KBR, Inc. (NYSE:KBR) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Stuart Bradie: And certainly as we move into 2024, we’re very confident of our EBITDA targets and meeting them is the pathway that we explained with STS performing and opposite any shortfall in HomeSafe will certainly be made up by STS. So we’re not worried about that pathway at all.

Gautam Khanna: Thank you.

Operator: Our next question today comes from Michael Dudas of Vertical Research Partners. Please go ahead. Your line is open.

Michael Dudas: Good morning, Jamie. Mark Stewart. Hello? Can you hear me? Oh, yeah, great. Yeah. Thanks for morning, everybody. So just wanted to maybe move towards STS, there was a lot of news the last couple weeks of the funding in the U.S. for hydrogen hubs. So certainly the hydrogen market continues to get a lot of visibility and news flow. Maybe you can explain a little bit about how KBR and its clients are thinking about that and how that could drive some more opportunities on top of what you’ve already described in the ammonia and hydrogen business for the next, I’m sure, several year’s?

Stuart Bradie: Yeah. I mean, I think of the $7 billion, I think half of it or so will be spent in construction enabling, I think, 68 hydrogen hubs. I think targeted, I think, for 2030, Mike, to be online. And I think, however, we’ve got customer sets all around the world, some of which have more funding and are moving far faster with greater urgency. And we talked a little bit about hydrogen cracking and the things we’re doing in that area. And as you well know, we’re positioned in hydrogen opposite ammonia as well. So I think the U.S. stimulus is a good part of the story. But I guess probably the near-term, it’s only part of the story. And I think there’s great growth outside of the U.S. as well as in it. And so I think it’s a terrific opportunity for KBR.

How we play in that and the way we’re thinking about it is evolving. It’s only recently announced, of course. But we are really busy elsewhere in the world, which, of course, gives us amazing credentials and capability to bring back into the U.S.

Michael Dudas: Terrific! Thank you, Stuart. Appreciate it.

Operator: The next question today comes from Jerry Revich of Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.

Unidentified Analyst: Hi, this is Adam on for Jerry today. Thanks for taking my question. Wondering if you could help us understand the growth outlook by platform for 2024 and government solutions, how you’re thinking about that, excluding HomeSafe and particularly interested in how the how you’re thinking about the international piece, given some of the things going on in the world? Thanks.

Stuart Bradie: Yeah, so I think I think [indiscernible] HomeSafe is somewhere between five and eight percent in terms of growth. And I think we’re well aligned on that. So in the prepared remarks covered off, I think science and space is in a terrific place with its recent wins, particularly the takeaways and the additional scope and contract values have taken on board as we move into ’24 for good growth. We’ve got a lot going on in the intelligence community, as you would rightly expect. And at this time, we’ve secured quite a bit across our DNA portfolio and there’s more to come, I think, in Q4. So, again, we’re feeling really strongly about organic growth there. And our analysis is the one where we’ve seen a little bit of softness, I think, in the last couple of months. But as I said, again, I think we with the recent task orders all multi-year, we’re expecting that to ramp back up as we move into next year. The international piece is interesting.

Unidentified Analyst: Great. Thank you. Okay.

Stuart Bradie: Well, I think the international piece is probably growing faster than most. I think we’re looking at sort of double digit growth there as a consequence of what’s happening in the world and the stronger collaboration. And I think that the markets there have settled down. There’s been a new government in Australia a few months ago and that’s all settled down. And we’ve come through that and we can see directly where the spending and we’re lined up nicely opposite those vectors. So, I think all up, we’re feeling pretty good about our overall GS growth range. And that’s a sort of breakdown across that portfolio. So, I hope that helps.