K-Bro Announces 2016 Annual Results and Positions the Company for Growth

(TSX: KBL)

2016 Annual Financial Results

• Revenue for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2016 was $39.3 million and $159.1 million, respectively, increases of 4.2% and 10.1% over the comparable 2015 periods.
  
  
• EBITDA increased to $6.4 million for Q4, 2016 compared to $6.2 million in Q4, 2015.  On an annual basis, 2016 EBITDA increased by $1.1 million to $28.2 million compared to the 2015 fiscal year.
  
  
• EBITDA margin decreased in the fourth quarter to 16.3% from 16.4% in the comparative period of 2015.  For the year, the EBITDA margin decreased from 18.8% in 2015 to 17.7% in 2016.
  
  
• K-Bro declared dividends of $1.200 per common share and distributable cash was $2.76 per common share on a diluted basis.
  
  
• Net earnings after taxes decreased by $0.5 million to $11.5 million from fiscal 2015.

Highlights and Significant Items for Fiscal 2016 

K-Bro delivered strong financial results in 2016 driven by the operating results from all nine of its processing plants and two distribution centers.  Revenue increased in fiscal 2016 to $159.1 million or by 10.1% compared to 2015.  This increase was due to additional volume from the 3sHealth region associated with the commissioning of the new facility in Regina, additional awarded healthcare volume from the recently signed Vancouver lower mainland contract, organic growth at existing customers, and new customers secured in existing markets, offset by price concessions in Vancouver as a result of contractual terms related to a new ten year contract. 

EBITDA increased in the year to $28.2 million from $27.1 million in 2015, which is an increase of 4.0%.  The EBITDA margin decreased from 18.8% in 2015 compared to 17.7% in 2016.   The change in EBITDA and margin was predominantly impacted by one-time and transition costs associated with the relocation of our new Toronto facility and one-time and transition costs needed to support new business and resulting temporary capacity constraints in Toronto and Vancouver. Management estimates these one-time and transition costs incurred primarily in Q3 and Q4 to be approximately $0.9 million.

Near-Term and Long-Term Growth and Margin Impact

Management has embarked on a strategy in its Toronto and Vancouver markets that it believes will position the company for accelerated growth in its healthcare and hospitality businesses.  The strategy includes capital investments to build large efficient state-of-the-art facilities with meaningful additional capacity in Toronto and Vancouver.  K-Bro plans to finance the new Toronto and Vancouver facilities with the company's existing $85 million line of credit.  However, management intends to continually assess its opportunities to maintain a conservative amount of leverage and balance sheet flexibility in the short and long-term basis in order to ensure that sufficient capital is available for future growth needs.  In addition, the company will invest to upgrade one of its Vancouver plants to create a more efficient facility with meaningful additional capacity.

These investments are being made because management believes that new opportunities, both current and future, justify the significant additional capacity.   The company has already signed new accounts with combined annual revenue of $12.8 million in its Toronto and Vancouver markets during the past year.  

The construction and/or upgrade of three large facilities enable us to bid on a significant amount of additional business, but also will create margin pressure through 2017 and 2018 as the company incurs one-time and transition costs associated with these large investments.  While the margin pressure may vary by quarter through 2017 and 2018, management believes that the one-time and transition costs incurred in 2017 and 2018 will position the company to achieve more growth and a lower cost structure into the future and that the company will return to normalized margins closer to those achieved in 2015 as it enters 2019.

Toronto Contract Awards

During the first quarter, the Corporation was awarded a 5 year contract to provide laundry and linen services to St. Michaels Hospital. The contract contains two renewal options for an additional 2 years.  The contract extends the existing relationship between the Corporation and St. Michael's Hospital and is a result of a competitive RFP process.

K-Bro also announces today, that it has been awarded a contract to provide laundry and linen services to Trillium Health Partners.  The new contract is for 7 years with renewal options for an additional 8 years, and is a result of a competitive RFP process and management anticipates an additional $4 million in revenue as a result of this contract.

EDMONTON, March 24, 2017 /CNW/ - K-Bro Linen Inc. ("K-Bro" or the "Corporation") today announced revenue of $159.1 million and EBITDA of $28.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2016.  Net earnings after tax were $11.5 million, diluted earnings per common share were $1.44 and distributable cash was $2.76 per diluted common share for the year.

OUTLOOK

"We are pleased with the solid growth during 2016, driven by additional volume from the Vancouver lower mainland, 3sHealth contracts and customers secured in existing markets," said Linda McCurdy, President & Chief Executive Officer.  "We look forward to 2017, especially in light of securing two new Toronto healthcare contracts starting in 2017, and the renewal of an existing Toronto healthcare contract. In terms of our previously announced plant builds, we have nearly completed the successful transition of the volume to our newly constructed state-of-the-art Toronto facility and are confident that we will secure additional business to fill capacity.  We continue to make progress in the planning and design of our new Vancouver facility with a targeted completion date of 2018.  We view 2017 and 2018 as transition years that will impact our margins but once complete will enable us to realize additional efficiencies, increase capacity and increase market share.  While the margin pressure may vary by quarter through 2017 and 2018, we believe that the one-time and transition costs incurred in 2017 and 2018 will position the company to achieve more growth and a lower cost structure into the future and that the company will return to normalized margins closer to those achieved in 2015 as it enters 2019.  We remain excited about our growth plans and are confident in our ability to continue to provide value to our customers and our shareholders."

K-Bro also has several proposals pending and has entered into discussions with potential new customers.  In addition, K-Bro continues to seek potential acquisition candidates.  Neither the timing nor the degree of likelihood of success of any of these proposals or acquisitions can be stated with any degree of accuracy.

CORPORATE PROFILE

K-Bro is the largest owner and operator of laundry and linen processing facilities in Canada. K-Bro provides a comprehensive range of general linen and operating room linen processing, management and distribution services to healthcare institutions, hotels and other commercial accounts.  K-Bro currently operates nine processing facilities and two distribution centres under three distinctive brands, including K-Bro Linen Systems Inc., Buanderie HMR and Les Buanderies Dextraze, in ten Canadian cities: Québec City, Montréal, Toronto, Regina, Saskatoon, Prince Albert, Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver and Victoria.

Additional information regarding the Corporation including required securities filings are available on our website at www.k-brolinen.com and on the Canadian Securities Administrators' website at www.sedar.com; the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval ("SEDAR").

K-Bro est le plus important propriétaire et exploitant de buanderies au Canada. K-Bro fournit une gamme étendue de services de buanderie aux établissements de soins de santé, hôtels et autres clients commerciaux. K-Bro exploite actuellement neuf usines et deux centres de distribution sous trois entités distinctes, incluant K-Bro Linen Systems Inc., Buanderie HMR et Les Buanderies Dextraze, dans dix villes canadiennes: Québec, Montréal, Toronto, Regina, Saskatoon, Prince Albert, Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver et Victoria.

Vous pouvez obtenir des renseignements supplémentaires sur la Société, y compris les documents déposés auprès des autorités de réglementation, sur notre site Web, au www.k-brolinen.com et sur le site Web des autorités canadiennes en valeurs mobilières au www.sedar.com, via le Système électronique de données, d'analyse et de recherche (« SEDAR »).

TERMINOLOGY

Throughout this news release, and other documents referred to, and in order to provide a better understanding of the financial results, K-Bro uses the terms "EBITDA", "distributable cash" and "payout ratio". These terms do not have any standardized meaning under International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS") as set out in the CPA Handbook. Therefore, "EBITDA", "distributable cash" and "payout ratio" may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers.  Specifically, the terms "EBITDA", "distributable cash", and "payout ratio" have been defined as:

EBITDA is defined as earnings before interest, income taxes, depreciation, and amortization. EBITDA is not a recognized measure for financial statement presentation under IFRS.  The Corporation's EBITDA may also not be comparable to EBITDA used by other corporations, which may be calculated differently.  The Corporation considers EBITDA to be a meaningful measure to assess its operating performance in addition to standardized IFRS measures.  It is included because the Corporation believes it can be useful in measuring its ability to service debt, fund capital expenditures, and expand its business.

Distributable cash flow is defined by management as cash provided by operating activities, plus or minus the net change in non-cash working capital items, less maintenance capital expenditures and less cash taxes. Management believes this measure reflects the cash generated from the ongoing operation of the business. Distributable cash is an additional GAAP measure generally used by dividend paying corporations as an indicator of financial performance and it should not be seen as a measurement of liquidity or a substitute for comparable metrics prepared in accordance with IFRS.

Payout ratio is defined by management as the actual cash divided by distributable cash. This is a key measure used by investors to value K-Bro, assess its performance and provide an indication of the sustainability of dividends.  The payout ratio depends on the distributable cash and the Corporation's dividend policy.

Figures expressed in percentages are calculated from amounts rounded in thousands of dollars.

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

This news release contains forward-looking information that represents internal expectations, estimates or beliefs concerning, among other things, future activities or future operating results and various components thereof. The use of any of the words "anticipate", "continue", "expect", "may", "will", "project", "should", "believe", and similar expressions suggesting future outcomes or events are intended to identify forward-looking information.  Statements regarding such forward-looking information reflect management's current beliefs and are based on information currently available to management.

These statements are not guarantees of future performance and are based on management's estimates and assumptions that are subject to inherent risks and uncertainties, which could cause K-Bro's actual performance and financial results in future periods to differ materially from the forward-looking information contained in this news release.  These risks and uncertainties include, among other things, (i) risks associated with acquisitions, including the possibility of undisclosed material liabilities; (ii) K-Bro's competitive environment; (iii) utility and labour costs; (iv) K-Bro's dependence on long-term contracts with the associated renewal risk, (v) increased capital expenditure requirements; (vi) reliance on key personnel; and (vii) the availability of future financing. Material factors or assumptions that were applied in drawing a conclusion or making an estimate set out in the forward-looking information include: (i) volumes and pricing assumptions; (ii) utility costs; (iii) expected impact of labour cost initiatives; (iv) foreign exchange rates; and (v) the level of capital expenditures. Although the forward-looking information contained in this news release is based upon what management believes are reasonable assumptions, there can be no assurance that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements.  Certain statements regarding forward-looking information included in this news release may be considered "financial outlook" for purposes of applicable securities laws, and such financial outlook may not be appropriate for purposes other than this news release.

All forward-looking information in this news release is qualified by these cautionary statements.  Forward-looking information in this news release is presented only as of the date made. Except as required by law, the Corporation disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.

SOURCE K-Bro Linen Inc.

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