Orion Marine Optimistic for 2015

Orion Marine Group, Inc. (ORN), a heavy civil marine contractor, has reported net loss for the three months ended March 31, 2015, of $258 thousand ($0.01 diluted loss per share).

These results compare to a net loss of $210 thousand for the same period a year ago.

During the first quarter 2015, ORN elected to accelerate the vesting of certain stock compensation granted to Jim Rose, former Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, who passed away during the quarter.

Excluding the one-time expense related to this acceleration, results for the quarter would have been $0.00 diluted earnings per share.

“We were pleased with solid asset utilization during the quarter,” said Mark Stauffer, Orion Marine Group’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “However, during the first quarter certain jobs experienced higher than expected costs, which we are hopeful will result in additional revenue in the future. We continue to be pleased with our backlog, record level of bids outstanding, our tracking database, and strong demand across our end markets. These factors will continue to support growth and margin improvement.”

Outlook

“We remain optimistic for 2015,” said Mr. Stauffer. “Demand from private and public sector clients continues to be strong. We are bidding on several large scale turn-key waterside infrastructure solutions for private sector clients, both domestically and abroad, specifically for midstream and downstream energy infrastructure customers and recreational customers.”

“Additionally, local port authority opportunities remain solid, many of which are related to the upcoming completion of the Panama Canal expansion project. This level of bid activity has led to a record amount of bids outstanding, which we are hopeful we will begin receiving awards on soon,” added Mr. Stauffer.

Chris DeAlmeida, Orion Marine Group’s Vice President and Chief Financial Officer said that during the first quarter, the company bid on approximately $320 million worth of opportunities and were successful on approximately $75 million.

This represents a 23% win rate and a book-to-bill ratio of 0.92 times for the quarter. “Currently, we have a record $374 million worth of bids outstanding, of which we have been notified that we are the apparent low bidder on approximately $37 million,” said Mr. DeAlmeida.

First Quarter 2015

• First quarter 2015 contract revenue was $81.5 million, which is comparable to the prior year period.
• Gross profit for the quarter was $8.5 million, which represents an increase of $0.8 million as compared with the first quarter of 2014. Gross profit margin for the quarter was 10.4%, which was higher than the prior year period of 9.4%. The increase was a result of continued incremental bid margin improvement along with a change in the mix of work performed in the quarter offset by higher than expected cost on certain projects.
• Selling, General, and Administrative expenses for the first quarter 2015 were $8.7 million as compared to $8.0 million in the prior year period. The increase in SG&A is primarily attributable to an increase in stock based compensation expense.
• The Company’s first quarter 2015 EBITDA was $5.3 million, representing a 6.5% EBITDA margin, which compares to first quarter 2014 EBITDA of $5.4 million, or a 6.6% EBITDA margin.
  Backlog of work under contract as of March 31, 2015, was $208.5 million, which compares with backlog under contract at March 31, 2014, of $255.3 million.