playbook on how we can take those businesses, get that inspection-first mind-set instilled in the business and get it moving forward very quickly, get it on the right glide path. And so geographic, looking at the map and looking at geographic expansion that’s complementary to our existing footprint, it’s something that’s important for us as we — and especially important for us as we continue to try to broaden our base of national accounts.

So — but we’re not going to — we’re not out actively looking for poor performing businesses or anything like that by any stretch of the imagination.

Christopher Snyder: Appreciate that. Thank you.

Operator: [Operator Instructions] Your next question comes from Andy Wittmann of Baird. Your line is open.