Slow First Quarter in Western Canada Drops WesternOne Revenues

WesternOne Inc. posted $32 million in first quarter consolidated revenue, compared to $88.3 million in the first quarter of 2015. Gross profit was roughly half last year’s first quarter total, $13.2 million compared to $26.6 million a year ago and adjusted EBITDA dropped from $16.2 million to $6.2 million.

WesternOne’s infrastructure services division’s decline was not as severe, with first quarter revenue of $22.3 million compared to $30.3 million a year ago, a 26.4-percent decline, because of lower rental volume and rate compression caused by increased competition and excess supply of fleet primarily in the Alberta markets. Also mild winter temperatures negatively impacted construction heat rentals and fuel sales. The decline was partially offset by higher aerial fleet utilization as a result of increased demand from film and television production sectors in British Columbia.

“Our Q1 operating results reflected ongoing economic challenges prevalent in the industrial sectors in which we operate,” said Peter Black CEO of WesternOne. “To ensure financial flexibility we continued to strengthen the balance sheet by means of generating positive operating cash flow and reducing indebtedness through disciplined management of capital allocation and operating costs. We also actively seek to generate earnings by continued diversification of our revenue base, including further penetration of the permanent modular construction markets for Britco and refining the sales strategy in both existing and potentially new markets for WIS.”

WesternOne Rentals & Sales, based in Vancouver, B.C., Canada, is No. 45 on the new RER 100.