Granite Construction Inc (GVA) 2022 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good morning. My name is Renon, and I will be your conference facilitator for today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Granite Construction Investor Relations Third Quarter 2022 Conference Call. This call is being recorded. (Operator Instructions)

It is now my pleasure to turn the floor over to your host, Granite Construction Incorporated, Vice President of Investor Relations, Mike Barker. Please go ahead, sir.

Good morning, and thank you for joining us. I'm pleased to be here today with President and Chief Executive Officer, Kyle Larkin; and Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Lisa Curtis. Please note that today's earnings presentation will be available on the Events & Presentations page of our Investor Relations website.

We begin today with a brief discussion regarding forward-looking statements and non-GAAP measures. Some of the discussion today may include forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are estimates reflecting the current expectations and best judgment of senior management regarding future events, occurrences, opportunities, targets, growth, demand, strategic plans, circumstances, activities, performance, shareholder value, outcomes, outlook, guidance, objectives, committed and awarded projects or CAP and results.

Actual results could differ materially from the statements made today. Please refer to Granite's most recent 10-K and 10-Q filings for a more complete description of risk factors that could affect these forward-looking statements. The company assumes no obligation to update forward-looking statements, except as required by law.

Certain non-GAAP measures may be discussed during today's call and from time to time by the company's executives. These include, but are not limited to, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA margin, adjusted net income or loss and adjusted earnings or loss per share. The required disclosures regarding our non-GAAP measures are included as part of our earnings press releases and in company presentations, which are available on our Investor Relations website.

Now I would like to turn the call over to Kyle Larkin.

Good morning, and welcome to our third quarter call. We'll start this call with an update on our efforts to drive improved gross profit margins across our portfolio of projects. I'm pleased to report that excluding ORP, our construction gross margins improved to 14.8% in the quarter. I want to congratulate our teams on this accomplishment. This margin improvement validates all the hard work we have been performing across the company to improve profitability. I will talk more about this improved performance later in the call.

Before we dive into performance, I also want to mention an update to our divestiture plan that occurred this quarter. As we announced in September, we are retaining the Water Resources and Mineral Services businesses. These businesses will report into The Mountain Group in the Construction segment. Both businesses have performed very well this year and have market outlook to support future growth. We are confident in the decision to retain these businesses is in the better interest of our shareholders, and we intend to invest and grow these businesses to their full potential.

As a reminder, Water Resources provide the full life cycle water management from supply to treatment to delivery and maintenance for government agencies, commercial and municipal water suppliers, industrial facilities, in agricultural and energy companies.

Through water well drilling, installation and rehabilitation of wells, pumps and water treatment technology, our teams identify and develop water sources, recharge aquifers and deliver potable water. Mineral Services provides mineral exploration services to the largest mine operators in North America, particularly copper and gold operations. While the business is cyclical and there's been recent weakness in copper and gold prices, we believe the push from fossil fuels to electrification will support a strong cycle of growth in the mining industry. We are well positioned to support our mining partners in this growth, not only in mineral exploration, but also in civil construction services on their mindsets.

Now turning to the broader view of our 3 operating groups. We remain laser focused on achieving our 2024 strategic plan targets for our Construction segment gross profit margin of 14% to 16% and consolidated EBITDA margin of 9% to 11%. As I mentioned at the start of this call, we are seeing progress in this area. The third quarter gross profit margin excluding the ORP of 14.8%, which is an improvement quarter-over-quarter from 14.1%.

The improvements we are experiencing are credit to the steps we have been taking to implement our strategic plan throughout the project life cycle. We've been focusing on 2 primary areas of the project life cycle across our groups. Project selection is one area of emphasis. We are pursuing projects suited to our strengths and we are being selective with the clients that we choose to work with. Disciplined project pursuit focuses on jobs where we have a competitive advantage based on our knowledge of the project and home market. On bidding, we are disciplined on margin expectations and our project portfolio consists of higher-quality work than Granite has had in years.

The second area of the project life cycle focus has been project execution. We are raising the bar by driving consistency and performance through further standardization of processes and communication of best practices across the company. During the third quarter, we saw our focus on building margin and project executions gained momentum as demonstrated by our non-ORP construction gross margins. We are pleased with this progress, and we are positioned to build upon these results because we work to achieve our 2024 strategic planned gross profit margins of 14% to 16%.

During the third quarter, we continue to see positive funding levels and project opportunities across our footprint. Although there have been instances where inflation has caused all business to be above on our estimates, delays or project cancellations have been limited.

Public markets and project opportunities continue to be strong despite a minimal benefit to date from the federal infrastructure bill, or IIJA. In the private market, which accounts for around 25% of our business, inflation is causing some uncertainty. We are still seeing a number of clients pushing forward with planned work. Fortunately, Granite does not have significant exposure to the residential market, which is showing signs of significant slowing.

Turning to the ORP. We continue to burn through the remaining work on these projects. There's $150 million of CAP remaining on the ORP projects at the end of Q3. We expect approximately $90 million to carry into 2023. As a reminder, $35 million of the ORP CAP expected to carry into 2023 relates to one small profitable project that is included in the ORP because it is a nonsponsored joint venture. Excluding this profitable project, there's $55 million of ORP CAP expected to carry into 2023 related to challenging projects.

Of the 4 current active challenging ORP projects, 2 are in the close out or punchless phase and 2 are completing construction. During the third quarter, losses in the ORP primarily from one project on the East Coast negatively impacted our results. The losses arose out of the scheduled delays, which drove increased costs with remaining paving work. We expected the paving to be completed this year but is now pushing into 2023. This one projects represents more than half of the $55 million in challenging ORP project CAP, which is expected to be completed in early 2023.

We believe our forecast have captured the cost that will arise out of the delays and our teams are diligently working to complete the projects as quickly and efficiently as possible. As we move from 2022 to 2023, we believe the remaining risk of the ORP have greatly decreased, and our focus will be on the Construction segment performance as a whole. As I have said before, we cannot finish this work soon enough. I'm excited to see that the end is in sight for the challenging ORP.

Now I'd like to discuss the transformation of our Central Group, another area of our strategic plan where we are making significant progress. As previously discussed, having well-developed home markets is key to our strategy. Our vertically integrated California and Mountain Groups' model structure and portfolio that we are working toward across the company.

In our home markets, we have trust relationships with stakeholders and employees, market intelligence and access to resources. These attributes result in us winning more projects at higher margins and higher levels of customer satisfaction.

At this region our Central Group has historically pursued and constructed large projects across Southeastern and Midwestern states. Last year, the region was asked to do 2 things: first, derisk its portfolio by changing the types of projects it pursued from complex design-build projects to smaller bid build or Best Value projects .

Second, build a home market within Texas. One focus of this effort has been to solidify our presence in the rapidly growing Houston Metro area. Although Granite has been in the Houston market for over 15 years and has good relationships with the Texas DOT, the labor pool subcontractors and vendors, we have missed opportunities to strengthen those relationships as we chase work across the country. The Houston area is a growth market and with healthy funding levels and a resilient pipeline of job opportunities in end markets from transportation, to water, to private site development.

We've applied a targeted and selective bid strategy, what we believe we have a competitive advantage and can leverage our strength through our expertise in roads and highways as well as our experience in solar, water, airport site work and structures.

In the third quarter, we had 3 highway project wins in Southwest Houston totaling $145 million. The projects are in close proximity to each other and should allow us to leverage existing teams and resources we have built in the market. Our Central Group has done a great job of building the foundation for future profitable growth and will be a key component of Granite reaching targets set out in our strategic plan.

Now turning to CAP. We entered Q4 with $4.1 billion of CAP, a sequential decrease of $135 million following what is traditionally our busiest quarter of the year. Year-over-year, excluding Granite's Inliner CAP of $205 million in the prior year, CAP decreased to $45 million. This again results from our efforts to derisk our project portfolio as we move away from large complex projects to smaller projects that fit within our refined risk criteria.

While we have seen resilience in our private market work and continued strength in public market opportunities, it appears that the additional funding from the IIJA is taking longer to turn into lettings than originally expected. DOTs are still working through the process for prioritizing and advertising the projects. We expect a ramp up of opportunities over a period of several years, similar to what we experienced in California when SB1 was first passed.

We hope to see a more meaningful impact on the project opportunities over the next 6 to 9 months. The good news is that the IIJA will build upon the current positive market. We believe we are well positioned to capitalize on the increased funding through our home markets in large and high-growth states to receive the bulk of the funding as the projects are released.

I'm excited as I look at the quality of the CAP across our groups and the opportunities ahead of us in the fourth quarter. We believe the quality of our CAP has never been better and will support our strategic plan and profitable growth. Our successful strategy to target Best Value opportunities has changed the risk profile of our CAP and should lead to more consistent profitability and cash generation for years to come.

Shifting to the Materials segment. Aggregate volumes remained strong during the quarter, increasing year-over-year across our operating groups. Activity in the markets during the quarter and aggregate orders as of the end of the quarter continue to suggest that the general economy remains healthy despite inflationary pressure and interest rate increases. This strength is demonstrated by 16% year-over-year improvement in the volume aggregate orders as of the end of the third quarter.

Asphalt volumes during the quarter increased year-over-year in the Mountain and Central Group's, but was more than offset by decline in the California Group. The decline in California is primarily due to a decrease in asphalt paving projects compared to the prior year. Despite this decline in volumes in the quarter, we are encouraged that [penny] orders are now ahead of the prior year as we move into the fourth quarter.

During the quarter, we saw revenue and gross profit increase over the same period in the prior year and saw a decrease in gross profit margin. Those lower asphalt volumes and inflationary costs continued to impact segment profitability. We expect that the energy surcharges introduced during the second quarter will continue to offset inflationary pressures and boost revenue and gross profit in the Materials segment.

Now I'll turn it over to Lisa to discuss our financial results.

Thank you, Kyle. In the third quarter, revenue decreased 5% from the prior year. Comparable revenue, which excludes Granite Inliner $65 million of revenue in the prior year increased 1%. Third quarter gross profit increased slightly, resulting in a gross profit margin of 12%. In the Construction segment, quarterly comparable revenue declined $16 million year-over-year to $848 million. This decline was primarily due to a $73 million decrease in the Central Group as ORP projects approach completion and as our teams mobilized to recently awarded projects.

Revenue in the California Group increased 8% year-over-year as the group executed on record CAP that it carried into the third quarter. Mountain Group, which is now home to Water Resources and Mineral Services, saw its comparable construction revenue increased 12% to $362 million. This increase was primarily driven by a strong performance in our solar power business and Washington region and was supported by the continued strength of the Utah region.

The Construction segment's gross profit for the quarter was slightly down from the prior year. Comparable gross profit, which excludes Granite Inliner's gross profit of $5.4 million increased 5%, with an overall improved gross profit margin of 12% for the quarter. The ORP ended the quarter with a remaining CAP of $150 million, a decrease of $45 million from the prior quarter. Challenging ORP CAP, which excludes a profitable California Group ORP project totaled $115 million at the end of the quarter. The amount of challenged ORP CAP expected to carry into 2023 is approximately $55 million, with the majority remaining on a single project that our teams are working to complete.

Third quarter net ORP losses to Granite, which excludes noncontrolling interest, totaled $13 million on revenue of $44 million compared to a loss of $5 million on revenue of $99 million in the same prior year period. The losses during the quarter were primarily from one project on the East Coast.

Construction segment margin, excluding the ORP, was 14.8%, a sequential improvement from gross margin of 14.1% in the second quarter.

Materials segment revenue increased $24 million or 17% compared to the same period in the prior year. Comparable materials revenue, which excludes Granite Inliner's $5 million of materials revenue increased 22%. This increase was driven by strong aggregate sales volumes from each group and price increases implemented in April that more than offset the volume decreases in asphalt sales compared to the same prior year period.

Materials gross profit increased $1 million compared to the same period in the prior year, with gross profit margin of 13.6%. This is up sequentially from 12.7%, but down from 15% in the same prior year period. While we are seeing gross profit margin improvement, margins are down compared to the prior year due to lower asphalt volumes and inflationary costs.

Turning now to our non-GAAP financial metrics. Adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA margin for the third quarter was $97 million and 9.6% compared to $81 million and 8% in the same period in the prior year. Adjusted net income for the quarter increased $20 million year-over-year to $63 million and adjusted diluted income per share of $1.41. This compares to adjusted net income of $43 million and adjusted diluted income per share of $0.93 in the same period in the prior year. The increases in adjusted EBITDA and adjusted net income were driven by strong performances from our California and Mountain Groups as well as lower SG&A resulting from the sale of Granite Inliner and decreased incentive compensation expense.

Our third quarter results reflect the progress we are making towards consistent profitability across our portfolio of projects as we work to meet our targets within our 2024 strategic plan.

Now on to our cash and financial position. For the 9 months ended September 2022, our operating cash outflow was $15 million compared to a cash inflow of $60 million in the prior year. During the third quarter, operating cash inflow was $89 million as projects that were starting in the first half of the year generated cash. We expect strong cash flows to continue in the fourth quarter.

Our cash and marketable securities balance rose sequentially to $317 million as of the end of the third quarter. On a year-over-year basis, cash and marketable securities are lower, reflecting year-to-date share buyback of approximately $71 million, net debt repayments of $75 million, investment in our Materials business and a decrease in operating cash flow. Revolver availability stands at $267 million, and our debt at the end of the quarter is $288 million, down from $340 million in the prior year.

Now I'd like to discuss our 2022 guidance. This guidance update reflects the addition of the Water Resources and Mineral Services businesses, which were not included in the continuing operations guidance from earlier this year. We expect our full year revenue to be in the range of $3.2 billion to $3.3 billion. Both California and Mountain have strong CAPs heading into the fourth quarter and weather permitting, we expect both groups to have a busy quarter to close the year. Our guidance for SG&A as a percent of revenue is unchanged at a range of 8% to 8.5% for the year.

Regarding the annual effective tax rate, during the year, we recognized 2 significant discrete items with the SEC investigation settlement charge and the deferred tax effect of no longer classifying Water Resources and Mineral Services as held for sale. Excluding these 2 discrete items, our adjusted effective tax rate range remains in the low to mid-20s. With the inclusion of Water Resources and Mineral Services, we are increasing guidance for adjusted EBITDA margin to a range of 6% to 7%.

With ORP projects nearing completion, we believe that they will not pose a significant drag on our profitability in 2023. While we have not yet completed our budgeting process for 2023, we expect that the midpoint of our 2023 adjusted EBITDA range will be at least 8% as we continue to work to improve our profitability in alignment with our 2024 targets.

Finally, we continue to invest in our vertically integrated business with a current focus on investing in our Materials operations. We expect that full year capital expenditures for 2022 will be between $120 million and $130 million, up $10 million from our previous guidance. We will continue to be opportunistic in investing in automation, materials reserves and strategic assets that will further strengthen our business.

Now I'll turn it back to Kyle for closing remarks.

Thanks, Lisa. I'll close with the following points. As we complete the fourth quarter and move into 2023, we believe that we will no longer need to talk about the challenged ORP and will instead be focused on what we expect to be improved consistent performance in our Construction segment.

Outside of the ORP, I am pleased with our performance across the company. We are making the incremental improvements that we believe are necessary to reach our 2024 target of 9% to 11% EBITDA margin and the third quarter's non-ORP gross margin of 14.8% demonstrates the progress we have made.

In the Materials segment, we continue to see strong volumes in aggregate sales and are encouraged with asphalt orders ahead of last year at the end of the quarter. The market environment remains strong across our home markets as demonstrated by the strength of our CAP and the opportunities that we see ahead of us in the fourth quarter and into 2023. While the impact from the infrastructure bill has been slower than anticipated by the industry, we know the funding is there. It's only a matter of time until we receive the benefits from this generational investment in the country's infrastructure.

Finally, we are executing on our strategic plan. I believe Granite is better positioned to take advantage of the opportunities ahead of us that the company has been in many years. We are positioned to drive consistent profitability and sustainable growth for years into the future.

Operator, I'll now turn it back to you for questions.

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question-and-answer session. (Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from Michael Dudas with Vertical Research Partners.

First question for Kyle. Yes, we can't wait enough to hear ORP ever mentioned again. So that's -- and certainly, you're making some great progress there. How do you -- when you look -- you see -- you saw -- you're encouraged about bid day, what you're putting into the backlog. Could you maybe reflect on the risk and margin profile, what's going into the backlog amongst your divisions and relative to what you're executing off that backlog?

And is how that gap has narrowed, and type of opportunities you're putting in the backlog from a margin today kind of fit with what you anticipate could be generated in 2024? Or is there still a market or execution issues that need to be addressed to achieve those targets?

Yes. Thanks, Mike. We feel really good about CAP that we have in place today. We've been working on our CAP over the last couple of years, as you know, transforming our CAP derisking our company, really working hard to shift away from those.

Really large design-build projects that we have had in the past. And that's true across the board and the doughnut chart that we share really highlights the fact that we reduced that design-build portion going back 2 years in Q3 at 20%, our CAP is now down to 5%. So that's a big evolution for us and really speaks to derisking our portfolio.

It also shows that about 43% of our CAP today is Best Value these projects that are really negotiated were higher for the value we bring to the clients that we do fairly well on relative to certainly design-build projects as the projects get larger.

So the teams have been working really hard. We've been getting more money on bid day as we've indicated, and that's in our CAP today. So we're going to burn through some of the work that's been on the CAP for a while. And we've been adding new work that has a higher margin profile than what we've had, say, a year ago. The last 3 quarters now, including Q3, I can say, we picked up more work with higher margins, and so we're right where we want to be, and I think that's really, really pointing the right direction. That's how we're bridging to the 2024 gross profit targets.

And the execution from the margin bid to execute it is narrowed, better, still needs a room for improvement?

It's better. Yes, our execution even outside the ORP, there is an opportunity for us to do what we're already really good at and become what we say is the best at it, and we've made progress. I think there are still opportunities for us to continue focusing on our execution and get even stronger outside the ORP. But yes, our execution is getting stronger across the board.

And my follow-up is just -- could you remind us in Q4 2021, what the weather impacts were and how we started in 2022? And just to get a sense of -- I can't recall where there was dry, wet or in between amongst your important regions?

It was wet out in the West. We didn't have the strongest Q4 to the company. We didn't have the strongest Q4 necessarily in California. I can tell you that the numbers that I've already seen and we've seen in October indicated we're already way ahead of where we were last year in the month, certainly on the West.

Our next question comes from Steven Ramsey with Thompson Research Group.

Can you talk about how much of the EBITDA margin raise was due to keeping WMS versus the other previous core segments? And does the FY '23 and '24 margin commentary include WMS in it?

Steven, I'll take that, and if Kyle has any comment, he can add to it. So for the increase, yes, the majority of that is the benefit from adding Water Resources and Mineral Services into our continuing operations. And we did have some ORP phase in the quarter and -- but this more than offset the increases from adding in Water and Minerals. And so for our guidance, looking out what we provided for 2023 and still our 2024 outlook, it is inclusive of the Water Resources and Mineral Services businesses. So it is all in.

Okay. Helpful. And then if you think about the vertical integration of California being kind of the goal for the rest of the country, if I understood that commentary, do you plan to acquire quarries around the country to make the Central Group more like the Western Group? Just any color you can share. And to add to that, does the 2024 margin target count on this happening to any degree?

The short answer is no, it's not counting on that vertical integration expansion to get those targets met. Now that's really using the business that we have in place today. And we do anticipate continuing to grow our company. We want to do deals that are, I guess, less risky to start and those would be more bolt-on type acquisitions within our home markets today.

So that's certainly easier to do out in the West. So we want to look certainly like California and our Mountain Groups and other areas of the country. And one area that we would want to go is certainly down in the markets of Texas and Florida where we have our business operations already there. I think that's going to [be come] but that's certainly on the list of things that we want to get accomplished over the next 2, 3 years.

Okay. Helpful. And one more quick one on IIJA projects. How much can you take on in the Central region? And do you expect projects from government funds like this? How much will they align with your operating plan to have a quicker burn smaller project focus in that region?

Well, I think they aligned really well. I mean we haven't seen the IIJA to date. I think that's something that we're looking forward to see. I think it's a little bit behind what we originally anticipated in terms of project lettings await this year, and start to see an impact in terms of construction early next year in 2023.

But our teams across the country are very well positioned. I mean, the formulaic portion of that is really based on population. We're in those locations. Even in our Central Group, I think the work that we're picking up is kind of indicates the fact that we're competitive. And the margin profiles that they have in that work is consistent with the targets that we have longer term as a company.

So we think we're very well positioned. I think another highlight that I'll share the amount of work that we're really bidding in the bid pipeline today and that's active is well above what we were pursuing at this time last year. So the markets are strong and that's across the board. So we feel really good about the opportunities that all of our teams stand in front of them today. And that's in advance of the IIJA.

Our next question comes from Brian Russo with Sidoti.

Just on the recent contract wins in Texas and California. I'm just trying to get a sense, what's the competitive bidding like or the behavior. What separates you from your competitors, maybe just the macro environment, maybe just the balance sheet that is enabling you to win these awards at the margin profile that you're targeting?

So that is really our strategy around these home markets. That's where we do our best, that's where we have local knowledge, local resources. We have the labor, sometimes we have materials, and we understand the owners and we understand the regulators in those markets. So that's really a key for us. That's where we do best, and that's really why we changed our strategy.

That's really focusing on these home markets. We had home markets as a company, we certainly had them out in the West. And the real shift for us is these teams that were historically chasing large projects throughout the United States, we're focused on developing a home market strategy for those states in those markets, and that's going to allow them to really be successful in the long term.

Okay. Got it. And then I was surprised, maybe you mentioned this earlier, where you could elaborate. I was surprised to see the margins down in the materials despite the energy surcharges implemented in the second quarter. Is there some contract lag on that? Or how should we look at year-over-year quarterly margins going forward?

Yes. I'd say there was a little bit of lag on that. We won't have -- the energy surcharge won't completely get us hold until the end of the year. So it's been slowly decreasing our amount of exposure. But certainly, there was still a little bit of a lag on some of the pricing that we had early on. And again, that was where we missed the natural gas probably along with everybody at the end of Q1.

So we did have some pricing out in advance of that. But we expect -- really if you look in the comments we spoke about, our backlog is really of materials in California is up. So it's up versus where we were last year at this time. So as we look forward, we think we're well on our way. And again, I mentioned in October, the numbers that we already saw in October are really encouraging that we're ahead of where we were last year at this time, too.

Our next question comes from Jean Ramirez with D.A. Davidson.

This is Jean Ramirez for Brent Thielman. Do you mind recapping the ORP remains? And what the burn is expected for the remainder of 2022? And how much is left into 2023?

Yes, I can cover that. And so just even to recap further to show the progress that we've made on CAP, we entered the year with $314 million. And so far, at the end of Q3, we're down to total ORP CAP of $150 million. So we burned $44 million of revenue related to CAP -- ORP CAP in the quarter. So but to clarify of the $115 million, and we've talked about this before, we do have one project, it's a profitable project, but we've included it in the ORP because it is nonsponsored joint venture.

And we are not entering into those types of projects moving forward. So really, at this point in time, our challenged ORP is $115 million at the end of Q3. So at the end of the year, we anticipate that our challenged ORP CAP will be right at about $55 million. So we've really made good progress through the year.

If you look at it in totality for our portfolio, the $314 million was about 8% of our total CAP. So by the end of the year and entering into 2023, the challenged ORP will only be about 1% to 2% of our overall CAP. So that's why, Kyle has said earlier that we really don't anticipate to be talking about the ORP entering into 2023.

And you said that $115 million at the end of 2Q?

At the end of Q3 $115 million of our challenged ORP.

Perfect. And yes. And then I just wanted to know, given the funding and bidding environment, when do you expect to see more meaningful growth in CAP. I know you talked a little bit about that moving into '23. But can you provide some color in terms of the projects and how it aligns with the smaller projects and faster burn?

Yes. I mean we've had these big projects as part of our CAP historically. So it's kept our CAP high. As we start shifting to our smaller projects, we are going to start turning those projects quicker than our historical large projects. So there will be a little bit of shift in CAP. But in general, our team has done a really nice job picking up and offsetting that decline that we saw in the ORP.

Again, our bid schedule today is really strong, and we feel really good about our opportunities out in front of us even that's in advance of the IIJA and I expect if we continue to pick up work at the pace that we've seen and we see the opportunities continue, I expect Q4 to be a really strong quarter for us.

Our next question comes from Jerry Revich with Goldman Sachs.

This is Adam Bubes on for Jerry today. I was wondering if you could elaborate on the decision to retain Water Resources and Mineral Services business. Is this more a reflection of the current environment we're in for M&A? Or should we expect this business to remain as part of the portfolio on an ongoing basis for the long term?

So the quick answer is you should expect it to be part of the portfolio for the long term. But the decision was really based on valuation. We were in exclusivity with 2 buyers for those businesses. The credit market changed over the last, say, month or 2. They were looking to retrade and it was still at a level that we didn't think it was in the best interest of our shareholders or the company. And so that was really the change.

I can tell you these businesses have been performing well. The markets are very strong. We have great leadership. We have great teams in those businesses. So we're excited to have them as part of the Granite portfolio. And our balance sheet is strong too. So we don't see us having any sort of providing any hinderance in our ability to grow the company, either. So I hope that answers your question.

Great. And someone asked about the margin guidance earlier. I have a similar question on revenues. Is the entirety of the revenue guidance increase from the inclusion of Water Resources and Mineral Services? Or is there any contribution from better performance in your core civil and materials business?

So we did the adding in Water Resources and Mineral Services obviously does impact our revenue guidance. At this point in time, for 2023, we were really just providing a little bit of insight for what we're seeing for next year for our adjusted EBITDA margin. But definitely, even with the update that I provided this morning for the rest of the year, we increased revenue to the range of $3.2 billion to $3.3 billion. So yes, so definitely, there's improvement there for adding in those businesses back into continuing operations.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is the end of our question-and-answer session. I would now like to turn the call back over to Mr. Larkin for his final remarks.

Okay. Well, thank you for joining the call today. As always, we want to thank all of our employees for the work they do every day. And thank you for your interest in Granite. We look forward to speaking with you all soon.

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.