Earnings Call Transcript - EME Q1 2024

Operator, Operator

Good morning. My name is Marliese, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the EMCOR Group's First Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. I will now turn the call over to Andy Backman, Vice President of Investor Relations. Mr. Backman, you may begin.

Andrew Backman, Vice President of Investor Relations

Thank you, Marliese, and good morning, everyone, and welcome to EMCOR's First Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. For those of you joining us by webcast, we are at the beginning of our slide presentation that will accompany our remarks today. This presentation will be archived in the Investor Relations section of our website at emcorgroup.com. With me today are Tony Guzzi, our Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer; Jason Nalbandian, Senior Vice President and EMCOR's newly appointed Chief Financial Officer; and Maxine Mauricio, Executive Vice President, Chief Administrative Officer and General Counsel. For today's call, Tony will provide comments on our first quarter. Jason will then review our first quarter numbers before turning it back to Tony to discuss RPOs, key market drivers and how they impact our business segments, as well as reviewing our revised 2024 guidance before we open up for Q&A. Before we begin, as a reminder, this presentation and discussion contains certain forward-looking statements and may contain certain non-GAAP financial information. Slide 2 of our presentation describes in detail these forward-looking statements and the non-GAAP financial information disclosures. I encourage everyone to review both disclosures in conjunction with our discussion and accompanying slides. And finally, as a reminder, all financial information discussed during this morning's call is included in our consolidated financial statements within both our earnings press release issued this morning and in our Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. And with that, let me turn the call over to Tony. Tony?

Anthony Guzzi, Chairman, President and CEO

Good morning. Thanks, Andy, and thanks all of you for joining our call. I'm going to begin my discussion on Page 4. We had an exceptional start to the year at EMCOR. It was another quarter of records as our performance established new first quarter records for revenues, operating income, operating margin and diluted earnings per share and operating cash flow. We earned $4.17 per diluted share and grew revenues by 18.7% to $3.43 billion. Revenues increased 18.5% organically. And we were still able to grow RPOs to $9.2 billion, an increase of $1.3 billion or 16.5% versus the year-ago period. Our consolidated operating margin was a very strong 7.6%. The performance of our Electrical and Mechanical Construction segments this quarter continued to exceed our already high expectations. Our Electrical Construction segment revenues grew 18.6% with operating margin reaching a record 12%. Our Mechanical Construction segment grew revenues 32.4% with record first quarter revenues and a record first quarter operating margin of 10.6%. We executed well with strong demand across many of the market sectors we serve, including high-tech and traditional manufacturing as well as network and communications, which includes our data center work. We had outstanding performance at some of the most demanding projects for our most sophisticated customers. Central to our success is how our leadership teams effectively plan where and how we will compete and select the right sectors and geographies that allow us the best opportunity to earn the best outcome when deploying our precious resources. Then our excellence in BIM, which is really a lot more than building information modeling, it's much evolved into virtual design and construction. You'll hear me talk about VDC, that's how we talk about it at EMCOR. Which then moves into prefabrication, estimating, project planning and management, and our best-in-class labor sourcing management and training have all supported and continue to support this strong performance. Our leadership teams, from the segment, through the subsidiary level, down to our project managers and frontline supervision, are performing work productively and most importantly, safely, resulting in excellent outcomes for our customers and shareholders. Our Industrial Services segment reported its best quarter post pandemic. We continue to see improved demand for our services and completed some of our largest turnarounds in over 5 years. Our shops continue to perform well. And the electrical business within this segment is experiencing increased demand, both from traditional upstream and midstream customers as well as for certain renewable fuel projects. Within our U.S. Building Services segment, our Mechanical Services business continues to perform well with strong high single-digit operating margins. And strong demand persists for our energy efficiency, building controls and retrofit projects. Our U.K. business continues to hold up well despite a tough economic environment. We always have challenges, and this quarter was no different. As mentioned in our last few calls, we've had a few contract losses in our U.S. site-based services business as real estate companies, in this market, continue to be aggressive and take work at or near cost. In addition, during this past month, we had a retail customer file for bankruptcy, which caused us to increase our bad debt reserves, offsetting the increased profitability otherwise experienced within our U.S. Building Services segment. Overall, we had a great quarter and are seeing continued strength in the market trends we have been discussing for the past few quarters. In addition, in April, we closed 3 acquisitions that will add to our capabilities in our Mechanical Construction segment and our U.S. Building Services segment. We spent $137 million in upfront consideration on these 3 acquisitions and are excited to integrate them into our business, and integration is well underway. We've also signed a definitive agreement to acquire another company for $38 million that will add to the electrical capabilities in our Industrial Services segment. This acquisition is expected to close on or around May 1. We ended the quarter with strong RPOs and a balance sheet that continues to support the growth of our business, both organically and through acquisition. With that being said, Jason, I will turn the call over to you.

Jason Nalbandian, Senior Vice President and CFO

Thank you, Tony, and good morning, everyone. Over the next several slides, I'll review our operating performance for each of our segments as well as some of the key financial data for the first quarter of 2024 in comparison to the first quarter of 2023. I'm going to start on Slide 5, which is revenues. As Tony mentioned, consolidated revenues were $3.43 billion, an increase of $541.8 million or 18.7%. Each of our domestic reportable segments experienced year-over-year increases in revenue, and with organic growth of 18.5%, substantially all of this growth was organic. If we look at each of our segments. Revenues of U.S. Electrical Construction were $764.7 million, an increase of 18.6%. This segment continues to benefit from growth across many of the market sectors in which we participate with the most significant revenue growth in network and communications, which is predominantly our data center projects. The increased need for cloud computing, data storage and the emergence of AI have accelerated the demand for these services. Revenues in U.S. Mechanical Construction were $1.4 billion, increasing 32.4%, with revenue growth across the majority of the market sectors in which we operate. While the most significant growth occurred in the high-tech manufacturing market sector, we also saw notable increases in manufacturing, industrial, institutional and network and communications. As we've mentioned on previous calls, as a result of projects for customers engaged in the design and manufacturing of semiconductors as well as the production and development of electric vehicles and related battery technologies, this segment is experiencing strong demand for both its traditional mechanical services as well as our fire and life safety offerings. Coupled with the continued build-out of hyperscale data centers and domestic near-shoring and reshoring, these trends continue to be the driving factors behind the segment's significant organic revenue growth. Together, our domestic construction segments generated revenues of $2.2 billion, an increase of just over 27%. If we move to U.S. Building Services, revenues grew 7.7% or 6.6% organically to $781.2 million. The most significant growth in this segment was generated by our Mechanical Services division. We continue to benefit from strong demand for HVAC projects and retrofits as well as building automation and control services. In addition, we're experiencing service volume growth due in part to an expanded customer base. Looking at U.S. Industrial Services. Revenues were $354 million, increasing 7% year-over-year. With contracts of a more typical size, we executed against a more normal turnaround season and benefited from scope expansion on certain of these projects. This segment additionally benefited from increased demand for certain renewable fuel projects within the quarters. And lastly on this slide. Revenues of $104.7 million for our U.K. Building Services segment was exceptional despite a tough operating environment which has led to lower facilities maintenance and discretionary project revenues. If we turn to Slide 6, you can see operating income for the quarter was $260 million or 7.6% of revenues. This compares favorably to operating income of just under $155 million or 5.4% of revenues a year ago. A more favorable mix of work and exceptional project execution continue to be the drivers of our improved performance. Once again, if we look at each of our segments, U.S. Electrical Construction is reporting operating income of $91.6 million, which represents a 126% increase; an operating margin of 12%, which is a 570 basis point improvement. Increased gross profit and gross profit margin were the primary drivers of this performance, with the most notable increases in gross profit within network and communications, commercial, and manufacturing and industrial. Operating income for U.S. Mechanical Construction was $150.7 million, an increase of nearly 75%. And operating margin of 10.6% represents a 260 basis point improvement. This segment experienced increases in gross profit from the majority of the market sectors in which we operate with the most notable contribution being generated within the high-tech manufacturing and commercial market sectors. I should also point out that in addition to increased gross profit margin, the operating margin of each of our construction segments benefited from a reduction in SG&A margin as we leveraged our overhead cost structure during this period of growth. Together, our domestic construction segments earned operating margin of 11.1%. Operating income for U.S. Building Services was $33.5 million or 4.3% of revenues. While revenues and gross profit of this segment both exceeded that of the prior year, operating income and operating margin decreased by $4 million and 90 basis points. Unfortunately, a customer bankruptcy within our commercial site-based services division more than offset the increased profitability generated by our Mechanical Services group during the quarter. Moving to Industrial Services. Operating income was $18 million or 5.1% of revenues, representing an increase in operating income of 19.6% and a 60 basis point improvement in operating margin. In addition to a slight increase in gross profit margin, this segment benefited from greater overhead absorption, given the increase in quarterly revenues previously mentioned. And lastly, U.K. Building Services is reporting operating income of $5.4 million or 5.1% of revenues. Despite a reduction in quarterly revenues of this segment, operating income is in line with that of the prior year and operating margin has improved by 20 basis points, as we continue to optimize our project and service mix while seeking to more effectively leverage the overhead cost structure of this segment. Let's turn to Slide 7. We've covered most of this slide already, but I did want to briefly look at SG&A and diluted earnings per share. If we start with SG&A, as I mentioned while reviewing the operating performance of our segments, we were successful in leveraging our overhead cost structure, as evidenced by the 10 basis point reduction in SG&A margin from 9.7% to 9.6%. But I should also point out that somewhat masking our SG&A leverage is the provision we took for the customer bankruptcy within U.S. Building Services, which negatively impacted our consolidated SG&A margin by 40 basis points. And moving to EPS. Diluted earnings per share was $4.17, a nearly 80% increase compared to $2.32 in Q1 of 2023. This EPS performance, like many of our first quarter financial metrics, established a new record for EMCOR for a first quarter. And finally, if we turn to Slide 8, the strength of EMCOR's balance sheet continues to be a differentiator for us in the market, providing our customers with confidence as we bid on large-scale, complex and demanding projects. Given the size and strength of our balance sheet, including $841 million of cash on hand and $1.2 billion of capacity available to us under our revolving credit facility, coupled with our significant cash generation, we remain well positioned to fund organic growth, pursue strategic M&A and return capital to shareholders. Although not shown on this slide, operating cash flow for the quarter was $132.3 million, which represents approximately 50% of operating income. As I mentioned on last quarter's earnings call, on an annual basis, we do expect operating cash flow to be in line with a normalized historical average of between 75% to 80% of operating income or approximately equal to net income. And with that, I'll turn the call back over to Tony for a review of our RPO and market sectors.

Anthony Guzzi, Chairman, President and CEO

Thanks, Jason. I'm now on Slide 9. On this slide, you'll see a chart highlighting some key market sectors where we are experiencing growth over the past four quarters. This chart reflects how we've allocated resources over the last five years. I'll dive into the details, starting with data centers and connectivity located in the upper left-hand corner. Our remaining performance obligations have increased by 9%, reaching a record $1.7 billion, which is up $575 million from last year. This correlates with the information on the next page, so I won't repeat it. We continue to see strong demand for data centers, and I recall discussions from four to six quarters ago regarding potential slowdowns in data center demand, which we have not experienced. Our strong market position and valued partnerships with key customers have contributed to this demand, along with the growing prominence of AI since around six quarters ago. The coverage of data center expansion and the need for increased computing and energy capacity is prevalent in the news today, which should benefit EMCOR as we expand our energy sources. We initially serviced three data center markets back in early 2019 but have since expanded to nine. This growth is attributed to both acquisitions and organic growth, empowering our teams to enhance their capabilities. In terms of mechanical services, we have grown from servicing one major market to six through similar strategies. We take pride in our strong capability to serve our customers and will continue building our resources in this area. Turning to energy efficiency and sustainability, we've seen a sequential increase of 9% and 8% year-over-year. This sector has been good for EMCOR over the long term, as energy costs rise and paybacks shorten. Customers are looking for sustainable solutions and have set diverse carbon and energy reduction goals. Today's equipment is far more efficient than it was 15 years ago, largely due to advancements like variable speed drive motors and better digital controls. EMCOR currently employs 500 energy engineers who are LEED-certified, assisting our clients with these solutions, alongside alternative energy options. Our clients, particularly our largest ones, engage in multiyear programs to make their facilities more energy-efficient and we are well-positioned to support these initiatives. Government incentives from acts like the CARES Act have also supported this trend. In healthcare, we've maintained a solid market presence. In every city we operate, there is high demand for our solutions, as hospitals increasingly resemble advanced manufacturing plants, requiring considerable systems integration. This need for flexibility intensified during and after COVID. Our healthcare projects range from retrofits to new constructions aimed at improving energy efficiency. Hospitals, being significant energy consumers, require uninterrupted power supply just like data centers. Looking at reshoring and near-shoring, there's a clear connection to the chip industry and national security concerns that spurred the CHIPS Act and subsequent investments in U.S. production. This trend, apparent even before the CHIPS Act, has been a focus for our organic business growth in the Southeast through both acquisitions and increased capacity to meet customer demands. High-tech manufacturing, heavily influenced by chip production, relies on a skilled workforce trained through apprenticeship programs, ultimately benefitting contractors who match industry wages. Looking at life sciences, the disruption in supply chains due to COVID heightened the need for local production, particularly with new drug development. We are positioned to support this sector mechanically, electrically, and through prime contracting in areas like Indiana, Research Triangle Park, and New Jersey. Regarding the electric vehicle value chain, while we don’t yet know exact penetration percentages, we are certain that the infrastructure will expand, and we plan to participate across various trades, from fire safety to mechanical work. Our focus on energy efficiency primarily leans towards mechanical services. We've been carefully considering resource allocations for the past six to seven years. Now, on to Page 10—the water and wastewater segment reached $636 million, showing a 30% increase. Our large projects in Florida, stimulated by population growth and a Consent Decree in Miami Dade, are responsible for this upward trend. Institutional work has also seen a record increase of 36% year-over-year, reflecting our capabilities in K-12 schools, energy efficiency, and federal building projects. Transportation work, especially in electrical services at airports and traffic systems, has also seen growth despite its episodic nature, while short-duration projects have increased nearly 9%. This indicates a shift back to a book-to-bill mode as we adapt to supply chain changes. While we’ve seen a decline in commercial activities, which was anticipated, we continue to see demand for high-end tenant improvements and cold storage warehouses that need higher skill levels to implement. Overall, our domestic construction has significantly increased by $1.2 billion year-over-year, along with positive figures in Building Services. Turning to Page 11, we’re reporting robust performance and will be adjusting our guidance accordingly. Our EPS forecast will be revised to a range of $15.50 to $16.50 per share, and our revenue guidance will shift to $14 billion to $14.5 billion. To achieve these targets, we must maintain our disciplined execution and strong operating margins, which we plan to operate between 7% and 7.5%. Challenges remain, such as high interest rates and global conflicts, but we are equipped to handle these. We have proven our ability to develop and implement contingency plans. Additionally, we're committed to navigating challenges that affect our clients in commercial real estate and those exposed to high interest rates. We will continue to pursue balanced capital allocation by investing in both organic growth and strategic acquisitions—already surpassing last year’s acquisition numbers—and our acquisition pipeline remains strong. Good companies typically enter the market when they're thriving, which aligns with our observations. Finally, I want to express my gratitude to all EMCOR leaders and team members for their dedication to serving our customers safely and productively. We prioritize safety as a core value, and I am proud to lead such a talented team committed to our mission to serve both customers and shareholders while fostering a great work environment for all employees. With that, Marliese, I’ll turn it over to you for any questions.

Operator, Operator

At this time, we'll start with a question from Brent Thielman from DA Davidson.

Brent Thielman, Analyst

Tony, regarding the manufacturing and high-tech manufacturing sectors, how do you view their sustainability in the absence of government incentives? Additionally, how much of these sectors is influenced by large projects that may require significant investments compared to more selective and broader-based investments?

Anthony Guzzi, Chairman, President and CEO

I find it challenging to analyze the second aspect regarding mega jobs, but demand appears to be robust. In my view, several high-tech manufacturing sectors have emerged, including about six or seven semiconductor markets that have seen revival. The most notable new development is in Clay, New York, near Syracuse, while other activities were previously concentrated in Phoenix and Austin, Texas, with Columbus, Ohio, also seeing new investments. Intel seems to be considering an expansion in Boise, Idaho, as well as in Salt Lake City, Oregon, and Raleigh, North Carolina. Wolfspeed, originally Cree, transitioned from manufacturing semiconductors for lighting products to focusing solely on semiconductor production. Much of this momentum would have occurred regardless; companies recognized their vulnerability in supply chains and the necessity for more localized operations in the U.S. The rationale is clear: a company like Taiwan Semiconductor cannot rely solely on Taiwan. Diversification is a responsible strategy for any business. Intel is positioning itself for the future and, like Samsung and Micron, is financially sound and capable of investing throughout various market cycles. Government incentives have positively influenced commitments to specific locations and established guidelines relating to workforce quality and necessary skills, which aligns with the high skill level required for these jobs. This environment helps stabilize project developments, especially considering the growing demand for AI chips. Although there is debate about the current fluctuations in that market, we are optimistic about the long-term viability of the projects we are involved in, with several in the initial infrastructure phase. Regarding the broader industrial sector, a trend was already beginning before the pandemic. Our strategic investments in the Southeast from 2008 to 2020—through acquisitions and organic growth—have positioned us well with strong companies and teams in that region. Manufacturing is returning to the U.S., driven by factors including energy costs and safety concerns. Logistical challenges and competitive pricing in China and Southeast Asia have diminished. Furthermore, advancements in automation can improve supply chains. Reflecting on my manufacturing background, I recall that we historically aimed for two suppliers for critical components. Over the years, we became complacent and relied on one supplier from a single factory, whether in Mexico, China, or Eastern Europe. That approach has proven ineffective, and we are now re-establishing supply chain redundancies, predominantly in central U.S. locations like Indiana, the Southeast, and Texas. We remain optimistic about this shift. While there may be fluctuations in project sizes, we have solid relationships with key customers and are well-positioned to deliver impressive results on complex projects.

Brent Thielman, Analyst

Okay. I appreciate that. Regarding the Electrical business, the 12% margins are exceptional. Can you explain what contributes to that? What should we consider going forward?

Anthony Guzzi, Chairman, President and CEO

I generally don’t discuss future margins. We prefer to analyze them over time, looking back across eight quarters. Reflecting on the first quarter of 2022, we faced significant challenges due to supply chain issues that stalled many projects in the Electrical sector, which resulted in low margins—around 6% or high 5s for that quarter. At that time, external concerns were high, but we understood the reasons behind it. This quarter, however, the situation has completely changed. The factors that contributed to our struggles before were not related to our performance on the ground. We might have had slightly unproductive labor as we retained staff while waiting for projects to start, which were delayed due to supply chain disruptions. We made strategic decisions to maintain key labor, especially in supervision, anticipating the upcoming workload. This time, we executed nearly flawlessly in our Electrical business with an excellent mix of projects, which drove these strong results. While it may not always be this positive, we have a robust Electrical business supported by highly capable teams in the field.

Jason Nalbandian, Senior Vice President and CFO

The only thing I would add there, right, is it truly is a combination of execution and mix in the quarter. There's no anomalies when we look at large project closeouts or project losses, anything to that effect really netted to near 0 in the quarter. So it truly is mix and execution. I think 12% is a record quarterly operating margin for Electrical. So I wouldn't necessarily say that, that's the new norm. I think to Tony's point, it makes sense to look at it over a 15- to 18-month period, and that's probably something we can expect to see from Electrical in the near term.

Anthony Guzzi, Chairman, President and CEO

If you looked at our electrical team and our mechanical team and say, what do they actually focus on? They look at the operating margin in a given quarter as an output metric. So what are they focused on? The inputs, right? How productive is the labor on a job? How safe is that labor on a job? How much portion of the job we've been able to put through our VDC process, which is prefab, BIM modeling? How successful we've been in negotiating the contract to have constructive discussions as scope expands? They're looking at the input metrics, right? And then they're looking at the absorption they're getting on their overhead as they do this work. And that leads to great results. I mean I think they look at the end of the quarter and look down at the results, hey, that's pretty good. But they're back to focusing on the input metrics.

Brent Thielman, Analyst

Okay. And Tony or Jason, I mean, just with respect to the comments on mix also in the context of the guidance, and I realize it moves around quarter-to-quarter. I guess when I think about mix for you guys, it's sort of larger, more complex sort of developments that require some level of sophistication that you bring. Why would that look any different going forward?

Anthony Guzzi, Chairman, President and CEO

I don't think it will, at least in our guidance. Jason, you agree?

Jason Nalbandian, Senior Vice President and CFO

Yes. And I think, right, when you look at our guidance, as Tony said, margins for the year between 7% and 7.5%, right? I think the thing to remember is 7% margins will be equivalent to what we did on an annual basis in 2023, which was a record. And 7.5% margin is really our trailing 12-month average margin. And so I think what we're saying there is that mix we expect for the remainder of the year is consistent with the mix we've seen in the last 12 months.

Anthony Guzzi, Chairman, President and CEO

When considering the input side, we're effectively managing our resource allocation. You can see this in the construction segment over the past few quarters. Additionally, it's evident in Building Services due to developments in Mechanical Services and building controls, which have shown a favorable mix. The industrial team has also successfully adjusted their mix, whether in managing resources in our five shops or aligning field resources with our specialty services and turnarounds. We're particularly enthusiastic about developments in our Electrical business and how they handle their mix. Given our valuable resources, such as supervision, shop capacity, VDC capability, project engineers, and project managers, we carefully consider our long-term commitments and what is most appealing. Ultimately, we are seeing success as customers are choosing us because of our proven delivery.

Operator, Operator

And now we will take a question from Adam Thalhimer from Thompson, Davis.

Adam Thalhimer, Analyst

Great quarter. Congrats on that. And Jason, welcome to the call.

Jason Nalbandian, Senior Vice President and CFO

Thank you.

Adam Thalhimer, Analyst

Tony, can you just keep going on that? Because I was actually curious how you do allocate resources. How much of it is top-down, like you're having the discussion with the customers? And how much of it is your subsidiaries?

Anthony Guzzi, Chairman, President and CEO

Most of the resource allocation happens at the subsidiary and segment level. At both the segment and corporate levels, we express our intentions. We consider the markets and determine where our resources should be allocated and how. However, the core operational units at EMCOR are our subsidiaries, which perform admirably. Within these subsidiaries, we evaluate which ones should receive more investment based on the opportunities available to them, and this process is handled thoughtfully. Our subsidiaries are guided by skilled business leaders who maintain strong relationships with labor, whether unionized or not, as well as with superintendents, project foremen, and project managers. They assess their environment and decide how to best allocate resources to achieve optimal results for our company, their teams, and our customers, while also ensuring sustainability in the markets based on the opportunities ahead. Typically, we plan at the subsidiary level with a timeframe of six to 24 months, considering how this planning builds capability. What makes an exceptional data center builder also makes a proficient builder for complex projects that require working under pressure with tight timelines and demanding clients. Many markets operate like this, but building that capability is essential. Our segment teams excel in facilitating peer learning without frequently relocating staff. For instance, when we expanded into new data center markets, we didn’t necessarily have an existing company there; rather, they hadn’t focused on data centers. Our electrical team recognized their expertise and asked why they couldn’t replicate it in a new market. They collaborated on estimates, developed VDC capabilities, and considered prefabrication and scheduling for that market. When we make commitments to customers, potentially from other markets, we need to ensure our teams are well-trained and prepared. This approach is a routine example of how our teams operate across the company.

Adam Thalhimer, Analyst

I guess you've kind of put a speed governor on the RPO growth. Is that fair?

Anthony Guzzi, Chairman, President and CEO

We only take on work that we believe we can complete effectively. While I've heard others mention that they're turning work away, I wouldn't say that's the case for us. We carefully consider our bids and partnerships with clients, ensuring we're confident in our ability to deliver. We don't always win every project we pursue—certainly not everything we aim for. However, we don't push ourselves beyond our limits; we focus on staying within our capabilities. Contractors often struggle when they take on jobs that exceed their resources, which can lead to execution issues. We build our skills and capacity by promoting individuals from roles like assistant project manager or foreman to positions such as general foreman, which helps us expand our workforce. With the right training, those assistant project managers can eventually lead their own projects within a year or so. When we look to expand into new markets, we take experienced team members and help them bridge the gaps between their previous work and the requirements of sectors like data centers or semiconductor industries, facilitating their understanding of different demands. Essentially, our limitation isn’t financial but rather our ability to cultivate and train our workforce to ensure we can grow as a company.

Adam Thalhimer, Analyst

And sorry if I missed it. What was the forward look on data centers?

Anthony Guzzi, Chairman, President and CEO

I think it's pretty good. I mean, you read the same things we've done. We've done a lot of work on that. I think it's pretty good. I mean, we don't see any slowdown. And the thing that will constrain it, but then we'll fix that, we always do, people, is there will be more investment in the energy infrastructure, and then they'll keep growing. And there's nothing in the near term that suggests that's a problem, though.

Adam Thalhimer, Analyst

Are you noticing any weakness in the broader non-residential sector, particularly in commercial, even though I know you have limited involvement there? It seems like any issues would primarily affect Building Services.

Anthony Guzzi, Chairman, President and CEO

No, that's not accurate. We simply reorganize our resources. We excelled in the fire and life safety sector, particularly for large retail distribution centers, but there has been a slowdown in the dry goods area. Our skilled team was then transitioned to other sectors, such as battery and semiconductor plants, through focused training with a commitment to doing things correctly from the start. There are indeed some slowdowns; for instance, the market in New York isn't thriving at the moment. While the team is working diligently and managing fine, it's not a booming environment. Projects like Hudson Yards are not underway currently, and there's been some decline in the Northeast region overall, though this has been balanced by growth in other areas of the country. As you know, it's not always a steady upward trend. We're not heavily engaged in the light commercial sector, except for a few maintenance contracts within Building Services. Yes, we face some challenges, but fortunately, we have more positives than obstacles right now. Jason, do you have anything to add?

Jason Nalbandian, Senior Vice President and CFO

I think you covered it, Tony.

Operator, Operator

Thank you very much. Mr. Guzzi, we have no further questions at this time. And I will turn it back to you for some closing comments, please.

Anthony Guzzi, Chairman, President and CEO

We had a strong start this year and have been performing exceptionally well. The expertise of our field team cannot be overstated. Someone asked an interesting question today about whether decisions are made at the segment or subsidiary level. I would say it’s a collaborative effort. Ultimately, our success hinges on how well our subsidiaries execute the projects they promise to our customers. I appreciate their hard work and look forward to seeing everyone in a couple of months.

Andrew Backman, Vice President of Investor Relations

Great. Thank you, Tony, and thank you, Jason, and thank you, Maxine, and to all of you for joining us today. If you should have any follow-up questions, please do not hesitate to reach out. Thank you all again, and have a great day. And Marliese, could you please close the call?

Operator, Operator

Yes. This conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation, and you may now disconnect. Have a great rest of your day.