[Speak in French] Monsieur Germain, je vous remercie pour votre , Christine Coppetti, Anne-Louise, Philippe Servanckx. Je vous souhaite la bienvenue à tous nos amis actionnaires ici présents. Je vous présente Jean-Jacques, et je suis le président du conseil du groupe Aecon . My name is John Beck and I'm the chairman of the Aecon Group. Joining me this morning are Jean-Louise Servranckx, the President, Chief Executive Officer of Aecon; Jerome Julier, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; Martinho de Noel, member counsel, public company and Corporate Secretary; and Gordana Terkalas , Senior Vice President and Chief Legal Officer. In addition to those at the head of the table, a number of Aecon's officers and senior leadership team members are in attendance with us this morning. Also attending this morning's meeting are our director nominees, as well as Sal Bianco from PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, Corporations of Arts.
All of us here today are shareholders, and collectively can be proud to support and contribute to Aecon's role as an innovative partner in delivering critical infrastructure projects and building what matters to enable future generations to thrive. Aecon is strategically focused on seamlessly working with our clients, partners, suppliers, Indigenous rights holders, and communities to pursue shared goals advancing the energy transition. We'll hear more about this from our President and CEO, Jean-Louise Servranckx, shortly. This meeting offers registered shareholders and duly appointed proxy voters, including those joining us online via live webcast, an equal opportunity to participate in past sessions and vote at the meeting. The shareholders attending the meeting here in person, if you have a question or comment related to the value of business, please raise your hand with a point of honesty.
For those attending online, questions may be submitted through the webcast portal by any registered shareholder or duly appointed proxy voter. When asking a question, please indicate your name, which entity you represent, if any, and confirm that you're a registered shareholder or a duly appointed proxy voter. In order for us to explicitly undertake discussion on any item proposed for a vote, we encourage those joining us online to ask specific questions on the formal item of business, including procedural matters. When they submit a written submission now, clearly identifying the applicable formal item of business. During the course of this meeting, at the appropriate time, such questions will be addressed prior to voting on the applicable questions. Questions which do not relate to any formal item of business will be addressed during the Q&A session.
As in past years, we expect the vast majority of all votes to be cast in advance of this meeting by proxy. That said, registered shareholders and duly appointed proxy voters will be allowed to vote at this meeting in accordance with the instructions given during the course of this meeting. Those joining online will be able to vote through the webcast portal. Once the formal business of the meeting has been completed, we will have a question-and-answer session in which the aforementioned members of management and our Chair of the Corporate Governance, Nominating, and Compensation Committee will be available to answer your questions. We'll try to address as many questions as possible during the Q&A session. Accordingly, we ask that you limit any questions or comments to two minutes.
I'd like to acknowledge the land we're meeting on is the traditional territory of many nations, including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishinaabe, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat peoples, and is now home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit, and Métis. We call it an awareness of the land we gather on extends to how we approach our work to build infrastructure in collaboration with local communities to provide sustainable benefits for generations to come. Before we get on to today's agenda in alignment with our Safety Always Future, let's go over a safety moment. Whether working on-site or at an office location, nothing is more important than safety. In the unlikely event of a fire or an emergency here at Carleton Park today, please exit through the closest doors, either the back hallway door, the doors in the lunchroom, or the two patio doors.
Once you're out, you will gather in the parking lot behind the buildings. Let me briefly explain the format of today's meeting. We will first deal with administrative items and then continue our meeting with formal business, which is to receive the financial statements, elect directors, the holding advisory board, and Aecon's approach to executive compensation, and to reappoint the auditors. Once the formal portion of the meeting is complete, we will hold the question-and-answer session. We'll now call this annual meeting of shareholders to order. I will act as chair of this meeting, and Martin Hoffmann will act as secretary of this meeting. Let's make a formal portion of this meeting. Mr. Jean-Louis Servranckx will second all motions. Unless there's an objection, I note that and David Martin are Computershare lesser services. Aecons registrar and transfer agent will act collectively as the scrutineer of this meeting.
I would ask Martina Doyle to briefly address certain administrative and legal aspects of this meeting.
Mr. Chair, I would like to report that proper notice of this meeting, together with the form of proxy and the management information circular dated May 5th, 2025, has been sent to each registered shareholder of record as of April 10th, 2025, to recognize this meeting, and has also been sent to all other persons entitled thereto. The mailing of materials has been certified by Computershare Investor Services. Additional copies of these materials are also available on our website and under our profile on SEDAR+ . Accordingly, unless there is an objection, I will dispense with the reading of the notice of meeting. A copy of the notice of meeting and proof of service shall be entered to the minutes of the meeting.
The scrutineer has provided a report on attendance, and it shows that there are 73 shareholders or proxy holders presently holding 29,065,410 common shares, or 42.58% of the issued and unpaid shares eligible to vote represented at the meeting. I declare that the record is for shareholders present in person or through live webcast or attended by proxy, and therefore the meeting is properly constituted for the transaction of business. The scrutineer's report on attendance will be entered to the minutes of the meeting.
Before moving forward to the transaction of business, and if any subsequent discussion, Aecon's director, and the site of speculatory environment that all Canadian public companies currently operated, the general counsel of public company and corporate secretary of the corporation, I would like to remind everyone that certain information discussed here today, whether as part of remarks or in response to questions, may constitute forward-looking information and is therefore subject to important risks, assumptions, and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from conclusions, forecasts, and projections discussed during this meeting, as certain material factors and assumptions are applied in drawing conclusions, forecasts, and projections set out in the forward-looking information. Additional information about these and other important risks and uncertainties and material factors and assumptions that could cause results to differ materially from any forward-looking information can be found in the management information circular and.
In the Aecon 's public disclosure records, particularly our annual and quarterly FD&A, filed under our photos, filed at Peter Plus at www.peterplus.ca. Access is required by applicable security laws. Forward-looking information discussed at the meeting today speaks only as of today, as Aecon undertakes no obligations to publicly update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. For the purposes of this meeting, voting on all items of business must be conducted by ballots, both online and in person. If you have already submitted and completed a proxy, it is not necessary to also vote online or cast a separate ballot, since your vote will be recorded in accordance with your proxy instructions.
Registered shareholders and duly appointed proxy holders who have not already voted or who would like to change their vote may vote on each business item at any time and withhold their open vote right and hold the open until the end of the formal portion of this meeting. For those joining us through the live webcast, when you are asked to vote, business items to be voted on and your available voting options will be visible on the voting panel. To submit a vote, please click on one of the voting choices displayed on your screen. You will only have a certain amount of time to vote once the polls are open. In order to keep this meeting cleared efficiently, we have arranged for certain shareholders to move their resolutions to be considered at this meeting and to be tested.
Of course, any registered shareholder or duly appointed proxy holder can comment on any resolutions prior to the vote, which should hold any comments on general matters before following the formal portion of this meeting. I have committed to the last meeting of shareholders of the corporate shareholders. Unless there is an objection, I will dispense with reading the minutes of this meeting. John Beck will now hold back the business of this meeting.
Thank you, Martina. The first item of business is the presentation of the consolidated financial statements of the corporation, as reported by PricewaterhouseCoopers, the auditors of the corporation. These include the consolidated balance sheet, the consolidated statement of comprehensive income, the consolidated statement of changes in equity, and the consolidated statement of cash flow, all for the year ended December 31, 2024, and the report of the auditors, Gerard. These financial statements are publicly available and were mailed to shareholders earlier this year. The financial statements are available on our website or under our profile on SEDAR+ for anyone who did not receive a copy. I would ask the secretary to formally place the financial statements, including the report of the auditors, before the meeting. The next item of business is the election of directors.
Before we move on with the election process, on behalf of the board of management, it is my pleasure to now say a few words about a longtime board member who is not standing for re-election and will retire at today's meeting. I thank Monica Sloan for her service and for being a steady leader in Aecon 's success and growth. Monica joined Aecon 's board in 2013. During her 12 years of service, Aecon has experienced much success and evolution, but of course, navigating some challenges. Monica's commitment to strong governance and delivering shareholder value, along with a positive attitude, have helped shape the productive and collaborative board of directors we have today. Monica, if you could kindly stand. Thank you, Monica, for your years of commitment and valuables. We'll now proceed with the process of completing the board of narratives of business of this meeting.
As you can mention, voting today will be conducted by ballot, both in person and online. Please also be online valid to registered voters and duly appointed proxy voters. If you've already submitted the proxy, it is not necessary to complete the ballot. If you are a registered shareholder or proxy holder joining in person, please submit provided with the ballot when you arrive at the meeting. If you did not and would like a ballot, please raise your hand, and the scrutineer will provide one. The scrutineer will collect the ballots at 12 matters to be conducted by ballot. Please help this.
For those joining online, the polls are now open, and at this point, all the registered shareholders and duly appointed proxy holders who have properly logged into the meeting with their control number or username and wish to vote will be able to see all business items to be voted on this meeting on the voting panel of their screen. The number of directors to be elected at this meeting has been fixed by a resolution of the board at 10. The corporation nominees, namely myself, Susan Wilford-Jenna, Leslie Kass, Stuart Lee, Carl Phillips, Eric Rosenfeld, Tony Salamanca, Deborah Stein, Scott Stewart, and Scott Ton, are each to be elected to hold office until the close of the 2026 annual meeting of shareholders of the corporation, or until their successors are re-elected or appointed in accordance with the articles and bylaws of the corporation.
We would ask board manager Carl Phillips to nominate each of the previously named individuals. For information, proxies submitted prior to this meeting representing approximately 49% of the number. I'd like to share that the corporation voted with each of the nominees receiving votes in favor ranging from approximately 90%-100%, 90%.
Mr. Chair, my name is Mariana Chacalas . I'm a shareholder of Aecon, and I'm pleased to nominate each of the aforementioned 10 individuals as directors of the corporation for the term previously stated.
Thank you, Chris. As the corporation did not previously receive timely notice of any further nominations of persons for election to directors of the corporation as required by law to the corporation, I declare the nominations closed. May I have a motion that each of the 10 persons nominated as directors of the corporation be so elected?
Mr. Chair, I so move.
We second the motion.
Martina, are there any questions on this motion from the registered shareholders or proxy holders?
Mr. Chair, we have not received any questions on this motion. If any questions on this motion are specifically received, they will be addressed at the end of this meeting.
Thank you, Martina. If there are no further questions, we will now continue with the next item of business. The next item of business will be approval on a monthly basis of a resolution relating to Aecon 's approach to executive compensation, disclosed in the management certification circular dated May 5, 2025. I believe that Gordana has a motion in this regard.
Mr. Chair, I move that the corporation's shareholders approve on an advisory basis, and not to diminish the roles and responsibilities of the board, the approach to executive compensation disclosed in the management information circular dated May 5, 2025.
I will second the motion.
Martina, are there any questions on this motion from the registered shareholders or proxy holders?
Mr. Chair, we have not received any questions on this motion. If any questions on this motion are subsequently received, they will be addressed at the end of the meeting.
Thank you, Martina. If there are no further questions, we will now continue with the next item of business. The next item of business is the reappointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers as auditors of the corporation. I believe that Gordana has a motion regarding this item of business.
Mr. Chair, I move that PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, Chartered Accountants of the City of Toronto in the Province of Ontario, be reappointed as auditors of the corporation until the close of the 2026 annual meeting of shareholders of the corporation, or until a successor is appointed at a remuneration to be fixed by the board and that the courts be authorized to fix such remuneration.
Second the motion.
Martina, are there any questions on this motion from the registered shareholders or proxy holders?
Mr. Chair, we have not received any questions on this motion. Any questions on this motion that are subsequently received will be addressed at the end of the meeting.
If you have already done so, I invite you to submit your vote on all the items on the agenda. We will provide the registered shareholders and duly appointed proxy holders approximately one more minute to complete their ballots for those with us here today in person. Please provide your complete ballot screeners now if you have already done so. For those joining online, once the online balloting closes, the voting page will disappear and your votes will automatically be submitted. The scrutineer will now proceed to collect any ballot forms from registered shareholders and duly appointed proxies present in the room. The polls are now closed. That concludes the voting at today's meeting. I call upon Martina to report on the proxies deposited prior to the meeting and the preliminary results based on the ballots cast at the meeting.
Based on the preliminary results from the scrutineer, the proxies received in advance of the meeting and the preliminary results of the ballots cast at the meeting, all director nominees re-elected, and the reappointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers as the auditor of the corporation has been approved and the board has been authorized to declare remuneration. Final reports on voting have been included in the minutes of the meeting and filed on SEDAR+ . Accordingly, I declare that each of the 10 nominees have been elected as directors of the corporation, to serve until the 2026 annual meeting of shareholders of the corporation, or until their successors are elected or appointed. I declare that the reappointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers as the auditors of the corporation has been approved and that the board has been authorized to declare remuneration.
The advisory resolution on the corporation's executive compensation received a majority of votes cast in support of the resolution based on questions received at the end of this meeting. While the resolution is an advisory resolution, the Board of Directors of Aecon will nevertheless take the results of the vote into account as appropriate for considering future compensation policies, procedures, and decisions, and in determining whether there is a need to increase Aecon 's engagement with shareholders in compensation and related matters. The final results of the individual votes for each director, the advisory resolution on executive compensation, and reappointment of the auditors will be reported in the press release and as part of the results filed in accordance with applicable securities legislation.
The need for the business that they be properly brought before the meeting. Thank you, Martina. On behalf of the board, I'd like to express our appreciation for our shareholders' support and involvement. We thank you and encourage your continued participation in your aids. If there's no further business, I'll conclude the formal business topic for this meeting and now declare the formal portion of the meeting terminated. I'll now provide an opportunity for registered shareholders and proxy holders to ask any questions. During this session, we will never answer as many questions as possible. In order to allow some more questions to be answered, I may consolidate multiple questions on the same topic. As the question period has now concluded, let's open up questions. Okay. Any questions?
Good morning. I'm Andrew, as well as James. I'm a shareholder, and I have some questions, I guess, around the utilities business. It's a pretty big opportunity out there. How about I understand how beliefs over in the $200 billion market? We're at about $1 billion in revenue change. So I guess, can you tell me about what you see tied to the business in ten years? How much of this will be organic versus inorganic acquisitions? How would you guess it?
A follow-up question on the ERA to begin? Eric is a role; he won't add something. Eric is a more utility sector leader. Yes, can I just say this is important for Aecon?
He's part of our strategy plan. I think everybody can hear from me. He's part of our strategy plan. The way we are going to grow in the United States is going to be in parallel school acquisitions and school organic development. Professionally, it's not one or the other. It's exactly what the utilities sector has done. It means that after the early operation with COPE 3, that is, as soon as we have the perfect knowledge of the U.S. market, we made an acquisition during the summer 2024 of COPE 3 in Michigan. In addition, we are looking for new jobs, and this is together that we're going to make it.
Maybe Eric, you can say more. You could tell us more after one year and a half where we are, and maybe Jerome can tell us a bit about the financial.
Thank you.
Thank you for the question.
I don't think I should just either.
Thank you for the question. It's a very, it is an intense market there. We talked about a year and a half. That year and a half, it's been around planning and understanding the market. There was a long history of other companies rushing into the space and not understanding the rules of the road. We've tried to avoid that by taking time, but now it's time to execute. I was speaking to some of my colleagues, some of the board members, that we are now moving forward much more quickly with our Extreme acquisition. We are using a land-and-expand, so we've expanded Extreme and their ETE relationship, and now we're broadening that out into batteries and substations, a wide range of different services we're offering. We're going to take that same approach and apply it in various different areas, whether that's organic or through acquisition. Jerome?
It's a little interesting at times. I don't think there's much more to add. I'll just say the utilities business is really this, right? Typically, smaller tickets, quarter cycle execution, usually under MSAs, which is a Master Service Agreement contract. When you think about growth in that kind of mode, it's really important to understand getting qualification with the utility in question. Doing that organically can be a little bit of a slog, which is why M&A is sometimes favored for that expansion. It's easier to access the labor capability, equipment, resume. From our perspective, probably from the U.S., it's a balanced growth strategy. Organics is really important. The business has grown organically extraordinarily well over the last number of years, but M&A is kind of another pillar for that growth strategy. It's good. If you have a question on those two.
Yeah. I was just wondering if a little bit. I'm just going to get everybody's opinion. Thanks. I mean, I look at the O3 preferred shares, I guess primarily debt. It's a little bit of a hybrid of something like that. It seems like it does come at a high financing cost of somewhere between 12%-14%. I'm curious about a third of the utility segments. It seems like the segment is large. You have good reputation. You've got a good strategy in terms of expanding this. It seems like it was kind of executed in a way that the valuation was a little bit time-consuming, a little bit low for what you have.
I was just wondering if you could keep around, I guess, the moments, the evaluative process in terms of alternatives, why which one was the best, and maybe a little bit about how that partnership has evolved over time and has it met your expectations.
Yeah. All good questions. I'm uniquely positioned to answer them because I was the investment manager advising Aecon at the time. So I've got nowhere to hide. The thing with the O3 instrument, I think it's fine. You can consider it that, but the reality is it is an equity instrument. It has kind of no key, so to speak. It is truly a convertible preferred share in kind of the traditional sense. You note the pick kind of appreciation rate associated with that instrument. That doesn't speak to the equity ownership, right? It's either kind of the 12.14% or the 27.5%. It's not low, right? Which I think is critical to remember. It also kind of puts itself in the context of what does it mean for an investor to take an equity position in the subsidiary of whatever capital vehicle, which is a public company, right?
When people list a monetized portion of a subsidiary, the investor is just like, "What is the natural liquidity that systems can be out of this instrument?" Usually, if it is kind of a private equity investment, they have to sell in a number of years. Aecon, as a forever capital vehicle, does not have that requirement. From their perspective, they are very focused on this 12%-14%. There is really a way of them expressing that they are here for growth and expansion, but they are not there for. Which is totally fine for us. Tentatively, if that instrument strikes at this 12%-14%, it is probably a super clean outcome for O3, and it is a super clean outcome for Aecon as well. We really see that as a 25% effect of value for those businesses, given the value and growth that is keeping.
I think that's the best case. The next one is taking this back into the context of where Aecon was by that transaction, which meant that we had a $184 million convertible venture at the mothership level that was going to be a need to redeem by the end of the year. Where the share price was, if we were to do that in terms of projectively, let's say we reissued a new convert under any kind of normal economic terms, you probably would end up selling a quarter of overall Aecon, right, in order to redeem that convertible. Even with this new convertible prep, even with the things associated with those, you're probably looking at 20% or 25% of overall Aecon actually being sold to redeem that convertible prep.
Whereas in this transaction, we were able to get a highly qualified strategic value-add partner in one of our subsidiaries. It is kind of like a quarter of the business and selling 25% of that quarter of the business and getting the same number of capital proceeds for the shareholders at the mothership level, which in our kind of arithmetic was probably a very strong outcome, particularly in the overall context of our case at that time. From our perspective, people look at that 25%. I look at that 25%. I think that is truly what they have invested in. That is where our alignment gets to grow the business better. Also from our perspective, given where we were at the time, it was clearly a very strong outcome. From a partnership standpoint, we have a list of people that we went to, right? It was a broad list.
It's called an EC, which is a distributed. At the outset of the process, I said, "Look, this is the party where we would likely want to end up with. It's a PowerPoint team." It is within the O3 structure, the only group that focuses solely on equity investments. And all they do is utility services and investments. So from our standpoint, getting with this type of partner, in particular as we launch into a U.S. growth strategy, it's a little bit like getting some cheat codes out of a bad market because this team has tracked every infrastructure and utility services transaction in that market in a very deep way, which we're taking on very stronger acquisitions than businesses have built on acquisitions historically. But this just gives us kind of an additional layer of insight, which is very helpful for us to be successful and move through it.
We have been very happy with the partnership. We do not charge any management fees. I think our team, whether it is on the corporate development side or on the utility side, speaks with them once or twice a week, four or five times a week, more sometimes. It is a very, very strong partnership. We are very, very pleased with that.
Do you ever see yourself buying back these shares, or?
Right now, the key thing for Aecon is continuing to grow the utility business. All paths, regardless of what the ultimate outcome is for kind of the street ownership in the utilities business, all of those paths are strengthened and amplified through strong growth and performance of that utility space. From our standpoint, here and now, the number of options that exist, and the more optionality that we afford Aecon shareholders, the better. Keeping all those options open. One of those things involves getting an audit completed on the utilities. We've made a statement on several of these pieces. We'll look at them very carefully to see that it's an audit piece or not. That's one of the reasons why. For us, it's just a matter of keeping all doors open.
Yeah. Good question. Good answers. Any other questions? Not a question here at this time. We'll continue.
Sorry. I'll ask him.
I got to hold it. I guess I'll ask the capital allocation question. Obviously, I've listened to your earnings calls quite in detail, and Aecon always has prided itself as being a soldier first. You're still a public company. It just seems like the, I guess, public market doesn't necessarily appreciate the intrinsic value that I see within the company. In particular, utilities having such sales growth both here and in the United States. I know that in the old saying that the stock market is a weighing machine in the short term, but a weighing machine in the long term. I can see a path where you guys are probably a billion-dollar company in the short term, probably something much larger in the future.
In the past 25 years, Aecon 's kind of traded within kind of a $10-$20 per share range. As a public company, you have some different allocation optionality that a private company does not necessarily have. I get your thoughts in terms of how you evaluate your choice of investment versus dividends, debt reductions, and just make sure about that. Yeah. There was a question and then there is a lot to tackle there. I am going to answer it at a high level and then jump right back to where Steve and I kind of have a deeper chat on capital allocation theory. Sure. Important thing, so Aecon 's generally acceptable.
The way that we need to think about it is one is the balance sheet of a major project's construction business is important because it allows us to secure new work, to give us confidence in our sureties, and competitive advantage at the mothership level. For us, maintaining strong capital base at the mothership level is important. The utility business is something different. It has its own kind of distinct balance sheet that's kind of a separate thing. It becomes a question of, okay, organic growth is the preferred growth mode. We look at it from a capital expenditure standpoint. We think on a return on capital basis. We have an operating capital committee that's led by our S&P Finances sitting over there.
We kind of review capital being deployed from whether it's a capital coining machine, if it's additional equipment, if it's an asphalt plant, an aggregate story. We think of all these things on kind of various different bases to understand if we see some hurdles over return on capital thresholds. What comes afterwards becomes a consistent capital. The first layer of that consistent capital is our current dividend stream, which is roughly $47.5 million a year given to shareholders and banks that support it. Afterwards, we then look at the reintroduction of M&A or share repurchases. From our perspective, we kind of look at those on a consistent capital basis to say, "Okay, well, we have very, very good growth opportunities that are strategically valuable for Aecon. We're not just seeing the corporate calls for us.
Share repurchases where we have an edge-to-edge program, that's just a board. We obviously see that actively in the value and purchase shares as well. All of that kind of goes into this to make sure how we then back it up. The fourth thing from our standpoint, though, is generation of fresh capital. Operations is kind of a spring. It basically allows us to water the entire garden. Right now, the big term that we see is as we get off of current C projects and budget C projects, that's where we start to see that coming. Kind of like step one, tackle that. Step two, make sure we're good for the business. Then step three, have the capital continue to source for shareholders. Thank you. On that note, folks with turnkey projects, if you want to ask that question.
If you want to ask that question, feel free to ask forward. Can you speak to the, I guess, the process of where you're at in terms of the lost-and-found questions?
Okay. I'm going to do this one so that you're all good. That was great. Yeah. We're mainly with three legacy projects. They should all be substantially completed during the year 2025. We are working very hard on this one. It's a 2023 share, kind of the Goldie Owl bridge. We have had various settlements with our orders on this project, which we are still continuing. After the substantial completion, finalization of all our commercial investments between the client, we are extremely focused on the growth, extremely fine and intensive. And we have taken all the lessons we could from this particular project. The fact that we now have more than 70% of collaborative projects on our backlog, while it was a few years ago, %24-25%, is extremely important for us. That will drive our 30-year stability on our margin.
In addition, you've seen with our backlog that we do not have a problem of revenue and activity for three years to come.
Any other questions?
I have a question.
Last question for you guys. Now, since we've done now, afterwards, with Aecon as the CEO, can I just have one? Also, we may sneak away over to this podium. Please turn your attention to the screen behind me for a short video before it is remarked.
I've pulled up the web. I'm going to—good morning and welcome everyone. [Foreign language] Bon matin. Je tiens à vous à tous. Peut-être nous sommes enregistrés pour ça. Et nous avons deux actionnaires importants qui sont venus du Québec ici qui ont eu un grand plaisir de parler et d'en penser quelques mots. When I can see that the Marine Cross of Projects across North America and beyond, highlighting our hero in what we did, it gives me immense pride, and I hope I'll share with her this insight with you. We are incredibly proud of our employees, what we deliver for our clients, and how we contribute to building what matters to enable future generations to thrive. I'm very pleased to be here this morning with all of you, my fellow shareholders, members of the board of directors, Aecon 's executive management team, and employees.
[Foreign language] Je vous en prie de nous accueillir avec vous tous, mes collègues actionnaires, les membres du conseil d'administration, l'équipe de direction d'Aecon, et certains de nos employés. Thank you, Björn, for leading the first portion of today's meeting. I hope you sweet-secret your thoughts and comments for our friend and outgoing board member today. Thank you, Monica, for your dedicated service to Aecon and your friendship. Thank you for your passion for construction. Thank you for your trust. We will meet you. Safety. There is nothing more important at Aecon than our commitment to safety. This is a constant pattern. Since last year, we continued advancing key priority carriers to strengthen our safety culture, but we are ultimately aiming higher for our performance every day. We are relentlessly focused on embedding safety always as a mindset versus just something we talk about at the start of every task.
This includes a commitment to leading the industry as a founding company of the Canadian Construction Safety Council to elevate safety performance through the adoption of Side to Safety Harvest, a new forward protection standard, and the adoption of new curb resistance loads with addition. After three years of pattern, we've made it. These have been adopted by the industry. Very light hard hat. Reinforced on all the natural. For everybody that is biking, would you ever bike with a helmet that has no chin scuff? Never, ever. In construction, nobody has chin scuff. These ones have chin scuff. The last, but not the least, we have seen a lot of accidents with eyes because people just put their glasses in, they check off their glasses, and they forget about their glasses. This one is perfectly within the helmet.
You can use it, and you can take it out. It is an enormous victory after two and a half years since it has been adopted by the project. Those standards are now being rolled out across our operation. I firmly believe in addition that safety is a precursor of performance. Performance is key for Aecon. Financial results. According to our 2024 year-end financial results, this year was underscored by a full year revenue of $4.2 billion, profit year-end backlog of $6.7 billion diversified across our operating sectors, significant new contract awards for projecting to the energy transition, and executive and the more collaborative models. Strong recurring revenue. Just over a month ago, Aecon reported results for the first quarter of 2025 with a backlog now of $9.7 billion, the highest reported backlog in the history of the company.
As I've just stated two minutes ago, it's worth noting that our activity now is comprised of more than 70% of collaborative contractor revenue. It is extremely important. Acquisition. This year, we welcome new teams to Aecon through a successful completion of three strategic acquisitions. Aecon n Utilities acquired a majority interest in Extreme Power Line Construction, an electrical distribution utility contractor based in Michigan. Aecon Utilities acquired Ainsworth Power Construction, a very famous company from Toronto, an electrical service-based power system contractor that quarterly has real value. Aecon acquired United Engineers & Construction Inc., a nuclear and conventional power contractor headquartered in New Jersey. It was part of the competitors that were missing and will now have it with us. We will see an Aecon transition to arm a significant opportunity across North America in the utilities, nuclear, and conventional power sectors.
During the year, Aecon also reached a settlement on one of the six prior legacy projects. With the remaining three legacy projects nearing completion, we spoke about it a few minutes ago, moving forward, we anticipate improved profitability and even more importantly, improved margin predictability. Aecon was selected to advance projects in a more collaborative mode and through progressive rates. As an example, the Coalcourt Terminal Expansion Project in Waterworth in Quebec, working with the Port of Montreal to deliver 60% of additional capacity, representing the largest port expansion in recent Canadian history. Other examples, the Winnipeg North End Sewage and Biosolids Facilities are great projects. This builds on our success working at the Hayworth facility that they owned for the past four years. Other examples are Scarborough Subway Extension, Stations Bay and Piston Project, which commercial floors at the end of the year in 2024.
The first progressive design-based project to move to the execution phase, and there are targets by still trying for May 1. This is the blueprint for success on these collaborative projects. As we call it, we have worked closely with our clients to develop projects and collaborate through progressive phases. We also continue to strategically grow our roster of international projects, including the redevelopment of the Cyril King Airport and Henry E. Rohlsen Airport in the U.S. Virgin Islands, in which Aecon Group is a development lead and is concurrently working to transition to long-term operation and maintenance. This is the first of a kind. This is a progressive EPFOM design-based finance operated and maintained. It just once again shows expertise of our team with airports, especially at international. The claim in Lloyds International Airport redevelopment in Antigua: the Henry Alternative of Davis, the Kingstown, Pauliston, Winston, and the Grenadine.
Building on Aecon 's established reputation in Canadian nuclear construction, Aecon continues its expansion in the U.S., including significant growth in the nuclear market. We are pleased to complete the strategic acquisition of United. We added additional scope to our seed water heater replacement work at the Dominion Energy North Anna Power Station in Virginia. Recently, we were awarded contracts with valued new clients. A contract with Energy Northwest for the moisture separator heater replacement at the Columbia Generating Station in Washington State, and a contract for the South Texas Project Generating Station Unit one emergency cooling water piping replacement. This is a combined result of strong expertise in Canada in major component replacement, added with a successful acquisition that we did a few years ago with Volks in the United States.
In Canada, clearly, we are successfully advancing the three largest nuclear refurbishments in North America, including the Bruce Power major component replacement, as well as the Pickering and Darlington nuclear refurbishment in Ontario. It is a 100% success for Aecon. All and any units refurbished in Canada are done by your company. We were pleased to recently commence the execution phase of the Darlington nuclear project, a trade-laden undertaking to deliver the first three-scale small modular reactor, SMR, in North America. Aecon remains strategically focused on projects linked to the energy transition and was proud to advance major projects across the nation, including the completion of the Sites Generating Station and Speedway Steven Worth project in British Columbia. Wonderful projects. The John Harp and Lindor Safety Subway project for the same client, Hydro BC, and the Ferry Magnet SkyTrain Station project, also in British Columbia, exit one.
Twenty convergent transportation solutions projects in Ontario, such as the Finch West LRT, Eglinton LRT, West Extension, and the GO Extension in New York. The sequence we are in, Aecon was pleased to wish completion of construction of the Oneida Energy Storage Project in Ontario and the facility commenced commercial operation. It's one of the largest energy storage projects, 250 megawatts in the world, and definitely the largest in North America. Called perfectly on time and on budget. Yes, Aecon is growing as a power company. Sustainability. Aecon is specifically focused on projects that will allow clients to mitigate and adapt to changing environment and harness electrification while aiming to mitigate our own climate change impacts. As an example, in 2024, 59% of Aecon 's revenue was linked to sustainability projects.
Today, Aecon has achieved a 34% cumulative reduction since 2020 in scope one and scope two greenhouse gas emission based on intensity-based targets related to revenue, surpassing our 30% reduction target in advance of the 2030 target date. Aecon was proud to be named one of Canada's greenest employers, demonstrating our success in implementing international internal practices and fostering external partnerships that drive excellent sustainability. Indigenous relations. Building on our long-standing commitment to engaging with communities while supporting economic and community prosperity, Aecon has also been designated as a Supply Chain Indigenous Procurement Champion by the Canadian Council for Indigenous Studies. This designation recognized our commitment to set industry standards and working collaboratively with Indigenous businesses on procurement that involve measurable actions and leading a lasting positive impact.
In 2024, Aecon procured CAD 127 billion of goods and services from the Indigenous economy, with a total of over CAD 1 billion of Indigenous hands up to date. We also established a new Indigenous partnership to install three standard units for the construction of the BHP Jansen-Westfield area, based on our project in Saskatchewan, and harness our Aecon Situation General Partnership to safely execute the Oneida Energy Storage Project. Turning to Aecon 's outlook, Aecon continues to maintain a disciplined capital allocation approach to deliver long-term shareholder value. This is our priority. We are focused on making strategic investment in our operations to support access and entry to new markets and to create operational effectiveness.
With record backlog in hand, recurring revenue programs continuing to see solid demand, a strong lead pipeline, and the impact of strategic acquisitions completed in the second half of 2024, revenue in 2025 is expected to be stronger than 2024. We will be stronger in 2025. Moving forward, Aecon will continue to advance its go-forward-together strategy to differentiate its service, offering and execution capabilities to secure higher-return projects linked to the energy transition, and the more collaborative models and with a lower risk profile. Our continued investment in our people and growth has positioned Aecon to prosper in the years ahead. Very happy to see numerous people from the HR department in this room. People is everything in the construction company, driven by our dedicated leadership team and employees. Aecon has 8,000 staff employees here in Canada, in the U.S., and around the world.
Our employees work very hard every day to persevere through challenges, to meet our clients' expectations, to bring our projects to completion on time and on budget, to ensure that Aecon sees a positive impact on the communities within, to create mutually beneficial relationships with local and Indigenous communities, and to ensure each one of us goes all the place, each and every day. Aecon has the best people of the market, working on some of the world's most complex, formidable projects. For that, I thank them. On behalf of John Beck and me and the Board of Directors, we thank you for your continued support and your trust.