Tutor Perini Corp (TPC) 2006 Q4 法說會逐字稿

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  • Operator

  • Good day, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the Perini fourth quarter earnings call. My name is Rob, and I will be your coordinator for today. (OPERATOR INSTRUCTIONS). I would now like to turn the call over to Mr. Crocker Coulson.

  • Crocker Coulson - IR

  • Good afternoon everyone. Thanks a lot for joining us on Perini's fourth quarter 2006 conference call. Joining us today are Perini's President, Robert Band; the Company's Chief Financial Officer, Mike Ciskey; and also Dick Rizzo, who was the Chairman of Perini Building Company, which is the largest business unit of the Company.

  • Our agenda for today follows our usual format. Bob Band is going to kickoff by discussing the highlights of our fourth quarter, some new contract wins and other successes, as well as providing guidance. After that, Mike Ciskey will review the Company's find fourth quarter financial results in greater detail. Then Bob is going to come back and make some closing remarks, and at that point we're going to open up the call to your questions.

  • Before we get going, I would like to remind our listeners that our comments today will contain some forward-looking statements, and management may make some additional forward-looking statements in response to your questions. These types of written and oral disclosures are made pursuant to the Safe Harbor provision that is contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Investors are cautioned that such forward-looking statements do involve risks and uncertainties, and that these could cause actual results to differ materially from anticipated results.

  • The Company cautions that any such forward-looking statements are based upon assumptions that the Company believes are reasonable, but that are subject to a wide range of risks and actual results may differ materially. These types of statements and the underlying factors related to the statements are listed in the filed documents with the SEC, including our annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2005, as well as in today's news release.

  • Our statements on this call are made as of today, February 15, 2007. And the Company undertakes no obligation to update any of these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, changes in expectations, or otherwise.

  • Now with those formalities now out of the way, it is my pleasure to turn the call over to Perini's President, Bob Band.

  • Robert Band - President

  • And good afternoon everyone, and thank you for joining us on the call today. We closed 2006 with an outstanding fourth quarter, with revenues of $944 million, up 57% from last year's quarter, and net income of $19.3 million, up from a net loss of $13.9 million in last year's quarter.

  • For the full year our revenues totaled $3 billion, up 76% from last year, and net income was $41.5 million, up ninefold from $4 million in 2005. Backlog stood at $8.5 billion, up 7% from the end of 2005. As you will recall, our results for the fourth quarter of 2005 reflected an after-tax charge of $23.6 million related to the adverse court ruling against two Perini joint ventures in favor of the Washington Metro Transit Authority, WMATA.

  • Our Building segment in 2006 continued to perform well in the fourth quarter due to the excellent progress on each of our large projects, and another quarter of profitable results from Rudolph and Sletten. Our Civil segment returned to profitability, and our Management Services segment experienced another quarter of higher revenues and enhanced profitability. Mike Ciskey will review our financial results in more detail later in the call.

  • Our building markets have been on an upswing for the past several years. The current outlook is for continued growth in 2007. Nonresidential construction activity remains high, particularly in the gaming and hospitality, health care, high tech, and education markets that we work in.

  • As the builder of choice in the gaming and hospitality market, Perini should continue to benefit from this growth. As we have said in our previous calls, Perini's number one priority is converting our significant backlog of work into revenues. During the fourth quarter we were extremely successful in doing so, recognizing $944 million in total revenues.

  • New contract awards during the quarter totaled $440 million, resulting in total backlog of $8.5 billion as of December 31, 2006. New contract awards and adjustments to contracts in the process added to the backlog in the fourth quarter, included $122 million of various new work awards at Rudolph and Sletten, including projects in the health care and high tech markets, $85 million in school construction work in Florida at James A. Cummings, and $172 million of additional work in gaming and hospitality projects in Las Vegas, Nevada, California and Maryland.

  • During the fourth quarter we made excellent progress on each of our major projects. Our work on $4.3 billion 66 acre MGM City Center project is right on schedule. The project involves a construction of a 4,000 room hotel tower, casino, convention center, showroom, approximately 500,000 square feet of retail and restaurants, three branded boutique hotels, and numerous residential towers. To date we have broken ground on each of the 6 tower locations, and are up to the eighth floor in our construction of the 50 story 4 million square feet hotel and casino tower.

  • Perini's expertise in the on-time completion of complex, large-scale projects is evident in our work on the $365 million Trump International Hotel & Tower in Las Vegas. We are well ahead of schedule on construction of the 1,200 unit condominium hotel tower, and expect concrete to be topped out within the next month, with a glass enclosure lagging only four floors behind. We continue with our other work on this project, which includes a 36,000 square foot recreation deck and pool, and a five-story parking garage.

  • The Cosmopolitan Resort & Casino in Las Vegas is right on schedule. This $1.6 billion project involves a construction of two high-rise hotels and condo hotel towers, with approximately 3,000 luxury hotel rooms, suits and condo hotel residences. The entire excavation is complete, as well as the west tower foundation mat, and the east tower foundation mat is underway. Structural steel is in fabrication, and steel erection will begin on-site in the April/May timeframe.

  • Work on the $500 million expansion of the Foxwoods Resort Casino in southeastern Connecticut, and the $670 million joint venture contract for the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in Prince George's County, Maryland, are both proceeding on schedule.

  • Our Rudolph and Sletten subsidiary performed well this quarter. We continue to introduce Rudolph and Sletten to new Native American gaming projects, such as the $50 million parking facility at the Sycuan Resort and Casino in El Cajon, California awarded last quarter.

  • In recent months Lake Entertainment has selected Rudolph and Sletten to perform $180 million in work at the Shingle Springs Tribe's Foothill Oaks Casino near Sacramento, California. The project includes construction of an 80,000 square foot casino and a 2,400 space parking garage. This last mentioned work is not yet in our backlog. There is also room for the Foothill Oaks projects to grow as a second phase is planned.

  • In addition in Native American gaming projects, the market for health care, high tech, and office projects remains strong. Given Rudolph and Sletten's expertise in the construction of corporate campuses, health care and these high tech projects, we believe there are substantial opportunities for new work growth in their markets.

  • The performance of our Civil segment recovered from the loss adjustments we took on some smaller legacy projects performed by our Cherry Hill Construction unit during the third quarter of 2006. As we have discussed in our previous calls, our goal is to transition Cherry Hill to larger scale projects. This is well underway with three project awards in 2006, each in the $20 million to $50 million range. The market for civil projects in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic regions remains strong. We believe we will see some additional awards in this area soon.

  • Our Management Services segment experienced another exceptional quarter of profitability, and we made good progress in all of our projects in Iraq. Due to the nature of this work, we're proceeding cautiously. Through the end of January 2007 we have turned over about 72% of the square footage for facilities contracted for in September of 2005.

  • In terms of new work, Perini Management Services was awarded an additional $100 million of work in Iraq, similar to our existing overhead coverage projects at U.S. military bases in and Embassy compounds in 2006. We also received our first award under the HERC program from the U.S. Air Force for a communications project in Europe. We see opportunities in a variety various throughout the world, including Afghanistan, and are actively proposing for work under the CENTCOM and HERC programs, with several proposals currently outstanding.

  • All in all, 2006 was an outstanding year for Perini. We entered the year with a backlog of $7.9 billion, and successfully converted this into record revenues through consistent and steady execution. We also added over $3.5 billion of new work to our backlog, resulting in a backlog at year-end of $8.5 billion. Work added in 2006 included a combination of new projects and additional scope added to existing contracts.

  • Given the visibility that this backlog provides us, we are expecting a record year in 2007 for both revenues and earnings per share. I should say another record year. At this time we affirm our guidance of revenues in the range of $3.8 billion to $4 billion, and diluted earnings per share in the range of $2 to $2.20. This is based on our expectation of increased revenues from the Building segment, strong profit contribution from the Management Services segment, and profitable performance from our Civil segment.

  • Now let me turn the discussion over to Mike Ciskey, who will give you the financial details for the quarter.

  • Mike Ciskey - CFO

  • I will now cover the fourth quarter financial results in some detail. In the fourth quarter of 2006 revenues were $944 million, an increase of 57% from the $603 million reported in the fourth quarter of 2005.

  • On a reportable segment basis, revenues from our Building segment were $801 million, an increase of 74% from $462 million in the fourth quarter of 2005. Of the $339 million increase in Building revenues, $267 million of the increase was growth from our existing business units, primarily related to the increased volume of work in the hospitality and gaming markets. And $72 million of the increase was due to Rudolph and Sletten, which we acquired in October of 2005.

  • Revenues from our Civil segment were $75 million, down 11% from $84 million reported in the fourth quarter of 2005. This decline is primarily due to a decreased volume of work in the mid-Atlantic region as a result of the timing of startup of new work.

  • Management Services revenues were $69 million, up 18% from $58 million a year ago. This was primarily the result of task orders received in 2005 for work in Iraq.

  • Our total gross profit increased $59.2 million to $56.9 million from a loss of $2.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2005. Overall gross margin percentage for the quarter was 6%.

  • Excluding the impact of the WMATA judgment on fourth quarter 2005 results, gross profit increased $18.8 million, or 50% in the fourth quarter of 2006.

  • General and administrative expenses were $25.9 million, or 2.7% of revenues compared to $20.8 million, or 3.4% of revenues in the fourth quarter of 2005. This reflects a 25% increase in general and administrative expense on a 57% increase in revenues. In the fourth quarter of 2006 general and administrative expenses included $3.9 million in stock-based compensation expenses from restricted stock grants in April of 2006 and December of 2004.

  • Income from construction operations, which is income after segment G&A, was $35.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2006 versus a loss of $19.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2005. Excluding the WMATA judgment, income from construction operations before G&A was $20.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2005.

  • Breaking down income from construction operations by segment. The Building segment income from construction operations for the quarter was $19.8 million, an increase of 66% from $11.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2005. Of the $7.9 million increase, Rudolph and Sletten accounted for $5 million, with new work in the hospitality and gaming market accounting for the remaining $2.9 million. Operating margin for the Building segment was 2.5% in the fourth quarter of 2006, relatively unchanged from the fourth quarter of 2005.

  • Civil segment income from construction operations was $2.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2006 versus a loss from construction operations of $34.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2005. Excluding the WMATA judgment, income from construction operations in the Civil segment was $5.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2005. Operating margin for the Civil segment was 3.1% in the fourth quarter of 2006.

  • Management Services income from construction operations was $13.7 million compared to $3.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2005. Management Services operating margin was 20% versus 5.7% a year ago. This substantial increase in margin was due to favorable performance on our projects in Iraq.

  • Other income was $1.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2006 compared to other income of $1.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2005.

  • Interest expense was $900,000, unchanged from the fourth quarter of 2005.

  • The provision for income taxes was $12 million compared to $8.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2005. The effective tax rate for the fourth quarter was 38.5%.

  • Net income was $19.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2006 compared to a net loss of $13.9 million in the same quarter a year ago. Net income in the fourth quarter of 2005 includes an after-tax charge of $23.6 million due to the WMATA judgment.

  • Diluted earnings per share were $0.72 cents in the fourth quarter of 2006 versus a diluted loss per share of $0.45 for the same period of 2005. The loss per share for the fourth quarter of 2005 included an after-tax charge of $0.89 per diluted share due to the WMATA judgment, as well as a $0.09 per share benefit due to the reversal of a portion of accumulated but unpaid dividends on our 21/25 preferred stock.

  • Now turning to our balance sheet. At December 31, 2006 our working capital stood at $194 million, up from $153.3 million at December 31, 2005. This represents a current ratio of 1.22 to 1 versus a ratio of 1.23 to 1 at the end of 2005.

  • As of December 31, 2006 we had $227.5 million in cash and cash equivalents compared to the December 31, 2005 balance of $139.9 million. The $87.6 million increase in cash was the result of $118 million -- $118.9 million in cash flows provided by operating activity due to the substantial increase in our Building segment revenues, including the addition of Rudolph and Sletten, combined with favorable performance by the Management Services segment.

  • During 2006 cash used by investing activities was $18 million, primarily related to the purchase of construction equipment. Cash used by financing activities was $13.3 million, including $8.8 million in cash used to redeem the remaining outstanding shares of our 21/25 preferred stock, and $7.5 million used to pay down long-term debt.

  • At December 31, 2006 long-term debt stood at $34.1 million, excluding the current portions, down from $40 million at December 31, 2005. Our long-term debt is comprised primarily of a secured term loan, which was used to refinance a portion of the purchase price of Rudolph and Sletten, and equipment and operating properties to support our construction operations.

  • At December 31, 2006 we had $38.5 million available under our revolving credit facility. We are currently in the final stage of arranging, and expect to finalize in the next few days, a new five-year, $125 million syndicated credit agreement with a bank group which includes our current lenders, Bank of America N.A. and TD Banknorth, as well as new participants BMO Capital Markets and Sovereign Bank. The agreement can be expanded to $175 million in the future. Upon closing of the agreement, the $22.5 million outstanding balance of the term loan I just referred to will be paid off.

  • Stockholders equity increased 33% to $244 million from $183 million at December 31, 2005. We believe that our strong financial position and credit arrangements provide us with more than sufficient support to meet our future requirements.

  • As Bob mentioned earlier, our backlog at December 31, 2006 totaled $8.5 billion, and was up 7% from $7.9 billion at December 31, 2005. Backlog by segment is Building segment backlog of $7.8 billion, Civil segment backlog of $430 million, and Management Services backlog of $189 million.

  • That concludes my portion, and I will now turn the call back over to Bob for his closing comments.

  • Robert Band - President

  • In 2006 Perini delivered outstanding performance. Revenues reached a record $3 billion, up 76% from last year. And net income was $41.5 million. And our backlog increased 7% to $8.5 billion. Our balance sheet reflects the Company's strong financial position required for surety bonding and performance on large multiyear projects. Our Building segment performed very well this year, particularly on our hospitality and gaming projects in Las Vegas, Connecticut and Maryland. Rudolph and Sletten provided strong results and substantial new work in the construction of corporate campuses, health care and other high-tech projects, and transitioned smoothly into Native American gaming projects in California.

  • Management Services performed extremely well in executing the work in difficult areas such as Iraq. The Civil segment recovered from its third quarter losses and made a profitable contribution to our year-end results. We look forward to continued improvement in the Civil segment in the coming year.

  • We look forward to another record year in 2007, and remain committed to the consistent, on-time delivery of complex, large-scale projects in maintaining our reputation as the builder of choice.

  • That concludes our prepared remarks. Mike Ciskey and Dick Rizzo and I are happy to take your questions at this time.

  • Operator

  • (OPERATOR INSTRUCTIONS). Steven Fisher, UBS.

  • Steven Fisher - Analyst

  • Nice quarter. The revenues were nicely ahead of the guidance that you gave. Was this a pull forward of revenues in the building service -- services, or what was better than expected there?

  • Robert Band - President

  • Really revenues are a function of progress, and we did make more progress in the fourth quarter than anticipated, both on the large gaming projects in Las Vegas, as well as Connecticut and Maryland, as well as Rudolph and Sletten pulled ahead of their prior projections as well.

  • Steven Fisher - Analyst

  • So it wasn't that you had any major new work that was kind of booked and burned within the quarter then?

  • Robert Band - President

  • No. It was aggressive execution of the work.

  • Steven Fisher - Analyst

  • The second -- the Management Services margins were very strong for the second quarter in a row, and well ahead of what you had talked about in the past. Is there something different in the type of work they are doing there? Is it a more dangerous environment? What is it, and is it sustainable?

  • Robert Band - President

  • On these projects, we are well on schedule in terms of turnovers, turning buildings over, facilities over. We have turned 72% of the square footage of the projects -- the overhead coverage projects that were awarded to us in September of '05. And so we are benefiting from the aggressive production of the work in Iraq again. Will that continue at the same pace? It is difficult to project that because of the nature of the environment there. But these are long-term contracts. Any one quarter's results are not necessarily indicative of how the next quarter will do.

  • Steven Fisher - Analyst

  • Then lastly, you mentioned that the Civil revenues were down due to timing. Is that because material costs and labor costs are driving project budgets up, and need to be reassessed? And then is that is the case, would we expect a ramp up at some point as these things get worked out?

  • Robert Band - President

  • No, it is really more a result of Cherry Hill. When we acquired them they had a number of small projects that we really are not seeking to replace. And as a result, that revenue has burned off now. And we have -- although we have been successful on low bidding, some of that new work hasn't started up. So that had the effect of declining revenues for the quarter.

  • Operator

  • John Rogers, Davidson.

  • John Rogers - Analyst

  • A couple of things. Just following up on Steve's question on Management Services. I think Bobbie mentioned incentive fees. Are those awarded as you turn the buildings over?

  • Robert Band - President

  • No, these are fixed-price contracts. So the work beginning in September of '05, and then the follow-on work of the same category have all been fixed-price contracts. So naturally we are conservative in the front-end of those contracts, and watching the costs, as well as amounts we have set aside for the various issues over there. And then as the projects are turned over, we are adjusting our estimates upward.

  • John Rogers - Analyst

  • Do you have a lot of work that you expect to turnover over the near-term, or does it runoff through '07?

  • Robert Band - President

  • It won't turnover at the same pace, because they don't all -- it just doesn't work that way. But again on the two big jobs that came in September of '05, we're 72% done on the turnover, and the balance are projected to turnover throughout the first half of '07, with some trickling into the last part of '07.

  • And then there is three -- as I said, there's three additional awards over there that totaled about $100 million of similar work. And those are off to a -- one is off to a very quick start, and two are much slower. Again, it is the lumpiness of the business.

  • John Rogers - Analyst

  • But it sounds like -- at least the first half could be pretty good, and then possibly depending on how the next set go.

  • Robert Band - President

  • Right.

  • John Rogers - Analyst

  • Then secondly is, in terms of the ramp up in Building revenue, and I guess, Dick, in your area during the quarter are you now at a rate that it sustainable, or is it still ramping?

  • Dick Rizzo - Chairman of Perini Building Company

  • I would say it is about sustainable now. We're really maxed out in terms of capacity. So we're just running it as quickly as we can, trying to find the resources to get the work executed as quickly as possible. I don't think that we're going to see any huge ramping up any further. I don't think we have the capability of doing that.

  • Robert Band - President

  • Dick, I would also point out though that the phase of the work we are in now in the concrete area at MGM is largely self performed.

  • Dick Rizzo - Chairman of Perini Building Company

  • That's true. I never thought of that (multiple speakers).

  • Robert Band - President

  • There will be a ramping effect as subcontractors are brought in.

  • Dick Rizzo - Chairman of Perini Building Company

  • That's true. In terms of volume, you mean?

  • Robert Band - President

  • Right.

  • Dick Rizzo - Chairman of Perini Building Company

  • That is true.

  • John Rogers - Analyst

  • But as you move beyond the self performing does that then bring your percentage margins down a little?

  • Dick Rizzo - Chairman of Perini Building Company

  • No, I don't think so. It just a burning off of revenues at a record rate. Bob, you have a good point. We do tend to get a little bit more ramping when we are into the subcontracting area as well. But, no, I think to be able to maintain ourselves at the record level we are now is an accomplishment unto itself. I think you shouldn't anticipate any much more of a huge increase in revenue as we move forward. I mean, it is record high anyway.

  • John Rogers - Analyst

  • Just last question. Mike, you mentioned the cash at the end of the year was $227 million. Is that right?

  • Mike Ciskey - CFO

  • That's correct.

  • John Rogers - Analyst

  • That is a lot of cash. Your plans for that, is there a lot of working capital requirements this year or --?

  • Mike Ciskey - CFO

  • There are a lot of working capital requirements, but in addition, I mean, although we aren't looking at anything, we have had acquisition history in the past. And who knows how that will approach coming forward. But primarily it is there to support the work that we have.

  • John Rogers - Analyst

  • I'm sorry, one other thing, if I could. You mentioned a number of Civil projects that you have been low bidder. You talked about the water treatment plant last quarter. Are there other projects like that where you're the low bidder, but it hasn't been awarded?

  • Robert Band - President

  • That is the large Civil projects that we're still negotiating with the agency in New York over. And we're not going to prognosticate on the timing. That never works. But as you know, it just takes a while to land these large projects.

  • Mike Ciskey - CFO

  • The other work, though, it has largely been awarded. So it is not -- it is just that it happened in November, December. It was low bid stuff that -- primarily at Cherry Hill. And obviously it is not gearing up during the wintertime.

  • John Rogers - Analyst

  • But the water treatment plant is still potentially out there?

  • Robert Band - President

  • Still potentially there. Correct.

  • John Rogers - Analyst

  • Thank you. Great quarter.

  • Operator

  • Richard Paget, Morgan Joseph.

  • Richard Paget - Analyst

  • There are some projects I guess that are slated to take place in Atlantic City. Have you guys been contacted about those at all?

  • Robert Band - President

  • We are currently working in Atlantic City, and we have got a pretty good handle on work out there. But again new work in the hospitality and gaming sector really depends on timing of when it would start, and how it would fit our teams. As you know, in Las Vegas we're at full capacity at the moment, looking at starts in the 2008 timeframe. On the East Coast we're currently in active discussions with owners on projects that would ramp up sooner than that. So again, there is work opportunities in Atlantic City and elsewhere.

  • Dick Rizzo - Chairman of Perini Building Company

  • This is Dick. I think also we tend to be tracking more of the work that is closer to the Pennsylvania and New York markets right now than we are in Atlantic City, just because of our resources in Canada right now and New England. There is considerable opportunity pending in both Pennsylvania and New York for us. So I think we really focusing more on that than we are in Atlantic City right now.

  • Richard Paget - Analyst

  • With the way revenues kind of came in, I guess, a bit ahead of schedule, was it just kind of flawless execution and guys had built some room in there, and everything went well? Was weather particularly good? Was it anything abnormal?

  • Robert Band - President

  • All of the above.

  • Dick Rizzo - Chairman of Perini Building Company

  • I would say that largely the revenue increase was obviously in our Building segment. And it is due to a little bit of everything, but primarily just more accomplished in the quarter than our prior forecast had assumed.

  • Richard Paget - Analyst

  • Then tax rate for next year. I think in the past you said around 36, 37%, are we still --?

  • Mike Ciskey - CFO

  • It is about 36.5%.

  • Richard Paget - Analyst

  • Okay. So that is still a good number to use.

  • Mike Ciskey - CFO

  • For '07, right.

  • Operator

  • (OPERATOR INSTRUCTIONS). [Ben Warman], Bishop, Rosen & Co.

  • Ben Warman - Analyst

  • Let me congratulate again, as I always do, about an excellent quarter. And I have a question. I would assume that with the slowdown in the real estate residential housing market that labor costs are more -- labor would be more available for your project at a decent cost. Is that so?

  • Robert Band - President

  • Where we're working labor it is at a premium and stretched to the limit, especially in the Las Vegas area. So even though there is a slowdown in the pure residential market, everybody in our business is still scrambling for the tradesmen. I would say we put a lot of emphasis on working with the unions and they are bringing travelers in as needed. We don't say any surpluses in any of the trades at this time.

  • Dick Rizzo - Chairman of Perini Building Company

  • This is Dick. I came in to that, but also you'll find, and particularly in Las Vegas, most of the residential work is not done union. So even if it were to slow down at all, it would really have limited effect on our capacity issues in Vegas, because we're union.

  • Ben Warman - Analyst

  • One further question. Do you have the availability to bid for projects like New York City Subway extensions that are being planned or talked about?

  • Robert Band - President

  • Absolutely. We do, and of course in our Civil side we have reserved significant capacity for this large water treatment plant. So if that is awarded, there's a lot of capacity dedicated to that project. We are looking at several other large projects as well.

  • Ben Warman - Analyst

  • The last question is -- I was very heartened the other day to see that the Mirage project in Las Vegas has been sold out, according to the news items that came out yesterday. So it seems that that project is turning out very well for you.

  • Robert Band - President

  • Dick?

  • Dick Rizzo - Chairman of Perini Building Company

  • I didn't read that. I didn't know that. So that is news to me as well.

  • Robert Band - President

  • But we have heard that the Trump and the Cosmo are really well sold right there?

  • Dick Rizzo - Chairman of Perini Building Company

  • Those are sold out for sure. I hadn't heard that MGM project was --.

  • Ben Warman - Analyst

  • Actually it was in the newspaper yesterday, I believe, that the Mandarin -- what is it -- the Mandarin Hotel that they have just about sold out all the high-priced units.

  • Dick Rizzo - Chairman of Perini Building Company

  • Wonderful, wonderful.

  • Ben Warman - Analyst

  • So that was very reassuring, because that is always in the back of our mind that with the slow down in the construction business that it might affect some of these projects you're working on. But apparently that is not going to be the case.

  • Operator

  • Steven Fisher, UBS.

  • Steven Fisher - Analyst

  • Just in terms of business development, I know you guys had stopped actively pursuing business in Las Vegas that would start, I think, it was before 2008. Now that we're getting a bit closer to it, can you talk about your approach to business development at this point? And I think you mentioned even that you had some new wins in Las Vegas in the quarter.

  • Dick Rizzo - Chairman of Perini Building Company

  • Yes, none of the new wins were anything that were new, new. They were actually additions to our existing backlog -- you know, work that we have acquired. We're tracking right now close to $10 billion worth of work that is sort of out there for us in Vegas and available in the timeframe we're looking for. And each one of them we're in a very preferred position because we are -- of who we are there and what role we do play in that marketplace.

  • In addition to that, I must tell you that both California and the East Coast are looking very positive as well. We're probably -- there's probably another $10 billion to $12 billion worth of new projects that we're currently tracking that we have a better than 50% chance in my opinion of acquiring in the timeframe we're looking for. All is very well as far as -- I have never seen it as prosperous as this in my history with Perini, and that is thirty years.

  • Steven Fisher - Analyst

  • Can you talk about what sort of timeframe you are referring to in terms of that $10 billion of work in Vegas?

  • Dick Rizzo - Chairman of Perini Building Company

  • Again, most of that is work that would start after the middle to late '08. And some of it is scheduled as late as '10 -- 2010. And the ones I can talk about, we were under confidentiality with, so I'm really unable to do so. But I can assure you that they are all very, very real projects. And ones that we have a very preferred position on it.

  • Steven Fisher - Analyst

  • That's great. In terms of the native gaming markets in California, you talked about some new business there. Can you just give a sense, or your take on what is happening on the legislative side, and is still more projects to come that would be the result of compacts being agreed to that we haven't seen yet?

  • Dick Rizzo - Chairman of Perini Building Company

  • No, I think you're going to find that all that will be behind us this year. And we have been predicting and tracking about, I think it is $3 billion to $4 billion worth of expansion programs and new construction, new facilities in California alone that we expect to be available to us and to the marketplace in the next two to three years.

  • I don't think anybody would argue with the fact that any tribe that is in a position to expand their gaming is going to be able to do so, based on the progress they are making with the state on their compacts -- revisions to their compacts. We're starting to see it already. We are actually in I think five different sites right now in California, all of which are -- most of them are existing sites. One is new.

  • We had been approached by all the ones that we have been doing business with in the past. And they all are very, very bullish about what their plants are. And expect to get their compacts revised and signed up actually in the next six months. Just a statement. So very positive there.

  • Steven Fisher - Analyst

  • That $3 billion to $4 billion would come into backlog over, say, a two to three-year period, not like in one chunk after six months from now?

  • Dick Rizzo - Chairman of Perini Building Company

  • It would be -- at the earliest it would start to flow in '08, and work itself through to I would say '10 or '11.

  • Operator

  • You have no further questions at this time.

  • Robert Band - President

  • Gentlemen, thank you very much for joining us on the call. And we're looking forward to the next quarterly call. And wish you all a good day. Bye-bye.

  • Mike Ciskey - CFO

  • Thanks a lot.

  • Dick Rizzo - Chairman of Perini Building Company

  • See you later.

  • Operator

  • Thank you for your participation in today's conference. This concludes the presentation. You may now disconnect. Have a great day.