Ameresco Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2022 Financial Results

Record Year for Revenue and Profit
Fourth Quarter Results Reflected Revenue Push-Outs due to Scheduling Changes
Continued European Expansion
Guiding to Increased Adjusted EBITDA in 2023
Reiterating 2024 $300 Million Adjusted EBITDA Target

Full Year 2022 Financial Highlights:
(All financial result comparisons made are against the prior year period unless otherwise noted)

• Revenues of $1,824.4 million, up 50%
• Net income attributable to common shareholders of $94.9 million, up 35%
• GAAP EPS of $1.78, up 32%
• Non-GAAP EPS of $1.87, up 24%
• Adjusted EBITDA of $204.5 million, up 34%
• Fifth consecutive year of record revenue and profit
• Visibility from Projects, Assets and O&M is $6+ billion

Fourth Quarter 2022 Financial Highlights:
(All financial result comparisons made are against the prior year period unless otherwise noted)

• Revenues of $331.7 million, down 20%
• Net income attributable to common shareholders of $17.9 million, down 36%
• GAAP EPS of $0.34, down 36%
• Non-GAAP EPS of $0.35, down 34%
• Adjusted EBITDA of $41.3 million, down 15%

FRAMINGHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Ameresco, Inc. (NYSE:AMRC), a leading cleantech integrator specializing in energy efficiency and renewable energy, today announced financial results for the fiscal quarter ended December 31, 2022. The Company also furnished supplemental information in conjunction with this press release in a Current Report on Form 8-K. The supplemental information, which includes Non-GAAP financial measures, has been posted to the “Investors” section of the Company’s website at www.ameresco.com. Reconciliations of Non-GAAP measures to the appropriate GAAP measures are included herein.

“2022 was a great year and it marked Ameresco’s fifth consecutive year of record revenue and profit, growing revenue and adjusted EBITDA by 50% and 34%, respectively. This growth underscores the importance of our advanced clean technology portfolio, the strong fundamentals of our expanding markets, and our ability to consistently execute and capture additional market share. We ended the year with over $6 billion in visibility from the combination of our total project backlog, Energy Assets and O&M revenue backlog.

We made great strides in expanding our European footprint by winning of the transformative Bristol City Council decarbonization contract and acquiring a wind farm in Ireland. In addition, today we announced an agreement to acquire Enerqos Solutions S.r.l., a small but meaningful acquisition of an energy services company in Italy to further expand our European footprint. We anticipate further activity in Europe in 2023 as we continue to strategically extend our presence to take advantage of this large and growing market opportunity.

While execution remains strong, fourth quarter results reflected the push-out of revenue related to short term scheduling changes in implementation, supply chain issues and unplanned maintenance at two of our RNG facilities. In addition, utility and permitting delays impacted the timing of assets coming on-line. Despite the delays, we were able to place 24 MWe of Energy Assets in service during the quarter. We also added 32 MWe of new assets to our Assets in Development bringing the total to 470 net MWe.

Market demand conditions remain robust. In addition, we believe the recently enacted Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) will be the most transformational piece of legislation affecting our industry, further expanding our addressable market opportunities. We continue the dialogue with our customers as they assess how to prioritize and time their projects to optimize its impact.

The SCE projects progressed further in the quarter. We are continuing discussions regarding the applicability and scope of any force majeure relief resulting from COVID-19 and weather related delays. Our relationship with SCE continues to be cooperative, and we anticipate the projects to be in service and to achieve substantial completion milestones prior to the summer of 2023.

In the fourth quarter we were honored to be named a finalist in the S&P Global Platts 2022 Global Energy Awards for the Infrastructure Project of the Year and the Corporate Impact and Sustained Commitment categories. Platts highlighted our work at Fort Bragg, in collaboration with Duke Energy, to install the largest floating solar array in the Southeast,” concluded George P. Sakellaris, President and Chief Executive Officer.

Fourth Quarter Financial Results

(All financial result comparisons made are against the prior year period unless otherwise noted.)

Total revenue was 20% lower, driven by a 26% decrease in Project revenue. This decline primarily reflects the difficult comparisons to prior periods when we recognized significant revenue from the SCE projects. Energy Asset revenue declined 6% due to unscheduled maintenance at two of our RNG facilities, combined with lower RIN prices. O&M revenue increased 5% as the company continued to add long-term O&M contracts, especially on larger Federal government projects. Other revenue increased 16% primarily due to strength in integrated PV sales for remote power applications.

Gross margin of 18.6% reflects an increase from 17.1% in the previous year given the reduced contribution from the lower margin SCE projects. Net income attributable to common shareholders and adjusted EBITDA were $17.9 million and $41.3 million, respectively. The company ended the quarter with approximately $116 million of available cash. During the quarter, the Company also secured $137 million in project financing bringing the year’s total financing to over $468 million to continue supporting our growth.

Project Highlights

In the Fourth Quarter of 2022:

• The Company continued to expand its streetlight portfolio by signing new contracts in Philadelphia, PA, Memphis, TN, and Chandler, AZ. The Philly Streetlight Improvement Project is a comprehensive 120,000 LED streetlight, controls, and networking project. The street light modernization project in Chandler will replace their high-pressure sodium fixtures across the city with state-of-the-art LED fixtures and provide control and monitoring on these fixtures.
• Ameresco continued to expand its K-12 footprint across New York, adding more energy efficiency and solar projects to schools in Lakeland and Ossining. These schools will benefit with optimized learning environments for their students and teachers while saving money and reducing their carbon footprint.
• Ameresco’s team in Canada continued to expand its federal footprint with an 8.8MW solar project with the CFB Gagetown, and a 40+ facility energy efficiency project with CBSA and Transport Canada National.
• Ameresco continued to expand its C&I footprint with a new solar carport project in Buckeye, AZ. This project contracted with H&M Company will build solar carports for shaded parking and energy offset for a new distribution center for Ross Stores, Inc.

Asset Highlights

In the Fourth Quarter of 2022:

• Ameresco’s Assets in Development ended the quarter at 530 MWe. After subtracting Ameresco’s partners’ minority interests, Ameresco’s owned capacity of Assets in Development at quarter end was 470 MWe.
• The Company acquired an operating three-turbine 5MW wind farm in West County Cork, Ireland.
• The County of Maui awarded Ameresco the rights to the landfill gas at the County's Central Maui Landfill. Ameresco will build a landfill gas electric generating facility using 100% of the landfill gas available. Ameresco will design, engineer, construct, operate and maintain the 3.2 MW facility, which Ameresco will own.
• The Company and Bright Canyon Energy broke ground on the Kūpono Solar Project at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. The 131-Acre 42MW solar plant and 42MW/168MWh battery storage project is designed to deliver clean, renewable energy to Hawaiian Electric’s (HECO) grid on the island of O‘ahu.

Summary and Outlook

“2022 was an outstanding year of record performance across key financial metrics. Our future opportunities remain compelling, and we expect the number and complexity of projects to continue to increase as the IRA’s incentives are expected to lead to an estimated $3.5 trillion in investment in new energy supply and infrastructure onto the grid, the majority of which will be renewable sources. Ameresco is well positioned to capture an increasing share of this opportunity given our proven track record of execution on these types of large and complex solutions as shown by our SCE and Bristol projects. These secular growth drivers, together with the breadth of our technological expertise and proven track record, underpin our confidence in Ameresco’s prospects. As we continue to position the company to capture the global growth opportunities on the horizon, we are pleased to reiterate our $300 million adjusted EBITDA target for 2024.

2023 guidance, included in the table below, anticipates adjusted EBITDA growth of 5% at the midpoint. We are pleased to be guiding to growth in adjusted EBITDA even as we face difficult revenue comparisons due to the large SCE projects. Our ability to continue to grow our adjusted EBITDA is a testament to our long term diversified business model, designed for our profitable and growing Energy Asset and O&M businesses to offset potential short-term timing-related volatility in the Projects business. We anticipate placing between 80 and 100 MWe of energy assets in service. This includes the three RNG plants we had expected to be mechanically complete by the end of 2022. Several additional RNG assets are in the late stages of development and we expect that 4 or 5 of these will come online during 2024. Our expected capex for 2023 is $325 million to $375 million, the majority of which we expect to fund with non-recourse debt.

We estimate first quarter revenue and adjusted EBITDA to be in the range of $220 million to $240 million and $20 million to $30 million, respectively and slightly positive non-GAAP EPS. We expect the remainder of the year to follow our normal cadence with progressive improvement throughout the year.

We look forward to welcoming analysts and institutional investors on May 11^th to our London Investor Day. This event will feature presentations and panels by key executives from our leadership team. The conversations will focus on main growth opportunities. We also will be discussing Ameresco's existing European footprint and plans for expansion in that geography,” Mr. Sakellaris concluded.

The Company’s guidance excludes the impact of any redeemable non-controlling interest activity related to tax-equity partnerships, one-time charges, asset impairment charges, changes in contingent consideration, restructuring activities, as well as any related tax impact.

Conference Call/Webcast Information

The Company will host a conference call today at 4:30 p.m. ET to discuss fourth quarter and full year 2022 financial results, business and financial outlook and other business highlights. Participants may access the earnings conference call by pre-registering here at least fifteen minutes in advance. A live, listen-only webcast of the conference call will also be available over the Internet. Individuals wishing to listen can access the call through the “Investors” section of the Company’s website at www.ameresco.com. If you are unable to listen to the live call, an archived webcast will be available on the Company’s website for one year.

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures

This press release and the accompanying tables include references to adjusted EBITDA, Non- GAAP EPS, Non-GAAP net income and adjusted cash from operations, which are Non-GAAP financial measures. For a description of these Non-GAAP financial measures, including the reasons management uses these measures, please see the section following the accompanying tables titled “Exhibit A: Non-GAAP Financial Measures”. For a reconciliation of these Non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable financial measures prepared in accordance with GAAP, please see Non-GAAP Financial Measures and Non-GAAP Financial Guidance in the accompanying tables.

About Ameresco, Inc.

Founded in 2000, Ameresco, Inc. (NYSE:AMRC) is a leading cleantech integrator and renewable energy asset developer, owner and operator. Our comprehensive portfolio includes energy efficiency, infrastructure upgrades, asset sustainability and renewable energy solutions delivered to clients throughout North America and Europe. Ameresco’s sustainability services in support of clients’ pursuit of Net-Zero include upgrades to a facility’s energy infrastructure and the development, construction, and operation of distributed energy resources. Ameresco has successfully completed energy saving, environmentally responsible projects with Federal, state, and local governments, healthcare and educational institutions, housing authorities, and commercial and industrial customers. With its corporate headquarters in Framingham, MA, Ameresco has more than 1,200 employees providing local expertise in the United States, Canada, and Europe. For more information, visit www.ameresco.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

Any statements in this press release about future expectations, plans and prospects for Ameresco, Inc., including statements about market conditions, pipeline, visibility and backlog, as well as estimated future revenues, net income, adjusted EBITDA, Non-GAAP EPS, gross margin, capital investments, other financial guidance, statements about our agreement with SCE including the impact of any delays, the closing of the Enerqos acquisition, and the impact of the IRA and macroeconomic conditions on our business, longer term outlook, and other statements containing the words “projects,” “believes,” “anticipates,” “plans,” “expects,” “will” and similar expressions, constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward looking statements as a result of various important factors, including the timing of, and ability to, enter into contracts for awarded projects on the terms proposed or at all; the timing of work we do on projects where we recognize revenue on a percentage of completion basis, including the ability to perform under signed contracts without delay and in accordance with their terms; demand for our energy efficiency and renewable energy solutions; our ability to complete and operate our projects on a profitable basis and as committed to our customers; our ability to arrange financing to fund our operations and projects and to comply with covenants in our existing debt agreements; changes in federal, state and local government policies and programs related to energy efficiency and renewable energy and the fiscal health of the government; the ability of customers to cancel or defer contracts included in our backlog; the output and performance of our energy plants and energy projects; the effects of our acquisitions and joint ventures; seasonality in construction and in demand for our products and services; a customer’s decision to delay our work on, or other risks involved with, a particular project; availability and cost of labor and equipment particularly given global supply chain challenges and global trade conflicts; our reliance on third parties for our construction and installation work; the addition of new customers or the loss of existing customers; the impact of macroeconomic challenges, weather related events and climate change on our business; global supply chain challenges, component shortages and inflationary pressures; market price of the Company's stock prevailing from time to time; the nature of other investment opportunities presented to the Company from time to time; the Company's cash flows from operations; cybersecurity incidents and breaches; and other factors discussed in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. The forward-looking statements included in this press release represent our views as of the date of this press release. We anticipate that subsequent events and developments will cause our views to change. However, while we may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, we specifically disclaim any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures (Unaudited, in thousands)

Other Financial Measures (In thousands) (Unaudited)

Non-GAAP Financial Guidance

Exhibit A: Non-GAAP Financial Measures

We use the Non-GAAP financial measures defined and discussed below to provide investors and others with useful supplemental information to our financial results prepared in accordance with GAAP. These Non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered as an alternative to any measure of financial performance calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP. For a reconciliation of these Non-GAAP measures to the most directly comparable financial measures prepared in accordance with GAAP, please see Non-GAAP Financial Measures and Non-GAAP Financial Guidance in the tables above.

We understand that, although measures similar to these Non-GAAP financial measures are frequently used by investors and securities analysts in their evaluation of companies, they have limitations as analytical tools, and investors should not consider them in isolation or as a substitute for the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures or an analysis of our results of operations as reported under GAAP. To properly and prudently evaluate our business, we encourage investors to review our GAAP financial statements included above, and not to rely on any single financial measure to evaluate our business.

Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin

We define adjusted EBITDA as net income attributable to common shareholders, including impact from redeemable non-controlling interests, before income tax (benefit) provision, other expenses net, depreciation, amortization of intangible assets, accretion of asset retirement obligations, contingent consideration expense, stock-based compensation expense, energy asset impairment, restructuring and other charges, gain or loss on sale of equity investment, and gain or loss upon deconsolidation of a variable interest entity. We believe adjusted EBITDA is useful to investors in evaluating our operating performance for the following reasons: adjusted EBITDA and similar Non-GAAP measures are widely used by investors to measure a company's operating performance without regard to items that can vary substantially from company to company depending upon financing and accounting methods, book values of assets, capital structures and the methods by which assets were acquired; securities analysts often use adjusted EBITDA and similar Non-GAAP measures as supplemental measures to evaluate the overall operating performance of companies; and by comparing our adjusted EBITDA in different historical periods, investors can evaluate our operating results without the additional variations of depreciation and amortization expense, accretion of asset retirement obligations, contingent consideration expense, stock-based compensation expense, impact from redeemable non-controlling interests, restructuring and asset impairment charges. We define adjusted EBITDA margin as adjusted EBITDA stated as a percentage of revenue.

Our management uses adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA margin as measures of operating performance, because they do not include the impact of items that we do not consider indicative of our core operating performance; for planning purposes, including the preparation of our annual operating budget; to allocate resources to enhance the financial performance of the business; to evaluate the effectiveness of our business strategies; and in communications with the board of directors and investors concerning our financial performance.

Non-GAAP Net Income and EPS

We define Non-GAAP net income and earnings per share (EPS) to exclude certain discrete items that management does not consider representative of our ongoing operations, including energy asset impairment, restructuring and other charges, impact from redeemable non-controlling interest, gain or loss on sale of equity investment, and gain or loss upon deconsolidation of a variable interest entity. We consider Non-GAAP net income and Non-GAAP EPS to be important indicators of our operational strength and performance of our business because they eliminate the effects of events that are not part of the Company's core operations.

Adjusted Cash from Operations

We define adjusted cash from operations as cash flows from operating activities plus proceeds from Federal ESPC projects. Cash received in payment of Federal ESPC projects is treated as a financing cash flow under GAAP due to the unusual financing structure for these projects. These cash flows, however, correspond to the revenue generated by these projects. Thus we believe that adjusting operating cash flow to include the cash generated by our Federal ESPC projects provides investors with a useful measure for evaluating the cash generating ability of our core operating business. Our management uses adjusted cash from operations as a measure of liquidity because it captures all sources of cash associated with our revenue generated by operations.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230227005804/en/

Media Relations
Leila Dillon, 508.661.2264, news@ameresco.com

Investor Relations
Eric Prouty, AdvisIRy Partners 212.750.5800,
eric.prouty@advisiry.com
Lynn Morgen, AdvisIRy Partners, 212.750.5800,
lynn.morgen@advisiry.com

Source: Ameresco, Inc.

Released February 27, 2023