KBR - Q2 2024

Transcript

Operator (participant)

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to KBR's second quarter 2024 earnings conference call. My name is Kiki, and I will be your conference operator today. During the presentation, you will have the opportunity to ask a question by pressing Star followed by one on your telephone keypad. If you change your mind, please press Star followed by two. I will now hand you over to your host, Jamie DuBray, Vice President of Investor Relations, to begin. Jamie, please go ahead.

Jamie DuBray (VP of Investor Relations)

Thank you. Good morning, and welcome to KBR's second quarter fiscal 2024 earnings call. Joining me are Stuart Bradie, President and Chief Executive Officer, as well as Mark Sopp, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Stuart and Mark will provide highlights from the quarter and then open the call for your questions. Today's earnings presentation is available on the investor section of our website at kbr.com. This discussion includes forward-looking statements reflecting KBR's views about future events and their potential impact on performance, as outlined on slide two. These matters involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ significantly from these forward-looking statements, as discussed in our most recent Form 10-K, available on our website. This discussion also includes non-GAAP financial measures that the company believes to be useful metrics for investors.

A reconciliation of these non-GAAP measures to the nearest GAAP measure is included at the end of our earnings presentation. I will now turn the call over to Stuart.

Stuart Bradie (President and CEO)

Thanks, Jamie, and welcome to our second quarter earnings presentation. I will start on slide 5. As you've heard me say many, many times, KBR is a company that puts its people first. We strive to ensure our people have a strong sense of belonging, that they feel connected to each other and the company, of course, and can grow within an environment where they can bring their whole selves to work every day. Now, to test that we're actually delivering for our people in a broader sense, we regularly do a people survey, which is, in fact, anonymous, and the feedback ensures we are focusing in the right areas as we seek continual improvement, and it really helps us avoid any complacency. The survey results are also important, particularly as we bring new entities into KBR or new employees into the company.

This year, the participation levels increased 10% and were over 77.0%, which is actually our highest to date, and we feel gives a solid representation of how our people are feeling about being part of KBR. I'm pleased to share with you that we've been certified as a great place to work in 13 countries, and over 84% of our team members feel KBR is indeed a great place to work, and they would recommend KBR to friends. From an inclusion perspective, 85% feel they can be themselves, are heard, and that this is very much a value I hold very, very dear, so good performance there. Obviously, we are not perfect, but hopefully, this gives you a good feel that we walk the talk when it comes to our people. A big shout-out to our people, in fact.

So let's move on to slide 6 and discuss the quarter a little. So Q2, similar to the first quarter, was a clean quarter, with the businesses performing at or above expectations across all key metrics. As you can see, the revenue is up 6% year-on-year, but more importantly, adjusted EBITDA was up 13%, 13%, with margins at the group level up 75 basis points. Year-to-date cash conversion was a terrific 121%. So following on from a strong Q1, this gives us confidence to raise guidance, which Mark will cover in a moment. But in short, our people, and thus KBR, continue to deliver.

On the business growth side, our group book-to-bill on a trailing twelve-month basis was 1.0, and after adjusting for the large LNG project, was 1.2 times, which considering we also have substantially increased bid volume and awards awaiting decision, this really represents a strong quarter. We booked circa $2 billion at the group level and currently sit at 92.92% of work under contract for 2024, and this is an important takeaway, especially with continued volatility, both politically and geopolitically. Now on to slide 7. Firstly, we'll start on STS. The book-to-bill, after adjusting for the large LNG project, sits at 1.1 for the quarter, so good performance, and 1.2 on a trailing twelve-month basis.

As you can see from the awards highlighted below, we continue to lead the market in green ammonia with our first project in India and tenth project overall. Blue ammonia, however, continues to be more prominent due to affordability, and the contract with OCI reflects this. It's critical that we continue to ensure there is value add by delivering solutions that drive efficiency and improve yield. And this enables the energy transition, and I really think it's a key area of differentiation for KBR. In fact, there's actually only 2 blue ammonia projects in the world that have actually FID'd, Final Investment Decision. Both are using KBR's technology. These are the OCI plant in Beaumont, Texas, and Fertiglobe's in the UAE, which will make KBR's proprietary process technology the first to produce blue ammonia. So this, in addition to our industry position in green ammonia-...

As measured by licenses awarded, which is in a very, very strong position. We're also very, very excited about the award of a 5-year contract to help the Iraqi government develop their future plans across infrastructure, energy, and sustainable development. I believe this demonstrates a strong position in the Middle East that we highlighted at Investor Day, and ensures we are very much part of the early development conversations. Onto the government side, our book-to-bill sits at 1.1x in the quarter, and at 1.2x on a trailing twelve-month basis. Again, terrific performance. Awards under the IAC-MAC IDIQ contract vehicle continued to be solid, and we've highlighted in the slide the recompete win on the B-52 program that we've had actually for 8 years, which had a significantly increased value and additional scope for cybersecurity. It's a bit of a trend.

Now we do expect award volume to pick up in Q3 in this area, with over $2 billion worth of bids submitted and awaiting award under the IAC-MAC program alone. Quite substantial in that area. We've highlighted two large multiple award contract wins also in the quarter. Both are effectively a license to hunt and to enable rapid response mobilization if required. Now, notably, MQS-2 is with a new customer, which is always positive, the Defense Health Agency, and we'll report ongoing progress as we move on to task orders under these contract vehicles in the coming months. As we highlighted at Investor Day, our volume of bids overall in the government business and across that whole portfolio has increased significantly in 2024 and currently sits at over $8 billion. I will now hand over to Mark, who will give more detail on the financial performance. Mark?

Mark Sopp (EVP and CFO)

Fantastic. Hello, everyone. Thanks, Stuart. I'll pick up on slide 9. As you've just heard, we're really pleased with our Q2 performance, and that follows an already strong Q1, registering healthy top-line growth, strong profit margins, double-digit adjusted EPS growth, and year-to-date cash flow conversion of over 120%, all leading to a bump up in our full-year guide. As I said a number of times before, the day-to-day project performance across hundreds of engagements is a foundation of our consistently strong financial results, and this also pays recurring dividends with respect to client retention and employee engagement. We've seen delivering for our clients in critically important missions and projects around the world as a key enabler for the people survey results that Stuart just covered. Of particular note, adjusted EBITDA margins came in at about 11.5%.

This reflects superb client delivery and good cost discipline. Operating cash flow is $170 million for the quarter and $261 million year to date, as we continue progress on driving lower DSOs and overall demonstration of our low capital intensity business model. On to slide 10 for details on the segments. Sustainable tech has continued to deliver double-digit year-over-year growth, excellent profit margins, and equally good contribution to enterprise cash flow generation. Revenues grew 14% to $458 million, with all parts of the business contributing to that result. Margins were 21.4%, up from last year on a combination of intellectual property license mix, joint venture performance, and its highly efficient cost structure. For government, revenue grew 3% overall, where again, we saw a growth in international, defense and intelligence, and science and space.

Those up 11%, 5%, and 1% respectively. This is offset in part by contraction in readiness and sustainment, particularly for EUCOM activity down, as funding delays earlier in the year are still trickling through related to the Ukraine conflict. However, this is beginning to reverse as sequential growth from Q1 was up 7% in the readiness and sustainment segment, pretty much attributed to this, Ukraine area. Profit margins hit 10.4%, pretty much in line with expectations for GS in Q2. Now on to slide 11. Good capital deployment starts with good cash flow generation, which, as discussed earlier, was terrific for Q2. This enabled higher buybacks this quarter and also year to date, yet still reduced our leverage, which finished the quarter at 1.9x trailing twelve Adjusted EBITDA.

Specifically, we bumped up our buybacks to about $100 million in Q2 on top of the $50 million in Q1. Together with increased dividends in Q1, we have returned almost $200 million in cash to shareholders through the first half. Now, let me briefly cover how we plan to finance the acquisition of LinQuest. While we have cash and current revolver capacity to cover the full purchase price, we have commenced the process of tapping additional term loans to maximize our liquidity. Assuming we do that, we expect any new debt to be at the same or better rates than our existing debt. We'll also structure any new debt to allow for repayments, so we have the option of delevering as cash flows are generated down the road.

We expect the transaction to raise our pro forma net leverage to approximately 2.7x, give or take, post-closing. This leverage ratio is still at a comfortable level, and thus we still have capital deployment optionality across M&A buybacks and debt reduction options. Now on to Slide 12, forward guidance. We are raising our guidance for the year on profit and cash metrics, which is all organically driven. We are not and will not factor in any expected contribution from LinQuest until it closes. We will consider an update then, depending on when closing occurs and the materiality to the year at that point in time. Revenue guidance is unchanged at $7.4 billion-$7.7 billion.

However, with a strong first half operating performance, we are bumping up Adjusted EBITDA to a range of $825 million-$850 million, with a midpoint of $838 million. Our Adjusted EPS guidance is also increasing to $3.15-$3.30, with a midpoint of $3.23. Finally, with a strong year-to-date cash flow conversion, we're increasing our adjusted operating cash flow guidance to $460 million-$480 million. In summary, the core business is performing really well, and we are increasing the outlook for profit and cash flow production, certainly a great testament to the performance of our STS and GS operating teams. In addition, we're truly excited about the addition of LinQuest.

In fact, I've known this business for a really long time and have high confidence we will be an excellent home for their employees. The cultures align really well, and we expect robust synergy and customer delivery benefits for years to come. All of us really just can't wait to get started with our new colleagues on this exciting front. With that, back to Stuart.

Stuart Bradie (President and CEO)

Thanks, Mark. Terrific job, as always, and on to slide 13, and really to talk about LinQuest. What you see on the slide is the same as we published in our announcement last week, so I thought I would cover only a couple of points, and then I would touch on how the feedback has been since the acquisition was announced and how we're thinking about integration. So LinQuest, they're 1,500+ people, they really do amazing work, and they do that across national security space. So think Space Force, future air dominance, so think Air Force and JC2, and connected battlespace, so think interoperability and digital. I mean, their capability is highly complementary to KBR's, with little overlap, which I really think gives exciting synergy opportunities, and we've highlighted how those will work on the slide in there.

We're also excited the fact the margins are double digit, as is the pre-synergy growth profile, so absolutely terrific. And from a people perspective, the feedback on the announcement has been incredibly positive, in fact, positive on both sides. We hosted our first town hall with the LinQuest team last week, and there's a lot of excitement. LinQuest is a business we know very well, as, as Mark said earlier, we're located in many of the same locations. We've worked with them on numerous occasions, and importantly, the people know and respect each other, which I think is absolutely unique. We have common values, we have commitment to mission, and I think from a culture perspective, we see this as really, really a terrific fit. In terms of integration, we're actually feeling really good about it.

LinQuest already operates on many of the same ERP platforms, and for those that have done this before, that really is a big deal. So this greatly reduces the risk and importantly, the burden on the teams doing the integration. So I'm sure you can tell we're super excited about LinQuest joining the KBR family. This is not only a great fit with little overlap, but an acquisition that's absolutely bang on strategy and focused on delivering revenue synergies in very well-funded and critical end markets. Now, obviously, in the coming weeks, we'll be working through the HSR process, and hopefully, we'll close soon and more to come, and we'll update you in the next earnings call. Now on to slide 14, and I'll finish with some key takeaways.

Firstly, we've delivered a really strong first half performance across all key metrics, and as a result, as Mark presented, we are pleased to raise full year 2024 guidance on profit and cash flow. Secondly, our work under contract for 2024 today is at 92%, 92%, and bookings also ensure continued momentum, and the bids submitted and awaiting awards are at very, very high levels, as we explained earlier. Thirdly, LinQuest, as I said earlier, is bang on strategy, and we are super excited about it. Double-digit growth and double-digit margins. Really, really cool business. Lastly, at Investor Day, we emphasized our vision to continually move KBR into technology-enabled markets, where our high-end technical, digital, and deep domain expertise really allow us to differentiate while adding value in critical areas for our customers all across the world.

Now, following on these themes from IR Day and with LinQuest as a catalyst, we believe there are opportunities to realign our business to operate even better based on our capabilities and markets. The objective of this realignment will be to reduce complexity, realize synergies like AUKUS and One Saudi, as we presented at Investor Day, and it's likely we will manage both segments globally to allow greater standardization and business process optimization, which should drive efficiency. Now, we'll be working on this through the remainder of 2024, with an expectation to report along these lines in full year 2025. And to be clear, the segments and the enterprise targets for 2027 will remain intact through this realignment. This is very much a heads up, and we're going to continue to work on this through the remainder of the year, and we'll update you as we make progress.

Please stay tuned. Thank you again for listening, and I'll now hand back to the operator, who will open the call up for questions.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. If you would like to ask a question, please press Star followed by one on your telephone keypad now. If you change your mind, please press Star followed by two. Please ask only one question and one follow-up. When preparing to ask a question, please ensure your device is unmuted locally. The first question we received is from Tobey Sommer from Truist Securities. Toby, your line is now open. Please go ahead.

Tobey Sommer (Managing Director)

Thank you. Good morning. I was wondering if you could expand on that last bit and offer some more color, Stuart, on the realignments and what you think that will achieve for the firm? Thank you.

Stuart Bradie (President and CEO)

Yeah. Thanks, Toby. The objective will be to, as I said, reduce complexity. We'll move from three business units to two, effectively, with bits of what we've been describing as GSI, and I'll give you a good example. The Diriyah Gate project, which is a full-on project management of a new sustainable city in Saudi Arabia, that currently sits in the government segment but could, given its commercial contractual basis, given its program management at scale, and given where it is in Saudi, to realize our One Saudi vision and leverage our position across a broader customer base, that sort of project will move into STS going forward. So, another example would be the Sellafield decommissioning that we do in the nuclear arena.

Very much a sustainable project, currently sits within GSI, big programmatic, reducing carbon footprint, obviously managing a very tricky nuclear decommissioning, piece of work, and managing quite a significant supply chain there, very much in the daily work of STS also. So that's the sort of thing we'll be pushing across, STS will get bigger. As a consequence, as I said, the guide that we've given won't change, so we expect margins to hold up in STS as we go through this. But it certainly will obviously give us a, I guess, an overhead advantage as well as we go from three to two. And I think allow standardization and more commercial acumen in the areas where it's required. But the clear objective is to realize the synergies that we laid out at Investor Day. Does that make sense?

Tobey Sommer (Managing Director)

Absolutely. If I may sneak in a follow-up: From a geographic perspective, where do you see the, the most rapid growth across the enterprise over the next year or two?

Stuart Bradie (President and CEO)

I mean, I think it's, I think ultimately you're going to see a lot of growth in what we described as the Global South, particularly the Middle East. And I think you've seen that in—if you look at our, in our documents, you know, and that we—for, for this quarter, you'll see the increase in activity in the Middle East in particular. So I do see that from an energy perspective, going to be the area of significant activity. In terms of the government side, obviously, with the LinQuest acquisition, we obviously see a lot of activity happening in the U.S. also, but also, I think, continued emphasis on in the Pacific. So we do see increasing activity across things like AUKUS and sharing intelligence data and things across the allied forces. So I think you're going to see it in multiple places and depending on which business, Toby.

Tobey Sommer (Managing Director)

Thank you.

Operator (participant)

The next question on the line comes from Michael Dudas of Vertical Research. Please go ahead.

Michael Dudas (Partner and Senior Equity Research Analyst)

Good morning, Jamie, Stuart, Mark.

Stuart Bradie (President and CEO)

Morning, Mike.

Operator (participant)

Morning, Mike.

Michael Dudas (Partner and Senior Equity Research Analyst)

Stuart, you talked about visibility in the pipeline, and you highlighted some government service opportunities. Maybe you could share a little bit on the STS side on the pipeline. And looking at 2025, you know, how comfortable are you relative to what's in backlog and near-term bookings today to at least achieve the growth targets that you have?

Stuart Bradie (President and CEO)

Yeah, I think as we presented, I mean, the bookings in STS in the quarter, excluding the LNG project, were 1.1. So there's strong momentum there. I think that's similar to last quarter, actually, and on a trailing twelve-month basis, sitting at 1.2. So good, good, continued bookings in STS, a strong pipeline, really globally. But, as I said earlier, I think, a lot of activity in the Middle East. In fact, I was in Saudi last week with Jay, and so continued, continued confidence in their investment profiles there. So, so I, you know, we, we're not seeing a slowdown at all in that arena. And, energy security is very much on the agenda in a decarbonized way, as we've talked about before, as well as energy transition.

Probably energy transition moving a little bit slower, due to affordability questions, but which just brings energy security more to the fore because the demand in energy is still very much the same. So, yeah, no real change to really what we presented in Investor Day around that, around that, Mike.

Michael Dudas (Partner and Senior Equity Research Analyst)

Thank you. My follow-up is, any early read on the new government in the UK and how things may shake out?

Stuart Bradie (President and CEO)

Yeah, good question. The - I mean, the U.K. moves a bit quicker than some jurisdictions in this election process. You know, it sort of happened in a few weeks. The new government was elected on July the 4th, and the cabinet was in place by July the 5th. So it's a fully operational government. Parliament's back. They will go back on holiday, of course, in August, like most places, but it's all working. I do think there will be, as there always is with new governments, a review process, whether in defense or in other areas. But what we've seen so far is that the U.K. is very, very committed to NATO and what's happening in supporting Ukraine.

Already the defense and foreign ministers have engaged with, in fact, Zelenskyy was in the UK last week. So we don't see any slowdown in commitment there. In terms of their commitment to new energy, I think, Labour is actually even more committed to energy transition. So we, we see that as a, as a good opportunity going forward.

Michael Dudas (Partner and Senior Equity Research Analyst)

Thank you, Stuart.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. The next question is from Bert Subin from Stifel. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.

Bert Subin (Managing Director and Senior Equity Analyst)

Hey, thank you. Good morning, slash, afternoon, Mark and Stuart.

Stuart Bradie (President and CEO)

Hi.

Hi, Bert. Jamie too.

Bert Subin (Managing Director and Senior Equity Analyst)

Maybe just to kick off, it was a really strong second quarter for STS. I mean, the EBITDA growth was quite a bit better than expected. Sales growth continues to be robust. You know, I know you look at the book-to-bill on this business, and there's some questions around, like, as in—as Plaquemines starts to step back, you know, what the direction of the business is going to be. So could you give us some commentary, just maybe on, like, what you're seeing in the second half? Do you expect these kind of growth rates to persist? And then as you think out to 2025, 2026, 2027, and beyond, I mean, you highlighted the Middle East, you know, big program, we're still sort of waiting to hear from as Liquids-to-Chemicals, the Aramco. Just curious if there's any update there?

Stuart Bradie (President and CEO)

Yeah, I mean, I think in short, I mean, we're standing by our guide, and then I was very clear on that, but, well, we've upped the guidance a bit for this year, obviously, but our 2027 guide and our growth rates that we committed to at Investor Day are still there and very much robust, and we think we can achieve them. That's probably the first statement that you could get your arms around. STS is performing really, really well. I do think that we're seeing some movement in the LNG industry as well, post the Biden sort of moratorium there. I think some projects have been released, and I think that will be progressive until election day in November, and I think that market will start to move again. So we're feeling pretty upbeat about that.

And in terms of the Middle East, I think I, I covered off at Investor Day that, you know, the Middle East is more than just LTC, and Saudi is more than just LTC, with commitments around ammonia, commitments around new gas development and, et cetera. And that's the same in the UAE, it's the same in Kuwait, and it's the same in Oman. So, I think there's lots happening, across that area, and we're, we're very well present in all those markets. LTC, I know very much is frustrating, but we have been, you know, we, we, we're very client friendly, as you can be well, well, well aware and appreciate, and we have been not able to announce anything on that program.

We still feel really good about it, but we're not yet at liberty to disclose anything until we get permission from the customer, and that is yet to be forthcoming. So I apologize, Bert, but that's the best I can do right now. I'd say that we're, again, we're feeling pretty good about where we sit.

Bert Subin (Managing Director and Senior Equity Analyst)

Oh, that's super helpful. Thank you, Stuart. Just as a follow-up on the other side of the house in GS, you talked about a pretty substantial ramp up in bids, and it sounds like you're starting to see that. Could you maybe just help us understand, like, what changes by segments you had, based on what I think Mark said, 5% growth in DNI and 1% in SNS. So how do those ramp up into the targets you've given at Investor Day? And then regarding RNS, can you just give us some color on maybe early days of HomeSafe?

Stuart Bradie (President and CEO)

Yeah. So I think our bids, our bid target for this year is circa $12 billion in GS, and I think we've achieved $8 billion to date, so we're well on the path to achieve that, which is terrific. And what we've done is we've refined costs in other areas and put more effort into BD to ensure our rates are still competitive. We've centralized our big acquisitive project group into a centralized group that oversees and drives more volume, but obviously more quality through that pipeline, and we're seeing that manifest itself. And I think as I described earlier, we've really got a very strong IDIQ machine opposite IAC-MAC.

You know, we've got $2 billion awaiting award in that program alone, and that is absolutely significant. And we do expect, I guess, some ramp up in volumes of awards between now and October, just because of the cycle of government, and hopefully we'll see that coming in Q3. But this was all part and parcel of how we positioned Investor Day, very much strategically, how we aligned our targets, how we thought through how we could achieve those targets. So I think what you're showing is strategy in action. And, you know, for strategy to work and achieve your outcomes, you've got to also just deliver, and I think our teams are actually doing just that. So that's probably the best way to put that.

Bert Subin (Managing Director and Senior Equity Analyst)

Okay. And then just, just on the HomeSafe, it-

Stuart Bradie (President and CEO)

On the HomeSafe, yeah

Bert Subin (Managing Director and Senior Equity Analyst)

It started in April, I think, last when we spoke, it just starting. So, you know, maybe how that's progressing though, so far?

Stuart Bradie (President and CEO)

Yeah. I mean, the early moves have gone very, very well. The feedback on the quality and the service have been terrific. As you can imagine, the volumes are quite low, so we're all over that, so you would expect it. So, but so far, so good in that sense. We know we've got the supply chain lined up in terms of what we're thinking about, we've got to achieve in the next little while, so no issues there. In terms of public statements, TRANSCOM came out in May and basically said that, you know, we'll be progressively ramping up, particularly in the fall as we look at interstate moves, which is aligned with our program. We're testing for that, the systems right now, and so far, so good.

With a view that we'll be doing full domestic moves in the busy season of 2025. Now, obviously, the targets that we gave in Investor Day are a bit more conservative than that, and rightfully so. It's a new program, but we're doing all we can to achieve that and line up behind that expectation. But, you know, that's kind of where we sit today.

Bert Subin (Managing Director and Senior Equity Analyst)

Thanks very much, Stuart.

Stuart Bradie (President and CEO)

Thanks.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. The next question is from Brent Thielman, from D.A. Davidson. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.

Brent Thielman (Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst)

Hey, thanks. Good morning. Mark or Stuart, can you just talk about your expectations for RN and I guess, particularly your activities in Europe as you're moving into the second half of the year, and what's embedded in your outlook?

Stuart Bradie (President and CEO)

Yeah, I'll, I'll start, and Mark can jump in. I mean, RNS is actually quite interesting in, in what's happening there and its activity levels. So as you know, it, it slowed down a bit with the Ukraine supplemental, not being approved for some time and a bit of CR. Both of them are behind us. And, and we're seeing some, some movement there in, in EUCOM, but actually, if you look at the sequential growth, much of the sequential growth in RNS is actually coming from non-LOGCAP activities. So really a, a broader-based operational support business, which is actually a terrific fact set because we do expect EUCOM and the impact of EUCOM to come through in Q3 and Q4, based on our outlook. So, so I think that's, it's quite an interesting dynamic there. Mark, any more to say on that?

Mark Sopp (EVP and CFO)

No, I think you said it. I think RNS is more diversified than one might think, and so they've been active, you know, as we talked about, upping the bids, submittals by 50% this year, they're very much included, and they've expanded, their reach in their markets and are doing really well. On Ukraine, we will see. I did say that, you know, the trickle-down was a little slow in Q2. It did pick up toward the end, so we're optimistic the second half will be a little bit better than the first. And then we'll just, you know, play that as the government dictates, longer term.

Stuart Bradie (President and CEO)

Yeah, and we've got a couple of recent bids that we... You know, as ever, you're told you've won, and then they go into protest. And, you know, we do think these will be additive if the protest resolves in our favor, but we'll obviously update you on that, hopefully, in Q3 earnings. So we're feeling pretty good about RNS and that whole business performance.

Brent Thielman (Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst)

Got it. Okay, and then, Stuart, just your answer to one of the previous questions, talking around some of the opportunities in LNG percolating. Could, I guess, in particular, some of the opportunities here in the U.S., what might be embedded into your 2027 sort of financial targets for STS versus what isn't, especially related to those types of opportunities here in the U.S.?

Stuart Bradie (President and CEO)

Yeah, and I mean, in the 2027 numbers, and the reason we put out to 2027 is to really answer that question. We do, we do believe there's enough globally in LNG, not just the US, and we've talked about our project management work in Abu Dhabi, and we've talked about where we are in the Middle East, as in the broader Middle East as well, and the activities we're doing in and around Oman. So I'm thinking that LNG will pick up also in the US, but really our targets in 2027 are not dependent on LNG. We think the markets are broader. We think our positioning in those markets are strong enough to achieve targets.

You know, LNG does factor in, you know, a bit, but it, we're not absolutely holistically dependent on that. As you know, we run a probabilistic model, where we do what's the chance of projects going ahead? What's the chances of us getting them? So there's a whole mix of opportunity in there, and if we win our fair share, I think we can... We, you know, if we win LNG, that's great. But at the end of the day, I think there's enough opportunity to stand behind those targets.

Brent Thielman (Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst)

... Very good. Thank you.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. The next question is from Steven Fisher from UBS. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.

Steven Fisher (Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst)

Thanks. Good morning. Nice to see the guidance increase. I'm just curious on that guidance increase, if you could maybe bridge us between the old EBITDA and EPS guidance to the new guidance. I'm curious, you know, was it more kind of contingency captures in the first half that drove the increase, or was it, you know, more on the business wins? And then I'm curious to know if there was anything that was restraining the outlook there or any new headwinds that came up that had to be, you know, blended in that guidance change.

Stuart Bradie (President and CEO)

Yeah. Steve, the increase in guidance was driven by operational performance, full stop. You know, our people deliver day in, day out. I've said it many times, they're absolutely terrific, and they continue to perform. So, really, really strong operational performance that drove the guide. In terms of our outlook, you know, we gave, I guess, a modest increase in guidance, but an increase nonetheless. And, you know, we're about to enter quite volatile times in the U.S., as you can imagine, with elections looming and all the noise before then and probably after then also. So we've been a little bit, you know, sensible and prudent in terms of how much we raised. And we'll see where we land in Q3.

You know, we'll see what's in the backlog and how we're performing and what impact some of this volatility has, both in the U.S. and outside, of course. That's really the basis of why we've guided up, but perhaps been quite prudent in doing so.

Steven Fisher (Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst)

Okay, that's helpful. Then related to the LinQuest, relative to the 12%+ growth rate that you cited in 2024, what's the growth rate that you're embedding in there in the multiple that you called out, I guess, implied EBITDA for 2025? It seems like you're implying around $65 million-$70 million of EBITDA next year, but it's a little hard to tell based on the tax benefits, trying to back into it. Then is that going to be immediately accretive upon close, or will it take some time to be accretive?

Stuart Bradie (President and CEO)

Yeah, the growth that we've looked at going into 25 is in low double digits. And we think—well, we know through diligence, they've got the backlog and the contract vehicles to achieve that, and that excludes synergies. So I think we're feeling really good about that. And in terms of accretion, yeah, it's accretive from day one on a cash basis. And yeah, as you would expect with something of that growth and those margin performances. And I think we paid, you know, a sensible multiple for it, that we were, we had, you know, quite, we didn't get deal fever or anything like that. We had a very sensible discussion with the owners, Madison Dearborn, and I think they recognized KBR was a good home for this business.

And certainly the two management teams got on very well, as I said, through the process. So we're feeling real good about it.

Steven Fisher (Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst)

Great. Thank you very much.

Stuart Bradie (President and CEO)

Thanks.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. The next question is from Mariana Perez Mora from Bank of America. The line is now open. Please go ahead.

Samantha Stiroh (Global Research Analyst)

Hi, this is Samantha Stiroh on for Mariana. So you mentioned that the volume of bids at GS is increasing substantially. So for those new bids, is it kind of a greater volume of the same types of work, or have you been seeing KBR able to address maybe like a wider scope of type of work, if that makes sense?

Stuart Bradie (President and CEO)

Yeah, it does. I think it's a bit of both. I certainly think that, you know, with that, there are obviously similar pieces of work as we do now because we're very and ever present in those markets. But we are seeing, I guess, a lot of activity in things like human health performance that, you know, we got involved in through initially NASA and then the POTFF contract, and we're seeing you know, we strategically leapt forward there. We think we've got great differentiation and performance, and we're obviously penetrated into new customers as we presented today. So I think it's really a bit of both. We're seeing far more opportunity in the digital cyber world than we've seen historically.

And, you know, that's again obviously market driven, but I think our credentials stand up to scrutiny there. So, I do think it's a bit of both, but we're forever aligning on our vision, and that's to continually move upmarket and be differentiated based on our technologies and our capabilities. And those are the new type bids we're going after.

Samantha Stiroh (Global Research Analyst)

Great. Okay, I'll keep it at one. Thank you so much.

Stuart Bradie (President and CEO)

Thank you.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. The next question is from Andy Kaplowitz from Citigroup. Andy, your line is now open. Please go ahead.

Andy Kaplowitz (Managing Director and US Industrial Sector Head)

Hey, good morning, everyone.

Stuart Bradie (President and CEO)

Morning, Andy.

Andy Kaplowitz (Managing Director and US Industrial Sector Head)

Morning. Stuart, obviously, you're still bullish on STS GS, but just to be clear, we understand that Plaquemines will still burn. Do you think you could grow backlog from here over the next few quarters in STS? And maybe elaborate on this transition from energy transition type projects in STS to energy security. Some of it could be LNG, as you said, but what are other types of energy security projects that you're seeing that could offset or more than offset if energy transition works a little slower?

Stuart Bradie (President and CEO)

Yeah, so just on the market in general, to start there. So the energy demand is growing, and it's growing significantly, particularly in the Global South, as the more developing nations become more developed. And, you know, that's, and you can see that. So that dynamic is not going away. Energy transition projects are still growing, but I think the whole market believed they would grow faster. But there are affordability issues, particularly around green molecules versus, say, blue. And I presented a bit of that in my prepared remarks. So we are seeing energy transition growing, but to meet demand, energy security has to grow faster, albeit in a decarbonized way.

So I think the programs that were mentioned earlier, things like liquid to chemicals, gas monetization, LNG projects, all your traditional sort of hydrocarbons, transition fuel type opportunities, as I say, with electric drives or using renewable power or carbon sequestration, et cetera, to make them more blue, is really sort of at the forefront. So that's kinda where the market is heading today, and certainly that was echoed by Aramco when I met the CEO last week. It was echoed by SABIC when I met the CEO there last week, and I think you're hearing it from the majors like BP and Shell, other than Exxon, et cetera. So but at the same time, you are seeing companies like BP and Shell move into the ammonia market for the very, very first time.

You know, and I think our recent announcements and our successes with those international energy companies, as they diversify their portfolio to get ready for energy transition, is clear. So I think we're really, you know, very well positioned in both sides. And, as I say, demand overall is not reducing. Fulfilling that demand and the balance between it may differ a little, but I think we're very well placed to take advantage of both sides and actually take advantage of the overall demand. And given where it's a lot of that demand is happening, again, you have to be ever present or omnipresent there, and I think we have presented that in Investor Day, that we're very well positioned in these markets. So I think that's why you're seeing strong performance in STS.

That's why we remain very bullish on the performance and the outlook for STS, and so may it continue.

Andy Kaplowitz (Managing Director and US Industrial Sector Head)

And then Stuart, or Mark, equity and earnings of consolidated affiliates has continued to pick up in Q2 was higher again. Is that Plaquemines' contribution continuing to pick up, or is there anything else helping, and is the run rate in Q2 the right level of equity earnings to model moving forward?

Mark Sopp (EVP and CFO)

I think, I would say, Andy, that Plaquemines, or VG sometimes is said, is pretty much at peak right now. And so, that is contributing quite a bit to the equity and earnings that you're seeing. It'll stay strong, and it'll start to wane off from that project, you know, a little bit in 2025 and more so in 2026. What we're also seeing, which is terrific, is really strong programs like Aspire. Our Brown & Root joint venture is benefiting from the energy security dynamics that Stuart mentioned earlier, and those contributions have continued to grow, you know, not at quite the pace as the LNG project as it has ramped up to its peak here, but has really come along really well. And so it's more diversified than you might think in that line.

You know, that is healthy for a lot of reasons. You know, that number might dissipate just a little bit this year, from the 40 you see this quarter, but not much. Pretty steady.

Andy Kaplowitz (Managing Director and US Industrial Sector Head)

Appreciate the color.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. The next line is from Sangita Jain, from KeyBanc Capital Markets. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.

Sangita Jain (Senior Equity Research Analyst)

Hi, thanks for taking my questions. So the first one on, Plaquemines. Can you tell us when we should expect that book-to-bill headwind to go away? I understand it's burning at peak rates right now, but just from a modeling perspective, when should we think of that normalizing?

Stuart Bradie (President and CEO)

Oh, probably halfway through next year.

Sangita Jain (Senior Equity Research Analyst)

Okay, got it. And as a follow-up, can I ask you about the LinQuest acquisition? It seems like it was an acquisition from a private equity firm. Was that a competitive process? And are you seeing more or less of those kind of deals coming through your way these days?

Stuart Bradie (President and CEO)

Yeah, it was a competitive process, and... But I, you know, through that process, I think we very much aligned with management on values and outlook and, and, opportunity. And I think that played a part into us getting into a very strong position at the end. But yes, it was a competitive process that was circumvented somewhat and narrowed down quite quickly, which was terrific. But again, I would say that we kept our discipline through the process. In terms of what we're seeing, yeah, there's quite a bit in the market today. And, you know, but, but like, like all things in this area, we have to be-- Well, A, they, they, they have to be...

at a reasonable price, but also they have to fit strategically. We don't buy to bulk out, we buy it for strategic acceleration, et cetera. So we'll continue to look. As Mark said, you know, we do have some firepower. We are happy for the leverage to tick up a bit if it makes sense, and we've got a deleveraging story, and we're still very much in the healthy balance sheet zone. So, but yeah, the market's quite active just now.

Sangita Jain (Senior Equity Research Analyst)

Great. Thank you so much.

Stuart Bradie (President and CEO)

And saying all that, we need to close LinQuest, get through HSR, through the integration, deliver, if there's any upside to that, deliver it this year and really get that business off to a firm footing, and that's really our primary mission.

Sangita Jain (Senior Equity Research Analyst)

Understood. Thank you.

Stuart Bradie (President and CEO)

Thanks.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. The next question is from Gautam Khanna from TD Cowen. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.

Gautam Khanna (Managing Director and Senior Analyst)

Thanks. Good morning. I was curious, the mechanics that you expect on Liquid-to-Chemicals, like, how does that appear in backlog and when? Like, what's sort of the milestones that we should be looking for? And is it gonna be like a major kind of lump sum booking at some point in the next couple quarters, or is it gonna be more incremental over a number of years? If you could frame that for us.

Stuart Bradie (President and CEO)

Yeah. I think, Gautam, the way that Aramco typically work in these big programs is, they do things called WIRS, which is a work authorization request, and you agree what the level of effort is there. So it's more incremental than the big bang booking. And, you know, so that's the way it's gonna come through in backlog. So I think the best way that we, when we can talk about it, we will describe what we think it could be, but we'll be very clear of what is and what is not in backlog and how we see that coming through over time. But typically it's more a slow burn than a big bang.

Gautam Khanna (Managing Director and Senior Analyst)

Okay. And then just to put a finer point on the second quarter STS bookings, recognize the backlog came down, but you know, some of that reflects the Plaquemines. What were the orders, the actual, like, dollar value of orders that were received in the quarter for STS?

Stuart Bradie (President and CEO)

Well, it was 1.1 times the burn, excluding... Yeah, it's 1.1 times the revenue, the revenue, as I stated.

Gautam Khanna (Managing Director and Senior Analyst)

Yes.

Stuart Bradie (President and CEO)

Because obviously, the Plaquemines burn doesn't come through revenue.

Gautam Khanna (Managing Director and Senior Analyst)

Roughly $500 million, give or take.

Stuart Bradie (President and CEO)

Yeah.

Gautam Khanna (Managing Director and Senior Analyst)

Okay. Roughly $500 million. And then last question on LinQuest. I was curious, do they have any set-aside business that may fade over time, or is it 100% full and open?

Stuart Bradie (President and CEO)

It's 100% full and open. There's no small business in there at all.

Gautam Khanna (Managing Director and Senior Analyst)

Thanks a lot, guys.

Stuart Bradie (President and CEO)

Thanks, Gautam.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. The next question is from Jerry Revich from Goldman Sachs. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Adam Bubes (VP and Equity Research)

Hi, this is Adam on for Jerry. Good morning.

Stuart Bradie (President and CEO)

Morning, Adam.

Adam Bubes (VP and Equity Research)

You were selected as one of the 11 awardees on the $43 billion MQS-2 contract. You know, what % of that $43 billion could flow to KBR over time, and how are you thinking about the timing of that ramp?

Stuart Bradie (President and CEO)

Yeah, I think, as I said, we're very excited about the award. I mean, it's a substantial ceiling value. We are very excited. It's a new customer and really sort of reinforces our credentials in the human health side of our business. But given it's a new customer and a new contract, I really don't want to speculate, Adam, as to the volume that could come through. Each of the awards is a separate work order, if you like. You know, I think it could get up to... Well, we don't know, is the answer, but $40 million-$60 million a year, as a sort of base, if you know, if it's less or more than that, I guess we'll tell you. But I would—I'm absolutely speculating.

We're just, we're brand new in, we think it could do very well for us, but I don't want to get out in front of our skis. I would very much say it's new business for us, so it's, it's kinda upside. And as we get into it a bit more, I'm sure we can report, I guess, on activities there. But, but I think you should view it as very, very good news. I think you should view it as a step forward strategically in that arena, and I think you should see it as potential upside as we move forward.

Mark Sopp (EVP and CFO)

I'll add that, you know, we've really been on a good run in this area. As we said earlier, Health and Human Performance is a real niche and great performer within our portfolio. I'll also add that on this particular award, we're really the only quote, unquote, "household name" of the awardees. And so there are niche players in the other 10, but we're, I think, the biggest and the most recognizable, maybe most able to deliver a wide variety of capabilities here. So pretty excited about that, but it's early days, as Stuart said.

Adam Bubes (VP and Equity Research)

Then in STS, can you just update us on your plastics monetization progress? Where do we stand in the construction progress on projects that have moved, moved forward so far? And what's the timing of additional projects moving to construction phase?

Stuart Bradie (President and CEO)

... Yeah, so we've got, again, I think we said this at Investor Day, we've got three under construction today. The one in the U.K., the Wilton site, is a stick build. It started before we got involved with Mura. They have progressed slower than expected, and we do expect them to be producing product in Q3. And so that's sort of right now. And the other one where we have been involved is in Korea with LG Chem, where we modularize the solution, and I think it's been proven that we've taken a year off the execution schedule as a consequence. And they're looking to reach mechanical completion at the end of Q3. So very much, you know, on schedule and doing very, very well.

And then the third one's in Japan, which will be in Q1 next year. Again, we've been party to that. So, so I think that's where the three under construction sit. Over and above that, we have opportunities in Europe and North America that are very well mature. The key to unlock is actually, well, this is a Stuart view, if you like, is actually producing product in one of these sites, but probably in the UK. We've had a number of interested parties through the site to see progress and to see what the plant looks like in face-to-face, if you like, and all very, very positive.

So there's a number coming behind it, but the key to unlock the market is to, like all new technologies, although we're very, very confident, we've got to get this facility up and running and producing. I think once that happens, I think you'll see a lot of activity in that marketplace.

Adam Bubes (VP and Equity Research)

Great. Thank you.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. As we currently have no further questions, I will now hand back to Stuart Bradie for closing remarks.

Stuart Bradie (President and CEO)

Thank you, Kiki. So thank you again for taking the time to listen to our prepared remarks and the questions, obviously, today. We're very excited about the addition of LinQuest. As you've heard on numerous occasions through this call, we think it's a terrific acquisition and really accelerates our strategy in the, particularly around the mission IT set. It's a real capability and customer play for us, and really strong synergy opportunities. I'll reiterate, none of that is in the guidance. And so once we get through HSR and close, obviously, we'll be having a look at that. But to get halfway through the year with a little bit of overperformance, prudently raise guidance in a volatile world, I think really sends a strong signal to the market.

We're feeling really good about our operational performance and our backlog and also our pipeline of potential bookings going forward. So all up, very pleased with where the company's at halfway through the year. A lot of work and a lot of wood to chop, obviously, to get to the end of the year, but so far, so good. So thank you very much.

Operator (participant)

This concludes today's conference call. You may now disconnect your lines. Thank you.