Stantec - Q4 2023

Transcript

Operator (participant)

Welcome to Stantec's year-end and fourth quarter 2023 results webcast and conference call. Leading the call today are Gord Johnston, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Theresa Jang, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Stantec invites those dialing in to view the slide presentation, which is available in the Investors section at stantec.com. Today's call is also webcast. Please be advised that if you have dialed in while also viewing the webcast, you should mute your computer as there is a delay between the call and the webcast. All information provided during this conference call is subject to the forward-looking statement qualification set out on slide 2, detailed in Stantec's Management's Discussion and Analysis, and incorporated in full for the purposes of today's call. Unless otherwise noted, dollar amounts discussed in today's call are expressed in Canadian dollars and are generally rounded.

With that, I'm pleased to turn the call over to Mr. Gord Johnston.

Gord Johnston (President and CEO)

Good morning, and thank you for joining us today. 2023 was a remarkable year for Stantec, and I'm very proud of what we accomplished. We achieved record financial results and delivered our best year ever for organic net revenue growth. We grew our employee base by 5% through organic hires, another record, while maintaining our best-in-class employee retention rates. For a fifth consecutive year, Stantec has been ranked by Corporate Knights as a top ten global leader in sustainability, and once again, we ranked first amongst our peers. None of this would have been possible without the dedication, passion, and commitment of our employees, and I'd like to thank each individual for their contributions. We started 2024 strong from an M&A perspective and have already closed both the ZETCON and the Morrison Hershfield acquisitions.

These are both top-in-class firms, and with the addition of their talented employees to the Stantec team, we are now sitting at over 30,000 people around the world. Closing these acquisitions early in the year helps us jumpstart our new 2024 to 2026 strategic plan. Turning to our 2023 financial results. Overall, we grew net revenue by 14% year-over-year, with almost 10% coming from organic growth. Market demand in 2023 was particularly robust in our water and environmental service business units and in the U.S., with each delivering double-digit growth for the year. Our strong operational performance drove record-high adjusted EBITDA of CAD 831 million and an EBITDA margin of 16.4%. And as a result, we delivered significant adjusted EPS growth of 17%, achieving a record high of CAD 3.67.

Our U.S. business achieved very strong results, with over 18% growth in net revenue for the year, more than 12% of which came from organic growth. In 2023, we achieved organic growth in every one of our business units, with water, building, and energy and resources, each delivering double-digit organic growth. The demand in public sector and industrial projects, as well as large-scale water security projects, drove a 25% increase in organic growth for our water business. Our buildings business benefited from higher activity levels in healthcare, industrial, and science and technology projects. And energy and resources continued to support Puerto Rico's hurricane recovery, including the upgrading of its power grid, contributing to solid revenue growth. So overall, a very, very solid year for our U.S. operations.

In Canada, we achieved greater than 8% organic net revenue growth, which surpassed our expectations for the year. Environmental services, infrastructure, and water each delivered double-digit organic growth. Strong demand for permitting and archaeological work drove growth for environmental services, particularly in Western Canada, for the midstream energy sector and in Ontario for large-scale transportation projects. Activity on environmental impact assessments in the renewable energy sector also contributed to revenue growth. Infrastructure revenue growth was driven by heightened activities around bridge and roadway work in Western Canada. Our expertise on large wastewater infrastructure projects drove growth in water, especially from work on the Iona, BC, and Barrie, Ontario, wastewater treatment facilities. Moving to global, we delivered 6.5% organic growth, driven by double-digit growth in water and energy and resources.

Our industry-leading water business remained very active, supporting long-term framework agreements and investments in water infrastructure in the UK, New Zealand, and Australia. In energy and resources, double-digit organic growth was driven by the advancement of our work on the Coire Glas Pumped Storage Energy project and increased activity related to the national grid framework in the UK. E&R also continued their work on mining activities around copper and other metals that support the energy transition. And now I'll turn the call over to Theresa to review our financial results in more detail.

Theresa Jang (EVP and CFO)

Thanks, Gord. Good morning, everyone. We closed out the year with a solid quarter of performance in Q4, contributing to another record year for Stantec.

... In Q4, gross revenue was up 6% compared to Q4 2022 at CAD 1.6 billion, while net revenue was up 10% at CAD 1.2 billion. Project margin was right in the middle of our targeted range of 53%-55%, but decreased 100 basis points compared to Q4 last year, in part due to changes in project mix in the US. This, along with the quarter's 90 basis point impact from the revaluation of our long-term incentive plan, contributed to the reduction in adjusted EBITDA margin to 15.7%. Diluted EPS in the quarter was CAD 0.66, and adjusted diluted EPS was CAD 0.82, both consistent with last year. Excluding the effect of the LTIP revaluation, our Q4 adjusted EPS was CAD 0.90.

Turning to our full year 2023 results, we generated gross revenue of CAD 6.5 billion and net revenue of CAD 5.1 billion, a 14% increase for both over 2022. Project margin for 2023 was a solid 54.2%, consistent with last year, and adjusted EBITDA increased by 15% to CAD 831 million. We increased our adjusted EBITDA margin by 20 basis points to 16.4% within our targeted range. This was despite a 70 basis point impact from LTIP revaluation, resulting from the 64% depreciation in our share price for the year. Excluding this, adjusted EBITDA margin was 17.1%.

Our full-year diluted earnings per share reached a record high of CAD 2.98, and our adjusted diluted EPS was CAD 3.67, up 34% and 17% respectively, despite the CAD 0.24 unfavorable impact from the LTIP revaluation. Increased earnings also reflect the successful completion of our 2023 real estate strategy. We're pleased to have achieved the targets we set out three years ago by delivering approximately CAD 0.38 of incremental adjusted EPS and reducing our real estate footprint by over 30% from our 2019 baseline. Now, turning to our liquidity and capital resources. 2023 was one of our strongest years for operating cash flow generation at CAD 545 million, compared to CAD 304 million in 2022.

Cash flow this year benefited from a full year of operations post Cardno integration, as well as increased revenues and diligent management of our working capital, as shown by our 4-day reduction in DSO from 81 days to 77 days. Increases in operating cash flow were partially offset by higher tax installment payments, driven in part by the impact of US Section 174 and higher interest payments. In 2023, we returned more to our shareholders in dividends, but we were less active with share buybacks compared to 2022. As at December 31, our net debt to adjusted EBITDA was 1x, well within our internal leverage range of 1-2x, positioning us very well to fund our acquisitions of ZETCON and Morrison Hershfield in the first quarter of 2024. With that, I'll turn the call back to Gord.

Gord Johnston (President and CEO)

Thanks, Theresa. In the fourth quarter, we reported a backlog of CAD 6.3 billion. Backlog has grown organically by 5% since December 2022 and continues to grow in each of our geographic regions, with global posting double-digit organic growth. Compared to the third quarter, our backlog grew organically in native currency, but was offset by foreign currency fluctuations. Our ability to grow backlog in Q4, which is generally softer as a result of seasonality, clearly demonstrates the strength of the market. Backlog in water continued to strengthen with a 23% organic increase, supported by project wins in wastewater treatment, advanced manufacturing, consultancy frameworks, and master planning services. Buildings also had a number of strong wins, translating into solid, high single-digit organic growth. We continue to see demand for our expertise in healthcare, multipurpose buildings, and advanced manufacturing and industrial facilities.

Our backlog represents approximately 12 months of work. We continued to capture significant opportunities in the fourth quarter. We were selected to provide a full suite of architectural, engineering, and environmental services for a CAD 1 billion lithium-ion battery manufacturing facility in British Columbia. E-One Moli's facility will include a research and development complex with a fully integrated green roof, as well as a 7-story mass timber office building. Our buildings team was selected to design the first comprehensive cancer hospital in Dubai. At over 600,000 sq ft, the hospital will be designed recognizing best-in-class building strategies and practices in sustainability. Stantec is consistently ranked as a top 5 design firm in the health space. As we've talked about in the last, number of quarters, the UK water appointments are starting to ramp up.

This quarter on AMP8, we were appointed to the Northumbrian Water Capital Delivery Framework and to the Severn Trent Water Engineering and Design Consultancy Framework. We were also appointed to the Capital Works PMO framework with Irish Water. Each of these wins secures work for the next five years, with the option to extend beyond that period by agreement. We are also very pleased to announce this morning that we were selected to provide integrated design services for Agratas' new battery manufacturing facility in the UK. This is one of the most significant investments in the UK, and the factory will be one of the largest of its kind in Europe. This project award is a testament to the breadth and depth of Stantec's expertise in advanced manufacturing, and we look forward to working closely with Agratas to support the successful completion of this project.

Looking at 2024, we continue to see high levels of activity in all regions, and we've now updated our targets to include Morrison Hershfield. We have raised our net revenue growth target for the year to 11%-15% and expect organic net revenue growth to be in the mid to high single digits. For US and global, we expect mid to high single digit organic revenue growth, and in Canada, we're guiding to mid-single digit growth. Our EBITDA margin target for the year is in the range of 16.2%-17.2%. And finally, we have revised our adjusted diluted EPS growth to now be in the range of 12%-16%. While we're only 2 months into 2024, we are very confident in being able to achieve these targets, and we remain very optimistic for what's to come.

Before opening the call to Q&A, I wanna comment briefly on the announcement of Theresa's planned retirement. We have been extremely fortunate to have Theresa on the Stantec team for the last five and a half years. She has added tremendous value to the company and has ensured Stantec is in a very strong financial position. While Theresa will remain in her role as CFO until her successor is in place, ensuring a smooth transition, I wanna thank her for all of her efforts and everything that she's done for Stantec over the years. With that, we'll turn the call back to the operator for questions. Operator?

Operator (participant)

Thank you. To ask a question, please press star one, one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star one, one again. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. Our first question comes from Benoit Poirier with Desjardins. Your line's now open.

Benoit Poirier (Managing Director, Equity Research, Industrials)

Yes, thank you very much, and good morning, everyone. And Theresa, wish you all the best for your upcoming retirement. You'll be missed for sure. Gord, you mentioned that you're looking at both external and internal candidates. I was just curious if there is any criteria that you're looking at for the CFO search. Any color about the timing for finding the new CFO?

Gord Johnston (President and CEO)

Yeah, well, you know, the search is underway, Benoit. We've been working on it for a couple of months already, and so we're looking forward to, now that the information is out in public, to really, you know, gearing up a little bit further on it. You know, as we mentioned in the prepared remarks, and you know, Theresa isn't going anywhere. So, you know, while we wanna be respectful of her wish to retire, we certainly are gonna to work through this in a planned and orderly fashion. And, you know, we hope it certainly will be in 2024, hoping in the next, you know, quarter or two.

Benoit Poirier (Managing Director, Equity Research, Industrials)

Okay. And looking at the AMP8 program in the U.K., one of your US peers stated that, although the, funding cycle only officially starts in April 2025, it, it looks like that they are already seeing multiple U.K. water clients going out for procurement to be ready. Was just curious, are you seeing this as well?

Gord Johnston (President and CEO)

Oh, absolutely. You know, we've already secured, you know, many, many awards for AMP8. And in fact, some of the planning awards that we've gotten, we've been awarded by clients to help them prepare for AMP8. So we're actually already working on preparatory planning type work to get ready for. So as soon as that April twenty twenty-five hits, we're ready to go. But, you know, as we mentioned in the prepared remarks, a couple more with Northumbrian and others that we secured this year. So we've already got well over half, approaching 60% or 70% of our anticipated wins that have already been issued, procured, and awarded.

Benoit Poirier (Managing Director, Equity Research, Industrials)

Okay, okay. That's great color. And just in terms of free cash flow, it looks like that the U.S. 174 R&D law remains in place. Could you provide a dollar amount, headwind, for 2024, and what could be the implication in terms of a free cash flow conversion from net earnings?

Theresa Jang (EVP and CFO)

Sure. So, you know, this Section 174 has been in place for two years now, and so, you know, we saw an impact in 2022 and 2023. And so as we look year-over-year, we would expect the impact to be roughly the same. We think roughly $30 million-$40 million of additional cash taxes as a result of that rule remaining in place. So again, year-over-year, it won't create an impact, and we, you know, we'll keep watching to see if that relief package comes, is ultimately approved or not.

Benoit Poirier (Managing Director, Equity Research, Industrials)

Okay. And maybe last question for me. Obviously, very solid organic growth environment. I was just curious if you could provide more color about the impact of pricing inflation these days on organic growth?

Gord Johnston (President and CEO)

... you know, we, what we've seen over the past couple of years is as we came, well, as we came into 2024, you know, there still is, salary pressures, but not to the same degree that we saw it in, in previous years. So there certainly is, you know, and, and as we, as you know, in, in previous years, we've been successful in passing along the, the majority, if not all of that salary increases to our, to our clients. So, you know, we, we see that there certainly is some inflation, some increase in our fees, into that, or the organic growth numbers that we're putting out. But I'd, I'd say it's ±, you know, half would be fee increases, and, and ± half is, is just additional organic growth.

Jacob Bout (Managing Director, Equity Research, Industrials)

Okay, that's great. Thank you very much, and congrats again.

Gord Johnston (President and CEO)

Thanks, Benoit.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from Yuri Lynk with Canaccord Genuity. Your line's now open.

Yuri Lynk (Managing Director, Equity Research, Capital Goods)

Hey, good morning.

Gord Johnston (President and CEO)

Good morning, Yuri.

Yuri Lynk (Managing Director, Equity Research, Capital Goods)

I'd like to echo. Yeah, good morning. I'd like to echo Benoit's congratulations to Theresa on your retirement.

Theresa Jang (EVP and CFO)

Thank you.

Yuri Lynk (Managing Director, Equity Research, Capital Goods)

Yeah, no problem. Yeah, so just trying to, I don't know who wants to take this one. Just on the guidance, trying to square some of the, the moving parts in there. So you're, you're calling for mid- to high single-digit organic growth in the U.S., but the backlog there grew organically only 2%. But we kind of have the opposite story in, in global, where you have very strong double-digit organic growth and backlog, and you're calling for mid-single-digit or revenue growth. So can you maybe a little more detail on, how we get to, to those growth rates?

Theresa Jang (EVP and CFO)

Yeah, I mean, I think when it comes to trying to triangulate how things move from backlog into revenue and what we're seeing in our projections, I think you just have to keep in mind that, you know, there's always a couple of dynamics at play. You know, one is that when we report backlog, it is, you know, it's a point in time, and it does require us to have, you know, everything buttoned up contractually before that work goes into our backlog. But of course, you know, our business leaders have a line of sight to work that is near final or in negotiation, and they look at the bidding activity, and those are the things that they factor into their organic growth projections.

The other thing that, you know, to keep in mind as well is that there's often, you know, work that comes through MSAs that really don't come into backlog until those task orders are issued. So it, you know, it shows up and then is worked through pretty quickly. So that would be the primary reason, Yuri, that you wouldn't necessarily see a straight line from backlog growth into organic growth projections.

Yuri Lynk (Managing Director, Equity Research, Capital Goods)

Okay. That makes a lot of sense. Theresa, while I've got you, just so I can check my math, where would you peg your pro forma debt to EBITDA ratio at the end of the year?

Theresa Jang (EVP and CFO)

At the end of the year, I mean, we, I would say at the end of the year, assuming, you know, no further acquisitions, which is kind of the way we approach our planning and our projections, you know, we should be, again, to the lower end of the range. The equity offering we did in November really did what we had intended for it to do, was it gave us the additional capacity to fund acquisitions while knowing that we had ZETCON and Morrison Hershfield to fund in the first quarter here. So we're in really good shape.

So as the year unfolds and cash flow, it remains a focus for us to turn over quickly. I would say that we should be in the, you know, the lower half of our range.

Yuri Lynk (Managing Director, Equity Research, Capital Goods)

Okay. Last one, just quickly, it's a bit of a nitty-gritty one. You do mention specifically that you've included Morrison Hershfield in your updated guidance. You don't mention ZETCON. Safe to assume that's also in there?

Theresa Jang (EVP and CFO)

Yeah. So ZETCON was included in the guidance when we rolled it out in December, and so incrementally, we now have MH in there, too. But yes, definitely both are in-

Yuri Lynk (Managing Director, Equity Research, Capital Goods)

Thank you.

Theresa Jang (EVP and CFO)

-in our current guidance.

Yuri Lynk (Managing Director, Equity Research, Capital Goods)

That makes sense. Okay, thanks. I'll turn it over.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from Jacob Bout with CIBC. Your line's now open.

Jacob Bout (Managing Director, Equity Research, Industrials)

Good morning.

Gord Johnston (President and CEO)

Morning.

Jacob Bout (Managing Director, Equity Research, Industrials)

I had a question, had a question on your, your organic growth. You know, it was quite strong in the quarter, but when I look at infrastructure in particular, your low single digit, I think it was around 3% on a net basis. You know, what happened there? You know, especially as we think about the U.S., was the organic growth a little better in the U.S., or... And then what type of improvement are you expecting year-on-year, specifically on infrastructure organic growth?

Gord Johnston (President and CEO)

Yeah, and you know, it's interesting as you think of infrastructure, primarily for us, that's the transportation business. And as you talk about the land development, of course, but you know, a lot of this the focus has been on the transportation business. And when you talk about the U.S., of course, we see that continuing to ramp up. The IIJA continues to roll out, and you know, you've heard it from us and others, it's always a little bit slower, but it's continuing to ramp up. And so we're you know, we're seeing that continued support for that business, you know, as we evolve through 2024 and move into subsequent years. So we're not concerned about that.

Jacob Bout (Managing Director, Equity Research, Industrials)

... Okay. The second question, just on, on mix. You know, when you look at infra water, environmental service building, you know, what-- are you, are you happy with your mix right now? Where would you like to bulk up? And, and maybe just comment quickly on, on what ZETCON and Morrison Hershfield bring to the table.

Gord Johnston (President and CEO)

Yeah, so, you know, in general, we're very happy with our current mix. I think that, so when you look at Morrison Hershfield, it's primarily a lot of expertise in the building segment as well as in transportation. So again, two core areas for us that'll continue to move forward. ZETCON is very active also in the transportation space, and primarily from a project management and construction management perspective, so roadways, bridges, beginning to get involved in some of the electrical grid work in Germany as well. So again, all sort of the core activities that we've got, and neither of those on their own are really gonna materially move our overall split between our various business operating units.

Theresa Jang (EVP and CFO)

Thank you.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from Michael Dumais with Scotiabank. Your line's now open.

Michael Doumet (Equity Research Analyst)

Hey, good morning, Gord, Theresa.

Gord Johnston (President and CEO)

Morning.

Michael Doumet (Equity Research Analyst)

Good morning. Very impressive pace of organic hires. Just wondering if you could comment on, you know, the extent of, you know, the improvement in labor availability this year, you know, or now versus last year. And if you can comment on, you know, whether you're looking to maintain that pace of organic hires into 2024.

Gord Johnston (President and CEO)

Right. And so, yeah, good question. A couple of things there. You know, firstly, we have really ramped up the pace of hiring over the last number of years, doing a lot. And a lot of the hires, interestingly, are both; it's a bit divergent. One is at the; we continue to hire at the entry level in order to, you know, continue to fill out that portion of our demographic profile. So a lot of hiring at the new graduate level, people in their first 5 or 10 years of their career.

But one thing that we've seen evolve over the last couple of years as we're continuing to get more and more of these large projects, that we're bringing in a lot more senior staff as well, you know, people with 30, 35 years of experience. And we're becoming increasingly attractive to those folks also. So, you know, we're seeing labor availability. It's tight out there, no question. But our brand, the type of projects that we're bringing to the table, really is enabling us to continue with that hiring. And to your question about do we see that continuing? Absolutely. You know, we, when you look at the organic growth numbers that we're putting up, our expectations, our guidance for this year, you know, that will require continued hiring.

We, you know, I, I wouldn't say it's easy, but we've been very successful in bringing these people on.

Michael Doumet (Equity Research Analyst)

Great color. Thanks, Gordon. And maybe if I turn to the EBITDA margins. In 2023, 16.3, 17.1 ex LTIP. So about 80 basis points difference, I guess, between the two. And then if I look at your 2024 EBITDA guide, you're effectively calling for a 40 basis points margin expansion. You know, just wondering, you know, what is assumed as LTIP, and what is assumed in terms of underlying margin improvement in 2024?

Theresa Jang (EVP and CFO)

Yeah. So, you know, the way that we establish our guidance is that we assume we use the share price at the end of that reporting period, so in this case, at the end of December 2023. And we, you know, we project our LTIP on that basis because, you know, as you know, you have no idea how your share price is gonna move over the course of the year, and so we don't try to bake in any kind of guesses one way or the other.

So as you think about our EBITDA margin from the 16.4 that we reported for 2023 relative to our guided range of 16.2%-17.2%, that is all margin improvement that is incorporated into our current target and assumes a steady share price for our LTIP.

Michael Doumet (Equity Research Analyst)

All righty. Thank you.

Gord Johnston (President and CEO)

Well, thank you.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from Devin Dodge with BMO Capital Markets. Your line's now open.

Devin Dodge (Director of Equity Research)

Yeah, thanks. Good morning.

Gord Johnston (President and CEO)

Morning.

Devin Dodge (Director of Equity Research)

I wanted to pick up on Michael's last question there. Look, the headwind from LTIP revaluation clearly a high-class problem to have. You know, I believe there's been some effort towards insulating this impact from near-term results. You know, is there a framework or a sensitivity that you can provide in terms of, you know, how a change in the stock price impacts LTIP for us, and how much of that has been hedged in 2024?

Theresa Jang (EVP and CFO)

Sure. So you're right. We, we have put total return swaps on a component of our LTIP program. So there's, there's three tranches of of units two of which are based purely on share price movement and and one tranche, which is the bigger tranche, unfortunately, the performance share units that are based on share price movement and our relative TSR. And so we have hedged the majority of the component that is purely sensitive to share price movement. And so even, you know, as we've been talking through the year about identifying the revaluation impact, that's already net of having hedged that component of our, our units. So that it does make it hard for us.

We don't hedge the performance share units because we can't get hedge accounting treatment on them, and it makes the results even noisier. So, it's hard to give a sensitivity because every quarter we accrue, you know, another tranche of a three-year program that, you know, that number then gets multiplied by a share price. The whole number of units you have outstanding gets revalued at the current share price, and then we put it through a Monte Carlo simulation to try and peg what the TSR impact is. And that's the piece that you just can't give a sensitivity or an estimation for. It's an accounting requirement, and so, you know, it's hard to say how accurate that simulation process is.

That's the primary reason that it's very hard to give an estimation.

Devin Dodge (Director of Equity Research)

Okay. Good, good call there. I, yeah, appreciate a lot of moving parts there. Okay, maybe just switching over to M&A. Just wondering, are you seeing more seller interest from employee-owned firms that may be finding it challenging to fund their growth plans? And just wondering if those discussions or negotiations with employee, employee-owned firms, whether they differ much from when you're looking to acquire from a single owner.

Gord Johnston (President and CEO)

Yeah, we're, we're absolutely seeing increasing discussions with employee-owned firms. And, you know, both ZETCON and Morrison Hershfield fell squarely into that category. And one of the... A couple of things that are of note there with those discussions. Certainly, you know, what we're finding is one of the key ones is as they're thinking about share transition, you know, from one generation to the next. And, you know, those ones, particularly Morrison Hershfield, as well as a number of other discussions that we have ongoing, are just related to the, you know, the folks coming up through the organization, those thirty-somethings and forty-somethings, you know, with not having the ability to acquire shares.

You know, they're in many major metropolitan areas, you know, it's a struggle to buy a house, and so they're not finding that they're having the funds to buy in. And so these, as the older generation is retiring, there's not the new guys coming in to take over the firm and to buy them out. Lots of interest in staying with the firm, doing that type of work, but just not the ability to fund share purchases. The other thing that we're seeing with some employee-owned firms is that the investment required, not so much, you know, certainly for growth, but also for some of the digital transformations that we see coming. You know, AI, increasing demands at both financial and from a knowledge base to keep up with some cyber threats and so on.

So we're seeing a number of employee-owned firms beginning to struggle with funding some of those things as well, and so that's generating a lot of the ongoing conversation. A couple things, though, that you mentioned, is talking with an employee-owned firm, different than others, maybe a public deal, then that is true. The one thing that we find is a huge benefit for Stantec in these discussions, is that employee-owned firms are extremely sensitive to culture. You know, they've built this firm, they've owned this firm for many decades, and so who they would transition this firm to from a cultural perspective is very important. And certainly, you know, we're very comfortable there with you know, the cultural alignment that we bring to a number of these firms.

So, yeah, they are a little bit different.

Devin Dodge (Director of Equity Research)

All right. Excellent, color. Thanks for that. I'll turn it over.

Gord Johnston (President and CEO)

Thank you.

Theresa Jang (EVP and CFO)

Thank you. One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from Maxim Sytchev with NBF. Your line's now open.

Maxim Sytchev (Managing Director of Research for Industrial Products)

Hi, good morning.

Gord Johnston (President and CEO)

Morning!

Maxim Sytchev (Managing Director of Research for Industrial Products)

Theresa, all the best in future endeavors.

Theresa Jang (EVP and CFO)

Thank you.

Maxim Sytchev (Managing Director of Research for Industrial Products)

I was wondering if it would be possible to get a bit more color on the energy market, which witnessed a slight retraction. Just curious to see what's going on there. Thanks.

Gord Johnston (President and CEO)

So a couple of things we're seeing there. Certainly, on the renewable side, you know, a lot, still a lot of activity as we talk about pump storage, we talk about, you know, solar and wind and some things. But you are seeing some slowdown in some of the offshore wind projects and things, seeing some stress in some of the suppliers, equipment suppliers. Also, you're seeing in Western Canada, you know, in Alberta in particular, you know, a pause on new renewables. So that are non new renewable power. So that's slowing things there a little bit as well. But we, you know, so we're continuing to monitor all of those things. We're not seeing any particular long-term systemic issues.

You know, we still are projecting good, organic growth for the year in that sector.

Maxim Sytchev (Managing Director of Research for Industrial Products)

Okay. And you're not seeing, I guess, sort of a negative spillover effect into your environmental and water businesses? Because I think typically there's, you know, some subcontracting going on, right?

Gord Johnston (President and CEO)

Yeah. No, no, we're not seeing any at this point, Max.

Maxim Sytchev (Managing Director of Research for Industrial Products)

Okay. Super helpful. Thanks so much. And then in terms of, obviously, you know, people are asking questions around sort of employee-owned firms, but curious to see what's happening with some of the private equity owners, if potentially that could open up an additional sort of venue for targets for you from an M&A perspective. Thank you.

Gord Johnston (President and CEO)

Yeah, we absolutely have seen a number of PE-owned or backed firms in initial stages of conversation, you know, as they're nearing the end of their investment cycle. So I do think in addition to employee-owned firms, we'll see more and more PE firms coming to market, you know, through the year.

Maxim Sytchev (Managing Director of Research for Industrial Products)

Okay. Thank you so much. That's it for me.

Gord Johnston (President and CEO)

Great. Thanks, Max.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. I'm showing no further questions at this time. I would now like to turn it back to Gord Johnston for closing remarks.

Gord Johnston (President and CEO)

Great. Well, thank you again for joining us today. We're very pleased with our Q4 and full year 2023 performance, and we're really optimistic about the outlook here for 2024. So thanks again, and goodbye.

Operator (participant)

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.