GDI Integrated Facility Services Inc. (GDI) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Mr. Chair, I can -- I hereby confirm that all registered shareholders or duly appointed proxy holders present in person at our office voted in favor of the motion.

I declare the motion carried. I would like to invite Claude Bigras, President and Chief Executive Officer, to provide an overview of the company's operations and financial performance for the 2021 fiscal year. Claude?

Thank you very much, Mr. Samuel. Good morning, and my apology. I would like to thank everyone for participating in GDI's Annual Meeting of Shareholders for our fiscal year 2021. There is no doubt that the last 2 years will stand out in history as a time where the world was forced to navigate through a global pandemic. We began 2021 with a high degree of optimism that the battle against COVID would be won, and regional economies and people lives would return to normal, which does not turned out to be the case. During 2021, GDI continued to work on the front line and deliver the essential services that our clients have relied on us to provide to keep their facilities safe and their occupants protected from the virus. I would like to start by thanking all of the people that make up the GDI family for their dedication and perseverance over the last 2 years. Your hard work, dedication, creativity and resilience continue to drive our success. I am happy to say that it appears that the worst of the pandemic is behind us in most regions in North America. We have seen a big significant reduction in government restrictions, the reopening of regional economies and a gradual reoccupation of office facility with a pace that is strengthening by the day. In many regions in Canada, in the United States, we expect that the reoccupation of facility to new post COVID normalized level will take place as the year evolves. We also expect that our clients will continue to require our enhanced cleaning and disinfecting services as the population in building densifies, which will also lead to further discussion regarding air quality and buildings at Ainsworth and will help to support a rebound in demand at our superior solution business. Because the company was extremely proactive throughout the pandemic, I believe that we were able to further differentiate ourselves in the market and considerably strengthen our value proposition to our clients. We leverage our deep in-house expertise in cleaning and disinfection to launch a number of initiatives designed to keep our client facility safe. This included the launch of our Clean for Health initiative, which combine knowledge and capabilities from a number of our different business segments, cleaning, technical service and janitorial product manufacturing in order to provide a complete solution that meets the challenge of the COVID-19. Our particularly innovative product of Clean for Health is our smartIAQ program, created by our Ainsworth technical service group that combined building automation, UV filtration technology and digital occupancy tracking to optimize air quality in buildings and minimize the risk of airborne transmission, creating a healthier indoor environment. GDI supports of its real estate community was rewarded last year by having won two very prestigious customer service awards from both BOMA Québec and BOMA Toronto. Again, I would like to congratulate our team to -- that was able to deliver such a service that was recognized by our client community. GDI value proposition resonates strongly with our key account customers. Facility and workspace services, including leading global cleaning and disinfecting solutions have become increasingly more important to our customer strategic agenda. Long-term key account partnerships are more likely to be built around comprehensive integrated facility services, or IFS as we call it, and a shared desire to attain excellence through quality, efficiency and compliance. This approach results in greater value for everyone, our customer, our people, our investors and society at large. During 2021, GDI delivered another consecutive year of solid financial performance, generating approximately $1.6 billion in revenues and over $130 million of adjusted EBITDA. We also continue to execute extremely well on our strategic growth plan by completing five acquisitions during the year and one after year-end. On a pro forma basis, this partnership had more than $500 million in revenues to our top line. They have established a new platform and new growth avenue for Ainsworth and superior solution in the United States, and we have almost doubled our U.S. Janitorial business with a major expansion of its footprint into the Southeastern United States. And we set the foundation for our business in the new generation to include energy advisory and energy efficiency expertise. I am proud of our new reform business with focusing on energy management and building technologies, as we view these initiatives are not only at the arch of the ESG movement, but they also represent key long-term drivers in the evolution of the real estate sector. GDI has grown into a leader in energy, engineering and energy advisory, and we believe that our engineering capabilities can be leveraged across our [indiscernible] effort, offering energy efficiency advisory services, turnkey design [indiscernible] projects with or without energy performance guarantees as well as energy-efficient street lighting and infrastructure management technologies to cities and municipalities. Having joined GDI in 1994, where we were a mere $18 million revenue janitorial-focused business in Montreal, I am stunned to see that our current revenue run rate is over $2 billion, and we continue to grow both revenue and earnings at a pace that is in line with our historic rates. In 2021, GDI took a major step forward in regards to our corporate responsibility with the formation of our new ESG Committee with a focus on formulizing and structuring the GDI environmental, social and governance efforts. This would be a major differentiator with our current and future clients as well as our employees. To date, we are seeing that social and corporate priorities and expectations are changing. Our stakeholders are expecting more than just bottom line metrics as they are deciding on which company to partner with. In conjunction with our financial performance, the inaugural ESG report outlines GDI's progress and continued commitment toward our people, the planet, our environmental footprint and our overall business performance. I'm very proud of the efforts and consideration that our team put into creating GDI's first ESG report and invite all of you to download it from our website at www.gdi.com. As I look back to 2021, I can't be more proud of the team at GDI at what we have accomplished. First and foremost, we acted as an expert adviser and trusted partner to our clients and played a critical role in keeping the occupant of their buildings safe from the virus. We considerably strengthened our value proposition to our client base and solidified our competitive position. We delivered record financial results and have grown GDI geographic into new regions while adding considerable talent to our management operations team. Finally, we have added some capability that place GDI at the forefront of the next generation of building technologies and position our company to continue to support our clients and deliver positive results to our shareholders well into the future. In the near term, I'm optimistic for our business as the great post pandemic office building reoccupation continues to take place and feel that GDI is in an extremely good position to grow and prosper in the new normal workplace environment. There would be new challenges on the horizon, managing our workforce in the face of labor shortage in many regions, dealing with the new inflationary economy, supply chain delays, slowing delivery of parts and equipment and global warming ongoing effect on the regions where we operate and the clients we serve. The whole GDI family is committed to overcoming those challenges and creating the opportunities for our business while helping our customers by delivering efficient and sustainable solutions to their buildings. I'm very proud of how we came together and successfully navigate through the COVID pandemic, and I am confident that we will work hard, and be creative and flexible to also overcome any new challenges that may arise. Again, a special thanks to all our shareholders. The entire team at GDI is continuously focused on creating value for you and all our other stakeholder. We are dedicated to this goal and our interests are aligned. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Claude. As mentioned at the beginning of the meeting, we have now reached the open period for questions. At this point, we would be happy to answer any questions registered shareholders, duly appointed proxy holders or guests may have. We will answer questions until the end of the meeting being 10 a.m. I ask that all persons who would like to take the floor clearly identify themselves by indicating their name, the entity they represent, if any, and confirm whether they are registered shareholders, duly appointed proxy holders or a guest. As mentioned at the beginning of the meeting, questions from registered shareholders and duly appointed proxy holders will be answered first, and questions from guests will be answered, if time allows. We will start with questions from registered shareholders and duly appointed proxy holders. We would like to remind shareholders that the questions may be asked in either English or French.

I would like to ask the operator to open the lines to questions, if any.

[Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from Pierre Langevin with Medici.

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There are no further questions at this time. Mr. Samuel, you may proceed.

If there are no further questions, we will terminate the meeting. The formal items of business is set out in the notice of the meeting have now been dealt with. As there is no further business to come before the meeting, I declare the meeting concluded. On behalf of management, our Board of Directors and everyone at GDI, I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for being here today. I would also like to thank all of our shareholders for their commitment and continued support. Most of all, I would like to thank our employees. The COVID-19 pandemic has been challenging for everyone. It is navigating troubling times that you really see the fabric and solidity of the company, and I can say that we are solid. Our employees are resilient, they're dedicated, they show up to work with the same will as before. It's incredible. And for that, I want to thank them. We are lucky to have each and every one of you. We look forward to seeing you again next year, hopefully, in person. Stay safe, everyone.

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes your conference call for today. We thank you for participating and ask that you please disconnect your lines.