Stantec Inc. (NYSE:STN) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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Maxim Sytchev: Okay. Yeah. And to your point, like the tools that are being kind of developed or rolled out, I presume it’s — most of the stuff is kind of [above the shelf] (ph). So it’s not like sort of super bespoke to see the results like in 2027 range?

Gord Johnston: No, I think that’s right. So a lot of the products that we are developing externally, for example, we already have products for sale on the Microsoft Azure marketplace that clients are going directly there to purchase and go. So, we are looking at less bespoke one-off type products for a client and more of something that we can resell, offer as a software-as-a-service and generate higher margins from that, increasing the amount of non-labor revenue that we generate there.

Maxim Sytchev: Okay. Super helpful. Thank you so much. And Theresa, just a quick question for you, if I may. Do you mind maybe just commenting on kind of the puts and takes of global growth outside of the U.K. just in terms of what you guys are seeing there? Thank you.

Theresa Jang: Yeah. So I think outside of the U.K., Australia is certainly our next biggest geography or probably actually similar in size and if you throw New Zealand in with that. Again, both performing very well. We see good growth drivers in both of those geographies. New Zealand, in particular, is an incredibly strong operation for us, albeit just under 1,000 people, they continue to perform very well. So the water sector in both of those geographies will continue to be strong. And of course, we’re very strong there. And the transportation side of things, from an infrastructure standpoint, probably still on the upswing as we’ve seen in the U.S. with funding promises and funds allocated, and so that growth, we expect — we would expect to continue to show up.

And on the energy and resources side, from both the mining standpoint in Australia, the growing market for energy — renewable energy in those geographies in Australia, again, are very strong drivers. So, we feel very positive about that. So, some of the smaller spaces, the Netherlands where we have an environmental services business, very good demand there. And so across the board, I think we feel that there are good drivers in each of those geographies. And again, as it gets smaller, it’s a little bit harder to detect in our results. But as we’ve said before, it really is part of what makes our business model so resilient is how diversified we are both in terms of business line and geography.

Maxim Sytchev: Okay. 100%. And Gord, maybe just any kind of final thoughts in terms of kind of the M&A landscape? What are you seeing now? Thanks.

Gord Johnston: Yeah. The M&A landscape, very, very busy. And we certainly are in active discussions with firms in different locations around the world. So it’s robust. We’re seeing multiples, not necessarily trending upwards, but not a lot of softening either over the last couple of quarters. So we’re going to keep working on it, Max, we’re very, very disciplined. And when we’re ready to move forward, you can see that the dry powder is there, and we look forward to announcing something.

Maxim Sytchev: Excellent. Thank you so much.

Operator: Thank you. And I would like to turn the conference back over to Gord Johnston for closing remarks.

Gord Johnston: Great. Well, thank you again for joining us today. We’re very pleased with our performance this quarter, and we look forward to rolling out our new three-year strategic plan on December 5 in Boston, and we hope you’ll be able to join us either in-person or via the webcast. So, goodbye, and thank you.

Operator: This concludes today’s conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.

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