Earnings Call Transcript - MEG Q2 2025

Operator, Operator

Thank you for standing by. My name is Van, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Montrose Environmental 2025 earnings call. I would now like to turn the call over to Adrianne Griffin, Senior Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Adrianne D. Griffin, Senior Vice President of Investor Relations

Thank you, operator. Welcome to our second quarter 2025 earnings call. Joining me today are Vijay Manthripragada, our President and Chief Executive Officer; and Allan Dicks, our Chief Financial Officer. During our prepared remarks today, we will refer to our earnings presentation, which is available on the Investors section of our website. Our earnings release is also available on the website. Moving to Slide 2. I would like to remind everyone that today's call includes forward-looking statements subject to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially due to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that should be considered when evaluating our operating performance and financial outlook. We refer you to our recent SEC filings, including our annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024, which identify the principal risks and uncertainties that could affect any forward-looking statements and our future performance. We assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statements. On today's call, we will discuss or provide certain non-GAAP financial measures such as consolidated adjusted EBITDA, adjusted net income and adjusted net income per share. We provide these non-GAAP results for informational purposes, and they should not be considered in isolation from the most directly comparable GAAP measures. Please see the appendix to the earnings presentation or our earnings release for a discussion of why we believe these non-GAAP measures are useful to investors, certain limitations of using these measures, and a reconciliation to their most directly comparable GAAP measure and a reconciliation to their most directly comparable GAAP measure. With that, I would now like to turn the call over to Vijay, beginning on Slide 4.

Vijay Manthripragada, President and CEO

Thank you, Adrianne, and welcome to everyone joining us today. I will provide an update on the strength of our second quarter and first half results, discuss our outlook and increased guidance, and speak generally about the second quarter presentation shared on our website. Allan will provide the financial highlights and following our prepared remarks, we will host a question-and-answer session. As we have noted each quarter, I would like to emphasize that our business is best assessed on an annual basis, given that demand for environmental science-based solutions doesn't follow consistent quarterly patterns. This is how we manage our business and how we recommend viewing our performance. I would like to start by expressing my gratitude to our 3,500 colleagues around the world. They get all the credit for these results. Montrose's ongoing outperformance and successes, including the stellar results we will discuss today, reflects the team's collective efforts and their commitment to our mission for the planet and for progress. We remain fully committed to delivering best-in-class service for all of our clients on every project. We have delivered on everything we said we would do from driving organic growth, increasing margins, enhancing cash flow, simplifying the balance sheet, and strengthening governance. And we are also having a record 2025. Once again, our results prove that our unique integrated business model with a diversified client base and durable recurring revenue, and our focus on environmental science and patented technology enables us to thrive through economic and political cycles. We continue to demonstrate that we can protect our environment while simultaneously driving economic value for our clients and long-term value for our shareholders. Turning to our financial results. We achieved another quarter of record performance. Broad-based client demand for our services is reflected in the 35% revenue growth and 70% consolidated adjusted EBITDA growth year-over-year. Our EBITDA growth was due to both revenue growth and a 340 basis point improvement in margins. In the second quarter, we recorded $234.5 million in revenue, driven by an increase in strong organic growth across all three segments, environmental emergency response revenue and contributions from acquisitions. During the second quarter, we responded to an environmental incident for a large energy client that increased Q2 response revenue by $35 million. Our long-standing relationship with this client was instrumental in our selection as the response adviser. Importantly, our involvement in the response also helped us secure the air monitoring, testing, and long-term remediation associated with the event, which started in the third quarter. Second quarter adjusted EBITDA was $39.6 million or a 16.9% margin, driven by higher revenue and better operating performance across all three of our segments. Additionally, I want to highlight that we reported positive net income and positive GAAP EPS in the second quarter. Our cash flow generation is strong and also ahead of plan, and our cash outlook remains strong for the year. Allan will elaborate on each of these shortly. To put these results into context, it is our best performing quarter by virtually any financial or operating metric used to assess the business, and it marks the third straight quarter of record results. These results further demonstrate the resilience inherent in the services we provide and the effectiveness of our organic growth initiatives focused on client retention and increased share of wallet. Transitioning to an update on our strategic priorities. In 2025, we are driving strong organic growth, generating solid cash flow, and simplifying our balance sheet, ensuring that this year represents far more than just an acquisition pause. In the first half of 2025, we achieved strong organic growth. And for the full year, we expect to be at or above the high end of our long-term target range of 7% to 9%. Our focus on cash flow generation has resulted in a $48.5 million increase in operating free cash flow over the first half of 2024, and we expect to continue generating significant cash flow, including free cash flow in the second half of the year. On July 1, we completed our balance sheet simplification by fully redeeming the remaining preferred shares and bringing leverage below 3x pro forma for this redemption. We funded the redemption consistent with our commitment to use only cash flow and incremental borrowings. We achieved this goal six months ahead of schedule. In line with these outstanding results, we are raising guidance for the second consecutive quarter. 2025 revenue is now expected to surpass 2024 by 17%, with 2025 full year adjusted EBITDA projected to grow 19% over the previous year. This increased guidance indicates year-over-year margin expansion, aligning with our goal of driving scalable profitability. We also reaffirm our long-term organic revenue growth expectations of 7% to 9% annually. This outlook is supported by ongoing client demand for our unique portfolio of environmental science-based solutions. Managing environmental risks remains important for sustained long-term profitability for our clients. And these risks cut across industries, borders, and beliefs, which explains why resilience has become a cornerstone of corporate strategy. Shifting to our client and geographic diversification. We continue to see strong demand for our services across geographies and 80% of our 2024 revenue generated by clients in the U.S., which are mostly private sector companies across industries. These clients favor long-term planning, seek to mitigate the impact of political swings and aim to comply with the complex patchwork of state and local regulations. At the same time, we are seeing increased regulatory influence from local and state governments in the United States. In fact, just last week, we began responding to inquiries for our perspective on recent news regarding the U.S. EPA's proposed repeal of the greenhouse gas endangerment finding. Our conclusion is that though there will be a fair amount of regulatory uncertainty in the near term, the impact on Montrose will be minimal. It will be minimal because, first, most of our work is for clients who operate in states that actively regulate greenhouse gases. And second, a lot of our work is for clients who transact globally and are therefore subject to various international protocols like Europe's methane monitoring requirements. Regardless of U.S. federal changes, local, state, and international requirements as well as institutional commitments and expectations will continue driving corporate focus on greenhouse gas identification, measurement, and mitigation. For all these reasons, our clients are not indicating any shift in their operating or compliance posture, and therefore, we have not seen and do not expect much impact on our business. In aggregate, greenhouse gas measurement and mitigation remains a growing service for us. Importantly, given Montrose's broad and growing environmental capabilities, greenhouse gases are a small part of our environmental work with industrial and government clients. We remain very upbeat about our current and future business prospects. Before I hand the call over to Allan, I want to reaffirm the framework that underpins our ability to create long-term shareholder value. First, we will continue allocating capital to the highest return opportunities, including investing in organic growth and our portfolio of differentiated research and development, patents, and technology. We will also continue to evaluate strategic and accretive acquisitions and retain the flexibility to opportunistically repurchase shares to maximize returns. Optimizing our capital structure and managing leverage remain core to our strategy. Second, we will emphasize scalable profitability by expanding our market position through continued investments in sales and marketing, optimizing our operating structure, and achieving operating leverage, ultimately driving margin expansion. Third, as an integrator of environmental consulting, testing, and treatment solutions with unique technologies, we will continue delivering compelling organic growth of 7% to 9% annually and EBITDA growth faster than revenue growth. And fourth, we will continue increasing operating and free cash flow generation. This framework contributed to our outstanding first half 2025 results and will support us through the remainder of 2025 and beyond. With that, I will hand it over to Allan. Thank you.

Allan Michael Dicks, Chief Financial Officer

Thanks, Vijay. Our second quarter performance highlights our commitment to achieving our stated objectives. The temporary pause in acquisitions has not only provided a valuable window to refine our operational processes and cost framework but has also allowed us to clearly showcase progress in our key performance metrics, namely organic growth, margin expansion, and improved cash flow generation. Our second quarter revenue grew by 35.3% compared to the same quarter last year, reaching $234.5 million. Year-to-date revenues increased by 25.5% versus the previous year, totaling $412.4 million. The main drivers of revenue growth in both periods were additional environmental emergency response revenues, organic growth across all three segments, and contributions from acquisitions completed in the prior year. Second quarter consolidated adjusted EBITDA rose by nearly 70% to $39.6 million or 16.9% of revenue, showing a 340 basis point improvement over the prior year period. Similarly, year-to-date consolidated adjusted EBITDA increased 46% to $58.6 million or 14.2% of revenue, a 200 basis point improvement over the same period last year. Robust revenue growth and enhanced operating performance across all segments fueled these results. Notably, margins improved in all three segments. In the second quarter of 2025, we reported positive GAAP net income of $18.4 million or $0.42 of GAAP earnings per diluted share attributable to common stockholders compared to a net loss of $10.2 million or a $0.39 net loss per diluted share attributable to common stockholders in the prior year period. This significant $28.5 million increase in net income and $0.81 increase in GAAP earnings per share was attributable to revenue growth, including organic growth, margin expansion, and a $10 million fair value gain related to the Series A-2 redemption, partially offset by an increase in weighted average diluted common shares outstanding. We are extremely pleased with reporting positive GAAP operating income, net income, and GAAP EPS even without the benefit of the fair value gain. Continued growth and margin expansion will make this a more sustainable feature and key performance metric. Year-to-date, net loss was $1 million or $0.15 net loss per diluted share attributable to common stockholders compared to a net loss of $23.5 million or a $0.91 net loss per diluted share in the same period last year. The $0.77 improvement in loss per share compared to the same period last year primarily resulted from revenue growth, margin expansion, and dividend relief following the Series A-2 redemption, partially offset by an increase in weighted average diluted common shares outstanding. Year-to-date adjusted net income and adjusted EPS were $32.7 million and $0.73 respectively, representing an improvement over the prior year period of $19.3 million and $0.37 respectively. Please note that our adjusted net income per diluted share attributable to common stockholders is calculated using adjusted net income attributable to stockholders divided by fully diluted shares. We believe this net income methodology is currently the most helpful net income metric for Montrose and common equity investors. I will now discuss our performance by segment and will focus my comments on the second quarter. In our Assessment Permitting and Response segment, second quarter revenue nearly doubled to $103.9 million from $53.4 million in the prior year period. AP&R segment adjusted EBITDA was $27.6 million or 26.5% of revenue, a 290 basis point improvement over the previous year. The year-over-year growth was mainly driven by an increase in environmental emergency response revenues, organic growth, and additional contributions from acquisitions. Our team provided exceptional service during the quarter, including responding to several major incidents. The segment's margin improvement was fueled by higher-margin environmental response services and organic growth. Turning to our Measurement and Analysis segment. Revenue for the quarter increased nearly 15% to $62.8 million. We continue to see strong organic growth across lab and field services, along with contributions from an acquisition in 2024. Segment adjusted EBITDA rose to $18.3 million or 29.1% of revenue, which is a 660 basis point margin improvement over the prior year period, primarily due to operating leverage and disciplined cost management. In our Remediation and Reuse segment, second quarter revenue increased to $67.8 million from $65.1 million in the same quarter last year. This segment's adjusted EBITDA grew to $10 million and adjusted EBITDA margin rose by 110 basis points to 14.8%, which includes strengthening fundamentals in our treatment technology business. Moving to our cash flow and capital structure. We achieved $27.4 million of operating cash flow in the first six months of 2025, a $48.5 million improvement versus the prior year period. The significant increase is related to an increase in cash earnings and improvements in working capital. I am pleased to report that we are on track to significantly outperform 2024 and expect to achieve cash flow from operations greater than 50% of consolidated adjusted EBITDA in 2025. Free cash flow, which we define as cash flow from operations, less purchases of property and equipment, and less software development expenditure and excluding the Series A-2 preferred dividend, was $16.7 million, an increase of $63.1 million over the prior year. We are also pleased with the strength of our balance sheet at quarter end, reporting a leverage ratio of 2.5x and substantial available liquidity of $242.8 million. Subsequent to quarter end, we redeemed the final $62.2 million of the Series A-2 preferred stock in cash, funded with cash on hand and borrowings under our credit facility, resulting in pro forma leverage of 2.99x. In conclusion, we've had a strong start to 2025 with record results, momentum across our business and emphasis on serving clients across our diversified service offerings. Our increased guidance for the year reflects the confidence in our ability to continue driving value in our business and the many tailwinds we see. Thank you all for joining us today and for your continued interest in Montrose. We look forward to the opportunities ahead, and we'll update you on our progress next quarter.

Operator, Operator

Operator, we are ready to open the lines to questions.

Jim Ricchiuti, Analyst

Congratulations, first off, on the quarter. A question about the margins. First question is just on the margins across the business lines. And I wanted to start with the M&A margins, which were obviously quite strong. What I'm wondering is, has your view or why hasn't your view of the margins in this business line changed because you're obviously operating above your longer-term expectations?

Vijay Manthripragada, President and CEO

Thanks, Jim. Let me take that in two pieces. On the testing side, the Measurement and Analysis segment, our long-term expectation is for that to be in that 18% to 22% range. As we've talked about with you and others over time, we are well above that for two reasons. One, we're getting really nice operating leverage in that segment as demand cycles pick up. And that demand cycle increase is partially because of the shift towards states regulating various contaminants more robustly. And then on top of that, we also have a project mix shift. So we are quite optimistic and proud of how well that team has done for the rest of this year. But long term, as we kind of think about a five-year outlook, Jim, we still think about that as an 18% to 22% margin business. And the reason I say that is even though we're much smaller than many of the testing peers out there in the market, we are operating at or above their margin profile, which gives you a sense for the relative advantages of the business model.

Jim Ricchiuti, Analyst

Okay. And maybe just to focus on a couple of issues. Vijay, you alluded to…

Vijay Manthripragada, President and CEO

I apologize, Jim, for not addressing your second question regarding the overall margin profile. In our consulting business, margins are increasing due to improved staff utilization. As demand rises, we are experiencing a significant demand tailwind in that area, which is influenced by our response as well. Both factors are contributing positively to the demand side, leading to an increase in margins. Additionally, in the Remediation and Reuse segment, we are also seeing a nice margin improvement due to favorable demand, particularly in our treatment technology business. Overall, the performance across our portfolio is strong, and there isn't just one specific reason for this improvement.

Jim Ricchiuti, Analyst

Understood. Thanks for the additional color. You alluded to some of the issues around greenhouse gas monitoring and measurement. What does that represent, and you may have given it, of the total Montrose business currently?

Vijay Manthripragada, President and CEO

Jim, it's about 3%. And even within that 3%, about two-thirds of that is state-driven in states that regulate the greenhouse gases independent of the federal government. And so the reason we say there's a de minimis impact from our perspective is because if you kind of take those two dynamics in the context of our broader performance, it doesn't move the needle for us. It is important to note that that business continues to grow for us in a very attractive way, both organic revenue growth and margin profile perspective.

Jim Ricchiuti, Analyst

And finally, just I wonder if you would describe, just give us a sense of the PFAS activity you saw in the quarter as it relates to treatment. And maybe just in general, the outlook that you see for this part of the business in the second half.

Vijay Manthripragada, President and CEO

Yes, our outlook remains unchanged. There have been regulatory developments over the past few quarters, and it is now clear that regulation is forthcoming. The thresholds are low, and the deadlines have been extended, which has slightly altered our mix. However, we are experiencing consistent growth in our testing business and a positive trend in our treatment technology sector. Additionally, our patent portfolio in that area has expanded beyond PFAS, giving us a broader industrial water treatment and water treatment technology portfolio that we are excited about. We're also seeing increased inquiries in our consulting business related to assessments. While we don't report specifically on the PFAS portfolio, we are optimistic about our long-term opportunities in that area. The main question will be the trajectory year after year as these regulations take effect.

Sam Kusswurm, Analyst

I wanted to first ask a bit more about your emergency response business. I know that oftentimes emergency work can have a multi-quarter tail to it. So I'm wondering what the likelihood is that some of this work continues on to the second half of the year here. And can you share if you're still performing some of this emergency work today and if there's an expectation that additional contracts could come on to the market here?

Vijay Manthripragada, President and CEO

It's a great question, Sam. I would frame it differently, viewing it as an upside opportunity alongside our core engine, which is experiencing solid growth. If you look at our annual guidance and its increase, the midpoint rose from $760 million to $815 million. Of that $815 million, approximately $35 million is response-driven. This means the $760 million effectively increased to $780 million, reflecting a structural increase in our core business, which you can expect to grow consistently year after year. The additional $35 million represents growth beyond our standard response business. We plan to discuss this more as we grow, since it will become a robust, growing run rate business. Our organic revenue growth is expected to be in the 7% to 9% range, with EBITDA growing even faster. Additionally, as certain events happen, I see them as additional benefits above our core engine. We're proud of how well our teams collaborate, and these responses have led to ongoing projects in air monitoring, testing, and remediation, which align closely with our core consultancy and remediation work. This is generating a great pipeline of opportunities for our entire enterprise and enabling organic growth. When incidents like those mentioned in Q2 occur, they contribute to a one-time boost in cash and earnings, and we will be transparent about that.

Sam Kusswurm, Analyst

Got it. That's helpful color. And I think we would appreciate the breakdown in the future as you guys get bigger and do that. Maybe taking a deeper look and sticking with the AP&R business, even taking out the emergency response work, it looks like the core business grew something like 30% organically. I think you did touch on it in your prepared remarks, but I was hoping if you could go into a little more detail on the drivers behind the core business strength. Were there any large orders impacting the quarter here? Or was there any work in the core business that was ultimately tied to the emergency response work so that they both kind of uplifted together?

Vijay Manthripragada, President and CEO

They did uplift together. They are increasingly working hand-in-hand. The demand tailwinds within our consulting business, independent of response, continue for all the reasons we've talked about, Sam, right? There's a fair amount of regulatory shifts occurring given our private sector focus. Our clients are engaging us more, and we are seeing the benefits of that kind of across the business. So there isn't one or two reasons for why that broader portfolio independent of response is growing. We're pretty optimistic about what that looks like into the foreseeable future.

Wade Suki, Analyst

Just wondering, Vijay, you always give great color on the customers and what's going on in the business. I'm wondering if there were a couple of areas of consternation or concern among your customers maybe causing some kind of pause, would you talk about what those issues are and maybe what the offsets are as well to the extent that you can?

Vijay Manthripragada, President and CEO

Yes, we spend considerable time with our clients in the environmental industry, which focuses on a wide range of factors. Due to the increase in industrial activity in the United States, we have been engaging heavily with our waste, energy, and industrial clients. They are facing typical challenges related to geopolitical changes and policies around tariffs and interest rates. The macroeconomic environment reflects common concerns that everyone discusses. As a result, there's significant awareness of the volatility in both the macro and regulatory landscape they are navigating. Most of our discussions have centered on what might remain stable and the long-term trends as political cycles evolve. Importantly, their planning processes have remained consistent, which is a positive sign for us. The challenges they face at a macro level are similar to what we all consider in terms of politics and economics. For Montrose, this situation has led to a steady approach where there isn’t much change in how they allocate their capital or focus on regulatory matters, resulting in sustained demand for our services.

Wade Suki, Analyst

That's helpful. Could you discuss the M&A aspect? I know we're on pause, but what have you observed? When, if ever, might that come back into play regarding capital allocation and strategy?

Vijay Manthripragada, President and CEO

Yes. There is still a really nice opportunity, Wade, for us to continue consolidating in this market in a way that's really accretive for our shareholders. But part of what we really want to demonstrate by pausing is the power of our inherent engine when we're not buying, and that's really what you are witnessing. Obviously, as we pivot back to acquiring and integrating, that muddies the visibility into what the core engine will do. And so this is really more about demonstrating to all of you and to our shareholders that the core Montrose engine is incredibly powerful when given a chance to shine and you're seeing the benefits of that now. So that's what we're really attuned to. One of the commitments we made is that we're really not going to restart until we are able to demonstrate that clearly and consistently for you over time. But the opportunity set is robust. We're still engaged with a lot of folks that are very interested in joining us. Our team is absolutely engaged in the market, and it is core to our strategy. So we do expect to restart that, but we'll be very transparent about when we're going to do that. It is not imminent at this point.

Wade Suki, Analyst

Okay. Great. No, that's very helpful. Look, I normally don't say this on the call, but congratulations on the great quarter. I appreciate it.

Larry Stavitski, Analyst

This is actually Larry Stavitski on for Tim. Tim is attending some other earnings calls simultaneously that were not as good as yours. The results were not as impressive as yours. So I'm pinch-hitting for him today. Just going back to the acquisition pipeline, have valuations and multiples become more attractive? I know you guys are still on the sideline like you just said. But given the volatility economically and the policy changes, have you seen some of the valuations come down recently? Or how does that look?

Vijay Manthripragada, President and CEO

It's a great question, Larry, and I see it in two ways. Looking at broader market multiples, there certainly is a change occurring. However, we’re generally not influenced by these market trends. This is because most of our acquisitions result from word-of-mouth and relationship-building. These are typically smaller businesses that choose to join us. They are attracted not only by valuation but also by the potential for growth and our commitment to environmental focus. Throughout our acquisition history, very few deals are driven by processes or bankers in larger transactions that tend to align with market trends. From Montrose's standpoint, since we usually acquire at mid- to high single-digit EBITDA multiples, our valuations remain steady regardless of market fluctuations. While there is some normalization for the larger assets currently in the market, expectations remain high due to previous prices paid three to five years ago. We are certainly not in favor of overpaying for assets and closely monitoring the situation. There is a significant amount of activity happening, and we are engaged with it all.

Larry Stavitski, Analyst

Got you. And then just one more on PFAS. I know you guys mentioned that you guys are moving beyond PFAS into a broader water treatment business. But I guess just on a state level for PFAS, have you seen any changes given the EPAs, the dynamics within the EPA there in terms of the Office of State Air partnerships and the Office of Air and Radiation? Has there been more concentration on the state level given the changes to the EPA there?

Vijay Manthripragada, President and CEO

I believe the EPA's clarification on their stance has allowed people to advance these projects. At this moment, it will primarily be a matter of the timing of that progress. Following the announcements, we have observed an increase in initial activity within our pipeline, which will take some time to fully develop into concrete projects that we can discuss more frequently. However, not much has fundamentally changed over the last few quarters. Once administrator Zeldin's stance on PFAS became clearer, it actually turned out to be beneficial for Montrose in the long run. So at this time, there's nothing significant to report and no major alterations in state regulations affecting our business.

Tami Zakaria, Analyst

Excellent quarter. Two follow-up questions on topics you've already covered, but I just wanted a little more clarity if you could provide. The Assessment Permitting and Response business, if we take out the $35 million emergency response, the core seems to have stepped up quite nicely, excluding that event, probably in the high $60 million range. Is that sort of the new run rate? Or was there M&A in it? I'm basically trying to understand what to expect on a like-for-like basis for that segment in 3Q and 4Q?

Allan Michael Dicks, Chief Financial Officer

Yes, I can take that. There is some M&A impact from acquisitions that were done in 2024, about $5.5 million of that increase year-over-year. And the rest of that is more of a normal cadence. There's always some seasonality across the year. So Q2, Q3 tend to be larger revenue and higher margin quarters across the business, but in particular AP&R and testing. So with that seasonality aside, yes, you would expect that to be kind of run rate.

Vijay Manthripragada, President and CEO

Yes, I completely agree with Allan. If you examine the overall business alongside our historical midpoint of 8% and the organic range of 7% to 9%, we are clearly surpassing that now, entering the low double-digit growth range. Much of this is due to favorable trends we're experiencing across our segments, including consulting and the AP&R segment. We are very optimistic about this outlook for the remainder of the year. This is also why we are discussing a consistent and steady growth trajectory into next year and beyond. While this level of increase shouldn’t be attributed to just one quarter, the trend is something that can be projected annually, and there is a significant positive momentum in the business right now.

Tami Zakaria, Analyst

Yes. No, for sure. Very impressive. And then quickly on buybacks, any thoughts on the cadence for the rest of the year, what you plan to do?

Vijay Manthripragada, President and CEO

That was always an option. It is not a commitment. We have various options to maximize shareholder value if there are dislocations or opportunities. At this time, it is not our preference to deploy capital in that direction. Therefore, it is not a commitment to deploy it; it is simply an option. But I'll let Allan take it from here.

Allan Michael Dicks, Chief Financial Officer

Yes. I believe our goals set at the beginning of the year are still in place. We mentioned we would prioritize redeeming the preferred, and we have achieved that about six months ahead of our expectations. Our focus on organic growth, margin expansion, and cash flow generation remains strong. Therefore, we will likely pause acquisitions until at least the end of the year. We are experiencing significant advantages from optimizing our processes, organizational structure, and cost structure. You can expect us to continue reducing debt for the remainder of the year. We will also assess the best opportunities for returns for investors, whether that involves research and development, acquisitions, or returning capital to shareholders.

David Ridley-Lane, Analyst

This is David Ridley-Lane speaking on behalf of Andrew Obin. You have the energy client case study in the slides, and I'm not going to ask about individual clients but rather, in relation to the initial emergency response, what level of recurring revenue do you typically see from this? Is there a general guideline or historical insight you can share?

Vijay Manthripragada, President and CEO

Yes, David. If you look at our unique concept of recurrence, our client base has maintained a retention rate of 96% or higher for several years. Although projects vary in intensity, our core clients, specifically our top 250 to 300, exhibit even higher retention rates. Our client retention is exceptionally strong. We find the response projects particularly interesting because of the solid credibility and relationships our team has with clients facing challenging situations. This allows us to continue providing services like monitoring, testing, remediation, and water treatment, creating valuable cross-sell opportunities across the Montrose portfolio. Once these projects start, their recurrence pattern mirrors that of our core business, maintaining a client retention rate of over 96%. In the long run, this represents an ongoing opportunity to offer multiple services, and we're proud of that achievement, thanks to our teams. While it's tough to pinpoint a specific project, any response project will likely resemble our long-term business once the response component settles down.

David Ridley-Lane, Analyst

And then Montrose's business model not being dependent on federal budget and funding, certainly driving differentiated results versus some of the other publicly traded environmental firms here in 2025. I think somebody else, another analyst, sort of danced around it. But yes, a publicly traded firm announced a strategic review of their environmental business two days ago. I know that you're in the midst of a pause, but would you be open to a larger transaction if it was opportunistic?

Vijay Manthripragada, President and CEO

David, if you're asking me if I'm about to go buy something large, it is not imminent. We will always make sure we do what's in the best interest of our shareholders and maximize value. And we will always be opportunistic as you've seen us be in the past. I don't want to comment on what other firms are or aren't doing or struggling with. I would just continue to reiterate that we have a very optimistic outlook, and you can see that in our results. You can see it in our guidance. And if there's opportunities for us to partner with folks to further our relative market advantages, we will absolutely do so. But we'll do it in a way that's transparent and accretive to our shareholders. So there is nothing imminent at this point, but we are well aware of and actively engaged with a lot of folks as to what's going on in the market. And what you say is a fair point. But at this time, I think there's really a lot more value to be derived from showing that we can continue to drive double-digit top line and even faster bottom line and cash flow growth. And then we can add to it if and when we feel like we're ready to do so.

David Ridley-Lane, Analyst

And then just a quick one. During the quarter, you guys were at a waste conference talking about PFAS treatment for landfill sites. Normally, we think about the PFAS opportunity maybe because we cover a lot of industrial and manufacturing companies, but we think of it tied more to the manufacturing sites. Have you won contracts with landfills? Is this part of the total PFAS opportunity, which is obviously much, much larger? Is this part moving forward faster now?

Vijay Manthripragada, President and CEO

Yes, it is quite challenging to navigate because water is closely linked with soil, and the water systems can be intricate. When considering what influences drinking water, there are various factors to consider such as industrial activities, wastewater, and landfills. We're actively collaborating with all these groups. What excites us is that our patent portfolio, thanks to our R&D team, has significantly expanded, allowing us to offer unique services to these markets. Our treatment technologies extend beyond just PFAS, and as our patents have increased, we've discovered ways to remove other contaminants from water, which many of our clients find very appealing. Therefore, our serviceable addressable market has grown due to our technological advantages, and we are already seeing positive results reflected in our numbers. We anticipate continued growth in this area in the future, which has broadened the opportunities available to us.

Jim Ricchiuti, Analyst

This may be a little harder to answer, but the step-up in organic growth, do you have a sense as to whether you're seeing the benefits of what you've talked about in the past, the cross-selling? And I'm also wondering, are there any early benefits from what we've been all reading about onshoring and the potential for increased industrial activity? Or is this more of a tailwind that you see looking out perhaps to next year?

Vijay Manthripragada, President and CEO

It is primarily due to our ongoing commercial focus, Jim, where we have made significant investments, whether through our sector-based focus, our emphasis on key clients tied to our cross-selling efforts, or our broader marketing shifts that communicate our value proposition in a more integrated manner. This is certainly driving much of our growth. The opportunities we've discussed and the case studies we've highlighted are just a few examples of how effectively this strategy is working. Our growth is predominantly fueled by strengthening relationships with our existing clients rather than acquiring new ones, which is very encouraging for us. Additionally, as we consider the current policy landscape and its impact on industrial activity in the United States—given our primarily industrial focus—we anticipate some incremental benefits from that. Thus, there is a duality at play here; both factors are contributing to our performance, and we do not expect that trend to slow down. We really appreciate all of your interest in Montrose, and thank you for taking the time. I hope all of you are well. And Allan and I are incredibly excited to share more of our progress as the quarters progress. Thank you very much.

Operator, Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes today's call. Thank you all for joining. You may now disconnect.