Item 1A. Risk Factors
You should read the following risk factors carefully in connection with evaluating our business and the forward-looking information contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. We operate in a changing environment that involves numerous known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could affect our operations. The risks described below highlight some of the factors that have affected, and in the future could affect, our operations. Additional risks we do not yet know of, or that we currently think are immaterial, may also affect our operations. If any of the events or circumstances described in the following risks actually occurs, our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows could be affected and our stock price could decline.
Industry & Market Risks
Our operating results may vary significantly from period to period.
Our business can be highly cyclical and subject to seasonal and other variations that can result in significant differences in operating results from period to period. Additionally, our results may be materially and adversely affected by:
•the timing and volume of work under contract;
•increased competition and changes in the competitive marketplace for our services;
•the spending patterns of customers and governments;
•safety performance and reputation;
•increased costs of performance of our services caused by adverse weather conditions;
•cost overruns on fixed-price and unit-price contracts;
•decreased equipment utilization;
•delays on projects due to permitting, regulatory issues or customer-caused delays;
•disputes with customers relating to payment terms under our contracts and change orders, and our ability to successfully negotiate and obtain payment or reimbursement under our contracts and change orders;
•variations in the margins of projects performed during any particular reporting period;
•changes in the demand for our services;
•the loss of a major customer;
•changes in the mix of our customers, contracts and business;
•the amount of subcontractor and material costs in our projects;
•payment risk associated with the financial condition of our customers;
•increases in design and construction costs that we are unable to pass through to our customers;
•the termination or expiration of existing agreements;
•regional and general economic conditions and the condition of the financial markets;
•the inability to secure future sufficient funding to finance operations, fund growth or to provide the required financial resources certain large projects may require;
•losses experienced in our operations not otherwise covered by insurance;
•the timing and integration of acquisitions and the magnitude of the related acquisition and integration costs;
•costs we incur to support growth internally or otherwise;
•availability of qualified labor for specific projects;
•liabilities associated with participation in joint ventures related to third party failures;
•significant fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates;
•significant fluctuations in interest rates;
•changes in bonding requirements applicable to existing and new agreements;
•costs associated with our multi-employer pension plan obligations;
•the availability of equipment;
•supply chain interruptions, including as a result of natural disasters, wildfires, weather, labor disputes, pandemic outbreak of disease, fire or explosions and power outages;
•impairment of goodwill or intangible assets; and
•warranty claims.
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Accordingly, our operating results in any particular reporting period may not be indicative of the results that can be expected for any other reporting period.
Our industry is highly competitive.
Our industry is fragmented and we compete with other companies, ranging from small, independent firms servicing local markets to larger firms servicing regional, national and international markets. Relatively few barriers prevent entry into the C&I market and the distribution market. As a result, any organization that has adequate financial resources and access to technical expertise may become one of our competitors in those areas. Competition in the industry depends on many factors, including pricing of the construction services, the reputation for safety and the quality and reliability of the contractor. Some of our competitors may have lower labor and overhead cost structures and, therefore, may be able to provide their services at lower prices than ours. In addition, some of our competitors may have greater financial, technological and human resources than we do. We cannot be certain that our competitors will not develop the expertise, experience and resources to provide services that are superior in both price and quality to our services. Similarly, we cannot be certain that we will be able to maintain or enhance our competitive position within the markets we serve or maintain our customer base at current levels. Additionally, we may face competition from in-house service organizations of our existing or prospective customers including electric utility companies and others which often employ personnel to internally perform some of the same types of services we do. If we are unable to compete successfully in our markets, our operating results could be adversely affected.
Negative economic and market conditions may adversely impact our customers’ future spending and, as a result, our operations and growth.
The demand for infrastructure construction and maintenance services from our customers has been, and will likely continue to be, cyclical in nature and vulnerable to downturns in the industries we serve as well as the economy in general. Stagnant or declining economic conditions could result in the delay, reduction or cancellation of certain projects and could cause our customers to outsource less work, which could adversely affect us in the future. Additionally, many of our customers finance their projects through the incurrence of debt or the issuance of equity. A reduction in cash flow or the lack of availability of debt or equity financing may result in a reduction in our customers’ spending for our services and may also impact the ability of our customers to pay amounts owed to us, which could have a material adverse effect on our operations and our ability to grow at historical levels, or at all. A prolonged economic downturn or recession could adversely affect our customers and their ability or willingness to fund capital expenditures in the future or pay for past services. Material fluctuations in energy markets could also have an adverse impact on our customers’ spending patterns. Consolidation, competition, capital constraints or negative economic conditions in the electric power industry may also result in reduced spending by, or the loss of, one or more of our customers.
Changes to U.S. policies related to global trade and tariffs, as well as retaliatory trade measures implemented by other countries, have resulted in uncertainty surrounding the future of the global economy. Increases in the cost of imported raw materials or finished goods as a result of tariffs or trade policies may impact customer spending, and reductions in customer spending could lead to fewer project awards and more competition We cannot predict the outcome of these changing trade policies or other unanticipated political conditions, nor can we predict the timing or strength of any economic recovery or downturn worldwide or its impact on our customers’ markets.
New Project and Growth Risks
We may be unsuccessful in generating internal growth, which could impact the projects available to the Company.
Our ability to generate internal growth will be affected by, among other factors, our ability to:
•attract new customers;
•increase the number of projects performed for existing customers;
•hire and retain qualified personnel;
•successfully bid new projects;
•expand geographically; and
•adapt the range of services we offer to customers to address their evolving construction needs.
In addition, if our customers are constrained in their ability to obtain capital, it could reduce the number, timing or size of projects available to us. Many of the factors affecting our ability to generate internal growth may be beyond our control, and we cannot be certain that our strategies will be successful, or that we will be able to generate cash flow sufficient to fund our operations and support internal growth. If we are unsuccessful, we may not be able to achieve internal growth, expand our operations and grow our business.
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Our inability to successfully execute or integrate acquisitions or joint ventures may have an adverse impact on our growth strategy and business.
From time to time, our business strategy may include expanding our presence in the industries we serve through strategic acquisitions of companies or entry into joint ventures that complement or diversify our business. The number of acquisition targets that meet our criteria may be limited. We may also face competition for acquisition opportunities, and other potential acquirers may offer more favorable terms or have greater financial resources available for potential acquisitions. This competition may limit our ability to grow through acquisitions or could raise the prices of acquisitions adversely impacting any accretion that might be achieved. Failure to consummate future acquisitions could negatively affect our future growth strategies. Additionally, the acquisitions we pursue may involve significant cash expenditures, the incurrence or assumption of debt or burdensome regulatory requirements.
Any acquisition may ultimately have a negative impact on our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows. We may not realize the anticipated benefits and synergies of an acquisition, and our attempts at integrating an acquired business may not be successful. Acquisitions or joint ventures may expose us to operational and financial challenges and risks, including the disruption of our ongoing business; significant diversion of resources and management’s attention from our existing business; reductions of cash and other resources available for operations and other uses; exposure to risks specific to the acquired businesses, services, or technologies to which we are not currently exposed; the failure to retain key personnel or customers of an acquired business; difficulties integrating new operations and personnel; failure of acquired companies to achieve the results we expect; the assumption of unknown liabilities of the acquired business for which there are inadequate reserves and the potential impairment of acquired intangible assets. Our ability to grow and maintain our competitive position may be affected by our ability to successfully integrate any businesses acquired.
Business and Operating Risks
Project performance issues, including those caused by third parties, or certain contractual obligations may result in additional costs to us, reductions or delays in revenues or the payment of penalties, including liquidated damages.
Many projects involve challenging engineering, procurement and construction phases that may occur over several years. We may encounter difficulties that impact our ability to complete the project in accordance with the original delivery schedule. These difficulties may be the result of delays in designs; engineering information or materials provided by the customer or a third party; delays or difficulties in equipment and material delivery; schedule changes; delays from our customer’s failure to timely obtain permits, rights-of-way or to meet other regulatory requirements; weather-related delays; delays caused by difficult worksite environments; delays caused by inefficiencies and not achieving expected labor performance and other factors, some of which are beyond our control. Any delay or failure by suppliers or by third-party subcontractors in the completion of their portion of the project may result in delays in the overall progress of the project or may cause us to incur additional costs, or both. We also may encounter project delays due to local opposition, which may include injunctive actions as well as public protests, to the siting of electric transmission lines, renewable energy projects, or other facilities. We may not be able to recover the costs we incur that are caused by delays. Certain contracts have guarantee or bonus provisions regarding project completion by a scheduled acceptance date or achievement of certain acceptance and performance testing levels. Failure to meet any of our schedules or performance requirements could also result in additional costs or penalties, including liquidated damages, and such amounts could exceed expected project profit. In extreme cases, the above-mentioned factors could cause project cancellations. Delays or cancellations may impact our reputation or relationships with customers and adversely affect our ability to secure new contracts. Larger projects present additional performance risks due to complexity of the work and duration of the project.
Our customers may change or delay various elements of the project after its commencement. The design, engineering information, equipment or materials that are to be provided by the customer or other parties may be deficient or delivered later than required by the project schedule, resulting in additional direct or indirect costs. Under these circumstances, we generally negotiate with the customer with respect to the amount of additional time required and the compensation to be paid to us. We are subject to the risk that we may be unable to obtain, through negotiation, arbitration, litigation or otherwise, adequate amounts to compensate us for the additional work or expenses incurred by us due to change orders or failure by others to timely deliver items, such as engineering drawings or materials.
We have in the past brought, and may in the future bring, claims against our customers related to, among other things, the payment terms of our contracts and change orders relating to our contracts. These types of claims occur due to, among other things, customer-caused delays or changes in project scope, both of which may result in additional cost, which may not be recovered until the claim is resolved. Additionally, if any of our customers do not proceed with the completion of projects or default on their payment obligations, or if we encounter disputes with our customers with respect to the adequacy of billing support, we may face difficulties in collecting payment of amounts due to us for the costs previously incurred. In some instances, these claims can be the subject of lengthy legal proceedings, and it is difficult to accurately predict when or if they will be fully
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resolved. A failure to promptly recover on these types of claims could have a negative impact on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Additionally, any such claims may harm our future relationships with our customers.
We may be unable to attract and retain qualified personnel.
Our ability to maintain our productivity and our operating results may be limited by our ability to employ, train and retain qualified personnel necessary to operate efficiently and to support our growth strategy. We have from time to time experienced shortages of certain types of qualified personnel, such as linemen, field supervisors, project managers and engineers, in certain regions. In addition, our projects are sometimes located in remote areas, which can make recruitment and deployment of our personnel challenging. During periods with large volumes of storm restoration services work, linemen are frequently recruited across geographic regions to satisfy demand. Many linemen are willing to travel to earn premium wages for such work, which from time to time makes it difficult for us to retain these workers for ongoing projects when storm conditions persist. The commencement of new, large-scale infrastructure projects or increased demand for infrastructure improvements, as well as the shrinking electric utility workforce, may reduce the pool of skilled workers available to us. Labor shortages could impair our ability to maintain our business or grow our revenues. If we are unable to hire personnel with the requisite skills, we may also be forced to incur significant training expenses.
In addition, the success of our business depends upon the continued efforts and abilities of our executive officers and senior management, including the management at our operating subsidiaries. The relationships between our executive officers and senior management and our customers are important to obtaining and retaining business. We are also dependent upon our project managers and field supervisors who are responsible for managing and recruiting personnel for our projects. There can be no assurance that any individual will continue in his or her capacity for any particular period of time. Industry-wide competition for managerial talent is high. Given that level of competition, there could be situations where our overall compensation package may be viewed as less attractive as compared to our competition, and we may experience the loss of key personnel or higher costs to retain and hire key personnel. The loss of key personnel, or the inability to hire and retain qualified personnel, could negatively impact our ability to manage our business and relationships with our customers.
The timing of new contracts and termination of existing contracts may result in unpredictable fluctuations in our cash flows and financial results.
A substantial portion of our revenues are derived from project-based work that is awarded through a competitive bid process. It is generally difficult to predict the timing and geographic distribution of the projects that we will be awarded. The selection of, timing of, or failure to obtain projects, delays in awards of projects, the re-bidding or termination of projects due to budget overruns, cancellations of projects or delays in completion of contracts could result in the under-utilization of our assets, including our fleet of construction equipment, which could lower our overall profitability and reduce our cash flows. Even if we are awarded contracts, we face additional risks that could affect when, or whether, work will begin. This can present difficulty in matching workforce size and equipment location with contract needs. In some cases, we may be required to bear the cost of a ready workforce and equipment that is larger than necessary, which could impact our cash flow, expenses and profitability. If an expected contract award or the related work release is delayed or not received, we could incur substantial costs without receipt of any corresponding revenues. Moreover, construction projects for which our services are contracted may require significant expenditures by us prior to receipt of relevant payments from the customer. Finally, the winding down or completion of work on significant projects that were active in previous periods will reduce our revenue and earnings if such significant projects have not been replaced in the current period.
Many of our contracts may be canceled upon short notice, typically 30 to 90 days, even if we are not in default under the contract, and we may be unsuccessful in replacing contracts, resulting in a decrease in our revenue, net income and liquidity. Certain of our customers assign work to us on a project-by-project basis under MSAs. Under these agreements, our customers often have no obligation to assign a specific amount of work to us. Our operations could decline significantly if the anticipated volume of work is not assigned to us or is canceled. Many of our contracts, including our MSAs, are open to competitive bidding at the expiration of their terms. There can be no assurance that we will be the successful bidder on our existing contracts that come up for re-bid.
During the ordinary course of our business, we may become subject to lawsuits or indemnity claims.
We have in the past been, and may in the future be, named as a defendant in lawsuits, claims and other legal proceedings that arise in the ordinary course of our business. These actions may seek, among other things, compensation for alleged personal injury, workers’ compensation, employment discrimination, sexual harassment, workplace misconduct and other employment-related damages, breach of contract, property damage, environmental liabilities, multiemployer pension plan withdrawal liabilities, punitive damages, consequential damages, and civil penalties or other losses or injunctive or declaratory relief. In addition, we generally indemnify our customers for claims related to the services we provide and actions we take under our contracts, and, in some instances, we may be allocated risk through our contract terms for actions by our customers,
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subcontractors or other third parties. Because our services in certain instances may be integral to the operation and performance of our customers’ infrastructure, we have been and may become subject to lawsuits or claims for any failure of the systems that we work on, even if our services are not the cause of such failures, and we could be subject to civil and criminal liabilities to the extent that our services contributed to any property damage, personal injury or system failure. Insurance coverage may not be available or may be insufficient for these lawsuits, claims or legal proceedings. The outcome of any of these lawsuits, claims or legal proceedings could result in significant costs and diversion of management’s attention from our business. Payments of significant amounts, even if reserved, could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.
Backlog may not be realized or may not result in profits and may not accurately represent future revenue.
Backlog is difficult to determine accurately, and companies within our industry may define backlog differently. Reductions in backlog due to cancellation, termination or scope adjustment by a customer or for other reasons could significantly reduce the revenue and profit we actually receive from contracts in backlog. In the event of a project cancellation, termination or scope adjustment, we typically have no contractual right to the total revenues reflected in our backlog. The timing of contract awards, duration of large new contracts and the mix of services, subcontracted work and material in our contracts can significantly affect backlog reporting. Given these factors and our method of calculating backlog, our backlog at any point in time may not accurately represent the revenue that we expect to realize during any period, and our backlog as of the end of a fiscal year may not be indicative of the revenue we expect to earn in the following fiscal year and should not be viewed or relied upon as a stand-alone indicator. Consequently, we cannot provide assurance as to our customers’ requirements or our estimates of backlog. See “Item 1. Business — Backlog” for a discussion on how we calculate backlog for our business.
Our insurance has limits and exclusions that may not fully indemnify us against certain claims or losses, including claims resulting from wildfires or other natural disasters, and the unavailability or cancellation of third party insurance coverages would increase our overall risk exposure and could disrupt our operations.
We maintain insurance coverages from third party insurers as part of our overall risk management strategy because some of our contracts require us to maintain specific insurance coverage limits. Although we maintain insurance policies with respect to automobile liability, general liability, workers’ compensation, our employee group health program, and other types of coverages, these policies are subject to high deductibles, and we are self-insured up to the amount of those deductibles. Insurance losses are accrued based upon our estimates of the ultimate liability for claims reported and an estimate of claims incurred but not yet reported. Insurance liabilities are difficult to assess and estimate due to unknown factors, including the severity of an injury, the determination of our liability in proportion to other parties, estimates of incidents not reported and the effectiveness of our safety programs, and as a result, our actual losses may exceed our estimates. Therefore, there can be no assurance that our current or past insurance coverages will be sufficient or effective under all circumstances or against all claims and liabilities to which we may be subject.
We generally renew our insurance policies on an annual basis; therefore, deductibles and levels of insurance coverages may change in future periods. There can be no assurance that any of our existing insurance coverages will be renewed upon the expiration of the coverage period or that future coverage will be affordable at the required limits. In addition, insurers may fail, cancel our coverage, determine to exclude certain items from coverage, or otherwise be unable to provide us with adequate insurance coverage. We may not be able to obtain certain types of insurance or incremental levels of insurance in scope or amount sufficient to cover liabilities we may incur. If our risk exposure increases as a result of adverse changes in our insurance coverages, we could be subject to increased liabilities that could negatively affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flow.
In addition, we perform work in hazardous environments and our employees are exposed to a number of hazards. Incidents can occur, regardless of fault, that may be catastrophic and adversely impact our employees and third parties by causing serious personal injury, loss of life, damage to property or the environment, and interruption of operations. Furthermore, we perform a significant amount of services for customers that operate electrical power infrastructure assets in locations and climates that are more susceptible to wildfires or other natural disasters. In locations or environments where claims have been higher than normal, insurance may become difficult or impossible to obtain. Our contracts may require us to indemnify our customers, project owners and others for injury, damage or loss arising out of our presence at our customers’ location, regardless of fault, or the performance of our work and provide for warranties for materials and workmanship. We may also be required to name the customer and others as an additional insured under our insurance policies. We maintain limited insurance coverage against these and other risks associated with our business. This insurance may not protect us against liability for certain events, including events involving pollution, professional liability, losses resulting from business interruption or acts of terrorism or damages from breach of contract by us. We cannot guarantee that our insurance will be adequate in risk coverage or policy limits to cover all losses or liabilities that we may incur. Any future damages caused by our services that are not covered by insurance or are in excess of policy limits could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial position, results of operations and cash flows.
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Changes in tax laws or our interpretations of tax laws could materially impact our income tax liabilities.
We have operations in the United States and Canada and are subject to the jurisdiction of multiple federal and state taxing authorities. The income earned in these various jurisdictions is taxed on different bases which are subject to change by the taxing authorities. The final determination of our income tax liabilities involves the interpretation of local tax laws, tax treaties and related authorities in each jurisdiction, as well as the significant use of estimates and assumptions regarding the scope of future operations and results achieved and the timing and nature of income earned and expenditures incurred. Changes in the operating environment, including changes in tax laws, could materially impact our income tax liabilities.
The nature of our business exposes us to potential liability for warranty claims and faulty engineering, which may reduce our profitability.
Our customer contracts typically include a warranty for the services that we provide against certain defects in workmanship and material. Additionally, materials used in construction are often provided by the customer or are warranted against defects from the supplier. Certain projects have longer warranty periods and include facility performance warranties that may be broader than the warranties we generally provide. If warranty claims occurred, it could require us to re-perform the services or to repair or replace the warranted item, at a cost to us, and could also result in other damages if we are not able to adequately satisfy our warranty obligations. In addition, we may be required under contractual arrangements with our customers to warrant any defects or failures in materials we provide that we purchase from third parties. While we generally require suppliers to provide us warranties that are consistent with those we provide to the customers, if any of these suppliers default on their warranty obligations to us, we may incur costs to repair or replace the defective materials for which we are not reimbursed. Costs incurred because of warranty claims could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.
Our business involves professional judgments regarding the planning, design, development, construction, operations and management of electric power transmission and commercial construction. Because our projects are often technically complex, our failure to make judgments and recommendations in accordance with applicable professional standards, including engineering standards, could result in damages. A significantly adverse or catastrophic event at one of our project sites or completed projects resulting from the services we have performed could result in significant warranty, professional liability, or other claims against us as well as reputational harm, especially if public safety is impacted. These liabilities could exceed our insurance limits or could impact our ability to obtain insurance in the future. In addition, customers, subcontractors or suppliers who have agreed to indemnify us against any such liabilities or losses might refuse or be unable to pay us. An uninsured or underinsured claim could have an adverse impact on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.
Risks associated with operating in the Canadian market could restrict our ability to expand and harm our business and prospects.
There are numerous inherent risks in conducting our business in a different country including, but not limited to, potential instability in markets, political, economic or social conditions, and difficult or additional legal and regulatory requirements applicable to our operations. Limits on our ability to repatriate earnings, exchange controls, and complex U.S. and Canadian laws and treaties including laws related to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) and similar laws could also adversely impact our operations. Changes in the value of the Canadian dollar could increase or decrease the U.S. dollar value of our profits earned or assets held in Canada or potentially limit our ability to reinvest earnings from our operations in Canada to fund the financing requirements of our operations in the United States. These risks could restrict our ability to provide services to Canadian customers or to operate our Canadian business profitably, and could negatively impact our results. We also are exposed to currency risks relating to the translation of certain monetary transactions, assets and liabilities.
Third Party Partner Risks
Our dependence on suppliers, subcontractors and equipment manufacturers could expose us to the risk of loss in our operations.
On certain projects, we rely on suppliers to obtain the necessary materials and subcontractors to perform portions of our services. We also rely on equipment manufacturers to provide us with the equipment required to conduct our operations. Although we are not dependent on any single supplier, subcontractor or equipment manufacturer, any substantial limitation on the availability of required suppliers, subcontractors or equipment manufacturers could negatively impact our operations. The risk of a lack of available suppliers, subcontractors or equipment manufacturers may be heightened as a result of market and economic conditions. We may experience difficulties in acquiring equipment or materials due to supply chain interruptions, including as a result of natural disasters, weather, labor disputes, pandemic outbreak of disease, fire or explosions and power outages. To the extent we cannot engage subcontractors or acquire equipment or materials, we could experience losses in the performance of our operations. Successful completion of our contracts may depend on whether our subcontractors successfully fulfill their contractual obligations. If our subcontractors fail to perform their contractual obligations as a result of financial or other difficulties, or if our
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subcontractors fail to meet the expected completion dates or quality standards, we may be required to incur additional costs or provide additional services in order to make up such shortfall and we may suffer damage to our reputation.
Our participation in joint ventures and other projects with third parties may expose us to liability for failures of our partners.
We may enter into joint venture or other strategic arrangements with other parties as part of our business operations. Success on a jointly performed project depends in large part on whether all parties satisfy their contractual obligations. Joint venture partners are generally jointly and severally liable for all liabilities and obligations of the joint venture. If a joint venture partner fails to perform or is financially unable to bear its portion of required capital contributions or other obligations, including liabilities relating to claims or lawsuits, we could be required to make additional investments, provide additional services or pay more than our proportionate or agreed upon share of a liability to compensate for the partner’s shortfall. In addition, if we are unable to adequately address our partner’s performance issues, the customer may terminate the project, which could result in legal liability to us, reduce our profit on the project or damage our reputation.
Regulatory and Environmental Risks
Legislative or regulatory actions relating to electricity transmission and renewable energy may impact demand for our services.
Current and potential legislative or regulatory actions may impact demand for our services, requiring utilities to meet reliability standards and encourage installation of new electric transmission and renewable energy generation facilities. However, it is unclear whether these initiatives will create sufficient incentives for projects or result in increased demand for our services.
Because most of our T&D revenue is derived from the electric utility industry, regulatory and environmental requirements affecting that industry could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Customers in the electric utility industry we serve face stringent regulatory and environmental requirements, as well as permitting processes, as they implement plans for their projects, which may result in delays, reductions and cancellations of some of their projects. These regulatory factors have resulted in decreased demand for our services in the past, and they may do so in the future, potentially impacting our operations and our ability to grow at historical levels, or at all.
In addition, while many states have mandates in place that require specified percentages of electricity to be generated from renewable sources, states could reduce those mandates or make them optional, which could reduce, delay or eliminate renewable energy development in the affected states. Additionally, renewable energy is generally more expensive to produce and may require additional power generation sources as backup. The locations of renewable energy projects are often remote and may not be viable unless new or expanded transmission infrastructure to transport the electricity to demand centers is economically feasible. Furthermore, funding for renewable energy initiatives may not be available. These factors could result in fewer renewable energy projects and a delay in the construction of these projects and the related infrastructure, which could negatively impact our business.
We may incur liabilities and suffer negative financial or reputational impacts relating to occupational health and safety matters, including those related to environmental hazards such as wildfires and other natural disasters.
Our operations are subject to extensive laws and regulations relating to the maintenance of safe conditions in the workplace. While we have invested, and will continue to invest, substantial resources in our occupational health and safety programs, our industry involves a high degree of operational risk, and there can be no assurance that we will avoid significant liability exposure. Our business is subject to numerous safety risks, including electrocutions, fires, explosions, mechanical failures, weather-related incidents, transportation accidents and damage to equipment. Furthermore, we perform a significant amount of services for customers that operate electrical power infrastructure assets in locations and climates that are more susceptible to wildfires or other natural disasters. These hazards can cause personal injury or loss of life, severe damage to or destruction of property and equipment and other consequential damages and could lead to suspension of operations, large monetary claims and, in extreme cases, criminal liability. Members of our workforce have suffered serious injuries or fatalities in the past and may suffer additional serious injuries or fatalities in the future. Monetary claims for damages to persons, including claims for bodily injury or loss of life, could result in substantial costs and liabilities. In addition, we have in the past, and we may in the future, be subject to criminal penalties relating to occupational health and safety violations, which have resulted in and could in the future result in, substantial costs and liabilities. Any of the foregoing could result in financial loss, which could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.
Our customers seek to minimize safety risks on their sites, and they frequently review the safety records of outside contractors during the bidding process. If our safety record were to substantially deteriorate, we could become ineligible to bid on certain work, and our customers could cancel our contracts and not award us future business.
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Our failure to comply with environmental and other laws and regulations could result in significant liabilities.
Our past, current and future operations are subject to numerous environmental and other laws and regulations governing our operations, including the use, transport and disposal of non-hazardous and hazardous substances and wastes, as well as emissions and discharges into the environment, including discharges to air, surface water, groundwater and soil. We also are subject to laws and regulations that impose liability and cleanup responsibility for releases of hazardous substances into the environment. Under certain of these laws and regulations, such liabilities can be imposed for cleanup of previously owned or operated properties, or properties to which hazardous substances or wastes were discharged by current or former operations at our facilities, regardless of whether we directly caused the contamination or violated any law at the time of discharge or disposal. The presence of contamination from such substances or wastes could interfere with ongoing operations or adversely affect our ability to sell, lease or otherwise use our properties in ways such as collateral for possible financing. We could also be held liable for significant penalties and damages under certain environmental laws and regulations, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.
In addition, new laws and regulations, stricter enforcement of existing laws and regulations, the discovery of previously unknown contamination or leaks, or the imposition of new permitting or cleanup requirements could require us to incur significant costs or become the basis for new or increased liabilities that could harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. In certain instances, we have obtained indemnification or covenants from third parties (including our predecessor owners or lessors) for some or all of such cleanup and other obligations and liabilities. However, such third-party indemnities or covenants may not cover all of our costs.
Legislative and regulatory proposals to address greenhouse gas emissions could result in a variety of regulatory programs, additional charges to fund energy efficiency activities, or other regulatory actions. Any of these actions could result in increased costs associated with our operations and impact the prices we charge our customers. If new regulations are adopted regulating greenhouse gas emissions from mobile sources such as cars and trucks, we could experience a significant increase in environmental compliance costs due to our large fleet. In addition, if our operations are perceived to result in high greenhouse gas emissions, our reputation could suffer.
We are also subject to laws and regulations protecting endangered species, artifacts and archaeological sites. We may incur work stoppages to avoid violating these laws and regulations, or we may risk fines or other sanctions for accidentally or willfully violating these laws and regulations. We are also subject to immigration laws and regulations, for which noncompliance could be material and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.
Furthermore, failure to obtain permitting, right-of-way access and other tactical considerations prior to the commencement of work could delay the commencement of work on projects or cause modifications of work plans, potentially resulting in lower margins. We generally plan for certain up-front time and other costs to obtain required permitting and right-of-way access and for other tactical challenges prior to the commencement of work on our projects. Delays in obtaining, or the inability to obtain, permits or right-of-way access, could negatively impact our margins due to additional cost and unabsorbed overhead resulting from under-utilized personnel and equipment. Additionally, we may encounter unexpected tactical issues on the site which could lead to unanticipated costs and delays, which we may not be able to recover from our customers.
Our business may be affected by seasonal and other variations, including severe weather conditions and the nature of our work environment.
Although our revenues are primarily driven by spending patterns in our customers’ industries, our revenues and results of operations can be subject to seasonal variations, particularly in our T&D segment. These variations are influenced by weather, hours of daylight, customer spending patterns, available system outages from utilities and holidays, and can have a significant impact on our gross margins. Our profitability may decrease during the winter months and during severe weather conditions because work performed during these periods may be restricted and more costly to complete. Additionally, our T&D customers often cannot remove their T&D lines from service during the summer months when consumer demand for electricity is at its peak, delaying the demand for our maintenance and repair services. Furthermore, our work is performed under a variety of conditions, including but not limited to, difficult terrain, difficult site conditions and large urban centers where delivery of materials and availability of labor may be impacted and sites which may have been exposed to harsh and hazardous conditions. Working capital needs are also influenced by the seasonality of our business. We generally experience a need for additional working capital during the spring when we increase outdoor construction in weather-affected regions of the country, and we convert working capital assets to cash during the winter months.
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Opportunities associated with government contracts could lead to increased governmental regulation applicable to us.
Most government contracts are awarded through a regulated competitive bidding process. If we were to be successful in being awarded government contracts, significant costs could be incurred by us before any revenues were realized from these contracts. Government agencies may review a contractor’s performance, cost structure and compliance with applicable laws, regulations and standards. If government agencies determine through these reviews that costs were improperly allocated to specific contracts, they will not reimburse the contractor for those costs or may require the contractor to refund previously reimbursed costs. If government agencies determine that we engaged in improper activity, we may be subject to civil and criminal penalties. Government contracts are also subject to renegotiation of profit and termination by the government prior to the expiration of the term.
We are subject to risks associated with climate change including financial risks and physical risks such as an increase in extreme weather events (such as floods, wildfires or hurricanes), rising sea levels and limitations on water availability and quality.
Climate change may create physical and financial risk. Physical risks from climate change could, among other things, include an increase in extreme weather events (such as floods, wildfires or hurricanes), rising sea levels and limitations on water availability and quality. Such extreme weather conditions may limit the availability of resources, increasing the costs of our projects, or may cause projects to be delayed or cancelled.
Additionally, legislative and regulatory responses related to climate change and new interpretations of existing laws through climate change litigation may also negatively impact our operations. The cost of additional environmental regulatory requirements could impact the availability of goods and increase our costs. International treaties or accords could also have an impact on our business to the extent they lead to future governmental regulations. Compliance with any new laws or regulations regarding the reduction of greenhouse gases could result in significant changes to our operations and a significant increase in our cost of conducting business.
Accounting Risks
Our use of percentage-of-completion accounting could result in a reduction or reversal of previously recognized revenues and profits.
A significant portion of our revenues is recognized over the contract term based on costs incurred under the cost-to-cost method. This method is used because management believes costs incurred best represent the amount of work completed and remaining on our projects and is the most common basis for computing percentage of completion in our industry. The percentage-of-completion accounting practice we use results in our recognizing contract revenues and earnings ratably over the contract term in proportion to our incurrence of contract costs. The earnings or losses recognized on individual contracts are based on estimates of contract revenues, costs and profitability. Contract losses are recognized in full when determined, and contract profit estimates are adjusted based on ongoing reviews of contract profitability. In addition, we record adjustments to estimated costs of contracts when we believe the change in estimate is probable and the amounts can be reasonably estimated. These adjustments could result in both increases and decreases in profit margins. Actual results could differ from estimated amounts and could result in a reduction or elimination of previously recognized earnings. See “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results from Operations — Critical Accounting Policies” and in the notes to our Financial Statements, for a discussion on howpercentage-of-completion accounting impacts our business.
Our financial results are based upon estimates and assumptions that may differ from actual results.
In preparing our financial statements in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (“GAAP”), estimates and assumptions are used by management in determining the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, revenues and expenses recognized during the periods presented and disclosures of contingent assets and liabilities known to exist as of the date of the financial statements. These estimates and assumptions must be made because certain information that is used in the preparation of our financial statements is dependent on future events. These estimates and assumptions cannot be calculated with a high degree of precision from data available or is not capable of being readily calculated. In some cases, these estimates are particularly difficult to determine, and we must exercise significant judgment.
The most significant estimates we use are related to costs to complete contracts, pending change orders and claims, shared savings, insurance reserves, income tax reserves, estimates surrounding stock-based compensation, the recoverability of goodwill and intangibles, and accounts receivable reserves.
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Our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows could be adversely affected by impairments to goodwill, other intangible assets, receivables, long-lived assets or investments. For example, when we acquire a business, we record goodwill in an amount equal to the amount we paid for the business minus the fair value of the net tangible assets and other intangible assets of the acquired business. Goodwill and other intangible assets that have indefinite useful lives cannot be amortized, but instead must be tested at least annually for impairment. For additional description on this impairment testing, please read Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations — Critical Accounting Policies — “Goodwill and Intangibles”. Any future impairments, including impairments of goodwill, intangible assets, long-lived assets or investments, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.
Pricing and Cost Risks
Our actual costs may be greater than expected in performing our fixed-price and unit-price contracts.
We generate a significant portion of our revenues and profits under fixed-price and unit-price contracts. We must estimate the costs of completing a particular project when we bid for these types of contracts. The actual cost of labor and materials, however, may vary from the costs we originally estimated and we may not be successful in recouping additional costs from our customers. These variations, along with other risks inherent in performing fixed-price and unit-price contracts, may cause actual revenue and gross profits for a project to differ from those we originally estimated and could result in reduced profitability or losses on projects due to changes in a variety of factors such as:
•failure to properly estimate costs of engineering, material, equipment or labor;
•inefficient labor performance;
•unanticipated technical problems with the materials or services being supplied by us, which may require us to incur additional costs to remedy the problem;
•project modifications that create unanticipated costs;
•changes in the costs of equipment, materials, labor or subcontractors;
•the failure of our suppliers or subcontractors to perform;
•difficulties in our customers obtaining required governmental permits or approvals;
•site conditions that differ from those assumed in the original bid;
•the availability and skill level of workers in the geographic location of the project;
•an increase in the cost of fuel or other resources;
•changes in local laws and regulations;
•delays caused by local weather conditions, third parties or customers; and
•quality issues requiring rework.
An increase in the prices of certain materials and commodities used in our business could adversely affect our business.
For certain contracts, we are exposed to market risk of increases in certain commodity prices of materials, such as copper and steel, which are used as components of supplies or materials utilized in all of our operations. In addition, our customers’ capital budgets may be impacted by the prices of certain materials, and reduced customer spending could lead to fewer project awards and more competition. These prices could be materially impacted by general market conditions and other factors, including U.S. trade relationships with other countries or the imposition of tariffs. We are also exposed to increases in energy prices, particularly as they relate to gasoline prices for our fleet vehicles. While we believe we can increase our prices to adjust for some price increases in commodities, there can be no assurance that price increases of commodities, if they were to occur, would be recoverable. Additionally, some of our fixed price contracts do not allow us to adjust our prices and, as a result, increases in material or fuel costs could reduce our profitability with respect to such projects.
Capital and Credit Risks
We may not be able to compete for, or work on, certain projects if we are not able to obtain necessary bonds, letters of credit, bank guarantees or other financial assurances.
Many of our contracts require that we provide security to our customers for the performance of their projects in the form of bonds, letters of credit, bank guarantees or other financial assurances. Current or future market conditions, including losses incurred in the construction industry or as a result of large corporate bankruptcies, as well as changes in our sureties’ assessment of our operating and financial risk, could cause our surety providers and lenders to decline to issue or renew, or substantially reduce the amount of, bid or performance bonds for our work and could increase our costs associated with collateral. These
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actions could be taken on short notice. If our surety providers or lenders were to limit or eliminate our access to bonding, letters of credit or guarantees, our alternatives would include seeking capacity from other sureties and lenders, finding more business that does not require bonds or allows for other forms of collateral for project performance, such as cash. We may be unable to secure these alternatives in a timely manner, on acceptable terms, or at all, which could affect our ability to bid for or work on future projects requiring financial assurances.
We have also granted security interests in various assets to collateralize our obligations to our sureties and lenders. Furthermore, under standard terms in the surety market, sureties issue or continue bonds on a project-by-project basis and can decline to issue bonds at any time or require the posting of additional collateral as a condition to issuing or renewing any bonds. If we were to experience an interruption or reduction in the availability of bonding capacity as a result of these or any other reasons, we may be unable to compete for or work on certain projects that would require bonding.
COVID-19 Risks
COVID-19 may have an adverse impact on our business, employees, liquidity, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and related mitigation measures, we implemented changes in our business in an effort to protect our employees and customers, and to support appropriate health and safety protocols, including implementing remote, alternative and flexible work arrangements, where possible. In the future these changes and other impacts from COVID-19 could result in higher operating costs and could adversely impact our business, including certain operational, reporting, accounting or other processes. In addition, an extended period of remote work arrangements could impair our ability to effectively manage our business, and introduce additional operational risks, including but not limited to cybersecurity risks and increased vulnerability to security breaches, cyber-attacks, computer viruses, ransomware, or other similar events and intrusions.
As our response to the pandemic continues to evolve, we may incur additional costs and could experience adverse impacts to our business, each of which may be significant. We have focused on controlling our costs and capital expenditures to preserve our ability to continue to fund our operations and may need to take additional actions to reduce spending in the future. Although we are unable to predict the ultimate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic at this time, the pandemic could adversely affect, our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Such effects may be material and the potential impacts include, but are not limited to:
• disruptions in our supply chain due to transportation delays, travel restrictions, raw material cost increases and shortages, and closures of businesses or facilities;
• reductions in our operating effectiveness due to workforce disruptions resulting from “shelter-in-place” and “stay-at-home” orders, and the unavailability of key personnel necessary to conduct our business activities; and
• volatility in the global financial markets, which could have a negative impact on our ability to access capital and additional sources of financing in the future.
The situation surrounding COVID-19 remains fluid, and given its inherent uncertainty, the pandemic may have an adverse impact on our business in the near term. Should these conditions persist for a prolonged period, the COVID-19 pandemic, including any of the above factors and others that are currently unknown, may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. In addition, we cannot predict the impact that COVID-19 will have on our customers and suppliers, and any adverse impacts on these parties may have a material adverse impact on our business.
Employee Risks
Work stoppages or other labor issues with our unionized workforce could adversely affect our business, and we may be subject to unionization attempts.
As of December 31, 2020, approximately 88% of our craft labor employees were covered by collective bargaining agreements. Although most of these agreements prohibit strikes and work stoppages, we cannot be certain that strikes or work stoppages will not occur in the future. Strikes or work stoppages could adversely impact our relationships with our customers and could cause us to lose business, resulting in decreased revenues. From time to time, we have experienced attempts to unionize our nonunion businesses. Such efforts often delay work and present the risk of labor unrest. If nonunion employees were to unionize, we could experience higher ongoing labor costs.
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Multi-employer pension plan obligations related to our unionized workforce could adversely impact our earnings.
Our collective bargaining agreements may require us to participate with other companies in various multi-employer pension plans. To the extent that we participate in any multi-employer pension plans that are underfunded, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended by the Multi-Employer Pension Plan Amendments Act of 1980, may subject us to substantial liabilities under those plans if we were to withdraw from them, if they were terminated or experience a mass withdrawal. Furthermore, the Pension Protection Act of 2006, as amended, imposes additional funding and operational rules applicable to plan years beginning after 2007 for multi-employer pension plans that are classified as either “endangered,” “seriously endangered” or “critical” status. Plans in these classifications must adopt measures to improve their funded status, which may require additional employer contributions and/or modifications to employee benefits based on future union wages paid.
Although we are not currently aware of any potential significant liabilities to us as a result of these plans being classified as being in a “critical” or “endangered” status, our future financial results could be impacted by the amended funding rules.
Cybersecurity and Information Technology Risks
We rely on information, communications and data systems in our operations and we or our business partners may be subject to failures, interruptions or breaches of such systems, which could affect our operations or our competitive position, expose sensitive information or damage our reputation.
We and our business partners are heavily reliant on information and communications technology and related systems to conduct our business. We also rely on third-party software and information technology to run certain of our critical accounting, project management and financial information systems. Furthermore, in connection with our business we may collect and retain personally identifiable and other sensitive information of our customers and personnel, all of which expect that we will adequately protect such information. The failure of these systems to operate effectively or problems with transitioning to upgraded or replacement systems could cause delays and reduce the efficiency of our operations, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial position, results of operations and cash flows, and significant costs could be incurred to remediate any problem.
Increased IT security threats and more sophisticated computer crimes, including advanced persistent threats, computer viruses, ransomware, other types of malicious code, hacking, phishing and social engineering schemes designed to provide access to our networks or data, pose a potential risk to the security of our IT systems, networks and services, as well as the confidentiality, availability and integrity of our data. If the IT systems, networks or service providers we rely upon fail to function properly, or if we suffer a loss or disclosure of sensitive information, we may suffer interruptions in our ability to manage operations, be subject to government enforcement actions, litigation, and reputational, competitive and business harm which may adversely impact our business, financial position, results of operations and cash flows, competitive position and reputation.
As techniques used to obtain unauthorized access or sabotage systems change frequently and generally are not recognized until launched against a target, we may be unable to anticipate these techniques or implement adequate preventative measures. As cyber threats continue to evolve, we may be required to expend additional resources to comply with new cyber-related regulations, continue to enhance our information security measures or investigate and remediate any information security vulnerabilities. Our remediation efforts may not be successful and could result in interruptions, delays or cessation of service. This could also impact the cost and availability of cyber insurance to us. Furthermore, our relationships with, and access provided to, third parties and their vendors may create difficulties in anticipating and implementing adequate preventative measures or mitigating harms after an attack or breach occurs.
If an actual or perceived breach of our security occurs, the public perception of the effectiveness of our security measures could be harmed and we could lose customers. Any of these disruptions or breaches of security would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial position, results of operations and cash flows.
In addition, current and future laws and regulations governing data privacy and the unauthorized disclosure of confidential information may pose complex compliance challenges and/or result in additional costs. A failure to comply with such laws and regulations could result in penalties or fines, legal liabilities and/or harm our reputation. The continuing and evolving threat of cyber-attacks has also resulted in increased regulatory focus on risk management and prevention. New cyber-related regulations or other requirements could cause us to incur significant costs, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial position, results of operations and cash flows.
Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments
None.
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Item 2. Properties
Our principal executive offices are located at 12150 East 112th Avenue, Henderson, Colorado 80640 in a building that we own. In addition to our executive offices, certain legal, accounting and other personnel are located in this building. As of December 31, 2020, we owned 16 operating facilities and leased many other properties in various locations throughout our service territory. Most of our properties are used as operational offices or for fleet operations. We believe that our facilities are adequate for our current operating needs. We do not believe that any owned or leased facility is material to our operations and, if necessary, we could obtain replacement facilities for our leased facilities.
Item 3. Legal Proceedings
We are, from time-to-time, party to lawsuits, claims and other legal proceedings that arise in the ordinary course of business. These actions typically seek, among other things, compensation for alleged personal injury, breach of contract and/or property damages, punitive damages, civil and criminal penalties or other losses, or injunctive or declaratory relief. With respect to all such lawsuits, claims and proceedings, we record reserves when it is probable that a liability has been incurred and the amount of loss can be reasonably estimated. We do not believe that any of these proceedings, separately or in the aggregate, would be expected to have a material adverse effect on our financial position, results of operations, or cash flows.
We are routinely subject to other civil claims, litigation and arbitration, and regulatory investigations arising in the ordinary course of our past and present businesses as well as in respect of our divested businesses. Some of these include claims related to our services and operations, we believe that we have strong defenses to these claims as well as insurance coverage that will contribute to any settlement or liability in the event claims are not resolved in our favor. These claims have not had a material impact on us to date, and we believe the likelihood that a future material adverse outcome will result from these claims is remote. However, if facts and circumstances change in the future, we cannot be certain that an adverse outcome of one or more of these claims would not have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations, or cash flows.
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
Our common stock, par value $0.01, is listed on The Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol “MYRG.”
Holders of Record
As of February 26, 2021, we had 7 holders of record of our common stock.
Dividend Policy
We have neither declared nor paid any cash dividend on our common stock since our common stock began trading publicly on August 12, 2008. Any future determination to declare cash dividends will be made at the discretion of our board of directors, subject to compliance with legal requirements and covenants under any existing financing agreements, which may restrict or limit our ability to declare or pay dividends, and will depend on our financial condition, results of operations, capital requirements, general business conditions, and other factors that our board of directors may deem relevant.
Issuances of Common Stock
On October 22, 2020, a total of 270 unregistered shares of our common stock, valued in the aggregate at $11,966 was issued to a director of the Company who elected to receive a portion of their director retainer fee in stock in lieu of cash. The shares were issued pursuant to the exemption from registration provided by Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act of 1933 for an issuance not involving a public offering.
Purchases of Common Stock
The following table includes all of the Company’s repurchases of common stock for the periods shown. Repurchased shares are retired and returned to authorized but unissued common stock.
(1) This column contains repurchases of common stock to satisfy tax obligations on the vesting of restricted stock under the 2007 Long-Term Incentive Plan (as amended).
(2) On October 22, 2020 the Company’s Board of Directors authorized a new $50.0 million share repurchase program effective November 2, 2020. The Company intends to fund the share repurchase program from cash on hand and through borrowings under its credit facility. The new share repurchase program will expire on November 2, 2021, or when the authorized funds are exhausted, whichever is earlier. No shares were repurchased under the new program in 2020.
Performance Graph
The following Performance Graph and related information shall be deemed “furnished” and not “filed” for purposes of Section 18 of the Exchange Act, and such information shall not be incorporated by reference into any future filing under the Securities Act or the Exchange Act except to the extent that we specifically incorporate it by reference into such filing.
The following graph compares, for the period from December 31, 2015 to December 31, 2020, the cumulative total stockholder return on our common stock with the cumulative total return on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (the “S&P 500 Index”), the Russell 2000 Index, and a peer group index selected by our management that includes twelve publicly traded companies within our industry (the “Peer Group”). The comparison assumes that $100 was invested on December 31, 2015 and further assumes any dividends were reinvested quarterly. The stock price performance reflected on the following graph is not necessarily indicative of future stock price performance.
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The companies in the Peer Group were selected because they comprise a broad group of publicly traded companies, each of which has some operations similar to ours. When taken as a whole, the Peer Group more closely resembles our total business than any individual company in the group while reducing the impact of a significant change in any one of the Peer Group company’s stock price. The Peer Group is composed of the following companies:
Aegion Corporation EMCOR Group* Matrix Service Company
Comfort Systems USA, Inc. IES Holdings, Inc. Quanta Services, Inc.*
Dycom Industries, Inc. MasTec, Inc.* Tetra Tech, Inc.
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* Considered our core group of peers with a more significant portion of operations being similar to ours than the overall group. Graph presents entire Peer Group.
COMPARISON OF 5 YEAR CUMULATIVE TOTAL RETURN*
Among MYR Group, Inc., the S&P 500 Index, the Russell 2000 Index,
and a peer Group
*$100 invested on 12/31/2015 in stock or including reinvestment of dividends.
Fiscal year ending December 31.
Copyright© 2021 Standard & Poor's, a division of S&P Global. All rights reserved
Copyright© 2021 Russell Investment Group. All right reserved.
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Item 6. Selected Financial Data
The following table sets forth certain summary financial information on a historical basis. The summary statement of operations and the balance sheet data set forth below have been derived from our audited Financial Statements and footnotes thereto included elsewhere in this filing or in prior filings. Our Financial Statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”). Historical results are not necessarily indicative of the results we expect in the future and quarterly results are not necessarily indicative of the results of any future quarter or any full-year period. The information below should be read in conjunction with “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results from Operations” and the Financial Statements and notes thereto included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Statement of operations data:
For the year ended December 31,
Other income (expense):
Income per common share attributable to MYR Group Inc.:
Balance sheet data:
As of December 31,
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Other Data: (Unaudited)
For the year ended December 31,
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(1)On January 1, 2018, we adopted ASU No. 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606) using the modified retrospective method for contracts that were not completed as of January 1, 2018. Results for reporting periods beginning after January 1, 2018 are presented under this new pronouncement, while prior period amounts were not adjusted and continue to be reported under the accounting standard Revenue Recognition Topic 605, which was in effect for those periods. Differences in revenue recognition under Topic 606 were due to accelerated recognition of contract provisions related to variable consideration previously not permitted to be recognized under Topic 605 until no remaining contingency existed related to this consideration.
(2)The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (“2017 Tax Act”), among its many provisions, reduced the federal statutory tax rate from 35% to 21%. The Company applied the new provisions to its tax assets and liabilities in 2017, which resulted in a net reduction of income tax expense. Income tax expense in the years after 2017 benefited from the lower federal statutory tax rate and other provisions of the 2017 Tax Act. See further discussion in Note 12 — Income Taxes to our Financial Statements.
(3)Working capital is a non-GAAP measure. The Company defines working capital as total current assets less total current liabilities. The following table provides the Company’s calculation of working capital:
As of December 31,
(4)Depreciation and amortization includes depreciation on capital assets, amortization of finance lease assets and amortization of finite-lived intangible assets.
(5)Backlog represents our estimated revenue on uncompleted contracts, including the amount of revenue on contracts on which work has not begun, minus the revenue we have recognized under such contracts. See “Item 1. Business — Backlog” for a discussion on how we calculate backlog for our business and “Item 1A. Risk Factors — Backlog may not be realized or may not result in profits and may not accurately represent future revenue.”
(6)EBITDA is a non-GAAP measure used by management that we define as net income attributable to MYR Group Inc. plus net income from noncontrolling interests, interest expense net of interest income, income tax expense and depreciation and amortization, as shown in the following table. EBITDA does not purport to be an alternative to net income attributable to MYR Group Inc. as a measure of operating performance or to net cash flows provided by operating activities as a measure of liquidity. We believe that EBITDA is useful to investors and other external users of our Consolidated Financial Statements in evaluating our operating performance and cash flow because EBITDA is widely used by investors to measure a company’s operating performance without regard to items such as interest expense, taxes, depreciation and amortization, which can vary substantially from company to company depending upon accounting methods, book value of assets, useful lives placed on assets, capital structure and the method by which assets were acquired. Because not all companies define EBITDA as we do, this presentation of EBITDA may not be comparable to other similarly-titled measures of other companies. We use, and we believe investors benefit from, the presentation of EBITDA in evaluating our operating performance because it provides us and our investors with an additional tool to compare our operating performance on a consistent basis by removing the impact of certain items that management believes do not directly reflect our core operations.
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Using EBITDA as a performance measure has material limitations as compared to net income, or other financial measures as defined under GAAP, as it excludes certain recurring items, which may be meaningful to investors. EBITDA excludes interest expense net of interest income; however, as we have borrowed money to finance transactions and operations, or invested available cash to generate interest income, interest expense and interest income are elements of our cost structure and can affect our ability to generate revenue and returns for our stockholders. Further, EBITDA excludes depreciation and amortization; however, as we use capital and intangible assets to generate revenues, depreciation and amortization are a necessary element of our costs and ability to generate revenue. Finally, EBITDA excludes income taxes; however, as we are organized as a corporation, the payment of taxes is a necessary element of our operations. As a result of these exclusions from EBITDA, any measure that excludes interest expense net of interest income, depreciation and amortization and income taxes has material limitations as compared to net income. When using EBITDA as a performance measure, management compensates for these limitations by comparing EBITDA to net income in each period, to allow for the comparison of the performance of the underlying core operations with the overall performance of the company on a full-cost, after-tax basis. Using both EBITDA and net income to evaluate the business allows management and investors to (a) assess our relative performance against our competitors and (b) monitor our capacity to generate returns for our stockholders.
The following table provides a reconciliation of net income attributable to MYR Group Inc. to EBITDA:
For the year ended December 31,
Net income (loss) - noncontrolling interests — (1,476) 207 — —
We also use EBITDA as a liquidity measure. Certain material covenants contained within our credit agreement (the “Credit Agreement”) are based on EBITDA with certain additional adjustments as defined in the Credit Agreement. Non-compliance with these financial covenants under the Credit Agreement — our interest coverage ratio which is defined in the Credit Agreement as Consolidated EBITDA (as defined in the Credit Agreement) divided by interest expense (as defined in the Credit Agreement) and our leverage ratio, which is defined in the Credit Agreement as Consolidated Total Indebtedness (as defined in the Credit Agreement), divided by Consolidated EBITDA (as defined in the Credit Agreement) — could result in our lenders requiring us to immediately repay all amounts borrowed. If we anticipated a potential covenant violation, we would seek relief from our lenders, likely causing us to incur additional cost, and such relief might not be available, or if available, might not be on terms as favorable as those in the Credit Agreement. In addition, if we cannot satisfy these financial covenants, we would be prohibited under the Credit Agreement from engaging in certain activities, such as incurring additional indebtedness, making certain payments, and acquiring or disposing of assets. Based on the information above, management believes that the presentation of EBITDA as a liquidity measure is useful to investors and relevant to their assessment of our capacity to service or incur debt, fund capital expenditures, finance acquisitions and expand our operations.
The following table provides a reconciliation of net cash flows provided by operating activities to EBITDA:
For the year ended December 31,
Add/(subtract)
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Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
The following discussion should be read in conjunction with the other sections of this report, including the Financial Statements and related notes contained in Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. In addition to historical information, this discussion contains forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from management’s expectations. Factors that could cause such differences are discussed in “Forward-Looking Statements” and “Risk Factors.” We assume no obligation to update any of these forward-looking statements.
Presentation of Information
The discussion that follows includes a comparison of our results of operations and liquidity and capital resources for the fiscal years ended December 31, 2019 and 2020. For a discussion of changes from the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018 to the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019, refer to Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations in Part II, Item 7 of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019 (filed March 4, 2020).
Overview-Introduction
We are a holding company of specialty electrical construction service providers that was established in 1995 through the merger of long-standing specialty contractors. Through our subsidiaries, we serve the electric utility infrastructure, commercial and industrial construction markets. We manage and report our operations through two electrical contracting service segments: Transmission and Distribution (“T&D”) and Commercial and Industrial (“C&I”).
We have operated in the transmission and distribution industry since 1891. We are one of the largest U.S. contractors servicing the T&D sector of the electric utility industry and provide T&D services throughout the United States and western Canada. Our T&D customers include many of the leading companies in the electric utility industry. We have provided electrical contracting services for commercial and industrial construction since 1912. Our C&I segment provides services in the United States and in western Canada. Our C&I customers include facility owners and general contractors.
We believe that we have a number of competitive advantages in both of our segments, including our skilled workforce, extensive centralized fleet, proven safety performance and reputation for timely completion of quality work that allows us to compete favorably in our markets. In addition, we believe that we are better capitalized than some of our competitors, which provides us with valuable flexibility to take on additional and more complex projects.
We had revenues for the year ended December 31, 2020 of $2.25 billion compared to $2.07 billion for the year ended December 31, 2019. For the year ended December 31, 2020, net income attributable to MYR Group Inc. was $58.8 million compared to $37.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2019.
Overview-Segments
Transmission and Distribution segment. Our T&D segment provides comprehensive solutions to customers in the electric utility industry. Our T&D segment generally serves the electric utility industry as a prime contractor to customers such as investor-owned utilities, cooperatives, private developers, government-funded utilities, independent power producers, independent transmission companies, industrial facility owners and other contractors. We have long-standing relationships with many of our T&D customers who rely on us to construct and maintain reliable electric and other utility infrastructure. Our T&D segment provides a broad range of services on electric transmission and distribution networks and substation facilities, which include design, engineering, procurement, construction, upgrade, maintenance and repair services, with a particular focus on construction, maintenance and repair. Our T&D services include the construction and maintenance of high voltage transmission lines, substations, lower voltage underground and overhead distribution systems, renewable power facilities and limited gas construction services. We also provide many services to our customers under multi-year master service agreements (“MSAs”) and other variable-term service agreements.
For the year ended December 31, 2020, our T&D revenues were $1.15 billion, or 51.4%, of our revenue, compared to $1.13 billion, or 54.8%, of our revenue for the year ended December 31, 2019 and $893.1 million, or 58.3%, of our revenue for the year ended December 31, 2018. Revenues from transmission projects represented 64.6%, 68.1%, and 62.6% of T&D segment revenue for the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018, respectively.
Our T&D segment also provides restoration services in response to hurricanes, ice storms or other storm related events, which accounted for less than 5% of our annual revenues in 2020, 2019 and 2018.
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Measured by revenues in our T&D segment, we provided 43.9%, 49.7% and 40.5% of our T&D services under fixed-price contracts during the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018, respectively. We also provide many services to our customers under multi-year maintenance service agreements and other variable service agreements.
Commercial and Industrial segment. Our C&I segment provides a wide range of services including design, installation, maintenance and repair of commercial and industrial wiring, the installation of traffic networks and the installation of bridge, roadway and tunnel lighting. In our C&I segment, we generally provide our electric construction and maintenance services as a subcontractor to general contractors in the C&I industry as well as directly to facility owners. We have a diverse customer base with many long-standing relationships. We concentrate our efforts on projects where our technical and project management expertise are critical to successful and timely execution. The majority of C&I contracts cover electrical contracting services for airports, hospitals, data centers, hotels, stadiums, convention centers, renewable energy projects, manufacturing plants, processing facilities, water treatment facilities, mining facilities and transportation control and management systems.
For the year ended December 31, 2020, our C&I revenues were $1.09 billion, or 48.6%, of our revenue, compared to $936.7 million, or 45.2%, of our revenue for the year ended December 31, 2019 and $638.1 million, or 41.7%, of our revenue for the year ended December 31, 2018.
Measured by revenues in our C&I segment, we provided 82.5%, 75.2% and 71.0% of our services under fixed-price contracts for the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018, respectively.
Overview-Revenue and Gross Margins
Revenue Recognition. We recognize revenue to depict the transfer of goods or services to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration that we expect to be entitled to in exchange for goods or services provided. Revenue associated with contracts with customers is recognized over time as our performance creates or enhances customer controlled assets or creates or enhances an asset with no alternative use, for which we have an enforceable right to receive compensation as defined under the contract. To determine the amount of revenue to recognize over time, we utilized the cost-to-cost method as we believe cost incurred best represents the amount of work completed and remaining on our projects, and is the most common basis for computing percentage of completion in our industry. As the cost-to-cost method is driven by incurred cost, we calculate the percentage of completion by dividing costs incurred to date by the total estimated cost. The percentage of completion is then multiplied by estimated revenues to determine inception-to-date revenue. Revenue recognized for the period is the current inception-to-date recognized revenue less the prior period inception-to-date recognized revenue. If a contract is projected to result in a loss, the entire contract loss is recognized in the period when the loss was first determined and the amount of the loss is updated in subsequent reporting periods. Additionally, contract costs incurred to date and expected total contract costs are continuously monitored during the term of the contract. Changes in the job performance, job conditions and final contract settlements are factors that influence management’s assessment of total contract value and the total estimated costs to complete those contracts, and therefore, profit and revenue recognition.
Gross Margins. Our gross margin can vary between periods as a result of many factors, some of which are beyond our control. These factors include: the mix of revenue derived from the industries we serve, the size and duration of our projects, the mix of business conducted in different parts of the United States and Canada, the mix in service and maintenance work compared to new construction work, the amount of work that we subcontract, the amount of material we supply, changes in labor, equipment or insurance costs, seasonal weather patterns, changes in fleet utilization, pricing pressures due to competition, efficiency of work performance, fluctuations in commodity prices of materials, delays in the timing of projects and other factors. The gross margins we record in the current period may not be indicative of margins in future periods.
Overview-Economic, Industry and Market Factors
We operate in competitive markets, which can result in pricing pressures for the services we provide. Work is often awarded through a bidding and selection process, where price is always a principal factor. We generally focus on managing our profitability by: selecting projects that we believe will provide attractive margins; actively monitoring the costs of completing our projects; holding customers accountable for costs related to changes to contract specifications and rewarding our employees for controlling costs.
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The demand for construction and maintenance services from our customers has been, and will likely continue to be, cyclical in nature and vulnerable to downturns in the markets we serve as well as the economy in general. The financial condition of our customers and their access to capital, variations in the margins of projects performed during any particular period, and regional and national economic conditions in the United States and Canada may materially affect results. Project schedules, particularly in connection with larger, multi-year projects, can also create fluctuations in our revenues. Other market and industry factors, such as changes to our customers’ capital spending plans or delays in regulatory approvals can affect project schedules. Changes in technology, tax and other incentives and new or changing regulatory requirements affecting the industries we serve can impact demand for our services. Additionally, continued economic slowdowns related to the current worldwide COVID-19 pandemic could have a significant impact on our business. While we actively monitor economic, industry and market factors affecting our business, we cannot predict the impact such factors may have on our future results of operations, liquidity and cash flows. As a result of economic, industry and market factors, our operating results in any particular period or year may not be indicative of the results that can be expected for any other period or for any other year.
Overview-Seasonality and Nature of Our Work Environment
Although our revenues are primarily driven by spending patterns in our customers’ industries, our revenues and results of operations, particularly those derived from our T&D segment, can be subject to seasonal variations. These variations are influenced by weather, daylight hours, availability of system outages from utilities, and holidays. During the winter months, demand for our T&D work may be high, but our work can be delayed due to inclement weather. During the summer months, the demand for our T&D work may be affected by fewer available system outages, due to peak electrical demands caused by warmer weather, which limits our ability to perform electrical line service work. During the spring and fall months, the demand for our T&D work may increase due to improved weather conditions and system availability; however, extended periods of rain and other severe weather can affect the deployment of our crews and efficiency of operations. Furthermore, our work is performed under a variety of conditions in different locations, including but not limited to, difficult terrain, sites which may have been exposed to harsh and hazardous conditions, and in large urban centers where delivery of materials and availability of labor may be impacted.
We also provide storm restoration services to our T&D customers. These services tend to have a higher profit margin. However, storm restoration service work that is performed under an MSA typically has similar rates to other work under the agreement. In addition, deploying employees on storm restoration work may, at times, delay work on other transmission and distribution work. Storm restoration service work is unpredictable and can affect results of operations.
Outlook
Our business is directly impacted by the level of spending on T&D infrastructure and the level of C&I electrical construction activity across the United States and western Canada. We are optimistic about infrastructure spending and believe that industry activity will continue in both our transmission and distribution market segments and the drivers for utility investment will remain intact. We believe that regulatory reform, state renewable portfolio standards, the aging of the electric grid, and potential overall improvement of the economy will positively impact the level of spending by our customers in all of the markets we serve. Although competition remains strong, we see these trends as positive factors for us in the future.
Since March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the global economy, including the US and Canadian economies. As the situation continues to evolve, we are closely monitoring the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on all aspects of our business, including how it impacts our customers, subcontractors, suppliers, vendors and employees. The COVID-19 pandemic caused a slowdown of certain projects due to specific state, local, municipal and customer mandated stay-at-home orders and new project requirements that were established to protect construction workers and the general public, most of which continue to impact our C&I segment. Although the majority of stay-at-home orders have been phased-out, we continue to experience impacts associated with the COVID-19 project-specific protocols. We expect the project-specific requirements to remain in place which will continue to impact project schedules and workflow going forward.
We are unable to predict the ultimate impact that COVID-19 will have on our business, employees, liquidity, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Most of the Company’s operations are considered critical and essential businesses, making our projects generally exempt from stay-at-home or similar orders in certain parts of the United States and western Canada. However, if this pandemic persists for an extended timeframe our business could be more significantly impacted as a result of prolonged unfavorable economic conditions. The Company began implementing changes in March of 2020 in an effort to protect our employees and customers and to support appropriate health and safety protocols, including implementing alternative and flexible work arrangements where possible. As the conditions surrounding the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic remain fluid, and if disruptions do re-emerge, they could materially adversely impact our business. Our key estimates that could potentially be impacted include estimates of costs to complete contracts, the recoverability of goodwill and intangibles and allowance for doubtful accounts.
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We continue to expect long-term growth in the transmission market, although the timing of large bids and subsequent construction will likely continue to be highly variable from year to year. The electric grid is aging and requires significant upgrades and maintenance to meet current and future demands for electricity. Over the past several years, many utilities have begun to implement plans to improve reliability of their transmission systems and reduce congestion. These utilities have started or planned new construction, line upgrades and maintenance projects on their transmission systems. We believe that our customers remain committed to the expansion and strengthening of their transmission infrastructure, with planning, engineering and funding for many of their projects already in place.
State renewable portfolio standards, which set required or voluntary standards for how much electricity is to be generated from renewable energy sources, as well as general environmental concerns, continue to drive the development of renewable energy projects. The economic feasibility of renewable energy projects, and therefore the attractiveness of investment in the projects, may depend on the availability of tax incentive programs or the ability of the projects to take advantage of such incentives. Renewable energy-related construction contracts, depending on the type, may benefit both the T&D and C&I business segments.
We believe there is an ongoing need for utilities to sustain investment in their transmission systems to improve reliability, reduce congestion and connect to new sources of renewable generation. Consequently, we believe we will continue to see significant bidding activity on large transmission projects over the next two years. The timing of multi-year transmission project awards and substantial construction activity is difficult to predict due to regulatory requirements and the permitting needed to commence construction. Significant construction on any large, multi-year projects awarded in the second half of 2021 will not likely occur until 2022. Bidding and construction activity for small to medium-size transmission projects and upgrades remain active, and we expect this trend to continue, primarily due to reliability and economic drivers. However, in light of the uncertain COVID-19 environment, there may be a potential slowdown of construction activity in the transmission market, the recovery of which will be dependent upon the pace and timing of the United States overall recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Because of reduced spending by United States utilities on their distribution systems for several years, we believe there is a need for sustained investment by utilities on their distribution systems to properly maintain or meet reliability requirements. In 2020, we continued to see increased bidding activity in some of our electric distribution markets, as economic conditions improved in those areas. We believe the increased hurricane activity over the past several years and recent destruction caused by wildfires will cause a push to strengthen utility distribution systems against catastrophic damage. Several industry and market trends are also prompting customers in the electric utility industry to seek outsourcing partners rather than performing projects internally. These trends include an aging electric utility workforce, increasing costs and staffing constraints. We believe electric utility employee retirements could increase with further economic recovery, which may result in an increase in outsourcing opportunities. We expect to see an incremental increase in distribution opportunities in the United States in 2021, however, in light of the uncertain COVID-19 environment, there may be a potential slowdown of construction activity in distribution systems, the recovery of which will be dependent upon the pace and timing of the United States overall recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we expect C&I bidding opportunities to be impacted and market uncertainty could contribute to an overall deceleration in projects coming out to bid. Recovery of the C&I market will be heavily dependent on overall economic recovery. We are hopeful that stimulus packages will provide greater opportunity and are encouraged by the possible approval of a long-awaited infrastructure bill. We believe that the primary markets we serve may be somewhat less vulnerable to economic slowing, such as health care, transportation, data centers, warehousing, renewable energy and water projects. We are hopeful that the service industry and small project market could quickly rebound in the near future as pent-up demand will need to be addressed.
In addition, the United States has experienced a decade of economic expansion which has challenged the capacity of public water and transportation infrastructure forcing states and municipalities to seek creative means to fund needed expansion. We believe the need for expanding public infrastructure will offer opportunity in our C&I segment for several years. We expect the long-term growth in our C&I segment to generally track the economic growth of the regions we serve.
We strive to maintain our status as a preferred provider to our T&D and C&I customers. In an effort to support our growth strategy and maximize stockholder returns, we seek to efficiently manage our capital. Through 2020, we continued to implement strategies that further expand our capabilities and allow opportunities to provide prudent capital returns. On July 15, 2019, we completed the acquisition of substantially all the assets of CSI Electrical Contractors, Inc. (“CSI”), which expanded our C&I operations in California. Additionally, we ended 2020 with $364.6 million available under our credit facility.
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We believe that our financial position, positive cash flows and other operational strengths will enable us to manage the challenges and uncertainties in the markets we serve, including new challenges and uncertainties associated with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and give us the flexibility to successfully execute our strategies. We continue to invest in developing key management and craft personnel in both our T&D and C&I markets and in procuring the specific specialty equipment and tooling needed to win and execute projects of all sizes and complexity. In 2020 and 2019, we invested in capital expenditures of approximately $44.4 million and $57.8 million, respectively. Most of our capital expenditures supported opportunities in our T&D business. We plan to continue to evaluate our needs for additional equipment and tooling. Our investment strategy is based on our belief that spending in transmission and distribution projects will continue to remain strong over the next several years as electric utilities, cooperatives and municipalities make up for the lack of infrastructure spending in the past, combined with the overall need to integrate new generation into the electric power grid, and our belief that distribution demand will increase over the next several years.
Understanding Backlog
We define backlog as our estimated revenue on uncompleted contracts, including the amount of revenue on contracts for which work has not begun, less the revenue we have recognized under such contracts. Backlog may not accurately represent the revenues that we expect to realize during any particular period. Several factors, such as the timing of contract awards, the type and duration of contracts, and the mix of subcontractor and material costs in our projects, can impact our backlog at any point in time. Some of our revenue does not appear in our periodic backlog reporting because the award of the project, as well as the execution of the work, can all take place within the period. For many of our unit-price, time-and-equipment, time-and-materials and cost-plus contracts, we only include projected revenue for a three-month period in the calculation of backlog, although these types of contracts are generally awarded as part of MSAs that typically have a one- to three-year duration from execution. Additionally, the difference between our backlog and remaining performance obligations is due to the exclusion of a portion of our MSAs under certain contract types from our remaining performance obligations as these contracts can be canceled for convenience at any time by us or the customer without considerable cost incurred by the customer. Our backlog includes projects that have a written award, a letter of intent, a notice to proceed or an agreed upon work order to perform work on mutually accepted terms and conditions. Our estimated backlog also includes our proportionate share of our unconsolidated joint venture contracts.
Changes in backlog from period to period are primarily the result of fluctuations in the timing of awards and revenue recognition of contracts. Backlog should not be relied upon as a stand-alone indicator of future events.
Understanding Gross Margins
Our gross margin is gross profit expressed as a percentage of revenues. Gross profit is calculated by subtracting contract costs from revenue. Contract costs consist primarily of salaries, wages and benefits to employees, depreciation, fuel and other equipment expenses, equipment rentals, subcontracted services, insurance, facilities expenses, materials and parts and supplies. Various factors affect our gross margins on a quarterly or annual basis, including those listed below.
Performance Risk. Margins may fluctuate because of the volume of work and the impacts of pricing and job productivity, which can be impacted both favorably and negatively by customer decisions and crew productivity, as well as other factors. When comparing a service contract between periods, factors affecting the gross margins associated with the revenues generated by the contract may include pricing under the contract, the volume of work performed under the contract, the mix of the type of work specifically being performed, the availability of labor resources at expected labor rates and the productivity of the crews performing the work. Productivity can be influenced by many factors including the experience level of the crew, whether the work is on an open or encumbered right of way, weather conditions, geographical conditions, trade stacking, performance of other sub-trades, schedule changes, effects of environmental restrictions and regulatory and permitting delays.
Revenue Mix and Contract Terms. The mix of revenue derived from the industries we serve will impact gross margins. Changes in our customers’ spending patterns in each of the industries we serve can cause an imbalance in supply and demand and, therefore, affect margins and mix of revenue by industry served. Storm restoration services typically command higher profit margins than other maintenance services. Seasonal and weather factors, as noted below, can impact the timing at which customers perform maintenance and repairs, which can cause a shift in the revenue mix. Some of our time-and-equipment, time-and-materials and cost-plus contracts include shared savings clauses, in which the contract includes a target price and we agree to share savings from that target price with our customer. Additionally, new construction work has a higher gross margin than maintenance and repair work. New construction work is often obtained on a fixed-price basis, which carries a higher risk than other types of pricing arrangements because a contractor can bear the risk of increased expenses. As such, we generally bid fixed-price contracts with higher profit margins. We typically derive approximately 20% to 45% of our revenue from maintenance and repair work that is performed under pre-established or negotiated prices or cost-plus pricing arrangements which generally allow us a set margin above our costs. Thus, the mix between new construction work, at fixed-price, and maintenance and repair work, at cost-plus, in a given period will impact gross margin in that period. The timing of accounting recognition of such savings can
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impact our margins. In addition, change orders and claims can impact our margins. Costs related to change orders and claims are recognized in contract costs when incurred, but revenue related to change orders is only recognized when it is probable that the change order will result in an addition to contract value and can be reliably estimated, whereas revenue related to claims is recognized only to the extent that contract costs related to the claim have been incurred and when it is probable that the claim will result in an addition to contract value which can be reliably estimated. Generally, no profit is recognized on a claim until final settlement occurs.
Seasonal, Weather and Geographical. Seasonal patterns, primarily related to weather conditions and the availability of system outages, can have a significant impact on gross margins in a given period. It is typical during the winter months that parts of the country may experience snow or rainfall, which can affect our crews’ ability to work efficiently. Additionally, our T&D customers often cannot remove their T&D lines from service during the summer months, when consumer demand for electricity is at its peak, delaying maintenance and repair services. In both cases, projects may be delayed or temporarily placed on hold. Conversely, in periods when weather remains dry and temperatures are moderate, more work can be done, sometimes with less cost, which would have a favorable impact on gross margins. The mix of business conducted in different parts of the country could also affect margins, as some parts of the country offer the opportunity for higher margins than others due to the geographic characteristics associated with the location where the work is being performed. Such characteristics include whether the project is performed in an urban versus a rural setting; in a mountainous area or in open terrain; or in normal soil conditions or rocky terrain. Site conditions, including unforeseen underground conditions, can also impact margins.
Depreciation and Amortization. We include depreciation on equipment and finance lease amortization in contract costs. This is common practice in our industry, but can make comparability to other companies difficult. We spend a significant amount of capital on property, facilities and equipment, with the majority of such expenditures being used to purchase additional specialized equipment to enhance our fleet and to reduce our reliance on lease arrangements and short term equipment rentals. We believe the investment in specialized equipment helps to reduce our costs, improve our margins and provide us with valuable flexibility to take on additional and complex projects.
Material and Subcontract Costs. Projects that include a greater amount of material or subcontractor costs can experience lower overall project gross margins as we typically add a lower mark-up to material and subcontractor costs in our bids than what we would to our labor and equipment cost. In addition, successful completion of our contracts may depend on whether our subcontractors successfully fulfill their contractual obligations. If our subcontractors fail to satisfactorily perform their contractual obligations as a result of financial or other difficulties, we may be required to incur additional costs and provide additional services in order to make up such shortfalls. Additionally, we are required to allocate more working capital to projects when we are required to provide materials.
Insurance. Gross margins could be impacted by fluctuations in insurance accruals related to our deductibles and loss history in the period in which such adjustments are made. We carry insurance policies, which are subject to high deductibles, for workers’ compensation, general liability, automobile liability and other coverages. Losses up to the deductible amounts are accrued based upon estimates of the ultimate liability for claims reported and an estimate of claims incurred but not yet reported.
Fleet Utilization, Estimation, and Bidding. We operate a centrally-managed fleet in the United States in an effort to achieve the highest equipment utilization. We also develop internal equipment rates which provide our business units with appropriate cost information to estimate bids for new projects. Availability of equipment for a particular contract is determined by our internal fleet ordering process which is designed to optimize the use of internal fleet assets and allocate equipment costs to individual contracts. We believe these processes allow us to utilize our equipment efficiently, which leads to improved gross margins. Transmission and distribution projects can require different types of equipment. A significant shift in project mix or timing could impact fleet utilization, causing gross margins to vary.
Cost of Material. On fixed-price contracts where we are required to provide materials, our overall gross margin may be affected if we experience increases in the quantity or costs of materials. Projects that include a greater amount of material cost can experience lower overall project gross margins as we typically add a lower mark-up to material cost in our bids than what we would add to our labor and equipment cost.
Our team of trained estimators helps us to determine potential costs and revenues and make informed decisions on whether to bid for a project and, if bid, the rates to use in estimating the costs for that bid. The ability to accurately estimate labor, equipment, subcontracting and material costs in connection with a new project may affect the gross margins achieved for the project.
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Selling, General and Administrative Expenses
Selling, general and administrative expenses (“SG&A”) consist primarily of compensation, related benefits and employee costs for management and administrative personnel, office rent and utilities, stock compensation, communications, professional fees, depreciation, IT expenses, marketing costs and bad debt expense.
Consolidated Results of Operations
The following table sets forth selected statements of operations data and such data as a percentage of revenues for the years indicated:
Year Ended December 31, 2020 Compared to the Year Ended December 31, 2019
For the year ended December 31,
Gain on sale of property and equipment (2,813) (0.1) (3,543) (0.2)
Other income (expense):
Interest income 9 — 4 —
Other expense, net (606) — (515) —
Net income attributable to MYR Group Inc. $ 58,759 2.6 % $ 37,690 1.8 %
Revenues. Revenues increased $176.2 million, or 8.5%, to $2.25 billion for the year ended December 31, 2020 from $2.07 billion for the year ended December 31, 2019. The increase was primarily due to incremental revenues from the CSI acquisition, partially offset by impacts related to the COVID-19 pandemic primarily associated with our C&I segment.
Gross margin. Gross margin increased to 12.3% for the year ended December 31, 2020 from 10.3% for the year ended December 31, 2019. The increase in gross margin was primarily due to an increase in higher margin and storm-related work as well as better-than-anticipated productivity on certain projects. These increases were partially offset by labor inefficiencies as well as unfavorable settlements on certain projects. Additionally, gross margin during the year ended December 31, 2019 was negatively impacted by projects at lower than historical margins and inefficiencies associated with a joint venture project, that has since been completed. Changes in estimates resulted in gross margin decreases of 0.8% for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively.
Gross profit. Gross profit increased $61.7 million, or 28.8%, to $275.9 million for year ended December 31, 2020 from $214.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2019, due to higher margins and revenues.
Selling, general and administrative expenses. SG&A, was $188.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2020, an increase of $31.8 million from $156.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2019. The year-over-year increase was primarily due to the acquisition of CSI and higher employee incentive compensation costs.
Gain on sale of property and equipment. Gains from the sale of property and equipment in the year ended December 31, 2020 were $2.8 million compared to $3.5 million in the year ended December 31, 2019. Gains from the sale of property and equipment are attributable to routine sales of property and equipment no longer useful or valuable to our ongoing operations.
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Interest expense. Interest expense was $4.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2020 compared to $6.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2019. This decrease was primarily attributable to a decrease in our outstanding debt and a decrease in our weighted average interest rate during the year ended December 31, 2020 as compared to the year ended December 31, 2019, partially offset by prepayment penalties from early retirements of equipment notes.
Other expense, net. Other expense was $0.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2020 compared to other expense of $0.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2019. The change was primarily attributable to contingent consideration related to margin guarantees on certain contracts associated with the acquisition of CSI recognized in the year ended December 31, 2020.
Income tax expense. Income tax expense was $22.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2020, with an effective tax rate of 27.8%, compared to $14.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2019, with an effective tax rate of 28.2%. The decrease in the tax rate for the year ended December 31, 2020 was primarily due to a favorable impact from stock compensation excess tax benefits, partially offset by the impact of the global intangible low tax income (“GILTI”).
Net income attributable to MYR Group Inc. Net income attributable to MYR Group Inc. increased to $58.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2020 from $37.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2019. The increase was primarily for the reasons stated above.
Segment Results
The following table sets forth, for the periods indicated, statements of operations data by segment, segment net sales as a percentage of total net sales and segment operating income as a percentage of segment net sales:
For the Year Ended December 31,
(dollars in thousands) Amount Percent Amount Percent
Contract revenues:
Operating income (loss):
Transmission & Distribution
Revenues for our T&D segment for the year ended December 31, 2020 were $1.15 billion compared to $1.13 billion for the year ended December 31, 2019, an increase of $20.0 million, or 1.8%. The increase in revenue was primarily related to an increase in revenue on distribution projects which include an increase in storm work related to certain weather events, partially offset by a decrease in revenue on transmission projects.
Revenues from transmission projects represented 64.6% and 68.1% of T&D segment revenue for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively. Additionally, for the year ended December 31, 2020, measured by revenue in our T&D segment, we provided 43.9% of our T&D services under fixed-price contracts, as compared to 49.7% for the year ended December 31, 2019.
Operating income for our T&D segment for the year ended December 31, 2020 was $109.4 million compared to $73.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2019, an increase of $35.8 million, or 48.7%. The increase in T&D operating income from the prior year was primarily due to better-than-anticipated productivity on certain projects, and an increase in higher margin and storm related work. These increases were partially offset by labor and material inefficiencies and inclement weather experienced on certain projects. Operating income, as a percentage of revenues, for our T&D segment increased to 9.5% for the year ended December 31, 2020 from 6.5% for the year ended December 31, 2019.
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Commercial & Industrial
Revenues for our C&I segment for the year ended December 31, 2020 were $1.09 billion compared to $936.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2019, an increase of $156.3 million, or 16.7%, primarily due to incremental revenues from the CSI acquisition, partially offset by impacts related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Measured by revenue in our C&I segment, we provided 82.5% of our services under fixed-price contracts for the year ended December 31, 2020, compared to 75.2% for the year ended December 31, 2019.
Operating income for our C&I segment for the year ended December 31, 2020 was $37.2 million compared to $30.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2019, an increase of $6.7 million, or 22.1%. The year-over-year increase in operating income was primarily due to higher revenues, an increase in higher margin work on certain projects and better-than-anticipated productivity on certain projects, partially offset by labor inefficiencies as well as unfavorable settlements on certain projects. As a percentage of revenues, operating income for our C&I segment was 3.4% and 3.3% for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively.
Corporate
The increase in corporate expenses for the year ended December 31, 2020 was primarily attributable to higher incentive compensation and other employee-related expenses to support operations.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
As of December 31, 2020 and 2019, we had working capital of $193.3 million and $242.4 million, respectively. We define working capital, a non-GAAP measure, as current assets less current liabilities. During the year ended December 31, 2020, the operating activities of our business provided cash of $175.2 million, compared to $64.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2019. Cash flow from operations is primarily influenced by demand for our services, operating margins, timing of contract performance and the type of services we provide to our customers. The $110.3 million year-over-year increase in cash provided by operating activities was primarily due to favorable net changes in operating assets and liabilities of $89.1 million, $22.5 million in net income, $1.9 million in depreciation and amortization, and $1.3 million in non-cash stock compensation expense. The favorable change in operating assets and liabilities was primarily due to net favorable year-over-year changes in various working capital accounts that relate primarily to the timing of costs incurred on work performed that does not coincide with the billing terms (accounts receivable, contract assets, accounts payable and contract liabilities) of $49.6 million and favorable changes of $46.2 million in other liabilities (of which $26.1 million was due to the timing of payroll and the related tax payments, that we elected to defer under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act ("CARES Act")), partially offset by a decrease of $5.1 million in other assets. The increase in cash provided by other liabilities was primarily due to the payment of net asset adjustments related to favorable changes in contract assets and contract liabilities due to the timing of billings and payments under our contracts.
During the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, we used net cash of $40.9 million and $133.5 million, respectively, in investing activities. The $40.9 million of cash used in investing activities in the year ended December 31, 2020 consisted of $44.4 million for capital expenditures, partially offset by $3.4 million of proceeds from the sale of equipment. The $133.5 million of cash used in investing activities in the year ended December 31, 2019 consisted of $57.8 million for capital expenditures and $79.7 million to acquire CSI, partially offset by $4.0 million of proceeds from the sale of equipment.
Financing activities used cash of $124.3 million, compared to $73.4 million of cash provided, during the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively. The $124.3 million of cash used in financing activities in the year ended December 31, 2020 consisted primarily of $103.8 million of net repayments under our revolving line of credit, $32.6 million of net repayments under our master equipment loan agreements and $1.2 million of repayments of finance lease obligations, $0.7 million of cash used to purchase shares surrendered by employees to satisfy tax obligations under our stock compensation programs during the year ended December 31, 2020, partially offset by $0.7 million of proceeds from the exercise of stock options. The $73.4 million of cash provided by financing activities in the year ended December 31, 2019 consisted primarily of $45.5 million of net borrowings under our revolving line of credit, primarily to fund the CSI acquisition, $35.1 million of new equipment notes under our master equipment loan agreements and $0.3 million of proceeds from the exercise of stock options, which were partially offset by $4.6 million of repayments of principal obligations under equipment notes, $1.1 million of debt refinancing costs related to the amendment to the Credit Agreement, $1.2 million of repayments of finance lease obligations and share repurchases of $0.8 million, all of which represented shares surrendered to satisfy tax obligations under our stock compensation programs during the year ended December 31, 2019.
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We anticipate that our $364.6 million borrowing availability under our revolving line of credit at December 31, 2020 and future cash flow from operations will provide sufficient cash to enable us to meet our future operating needs, debt service requirements, capital expenditures, acquisition and joint venture opportunities, share repurchases, and any new challenges and uncertainties associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. Although we believe that we have adequate cash and borrowing capacity to meet our liquidity needs, any large projects or acquisitions may require additional capital. Additionally, in light of the uncertainties around the economic impacts from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we are focused on controlling our costs and capital expenditures to preserve our ability to continue to fund our operations; however, we continue to invest in developing key management and craft personnel in both our T&D and C&I markets and in procuring the specific specialty equipment and tooling needed to win and execute projects of all sizes and complexity.
We have not historically paid dividends and currently do not expect to pay dividends.
Debt Instruments
Credit Agreement
On September 13, 2019, we entered into a five-year amended and restated credit agreement (the “Credit Agreement”) with a syndicate of banks led by JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. and Bank of America, N.A. The Credit Agreement provides for a facility of $375 million (the “Facility”), subject to certain financial covenants as defined in the Credit Agreement, that may be used for revolving loans of which $150 million may be used for letters of credit. The Facility also allows for revolving loans and letters of credit in Canadian dollars and other currencies, up to the U.S. dollar equivalent of $75 million. We have an expansion option to increase the commitments under the Facility or enter into incremental term loans, subject to certain conditions, by up to an additional $200 million upon receipt of additional commitments from new or existing lenders. Subject to certain exceptions, the Facility is secured by substantially all of our assets and the assets of our domestic subsidiaries and by a pledge of substantially all of the capital stock of our domestic subsidiaries and 65% of the capital stock of our direct foreign subsidiaries. Additionally, subject to certain exceptions, our domestic subsidiaries also guarantee the repayment of all amounts due under the Credit Agreement. If an event of default occurs and is continuing, on the terms and subject to the conditions set forth in the Credit Agreement, amounts outstanding under the Facility may be accelerated and may become or be declared immediately due and payable. Borrowings under the Facility are used for refinancing existing debt, working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions, share repurchases and other general corporate purposes.
Amounts borrowed under the Credit Agreement bear interest, at our option, at a rate equal to either (1) the Alternate Base Rate (as defined in the Credit Agreement), plus an applicable margin ranging from 0.00% to 0.75%; or (2) Adjusted LIBO Rate (as defined in the Credit Agreement) plus an applicable margin ranging from 1.00% to 1.75%. The applicable margin is determined based on our consolidated leverage ratio (“Leverage Ratio”) which is defined in the Credit Agreement as Consolidated Total Indebtedness (as defined in the Credit Agreement) divided by Consolidated EBITDA (as defined in the Credit Agreement). Letters of credit issued under the Facility are subject to a letter of credit fee of 1.00% to 1.75% for non-performance letters of credit or 0.50% to 0.875% for performance letters of credit, based on our consolidated Leverage Ratio. We are subject to a commitment fee of 0.15% to 0.25%, based on our consolidated Leverage Ratio, on any unused portion of the Facility. The Credit Agreement restricts certain types of payments when our consolidated Leverage Ratio exceeds 2.50 or our consolidated Liquidity (as defined in the Credit Agreement) is less than $50 million.
Under the Credit Agreement, we are subject to certain financial covenants and are limited to a maximum consolidated Leverage Ratio of 3.0 and a minimum interest coverage ratio of 3.0. The minimum interest coverage ratio is defined in the Credit Agreement as Consolidated EBITDA (as defined in the Credit Agreement) divided by interest expense (as defined in the Credit Agreement). The Credit Agreement also contains a number of covenants, including limitations on asset sales, investments, indebtedness and liens. We were in compliance with all of the financial covenants under the Credit Agreement as of December 31, 2020.
As of December 31, 2020, we had no debt outstanding under the Facility and letters of credit outstanding of approximately $10.4 million. As of December 31, 2019, we had $103.8 million of debt outstanding under the Facility and letters of credit outstanding of approximately $10.6 million.
Equipment Notes
We have entered into multiple Master Loan Agreements with multiple banks. The Master Loan Agreements may be used for financing of equipment between us and the lending banks pursuant to one or more equipment notes (“Equipment Notes”). Each Equipment Note constitutes a separate, distinct and independent financing of equipment and contractual obligation.
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As of December 31, 2020, we had four executed and outstanding Equipment Notes that are collateralized by equipment and vehicles owned by us. In addition to regularly schedule payments we retired five of our Equipment Notes during the year ended December 31, 2020. The outstanding balance of these Equipment Notes was $29.4 million as of December 31, 2020. As of December 31, 2019, we had executed nine Equipment Notes that are collateralized by equipment and vehicles owned by us. The outstanding balance of these Equipment Notes was $62.0 million as of December 31, 2019.
Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements
As is common in our industry, we enter into certain off-balance sheet arrangements in the ordinary course of business that result in risks not directly reflected in our balance sheets. Our significant off-balance sheet transactions include liabilities associated with letter of credit obligations and bond guarantees entered into in the normal course of business. We have not engaged in any off-balance sheet financing arrangements through special purpose entities.
Purchase Commitments for Construction Equipment
As of December 31, 2020, we had approximately $9.5 million in outstanding purchase obligations for certain construction equipment to be paid with cash outlays scheduled to occur over the first nine months of 2021.
Letters of Credit
Some of our vendors require letters of credit to ensure reimbursement for amounts they are disbursing on our behalf, such as to beneficiaries under our insurance programs. In addition, from time-to-time certain customers require us to post letters of credit to ensure payment to our subcontractors and vendors under those contracts and to guarantee performance under our contracts. Such letters of credit are generally issued by a bank or similar financial institution. The letter of credit commits the issuer to pay specified amounts to the holder of the letter of credit if the holder claims that we have failed to perform specified actions in accordance with the terms of the letter of credit. If this were to occur, we would be required to reimburse the issuer of the letter of credit. Depending on the circumstances of such a reimbursement, we may also have to record a charge to earnings for the reimbursement. Currently, we do not believe that it is likely that any claims will be made under any letter of credit.
At December 31, 2020, we had $10.4 million in letters of credit outstanding under our Credit Agreement, including $9.8 million, at an interest rate of 1.125%, related to the Company’s payment obligation under its insurance programs and approximately $0.6 million, at an interest rate of 0.625%, related to contract performance obligations. At December 31, 2019, we had $10.6 million in letters of credit outstanding under our Credit Agreement, including $10.0 million, at an interest rate of 1.125%, related to the Company’s payment obligation under its insurance programs and approximately $0.6 million, at an interest rate of 0.625%, related to contract performance obligations.
Performance and Payment Bonds and Parent Guarantees
Many customers, particularly in connection with new construction, require us to post performance and payment bonds issued by a financial institution known as a surety. These bonds provide a guarantee to the customer that we will perform under the terms of a contract and that we will pay subcontractors and vendors. If we fail to perform under a contract or to pay subcontractors and vendors, the customer may demand that the surety make payments or provide services under the bond. We must reimburse our sureties for any expenses or outlays they incur. Under our continuing indemnity and security agreements with our sureties, with the consent of our lenders under the Credit Agreement, we have granted security interests in certain of our assets to collateralize our obligations to the surety. We may be required to post letters of credit or other collateral in favor of the surety or our customers. Posting letters of credit in favor of the surety or our customers reduces the borrowing availability under the Credit Agreement. To date, we have not been required to make any reimbursements to any of our sureties for bond-related costs. We believe that it is unlikely that we will have to fund significant claims under our surety arrangements. As of December 31, 2020, an aggregate of approximately $1.33 billion in original face amount of bonds issued by our sureties were outstanding. Our estimated remaining cost to complete these bonded projects was approximately $629.1 million as of December 31, 2020.
From time to time we guarantee the obligations of our wholly owned subsidiaries, including obligations under certain contracts with customers, certain lease agreements, and, in some states, obligations in connection with obtaining contractors’ licenses. Additionally, from time to time we are required to post letters of credit to guarantee the obligations of our wholly owned subsidiaries, which reduces the borrowing availability under our credit facility.
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Indemnities
From time to time, pursuant to our service arrangements, we indemnify our customers for claims related to the services we provide under those service arrangements. These indemnification obligations may subject us to indemnity claims, liabilities and related litigation. We are not aware of any material unrecorded liabilities for asserted claims in connection with these indemnification obligations.
Contractual Obligations
As of December 31, 2020, our future contractual obligations are as follows:
Finance lease obligations 321 321 — — — —
Income tax contingencies 422 — — — — 422
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(1)Includes obligations under the Facility and obligations under Equipment Notes.
Excluded from the above table are interest and fees associated with our short term and long term debt and letters of credit outstanding under our Facility, because the applicable interest rates and fees are variable. We have also excluded our multi-employer pension plan contributions, which are determined annually, based on our union employee payrolls, and which cannot be determined for future periods in advance.
The amount of income tax contingencies has been presented in the “Other” column in the table above due to the fact that the period of future payment cannot be reliably estimated. For further information, refer to Note 12 — Income Taxes to our Financial Statements.
Concentration of Credit Risk
We grant trade credit under contractual payment terms, generally without collateral, to our customers, which include high credit quality electric utilities, governmental entities, general contractors and builders, owners and managers of commercial and industrial properties. Consequently, we are subject to potential credit risk related to changes in business and economic factors. However, we generally have certain statutory lien rights with respect to services provided. Under certain circumstances such as foreclosures or negotiated settlements, we may take title to the underlying assets in lieu of cash in settlement of receivables. As of December 31, 2020 and 2019, none of our customers individually exceeded 10.0% of our accounts receivable.
Inflation
Inflation did not have a significant effect on our results during the years ended December 31, 2020 or 2019.
New Accounting Pronouncements
For a discussion of recent accounting pronouncements, see Note 1 — Organization, Business and Significant Accounting Policies in the Notes to our Financial Statements.
Critical Accounting Policies
The discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations are based on our Financial Statements, which have been prepared in accordance with GAAP. The preparation of these Financial Statements requires us to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, disclosures of contingent assets and liabilities known to exist at the date of the Financial Statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. We evaluate our estimates on an ongoing basis, based on historical experience and on various other assumptions that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances. There can be no assurance that actual results will not differ from those estimates. We believe the following accounting policies affect our more significant judgments and estimates used in the preparation of our Financial Statements:
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Revenue Recognition. We recognize revenue to depict the transfer of goods or services to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration that we expect to be entitled to in exchange for goods or services provided. Revenue associated with contracts with customers is recognized over time as our performance creates or enhances customer-controlled assets or creates or enhances an asset with no alternative use, for which we have an enforceable right to receive compensation as defined under the contract. To determine the amount of revenue to recognize over time, we estimate profit by determining the difference between total estimated revenue and total estimated cost of a contract. In addition, we estimate a cost accrual every quarter that represents unbilled invoicing activity for services performed by subcontractors and suppliers during the quarter, and estimate revenue from the contract cost portion of this accrual based on current gross margin rates to be consistent with our cost method of revenue recognition. The estimated value of unbilled amounts are determined using a regression analysis that estimates value based on our historical experience, and is adjusted for large individual projects. The profit and corresponding revenue is recognized over the contract term based on costs incurred under the cost-to-cost method. We utilized the cost-to-cost method as we believe cost incurred best represents the amount of work completed and remaining on our projects, and is the most common basis for computing percentage of completion in our industry. For purposes of recognizing revenue, we follow the five-step approach outlined in Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 606-10-25.
As the cost-to-cost method is driven by incurred cost, we calculate the percentage of completion by dividing costs incurred to date by the total estimated cost. The percentage of completion is then multiplied by estimated revenues to determine inception-to-date revenue. Revenue recognized for the period is the current inception-to-date recognized revenue less the prior period inception-to-date recognized revenue. If a contract is projected to result in a loss, the entire contract loss is recognized in the period when the loss was first determined and the amount of the loss is updated in subsequent reporting periods. Because our billings are based on contract terms and do not coincide with our progress in a project, revenue recognition also includes an amount related to our contract asset or contract liability. If the recognized revenue is greater than the amount billed to the customer, a contract asset is recorded. Additionally, the contract asset includes retainage billed to the customer that cannot be collected until the contract work has been completed and approved. Conversely, if the amount billed to the customer is greater than the recognized revenue, a contract liability is recorded. Additionally, the contract liability includes a liability for the excess of costs over revenues for all contracts that are in a loss position.
Contract costs incurred to date and expected total contract costs are continuously monitored during the term of the contract. Changes in the job performance, job conditions and final contract settlements are factors that influence management’s assessment of total contract value and the total estimated costs to complete those contracts, and therefore, profit and revenue recognition. Additionally, we estimate costs to complete on fixed price contracts which are determined on an individual contract basis by evaluating each project’s status as of the balance sheet date, and using our historical experience with the level of effort required to complete the underlying project. Claims and change orders are also measured based on our historical experience with individual customers and similar contracts, and are evaluated by management individually. A change order is a modification to a contract that changes the provisions of the contract, typically resulting from changes in scope, specifications, design, manner of performance, facilities, equipment, materials, sites, or period of completion of the work under the contract. A claim is an amount in excess of the agreed-upon contract price that we seek to collect from our clients or others for client-caused delays, errors in specifications and designs, contract terminations, change orders that are either in dispute or are unapproved as to both scope and price, or other causes. We include these estimated amounts of variable consideration to the extent that it is probable there will not be a significant reversal of revenue.
Some of our contracts may have contract terms that include variable consideration such as safety or performance bonuses or liquidated damages. In accordance with ASC 606-10-32, we estimate the variable consideration using one of two methods. In contracts in which there is a binary outcome, the most likely amount method is used. In instances in which there is a range of possible outcomes, the expected value method is used. In accordance with ASC 606-10-32-11, we include the estimated amount of variable consideration in the transaction price only to the extent that it is probable that a significant reversal in the amount of cumulative recognized revenue will not occur when the final outcome of the variable consideration is determined. In contracts in which a significant reversal may occur, we use constraint in recognizing revenue on variable consideration. Although we often enter into contracts that contain liquidated damage clauses, we rarely incur them, and as such, we do not include amounts associated with liquidated damage clauses until it is probable that liquidated damages will occur. These items are continually monitored by multiple levels of management throughout the reporting period.
A portion of the work we perform requires financial assurances in the form of performance and payment bonds or letters of credit at the time of execution of the contract. Many of our contracts include retention provisions of up to 10%, which are generally withheld from each progress payment as retainage until the contract work has been completed and approved.
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The accuracy of our revenue and profit recognition in a given period is dependent on the accuracy of our estimates of the cost to complete each project. Cost estimates for all of our significant projects use a detailed “bottoms up” approach and we believe our experience typically allows us to provide materially reliable estimates. There are a number of factors that can contribute to changes in estimates of contract cost and profitability. The most significant of these include, among others:
•the completeness and accuracy of the original bid;
•costs associated with scope changes, change orders or claims;
•costs of labor and/or materials;
•extended overhead due to owner, weather and other delays;
•subcontractor performance issues;
•changes in productivity expectations;
•site conditions that differ from those assumed in the original bid (to the extent contract remedies are unavailable);
•the availability and skill level of workers in the geographic location of the project; and
•a change in the availability and proximity of equipment and materials.
The foregoing factors as well as the stage of completion of contracts in process and the mix of contracts at different margins may cause fluctuations in gross profit between periods.
We provide warranties to customers on a basis customary to the industry; however, the warranty period does not typically exceed one year. Historically, warranty claims have not been material.
Total revenues do not include sales tax as we consider ourselves a pass-through conduit for collecting and remitting sales taxes. Sales tax and value added tax collected from customers is included in other current liabilities on our consolidated balance sheets.
Insurance. We carry insurance policies, which are subject to certain deductibles, for workers’ compensation, general liability, automobile liability and other coverages. Our deductible for each line of coverage is up to $1.0 million, except for wildfire coverage which has a deductible of $2.0 million. Certain health benefit plans are subject to stop-loss limits of up to $0.2 million, for qualified individuals. Losses up to the deductible and stop-loss amounts are accrued based upon our estimates of the ultimate liability for claims reported and an estimate of claims incurred but not yet reported.
The insurance and claims accruals are based on known facts, actuarial estimates and historical trends. While recorded accruals are based on the ultimate liability, which includes amounts in excess of the deductible, a corresponding receivable for amounts in excess of the deductible is included in current assets on our consolidated balance sheets.