Earnings Call Transcript - VSEC Q4 2024

Michael Perlman, Vice President of Investor Relations

Thank you. Welcome to VSE Corporation's Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2024 Results Conference Call. We will begin with remarks from John Cuomo, President and CEO, followed by a financial update from Adam Cohn, our Chief Financial Officer. The presentation we are sharing today is on our website and we encourage you to follow along accordingly. Today's discussion contains forward-looking statements about future business and financial expectations. Actual results may differ significantly from those projected in today's forward-looking statements due to various risks and uncertainties, including those described in our periodic reports filed with the SEC. Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update our forward-looking statements. We are using non-GAAP financial measures in our presentation. Where available, the appropriate GAAP financial reconciliations are incorporated into our presentation and posted on our website. All percentages in today's discussion refer to year-over-year progress, except where noted. At the conclusion of our prepared remarks, we will open the line for questions. With that, I'd like to turn the call over to John.

John Cuomo, President and CEO

Good morning. Thank you for joining us today for VSE's Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2024 Conference Call. 2024 was a transformative year for VSE, driven by record revenue and profitability in our Aviation segment, the acquisition of two commercial aviation aftermarket businesses and the divestiture of our Federal & Defense Services segment. These strategic actions reinforce our commitment to becoming a pure-play aviation aftermarket company, streamlining our operations to drive sustained growth. Before diving into our results, I want to highlight last week's announcement regarding the sale of our Fleet segment business, Wheeler Fleet Solutions to One Equity Partners. This divestiture marks the final step in our strategic transformation into a leading pure-play aviation aftermarket parts and services provider. The transaction is valued at up to $230 million, including a $140 million cash payment at closing, a $25 million seller note and up to $65 million in additional earn-out consideration. The earn-out allows us to participate in Fleet's expected revenue and margin recovery in 2025. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2025, subject to customary closing conditions. This divestiture and the strategic actions we've taken over the past 5 years demonstrate our commitment to becoming a pure-play aviation aftermarket company. With that, let's begin with an update on the current market environment for our Aviation segment. The Aviation segment supports both the commercial and business and general aviation aftermarkets, with each representing approximately 50% of 2025 Aviation segment forecasted revenue. The aviation aftermarket is set for another year of expansion in 2025, with both the commercial and business aviation sectors experiencing continued growth. This momentum is driven by increased global passenger traffic, rising demand for maintenance, repair and overhaul services and an uptick in business jet utilization. The commercial aircraft aftermarket parts and services market is expected to maintain a strong growth trajectory in 2025. Revenue passenger mile forecast, combined with ongoing supply chain and capacity constraints, indicate another robust year for the sector. As a result, VSE anticipates commercial aftermarket growth for our parts and services to range between 8% and 10% in 2025. The Business Aviation sector continues to see unprecedented demand with industry experts projecting that flight hours will remain steady or increase for more than 90% of operators in 2025 as compared to 2024. This outlook, coupled with new market entrants leveraging fractional ownership leasing and Jet Card programs as well as the projected expansion of the total business aviation fleet supports VSE's forecast for our business and general aviation market. We anticipate growth of 5% to 6% in 2025 for our products and services in this segment. Therefore, we forecast our combined markets at 6.5% to 8% in 2025 with our plan to outperform these market assumptions. Let's now turn to Slide 3, where I will provide an overview of our 2024 and year-to-date 2025 highlights, starting with our recent strategic acquisitions in Aviation. First, in December, we acquired Kellstrom Aerospace, a leading aftermarket solutions provider specializing in value-added distribution and technical services for the commercial engine market. Kellstrom aligns strongly with our OEM-centric strategy, expanding our presence in the commercial aerospace aftermarket. This acquisition brings new engine-focused customers, additional distribution products and enhanced MRO and technical service capabilities to VSE Aviation. Integration of Kellstrom's distribution business is underway and is expected to be completed over the next 12 to 18 months. In April 2024, we acquired Turbine Controls, or TCI, further increasing our exposure to the commercial aviation engine component MRO market. This acquisition expanded our repair capabilities and added new OEM relationships. This business performed exceptionally well in 2024, driving well above-market revenue growth as they supported their key OEM partners. We remain focused on scaling capacity and deepening partnerships with OEMs in the year ahead. Third, we successfully completed the integration of Desser's U.S. distribution business in 2024, streamlining processes, systems and organizations and launching a new go-to-market strategy under the VSE brand. Looking ahead, we plan to integrate Desser's remaining business units in 2025 with the Desser Australia integration already completed in early 2025. Moving on to new program implementations; we opened a new 45,000 square foot distribution Center of Excellence in Hamburg, Germany. Initially, this site supported Pratt & Whitney Canada's Europe, Middle East and Africa distribution and support program and has since expanded to include tires, tubes and battery product lines with additional product lines expected to be expanded in the future. We launched a new OEM licensed Avionic MRO program in 2024 that combined with our distribution program supporting this product line, allows us to manage the total life cycle of these products. We also launched our new OEM license manufacturing capability and facility expansion following our acquisition of the Honeywell Fuel Control program. The program exceeded our initial expectations and was a strong margin contributor in 2024. We plan to fully transition all OEM manufacturing capabilities to our facility in 2025. Now turning to our Fleet segment; 2024 was a year of transition as we continued supporting the United States Postal Service following their migration to a new fleet management information system. After reaching a low point in Q3, we began seeing improved maintenance-related repair activity and parts usage in the fourth quarter. We expect this momentum to continue through 2025. With the Fleet segment's commercial sales channel, we scaled our Memphis e-commerce fulfillment facility, diversified our customer base and added new exclusive brands. As a result, our commercial revenue growth continues to outpace the market. At the corporate level, we successfully completed the sale of our Federal & Defense segment in February 2024, marking a significant milestone in our transition to a pure-play aviation business. Finally, we relocated our corporate headquarters to South Florida, co-locating within our Aviation segment headquarters and MRO Center of Excellence in Miramar, Florida. This move enhances collaboration with our business partners and employees while also reducing corporate overhead costs. Let's now move to Slide 4, where I will provide an update on our business segment's full year 2024 performance. For the full year 2024, we delivered both record revenue and record profitability for our Aviation segment. Revenue growth was driven by balanced strong execution on new and existing distribution programs and expanded portfolio of MRO capabilities and contribution from recent acquisitions. The Aviation segment also reported record profitability driven by distribution program growth, the optimization of existing distribution programs, increased throughput at our MRO facilities, support from our new OEM license manufacturing programs and contributions from recent acquisitions. For our Fleet segment, the revenue decline was primarily driven by the USPS transition to a new fleet management information system platform. This resulted in a decline in maintenance-related activities and reduced part requirements. Maintenance-related repair activity levels began to rebound in the fourth quarter and are expected to continue to improve in 2025.

Adam Cohn, Chief Financial Officer

Thank you, John. Let's turn to Slides 5 and 6 of the conference call materials. I will provide an overview of our fourth quarter financial performance. Let's begin with our consolidated fourth quarter results. VSE generated $299 million of revenue in the quarter, an increase of 27%, led by a 48% increase in aviation revenue, partially offset by a 12% decline in fleet revenue. Adjusted EBITDA increased 26% to $40 million compared to the fourth quarter of 2023. Aviation drove this growth, up $13 million compared to the same period in the prior year, partially offset by a $3 million decline in adjusted EBITDA per fleet and a $2 million increase in corporate admin expenses. Adjusted net income was $18 million and adjusted diluted earnings per share was $0.90 per share. For the full year 2024, we recorded approximately $1.1 billion in consolidated revenue, up 26% versus 2023, driven by record aviation growth. Adjusted EBITDA for the year was $136 million, an increase of 20% or $22 million as compared to 2023. Aviation contributed to a $41 million year-over-year increase, partially offset by a $15 million decline in fleet adjusted EBITDA and a $3 million increase in corporate admin expenses. Adjusted net income increased 20% to $56 million. Adjusted net income per diluted share declined 5% to $3.13 per diluted share, driven by an increase in share count.

John Cuomo, President and CEO

Now turning to Slide 7, where we'll cover Aviation segment's record fourth quarter results in more detail. Aviation revenue increased 48% to a record $227 million as compared to the fourth quarter of 2023. Both distribution and MRO businesses were strong contributors, up 32% and 87%, respectively. The 32% increase in distribution revenue was driven by strong execution of new and existing OEM programs and 29 days of revenue and earnings contributions from the recent Kellstrom acquisition. The 87% increase in MRO revenue was driven by the expansion of new repair capabilities, margin share gains in the commercial and business and general aviation markets, support from our new OEM authorized avionics program and MRO contributions from the TCI acquisition. Excluding the impact of all recent acquisitions, organic Aviation segment revenue increased by approximately 17% in the fourth quarter as compared to the prior year. Aviation adjusted EBITDA increased by 56% in the quarter to a record $37 million or 16.4% of revenue. The increase in adjusted EBITDA was driven by strong execution on distribution programs, increased throughput at MRO facilities, improved pricing and product mix, the launch of our new OEM license manufacturing program and contributions from recent acquisitions. For the full year 2024, the Aviation segment generated record revenue of $786 million, an increase of 45% year-over-year. Adjusted EBITDA increased 47% to $129 million and adjusted EBITDA margin increased 20 basis points to 16.3%, all record results for the segment. Let's now turn to Slide 8, a new slide in our earnings presentation to review our Aviation segment guidance for the full year 2025. The purpose of Slide 8 is to walk you through the revenue and margin bridge of our Aviation segment with the impacts of our TCI and Kellstrom acquisitions. Let's start with revenue. John mentioned earlier that we forecast our combined commercial and business and general aviation markets to grow between 6.5% and 8% in 2025. We expect full year 2025 Aviation segment revenue to increase between 35% to 40%. Supporting this growth are full year revenue contributions of approximately 26% to 28% from both the TCI and Kellstrom acquisitions. In addition, we are forecasting to outperform market growth organically with high single-digit to low double-digit organic growth, supported by market share gains, distribution program growth and repair capability expansion. 2025 full year adjusted EBITDA margins are expected to be between 15.5% and 16.5%. The near-term margin dilution from TCI and Kellstrom is expected to have an approximate 90 basis point dilutive impact on Aviation segment margins for the full year 2025. This is expected to be offset by a 10 basis point to 110 basis point improvement in core legacy aviation margins, driven by operating leverage, program optimization and MRO utilization. In addition, we expect to begin realizing integration synergies in the second half of 2025. Synergy benefits will continue into 2026 until all integration activity is complete. On a consolidated basis, interest expense is projected to be $31 million to $33 million. The effective tax rate is expected to be 25% and depreciation and amortization in the aggregate is expected to be $36 million to $38 million for the full year 2025. All figures are pre-fleet divestiture.

Adam Cohn, Chief Financial Officer

Now turning to Slide 9 for our Fleet segment's fourth quarter results; in the fourth quarter, Fleet segment revenue declined 12% to $72 million. On a sequential quarterly basis, revenue was up 2% or $2 million. Revenue from commercial customers was $43 million in the fourth quarter. Commercial revenue represented 59% of total Fleet segment sales as compared to 52% in the prior year period. The USPS revenue, which is included within our other government channel, declined approximately 25% compared to the fourth quarter of last year. The revenue decline was primarily driven by the USPS transition to a new fleet management information system platform, which resulted in a decline in maintenance-related activities and therefore, reduced part requirements. Fleet segment adjusted EBITDA decreased 31% to approximately $7 million, driven by the impact of the decline in USPS sales volume. Fleet segment adjusted EBITDA margin was 9.5% for the fourth quarter. For the full year 2024, the Fleet segment generated revenue of $294 million, driven by 18% growth in our commercial sales channel, offset by a 30% decline in revenue from the USPS program. Total adjusted EBITDA of $21 million declined 42%. And for the full year, adjusted EBITDA margin was 7.3%. USPS revenue began to rebound in the fourth quarter of 2024 and is expected to continue to improve heading into 2025. Turning to Slide 10; in the fourth quarter, we generated $55 million of operating cash flow and $52 million of free cash flow, driven by disciplined working capital management and strong operating results. At the end of the fourth quarter, our total net debt outstanding was $401 million, and our revolver availability was $194 million. Adjusted net leverage, which includes the trailing 12-month results from prior acquisitions, was 2.5 times.

John Cuomo, President and CEO

I will turn it back over to Adam. Thank you, Adam. I would like to conclude our prepared remarks by looking forward and reviewing our 2025 priorities on Slide 11. We have made significant progress in simplifying our business and sharpening our go-to-market strategy. With the announced sale of our Fleet segment, we are entering the final phase of our strategic transformation into a pure-play aviation aftermarket parts and services provider as ONE VSE. We expect to close the fleet transaction in the second quarter, and we are working closely with One Equity Partners to ensure a smooth and successful transition. Following the divestiture, we will conduct a comprehensive review of our cost structure to ensure our corporate organization is streamlined to support our go-forward aviation strategy. Turning now to our aviation priorities; first, we are committed to driving organic growth, expanding our market presence and strengthening partnerships with both customers and suppliers. We look forward to sharing updates on new partnerships. Second, the integration of our OEM license manufacturing program remains on track. We expect to complete the transition of all OEM manufacturing capabilities from Honeywell by year-end. Third, we continue to invest in expanding repair capabilities and adding incremental capacity across our MRO businesses to meet growing customer and market demand. And finally, we are focused on accelerating the integrations of Desser, TCI and Kellstrom to drive operational efficiencies and enhance customer value. And finally, from a financial perspective, we are focused on capturing synergies from our recent acquisitions to support margin expansion this year and into 2026. We also plan to continue to improve core Aviation segment margins through operating leverage, program optimization and enhanced MRO utilization. We will continue to leverage our strong financial foundation to optimize inventory and drive free cash flow improvement in 2025. In closing, I want to thank our global VSE team for their dedication and hard work. Their efforts are driving our successes and positioning us for a stronger future. Operator, we are now ready for the question-and-answer portion of our call.

Operator, Operator

We will now begin the question-and-answer session. Our first question comes from Sheila Kahyaoglu from Jefferies. Please go ahead.

Sheila Kahyaoglu, Analyst

Good morning, guys, and congrats. Maybe my first question, John, for you, with 35% to 40% aviation growth, it implies high single digits to double digits organic growth this year. How do we think about the pace of that growth and the cadence between distribution and MRO?

John Cuomo, President and CEO

Yes. It's a great question. We had a big debate on kind of how to guide for the year. When you look at our business now with TCI and with Kellstrom, we're about 50% business in general aviation aftermarket, 50% commercial aftermarket. And candidly, we wanted to give ourselves a little bit of cushion. We've talked since we acquired Kellstrom about the USM business. And although we love the business and there's a place for that business inside of VSE, we definitely see ourselves pruning some of that business to be what we want it to be in terms of consistency of revenue and at the right margin profile. So with that balance of the two markets, and then the USM, potentially like slightly kind of refocused efforts there. That's where we kind of got the guidance on revenue. I'd say it's pretty evenly split. We kind of laid out what our growth rates are by segment, and we're going to be slightly above those growth rates in both segments. And I'd say as far as, Michael, when you think about the year, it's not heavily back-ended, right?

Michael Perlman, Vice President of Investor Relations

Yes. No, I think it's pretty consistent across the whole year.

Sheila Kahyaoglu, Analyst

Yes. Okay, great. Thank you. And then maybe my second question is on acquisitions. You're proving to be a great integrator with TCI coming in, I think, at $85 million of contribution over the last 8.5 months versus $85 million was the full annual contribution we initially expected. So what drove some of that TCI outperformance? And how do we think about the revenue synergies opportunity with Kellstrom outside of the assets you'll prune off?

John Cuomo, President and CEO

Yes, that’s a great question. Each deal we consider has its own strategic focus, and we have different expectations for each integration. With TCI, our goal was to create capacity and collaborate with our OEM partners to manage the opportunities available. Since acquiring the business, we've successfully grown it over 25%. We believe there are still significant opportunities for continued growth as we focus on expanding capacity. For Kellstrom, our approach is a bit different as we plan to play a more active role in the integration, which involves capturing synergies that are crucial for us. We shared some insights on this, and I think Michael and Adam provided a solid overview regarding margin guidance. Our aim is to have the integration completed by 2026 and return to our core margin levels. This aspect is a larger priority for us compared to revenue growth. That said, Kellstrom is in the engine aftermarket, and we anticipate continued double-digit growth in 2025.

Sheila Kahyaoglu, Analyst

Great, thank you so much.

John Cuomo, President and CEO

Thanks, Sheila.

Operator, Operator

Our next question comes from Ken Herbert of RBC Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Ken Herbert, Analyst

Hi, good morning. John, I appreciate the revenue and EBITDA bridge assumptions regarding 2025. I wanted to ask the growth question in a different way. The guidance suggests about 500 basis points of outperformance relative to your market growth assumptions for VSEC. Could you comment on how you see that breaking out? You mentioned share gains, expanding distribution agreements, and increased MRO capabilities. Is one of those areas driving the outperformance for the business more than the others?

John Cuomo, President and CEO

To be honest, no, which is a good thing. Even when I looked at the numbers, we grew 17% organically in the fourth quarter. My favorite part of analyzing the financials is that there isn't just one thing driving it. There is a nice balance across geographic sectors, markets, and programs. What I appreciate about our current position is that we are seeing growth in all areas. I'm not saying the growth rates are the same, but there isn't one factor that is outweighing the others. I know it might make modeling a bit more challenging, but Michael and Adam, it's fairly balanced.

Adam Cohn, Chief Financial Officer

I think it's very evenly distributed is what I would say. And to John's point, we saw that in Q4, very balanced between MRO and distribution organic growth in that 17% to 18% range.

Ken Herbert, Analyst

Okay. Perfect. And as we think about, give or take the 50 basis points to 60 basis points of margin expansion on the core business in 2025, is that a good way to think about the business sort of moving forward post 2025 or is there maybe some incremental opportunity on the core business just as you get further into, obviously, the TCI and the Kellstrom integration?

Adam Cohn, Chief Financial Officer

Yes, that's a good question. I think 50 to 60 basis points is a reasonable estimate. You can expect more synergies to be realized, particularly with Kellstrom, throughout 2025 and into 2026. Additionally, we are working to optimize our fuel control program as we move towards full light manufacturing capabilities. There is some SG&A carryover this year that we will optimize as we complete the transition. I believe these two aspects will contribute to margin expansion as we approach 2026.

Ken Herbert, Analyst

Perfect. Thanks, Adam. Thanks, John. Michael. Nice quarter. I appreciate it.

Operator, Operator

Our next question comes from Michael Ciarmoli from Truist. Please go ahead.

Michael Ciarmoli, Analyst

Hey, Good morning, guys. Nice results. Thanks for taking the question. John, Adam, lots of good color on revenue and margins, but no mention on cash flow. Can we maybe talk about some of the building blocks for cash in 2025, even 2026? And I know you've talked about new partnerships. So presumably, there might still be some required investment and just how to think about working capital and just help level set us on what to expect with cash.

Adam Cohn, Chief Financial Officer

Sure. We will provide more specific guidance after we finalize the fleet transaction. Looking ahead to 2024 and 2025, in 2024, we had significant inventory provisioning related to the Pratt program, estimated at around $35 million. Additionally, the FDS transaction impacted us by about $15 million. Neither of these will recur in 2025, which will create a favorable situation for us. However, there are some offsets to consider, including two payments related to the Walker Lane real estate: one for $6 million in 2025 and another for $6 million in 2026. We are also ramping up the Honeywell program in 2025, which will lead to an increase in inventory as we transition to manufacturing. These are some key factors. We are also focused on growing our earnings, which includes a working capital requirement for our business. Looking towards 2026, we aim to optimize our working capital efficiency, particularly concerning inventory. Moreover, our recent acquisitions, TCI and Kellstrom, are less intensive in working capital than our core operations, so we expect to see natural improvement throughout the year.

Michael Ciarmoli, Analyst

Got it. Helpful. And then maybe, John, just pivoting back on topline growth, when you laid out your kind of 2026 targets, I think that was 2023. I think the framework called for high single-digit organic. Obviously, the market continues to be strong, but you've got low double-digit potential. What's kind of driving that subtle upward shift in the organic growth? And I know you've got the licensing deals and broaden the portfolio. But any noticeable changes that as you guys look at the portfolio that has driven that slight uptick?

John Cuomo, President and CEO

What we're seeing in terms of our opportunities is quite balanced across the business. We haven't released a lot of flashy headlines about organic growth, but hopefully, there will be a few to share during the year. I actually prefer the more steady growth. Our model is very focused on OEMs, and as we collaborate with our OEM partners, we're experiencing our normal market growth alongside additional opportunities that arise from addressing their challenges. This balance is present across both the B&GA and commercial segments, as well as in our distribution and MRO capabilities. This gives us more confidence in our ability to outperform. Additionally, the exposure to engines from TCI and Kellstrom on the commercial side is noteworthy. The commercial engine market's natural growth rate is at the higher end, which is promising for us.

Michael Ciarmoli, Analyst

Yep. Got it. All right. Good stuff. Thanks guys. I'll jump back into the queue.

Operator, Operator

Our next question comes from Louie DiPalma of William Blair. Please go ahead.

Louie DiPalma, Analyst

John, Adam, and Mike, good morning.

John Cuomo, President and CEO

Good morning, Louis.

Louie DiPalma, Analyst

Congrats on the fleet deal. And related to the fleet deal, when that closes, will there be some trapped corporate costs? And I was wondering when taking into account some potential trapped corporate costs, what do you view as the pro forma margin for this year?

Adam Cohn, Chief Financial Officer

Yes, I can address that. We are anticipating some trapped corporate costs and are currently working to provide more precise guidance. When we announced the FDS transaction, we estimated around $3 million to $4 million in costs, and it seems we are leaning towards the higher end of that range. We will offer additional guidance on this next quarter. In terms of pro forma margins, while we won't provide specific figures, we do expect an improvement of over 100 basis points year-on-year due to lower margin contributions from the Wheeler business. Once we finalize the transaction and clarify the stranded costs, we will update you on pro forma margins.

Louie DiPalma, Analyst

Okay. Great. Thanks, Adam. And sticking to the topic of margins, John, I think you mentioned that you should finish the Honeywell OEM Solutions integration this year. How much of a margin uplift should that contribute for the 2026 year in terms of the remaining synergies there?

John Cuomo, President and CEO

Very little in 2026 because we've been able to capture, even as we implement, the margin improvement. We were ahead of plan last year in implementation and margin capture. The remainder will be seen in 2025, and then in 2026. I can provide a directional overview, and we can offer more clarity towards the end of the year. As we approach the third and fourth quarters, they should start to reflect what the 2026 margins will look like. It's an important note to consider, and as we reach that point, we can provide additional insights to the market.

Louie DiPalma, Analyst

Many VSE investors hope that Boeing will sell Aviall since it appears to be a great match for VSE. It's uncertain if that will occur. But for John, do you see it as a beneficial situation regardless? If Boeing retains Aviall, you will continue to capture their market share, but if they decide to sell it, it could potentially be a strategic advantage.

John Cuomo, President and CEO

Yes. Personally, I don’t expect the asset to come to market. When we consider Boeing in general, the entire market looks to them and supports their recovery efforts on the OEM side. Regarding the aftermarket, we are focused on differentiation and maintaining our market niche. If assets of various sizes come to market, we will assess if they are a good fit for us. With the fleet business wrapping up in the second quarter and our team performing well, we can consider larger assets than we usually do as they become available. However, I wouldn’t say there’s a need for us to pursue such a deal, and we are very comfortable with our existing M&A pipeline, which is more established and aligns with our market positions.

Louie DiPalma, Analyst

Great, Thanks, John. Thanks for having me.

Operator, Operator

Our next question comes from Jeff Van Sinderen of B. Riley. Please go ahead.

Jeff Van Sinderen, Analyst

Good morning, everyone, and let me add my congratulations. Just wanted to follow up on the last question there around Boeing. Just wondering, maybe you don't necessarily go after acquiring the assets, but are there opportunities you potentially could go after around them kind of exiting some of their businesses?

John Cuomo, President and CEO

There is one business currently in the market that I know of, though I say "currently" because all details are confidential during a deal. I've come across the same reports you have. This is not an asset we are considering; it doesn’t align with our portfolio. When I mention we can pursue a larger deal, it exceeds what we would normally consider at the moment. As far as we are aware, this is the only asset available right now. However, we have a strong pipeline of our own smaller to medium-sized deals. We view these opportunities both as partners and, in some cases, as competitors, and we plan to continue this approach.

Jeff Van Sinderen, Analyst

I wanted to clarify the progression of the overall aviation margin this year. I'm not sure if you were indicating that it would increase throughout the year, so I wanted to confirm that.

Adam Cohn, Chief Financial Officer

Yes. We do expect some ramp throughout the year, which is what you've seen. Obviously, fourth quarter was very strong for us on a margin standpoint. I think you'll expect to see that in 2025 as well.

Jeff Van Sinderen, Analyst

Okay, great to hear. Thanks for taking my questions.

Operator, Operator

Our next question comes from Josh Sullivan of The Benchmark Company. Please go ahead.

Josh Sullivan, Analyst

Hey, good morning.

John Cuomo, President and CEO

Good morning, Josh.

Josh Sullivan, Analyst

Just a broader question, I guess, on the aftermarket. How should we think of VSEC as OEM rates stabilize and ramp? I guess two parts. What are your general thoughts on the cycle? And then separately, how is VSEC now exposed with so many transformative actions in 2024 of TCI, Kellstrom, et cetera?

John Cuomo, President and CEO

That's a great question. Michael, what are your thoughts on how to address this?

Michael Perlman, Vice President of Investor Relations

We are quite confident in our production rates for OEMs from 2025 into 2026. Our unique value proposition allows us to adapt alongside the OEMs as their needs evolve, which positions us well as their priorities shift. Regarding TCI and Kellstrom, these companies are operating in the largest and fastest-growing segment of the commercial aviation aftermarket due to their focus on engines. We will keep leveraging existing opportunities with our current customers while we integrate these companies. Overall, we are optimistic about our outlook for 2025.

John Cuomo, President and CEO

Yes. I think regarding Michael's point, we feel very optimistic about 2025 and 2026. Looking at 2027, we still see growth opportunities. It's about how to adapt to new platforms and where to find additional work from OEMs. The revenue and organic growth might come from different channels rather than just a natural market decline or growth. However, we do not anticipate a market decline in the next three years at this time.

Josh Sullivan, Analyst

Got it. And then I guess just to that end, on TCI, you mentioned in the comments there that it's all about capacity expansion. How do we think of where capacity was when you first acquired the asset to maybe where it will be in 2026 once you're done integrating?

John Cuomo, President and CEO

Yes. It was and is an amazing asset. And as a private business, I think that you continue to invest to a certain level, and I think OEM partners will invest with you to a certain level. I think when you have a long-term stable public company approach like we do it creates both different opportunities on both sides of the table. So for us, we're looking at how do we double capacity in the total facility. And if we need expansion, we'll look at that as well. So I'd say it's a multiyear plan to kind of double capacity.

Michael Perlman, Vice President of Investor Relations

And that's where a lot of our investment dollars are focused, especially in 2025 is expanding MRO capacity, TCI and really across the board.

Josh Sullivan, Analyst

Great. Thank you for your time.

Operator, Operator

This concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Mr. John Cuomo for any closing remarks.

John Cuomo, President and CEO

Thanks everybody for the time today. Look forward to speaking with you in May to report our first quarter of 2025. Thanks and have a great day.

Operator, Operator

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.