Ladies and gentlemen, to the Bird Construction Second Quarter 2024 Results Conference Call and Webcast. We will begin with Teri McKibbon, President and Chief Executive Officer's presentation, which will be followed by a question and answer session. Analysts who wish to ask a question should have their webcast muted when dialing into the conference number provided. At any time during the presentation today, you may press the star, then one on your telephone keypad to be placed into the question queue. You will hear a tone acknowledging your request. When we are ready for questions, you will be introduced into the conference in the order that you were received. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star, then two. As a reminder, today, all participants are in a listen-only mode and the webcast is being recorded.
Should anyone need assistance during the conference call, they may signal for an operator by pressing star, then zero. Before commencing the conference call today, the company reminds those present that certain statements which are made express management's expectations or estimates of future performance and thereby constitute forward-looking information. Forward-looking information is necessarily based on a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by management, are inherently subject to significant business, economic, and competitive uncertainties and contingencies. Management's formal comments and responses to any questions you might ask may include forward-looking information. Therefore, the company cautions today's participants that such forward-looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause the actual financial results, performance, or achievements of the company to be materially different from the company's estimated future results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information.
Forward-looking information does not guarantee future performance. The company expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, events, or otherwise. In addition, our presentation today includes references to a number of financial measures which do not have standardized meanings under IFRS and may not be comparable with similar measures presented by other companies and are therefore considered non-GAAP measures. At this time, I would now like to turn the conference over to Teri McKibbon, President and CEO of Bird Construction. Please proceed, sir.
Thank you, operator. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining our second quarter 2024 conference call. With me today is Wayne Gingerich, Bird's Chief Financial Officer. Before we proceed with today's call, I'd like to take a moment to honor the memory of Karyn A. Brooks, our esteemed board member and chair of our audit committee, who recently passed away. Karyn joined us in 2017 and was a pillar of integrity and dedication. Her leadership and insight profoundly impacted Bird. Our thoughts are with her family during this difficult time, and we will commemorate her legacy with a donation to a charity chosen by her loved ones. Karyn will be deeply missed, and her contributions to Bird over her tenure will continue to deliver benefits to the company going forward.
Turning to today's presentation, Bird continues to execute on our disciplined growth strategy and reinforce our proven track record of operational excellence. The company's strategic focus on being a leading collaborative construction company continues to drive growth and better outcomes for all parties, and the strength of our balance sheet positions us to invest in profitable organic growth and pursue attractive acquisitions in today's active market. Turning to our second quarter financial highlights, Bird had another quarter of significant growth in revenue and profitability. Revenue was up 27% over a year ago to CAD 874 million, and Adjusted EBITDA increased 58% to CAD 47 million. Adjusted EBITDA margin continued to improve, reaching 5.3% for the quarter, a full 1% better than a year ago. The company's operating cash flow before investments in non-cash working capital also grew significantly compared to last year.
Our sustained financial performance reflects the progress we've made to date on our 2022-2024 strategic plan, setting a solid foundation as we head into the next phase of planning. The company's diverse and well-balanced combined backlog of work reached record levels in the quarter and remains over 90% low to medium risk contract types, with over 75% of the work being collaborative in nature. The demand environment is robust and there remains a healthy pipeline of opportunities we are pursuing at accretive margins. Bird added almost CAD 825 million in securements to its backlog in the second quarter, maintaining a backlog of contracted work totaling CAD 3.4 billion at quarter end.
The company's pending backlog of awarded work grew by over CAD 300 million in the second quarter to CAD 3.7 billion and includes almost CAD 900 million of MSAs and other recurring revenue contracts. Bird's combined backlog continues to reflect increased embedded margins, driven by the company's strategic focus on higher margin sectors and disciplined pursuit of new work, which gives us confidence that we will continue to improve margins through the second half of 2024 and beyond. Bird remains committed to profitability, discipline, diversification, and growth through our focus on margin accretion, organic growth, and accretive M&A opportunities. We continue to improve margins in our core business through disciplined project selection, a risk-balanced mix of projects, collaborative contracts, and increasing our self-performed capabilities to cross-sell our scopes and services.
We keep our sights set on productivity and efficiency enhancements as we grow to further leverage our cost structure, as well as targeting M&A sectors with specialized capabilities with higher margin potential. In line with this strategy, we're pleased to announce the successful completion of our acquisition of Jacob Bros. last week, which I will touch on more later in the presentation. Centered on driving growth across key markets and sectors that present robust opportunities over the longer term, our strategy includes expansion in our nuclear, mechanical, electrical, civil infrastructure, utilities, with an emphasis on energy transition and data-related infrastructure. Bird continues to be a go-to partner for collaborative delivery on sophisticated, complex projects. During the second quarter of 2024, the company announced the award of five projects with a combined total of over CAD 625 million.
These projects include multi-year mine infrastructure in Eastern Canada, three long-term care projects, and a multi-building institutional project in Western Canada. Overall, we continue to be intentional in our project selection as we increase our self-perform capabilities and cross-selling opportunities throughout the organization, and we remain focused on long-term value creation. The electrification market continues to experience significant growth and transformation. In Canada, several key trends are shaping the market, including expansion of clean energy infrastructure, investment in renewable energy, regulatory support, and positive market projections. Our successful track record of serving top-tier energy and power clients across the country has set us up as the preferred partner in key markets, including wind, hydroelectric, nuclear, critical mineral, uranium mining, battery manufacturing, and other EV supply chain support infrastructure.
Bird is well positioned for future opportunities in the energy transition landscape through our strong commercial systems and utilities, civil infrastructure, industrial construction, and industrial maintenance teams. Recently, we announced our collaboration in the Canadians for CANDU campaign. This initiative aims to promote the use and deployment of CANDU nuclear technology at home and abroad, to not only help Canada achieve net zero emissions, but maintain a strong domestic nuclear industry. Bird is proud to champion expansion of our domestic technology for a cleaner, more prosperous future for Canadians and contribute to global efforts towards a net zero future. Bird is well positioned to capitalize on the significant tailwinds presented in both the public and private sectors. Driven by global population growth, urbanization, aging infrastructure, and energy transition investments, we are seeing elevated spending across our key industrial buildings and infrastructure markets.
As we look ahead, we expect these positive conditions to propel our business forward over the medium to long term. Our transformed business model continues to create value through a collaborative framework, allowing us to leverage our self-perform and cross-selling abilities to capitalize on future opportunities. We remain focused on higher-margin market sectors for continued bottom and top-line growth. Public sector continues to present a robust market for opportunities with growth, innovation, and sustainable development. The recently announced launch of the Canada Public Transit Fund, CAD 30 billion investment, that represents the largest public transit investment in Canadian history, will invest an average of CAD 3 billion per year to help cities and communities across the country to deliver better, more accessible public transit systems for Canadians.
As mentioned in the previous slide, the energy transition continues to grow the renewable energy market in response to Canada's need to roughly double its electrical supply. Investments into energy generation projects continued to climb in the 2024 federal budget, reiterating commitments to invest in nuclear as clean energy technology, including Canada Infrastructure Bank's CAD 970 million investment in Ontario Power Generation's grid-scale SMR project and a proposed CAD 3.1 billion investment over 11 years in support of Canadian Nuclear Laboratories work. In the province of Ontario, the government is investing CAD 155 million to fast-start construction of the next tranche of long-term care homes, as well as an additional CAD 1 billion investment in core infrastructure projects and CAD 50 billion over the next 10 years in health infrastructure.
Currently, BC represents the largest infrastructure market in Western Canada, with a robust pipeline of opportunities through longer-term across transportation, utilities, power, housing, institutional, and public facility sectors. Both the provincial and municipal governments in BC have committed substantial funds to various infrastructure projects, including significant modernization and expansion efforts across transportation and power sectors. Examples of these efforts include Vancouver International Airport's CAD 9 billion expansion plan that is underway until 2037, the Port of Vancouver's CAD 3 billion expansion to enhance capacity and efficiency over the next six years, BC Hydro's CAD 1 billion plan to upgrade the electrical grid in 2024, with a ten-year plan indicating over CAD 36 billion in investments. Additionally, Mining Association of British Columbia has reported a near-term investment of CAD 36 billion to help 16 proposed critical mineral mines.
Last week, we were happy to officially welcome Jacob Bros. to the Bird team, supporting our capability to capitalize on these significant opportunities available in BC. This acquisition allows us to pursue projects of varying size, complexity, and scope, allowing us to cross-sell our combined self-performed services and offer more comprehensive solutions to our clients. Jacob Bros. was a privately owned civil infrastructure construction business headquartered in Surrey, BC, with a highly skilled workforce of approximately 350 salaried and craft personnel, who will continue to deliver their services under the Jacob Bros. brand. Jacob Bros. brings significant self-performed capabilities that complement Bird's already extensive scopes and services, specializing in infrastructure projects, including airports, seaports, rail, bridges, structures, earthwork, energy projects, and utilities. Jacob Bros. also brings expertise in specialized projects that require innovative, purpose-built custom solutions and leverage their suite of comprehensive services.
These projects range across multiple sectors, including healthcare, education, and light industrial. The leadership team has built a strong people-first culture, and like Bird, provides their employees with the tools they need to execute successful projects and build long-term construction careers. The company has a strong culture of safety and a proven track record of safe operations. The current leaders, Scott and Todd Jacob, bring extensive experience and leadership to Bird. Both leaders will continue as part of the Bird executive team, and as previously announced, will lead our Western infrastructure business, including Jacob Bros.. The acquisition of Jacob Bros. was compelling for several key strategic, operational, and financial reasons. The transaction advances Bird's strategy to build out a national full-service infrastructure vertical.
Over the past few years, we have strategically diversified our revenue sources through organic growth and strategic M&A, while at the same time, we have significantly enhanced our profitability. On a full year basis, Jacob Bros. is expected to generate approximately CAD 300 million in revenue, CAD 37 million of Adjusted EBITDA, adding significant growth to Bird's infrastructure vertical. The company also brings a robust project backlog of approximately CAD 350 million, including significant infrastructure projects across multiple sectors. Jacob Bros.' self-performed services, along with their special projects expertise, is expected to accelerate Bird's Adjusted EBITDA margin accretion and support further shareholder value creation, with an anticipated 10% increase to Adjusted EPS on a full year basis. As with past acquisitions, we are heavily focused on post-acquisition growth, and we see significant upside potential from cross-selling opportunities and other synergies in the combined business.
Wayne will now cover the financial highlights for the quarter.
Thank you, Teri. Bird's second quarter continued to deliver substantial revenue and earnings growth, executing record high volumes of work in the quarter and delivering earnings growth that significantly outpaced revenue growth. Construction revenue for the second quarter of CAD 873.5 million represented a 27% increase compared to the same period in 2023. On a year-to-date basis, revenues of CAD 1.56 billion for the first half of 2024 were CAD 339 million, or 28% higher than 2023. The growth for both the quarter and first half of 2024 was over 90% organic. The company's gross profit margin improved in the quarter compared to 2023, increasing to 8.6% from 7.9%.
The improvement continues to be driven by the company's highly collaborative work program, with higher embedded margins in backlog and pending backlog, resulting from Bird's strategic focus on higher-margin sectors, disciplined project selection, and the benefits of leveraging Bird's self-performed capabilities and cross-selling opportunities across our business units. On a year-to-date basis, gross profit margin was up 60 basis points to 8.3% compared to last year. General and administrative expenses were CAD 43.6 million, or 5% of revenue for the quarter, and included CAD 1.3 million of transaction costs related to our recently completed acquisition of Jacob Bros. This compares to CAD 36.2 million, or 5.3% of revenue, in the second quarter of last year. The company continues to gain leverage on its cost base, gaining efficiencies as the company continues to grow.
Adjusted EBITDA in the second quarter was CAD 46.6 million, a 58% increase over the CAD 29.5 million reported a year ago. Adjusted EBITDA margins continued to increase on a year-over-year basis, reaching 5.3% for the quarter and 1% better than last year. Turning to earnings, net income and earnings per share were CAD 21.4 million and CAD 0.40, respectively, compared to CAD 13.7 million and CAD 0.26 in 2023. Adjusted earnings and earnings per share were CAD 22.7 million and CAD 0.42, compared to CAD 15.7 million and CAD 0.29 in 2023. The weighted average shares outstanding for the second quarter of 2024 was 117,000 shares higher than 2023 due to the acquisition of NorCan in the first quarter.
Bird's healthy balance sheet and strong operating cash flow generation are a differentiator for the company and support our strategic growth initiatives, including the ability to pursue attractive M&A opportunities such as the Jacob Bros. acquisition we announced in June and completed in August. In connection with the acquisition, Bird took the opportunity to amend its syndicated credit facility, extending the maturity out one additional year to 2027 and expanding the revolving facility to CAD 300 million to support the larger combined company. The company also increased its term loan facilities to CAD 125 million, allowing for the repayment of existing term loans and funding a portion of the Jacob Bros. acquisition.
Bird closed the second quarter with CAD 102 million in cash and cash equivalents, and an additional CAD 197 million available under our revolving credit facility, allowing the company to continue to invest in growth-related working capital, project-driven capital expenditures, and potential tuck-in acquisitions to further enhance our service offerings and self-performed capabilities. We expect Bird's operating cash generation will remain strong for the year, commensurate with the significant revenue and profitability growth being delivered. Excluding seasonal and growth-related investments in non-cash working capital, operating cash flow generation was up 65% for the quarter and 69% year-to-date compared to last year. With the seasonal increases in non-cash working capital unwinding over the second half of 2024, we continue to expect positive operating cash flows for the full year.
The company's working capital of over CAD 244 million at the end of the second quarter, supported by liquidity available under a syndicated credit facility, are more than sufficient for the company to execute its backlog and to accommodate the expected growth in our diversified work program. The company has a current ratio of 1.25 times, and our Adjusted net debt to trailing 12-month Adjusted EBITDA ratio stands at 0.86 times. Bird's long-term debt to equity ratio is 20% at the end of the quarter. Over the past 4 years, Bird's revenue, Adjusted EBITDA, and Adjusted EBITDA margins have experienced a period of sustained growth. Trailing 12-month revenue has grown at a compounded annual growth rate of 22%, over doubling the company's annual revenue.
Adjusted EBITDA has grown at a compounded annual growth rate of 35% over the same period. Trailing twelve-month Adjusted EBITDA margins increased from 3.6% to 5.2%, reflecting management's strategic focus on margin accretion, with further opportunity to expand through 2024 and beyond. As Teri mentioned earlier in today's presentation, the company's margins have been continually improving in our backlog and pending backlog. These improvements have been driven by efforts over the past several years to diversify into higher-margin sectors with a disciplined focus on project selection and an appropriately risk-balanced work program with greater use of collaborative contracting methods, which Bird believes delivers better outcomes for all stakeholders. Margins have also benefited from leveraging Bird's expanding self-performed capabilities and increased cross-selling opportunities between our business units and newly acquired assets.
This can be seen in the results for the second quarter of this year, where we took another big step up in our margins leading into the second half of the year. Bird continues to follow a balanced capital allocation strategy, supporting the company's business growth, profitability, and enhanced long-term shareholder value through a combination of M&A, smart capital investments, and returning capital to shareholders through dividends. The company continued to invest in equipment to support our growing work programs in the second quarter and returned over CAD 13 million to shareholders through our monthly dividends in the first half of 2024. Bird completed the acquisition of NorCan in the first quarter and announced the acquisition of Jacob Bros. in the second quarter, which was completed on August 1st. For full year 2024, the company expects to retain greater than two-thirds of net income to support growth.
I will now turn the call back to Teri to comment on the outlook for the company.
Bird's combined backlog, along with a robust pipeline of attractive opportunities actively being pursued, continue to reflect higher embedded margins, provide confidence in the company's ability to drive further growth and margin accretion. Focusing on the right sectors and selectively pursuing work that has a strategic alignment between capabilities, project type, and delivery model, with a strong focus on early contractor involvement and collaborative opportunities, continue to drive improved outcomes for all parties. We anticipate strong full-year growth in earnings, revenue, and operating cash flows, bolstered by the recent acquisition of Jacob Bros. on August 1st. With five months of Jacob Bros.' revenue to be consolidated in Bird's results for 2024, the company expects combined revenue to approach CAD 3.5 billion for the year.
In addition, Jacob Bros. is expected to immediately add over CAD 350 million of risk-balanced, margin-accretive backlog and pending backlog, with a wealth of significant opportunities being pursued with public and private clients throughout Western Canada, where Jacob Bros. maintains strong relationships. What enables us to pursue attractive opportunities in the current M&A environment and support our strategic growth initiatives, such as the Jacob Bros. acquisition, is our healthy balance sheet. We expect to have strong cash flow generation in the second half of 2024, with seasonal unwinding of investments in non-cash working capital towards the end of the year. Longer term, we remain committed to a dividend payout ratio of net income of approximately 33%.
We are pleased to announce that we will be hosting our 2024 Investor Day on October 9th, where we will share our plans of Bird's next phase of growth. During this hybrid event, with attendees both in person and virtually, we will unveil our 2025 to 2027 strategic plan and provide more specific guidance for the upcoming three years. More details and registration information will be available in the near future. With that, I'll turn the call back to the operator for questions.
Thank you. We will now begin the question-and-answer session. As a reminder, analysts who wish to ask a question may press star, then one on their telephone keypad to join the question queue. You will hear a tone acknowledging your request. If you are using a speakerphone, please ensure that you lift your handset before pressing any keys. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star, then two. Anyone who has a question may press star, then one. At this time, we will pause momentarily to assemble our roster. Today's first question comes from Chris Murray with ATB Capital Markets. Please proceed.
Thanks, folks. Good morning.
Good morning, Chris.
Maybe... Hey, just maybe turning back to this revenue growth rate. You know, I guess it took a lot of us by surprise, just the strength of it. And, you know, I think as you pointed out, Wayne, in your presentation, you know, you're running at around a 22% growth CAGR. You talked about kind of approaching CAD 3.5 billion, I guess, for this year. I guess, you know, a couple questions on this. I mean, one, you know, the sustainability of this on top of M&A, is, you know, I guess the question we're all trying to get our heads around, as we go further into maybe 2025 or 2026.
You know, book-to-bill on a trailing basis is still kind of supportive of at least kind of 10%, maybe more. But I guess what we're trying to also understand is how the collaborative contract model, because I guess even the projected backlog kind of took a big step up as well. So maybe can you help us understand what you think your—that CAGR looks like over the next couple of years as we try to maybe gauge this a little bit better, that would be helpful.
Yeah, I think, you know, obviously the performance in the twenties is certainly... Yeah, I don't think we would sit here confidently and suggest that's sustainable, you know, over multiple years. But, you know, there certainly is a lot of strength in the projects that we're in. I think what's really paying off, Chris, for us, is we're highly diversified now into a lot of sectors, and we've diversified into sectors that have a lot of momentum. And, you know, when you get some momentum behind you, certainly you attract a lot of talent. You know, being public, obviously, we're out in the markets, and you see a lot of things about us and, you know, the sectors we're focused on are really not that cyclical, to be honest with you.
We got a nice balance now, east-west, in which we've been focused on in terms of geographical diversity, and we've got a, you know, I think, a really nice end market balance with a nice balance between public and private markets. So yeah, there's certainly lots of wind in our sails, and I think the space we're in certainly gives us a lot of confidence that, you know, we're gonna have strong demand for our services for the next few years.
Okay. And then, Wayne, I think you talked about, you know, the ability of you folks to start getting some additional operating leverage on SG&A. And, you know, you back out the kind of the one-time costs for, for acquisitions in the quarter. Now, if you think about, G&A expenses, even as you layer on Jacobs, you know, is that kind of normalized run rate, you know, kind of the, that kind of call it just over CAD 40 million a quarter number? Like, how far can you drive revenue before that number needs to move, or is it something that just sort of you think you've got everything you're gonna need to have today? So any color you have on that, on that operating leverage would be helpful.
Yeah. Yeah, certainly. So I think, you know, in terms of G&A, yeah, you know, if you take out transaction costs and, and those types of things, I think, you know, CAD 40 million or just over is not a bad, you know, run rate when you think about our business today. But, you know, at the same time, one of the things we have been doing is, you know, making strategic hires, you know, over the last couple of years, you know, kind of adding key people every quarter. But it's not, you know, on their own, they're not individually, you know, material enough to move the needle in a single quarter when you make those hires.
But for us to continue the growth we're on, you know, it's important to have the people to deliver those projects. And, you know, in some of the sectors we're in, we're adding some very specialized skill sets, and they're gonna be in G&A for a while until we win some of those projects and convert to direct costs. But, yeah, I guess the short answer to your question is, yeah, you know, probably CAD 40 million is not a, not a bad estimate on run rate.
Okay. And along those lines, I mean, I think, I think when you did the Stuart Olson acquisition, you know, we spent a lot of time talking a little bit about systems and processes. I guess the other piece of this is, you know, growth is great, but you still have to manage it. Do you feel like you've got the, call it the, the base now that, you know, that the organization can support those—these types of growth levels over the next couple of years?
Yeah, we're very confident in that, Chris. We're 80% through a new ERP, you know, for the company. That's gone very well. You know, certainly it's tracking on schedule and you know, and that gives us a very strong foundation to, you know, obviously integrate the companies that we have in our, in our mix. And like I said, we're 80% through that. But it's also the type of technology we're using will be, you know, leading edge, you know, in terms of giving us the tools to, you know, to lead in the environment across many different aspects of our business, not just specifically, you know, financial controls, a lot of operational controls, a lot of safety aspects that are evolving technology.
You know, obviously, efficient management of our fleet, you know, it's really impressive, the new tools that we're rolling out to our operational teams, and we had tremendous feedback on the uptake of the use of those tools.
All right. That's helpful. Thank you. I'll pass along.
Thanks, Chris.
The next question comes from Sean Jack with Raymond James. Please proceed.
Hey, good morning, guys.
Hi, Sean. Good morning.
So, there's been a, you know, definitely more mention lately on the MSA work and recurring revenue work that's embedded in the backlog. Just wondering if you wanted to describe any new opportunities that for that style of work that's gonna be unlocked by the Jacobs deal coming up?
Well, on the, on the, the Jacobs side, you know, certainly they have a regular run rate of work they do, for example, at YVR in Vancouver, that you would... I don't know that they would characterize it as an MSA per se, per se, but it is in that sort of-... you know, that framework. A lot of the work they do, you know, exists across a number of different government-type clients and, and, you know, repeatable clients that they have, you know, performed work for that's special in nature, and, and then obviously, the civil side, they work across a number of different sectors. But, you know, Jacobs certainly is, we're excited about integrating that acquisition now, and that's well underway.
You know, obviously, with the demands in the BC marketplace, it really positions us nicely to cross-sell, you know, that business, into some of our other activities that we already have underway in BC. So very excited about it, but-
Perfect. Okay, that's helpful. So, kind of in the same vein as well, wondering if you could provide any sort of details on the projects or the backlog project mix at Jacobs. I know that you guys had mentioned that it's risk balanced. Is there any sort of goalposts you would put out between, you know, fixed price and collaborative style projects for that?
So they have a mix of things. Again, they work across a number of diversified areas in BC. You know, they do what we would call unit price work, where they work for governments, where the government takes risks on quantities and design and that kind of thing. And Jacobs, you know, obviously with their history and experience, you know, provides a unit price for a lot of that kind of work. So in that regard, I think we like it. We obviously did our thorough due diligence on their backlog and worked through the types of things they were doing, and we're quite impressed.
The skill set they have, the margin profile they have is reflects how what a quality business that company is and how well they operate and how professionally they operate.
Okay, awesome. Yeah, that's all from me, guys. I'll turn it over. Thanks.
Thanks, John.
Our next question comes from Ian Gillies with Stifel. Please proceed.
Morning, everyone.
Good morning.
You've talked a little bit about adding senior talent in various places. Are you maybe able to flag for us some of the end markets that those folks would have focused on, and whether they may be new to Bird or where they may be additive to Bird?
Yeah, it's a mix of things. Certainly, with our growth in nuclear, we've added, you know, some top-tier leaders to support, you know, that growth. With the demands that we're seeing now, you know, in a mix of, you know, energy-related projects and the scale of these projects, we've got, you know, certainly some new horsepower that's supporting that. You think about our infrastructure business, we've got, you know, obviously a broad scale of opportunities. So we've been. That business has been growing organically in Eastern Canada and ultimately in the West with Jacob Bros. bringing a, you know, top-tier team to the table.
You know, moving across some of the other sectors, I'd say, you know, on our building side, demand is high, you know, both east and west, so we're continuously adding new resources. Our modular business is gaining some, you know, momentum, and we have new, certainly new leadership supporting that business. So I'd say overall, it's, you know, it's we're very careful to obviously have the horse before the cart. And as such, you know, we typically have that on the front end and move from there.
That's helpful. As we think about the 2024 revenue guide, the first half growth was, quite frankly, outstanding, and it looks like there's gonna be a little step down in the back half of the year. Is it a reflection of conservatism in the back half of the year right now, or was there some benefits from weather that allowed you to be more productive in the first half of the year? I'm just trying to understand why it's changing a little bit.
Yeah, I guess a couple of things. So, you know, in the back half of the year, like I wouldn't say the growth, the growth is low. You know, we did have a strong second half of 2023 in terms of revenue, so, you know, the comparables are a little bit tougher than the first half of 2023 versus first half of 2024. But in our outlook section of the MD&A, you know, including, you know, five months of Jacob Bros., you know, we had said that revenue was gonna approach, you know, CAD 3.5 billion, and without Jacob Bros., it, you know, just kind of, the rest of Bird, if you will, including NorCan, you know, would approach CAD 3.4 billion.
So, you know, the growth in the second half is still 20%, you know, plus, which is still pretty, pretty healthy growth. Now, some of that's organic, obviously, with Jacob Bros. being, you know, ± CAD 100 million that we called out there, but still, still pretty strong organic growth on the, on the Bird side.
No, that makes sense. And I was not trying to imply that it's not a strong organic growth. Just trying to understand the change. The other thing I was perhaps hoping to spend a little bit of time on was, as you think about self-performed capabilities within the business now versus 24 months ago, and perhaps where you want to be two years from now, can you maybe talk about how you're thinking about driving that change and how that ties in with your, call it, margin aspirations?
... Well, certainly, you know, I think we've built a really strong foundation, you know, with the business. We've got, you know, the three pillars now, well established in, you know, in industrial and buildings and in infrastructure. The demands in those three verticals certainly have been quite strong, and, we've positioned ourselves in each of those, to focus on, you know, segments that have, you know, considerable, considerable demand, you know, in that regard.
So I think we're, you know, you add the, the new, you know, capabilities we have in the various sectors with, with this army of electricians that we, we employ, that can position, you know, ourselves in a good place with some of the large data center, you know, work that's, that's not certainly going away anytime soon. So yeah, I think, you know, overall, as we transition now and in the next couple of years, we're in a really good spot.
Okay. Thanks very much. I'll turn the call back over.
Thank you.
Our next question is from Maxim Sytchev, with National Bank Financial. Please proceed.
Hi. Good morning, Teri and Wayne.
Hey, Max.
Hey, Max.
I was wondering if it's possible to get any color around the pricing dynamic in the private sector right now. Because it, I mean, it feels like, you know, some of the data, data points maybe are not as positive what you guys are seeing, you know, on this call. So yeah, just wondering what you can tell us about the pricing. Thanks.
Yeah, so I wouldn't say, Max. We've, you know, the demands for our, you know, services are still very high. We say no a lot to clients, you know, mainly because of our, you know, specific selections of the types of things we wanna do and the margin profile that we are looking for. There's many different opportunities that come through our office that we decide that just aren't the right fit for us. So I'd say that the market in the sectors we're in, and again, they're often very specialized things like nuclear, things like, you know, obviously, the capability to deliver an LNG facility, the ability to deliver a new chemical facility, production facility.
You know, if you start to look through those, the renewable side, hydroelectric, you know, nuclear, those are, you know, those are our sectors that it's a steep hill to climb to get to the entry level of those sectors. So I think with us, we have that benefit of a very high portion of the work we do is very specialized, and there's only a few companies that obviously have that capability. And we're also seeing, I'd say, a decent pull from some of the, you know, entities that would focus in North America. They're being pulled into the US with the demands there, and some of the companies that historically have worked in Canada from different parts of the world or from the US, are pulling back now to focus on their opportunities in the US.
So that creates, you know, a stronger marketplace, or at least a strengthened market, you know, that in the sense of strengthened demand and obviously margin profiles. There's no pressure on margins, you know, because of that. So I think where we've positioned ourselves has given us, you know, some really strong momentum and confidence, you know, for the next, you know, the next three years.
Okay. No, that's, that's a very good point. And I just have one, kind of like operational slash, sort of HR question. As you are obviously pushing kind of this one Bird team approach, I'm wondering about, you know, when you move people around, sort of across the country, like, you know, how easy it is to do? Is it a little bit easier now that we're kind of like over the hump of like, so, you know, challenges to find people? Maybe just any color on the subject. Thanks.
Yeah, we, you know, I think we've had really good success with that, and I think it's the types of individuals that we're looking for. You know, it's they, they really enjoy what we're doing. Now that we're on, you know, what I would call a common technology platform, they can plug and play no matter where they go. Young people today, I think, have a higher interest in learning, you know, different types of things and are excited about that. The big remote projects that we used to do that used to be more difficult to get, you know, our employees to go to now are very modern facilities. We don't call them camps anymore, they're really lodges. You know, the uplift in pay for those projects is high.
So young people, they like the mix. They like the fact that they can go out on a project, work for two weeks, and then have a week off on a rotation. They go somewhere in the world for a holiday. So, you know... It's become a nice balance, and there's still gonna be individuals that are attached to a certain location in the country because of family reasons, aren't as easy to move. I'd say coming through COVID, we've all learned to be very efficient with, you know, virtual capabilities. And now with the new technology platforms that are evolving, you do a lot of things in a virtual framework at times.
So, I think in that regard, we don't—like, our district leaders don't raise flags about their ability to attract employees or move employees from one location to the other, at all. So, you know, that's a leading indicator for me. So, I think, you know, in that regard, we're obviously managing it well.
Yeah. Okay. No, that's, that's a good point, sir. Thank you so much for all the color.
Thanks, Mike.
As a reminder, if you are an analyst and you do have a question, please press Star, then one on your telephone keypad to join the question queue. The next question comes from Atharva Zaveri with TD Cowen. Please proceed.
Hey, good morning, everyone. Atharva Zaveri here-
Good morning.
On behalf of Michael Tupholme. So obviously, the strong margin performance has been seen year to date, and there will be an impact of Jacob Bros. acquisition. In terms of EBITDA margin, where do you see for full year 2024? And do you still expect similar margin improvement you saw last year, or there is room for you to do even better?
Yeah, I would say, so on a trailing twelve-month basis, I think we're 5.2% EBITDA margin. You know, we see that building and continuing to improve through 2024. Yeah, I think consensus estimates probably have us around, you know, 5.9 or something like that. And, you know, I think certainly that is a floor and, you know, probably something with a six in front of it is where we end 2024. And then, you know, yeah, you know, with a full year of Jacob Bros., like an extra seven months of Jacob Bros. in 2025, you know, certainly we expect that to be accretive to our margins.
But what we also tried to say in our outlook section is, you know, when you look at our backlog and you look at our pending backlog and you look at the embedded margins that we have, you know, those are at a higher level, you know, than where we're at. So we would expect our margins just organically to also improve. So I think in 2025, you're gonna get the double benefit of having a 12% EBITDA business, of Jacob Bros. having 12 months in the figures, and then, you know, Bird itself is just organically improving its margin profile, as well.
Thanks.
At this time, there are no further questions in the queue, and this does conclude our question and answer session. I will now hand the call back over to Mr. McKibbon for any closing remarks.
Thank you all for joining us this morning on our earnings call. We look forward to providing you with more details on our new three-year strategic plan and updated long-term financial outlook at our Investor Day on October ninth in Toronto. We hope to see you there. Thank you very much.
This brings to a close today's conference call and webcast. You may now disconnect your lines. Thank you for participating and have a pleasant day.