Bridger Aerospace Group Holdings, Inc. Q3 FY2025 Earnings Call

Greetings, and welcome to the Bridger Aerospace Third Quarter Fiscal 2025 Investor Conference Call. As a reminder, today's call is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Eric Gerratt, Chief Financial Officer. Thank you. Mr. Gerratt, you may begin.

Good afternoon, and thanks for joining us today. Joining me on the call this afternoon is Chief Executive Officer, Sam Davis. Before we begin, please note that certain statements contained in this conference call that do not describe historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Since forward-looking statements are based on various assumptions, risks and uncertainties, actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. Factors that could cause results to differ materially from those expressed include, but are not limited to, those discussed in the company's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including expectations regarding financial results for 2025. Management cannot control or predict many factors that impact future results. Listeners should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which reflect management's views only as of today. We anticipate that subsequent events and developments will cause our assessments to change. However, we undertake no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements or make any other forward-looking statements. Throughout this afternoon's earnings release and call today, we refer to the non-GAAP financial measure adjusted EBITDA. The definition, calculation, and a reconciliation to the financial statements of adjusted EBITDA can be found in Exhibit A of our earnings release, which is available on our website. We believe adjusted EBITDA is useful in evaluating our reported results as a supplement to and not a substitute for reported results under GAAP. With that, I'd like to turn the call over to Sam.

Thank you, Eric. This year has been exceptionally strong for Bridger, both operationally and financially. We achieved record task orders through October, and utilization measured in days on contract has increased by almost 10% year-over-year across the fleet. Our multi-mission aircraft nearly doubled their flight hours year-over-year, extending beyond their guaranteed 150 days to over 220 days each. Bridger Super Scoopers are gaining recognition for their effectiveness as ideal initial attack assets, and the Forest Service has proactively positioned our assets. Year-to-date, our scoopers have experienced nearly a 9% increase in average flight hours. The benefits of a proactive wildfire response this year are evident. According to the National Interagency Fire Center, wildfires have exceeded average counts with over 54,000 incidents this year, marking a 50% increase from last year and 15% above the 10-year average. However, the NIFC reported only 4.7 million acres burned, a decrease of 40% from last year and down 29% from the 10-year average. This strong operational performance has translated into significant financial success. The effective use of our resources has allowed us to exceed our annual revenue guidance in the first nine months, and we are on track to reach the high end of our adjusted EBITDA guidance. Bridger's 2025 financial performance reflects our strategy of focusing on long-term contracts with the Forest Service and individual states, resulting in another record quarter and year despite a statistically below-average fire season. These third-quarter results validate the impact of our efforts on our business model, indicating that our assets are becoming crucial tools in wildfire response. We are building resilience in our revenue stream. As the threat of wildfires increases, Bridger is prepared to respond and stay focused on our mission to protect lives, property, critical infrastructure, and the environment. Our strong operational and financial results, along with expectations for a second record year, enabled us to transform our balance sheet last week. We completed a $49 million sale-leaseback of our campus facilities in Belgrade, Montana, and entered into a new $331 million expanded debt facility for growth. More importantly, we now have the financial flexibility to acquire aircraft to support contract expansion opportunities and serve all our customers, whether federal, state, local, or defense, ultimately driving EBITDA growth and long-term shareholder value. Bridger's commitment to financial health and resilience is positioning us to better serve and protect our nation. Now, let me give a brief update on FMS and Ignis. FMS generated $2.4 million in revenue during the third quarter. In addition to partnering on internal aircraft modifications for a competitive edge, we see numerous contracting opportunities, primarily with the DoD, where Bridger and FMS are well-positioned to respond. Alongside awarded work with Positive Aviation for the FF72 aircraft certification program, we recently secured a small award with the U.S. Air Force. Although FMS revenue has faced delays due to federal budgeting uncertainties, we remain optimistic and well-positioned for various defense and commercial projects. We are restructuring our business development team to target this work. Many opportunities are small but strategic, with potential for scaling into larger, year-round revenue streams beyond our current seasonal services, which we aim to develop further later this year and into 2026. Now for an update on Ignis Technologies. Since launching its mobile platform over a year ago to support firefighters in the field, pilot programs with counties, crews, and incident management teams continue. We are linking Bridger's real-time sensor imagery with the Ignis app for seamless data transfer from air to ground. During the third quarter, we live-streamed video of the Dragon Bravo Fire in Arizona from our PC-12 to the Secretary of the Interior's office. This capability enhances situational awareness, supports multi-mission aviation contracts, and boosts operational effectiveness and safety. The success of our sensor-enhanced aircraft emphasizes the demand for interactive live data streaming, which we plan to integrate into our aviation contracts next year. Regarding the Spanish Scoopers owned through a partnership with MAB Funding LLC, our Spanish subsidiary Albacete Aero is progressing with the aircraft's return-to-service work. The first two planes have already flown this summer on contract with the government of Portugal, supported by a lease arrangement between MAB and Avinci. With our recent financing, we are positioned to potentially bring these two scoopers onto our balance sheet soon. The third and fourth scoopers are in the final stages of return to service and are scheduled to be ready by early 2026, at which point discussions with MAB regarding acquisition will commence. Before I pass the call to Eric, I want to highlight the opportunity for Bridger amidst recent federal initiatives to reform our national Wildland firefighting system, which we see as a market shift for the industry. The new Wildland Fire Service Plan and the Fire Ready Nation Act aim to enhance wildfire response and drive growth. This follows an executive order earlier this year establishing a national Wildland firefighting task force. We have already seen improvements in response times, standards of cover, and a more diverse mix of aviation assets being demanded. With Bridger's significant air attack fleet, modern fire imaging and surveillance aircraft, and the largest private super scooper fleet in the world, we are uniquely positioned as the nation enhances efforts toward wildfire preparedness and suppression to prevent potential catastrophes. This commitment, combined with the proposed 2026 budget increase for the new U.S. Wildland Fire Service to $3.7 billion, is set to positively impact the entire wildfire community. We are proactively exploring opportunities with states to provide exclusive use of our firefighting resources and are optimistic about potential future opportunities arising from current budget and planning cycles. It's been an outstanding 2025 so far, and I am grateful to lead such an exceptional team. I will now hand it over to Eric, who will discuss our strong financial performance for the quarter.

Thank you, Sam. Looking at our results for the third quarter of 2025, revenue increased to a record $67.9 million, up 5% from $64.5 million in the third quarter of 2024. The third quarter of 2025 benefited from continued high levels of activity as multiple scoopers and surveillance aircraft were deployed throughout the quarter. Excluding revenue from the return-to-service work performed on the four Spanish Scoopers as part of our partnership agreement with MAB Funding, LLC, which was $2.1 million in the first quarter of 2025 and $2.1 million in the third quarter of 2024, revenue from ongoing operations, including FMS, grew 5% to approximately $65.7 million compared to $62.4 million in the third quarter of 2024. Cost of revenues was $21.1 million in the third quarter of 2025, and was comprised of flight operations expenses of $12.1 million and maintenance expenses of $9 million. This compares to $23 million in the third quarter of 2024, which included $15.1 million of flight operations expenses and $7.9 million of maintenance expenses. Cost of revenues associated with the return-to-service work on the Spanish Super Scoopers was consistent for the third quarter of 2025 when compared to the third quarter of 2024. Selling, general, and administrative expenses were $7.7 million in the third quarter of 2025 compared to $8.6 million in the third quarter of 2024. The decline reflects lower noncash stock-based compensation expense and a decrease in earn-out consideration, which was partially offset by an increase in the fair value of our warrants. Interest expense for the third quarter was $5.8 million compared to $6 million in the third quarter last year. For the third quarter of 2025, we reported net income of $34.5 million compared to net income of $27.3 million in the third quarter of 2024. Earnings per diluted share was $0.37 for the third quarter this year compared to $0.31 per diluted share in the third quarter last year. Adjusted EBITDA was $49.1 million in the third quarter of 2025 compared to $47 million in the third quarter last year. A reconciliation of adjusted EBITDA to net income is included in Exhibit A of our earnings release distributed earlier today. Now looking at our results for the first 9 months of 2025. Revenue was $114.3 million compared to $83 million in the first 9 months of 2024, a 38% increase. Excluding return-to-service work, revenue was $101.1 million compared to $78 million in the first 9 months of 2024, up 30%. Cost of revenues was $57 million, which comprised flight operation expenses of $26.2 million and maintenance expenses of $30.8 million. Cost of revenues for the first 9 months of 2024 was $42.1 million and comprised $25.2 million of flight operation expenses and maintenance expenses of $16.8 million. Cost of revenues for the first 9 months of 2025 included an increase of approximately $9.6 million of expenses associated with the return-to-service work for the Spanish Super Scoopers compared to the first 9 months of 2024. SG&A expenses were $22.8 million compared to $28.2 million in the first 9 months of 2024, with the decrease again driven by lower noncash stock-based compensation expense and a decrease in our earn-out consideration, which was partially offset by an increase in the fair value of our warrants. Interest expense for the first 9 months of 2025 was $17.3 million compared to $17.8 million in the first 9 months of 2024. Bridger also reported other income of $1.8 million in the first 9 months of 2025, which was consistent with the $1.8 million reported in the first 9 months of 2024. Net income was $19.3 million in the first 9 months of 2025 compared to a net loss of $2.7 million in the first 9 months of 2024. Adjusted EBITDA was $54.8 million in the first 9 months this year compared to $40.2 million in the same period last year. Now turning to the balance sheet. We ended Q3 with total cash and cash equivalents of $55.1 million. After the end of the quarter, we completed our previously announced sale-leaseback transaction with SR Aviation Infrastructure for our Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport campus facilities. The sales price was approximately $49 million. In addition, last week, we also executed a new senior secured credit facility for up to $331.5 million. Together, these transactions were used to refinance Bridger's $160 million municipal bond with Gallatin County, consolidate the majority of our existing debt, and most importantly, provide significant capacity and financial flexibility through a delayed draw facility designed to fund future fleet expansion to support the organic growth we are pursuing. Turning to our guidance. With the strong fleet utilization year-to-date, including record task orders for our Super Scoopers, we remain on track to end 2025 at the higher end of our guidance range of $42 million to $48 million of adjusted EBITDA. Revenue has already exceeded the top end of our previous guidance range of $105 million to $111 million and is now expected to be between $118 million and $123 million. The company also expects continued improvement in cash provided by operating activities in 2025.

Thank you, Eric. This year-to-date, we have flown in 21 states, provided support for 380 fires and dropped 7.3 million gallons of water. The increased focus on preparedness, early detection, and suppression is making a difference from suppression on major fires to prevent the loss of structures to early detection, preventing small lightning strikes from becoming large incidents. Our team continues to execute. As we sit here today, three of Bridger's scoopers and four air attack aircraft are on standby for late call-out, and we stand ready to finish the 2025 season strong and prepare for year-round work during these winter months. Three scoopers have entered winter maintenance to ensure we can provide flexibility within our fleet and be able to respond early in 2026, if necessary, and enable us to more fully utilize the excess capacity of our scoopers. And as Eric stated, with our record 9-month results, we have already exceeded our revenue guidance for the full year and remain confident we will hit the higher end of our annual adjusted EBITDA guidance after assuming the loss typically booked in the fourth quarter. With the monetization of our campus and the new $331 million debt facility, we have consolidated our debt and are now able to reinvest in the business. We have significant capacity and financial flexibility to fund future fleet expansion, drive our organic growth, and build on our long-term vision to innovate and deploy the most advanced technology in our industry and deliver on our mission to protect lives, property, critical infrastructure, and the environment. And with the support of our federal and government customers, legislation to prioritize early attack and suppression and additional budget dollars appropriated, we're incredibly well positioned to report another year of positive cash flows as we focus on generating solid returns for our stakeholders. I would be remiss not to express my appreciation and celebrate the success of the incredible Bridger team from our senior leadership to our pilots, from mechanics to drivers and all the folks behind the scenes, maximizing our safety and effective operations all around the country. Bridger's mission attracts and retains the best employees in the country, and they're all critical in delivering the results we've had quarter after quarter, and we're ready to answer the call to serve year-round. We're excited for and positioned to make 2026 yet another incredible year. And with that, I'd like to ask the operator to open the call for any questions.

Our first question comes from Austin Moeller with Canaccord.

Nice quarter. So you have about $14 million free cash flow year-to-date. How much are you tracking towards by end of year? And what do you plan to use the cash for?

Austin, good to hear from you. I will turn that to Eric as CFO, to answer that question.

Yes, Austin, I think we'll end the year around that same amount or maybe a little north of that. As you know, fourth quarter, we go into the maintenance cycle. And typically, in the fourth quarter, we don't see as much revenue certainly as we saw in the third quarter or even the second quarter. So I expect it to remain at about that level. And what we'll be doing with that free cash flow is, again, we'll be looking at our fleet expansion opportunities in conjunction with the new credit facility and how best to deploy that capital.

Okay. And now that the credit facility is in place and the sale leaseback is complete, do you expect the Spanish scoopers to be staying in Europe or coming to the U.S.A.?

That's a great question, Austin. We're exploring all avenues there. I can say that with that now being a reality, and us having those discussions right now to see how quickly we can move on that. We're going to go with kind of the best both strategic and economic benefit for us, and we'll run all those paths. It's hard for me to predict with a crystal ball what that's going to be. But I will say that the beauty of it is they're a very scarce asset and in high demand. So that gives us a lot of optionality to have those aircraft, especially with those two being airworthy and flying a partial season already, Bridger sees a lot of opportunity to put those to work. And we'll know a lot more through the winter months as we nail down the best opportunity. And the beauty of it is we have optionality of where we place them.

At this time, there are no further questions in the queue. I will now be turning the meeting back to Sam Davis.

Thank you. Thanks again for joining our conference call today. We look forward to updating you on our progress when we report our Q4 results in March. We're scheduled to participate in Sidoti's year-end Virtual Investor Conference on December 10 and 11, with our presentation scheduled for 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday, the 10. In addition to the presentation, there will be 2 days of virtual one-on-ones. And hopefully, we can connect with some of you then. Additionally, if anyone has any follow-up questions, as always, please feel free to reach out to our Investor Relations, and we can set up some further communication. Thank you, and we can close the call.

Thank you. This brings us to the end of today's meeting. We appreciate your time and participation. You may now disconnect.