Bridger Aerospace Group Holdings Inc (BAER) 2022 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Greetings, and welcome to Bridger Aerospace Fourth Quarter and Year-end 2022 Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Eric Gerratt, I apologize, Chief Financial Officer. Thank you. Mr. Gerratt, you may begin.

您好，歡迎來到 Bridger Aerospace 第四季度和 2022 年底電話會議。 （操作員說明）提醒一下，正在錄製此會議。現在我很高興向您介紹主持人 Eric Gerratt，我很抱歉，首席財務官。謝謝。杰拉特先生，您可以開始了。

Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us today. Joining me on the call this afternoon are Chief Executive Officer, Founder and Director, Tim Sheehy; and Chief Investment Officer and Director, McAndrew Rudisill. Before we begin, please note that certain statements contained in this conference call that do not describe historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

下午好，感謝您今天加入我們。今天下午和我一起參加電話會議的還有首席執行官、創始人兼董事 Tim Sheehy；首席投資官兼董事 McAndrew Rudisill。在我們開始之前，請注意本次電話會議中包含的某些未描述歷史事實的陳述是 1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》中定義的前瞻性陳述。

Since forward-looking statements are based on various assumptions, risks and uncertainties, actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. Factors that could cause results to differ materially from those expressed include, but are not limited to, those discussed in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, excluding expectations regarding -- including expectations regarding financial results for 2023.

由於前瞻性陳述基於各種假設、風險和不確定性，因此實際結果可能與此類陳述明示或暗示的結果存在重大差異。可能導致結果與表達的結果存在重大差異的因素包括但不限於公司向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件中討論的因素，不包括對 2023 年財務結果的預期。

Management cannot control or predict many factors that ultimately impact future results. Listeners should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which reflect management's views only as of today. We anticipate that subsequent events and developments will cause our assessments to change. However, we undertake no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements or to make any other forward-looking statements.

管理層無法控製或預測最終影響未來結果的許多因素。聽眾不應過分依賴前瞻性陳述，這些陳述僅反映管理層截至今日的觀點。我們預計後續事件和發展將導致我們的評估發生變化。但是，我們沒有義務修改或更新任何前瞻性陳述或作出任何其他前瞻性陳述。

For those joining by webcast, you can follow along with today's presentation. For those listening by phone, you can access today's presentation on our website at www.bridgeraerospace.com under the Investor Relations tab. Throughout this afternoon's earnings release and our call and presentation today, we will refer to non-GAAP financial measure adjusted EBITDA. The definition, calculation and reconciliation to the financial statements of adjusted EBITDA can be found in Exhibit A of our earnings release, which is available on our website. We believe adjusted EBITDA is useful in evaluating our reported results as a supplement to and not a substitute for our reported results under GAAP. With that, I'd like to turn the call over to Tim.

對於那些通過網絡廣播加入的人，您可以跟隨今天的演示。對於那些通過電話收聽的人，您可以在我們網站 www.bridgeraerospace.com 的“投資者關係”選項卡下訪問今天的演示文稿。在今天下午的收益發布以及我們今天的電話會議和演示中，我們將參考非 GAAP 財務指標調整後的 EBITDA。調整後 EBITDA 財務報表的定義、計算和對賬可在我們的收益發布的附件 A 中找到，該附件可在我們的網站上獲取。我們認為調整後的 EBITDA 有助於評估我們報告的結果，作為對我們在 GAAP 下報告結果的補充而不是替代。有了這個，我想把電話轉給蒂姆。

Thank you, Eric. Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome. Happy to be joining everyone today on our first earnings call as a public company. Bridger Aerospace began trading on the NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol BAER on January 25. While Eric will discuss our 2022 results in more detail in a moment. Since this is our first earnings call as a public company, I'd like to provide a brief overview of Bridger Aerospace and the market opportunity it.

謝謝你，埃里克。大家下午好，歡迎光臨。很高興今天能和大家一起參加我們作為上市公司的第一次財報電話會議。 Bridger Aerospace 於 1 月 25 日開始在納斯達克全球市場交易，代碼為 BAER。Eric 稍後將更詳細地討論我們 2022 年的業績。由於這是我們作為上市公司的第一次財報電話會議，我想簡要概述一下 Bridger Aerospace 及其市場機會。

Prior to founding Bridger, I was a Navy SEAL Officer leading operations overseas coordinating close air support for my ground teams and was (inaudible) and subsequently discharged. Seeing how effective in the air-to-ground task force was together on the battlefield. I look to bring that same aerial intelligence capability to BAER on public safety tasks in the U.S.

在創立 Bridger 之前，我是一名海軍海豹突擊隊軍官，領導海外行動，協調我的地麵團隊的近距離空中支援，並（聽不清）隨後退役。看看空對地特遣隊在戰場上的表現如何。我希望將同樣的空中情報能力帶到 BAER 的美國公共安全任務中。

We founded a Bridger in 2014 with one surplus government plan and a basic sensor system we had developed to map wildfires. Over the first several years, we grew organically until 2018 when we took an investment from Blackstone to grow our business more substantially. Today, Bridger is one of the nation's largest aerial firefighting companies. We have a fleet of over 20 aircraft, including 6 CL-415EAF Super Scoopers, which fight fires by scooping water from nearby lakes, rivers, reservoirs or oceans and dropping it directly on the fire.

我們在 2014 年建立了一個 Bridger，其中有一個盈余政府計劃和一個我們開發的用於繪製野火地圖的基本傳感器系統。在最初的幾年裡，我們實現了有機增長，直到 2018 年我們從 Blackstone 獲得了投資，以更大幅度地發展我們的業務。如今，Bridger 是美國最大的空中消防公司之一。我們擁有一支由 20 多架飛機組成的機隊，其中包括 6 架 CL-415EAF Super Scoopers，它們通過從附近的湖泊、河流、水庫或海洋中舀水並將其直接投入火中來滅火。

As of today, it is the only purpose-built firefighting aircraft in the world. The CL-415 family of aircraft is the safest, most efficient and most effective aerial firefighting platform in the world. We also have a fleet of surveillance aircraft that do fire mapping with immediate data transfer to enable awareness of what fires are doing in real time. We are well positioned to efficiently address and combat the growing economic and environmental damage caused by wildfires. The need for aerial firefighting services continues to grow as fire seasons are becoming longer and more aggressive, typically mid-April to mid-November. And because the Wildland Urban Interface is rapidly growing worldwide. At the same time, tanker modernization requirements instituted decades ago to bring aerial firefighting standards in line with 21st Century aviation standards, significantly reduced the U.S. supply of EU large air tanker aircraft from over 50 in early 2000s to around 20 today. This has meant that demand is outstripping supply for aerial firefighting capabilities.

時至今日，它是世界上唯一的專用消防飛機。 CL-415系列飛機是世界上最安全、最高效、最有效的空中消防平台。我們還有一支偵察機機隊，可以通過即時數據傳輸進行火災測繪，以便實時了解火災情況。我們有能力有效應對和應對野火造成的日益嚴重的經濟和環境破壞。隨著火災季節變得越來越長且更具侵略性（通常是 4 月中旬至 11 月中旬），對空中消防服務的需求持續增長。而且因為 Wildland Urban Interface 正在全球範圍內快速發展。與此同時，幾十年前為使空中消防標準符合 21 世紀航空標準而製定的加油機現代化要求，大大減少了美國對歐盟大型空中加油機的供應，從 2000 年代初的 50 多架減少到今天的 20 多架。這意味著空中消防能力供不應求。

Related directly to our business, our contracts are with the U.S. Forest Service Department of Interior as well as many state governments and oftentimes last between 5 and 10 years. Most of our contracts include provisions that cover operating costs such as fuel and airports fees, providing protection from commodity variability. This has created a very attractive aircraft unit economics, and we are well positioned to drive incremental margins with the (inaudible) fleet expansion. As we have reported previously, Each Scooper can generate between $6 million to $11 million in adjusted EBITDA annually. 2022 was a year of preparation for our public debut as well as adding infrastructure and personnel to support our fleet expansion. Looking out to 2023, we will have 6% operation, the most recent of which was delivered in February 2023, up from 4 for the majority of the 2022 fire season. As a result, we are well positioned to leverage the infrastructure we put in place in 2022 for significant growth this year.

與我們的業務直接相關的是，我們與美國內政部林務局以及許多州政府簽訂的合同通常持續 5 到 10 年。我們的大部分合同都包含涵蓋運營成本（例如燃料和機場費用）的條款，從而防止商品變化。這創造了非常有吸引力的飛機單位經濟效益，我們有能力通過（聽不清）機隊擴張來推動增量利潤。正如我們之前報導的那樣，每個 Scooper 每年可以產生 600 萬至 1100 萬美元的調整後 EBITDA。 2022 年是我們為首次公開亮相做準備以及增加基礎設施和人員以支持我們的機隊擴張的一年。展望 2023 年，我們將有 6% 的運營，其中最近一次是在 2023 年 2 月交付的，高於 2022 年火災季節大部分時間的 4%。因此，我們有能力利用我們在 2022 年建立的基礎設施實現今年的顯著增長。

We expect this to lead to significant improvements to revenue, margins and adjusted EBITDA, which McAndrew will discuss in more detail later in the call. With that, I will turn it over to Eric, who will talk about our financial performance in 2022.

我們預計這將顯著改善收入、利潤率和調整後的 EBITDA，McAndrew 將在稍後的電話會議中更詳細地討論這些問題。有了這個，我將把它交給埃里克，他將談論我們 2022 年的財務業績。

Thanks, Tim. Revenue for 2022 grew 18% to $46.4 million compared to $39.4 million in 2021. Fire suppression revenue was $38.8 million, up 28% from 2021, driven by 2 additional Scooper aircraft in service for the full season in 2022. Aerial Surveillance revenue declined to $7.2 million from $8.6 million in 2021 due to a decreased number of fires with high incident levels. Standby revenue as a percentage of total revenue was 45% in 2022 compared to 47% in 2021.

謝謝，蒂姆。與 2021 年的 3940 萬美元相比，2022 年的收入增長了 18%，達到 4640 萬美元。滅火收入為 3880 萬美元，比 2021 年增長了 28%，這主要得益於 2022 年整個季節新增 2 架 Scooper 飛機服役。空中監視收入下降至 7.2 美元2021 年為 860 萬美元，原因是高事故率火災數量減少。待機收入佔總收入的百分比在 2022 年為 45%，而 2021 年為 47%。

Our cost of revenues increased 27% to $33.9 million in 2022 and was comprised of flight operation expenses of $18.8 million and maintenance expenses of $15.1 million. This compares to cost of revenues of $26.6 million in 2021, which included $15.8 million of flight operations expenses and $10.8 million of maintenance expenses. The increase is primarily related to costs added during the year in anticipation of the delivery of the additional Super Scooper aircraft, which were ultimately delivered later than expected and therefore did not contribute meaningfully to expected revenue during the 2022 fire season.

我們的收入成本在 2022 年增長了 27%，達到 3390 萬美元，其中包括 1880 萬美元的飛行運營費用和 1510 萬美元的維護費用。相比之下，2021 年的收入成本為 2660 萬美元，其中包括 1580 萬美元的飛行運營費用和 1080 萬美元的維護費用。這一增長主要與年內因預期交付額外的 Super Scooper 飛機而增加的成本有關，這些飛機最終交付時間晚於預期，因此對 2022 年火災季節的預期收入貢獻不大。

Selling, general and administrative expenses were $35.1 million in 2022 compared to $11.2 million in 2021. The increase was partially driven by higher personnel expenses and professional services fees of $15.4 million in connection with the business combination and for our preparation of becoming a public company. Interest expense for 2022 was $20 million compared to $9.3 million in 2021. For 2022, the company reported a net loss of $42.1 million compared to a net loss of $6.5 million in 2021.

2022 年的銷售、一般和管理費用為 3510 萬美元，而 2021 年為 1120 萬美元。增加的部分原因是與業務合併和我們準備成為上市公司相關的人員費用和專業服務費用增加 1540 萬美元。 2022 年的利息支出為 2000 萬美元，而 2021 年為 930 萬美元。2022 年，該公司報告的淨虧損為 4210 萬美元，而 2021 年為 650 萬美元。

Adjusted EBITDA was $3.7 million in 2022 compared to $9.8 million in 2021. Adjusted EBITDA excludes interest expense, depreciation and amortization, stock-based compensation, losses on disposal of assets, legal fees relating to financing transactions and business development expenses as well as non-recurring items such as gain/loss on extinguishment of debt, onetime discretionary bonus payments and transaction costs related to the business combination.

2022 年調整後的 EBITDA 為 370 萬美元，而 2021 年為 980 萬美元。調整後的 EBITDA 不包括利息費用、折舊和攤銷、股票補償、資產處置損失、與融資交易和業務發展費用相關的法律費用以及非-經常性項目，如債務清償的收益/損失、一次性酌情支付的紅利以及與企業合併相關的交易成本。

Looking to the fourth quarter, which is the quarter where we typically schedule much of our annual maintenance activities for our fleet, revenue was $1.1 million compared to $0.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2021. The increase was due to higher deployment of aircraft early in the fourth quarter of 2022 compared to the same period in 2021.

展望第四季度，也就是我們通常為機隊安排大部分年度維護活動的季度，收入為 110 萬美元，而 2021 年第四季度為 70 萬美元。增長的原因是年初部署的飛機數量增加2022 年第四季度與 2021 年同期相比。

Cost of revenues for the fourth quarter of 2022 was $5.3 million compared to $4.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2021. Selling, general and administrative expenses were $6.5 million in the fourth quarter compared to $4.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2021. This increase was partially driven by higher personnel expenses and higher professional and third-party expenses to support the growth of the business and preparation of becoming a public company. Interest expense for the fourth quarter of 2022 was $7 million compared to $3.5 million in the prior period.

2022 年第四季度的收入成本為 530 萬美元，而 2021 年第四季度為 440 萬美元。第四季度的銷售、一般和管理費用為 650 萬美元，而 2021 年第四季度為 420 萬美元。這一增長是部分原因是更高的人員費用以及更高的專業和第三方費用，以支持業務增長和成為上市公司的準備。 2022 年第四季度的利息支出為 700 萬美元，而上一季度為 350 萬美元。

For the fourth quarter of 2022, net loss was $17 million compared to a net loss of $11.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2021. Adjusted EBITDA was negative $8.5 million compared to negative $6.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2021.

2022 年第四季度淨虧損 1700 萬美元，而 2021 年第四季度為淨虧損 1110 萬美元。調整後的 EBITDA 為負 850 萬美元，而 2021 年第四季度為負 610 萬美元。

Turning to the balance sheet. We ended 2022 with cash, restricted cash and marketable securities of $97.4 million. Our outstanding debt was $207.9 million as of December 31, 2022. With that, I'll turn the call now over to McAndrew Rudisill, our Chief Investment Officer, who will discuss our guidance for 2023.

轉向資產負債表。到 2022 年底，我們擁有 9740 萬美元的現金、受限制現金和有價證券。截至 2022 年 12 月 31 日，我們的未償債務為 2.079 億美元。因此，我現在將電話轉給我們的首席投資官 McAndrew Rudisill，他將討論我們對 2023 年的指導。

Thank you, Eric. Bridger's current fleet of over 20 aircraft, including 6 Super Scoopers is projected to generate revenue of $84 million to $96 million in 2023. This projected revenue growth is consistent with our public projections in connection with the business combination. However, it does not include any potential fleet additions, which we have previously referred to as a seventh Scooper equivalent. With much of the cost to support the 2 latest Scoopers, Scooper #5 and Scooper #6 already embedded in our cost structure. Adjusted EBITDA margins are projected to improve from 8% in 2022 to over 40% in 2023. As a result, adjusted EBITDA is projected to range from $37 million to $45 million in 2023, again, excluding the impact of any potential fleet additions. We continue to see a growing number of opportunities to further expand our fleet through M&A during 2023.

謝謝你，埃里克。 Bridger 目前擁有超過 20 架飛機的機隊，其中包括 6 架 Super Scoopers，預計到 2023 年將產生 8400 萬至 9600 萬美元的收入。這一預計收入增長與我們對業務合併的公開預測一致。但是，它不包括任何潛在的機隊增加，我們之前將其稱為第七個 Scooper 等價物。支持 2 個最新的 Scooper、Scooper #5 和 Scooper #6 的大部分成本已經嵌入到我們的成本結構中。調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率預計將從 2022 年的 8% 提高到 2023 年的 40% 以上。因此，預計 2023 年調整後的 EBITDA 將在 3700 萬美元至 4500 萬美元之間，這同樣不包括任何潛在機隊增加的影響。我們繼續看到越來越多的機會在 2023 年通過併購進一步擴大我們的機隊。

We anticipate acting on one or more of these M&A opportunities this year, and we'll continue to explore these acquisitions and our growth plans. We expect to add revenue and adjusted EBITDA from potential future fleet expansion, if any, to our guidance upon transaction closings.

我們預計今年會對這些併購機會中的一個或多個採取行動，我們將繼續探索這些收購和我們的增長計劃。我們希望在交易完成時將來自未來潛在機隊擴張的收入和調整後的 EBITDA（如果有的話）增加到我們的指導中。

While we won't provide specific quarterly guidance, as Tim mentioned, the fire season typically runs from mid-April to mid-November. As a result, the first and fourth quarters each year typically consist of a significant amount of off-season maintenance, training and recertification activities with minimal offsetting revenue. This means we expect to report negative EBITDA in the first and fourth quarters, while our most profitable quarters will be the second and third quarters. With that, operator, we are ready for questions.

正如蒂姆所說，雖然我們不會提供具體的季度指導，但火災季節通常從 4 月中旬到 11 月中旬。因此，每年第一季度和第四季度通常包括大量的淡季維護、培訓和重新認證活動，而抵消收入很少。這意味著我們預計第一和第四季度的 EBITDA 為負，而我們最賺錢的季度將是第二和第三季度。有了這個，接線員，我們準備好提問了。

Thank you. (Operator Instructions) Gentlemen, there are no questions in the queue at this time.

謝謝。 （操作員說明）先生們，此時隊列中沒有問題。

Okay. With no shareholder questions. We'll answer a couple of frequent questions we've received from investors over the course of the last several months as we've gone through our process. Many of the questions have revolved around contracts, given that aerial firefighting is a relatively unique industry and the contracts we have are generally quite different than contracts and other aviation and aerospace realms.

好的。沒有股東問題。在我們完成流程的過程中，我們將回答過去幾個月投資者提出的幾個常見問題。許多問題都圍繞合同展開，因為空中消防是一個相對獨特的行業，我們擁有的合同通常與合同以及其他航空和航天領域有很大不同。

The way our contracts are structured are multiyear, 5 years, sometimes as long as 10 years. There are multiyear contracts classified under the indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity paradigm within the U.S. Federal Acquisition code. We charge daily and hourly rates depending on the type of firefighting services rendered, and these services are primarily split into flight revenue and standby revenue, so paid by the hour and paid by the day.

我們合同的結構方式是多年期，5 年，有時長達 10 年。在美國聯邦採購法中，有一些多年期合同屬於無限期交付、無限期數量範式。我們根據提供的消防服務類型收取日費和小時費，這些服務主要分為航班收入和候補收入，因此按小時支付和按天支付。

These contracts exist over a 5- to 10-year horizon and do have annual renewal criteria based upon performance and technical compliance. Thus far in Bridger's life cycle, we have a 100% contract reaward ratio. Additionally, our mix between federal and state contracts is heavily weighted to the federal side with the majority of our revenue being between the DOI and U.S. Forest Service at roughly 75% of our rent revenue.

這些合同的期限為 5 到 10 年，並且確實有基於性能和技術合規性的年度續約標準。到目前為止，在 Bridger 的生命週期中，我們的合同回報率為 100%。此外，我們在聯邦和州合同之間的組合在很大程度上偏重於聯邦方面，我們的大部分收入來自 DOI 和美國林務局，大約占我們租金收入的 75%。

I'll answer a couple more comment/questions we have related to guidance. Why has guidance changed from what was previously reported or provided in the 2023 EBITDA of $58 million?

我將回答我們與指南相關的更多評論/問題。為什麼指導與之前報告或提供的 2023 年 5800 萬美元 EBITDA 有所不同？

Guidance is not actually reduced for the base Bridger business as it stands currently. In fact, base Bridger business is in line, if not a bit higher than what we had in our estimates for last year. We felt it was more appropriate to base our updated guidance on our current fleet as exists today as opposed to assuming potential aircraft additions through aircraft acquisitions or M&A, which I previously referred to as the seventh Scooper equivalent. As we have said, there are a number of opportunities to further expand our fleet through M&A, and we will add the impact of future fleet expansion to our guidance throughout the year once these transactions close.

目前，基本 Bridger 業務的指導實際上並沒有減少。事實上，基本的 Bridger 業務是符合的，如果不是比我們去年的估計高一點的話。我們認為，將我們更新的指南基於我們目前存在的現有機隊更為合適，而不是假設通過飛機收購或併購來增加潛在的飛機，我之前將其稱為第七 Scooper 等價物。正如我們所說，有很多機會通過併購進一步擴大我們的機隊，一旦這些交易完成，我們將在全年的指導中增加未來機隊擴張的影響。

The key metrics for us to focus on for our M&A transactions will relate primarily to free cash flow generation of the business and how that can be accretive to our bottom line and reinvested in the business for technical innovation and growth of our business. as well as technical differentiation related to specific aerial firefighting technologies for fire mapping, fire imaging and data sharing related to active wildfire incidents to support the fireflies on the ground.

我們在併購交易中關注的關鍵指標將主要與業務的自由現金流產生以及如何增加我們的利潤和再投資於業務以實現技術創新和業務增長有關。以及與特定空中消防技術相關的技術差異，用於與活躍的野火事件相關的火災測繪、火災成像和數據共享，以支持地面上的螢火蟲。

With no other further questions in the queue. Thank you for participating in today's call and for your support for the completion of becoming a public company and delivery of our latest Scoopers as well as a growing number of opportunities to further expand our fleet through M&A and geographic diversification. We are well positioned to see significant growth and drive shareholder returns while supporting our federal and state government clients in the growing battle against wildfires. We look forward to updating you on our progress when we report our first quarter fiscal year 2023 results in May. Have a great day.

隊列中沒有其他問題。感謝您參與今天的電話會議，感謝您支持完成成為上市公司和交付我們最新的 Scoopers 以及越來越多的機會通過併購和地域多元化進一步擴大我們的機隊。我們有能力看到顯著增長並推動股東回報，同時支持我們的聯邦和州政府客戶應對日益激烈的野火鬥爭。我們期待在 5 月份報告 2023 財年第一季度業績時向您通報我們的最新進展。祝你有美好的一天。

Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude today's teleconference. Thank you for your participation. You may disconnect your lines at this time, and have a wonderful day.

女士們，先生們，今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。此時您可以斷開線路，度過美好的一天。