BV US Equity☆

bv-10k_20200930.htm

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

(Mark One)

For the fiscal year ended September 30, 2020

OR

Commission File Number 001-38579

BrightView Holdings, Inc.

(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its Charter)

980 Jolly Road Blue Bell, Pennsylvania 19422

(Address of principal executive offices) (Zip Code)

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (484) 567-7204

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Title of Each Class Trading Symbol Name of exchange on which registered

Common Stock, Par Value $0.01 Per Share BV New York Stock Exchange

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ☐No☒

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes ☐No☒

Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant: (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the Registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the Registrant was required to submit such files). Yes☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

Large accelerated filer ☐ Accelerated filer ☒

Non-accelerated filer ☐ Smaller reporting company ☐

Emerging growth company ☐

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes ☐ No ☒

As of March 31, 2020, the last day of the Registrant’s most recently completed second quarter, the aggregate value of the registrant’s common stock held by non-affiliates was approximately$344.8 million, based on the number of shares held by non-affiliates as of March 31, 2020 and the closing price of the registrant’s common stock on the New York Stock Exchange on that date.

The number of shares of Registrant’s Common Stock outstanding as of October 31, 2020 was104,886,085.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

Portions of the Registrant’s Definitive Proxy Statement relating to the Annual Meeting of Stockholders, scheduled to be held on March 16, 2021, are incorporated by reference into Part III of this Report.

Table of Contents

Page

PART I

Item 1. Business 5

Item 1A. Risk Factors 13

Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments 27

Item 2. Properties 27

Item 3. Legal Proceedings 27

Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures 27

PART II

Item 6. Selected Financial Data 29

Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk 53

Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data 54

Item 9A. Controls and Procedures 54

Item 9B. Other Information 55

PART III

Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance 56

Item 11. Executive Compensation 56

Item 14. Principal Accounting Fees and Services 56

PART IV

Item 15. Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules 57

Signatures 62

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SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This Annual Report on Form 10-K (this “Form 10-K”) contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the safe harbor provision of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), which are subject to the “safe harbor” created by those sections. All statements, other than statements of historical facts included in this Form 10-K, including statements concerning our plans, objectives, goals, beliefs, business strategies, future events, business conditions, results of operations, financial position, business outlook, business trends and other information, may be forward-looking statements.

Words such as “believes,” “expects,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “seeks,” “intends,” “plans,” “estimates,” or “anticipates,” and variations of such words or similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements are not historical facts, or guarantees of future performance and are based upon our current expectations, beliefs, estimates and projections, and various assumptions, many of which, by their nature, are inherently uncertain and beyond our control. Our expectations, beliefs, and projections are expressed in good faith and we believe there is a reasonable basis for them. However, there can be no assurance that management’s expectations, beliefs and projections will result or be achieved and actual results may vary materially from what is expressed in or indicated by the forward-looking statements.

There are a number of risks, uncertainties and other important factors, many of which are beyond our control, that could cause our actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements contained in this Form 10-K. Such risks, uncertainties and other important factors that could cause actual results to differ include, among others, the risks, uncertainties and factors set forth under the heading “Business”, “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and elsewhere in this Form 10-K. New risk factors and uncertainties may emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for management to predict all risk factors and uncertainties. Some of the key factors that could cause actual results to differ from our expectations include risks related to:

• general business economic and financial conditions;

• competitive industry pressures;

• the dispersed nature of our operating structure;

• acquisition and integration risks;

• the seasonal nature of our landscape maintenance services;

• our dependence on weather conditions;

• increases in prices for raw materials and fuel;

• our ability to retain our executive management and other key personnel;

• any failure to properly verify employment eligibility of our employees;

• subcontractors taking actions that harm our business;

• our recognition of future additional impairment charges;

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• increase in on-job accidents involving employees;

• our ability to adequately protect our intellectual property;

• ownership of our common stock;

• occurrence of natural disasters, terrorist attacks or other external events;

• changes in generally accepted accounting principles in the United States; and

We caution you that the risks, uncertainties, and other factors referenced above may not contain all of the risks, uncertainties and other factors that are important to you. In addition, we cannot assure you that we will realize the results, benefits, or developments that we expect or anticipate or, even if substantially realized, that they will result in the consequences or affect us or our business in the way expected. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances, any change in assumptions, beliefs or expectations or any change in circumstances upon which any such forward-looking statements are based, except as required by law.

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PART I

Item 1. Business

BrightView Holdings, Inc. is a holding company that conducts substantially all of its activity through its direct, wholly-owned operating subsidiary, BrightView Landscapes, LLC (“BrightView”) and its consolidated subsidiaries. The holding company and BrightView are collectively referred to on Form 10-K (the “Annual Report”) as “we,” “us,” “our,” “ourselves,” “Company,” or “BrightView.” BrightView is controlled by affiliates of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. Inc. (“KKR”) and affiliates of MSD Partners, L.P. (“MSD Partners”). KKR and MSD Partners are collectively referred to herein as the “Sponsors.” The Company was formed through a series of transactions entered into by KKR to acquire the Company on December 18, 2013 (“the KKR Acquisition”).

Our Company

We are the largest provider of commercial landscaping services in the United States, with revenuesapproximately 10 times those of our next largest commercial landscaping competitor. We provide commerciallandscaping services,rangingfromlandscapemaintenanceandenhancementstotreecareandlandscapedevelopment.Weoperatethroughadifferentiatedandintegratednationalservicemodelwhichsystematicallydeliversservicesatthelocallevelbycombiningournetworkofover240brancheswithaqualifiedservicepartnernetwork.Ourbranchdeliverymodelunderpinsourpositionasasingle-sourceend-to-endlandscapingsolutionprovidertoourdiverse customer base at the national, regional and local levels, which we believe represents a significantcompetitive advantage. We believe our commercial customer base understands the financial andreputational risk associated with inadequate landscape maintenance and considers our services to be essential and non-discretionary.

We operate through two segments: Maintenance Services and Development Services. Ourmaintenance services are primarily self-performed through our national branch network and are route-based in nature.Our development services are comprised of sophisticated design, coordination and installation of landscapes atsome of the most recognizable corporate, athletic and university complexes and showcase highly visible work thatis paramount to our customers’ perception of our brand as a marketleader.

As the number one player in the highly attractive and growing $68 billion commerciallandscape maintenance and snow removal market, we believe our size and scale present several compellingvalue propositions for our customers, and allow us to offer a single-source landscaping services solution to adiverse group of commercial customers across all 50 U.S. states. We serve a broad range of endmarket verticals, including corporate and commercial properties, Homeowners Associations (HOAs), public parks, hotels and resorts, hospitalsand other healthcare facilities, educational institutions, restaurants and retail, and golf courses, among others.We are also the Official Field Consultant for Major League Baseball. Our diverse customer base includes approximately 13,000 office parks and corporate campuses, 8,000residential communities, and 450 educational institutions. We believe that due to our unmatched geographic scaleand breadth of service offerings, we are the only commercial landscaping services provider able to serviceclients whose geographically disperse locations require a broad range of landscaping services delivered consistentlyand with high quality. Our topten customers accounted for approximately 11% of our fiscal 2020 revenues, with no singlecustomer accounting for more than 3% of our fiscal 2020 revenues.

Our business model is characterized by stable, recurring revenues, a scalable operating model, strongoperating margins, limited capital expenditures and low working capital requirements thattogether generate significant Free Cash Flow. For the year ended September 30, 2020, we generated netservice revenues of $2,346.0 million, net loss of $41.6 million and Adjusted EBITDA of $271.6 million, with anet loss margin of 1.8% and an Adjusted EBITDA margin of 11.6%.

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Our OperatingSegments

We deliver our broad range of services through two operating segments: Maintenance Servicesand Development Services. We serve a geographically diverse set of customers through our strategicallylocated network of branches in 32 U.S. states and, through our qualified service partner network, we are ableto efficiently provide nationwide coverage in all 50 U.S. states, as illustratedbelow.

Maintenance ServicesOverview

Our Maintenance Services segment delivers a full suite of recurring commercial landscapingservices ranging from mowing, gardening, mulching and snow removal, to more horticulturally advanced services,such as water management, irrigation maintenance, tree care, golf course maintenance and specialty turfmaintenance. Our maintenance services customers include Fortune 500 corporate campuses and commercial properties,HOAs, public parks, leading international hotels and resorts, airport authorities, municipalities, hospitals andother healthcare facilities, educational institutions, restaurants and retail, and golf courses, among others. Thechart below illustrates the diversity of our Maintenance Servicesrevenues:

(1) Reflects the fiscal year ended September 30, 2020.

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In addition to contracted maintenance services,we also have a strong track record of providing value-added landscape enhancements, defined as supplemental,non-contract specified maintenance or improvement services which are typically sold by our account managers to ourmaintenance services customers. These landscape enhancements typically have a predictable level of demand related toour amount of contracted revenue with acustomer.

We have a strong maintenance presence in both evergreen and seasonal markets. Evergreen marketsare defined as those which require year-round landscape maintenance. As part of our Maintenance Servicesgrowth plan, we are actively targeting evergreen geographies, such as California, Florida and Texas, where there area number of secular demographic trends, such as population growth and business expansion, which representa compelling growthopportunity.

In our seasonal markets, we are also a leading provider of snow removal services. These route-basedsnow removal services provide us with a valuable counter-seasonal source of revenues, allowing us to better utilizeour crews and certain equipment during the winter months. Our capabilities as a rapid-response, reliableservice provider further strengthens our relationships with our customers, all of which have an immediate andcritical need for snow removal services. Property managers also enjoy several benefits by using the sameservice provider for snow removal and landscape maintenance services, including consistency of service,single-source vendor efficiency and volume discount savings. This allows us to actively maintain relationships withkey customers in seasonal markets year-round. A portion of our snow removal business is contracted each year under fixedfee servicing arrangements that are subject to guaranteed minimum payments regardless of the season’ssnowfall.

The performance of our snow removal services business, however, is correlated with the amount of snowfall, the number of snowfall events and the nature of those events in a given season. We benchmark our performance against ten- andthirty-year averages, as annual snowfall amounts modulate around thesefigures.

Cumulative Annual Snowfall in BrightView Locations OverTime (1)

For the year ended September 30, 2020, in Maintenance Services, we generated netservice revenues of $1,739.1 million, including $163.1 million from snow removal services, and Segment Adjusted EBITDA of $250.1 million, with a SegmentAdjusted EBITDA Margin of 14.4%.

Development ServicesOverview

Through our Development Services segment, we provide landscape architecture and developmentservices for new facilities and significant redesign projects. Specific services include project design andmanagement services, landscape architecture, landscape installation, irrigation installation, tree moving and installation,pool and water features and sports field services, among others. These complex and specialized offeringsshowcase our technical expertise across a broad range of end marketverticals.

We perform our services across the full spectrum of project sizes, with landscape developmentprojects generally ranging from $100,000 to over $10 million, with an average size of approximately $1million.

Depending on the scope of the work, the contracts can vary in length from 2-3 months to up to 2-3 years.We largely self-perform our work, and we subcontract certain services where we have strategically decided notto allocate resources, such as fencing, lighting and parking lot construction. We believe that our capabilities asa single-source landscape development provider represent a

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point of comfort for our customers who can becertain that we are managing their landscape development project from inception tocompletion.

In our Development Services business, we are typically hired by general contractors with whomwe maintain strong relationships as a result of our superior technical and project management capabilities.We believe the quality of our work is also well-regarded by our end-customers, some of whom directly requestthat their general contractors utilize our services when outsourcing their landscape development projects. Similarto our maintenance contracts, we leverage our proven cost estimation framework and proactive costmanagement tactics to optimize the profitability of the work we perform under fixed rate developmentcontracts.

For the year ended September 30, 2020, in Development Services, we generated netservice revenues of $610.6 million and Segment Adjusted EBITDA of $80.2 million, with a Segment AdjustedEBITDA Margin of 13.1%.

Our History

In 2013, affiliates of KKR acquired our predecessorbusiness, Brickman Holding Group, Inc. In 2014, we acquired ValleyCrest Holding Co. (“ValleyCrest Acquisition”) and changed our nameto BrightView. As a result of the ValleyCrest Acquisition, BrightView nearly doubled in size and gainednational coverage. Our predecessor companies have long histories in the landscaping industry, with Brickman Holding Group, Inc. founded in1939 and ValleyCrest Holding Co. founded in 1949.

In 2016, we reconstituted our senior leadership team, including hiring a new chief executive officer anda new chief financial officer. Our management team refocused our strategy to realign with thefundamental strengths of our business. BrightView has undergone an organizational transformation recentered arounda branch-centric model, empowering leaders at the local and regional levels, and supporting branch locationswith appropriate back office functions and an effective corporateframework.

In July 2018, we completed the initial public offering of our common stock (the “IPO”). Our common stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “BV”. Our principal executive offices are located at 980 Jolly Road, Suite 300, Blue Bell, Pennsylvania 19422.

Market Opportunity

Commercial Landscaping Services Industry

The landscape services industry consists of landscape maintenance and development services, as well as a number of related ancillary services such as tree care and snow removal, for both commercial and residential customers. BrightView operates only within the commercial sectors of each of the landscape maintenance, landscape development and snow removal industries. In 2020, commercial landscape maintenance, including snow removal, represents a $68 billion industry that is characterized by a number of attractive market drivers. The industry benefits from commercial customers’ need to provide consistently accessible and aesthetically-pleasing environments. Due to the essential and non-discretionary need of these recurring services, the commercial landscape maintenance services and snow removal services industries have exhibited, and are expected to continue to exhibit, stable and predictable growth.

Highlighting the consistency of this growth, the combined industry is expected to grow at a 2.0% CAGR from 2015 through 2024, as depicted in the chart below:

Growth in the U.S. Commercial Landscaping and Snow Removal Services Industry (US$ in billions) (1)

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In addition to its stable characteristics, the industry is also highly fragmented. Despite being the largest provider of commercial landscaping services, we currently hold only a 2.6% market share, representing a significant opportunity for future consolidation. According to the 2020 IBISWorld Report, there are over 500,000 enterprises providing landscape maintenance services in the United States. Approximately three-quarters of the industry participants are classified as sole proprietors, with a limited set of companies having the capabilities to deliver sophisticated, large-scale landscaping services or operate regionally or nationally. The chart below illustrates the segmentation of the landscape maintenance industry and highlights BrightView’s coverage of the non-residential sectors of the industry:

(1) Source: IBISWorld-Landscaping Services in the U.S. (June 2020)

(2) Source: IBISWorld-Snowplowing Services in the U.S. (December 2019)

Steady growth in the commercial property markets has underpinned the commercial landscaping industry’s growth. Unlike individual residential customers, HOAs and military housing managers possess the same sophistication and expectation of high-quality services as corporations, and thus are more inclined to outsource landscaping needs to professional, scaled companies.

Key Trends and Industry Drivers

We believe we are well-positioned to capitalize on the following key industry trends that are expected to drive stable and growing demand for our landscaping services:

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Organization

Our core operating strategy is to systematically deliver our services on a local level. Our organization is designed to allow our branch-level management teams to focus on identifying revenue opportunities and delivering high quality services to customers, with the support of a national organization to provide centralized core functions, such as human resources, procurement and other process-driven management functions.

Our maintenance services model is grounded in our branch network. For example, a representative maintenance services branch typically serves 50-150 customers across 200-300 sites, generating between $4 million and $14 million in annual revenues. Each branch is led by a branch manager, who focuses on performance drivers, such as customer satisfaction, crew retention, safety and tactical procurement. Branch managers are supported by account managers, who focus on managing crew leaders, customer retention and sales of landscape enhancement services. In addition to our network of branch managers and account managers, our platform is differentiated by a highly experienced team of operational senior vice presidents and vice presidents, organized regionally, with an average tenure of 14 years. These team members are responsible for leading, teaching and developing branch managers as well as maintaining adherence to key operational strategies. Our senior operating personnel also foster a culture of engagement and emphasize promotion from within, which has played a key role in making BrightView the employer of choice within the broader landscape maintenance industry.

Our scale supports centralizing key functions, which enables our branch and account managers to focus their efforts on fostering deep relationships with customers, delivering excellent service and finding new revenue opportunities. As branches grow and we win new business, our branch model is easily scalable within an existing, well-developed market-based management structure with supporting corporate infrastructure.

We supplement our branch network with our qualified service partner network, which is managed by our BrightView Enterprise Service team, or BES. Through our BES platform, we are able to provide landscape maintenance services in all 50 U.S. states. BES identifies qualified service providers in areas where we do not have branches, thereby extending our service area. Our qualified service partner screening process is designed to ensure that each of our service partners has the appropriate technical expertise, equipment and resources, including insurance coverage, to support the projects we assign to them.

Our Development Services organization is centered around 19 branch locations strategically located in large metropolitan areas with supportive demographics for growth and real estate development. Certain facilities used by our Development Services segment are shared or co-located with our Maintenance organization. Our Development Services branch network is supported by three design centers, as well as centralized support functions similar to our Maintenance Services organization.

Our Employees

As of September 30, 2020, we had a total of approximately 19,700 employees, including seasonal workers, consisting of approximately 19,000 full-time and approximately 700 part-time employees in our two business segments. The number of part-time employees varies significantly from time to time during the year due to seasonal and other operating requirements. We generally experience our highest level of employment during the spring and summer seasons, which correspond with our third and fourth fiscal quarters. The approximate number of employees by segment, as of September 30, 2020, is as follows: Maintenance Services: 17,000; Development Services: 2,400. In addition, our corporate staff is approximately 300 employees.

Approximately 8% of our employees are covered by collective bargaining agreements. We have not experienced any material interruptions of operations due to disputes with our employees and consider our relations with our employees to be satisfactory.

Historically, we have used, and expect to continue to use in the future, a U.S. government program that provides H-2B temporary, non-immigrant visas to foreign workers to help satisfy a portion of our need for seasonal labor in certain markets. We employed approximately 1,100 seasonal workers in 2020, and approximately 1,555 seasonal workers in 2019, through the H-2B visa program.

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Competition

Although the United States landscaping, snow removal and landscape design and development industries have experienced some consolidation, there is significant competition in all the areas that we serve, and such competition varies across geographies. In our Maintenance Services segment, most competitors are smaller local and regional firms; however, we also face competition from other large national firms such as LandCare, Five Seasons Landscape Management and Yellowstone Landscape. In our Development Services segment, competitors are generally smaller local and regional firms. We believe that the primary competitive factors that affect our operations are quality, service, experience, breadth of service offerings and price. We believe that our ability to compete effectively is enhanced by the breadth of our services and the technological tools used by our teams as well as our nationwide reach.

Seasonality

Our services, particularly in our Maintenance Services segment, have seasonal variability such as increased mulching, flower planting and intensive mowing in the spring, leaf removal and cleanup work in the fall, snow removal services in the winter and potentially minimal mowing during drier summer months. This can drive fluctuations in revenue, costs and cash flows for interim periods.

We have a significant presence in our evergreen markets, which require landscape maintenance services year round. In our seasonal markets, which do not have a year-round growing season, the demand for our landscape maintenance services decreases during the winter months. Typically, our revenues and net income have been higher in the spring and summer seasons, which correspond with our third and fourth fiscal quarters. The lower level of activity in seasonal markets during our first and second fiscal quarters is partially offset by revenue from our snow removal services. Such seasonality causes our results of operations to vary from quarter to quarter.

Weather Conditions

Weather may impact the timing of performance of landscape maintenance and enhancement services and progress on development projects from quarter to quarter. Less predictable weather patterns, including snow events in the winter, hurricane-related cleanup in the summer and fall, and the effects of abnormally high rainfall or drought in a given market, can impact both our revenues and our costs, especially from quarter to quarter, but also from year to year in some cases. Extreme weather events such as hurricanes and tropical storms can result in a positive impact to our business in the form of increased enhancement services revenues related to cleanup and other services. However, such weather events may also negatively impact our ability to deliver our contracted services, sell and deliver enhancement services or impact the timing of performance.

In our seasonal markets, the performance of our snow removal services is correlated with the amount of snowfall, the number of snowfall events and the nature of those events in a given season. We benchmark our performance against ten- and thirty-year averages.

Intellectual Property

We, primarily through our subsidiaries, hold or have rights to use various service marks, trademarks and trade names we use in the operation of our businesses that we deem particularly important to each of our businesses. As of September 30, 2020, we had marks that were protected by registration (either by direct registration or by treaty) in the United States.

Regulatory Overview

We are subject to various federal, state and local laws and regulations, compliance with which increases our operating costs, limits or restricts the services provided by our operating segments or the methods by which our operating segments offer, sell and fulfill those services or conduct their respective businesses, or subjects us to the possibility of regulatory actions or proceedings. Noncompliance with these laws and regulations can subject us to fines or various forms of civil or criminal prosecution, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our reputation, business, financial position, results of operations and cash flows.

These federal, state and local laws and regulations include laws relating to wage and hour, immigration, permitting and licensing, workers’ safety, tax, healthcare reforms, collective bargaining and other labor matters, environmental, federal motor carrier safety, employee benefits and privacy and customer data security. We must also meet certain requirements of federal and state transportation agencies, including requirements of the U.S. Department of Transportation and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, with respect to certain types of vehicles in our fleets. We are also regulated by federal, state and local laws, ordinances and regulations which are enforced by Departments of Agriculture, environmental regulatory agencies and similar government entities.

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Employee and Immigration Matters

We are subject to various federal, state and local laws and regulations governing our relationship with and other matters pertaining to our employees, including regulations relating to wage and hour, health insurance, working conditions, safety, citizenship or work authorization and related requirements, insurance and workers’ compensation, anti-discrimination, collective bargaining and other labor matters.

We are also subject to the regulations of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”), and we are audited from time to time by ICE for compliance with work authorization requirements. In addition, some states in which we operate have adopted immigration employment protection laws. Even if we operate in strict compliance with ICE and state requirements, some of our employees may not meet federal work eligibility or residency requirements, despite our efforts and without our knowledge, which could lead to a disruption in our work force.

Environmental Matters

Our businesses are subject to various federal, state and local laws and regulations regarding environmental, health and safety matters, including the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, the Clean Air Act, the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act, the Oil Pollution Act and the Clean Water Act, each as amended. Among other things, these laws and regulations regulate the emission or discharge of materials into the environment, govern the use, storage, treatment, disposal, handling and management of hazardous substances and wastes and the registration, use, notification and labeling of pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers, and protect the health and safety of our employees. These laws also impose liability for the costs of investigating and remediating, and damages resulting from, present and past releases of hazardous substances, including releases by us or prior owners or operators, at sites we currently own, lease or operate, customer sites or third-party sites to which we sent wastes. During fiscal 2020, there were no material capital expenditures for environmental control facilities.

Information Technology

We have invested in technology designed to accelerate business performance, enhancing our ability to support standard processes while retaining local and regional flexibility. We believe these investments position BrightView at the forefront of technology within the commercial landscaping industry, enabling us to drive operational efficiencies throughout the business. Our IT systems allow us to provide a high level of convenience and service to our customers, representing a competitive advantage that is difficult to replicate for less technologically sophisticated competitors. As an example, our proprietary platform, BrightView Connect, allows customers to submit service requests and landscape pictures directly to their account manager and field team, ensuring that specific service needs are accurately delivered in a timely and efficient manner. Similarly, our mobile quality site assessment application, which is designed for account managers to capture and annotate customer feedback, provides us with the ability to “walk the site” with our customers, confirm our understanding of their needs and highlight future enhancement opportunities.

We have also made significant investments in our internal IT infrastructure, such as migrating to a consolidated enterprise resource planning system and enabling shared services for accounts payable, accounts receivable and payroll. Additionally, we have implemented an electronic time capture system, or ETC, for our crew leaders and supervisors in the field. ETC not only provides accurate information for compliance and payroll purposes, but also enables our leadership with granular, analytical insights into job costing and crew productivity.

In 2019 we invested in the implementation of a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system for account managers in our Maintenance Services’ segment. The CRM system, available on mobile devices, helps proactively manage every customer touchpoint and action item. This allows our account managers to spend more time with their customers, empowered with complete information, enhancing the quality of those relationships and supporting long-term customer retention.

Sales and Marketing

Our sales and marketing efforts are focused on both developing new customers and increasing penetration at existing customers. We primarily sell our services to businesses, commercial property managers, general contractors and landscape architects through our professionally trained core sales force. We have a field-based sales approach driven by our growing team of more than 180 business developers that are focused on winning new customers at a local level. We also have a separate 20-member sales team that is focused on targeting and capturing high-value, high-margin opportunities, including national accounts. Within our Maintenance Services segment, every customer relationship is maintained by one of our more than 700+ branch-level account managers, who are responsible for ensuring customer satisfaction, tracking service levels, promoting enhancement services and driving contract renewals. We believe our decentralized approach to customer acquisition and management facilitates a high-level of customer service as local managers are empowered and incentivized to better serve customers and grow their respective businesses.

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Our marketing department is also integral to our strategy and helps drive business growth, retention and brand awareness through marketing and communications efforts, including promotional materials, marketing programs, and advertising; digital marketing, including search engine optimization and website development; and trade shows and company-wide public relations activities. Our field marketing teams focus at the branch level to make our corporate marketing strategies more localized. Given the local nature of our operations, we believe that a sizeable amount of our new sales are also driven by customer referrals which stem from our strong reputation, depth of customer relationships and quality of work.

Fleet

Our highly visible fleet of approximately 15,000 trucks and trailers foster the strong brand equity associated with BrightView. We manage our fleet with a dedicated centralized team, as well as regional equipment managers, who together focus on compliance, maintenance, asset utilization and procurement. We believe we have the largest fleet of vehicles in the commercial landscape maintenance industry.

Sourcing and Suppliers

Our size and broad national network make us an attractive partner for many industry-leading manufacturers and suppliers, which has allowed us to maintain strong, long-term relationships with our supply base.

We source our equipment, supplies and other related materials and products from a range of suppliers, including landscaping equipment companies, suppliers of fertilizer, seed, chemicals and other agricultural products, irrigation equipment manufacturers, and a variety of suppliers who specialize in nursery goods, outdoor lighting, hardscapes and other landscaping products.

We generally procure our products through purchase orders rather than under long-term contracts with firm commitments. We work to develop strong relationships with a select group of suppliers that we target based on a number of factors, including brand and market recognition, price, quality, product support and service, service levels, delivery terms and their strategic positioning.

Where You Can Find More Information

We file annual, quarterly and current reports, proxy statements and other information with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). Our SEC filings are available to the public over the internet at the SEC’s website at https://www.sec.gov. Our SEC filings are also available on our website at https://www.brightview.com as soon as reasonably practicable after they are filed with or furnished to the SEC.

From time to time, we may use our website as a distribution channel of material company information. Financial and other important information regarding our company is routinely accessible through and posted on our website at https://investor.brightview.com. In addition, you may automatically receive email alerts and other information about us when you enroll your email address by visiting the Email Alerts section at https://investor.brightview.com. Our website and the information contained on or connected to that site are not incorporated into this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Item 1A. Risk Factors

You should carefully consider the following risk factors as well as the other information included in this Form 10-K, including “Item 6. Selected Financial Data”, “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and our consolidated financial statements and related notes thereto. Any of the following risks could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, or results of operations. The selected risks described below, however, are not the only risks facing us. Additional risks and uncertainties not currently known to us or those we currently view to be immaterial may also materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, or results of operations.

Risks Related to Our Business

Our business is affected by general business, financial market and economic conditions, which could adversely affect our financial position, results of operations and cash flows.

Our business and results of operations are significantly affected by general business, financial market and economic conditions. General business, financial market and economic conditions that could impact the level of activity in the commercial landscape services industry include the level of commercial construction activity, the condition of the real estate markets where we operate, interest rate fluctuations, inflation, unemployment and wage levels, changes and uncertainties related to government fiscal and tax policies including change in tax rates, duties, tariffs, or other restrictions, capital spending, bankruptcies, volatility in both the debt and equity capital markets, liquidity of the global financial markets, the availability and cost of credit, investor and consumer confidence, global economic growth, local, state and federal government regulation, and the strength of regional and local economies in which we operate. New or increased tariffs may impact the costs of some of our supplies and equipment. The degree of our exposure is dependent on (among other things) the type of goods, rates imposed and timing of the tariffs. These factors could also negatively impact the timing or the ultimate collection of accounts receivable, which would adversely impact our business, financial position, results of operations and cash flows.

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During an economic downturn, our customers may decrease their spending on landscape services by seeking to reduce expenditures for landscape services, in particular enhancement services, engaging a lower cost service provider or performing landscape maintenance themselves rather than outsourcing to third parties like us or generally reducing the size and complexity of their new landscaping development projects.

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted and will likely continue to impact our business, financial condition and results of operations.

A pandemic outbreak of a novel strain of coronavirus (COVID-19) has occurred across the globe and efforts to mitigate the health impact of the pandemic have profoundly and adversely affected economic activity. National, state and local governments have taken actions to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in a variety of ways, including by declaring states of emergency, issuing stay-at-home orders and ordering certain businesses to close or limit their operations. Although our Maintenance and Development operations are considered essential services, there are some jurisdictions that have periodically limited or halted our operations or the operations of the general contractors with which we work. Amended or future governmental orders or other restrictions may limit or prohibit our Maintenance or Development operations in certain locations in the future. Further limitations could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

In addition to limitations on our operations as a result of governmental orders or restrictions, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused and will likely continue to cause disruptions to our business and operations as a result of social distancing measures, restrictions on travel and labor shortages as a result of illness and possible delays in H2-B visa processing in connection with recent or future government orders and regulations related to immigration. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused and may continue to cause disruptions in the business and operations of the general contractors with which we work and our suppliers. We may be unable to timely obtain the supplies we need to provide our services, which could have a material adverse impact on our ability to operate our business. As a result, we may lose business opportunities, have reduced revenues or have difficulty collecting payments from clients, which could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operation. The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in reduced demand for our ancillary services which has, as a result, led to a decline in ancillary revenues. We expect ancillary revenues to continue to be adversely impacted by the pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has also resulted in material adverse national and global economic conditions that are impacting, and will continue to impact, our business. Such conditions may result in an economic recession or prolonged economic downturn, which could result in a material loss of business for the duration of the downturn. Actions taken to mitigate the pandemic and resulting economic conditions are likely to materially adversely impact our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Although we have taken certain actions to ensure the continuity of our business and operations, we may need to take additional actions to ensure the continuity of our business, including use of a hiring freeze, furloughing or laying off employees and taking other actions to limit expenditures. We have drawn on borrowing facilities and may need to further extend borrowings and indebtedness in order to obtain additional liquidity. The COVID-19 pandemic has also resulted in severe disruption and volatility in the financial markets. Depending on the extent and duration of the COVID-19 pandemic, the price of our common stock on the NYSE has experienced and may continue to experience declines and volatility which may negatively impact our ability to raise capital through the equity markets if necessary to increase our liquidity.

In addition to the risks specifically described above, the impact of COVID-19 is likely to implicate and exacerbate certain risks, including those related to our customers, demand for our services, reliance on workers, suppliers, our indebtedness, and potential additional impairment of our goodwill and other intangible assets.

Our industry and the markets in which we operate are highly competitive and increased competitive pressures could reduce our share of the markets we serve and adversely affect our business, financial position, results of operations and cash flows.

We operate in markets with relatively few large competitors, but barriers to entry in the landscape services industry are generally low, which has led to highly competitive markets consisting of entities ranging from small or local operators to large regional businesses, as well as potential customers that choose not to outsource their landscape maintenance services. Any of our competitors may foresee the course of market development more accurately than we do, provide superior service, have the ability to deliver similar services at a lower cost, develop stronger relationships with our customers and other consumers in the landscape services industry, adapt more quickly to evolving customer requirements, devote greater resources to the promotion and sale of their services or access financing on more favorable terms than we can obtain. In addition, while regional competitors may be smaller than we are, some of these businesses may have a greater presence than we do in a particular market. As a result of any of these factors, we may not be able to compete successfully with our competitors, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial position, results of operations and cash flows.

Our customers consider the quality and differentiation of the services we provide, our customer service and price when deciding whether to use our services. As we have worked to establish ourselves as leading, high-quality providers of landscape maintenance and development services, we compete predominantly on the basis of high levels of service and strong relationships. We may not be able to, or may choose not to, compete with certain competitors on the basis of price and accordingly, some of our customers may switch to lower cost services providers or perform such services themselves. If we are unable to compete effectively with our existing competitors or new competitors enter the markets in which we operate, or our current customers stop outsourcing their landscape maintenance services, our financial position, results of operations and cash flows may be materially and adversely affected.

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In addition, former employees may start landscape services businesses similar to ours and compete directly with us. While we customarily sign non-competition agreements, which typically continue for one year following the termination of employment, with certain of our employees, such agreements do not fully protect us against competition from former employees and may not be enforceable depending on local law and the surrounding circumstances. Consequently, we cannot predict with certainty whether, if challenged, a court will enforce any particular non-competition agreement. Any increased competition from businesses started by former employees may reduce our market share and adversely affect our business, financial position, results of operations and cash flows.

Our business success depends on our ability to preserve long-term customer relationships.

Our success depends on our ability to retain our current customers, renew our existing customer contracts and obtain new business. Our ability to do so generally depends on a variety of factors, including the quality, price and responsiveness of our services, as well as our ability to market these services effectively and differentiate ourselves from our competitors. We largely seek to differentiate ourselves from our competitors on the basis of high levels of service, breadth of service offerings and strong relationships and may not be able to, or may choose not to, compete with certain competitors on the basis of price. There can be no assurance that we will be able to obtain new business, renew existing customer contracts at the same or higher levels of pricing or that our current customers will not cease operations, elect to self-operate or terminate contracts with us. In our Maintenance Services segment, we primarily provide services pursuant to agreements that are cancelable by either party upon 30-days’ notice. Consequently, our customers can unilaterally terminate all services pursuant to the terms of our service agreements, without penalty.

We may be adversely affected if customers reduce their outsourcing.

Our business and growth strategies benefit from the continuation of a current trend toward outsourcing services. Customers will outsource if they perceive that outsourcing may provide quality services at a lower overall cost and permit them to focus on their core business activities. We cannot be certain that this trend will continue or not be reversed or that customers that have outsourced functions will not decide to perform these functions themselves. If a significant number of our existing customers reduced their outsourcing and elected to perform the services themselves, such loss of customers could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial position, results of operations and cash flows.

Because we operate our business through dispersed locations across the United States, our operations may be materially adversely affected by inconsistent practices and the operating results of individual branches may vary.

We operate our business through a network of dispersed locations throughout the United States, supported by corporate executives and certain centralized services in our headquarters, with local branch management retaining responsibility for day-to-day operations. Our operating structure could make it difficult for us to coordinate procedures across our operations in a timely manner or at all, and certain of our branches may require significant oversight and coordination from headquarters to support their growth. In addition, the operating results of an individual branch may differ from that of another branch for a variety of reasons, including market size, management practices, competitive landscape, regulatory requirements and local economic conditions. Inconsistent or incomplete implementation of corporate strategy and policies at the local level could materially and adversely affect our business, financial position, results of operations and cash flows.

We may not successfully implement our business strategies, including achieving our growth objectives.

We may not be able to fully implement our business strategies or realize, in whole or in part within the expected time frames, the anticipated benefits of our various growth or other initiatives. Our various business strategies and initiatives, including our growth, operational and management initiatives, are subject to business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies, many of which are beyond our control. The execution of our business strategy and our financial performance will continue to depend in significant part on our executive management team and other key management personnel, our ability to identify and complete suitable acquisitions and our executive management team’s ability to execute new operational initiatives. In addition, we may incur certain costs as we pursue our growth, operational and management initiatives, and we may not meet anticipated implementation timetables or stay within budgeted costs. As these initiatives are undertaken, we may not fully achieve our expected efficiency improvements or growth rates, or these initiatives could adversely impact our customer retention, supplier relationships or operations. Also, our business strategies may change from time to time in light of our ability to implement our business initiatives, competitive pressures, economic uncertainties or developments, or other factors.

Future acquisitions or other strategic transactions could negatively impact our reputation, business, financial position, results of operations and cash flows.

We have acquired businesses in the past and expect to continue to acquire businesses or assets in the future. However, there can be no assurance that we will be able to identify and complete suitable acquisitions. For example, due to the highly fragmented nature of our industry, it may be difficult for us to identify potential targets with revenues sufficient to justify taking on the risks associated with pursuing their acquisition. The failure to identify suitable acquisitions and successfully integrate these acquired businesses may limit our ability to expand our operations and could have an adverse effect on our business, financial position and results of operations.

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In addition, acquired businesses may not perform in accordance with expectations, and our business judgments concerning the value, strengths and weaknesses of acquired businesses may not prove to be correct. We may also be unable to achieve expected improvements or achievements in businesses that we acquire. The process of integrating an acquired business may create unforeseen difficulties and expenses, including the diversion of resources away from our operations; the inability to retain employees, customers and suppliers; difficulties implementing our strategy at the acquired business; the assumption of actual or contingent liabilities (including those relating to the environment); failure to effectively and timely adopt and adhere to our internal control processes, accounting systems and other policies; write-offs or impairment charges relating to goodwill and other intangible assets; unanticipated liabilities relating to acquired businesses; and potential expenses associated with litigation with sellers of such businesses.

If management is not able to effectively manage the integration process, or if any significant business activities are interrupted as a result of the integration process, we may not be able to realize anticipated benefits and revenue opportunities resulting from acquisitions and our business could suffer. Although we conduct due diligence investigations prior to each acquisition, there can be no assurance that we will discover or adequately protect against all material liabilities of an acquired business for which we may be responsible as a successor owner or operator.

In connection with our acquisitions, we generally require that key management and former principals of the businesses we acquire enter into non-competition agreements in our favor. Enforceability of these non-competition agreements varies from state to state, and may depend on the relevant facts and circumstances. Consequently, we cannot predict with certainty whether, if challenged, a court will enforce any particular non-competition agreement. Increased competition could materially and adversely affect our business, financial position, results of operations and cash flows.

Seasonality affects the demand for our services and our results of operations and cash flows.

The demand for our services and our results of operations are affected by the seasonal nature of our landscape maintenance services in certain regions. In geographies that do not have a year-round growing season, the demand for our landscape maintenance services decreases during the winter months. Typically, our revenues and net income have been higher in the spring and summer seasons, which correspond with our third and fourth fiscal quarters. The lower level of activity in seasonal markets during our first and second fiscal quarters is partially offset by revenue from our snow removal services. In our Development Services segment, we typically experience lower activity levels during the winter months. Such seasonality causes our results of operations to vary from quarter to quarter. Due to the seasonal nature of the services we provide, we also experience seasonality in our employment and working capital needs. Our employment and working capital needs generally correspond with the increased demand for our services in the spring and summer months and employment levels and operating costs are generally at their highest during such months. Consequently, our results of operations and financial position can vary from year-to-year, as well as from quarter-to-quarter. If we are unable to effectively manage the seasonality and year-to-year variability, our results of operations, financial position and cash flow may be adversely affected.

Our operations are impacted by weather conditions.

We perform landscape services, the demand for which is affected by weather conditions, including impacts from climate change, droughts, severe storms and significant rain or snowfall, all of which may impact the timing and frequency of the performance of our services, or our ability to perform the services at all. For example, severe weather conditions, such as excessive heat or cold, may result in maintenance services being omitted for part of a season or beginning or ending earlier than anticipated, which could result in lost revenues or require additional services to be performed for which we may not receive corresponding incremental revenues. Variability in the frequency of which we must perform our services can affect the margins we realize on a given contract.

Certain extreme weather events, such as hurricanes and tropical storms, can result in increased enhancement revenues related to cleanup and other services. However, such weather events may also impact our ability to deliver our contracted services or cause damage to our facilities or equipment. These weather events can also result in higher fuel costs, higher labor costs and shortages of raw materials and products. As a result, a perceived earnings benefits related to extreme weather events may be moderated. Droughts could cause shortage in the water supply and governments may impose limitations on water usage, which may change customer demand for landscape maintenance and irrigation services. There is a risk that demand for our services will change in ways that we are unable to predict.

Increases in raw material costs, fuel prices, wages and other operating costs, and changes in our ability to source adequate supplies and materials in a timely manner, could adversely impact our business, financial position, results of operations and cash flows.

Our financial performance may be adversely affected by increases in our operating expenses, such as fuel, fertilizer, chemicals, road salt, mulch, wages and salaries, employee benefits, health care, subcontractor costs, vehicle, facilities and equipment leases, insurance and regulatory compliance costs, all of which may be subject to inflationary pressures. While we seek to manage price and availability risks related to raw materials, such as fuel, fertilizer, chemicals, road salt and mulch, through procurement strategies, these efforts may not be successful and we may experience adverse impacts due to rising prices of such products. In addition, we closely monitor wage, salary and benefit costs in an effort to remain competitive in our markets. Attracting and maintaining a high quality workforce is a priority for our business, and if wage, salary or benefit costs increase, including as a result of minimum wage legislation, our operating costs will increase as they have in the past. We cannot predict the extent to which we may experience future increases in operating expenses as well as various regulatory compliance costs. To the extent such costs increase, we may be prevented, in whole or in part, from passing these cost increases through to our existing and prospective customers, which could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial position, results of operations and cash flows.

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Our ability to offer a wide variety of services to our customers is dependent upon our ability to obtain adequate supplies, materials and products from manufacturers, distributors and other suppliers. Any disruption or shortage in our sources of supply due to unanticipated increased demand or disruptions in production or delivery of products such as fertilizer, chemicals, road salt and mulch, could result in a loss of revenues, reduced margins and damage to our relationships with customers. In addition, we source certain materials and products we use in our business from a limited number of suppliers. If our suppliers experience difficulties or disruptions in their operations or if we lose any significant supplier, we may experience increased supply costs or may experience delays in establishing replacement supply sources that meet our quality and control standards. The loss of, or a substantial decrease in the availability of, supplies and products from our suppliers or the loss of key supplier arrangements could adversely impact our business, financial position, results of operations and cash flows.

If we are unable to accurately estimate the overall risks, requirements or costs when we bid on or negotiate contracts that are ultimately awarded to us, we may achieve lower than anticipated profits or incur contract losses.

A significant portion of our contracts are subject to competitive bidding and/or are negotiated on a fixed- or capped-fee basis for the services covered. Such contracts generally require that the total amount of work, or a specified portion thereof, be performed for a single price irrespective of our actual costs. If our cost estimates for a contract are inaccurate, or if we do not execute the contract within our cost estimates, then cost overruns may cause the contract not to be as profitable as we expected or could cause us to incur losses.

Our landscape development services have been, and in the future may be, adversely impacted by fluctuations or declines in the new commercial construction sector, as well as in spending on repair and upgrade activities. Such variability in this part of our business could result in lower revenues and reduced cash flows and profitability.

With respect to our Development Services segment, a significant portion of our revenues are derived from development activities associated with new commercial real estate development, including hospitality and leisure, which has experienced periodic declines, some of which have been severe, including recent and sustained declines associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. The strength of these markets depends on, among other things, housing starts, local occupancy rates, demand for commercial space, non-residential construction spending activity, business investment and general economic conditions, which are a function of many factors beyond our control, including interest rates, employment levels, availability of credit, consumer spending, consumer confidence and capital spending. During a downturn in the commercial real estate development industry, customers may decrease their spending on landscape development services by generally reducing the size and complexity of their new landscaping development projects. Additionally, when interest rates rise, there may be a decrease in the spending activities of our current and potential Development Services customers. Fluctuations in commercial real estate development markets could have an adverse effect on our business, financial position, results of operations or cash flows.

Our results of operations for our snow removal services depend primarily on the level, timing and location of snowfall. As a result, a decline in frequency or total amounts of snowfall in multiple regions for an extended time could cause our results of operations to decline and adversely affect our ability to generate cash flow.

As a provider of snow removal services, our revenues are impacted by the frequency, amount, timing and location of snowfall in the regions in which we offer our services. A high number of snowfalls in a given season generally has a positive effect on the results of our operations. However, snowfall in the months of March, April, October and/or November could have a potentially adverse effect on ordinary course maintenance landscape services typically performed during those periods. A low level or lack of snowfall in any given year in any of the snow-belt regions in North America (primarily the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions of the United States) or a sustained period of reduced snowfall events in one or more of the geographic regions in which we operate will likely cause revenues from our snow removal services to decline in such year, which in turn may adversely affect our revenues, results of operations and cash flow. In the past ten- and thirty-year periods, the regions that we service have averaged 2,708 inches and 2,750 inches of annual snowfall, respectively. However, there can be no assurance that these regions will receive seasonal snowfalls near their historical average in the future. Variability in the frequency and timing of snowfalls creates challenges associated with budgeting and forecasting for the Maintenance Services segment. Additionally, the effects of climate change may impact the frequency and total amounts of future snowfall, which could have a material adverse effect on our revenues, results of operations and cash flow.

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Our success depends on our executive management and other key personnel.

Our future success depends to a significant degree on the skills, experience and efforts of our executive management and other key personnel and their ability to provide us with uninterrupted leadership and direction. The failure to retain our executive officers and other key personnel or a failure to provide adequate succession plans could have an adverse impact. The availability of highly qualified talent is limited, and the competition for talent is robust. A failure to efficiently or effectively replace executive management members or other key personnel and to attract, retain and develop new qualified personnel could have an adverse effect on our operations and implementation of our strategic plan.

Our future success depends on our ability to attract, retain and maintain positive relations with trained workers.

Our future success and financial performance depend substantially on our ability to attract, train and retain workers, including account, branch and regional management personnel. The landscape services industry is labor intensive, and industry participants, including us, experience high turnover rates among hourly workers and competition for qualified supervisory personnel. In addition, we, like many landscape service providers who conduct a portion of their operations in seasonal climates, employ a portion of our field personnel for only part of the year.

We have historically relied on the H-2B visa program to bring workers to the United States on a seasonal basis. We employed approximately 1,100 seasonal workers in 2020 and approximately 1,555 seasonal workers in 2019, through the H-2B visa program. If we are unable to hire sufficient numbers of seasonal workers, through the H-2B program or otherwise, we may experience a labor shortage. In the event of a labor shortage, whether related to seasonal or permanent staff, we could experience difficulty in delivering our services in a high-quality or timely manner and could experience increased recruiting, training and wage costs in order to attract and retain employees, which would result in higher operating costs and reduced profitability.

As of September 30, 2020, we had approximately 19,700 employees, approximately 8% of which are represented by a union pursuant to collective bargaining agreements. If a significant number of our employees were to attempt to unionize, and/or successfully unionized, including in the wake of any future legislation that makes it easier for employees to unionize, our business could be negatively affected. Any inability by us to negotiate collective bargaining arrangements could result in strikes or other work stoppages disrupting our operations, and new union contracts could increase operating and labor costs. If these labor organizing activities were successful, it could further increase labor costs, decrease operating efficiency and productivity in the future, or otherwise disrupt or negatively impact our operations. Moreover, certain of the collective bargaining agreements we participate in require periodic contributions to multiemployer defined benefit pension plans. Our required contributions to these plans could increase because of a shrinking contribution base as a result of the insolvency or withdrawal of other companies that currently contribute to these plans, the inability or failure of withdrawing companies to pay their withdrawal liability, low interest rates, lower than expected returns on pension fund assets or other funding deficiencies. Additionally, in the event we were to withdraw from some or all of these plans as a result of our exiting certain markets or otherwise, and the relevant plans are underfunded, we may become subject to a withdrawal liability. The amount of these required contributions may be material.

Our business could be adversely affected by a failure to properly verify the employment eligibility of our employees.

We use the U.S. government’s “E-Verify” program to verify employment eligibility for all new employees throughout our company. However, use of E-Verify does not guarantee that we will successfully identify all applicants who are ineligible for employment. Although we use E-Verify and require all new employees to provide us with government-specified documentation evidencing their employment eligibility, some of our employees may, without our knowledge, be unauthorized workers. The employment of unauthorized workers may subject us to fines or penalties, and adverse publicity that negatively impacts our reputation and may make it more difficult to hire and keep qualified employees. We are subject to regulations of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, and we are audited from time to time by ICE for compliance with work authentication requirements. While we believe we are in compliance with applicable laws and regulations, if we are found not to be in compliance as a result of any audits, we may be subject to fines or other remedial actions. See “Business—Regulatory Overview—Employee and Immigration Matters.”

Termination of a significant number of employees in specific markets or across our company due to work authorization or other regulatory issues would disrupt our operations, and could also cause adverse publicity and temporary increases in our labor costs as we train new employees. We could also become subject to fines, penalties and other costs related to claims that we did not fully comply with all recordkeeping obligations of federal and state immigration compliance laws. Our reputation and financial performance may be materially harmed as a result of any of these factors. Furthermore, immigration laws have been an area of considerable political focus in recent years, and the U.S. Congress and the Executive Branch of the U.S. government from time to time consider or implement changes to federal immigration laws, regulations or enforcement programs. Further changes in immigration or work authorization laws may increase our obligations for compliance and oversight, which could subject us to additional costs and potential liability and make our hiring process more cumbersome, or reduce the availability of potential employees.

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Our use of subcontractors to perform work under certain customer contracts exposes us to liability and financial risk.

In our Development Services segment and through our qualified service partner network in our Maintenance Services segment, we use subcontractors to perform work in situations in which we are not able to self-perform such work. If we are unable to hire qualified subcontractors, our ability to successfully complete a project or perform services could be impaired. If we are not able to locate qualified third-party subcontractors or the amount we are required to pay for subcontractors exceeds what we have estimated, we could incur losses or realize lower than expected margins. We may not have direct control over our subcontractors, and although we have in place controls and programs to monitor the work of our subcontractors, there can be no assurance that these programs will have the desired effect. The actual or alleged failure to perform or negligence of a subcontractor may damage our reputation or expose us to liability, which could impact our results of operations. Furthermore, if our subcontractors are unable to cover the cost of damages or physical injuries caused by their actions, whether through insurance or otherwise, we may be held liable for such costs.

A significant portion of our assets consists of goodwill and other intangible assets, the value of which may be reduced if we determine that additional assets are impaired.

On December 18, 2013, an affiliate of KKR indirectly acquired a controlling interest in our company and on June 30, 2014, we acquired ValleyCrest Holding Co. As a result of the KKR and ValleyCrest acquisitions, we applied the acquisition method of accounting. Goodwill is recorded as the difference, if any, between the aggregate consideration paid for an acquisition and the fair value of the tangible and identifiable intangible assets acquired, liabilities assumed and any non-controlling interest. Intangible assets, including goodwill, are assigned to our segments based upon their fair value at the time of acquisition. In accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”), goodwill and indefinite lived intangible assets are evaluated for impairment annually, or more frequently if circumstances indicate impairment may have occurred. As of September 30, 2020, the net carrying value of goodwill and other intangible assets, net, represented $2,080.6 million, or 68% of our total assets. Our annual goodwill impairment analysis concluded that the fair value of one of our four reporting units, the BrightView Tree Company reporting unit, did not exceed the carrying value, which indicated an impairment. As a result, and in conjunction with the initiation and conclusion of the sale of the BrightView Tree Company reporting unit in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020, a goodwill impairment loss of $15.5 million was recognized in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020. See Note 8 “Intangible Assets, Goodwill, Acquisitions and Divestitures” to our audited consolidated financial statements included in Part II. Item 8 of this Form 10-K for additional information related to impairment testing for goodwill and other intangible assets and the associated charges taken.

If we fail to comply with requirements imposed by applicable law or other governmental regulations, we could become subject to lawsuits, investigations and other liabilities and restrictions on our operations that could significantly and adversely affect our business.

We are subject to governmental regulation at the federal, state, and local levels in many areas of our business, such as employment laws, wage and hour laws, discrimination laws, immigration laws, human health and safety laws, transportation laws, environmental laws, false claims or whistleblower statutes, disadvantaged business enterprise statutes, tax codes, antitrust and competition laws, intellectual property laws, governmentally funded entitlement programs and cost and accounting principles, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, other anti-corruption laws, lobbying laws, motor carrier safety laws and data privacy and security laws. We may be subject to review, audit or inquiry by applicable regulators from time to time.

While we attempt to comply with all applicable laws and regulations, there can be no assurance that we are in full compliance with all applicable laws and regulations or interpretations of these laws and regulations at all times or that we will be able to comply with any future laws, regulations or interpretations of these laws and regulations. If we fail to comply with applicable laws and regulations, including those referred to above, we may be subject to investigations, criminal sanctions or civil remedies, including fines, penalties, damages, reimbursement, injunctions, seizures or disgorgements of the ability to operate our motor vehicles. The cost of compliance or the consequences of non-compliance, could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations. In addition, government agencies may make changes in the regulatory frameworks within which we operate that may require either the corporation as a whole or individual businesses to incur substantial increases in costs in order to comply with such laws and regulations.

Compliance with environmental, health and safety laws and regulations, including laws pertaining to the use of pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers, or liabilities thereunder, as well as the risk of potential litigation, could result in significant costs that adversely impact our reputation, business, financial position, results of operations and cash flows.

We are subject to a variety of federal, state and local laws and regulations relating to environmental, health and safety matters. In particular, in the United States, products containing pesticides generally must be registered with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA, and similar state agencies before they can be sold or applied. The pesticides we use are manufactured by independent third parties and are evaluated by the EPA as part of its ongoing exposure risk assessment and may be subject to similar evaluation by similar state agencies. The EPA, or similar state agencies, may decide that a pesticide we use will be limited or will not be re-registered for use in the United States. We cannot predict the outcome or the severity of the effect of the EPA’s, or a similar state agency’s, continuing evaluations. The failure to obtain or the cancellation of any such registration, or the partial or complete ban of such pesticides, could have an adverse effect on our business, the severity of which would depend on the products involved, whether other products could be substituted and whether our competitors were similarly affected.

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The use of certain pesticides, herbicides and fertilizer products is also regulated by various federal, state and local environmental and public health and safety agencies. These regulations may require that only certified or professional users apply the product or that certain products only be used on certain types of locations. These laws may also require users to post notices on properties at which products have been or will be applied, notification to individuals in the vicinity that products will be applied in the future, or labeling of certain products or may restrict or ban the use of certain products. We can give no assurance that we can prevent violations of these or other regulations from occurring. Even if we are able to comply with all such regulations and obtain all necessary registrations and licenses, we cannot assure you that the pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers or other products we apply, or the manner in which we apply them, will not be alleged to cause injury to the environment, to people or to animals, or that such products will not be restricted or banned in certain circumstances. For example, we could be named in or subject to personal injury claims stemming from alleged environmental torts, similar to those that have been brought against certain manufacturers of herbicides. The costs of compliance, consequences of non-compliance, remediation costs and liabilities, unfavorable public perceptions of such products or products liability lawsuits could have a material adverse effect on our reputation, business, financial position, results of operations and cash flows.

In addition, federal, state and local agencies regulate the use, storage, treatment, disposal, handling and management of hazardous substances and wastes, emissions or discharges from our facilities or vehicles and the investigation and clean-up of contaminated sites, including our sites, customer sites and third-party sites to which we send wastes. We could incur significant costs and liabilities, including investigation and clean-up costs, fines, penalties and civil or criminal sanctions for non-compliance and claims by third parties for property and natural resource damage and personal injury under these laws and regulations. If there is a significant change in the facts or circumstances surrounding the assumptions upon which we operate, or if we are found to violate, or be liable under, applicable environmental and public health and safety laws and regulations, it could have a material adverse effect on future environmental capital expenditures and other environmental expenses and on our reputation, business, financial position, results of operations and cash flows. In addition, potentially significant expenditures could be required to comply with environmental laws and regulations, including requirements that may be adopted or imposed in the future.

Adverse litigation judgments or settlements resulting from legal proceedings relating to our business operations could materially adversely affect our business, financial position and results of operations.

From time to time, we are subject to allegations, and may be party to legal claims and regulatory proceedings, relating to our business operations. Such allegations, claims or proceedings may, for example, relate to personal injury, property damage, general liability claims relating to properties where we perform services, vehicle accidents involving our vehicles and our employees, regulatory issues, contract disputes or employment matters and may include class actions. See Part I. Item 3 “Legal Proceedings”. Such allegations, claims and proceedings have been and may be brought by third parties, including our customers, employees, governmental or regulatory bodies or competitors. Defending against these and other such claims and proceedings is costly and time consuming and may divert management’s attention and personnel resources from our normal business operations, and the outcome of many of these claims and proceedings cannot be predicted. If any of these claims or proceedings were to be determined adversely to us, a judgment, a fine or a settlement involving a payment of a material sum of money were to occur, or injunctive relief were issued against us, our business, financial position and results of operations could be materially adversely affected.

Currently, we carry a broad range of insurance for the protection of our assets and operations. However, such insurance may not fully cover all material expenses related to potential allegations, claims and proceedings, or any adverse judgments, fines or settlements resulting therefrom, as such insurance programs are often subject to significant deductibles or self-insured retentions or may not cover certain types of claims. In addition, we self-insure with respect to certain types of claims. To the extent we are subject to a higher frequency of claims, are subject to more serious claims or insurance coverage is not available, our liquidity, financial position and results of operations could be materially adversely affected.

We are also responsible for our legal expenses relating to such claims. We reserve currently for anticipated losses and related expenses. We periodically evaluate and adjust our claims reserves to reflect trends in our own experience as well as industry trends. However, ultimate results may differ from our estimates, which could result in losses over our reserved amounts.

Some of the equipment that our employees use is dangerous, and an increase in accidents resulting from the use of such equipment could negatively affect our reputation, results of operations and financial position.

Many of the services that we provide pose the risk of serious personal injury to our employees. Our employees regularly use dangerous equipment, such as lawn mowers, edgers and other power equipment. As a result, there is a significant risk of work-related injury and workers’ compensation claims. To the extent that we experience a material increase in the frequency or severity of accidents or workers’ compensation claims, or unfavorable developments on existing claims or fail to comply with worker health and safety regulations, our operating results and financial position could be materially and adversely affected. In addition, the perception that our workplace is unsafe may damage our reputation among current and potential employees, which may impact our ability to recruit and retain employees, which may adversely affect our business and results of operations.

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Any failure, inadequacy, interruption, security failure or breach of our information technology systems, whether owned by us or outsourced or managed by third parties, could harm our ability to effectively operate our business and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial position and results of operations.

We are dependent on certain centralized automated information technology systems and networks to manage and support a variety of business processes and activities. Our ability to effectively manage our business and coordinate the sourcing of supplies, materials and products and our services depends significantly on the reliability and capacity of these systems and networks. Such systems and networks are subject to damage or interruption from power outages, telecommunications problems, data corruption, software errors, network failures, security breaches, acts of war or terrorist attacks, fire, flood and natural disasters. Our servers or cloud-based systems could be affected by physical or electronic break-ins, and computer viruses or similar disruptions may occur. A system outage may also cause the loss of important data or disrupt our operations. Our existing safety systems, data backup, access protection, user management, disaster recovery and information technology emergency planning may not be sufficient to prevent or minimize the effect of data loss or long-term network outages.

We may periodically upgrade our existing information technology systems with the assistance of third party vendors, and the costs to upgrade such systems may be significant. Costs and potential problems and interruptions associated with the implementation of new or upgraded systems and technology or with maintenance or adequate support of existing systems could disrupt or reduce the efficiency of our operations. If we cannot meet our information technology staffing needs, we may not be able to fulfill our technology initiatives while continuing to provide maintenance on existing systems. We could be required to make significant capital expenditures to remediate any such failure, malfunction or breach with our information technology systems or networks. Any material disruption or slowdown of our systems, including those caused by our failure to successfully upgrade our systems, and our inability to convert to alternate systems in an efficient and timely manner could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial position and results of operations.

We rely on commercially available systems, software, tools and monitoring to provide security for processing, transmitting and storing confidential information of our customers, employees and third parties. Unlawful or unauthorized activities by third parties, and failures in systems, software, encryption technology, or other tools may facilitate or result in a compromise or breach of these systems. We are subject to risks caused by data breaches and operational disruptions, particularly through cyber-attack or cyber-intrusion, including by computer hackers, foreign governments and cyber terrorists. Any unauthorized disclosure of confidential information could damage our reputation, interrupt our operations and could result in a violation of applicable laws, regulations, industry standards or agreements and potentially subject us to costs, penalties and liabilities The occurrence of any of these events could have a material adverse impact on our reputation, business, financial position, results of operations and cash flow. Although we maintain insurance coverage for various cybersecurity risks, there can be no guarantee that all costs incurred will be fully insured.

We may not be able to adequately protect our intellectual property, which could harm the value of our brand and adversely affect our business.

Our ability to implement our business plan successfully depends in part on our ability to further build brand recognition using our trademarks, service marks and other proprietary intellectual property, including our name and logos. While it is our policy to protect and defend vigorously our intellectual property, we cannot predict whether such actions will be adequate to prevent infringement or misappropriation of these rights. Although we believe that we have sufficient rights to all of our trademarks, service marks and other intellectual property rights, we may face claims of infringement that could interfere with our business or our ability to market and promote our brands. If we are unable to successfully defend against such claims, we may be prevented from using our intellectual property rights in the future and may be liable for damages.

Although we make a significant effort to avoid infringing known proprietary rights of third parties, we may be subject to claims of infringement by third parties. Responding to and defending such claims, regardless of their merit, can be costly and time-consuming, and we may not prevail. Depending on the resolution of such claims, we may be barred from using a specific mark or other rights, may be required to enter into licensing arrangements from the third party claiming infringement or may become liable for significant damages. If any of the foregoing occurs, our ability to compete could be affected or our business, financial position and results of operations may be adversely affected.

Risks Related to Our Indebtedness

Our substantial indebtedness could have important adverse consequences and adversely affect our financial condition.

We have a significant amount of indebtedness. As of September 30, 2020, we had total indebtedness of $1,139.8 million, and we had availability under the Revolving Credit Facility and the Receivables Financing Agreement of $182.0 million and $60.0 million, respectively. See Note 10 “Long-term Debt” to our audited consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Form 10-K.

Our level of debt could have important consequences, including making it more difficult for us to satisfy our obligations with respect to our debt, limiting our ability to obtain additional financing to fund future working capital, capital expenditures, investments or acquisitions, or other general corporate requirements, requiring a substantial portion of our cash flows to be dedicated to debt service payments instead of other purposes, thereby reducing the amount of cash flows available for working capital, capital expenditures, investments or acquisitions and other general corporate purposes, increasing our vulnerability to adverse changes in general economic, industry and competitive conditions, exposing us to the risk of increased interest rates as certain of our borrowings, including borrowings under the Credit Agreement, are at variable rates of interest, limiting our flexibility in planning for and reacting to changes in the industries in which we compete, placing us at a disadvantage compared to other, less leveraged competitors, increasing our cost of borrowing and hampering our ability to execute on our growth strategy.

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Our debt agreements contain restrictions that limit our flexibility in operating our business.

The Credit Agreement imposes significant operating and financial restrictions. These covenants may limit our ability and the ability of our subsidiaries to, among other things, incur additional indebtedness; create or incur liens; engage in certain fundamental changes, including mergers or consolidations; sell or transfer assets; pay dividends and distributions on our subsidiaries’ capital stock; make acquisitions, investments, loans or advances; prepay or repurchase certain indebtedness; engage in certain transactions with affiliates; and enter into negative pledge clauses and clauses restricting subsidiary distributions.

The Credit Agreement also contains certain customary affirmative covenants and events of default, including a change of control. The Credit Agreement also contains a financial maintenance requirement with respect to the Revolving Credit Facility, prohibiting us from exceeding a certain first lien secured leverage ratio under certain circumstances. As a result of these covenants and restrictions, we are limited in how we conduct our business, and we may be unable to raise additional debt or equity financing to compete effectively or to take advantage of new business opportunities. The terms of any future indebtedness we may incur could include more restrictive covenants. We cannot guarantee that we will be able to maintain compliance with these covenants in the future and, if we fail to do so, that we will be able to obtain waivers from the lenders and/or amend the covenants.

Our failure to comply with the restrictive covenants described above as well as others contained in our future debt instruments from time to time could result in an event of default, which, if not cured or waived, could result in our being required to repay these borrowings before their maturity dates. In addition, any event of default or declaration of acceleration under one debt instrument could also result in an event of default under one or more of our other debt instruments. If we are unable to repay, refinance or restructure our indebtedness under our secured debt, the holders of such debt could proceed against the collateral securing that indebtedness. If we are forced to refinance these borrowings on less favorable terms or if we are unable to repay, refinance or restructure such indebtedness, our financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.

We may be unable to generate sufficient cash flow to satisfy our significant debt service obligations, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our ability to make principal and interest payments on and to refinance our indebtedness will depend on our ability to generate cash in the future and is subject to general economic, financial, competitive, legislative, regulatory and other factors that are beyond our control. If our business does not generate sufficient cash flow from operations, in the amounts projected or at all, or if future borrowings are not available to us in amounts sufficient to fund our other liquidity needs, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected.

If we cannot generate sufficient cash flow from operations to make scheduled principal and interest payments, we may need to refinance all or a portion of our indebtedness on or before maturity, sell assets, delay capital expenditures or seek additional equity. The terms of our existing or future debt agreements may also restrict us from affecting any of these alternatives. Any refinancing of our debt could be at higher interest rates and may require us to comply with more onerous covenants, which could further restrict our business operations. Further, changes in the credit and capital markets, including market disruptions and interest rate fluctuations, may increase the cost of financing, make it more difficult to obtain favorable terms, or restrict our access to these sources of future liquidity. In addition, any failure to make scheduled payments of interest and principal on our outstanding indebtedness would likely result in a reduction of our credit rating, which could harm our ability to incur additional indebtedness on commercially reasonable terms or at all. Our inability to generate sufficient cash flow to satisfy our debt service obligations, or to refinance or restructure our obligations on commercially reasonable terms or at all, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations, as well as on our ability to satisfy our obligations in respect of our indebtedness.

Despite our level of indebtedness, we and our subsidiaries may still be able to incur substantially more debt, including off-balance sheet financing, contractual obligations and general and commercial liabilities. This could further exacerbate the risks to our financial condition described above.

We and our subsidiaries may be able to incur significant additional indebtedness in the future, including off-balance sheet financings, contractual obligations and general and commercial liabilities. Although the Credit Agreement contains restrictions on the incurrence of additional indebtedness, these restrictions are subject to a number of qualifications and exceptions, and the additional indebtedness incurred in compliance with these restrictions could be substantial. In addition, we can increase the borrowing availability under the Credit Agreement by up to $303.0 million in the form of additional commitments under the Revolving Credit Facility and/or incremental term loans plus an additional amount so long as we do not exceed a specified first lien secured leverage ratio. If new debt is added to our current debt levels, the related risks that we now face could intensify.

Our variable rate indebtedness subjects us to interest rate risk, which could cause our debt service obligations to increase significantly.

Borrowings under our Credit Agreement and Receivables Financing Agreement are at variable rates of interest and expose us to interest rate risk. Moreover, borrowings under our Credit Agreement and Receivables Financing Agreement bear interest at a rate per annum of LIBOR plus a margin. On July 27, 2017, the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority announced that it intends to stop persuading or compelling banks to submit LIBOR rates after 2021. It is unclear if at that time LIBOR will cease to exist or if new methods of calculating LIBOR will be established such that it continues to exist after 2021. Recent proposals for LIBOR reforms may result in the establishment of new methods of calculating LIBOR or the establishment of one or more alternative benchmark rates. Although our

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Credit Agreement and Receivables Financing Agreement provide for application of successor rates based on prevailing market conditions, it is not currently possible to predict the effect of any establishment of alternative reference rates or any other reforms to LIBOR that may be enacted in the United Kingdom or elsewhere. If interest rates increase, our debt service obligations on the variable rate indebtedness will increase even though the amount borrowed will remain the same, our ability to refinance some or all of our existing indebtedness may be impacted and our net income and cash flows, including cash available for servicing our indebtedness, will correspondingly decrease.

If the financial institutions that are part of the syndicate of our Revolving Credit Facility fail to extend credit under our facility or reduce the borrowing base under our Revolving Credit Facility, our liquidity and results of operations may be adversely affected.

We have access to capital through our Revolving Credit Facility, which is governed by the Credit Agreement. Each financial institution which is part of the syndicate for our Revolving Credit Facility is responsible on a several, but not joint, basis for providing a portion of the loans to be made under our facility. If any participant or group of participants with a significant portion of the commitments in our Revolving Credit Facility fails to satisfy its or their respective obligations to extend credit under the facility and we are unable to find a replacement for such participant or participants on a timely basis (if at all), our liquidity may be adversely affected.

We utilize derivative financial instruments to reduce our exposure to market risks from changes in interest rates on our variable rate indebtedness and we will be exposed to risks related to counterparty credit worthiness or non-performance of these instruments.

We have entered into interest rate swap instruments to limit our exposure to changes in variable interest rates. While our hedging strategy is designed to minimize the impact of increases in interest rates applicable to our variable rate debt, there can be no guarantee that our hedging strategy will be effective, and we may experience credit-related losses in some circumstances. See Note 11 “Financial Instruments Measured at Fair Value” to our audited consolidated financial statements included in Part II. Item 8 of this Form 10-K.

Risks Related to Ownership of Our Common Stock

Because we have no current plans to pay cash dividends on our common stock, you may not receive any return on investment unless you sell your common stock for a price greater than that which you paid for it.

We have no current plans to pay cash dividends on our common stock. The declaration, amount and payment of any future dividends on our common stock will be at the sole discretion of our Board of Directors. Our Board of Directors may take into account general and economic conditions, our financial condition and results of operations, our available cash and current and anticipated cash needs, capital requirements, contractual, legal, tax and regulatory restrictions and implications on the payment of dividends by us to our stockholders or by our subsidiaries to us, including restrictions under our Credit Agreement and other indebtedness we may incur, and such other factors as our Board of Directors may deem relevant. As a result, you may not receive any return on an investment in our common stock unless you sell our common stock for a price greater than your purchase price.

We are a holding company with no operations of our own and, as such, we depend on our subsidiaries for cash to fund all of our operations and expenses, including future dividend payments, if any.

Our operations are conducted entirely through our subsidiaries and our ability to generate cash to meet our debt service obligations or to make future dividend payments, if any, is highly dependent on the earnings and the receipt of funds from our subsidiaries via dividends or intercompany loans.

Future sales, or the perception of future sales, by us or our existing stockholders, could cause the market price for our common stock to decline.

Sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock in the public market, or the perception that such sales could occur, could substantially decrease the market price of our common stock. As of September 30, 2020, we had 104,886,085 shares of our common stock outstanding, including 1,122,911 shares of restricted stock subject to vesting. Of the outstanding shares, the 24,495,000 shares sold in the IPO and the 10,000,000 shares sold in the secondary offering of our common stock in June 2020 (the “secondary offering”) are freely tradable without restriction or further registration under the Securities Act, except for any shares held by our affiliates, as that term is defined under Rule 144 of the Securities Act, or Rule 144, including our directors, executive officers and other affiliates (including affiliates of KKR and affiliates of MSD Partners, L.P., or MSD Partners). Additionally, in connection with the secondary offering, pursuant to the second amended and restated limited partnership agreement of BrightView Parent L.P., the transfer restrictions with respect to approximately 3.1 million shares of our common stock expired, and such shares are freely tradable, subject to compliance with our securities trading policy and applicable securities laws.

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As of September 30, 2020, the approximately 64.5 million shares of common stock held by the Sponsors and our directors and executive officers are “restricted securities” within the meaning of Rule 144 and subject to certain restrictions on resale. Restricted securities may be sold in the public market only if they are registered under the Securities Act or are sold pursuant to an exemption from registration such as Rule 144.In addition, each of the Sponsors has the right, subject to certain conditions, to require us to register the sale of their shares of our common stock under the Securities Act. By exercising its registration rights and selling a large number of shares, a Sponsor could cause the prevailing market price of our common stock to decline. Certain of our other stockholders have “piggyback” registration rights with respect to future registered offerings of our common stock. Registration of any of these outstanding shares of common stock would result in such shares becoming freely tradable without compliance with Rule 144 upon effectiveness of the registration statement.

As of September 30, 2020, we had stock options outstanding to purchase a total of 6,711,105 shares of our common stock and 749,173 shares of our common stock subject to restricted stock units. In addition, as of September 30, 2020, 8,669,196 shares of common stock were reserved for future issuance under our incentive plans. Additionally, we have reserved a total of 1,100,000 shares of our common stock for issuance under the Employee Stock Purchase Plan, of which 171,508 shares have been issued as of September 30, 2020.

As restrictions on resale end, or if the existing stockholders exercise their registration rights, the market price of our shares of common stock could drop significantly if the holders of these shares sell them or are perceived by the market as intending to sell them. These factors could also make it more difficult for us to raise additional funds through future offerings of our shares of common stock or other securities. In the future, we may also issue equity securities in connection with investments or acquisitions. The number of shares of our common stock issued in connection with an investment or acquisition could constitute a material portion of our then-outstanding shares of our common stock. Any issuance of additional securities in connection with investments or acquisitions may result in additional dilution to you.

We are a “controlled company” within the meaning of the NYSE rules and the rules of the SEC and, as a result, qualify for exemptions from certain corporate governance requirements. You do not have the same protections afforded to stockholders of other companies that are subject to such requirements.

The Sponsors control a majority of the voting power of our outstanding common stock. As a result, we are a “controlled company” within the meaning of the corporate governance standards of the NYSE. Under these rules, a company of which more than 50% of the voting power is held by an individual, group or another company is a “controlled company” and may elect not to comply with certain corporate governance requirements.

Because we utilize certain of these exemptions, we do not have a majority of independent directors and our compensation and governance committees do not consist entirely of independent directors. In addition, we are not subject to certain rules related to compensation committees and the oversight, independence and role of, and disclosure related to, compensation consultants, legal counsel and other committee advisers. Accordingly, you do not have the same protections afforded to stockholders of companies that are subject to all of the corporate governance requirements of the NYSE.

Our Sponsors control us and their interests may conflict with ours or yours in the future.

As of September 30, 2020, the Sponsors beneficially own 59.5% of our common stock. As a result, the Sponsors are able to control the election and removal of our directors and thereby control our policies and operations, including the appointment of management, future issuances of our common stock or other securities, payment of dividends, if any, on our common stock, the incurrence or modification of indebtedness by us, amendment of our certificate of incorporation and bylaws and entering into extraordinary transactions, and their interests may not in all cases be aligned with your interests. In addition, the Sponsors and their affiliates may have an interest in pursuing acquisitions, divestitures and other transactions that, in their judgment, could enhance their investment, even though such transactions might involve risks to you. For example, the Sponsors could cause us to make acquisitions that increase our indebtedness or cause us to sell revenue-generating assets.

Our Sponsors and their affiliates are in the business of making investments in companies and may from time to time acquire and hold interests in businesses that compete directly or indirectly with us. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that none of the Sponsors, any of their affiliates or any director who is not employed by us (including any non-employee director who serves as one of our officers in both his director and officer capacities) or his or her affiliates will have any duty to refrain from engaging, directly or indirectly, in the same business activities or similar business activities or lines of business in which we operate. The Sponsors and their affiliates also may pursue acquisition opportunities that may be complementary to our business and, as a result, those acquisition opportunities may not be available to us. In addition, the Sponsors and their affiliates are able to determine the outcome of all matters requiring stockholder approval and are able to cause or prevent a change of control of our company or a change in the composition of our Board of Directors and could preclude any acquisition of our company. This concentration of voting control could deprive you of an opportunity to receive a premium for your shares of common stock as part of a sale of our company and ultimately might affect the market price of our common stock.

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Anti-takeover provisions in our organizational documents could delay or prevent a change of control.

Certain provisions of our certificate of incorporation and bylaws may have an anti-takeover effect and may delay, defer or prevent a merger, acquisition, tender offer, takeover attempt, or other change of control transaction that a stockholder might consider in its best interest, including those attempts that might result in a premium over the market price for the shares held by our stockholders.

These provisions provide for, among other things, our Board of Directors to issue one or more series of preferred stock; advance notice requirements for nominations of directors by stockholders and for stockholders to include matters to be considered at our annual meetings; certain limitations on convening special stockholder meetings; the removal of directors only upon the affirmative vote of the holders of at least 662⁄3% of the shares of common stock entitled to vote generally in the election of directors if the Sponsors and their affiliates cease to beneficially own at least 40% of shares of common stock entitled to vote generally in the election of directors. In addition, certain provisions of our certificate of incorporation and bylaws may be amended only by the affirmative vote of at least 662⁄3% of shares of common stock entitled to vote generally in the election of directors if the Sponsors and their affiliates cease to beneficially own at least 40% of shares of common stock entitled to vote generally in the election of directors. These anti-takeover provisions could make it more difficult for a third party to acquire us, even if the third party’s offer may be considered beneficial by many of our stockholders. As a result, our stockholders may be limited in their ability to obtain a premium for their shares.

Our Board of Directors is authorized to issue and designate shares of our preferred stock in additional series without stockholder approval.

Our certificate of incorporation authorizes our Board of Directors, without the approval of our stockholders, to issue 50,000,000 shares of our preferred stock, subject to limitations prescribed by applicable law, rules and regulations and the provisions of our certificate of incorporation, as shares of preferred stock in series, to establish from time to time the number of shares to be included in each such series and to fix the designation, powers, preferences and rights of the shares of each such series and the qualifications, limitations or restrictions thereof. The powers, preferences and rights of these additional series of preferred stock may be senior to or on parity with our common stock, which may reduce its value.

Our certificate of incorporation provides, subject to limited exceptions, that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware and the federal district courts of the United States of America will be the sole and exclusive forums for certain stockholder litigation matters, which could limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers, employees or stockholders.

Our certificate of incorporation provides, subject to limited exceptions, that unless we consent to the selection of an alternative forum, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware shall, to the fullest extent permitted by law, be the sole and exclusive forum for any (i) derivative action or proceeding brought on behalf of our company, (ii) action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any director, officer, or other employee or stockholder of our company to the Company or our stockholders, creditors or other constituents, (iii) action asserting a claim against the Company or any director or officer of the Company arising pursuant to any provision of the Delaware General Corporation Law, or the DGCL, or our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or our amended and restated bylaws or as to which the DGCL confers jurisdiction on the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware, or (iv) action asserting a claim against the Company or any director or officer of the Company governed by the internal affairs doctrine. Our certificate of incorporation further provides that, to the fullest extent permitted by law, the federal district courts of the United States of America will be the exclusive forum for resolving any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the United States federal securities laws. While the Delaware Supreme Court has upheld the validity of similar provisions under the DGCL, there is uncertainty as to whether a court in another state would enforce such a forum selection provision. Our exclusive forum provision does not relieve us of our duties to comply with the federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder, and our stockholders will not be deemed to have waived our compliance with these laws, rules and regulations.

Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in shares of our capital stock shall be deemed to have notice of and consented to the forum provisions in our certificate of incorporation. These choice of forum provisions may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us or any of our directors, officers, other employees or stockholders which may discourage lawsuits with respect to such claims. It is possible that these exclusive forum provisions may be challenged in court and may be deemed unenforceable in whole or in part. If a court were to find the choice of forum provisions contained in our certificate of incorporation to be inapplicable or unenforceable with respect to one or more of the specified types of actions or proceedings, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions, which could harm our business, operating results and financial condition.

General Risk Factors

Natural disasters, terrorist attacks and other external events could adversely affect our business.

Natural disasters, terrorist attacks and other adverse external events could materially damage our facilities or disrupt our operations, or damage the facilities or disrupt the operations of our customers or suppliers. The occurrence of any such event could prevent us from providing services and adversely affect our business, financial position and results of operations.

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Changes in generally accepted accounting principles in the United States could have an adverse effect on our previously reported results of operations.

Generally accepted accounting principles in the United States are subject to interpretation by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”), the SEC, and various bodies formed to promulgate and to interpret appropriate accounting principles. A change in these principles or interpretations could have a significant effect on our previously reported results of operations and could affect the reporting of transactions completed before the announcement of a change.

Additionally, our assumptions, estimates and judgments related to complex accounting matters could significantly affect our financial results. GAAP and related accounting pronouncements, implementation guidelines and interpretations with regard to a wide range of matters that are relevant to our business, including, but not limited to, revenue recognition, impairment of long-lived assets, leases and related economic transactions, intangibles, self-insurance, income taxes, property and equipment, litigation and equity-based compensation are highly complex and involve many subjective assumptions, estimates and judgments by us. Changes in these rules or their interpretation or changes in underlying assumptions, estimates or judgments by us (i) could require us to make changes to our accounting systems to implement these changes that could increase our operating costs and (ii) could significantly change our reported or expected financial performance.

Our stock price may change significantly, and you may not be able to resell shares of our common stock at or above the price you paid or at all, and you could lose all or part of your investment as a result.

You may not be able to resell your shares at or above your purchase price due to the factors described in this Risk Factors section. Other factors that may impact our stock price include: results of operations that vary from the expectations of securities analysts and investors or from those of our competitors; changes in expectations as to our future financial performance, including estimates and investment recommendations by securities analysts and investors; changes in market valuations, stock prices, or earnings and other announcements by peer companies or companies in the service sector; announcements by us, our competitors, and our suppliers related to significant contracts, acquisitions, joint ventures, other strategic relationships or capital commitments; investor perceptions of or the investment opportunity associated with our common stock relative to other investment alternatives; the public’s response to press releases, SEC filings or other public announcements by us or third parties, including our filings with the SEC; guidance, if any, that we provide to the public, and any changes in or our failure to meet this guidance; and the development and sustainability of an active trading market for our stock.

Furthermore, the stock market may experience extreme volatility that, in some cases, may be unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of particular companies. These broad market and industry fluctuations may adversely affect the market price of our common stock, regardless of our actual operating performance. In addition, price volatility may be greater if the public float and trading volume of our common stock is low, such as that experienced in the period from July 1, 2018 to the date of this filing.

In the past, following periods of market volatility, or following periods or events unrelated to market volatility, stockholders have instituted securities class action litigation. If we were to become involved in securities litigation, it could have a substantial cost and divert resources and the attention of executive management from our business regardless of the merits or outcome of such litigation.

If securities analysts do not publish research or reports about our business or if they downgrade our stock or our sector, our stock price and trading volume could decline.

The trading market for our common stock will rely in part on the research and reports that industry or financial analysts publish about us or our industry. We do not control these analysts. Furthermore, if one or more of the analysts who do cover us downgrade our stock or our industry, or the stock of any of our competitors, or publish inaccurate or unfavorable research about our business, the price of our stock could decline. If one or more of these analysts stop covering us or fail to publish reports on us regularly, we could lose visibility in the market, which in turn could cause our stock price or trading volume to decline.

Maintaining the requirements of being a public company may strain our resources, divert management’s attention and affect our ability to attract and retain qualified Board members.

As a public company, we incur significant legal, regulatory, finance, accounting, investor relations and other expenses that we did not incur as a private company, including costs associated with public company reporting requirements. We are also required to comply with, and incur costs associated with such compliance with, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, (“the Sarbanes-Oxley Act”), and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, (“the Dodd-Frank Act”), as well as rules and regulations implemented by the SEC and the NYSE. These rules and regulations have increased our legal and financial compliance costs and made some activities more time-consuming and costly. Our management devotes a substantial amount of time to ensure that we comply with all of these requirements, diverting the attention of management away from revenue-producing activities. These laws and regulations also could make it more difficult or costly for us to obtain certain types of insurance, including director and officer liability insurance, and we may be forced to accept reduced policy limits and coverage or incur substantially higher costs to obtain the same or similar coverage. These laws and regulations could also make it more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified persons to serve on our Board of Directors, our board committees or as our executive officers. Furthermore, if we are unable to satisfy our obligations as a public company, we could be subject to delisting of our common stock, fines, sanctions and other regulatory action and potentially civil litigation.

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Failure to comply with requirements to maintain effective internal controls could have a material adverse effect on our business and stock price.

As a public company, we have significant requirements for financial reporting and internal controls. The process of maintaining effective internal controls is a continuous effort that requires us to anticipate and react to changes in our business and the economic and regulatory environments and to expend significant resources to maintain a system of internal controls that is adequate to satisfy our reporting obligations as a public company. If we are unable to maintain appropriate internal financial reporting controls and procedures, it could cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations on a timely basis, result in material misstatements in our consolidated financial statements and harm our results of operations. In addition, we are required, pursuant to Section 404, to furnish annually a report by management on, among other things, the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. This assessment includes disclosure of any material weaknesses identified by our management in our internal control over financial reporting. The rules governing the standards that must be met for our management to assess our internal control over financial reporting are complex and require significant documentation, testing and possible remediation. Testing and maintaining internal controls may divert our management’s attention from other matters that are important to our business. Our independent registered public accounting firm is also required to issue an attestation report on effectiveness of our internal controls in each annual report on Form 10-K.

In the future, if we identify a control deficiency that rises to the level of a material weakness in our internal controls over financial reporting, this material weakness may adversely affect our ability to record, process, summarize and report financial information timely and accurately. Any material weaknesses could result in a material misstatement of our annual or quarterly consolidated financial statements or disclosures that may not be prevented or detected. In addition, we may encounter problems or delays in completing the remediation of any deficiencies identified by our independent registered public accounting firm in connection with the issuance of their attestation report.

We may not be able to conclude on an ongoing basis that we have effective internal control over financial reporting in accordance with Section 404 or our independent registered public accounting firm may not issue an unqualified opinion. If either we are unable to conclude that we have effective internal control over financial reporting or our independent registered public accounting firm is unable to provide us with an unqualified report, investors could lose confidence in our reported financial information, which could have a material adverse effect on the trading price of our common stock.

Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments

None.

Item 2. Properties

Our corporate headquarters is a leased facility located at 980 Jolly Road, Suite 300, Blue Bell, Pennsylvania 19422.

We and our operating companies own and lease a variety of facilities primarily located in the United States, for branch and service center operations and for office, call center and storage space. Our branches are strategically located to optimize route efficiency, market coverage and branch overhead. The following chart identifies the number of owned and leased facilities, other than our headquarters listed above, used by each of our operating segments as of September 30, 2020. We believe that these facilities, when considered with our headquarters, are in good operating condition and suitable and adequate to support the current needs of our business.

Segment (1) Owned Facilities Leased Facilities

Maintenance Services 29 222

Development Services 3 13

Item 3. Legal Proceedings

The information set forth in Note 15 “Commitments and Contingencies” to our consolidated financial statements under Part II, Item 8, “Financial Statements and Supplementary Data,” is incorporated herein by reference.

Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures

Not applicable.

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PART II

Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

Market Information

Our common stock, $0.01 par value per share, began trading on the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) under the symbol “BV” on June 28, 2018. Prior to that time, there was no public market for our common stock. As of October 31, 2020, there were 361 holders of record of our common stock. This stockholder figure does not include a substantially greater number of holders whose shares are held of record by banks, brokers, and other financial institutions.

Dividend Policy

We do not intend to pay cash dividends on our common stock in the foreseeable future. Any future determination to pay dividends will be at the discretion of our board of directors and will depend on, among other things, our results of operations, cash requirements, financial condition, contractual restrictions contained in current or future financing instruments and other factors that our board of directors deem relevant. We did not declare or pay dividends to the holders of our common stock in the year ended September 30, 2020.

Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities

None.

Company Repurchases of Equity Securities

None.

Stock Performance Graph

This performance graph shall not be deemed “soliciting material” or “filed” with the SEC for purposes of Section 18 of the Exchange Act, or otherwise subject to the liabilities under that Section, and shall not be deemed to be incorporated by reference into any of our filings under the Securities Act or the Exchange Act.

The graph below presents the Company’s cumulative total stockholder returns relative to the performance of the Russell 2000 (“R2000”) Index and the Russell 2500 Environmental Maintenance & Security Service (“R2500 Service”) Index from June 28, 2018 (the Company’s initial day of trading) through September 30, 2020. All values assume a $100 initial investment at the opening price of the Company’s common stock on the NYSE and data for the R2000 Index and the R2500 Service Index assumes any dividends were reinvested on the date paid. The points on the graph represent fiscal quarter-end values based on the last trading day of each fiscal quarter. The comparisons are based on historical data and are not indicative of, nor intended to forecast, the future performance of our common stock.

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Item 6. Selected Financial Data

Set forth below is our selected consolidated financial data as of the dates and for the periods indicated. The selected consolidated financial data as of September 30, 2020, 2019, and 2018 and for the years ended September 30, 2020, 2019, and 2018 has been derived from our audited consolidated financial statements and related notes thereto included elsewhere in this Form 10-K. The selected consolidated financial data as of September 30, 2017 and December 31, 2016 and for the nine months ended September 30, 2017 and the year ended December 31, 2016 have been derived from our audited consolidated financial statements not included in this Form 10-K. We changed our fiscal year end from December 31 to September 30 of each year, effective September 30, 2017. The change aligns the fiscal year end with the seasonal business cycle of our industry. For discussion around results of operations for the nine months ended September 30, 2017 and for a comparison of our results for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2018 and twelve months ended September 30, 2017 see Item 7, Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations, of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for fiscal year ended September 30, 2018, filed with the SEC on November 28, 2018 and is incorporated by reference herein (Fiscal Year Ended September 30, 2018 10-K). The results of operations for any period are not necessarily indicative of the results to be expected for any future period.

The selected consolidated financial and other data should be read in conjunction with, and are qualified by reference to, “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and our audited consolidated financial statements and related notes thereto, each included elsewhere in this Form 10-K.

Statement of Operations Data

(Loss) earnings per share:

Weighted average shares outstanding:

Statement of Cash Flows Data:

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Balance Sheet Data (at period end):

Other Financial Data:

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Setforthbelowarethereconciliationsofnet (loss) incometoAdjustedEBITDA andAdjustedNetIncome,andcashflowsfromoperatingactivitiestoFreeCash Flow and Adjusted Free CashFlow.

Adjusted EBITDA

Plus:

Establish public company financial reporting compliance (a) 0.9 4.8 4.1 0.8 5.5

Offering-related expenses (c) 4.4 1.0 6.8 — —

Debt extinguishment (d) — — 25.1 — —

Management fees (f) — — 13.1 1.9 2.7

COVID-19 related expenses (g) 13.8 — — — —

Changes in self-insured liability estimates (h) 24.1 — — — —

Sale of tree company (i) 22.2 — — — —

Adjusted Net Income

Plus:

Establish public company financial reporting compliance (a) 0.9 4.8 4.1 0.8 5.5

Offering-related expenses (c) 4.4 1.0 6.8 — —

Debt extinguishment (d) — — 25.1 — —

Management fees (f) — — 13.1 1.9 2.7

COVID-19 related expenses (g) 13.8 — — — —

Changes in self-insured liability estimates (h) 24.1 — — — —

Sale of tree company (i) 22.2 — — — —

Free Cash Flow and Adjusted Free Cash Flow

Minus:

Plus:

Proceeds from sale of property and equipment 4.8 6.8 12.0 6.3 6.0

Plus:

ValleyCrest land and building acquisition (k) — — 21.6 — —

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Severance and related costs $ 3.8 $ 3.0 $ 5.7 $ 0.8 $ 13.1

Rebranding of vehicle fleet — 0.5 12.5 6.3 —

IT infrastructure, transformation, and other (l) 15.3 5.8 5.5 3.7 7.0

Business transformation and integration costs $ 32.5 $ 17.5 $ 25.5 $ 10.8 $ 24.1

(*) Amounts may not total due to rounding.

(d) Represents losses on the extinguishment of debt.

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Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

The following discussion contains management’s discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations and should be read together with “Item 6. Selected Financial Data” and our audited consolidated financial statements and the related notes thereto included elsewhere in this Form 10-K.

This section of this Form 10-K generally discusses the fiscal years ended September 30, 2020 and 2019 items and year to year comparisons between the fiscal years ended September 30, 2020 and 2019. The discussion around results of operations for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2018 and a comparison of our results for the fiscal years ended September 30, 2019 and 2018 is included in Item 7, Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations, of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for fiscal year ended September 30, 2019, filed with the SEC on November 21, 2019 and is incorporated by reference herein (Fiscal Year Ended September 30, 2019 10-K).

Some of the information contained in this discussion and analysis, including information with respect to our plans and strategy for our business, includes forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. You should review “Item 1A. Risk Factors” and the “Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” sections of this Form 10-K for a discussion of important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results described in or implied by the forward-looking statements contained in the following discussion and analysis.

Overview

Our Company

We are the largest provider of commercial landscaping services in the United States, with revenues approximately 10 times those of our next largest commercial landscaping competitor. We provide commercial landscaping services ranging from landscape maintenance and enhancements to tree care and landscape development. We operate through a differentiated and integrated national service model which systematically delivers services at the local level by combining our network of over 240 branches with a qualified service partner network. Our branch delivery model underpins our position as a single-source end-to-end landscaping solution provider to our diverse customer base at the national, regional and local levels, which we believe represents a significant competitive advantage. We believe our commercial customer base understands the financial and reputational risk associated with inadequate landscape maintenance and considers our services to be essential and non-discretionary.

Our Segments

We report our results of operations through two reportable segments: Maintenance Services and Development Services. We serve a geographically diverse set of customers through our strategically located network of branches in 32 U.S. states, and, through our qualified service partner network, we are able to efficiently provide nationwide coverage in all 50 U.S. states.

Maintenance Services

Our Maintenance Services segment delivers a full suite of recurring commercial landscaping services in both evergreen and seasonal markets, ranging from mowing, gardening, mulching and snow removal, to more horticulturally advanced services, such as water management, irrigation maintenance, tree care, golf course maintenance and specialty turf maintenance. In addition to contracted maintenance services, we also have a strong track record of providing value-added landscape enhancements. We primarily self-perform our maintenance services through our national branch network, which are route-based in nature. Our maintenance services customers include Fortune 500 corporate campuses and commercial properties, HOAs, public parks,leading international hotels and resorts, airport authorities, municipalities, hospitals and other healthcare facilities, educational institutions, restaurants and retail, and golf courses, among others.

Development Services

Through our Development Services segment, we provide landscape architecture and development services for new facilities and significant redesign projects. Specific services include project design and management services, landscape architecture, landscape installation, irrigation installation, tree moving and installation, pool and water features and sports field services, among others. Our development services are comprised of sophisticated design, coordination and installation of landscapes at some of the most recognizable corporate, athletic and university complexes and showcase highly visible work that is paramount to our customers’ perception of our brand as a market leader.

In our Development Services business, we are typically hired by general contractors, with whom we maintain strong relationships as a result of our superior technical and project management capabilities. We believe the quality of our work is also well-regarded by our end-customers, some of whom directly request that their general contractors utilize our services when outsourcing their landscape development projects.

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Components of Our Revenues and Expenses

Net Service Revenues

Maintenance Services

Our Maintenance Services revenues are generated primarily through landscape maintenance services and snow removal services. Landscape maintenance services that are primarily viewed as non-discretionary, such as lawn care, mowing, gardening, mulching, leaf removal, irrigation and tree care, are provided under recurring annual contracts, which typically range from one to three years in duration and are generally cancellable by the customer with 30 days’ notice. Snow removal services are provided on either fixed fee based contracts or per occurrence contracts. Both landscape maintenance services and snow removal services can also include enhancement services that represent supplemental maintenance or improvement services generally provided under contracts of short duration related to specific services. Revenue for landscape maintenance and snow removal services under fixed fee models is recognized over time using an output based method. Additionally, a portion of our recurring fixed fee landscape maintenance and snow removal services are recorded under the series guidance. The right to invoice practical expedient, defined within Note 3 “Revenue” to our audited consolidated financial statements, is generally applied to revenue related to landscape maintenance and snow removal services performed in relation to per occurrence contracts as well as enhancement services. When use of the practical expedient is not appropriate for these contracts, revenue is recognized using a cost-to-cost input method. Fees for contracted landscape maintenance services are typically billed on an equal monthly basis. Fees for fixed fee snow removal services are typically billed on an equal monthly basis during snow season, while fees for time and material or other activity-based snow removal services are typically billed as the services are performed. Fees for enhancement services are typically billed as the services are performed.

Development Services

For Development Services, revenue is primarily recognized over time using the cost-to-cost input method, measured by the percentage of cost incurred to date to the estimated total cost for each contract, which we believe to be the best measure of progress. The full amount of anticipated losses on contracts is recorded as soon as such losses can be estimated. These losses have been immaterial in prior periods. Changes in job performance, job conditions and estimated profitability, including final contract settlements, may result in revisions to costs and revenue and are recognized in the period in which the revisions are determined.

Expenses

Cost of Services Provided

Cost of services provided is comprised of direct costs we incur associated with our operations during a period and includes employee costs, subcontractor costs, purchased materials, operating equipment and vehiclecosts. Employee costs consist of wages and other labor-related expenses, including benefits, workers compensation and healthcare costs, for those employees involved in delivering our services. Subcontractor costs consist of costs relating to our qualified service partner network in our Maintenance Services segment and subcontractors we engage from time to time in our Development Services segment. When our use of subcontractors increases, we may experience incrementally higher costs of services provided. Operating equipment and vehicle costs primarily consist of depreciation related to branch operating equipment and vehicles and related fuel expenses. A large component of our costs are variable, such as labor, subcontractor expense and materials.

Selling, General and Administrative Expense

Selling, general and administrative expense consists of costs incurred related to compensation and benefits for management, sales and administrative personnel, equity-based compensation, branch and office rent and facility operating costs, depreciation expense related to branch and office locations, as well as professional fees, software costs, goodwill impairment, gains and losses on divestitures, and other miscellaneous expenses. Corporate expenses, including corporate executive compensation, finance, legal and information technology, are included in consolidated selling, general and administrative expense and not allocated to the business segments.

Amortization Expense

Amortization expense consists of the periodic amortization of intangible assets, including customer relationships, non-compete agreements and trademarks, recognized when KKR acquired us on December 18, 2013 and in connection with businesses we have acquired since December 18, 2013.

Interest Expense

Interest expense relates primarily to our long term debt. See Note 10 “Long-term Debt” to our audited consolidated financial statements included in Part II. Item 8 of this Form 10-K.

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Income Tax (Expense) Benefit

The benefit for income taxes includes U.S. federal, state and local income taxes. Our effective tax rate differs from the statutory U.S. income tax rate due to the effect of state and local income taxes, tax credits and certain nondeductible expenses. Our effective tax rate may vary from quarter to quarter based on recurring and nonrecurring factors including, but not limited to the geographical distribution of our pre-tax earnings, changes in the tax rates of different jurisdictions, the availability of tax credits and nondeductible items. Changes in judgment due to the evaluation of new information resulting in the recognition, derecognition or remeasurement of a tax position taken in a prior annual period are recognized separately in the period of the change.

In addition, on December 22, 2017, the U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “2017 Tax Act”) was enacted. The 2017 Tax Act reduced the U.S. corporate income tax rate from 35% to 21%. As a result of the enactment, our corporate tax rate for fiscal 2019 is 21%. Based on the applicable tax rates and number of days in fiscal 2018 before and after the 2017 Tax Act, we had a 2018 blended corporate tax rate of 24.5% for fiscal 2018.

Other Income (Expense)

Other income (expense) consists primarily of losses on debt extinguishment and investment gains and losses related to investments held in Rabbi Trust.

How We Assess the Performance of our Business

We manage operations through the two operating segments described above. In addition to our GAAP financial measures, we review various non-GAAP financial measures, including Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Net Income, Adjusted Earnings per Share (“Adjusted EPS”), Free Cash Flow and Adjusted Free Cash Flow.