Earnings Call Transcript - QRHC Q4 2020

Operator, Operator

Good day and welcome to the Quest Resource Holding Corporation's Fourth Quarter and Year End 2020 Earnings Conference Call. Today's conference is being recorded. At this time I'd like to turn the conference over to Mr. David Mossberg, Investor Relations Representative. Please go ahead, sir.

David Mossberg, Investor Relations Representative

Thank you, Cody. And thank you everyone for joining us on this call. Before we begin, I'd like to remind everyone that this conference call may contain predictions, estimates and other forward-looking statements regarding future events or future performance of Quest. Use of the words like anticipate, project, estimate, expect, intend, believe, and other similar expressions are intended to identify those forward-looking statements.

Ray Hatch, CEO

Thank you, Dave. And thanks everyone for your interest in Quest. We hope that you and your families are healthy and safe, and we appreciate that you've taken the time to join us to discuss our fourth quarter and 2020 financial results. Let me start by saying that the performance of our team during 2020 was exceptional. I'm very proud and humbled by the dedicated efforts to overcome many of the challenges put forth by the pandemic. We continue to deliver exceptional value to our customers while ensuring each other's safety and also producing solid financial results.

Laurie Latham, CFO

Thank you, Ray. Good afternoon to everyone on the call. Fourth quarter revenue was $27.7 million, an increase of 20.5% compared to the fourth quarter last year. As we pointed out in the press release, about $2.6 million, or a little more than half of the increase in fourth quarter revenue was related to the Green Remedies acquisition, which we completed and began contributing to revenue in mid-October. The remaining half of fourth quarter revenue growth came organically. In fiscal 2020, revenue was $98.7 million, which was relatively flat year-over-year. This was quite an accomplishment considering the lower level of economic activity experienced in some of our end markets, especially at the beginning of the pandemic. We were able to offset weaknesses in some markets with strength in others. Later in the year, we expanded with existing customers. During the fourth quarter, gross profit was $5.6 million, an increase of 19.7% when compared with the fourth quarter last year, and an increase of 22.5% sequentially from the third quarter of 2020. Gross margin for the fourth quarter was 20.2% of revenue, which is still above our targeted level.

Ray Hatch, CEO

Thank you, Laurie. I'm very proud of how we performed during 2020, after the strong finish during the fourth quarter. With the work we've done in previous years to transform our business, we were well prepared to overcome the adversity presented to us by COVID-19. On the gross profit dollar line and the adjusted EBITDA lines, we delivered record performances in a year where the financial performances of many businesses were severely impacted. We entered the year well prepared to deal with the adversity by increasing the margin profile of our businesses and diversifying our end markets. Over the past several years, we have been able to expand our gross margin profile by more than 10 percentage points, from 8% of sales in 2016 to 19% in 2019. During 2020, gross margin increased slightly from 2019 and remained above our targeted levels, which Laurie mentioned earlier. It's important to note that our margin expansion was not related to an increase in price. In fact, we often save our customers money by switching to our service offerings. Instead, the margin expansion was related to adding more value to our customers, a change in the mix of services performed, and being more efficient. Regarding diversifying our end market mix, several years ago, almost all of our revenue came from two end markets, retail and automotive. Today we have five major end markets: retail/grocery, automotive, industrial, restaurants, and with the acquisition of Green Remedies, our fifth end market is multifamily housing. By having a more diversified end market mix in customer base, strength in some markets such as retail/grocery has been able to offset weakness in others such as full-service restaurants. We're also fortunate that most of our customers operate in end markets considered essential and remain at least partially operational throughout the pandemic. Now, it's probably a good time to give a quick update on what we're seeing in our end markets. The retail/grocery end market has stayed stable throughout this entire period and in some cases, it has experienced moderate growth year-over-year. We continue to work with our retail and grocery customers to divert more waste from the landfills and to grow the programs that we have in place.

Operator, Operator

Thank you. And we'll take our first question from Amit Dayal with H.C. Wainwright.

Amit Dayal, Analyst

Thank you. Hi, guys. Thank you for taking my question.

Ray Hatch, CEO

Hi, Amit.

Amit Dayal, Analyst

So Ray, with such a strong performance in a typically seasonally slower period, and it looks like you signed up more customers and larger contracts on top of it. I mean, what should we expect in terms of growth for you guys in 2021 relative to 2020?

Ray Hatch, CEO

Yeah. Amit, what I can say is, and thank you for that. What I can say is, is that Q4, again, as you mentioned, was really a good performance for the company. I can tell you that we see the momentum carrying into Q1 as well. So as we look at our growth, again, there are forecasting issues relative to the economic environment, but our confidence level is that we'll continue our growth, like you've seen in the past. I think you'll see a lot of repetition and momentum carrying through the year. But I'm not really ready to tell you what we feel is total growth for 2021.

Amit Dayal, Analyst

Okay. That's understandable. Laurie, you mentioned potential M&A related expenses, et cetera, could be part of your operating costs this year. Do you have targets that you are exploring for further M&A in 2021?

Ray Hatch, CEO

Yeah, I'll take that on. We surely are. You're aware of what our credit facility looks like that we've targeted for M&A. We have a whole initiative associated with that, including staffing. So we're continuing to look at targets through the year, and we have people looking at them right now. We feel really good about the pipeline of opportunities. When we find the right one and the right situation, we're ready to execute on it.

Amit Dayal, Analyst

Do you think you could introduce maybe price increases as a part of your execution in 2021 or '22? And you said you really extracted all this performance just from efficiency gains. Are you moving to maybe do something on the pricing front with customers?

Ray Hatch, CEO

You know, our business is a little different than some of the other folks in the waste environment. When you read their reports, which I do, and I know you do as well, we haven't generated our continued improvement in gross profit through price increases. We develop it through synergies, better sourcing with our subcontractors, and focusing on waste streams that may bring a higher return. So contrary to our competitors, I don't anticipate price increases. I anticipate increased growth, increased leverage in our cost of goods, and providing even greater value to the customers, which gives us more growth. So we're a little different in that respect, Amit. We anticipate continuing to drive great gross profit, but the way we're doing it is through those other aspects, as opposed to just pure price increases.

Amit Dayal, Analyst

And with respect to this food waste opportunity, is this tied more to restaurants or is it to retail/groceries?

Ray Hatch, CEO

It's currently dominated by the retail/grocer. That's the lowest hanging fruit in the food waste program. Food service operators, it's a little more challenging to separate, and it’s happening, but it's dominated now by retail/grocers. Organic food waste is a significant amount of tonnage for a grocer that's going to landfill today unless they can enter into a food waste program like we have. So it's a very good target with a lot of room for continued growth.

Amit Dayal, Analyst

Understood. That's all I had. Thank you so much.

Ray Hatch, CEO

Thank you.

Laurie Latham, CFO

Thank you.

Operator, Operator

Thank you. We'll take our next question from Greg Kitt with Pinnacle Family.

Greg Kitt, Analyst

Hi, Ray and Laurie. Thank you for taking my question.

Ray Hatch, CEO

Hi, Greg.

Greg Kitt, Analyst

Congratulations. I mean, first off, the thing that struck me was 9% organic growth. I really thought that 2020 was going to be the year that you showed organic growth for the first time, and after COVID happened, I didn't think that had a chance of happening last year. I'm so excited to see that now, and after this transition that you've gone through over the last five years, you've returned organic growth, and it's pretty exciting. I think I hear you when you're saying that you're seeing some of that momentum continue this year. I was wondering if - I think on the last call, you talked about a national auto service customer pilot, and I heard you talk about that food waste win and then some expansions in terms of the number of locations and lines of service within customers. Are there other - is there a way to think about how you're looking at your pipeline today, and how that compares to what you've seen in the past?

Ray Hatch, CEO

Yeah, there is a - I can give you a general observation, Greg, about the way we're looking at pipelines today versus the past. We do have signed wins that we're implementing in Q1. They didn’t really hit Q2 with a force, but we'll see impact in Q1. The pipeline is moving much better from left to right, I call it, and I think I've mentioned that before. The best way to look at the pipeline, instead of just the pure size of it, is the movement of it. We're able to push them across the goal line. Since COVID started, we're actually seeing things move across the goal line now. I anticipate that accelerating as we more normalize our communications and our decision-making process at the prospect level; there's a lot more interest. Since the challenges are starting to dissipate for all of these customers, we're having more conversations than we were. Our pipeline has a number of seven-figure type opportunities in it, that we feel have got possibilities, and we've got a couple that are on right now. Our expansion within existing clients has also continued to grow. Nothing speaks better about your company than when your existing clients are expanding their growth with you. That gives me a strong sense of confidence. The best way to look at our new pipeline for new accounts is that it's moving, and some are going to cross the goal line, hopefully in the near future.

Greg Kitt, Analyst

Thank you very much. I had one more question. I was encouraged to see that sequential growth in EBITDA, or I mean, sorry, the sequential growth in gross profit, resulting in sequential and year-over-year growth in EBITDA. I also heard Laurie talk about higher levels of OpEx. If you are able to grow gross profit in 2021, do you think that some of that incremental gross profit dollar contribution contributes to EBITDA as well?

Laurie Latham, CFO

I think we still have the structure in place for leverage, and to accomplish exactly what you're saying. So that if we have growth in our gross profit dollars, we'll continue to see a considerable portion of that fall down to the EBITDA.

Greg Kitt, Analyst

Okay. Great...

Ray Hatch, CEO

Greg...

Greg Kitt, Analyst

Go ahead, Ray.

Ray Hatch, CEO

I'm sorry, I was just going to build on what Laurie said; I think Q4 actually 2020, but Q4 is a real statement to what we've been saying about our business model and growing on gross profit and having more and more fall to the bottom line. I'm really happy to see that validation.

Greg Kitt, Analyst

I'm happy as well. So, you know, looking at Q4 that was a little bit over a $7 million EBITDA run rate quarter annually. And so if you could just continue that trend for the upcoming year, is there a way to think - are there any outstanding CapEx uses for 2021, as I'm trying to get to a free cash number, CapEx?

Laurie Latham, CFO

The CapEx for this upcoming year will be higher than we've had in the past couple of years due to a couple of important factors. Green Remedies has that customer base with opportunities for us to place certain service equipment in place, so we expect to spend some money there as that grows. We also have some internal initiatives to work on our IT platform and finish filling out some areas of that to contribute to our growth and efficiencies as we continue on our path.

Greg Kitt, Analyst

Okay, great. That was it for me. Thank you both very much for your time and hard work.

Ray Hatch, CEO

You bet.

Laurie Latham, CFO

Okay.

Ray Hatch, CEO

Thank you very much, Greg.

Operator, Operator

Thank you. We'll take our next question from George Melas with MKH Management.

George Melas, Analyst

Thank you. Good afternoon, Ray and Laurie. Fantastic start to the year. Congratulations.

Ray Hatch, CEO

Thank you, George.

Laurie Latham, CFO

Thank you.

George Melas, Analyst

Yeah. I want to ask a question, which is very much related to the previous question. So if you feel like you've already answered it, maybe just let me know. It seems like there was an improvement in the sales execution. You are saying that the pipeline is really moving towards potential deals? Can you help us understand a little bit about the execution of the sales? And what you guys are doing internally? Or what have you done that has probably resulted in sort of movement in the pipeline?

Ray Hatch, CEO

I can tell you, first of all, thanks for that observation, George. Seeing things move across the goal line is very comforting to me, as I'm sure it is to you as an investor. What I've seen happening is tremendous teamwork between our solutions team internally and the sales team. We're targeting customers that are looking for specific solutions. It's nice to see the inside operations team working hand-in-hand with the sales team. This way, we’re understanding the customer's problem from the start, developing specific solutions for that customer, and executing them in a more seamless way. These efforts have been ongoing before COVID, and I think we're now seeing results that we might have seen sooner without that extraneous situation. The solutions we're bringing to clients or prospects seem to be outstanding, especially with the softening of the peer environment we've been operating in.

George Melas, Analyst

Great, okay. Good to know. I appreciate this input. Thank you very much.

Ray Hatch, CEO

Thank you, George.

Laurie Latham, CFO

Thank you.

Operator, Operator

That does conclude today's conference - the question-and-answer session. I'd like to turn the conference back over to management for any additional closing remarks.

Ray Hatch, CEO

Thanks. I'll just close real quickly by reiterating how much the team here appreciates the support from all of you. I want to reiterate how proud I am of the work this team has done. It's been a challenging time period and the results and the efforts, I just can't say enough about the efforts that have gone into creating the results that we have. So I'll take this moment to thank them and also to thank you and the investment community for your support and your interest in Quest.

Operator, Operator

Thank you. That does conclude today's conference. Thank you all for your participation. And you may now disconnect.