WesternOne Inc. posted CDN $116.6 million (about U.S. $107.1 million) in first quarter revenue, compared to $77 million for the same period in 2013, a 51.4-percent increase. Gross profit increased from $21.1 million a year ago to $23.7 million, a 12.3-percent hike, while adjusted EBITDA rose modestly from $12.7 million to $12.9 million.
WesternOne’s North American operations posted revenue of $99 million, and adjusted EBITDA of $14.2 million, representing year-over-year organic growth of 82.5 percent in revenue and 13.2 percent in EBITDA.
WIS, WesternOne’s infrastructure services division, recorded revenue of $29.2 million and adjusted EBITDA of $10.3 million, representing organic growth of 48.3 percent and 40.4 percent respectively. The growth was driven by higher rental rates, the company said, as well as fuel sales because of the cold winter; returns from incremental fleet investments; and contributions from a new branch in Fort McMurray, Alberta, launched in the fall of 2013.
Britco, WesternOne’s modular construction and rental division, recorded revenue and adjusted EBITDA of $87.4 million and $4 million, respectively. Revenue leapt 52.6 percent, while adjusted EBITDA decreased 38.3 percent year over year. The revenue growth was the result of an increase in site construction work relating to the Manitoba Hydro Keeyask workforce accommodation project, as well as higher production volume from Britco’s operations in the United States. The drop in adjusted EBITDA was the result of operating losses and lower modular construction margin in Canada because of sales product mix.
“We are pleased to see the strong organic growth from our North American operations in the first quarter, in particular the WIS platform, which delivered significant growth in revenue and adjusted EBITDA due to strategic fleet investments and expansions into new niche markets,” said WesternOne CEO Robert King. “The Britco platform continued to execute on both onsite and offsite workforce accommodation projects in Western Canada. For future work camp projects, we will partner with other service providers so that we can focus on the offsite modular manufacturing work. We continue to execute our long-term strategic plan that is focused on growth in the energy, construction and infrastructure sectors.”
WesternOne Rentals & Sales, based in Vancouver, B.C., Canada, is No. 44 on the RER 100.
