Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Bird Construction first quarter financial 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 their presentation today, you may press Star, then one on your telephone keypad to be placed into the question queue. You will hear a tone acknowledging your request. When you 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, all participants are in listen-only mode and the webcast is being recorded.
Should anyone need assistance during the conference call, they may signal an operator by pressing Star and zero. Before commencing with the conference call, 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. I would like to turn the call over to Teri McKibbon, President and CEO of Bird Construction.
Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. Thanks for joining us on today's first quarter of 2022 earnings conference call. Joining me on today's call is Wayne Gingrich, Chief Financial Officer. I'm pleased to report solid financial results for the first quarter of 2022, whereby we posted strong year-over-year revenue growth, reported a record combined backlog, and continued to possess a strong balance sheet. We posted these strong results despite early headwinds from pandemic-related personnel absenteeism and supply chain challenges, as well as weather-related delays. Our first quarter results continue to reflect our efforts to bring together the Bird, Stuart Olson, and Dagmar teams to leverage our combined strengths. This effort has resulted in Bird winning projects that it would not have otherwise won on its own.
I've said previously, I believe that we've built a strong foundation such that we can grow our top line while improving our overall EBITDA margins to accelerate growth of our bottom line. As you will see on slide six, we posted first quarter construction revenues of CAD 476 million, a 77% increase year-over-year. Revenues for both quarters were negatively impacted by the pandemic, the nature of those impacts were quite different. In 2021, we've witnessed full project shutdowns and postponements due to COVID-19, compared to 2022, where we experienced smaller individual impacts due to absenteeism and supply chain delays, but across a broader range of projects. The CEWS program helped mitigate some of the impacts to our bottom line in 2021, but was not available this year. Net income for the quarter was CAD 6.4 million or CAD 0.12 per share.
On an adjusted basis, EBITDA was CAD 17.8 million, representing a 3.8% margin, while earnings were CAD 6.5 million or CAD 0.12 per share. Securements in the quarter amounted to CAD 507 million, while our backlog was at a record CAD 3 billion at quarter end and pending backlog of CAD 1.7 billion, which is approaching the prior record set in Q3 of 2021. Overall, our bid pipeline remains robust as opportunities continue to present themselves, which gives us continued confidence in the near to medium term. Moving to slide seven. For the first quarter, we reported an Adjusted EBITDA margin of 3.8%. On a trailing twelve-month basis, we reported an Adjusted EBITDA margin of 4.7%.
I'm encouraged by the strength of our margin this quarter, given that Q1 is a seasonally slow quarter and in light of the continued impacts of the pandemic this past quarter. One of our strategic priorities is to focus on achieving a higher overall margin profile, and our expanded capabilities will continue to present cross-selling opportunities. This, coupled with an increased level of self-perform work, is expected to result in a higher margin profile over time. Our strategic pursuits are paying off, as you can see on slide 8, where we announced the meaningful contracts in the first quarter subsequent to quarter end.
In the first quarter, Bird through a joint venture, was selected by the City of Barrie as a general contractor for the city's wastewater treatment facility upgrade program, and will assume primary responsibility for construction services for the duration of the project, which will be delivered through an IPD model. The construction cost estimate of the project is valued at approximately CAD 125 million. Additionally, subsequent to quarter end, the company was awarded two five-year master service agreements or MSA contracts for industrial maintenance services and two industrial facility turnaround contracts. The total value of the awarded contracts is an estimated CAD 90 million. Also, after quarter end, Bird was awarded a multi-year mining services contract valued at approximately CAD 70 million over the term of the contract.
Leveraging the recent acquisition of Dagmar Construction, we are pleased to announce a contract for railway, track, signal, and station works by Metrolinx for the Kitchener GO Corridor expansion project valued at approximately CAD 62 million. This contract is the first step in a series of infrastructure upgrades planned as part of the Kitchener GO expansion program, which will transform the line and bring increased two-way, all-day service and better connectivity to the larger GO Transit network. This contract speaks to the strength of Dagmar's capabilities, and we expect to leverage our combined pursuits with Dagmar to capture additional value-added work over time. Lastly, we're selected as a proponent for the Port Hope Area Initiative Master Construction contract or MCC by the Canadian Nuclear Laboratories.
Under the MCC, as one of three proponents, Bird has the opportunity to bid on work packages covering close to CAD 1 billion of decommissioning and remediation work over the life of the initiative. I'd like to highlight that this contract speaks to our relationship with CNL, given our expanded self-perform capabilities and stronger civil and earthworks experience, which position us to deliver substantial value to CNL and the Port Hope Area Initiative over time. The announced contracts in the first quarter of 2022 and subsequent to quarter end build on our extensive portfolio of projects as illustrated on slide nine. These projects span Lake City Studios and the Okanagan Indian Band Water System upgrade in British Columbia, a bundle of schools and the University of Calgary MacKimmie Block in Alberta, to working on stage two of the Confederation Line and the Ontario Power Generation Clarington campus in Ontario.
In total, we are currently working on over 300 projects with a combined value of CAD 6.7 billion as shown on slide 10. Taking it one step further, we have a notable portfolio of major contracts that provide good visibility over a multi-year timeframe. Our major projects are multidisciplinary, span from coast to coast, and provide good visibility given the longer maturity of these contracts. Furthermore, as I have talked about previously, over the past number of years, we have made a concerted effort to reduce the overall risk profile of the company by way of entering into collaborative contracting methods, which balances the risk transfer between Bird and our clients. Ultimately, these contracting methods allow us to share the risk appropriately with our clients.
To this end, currently we have 15% of our contracts under collaborative IPD alliance contracts, while we have 20% of our major contracts under these collaborative methods. To provide a bit of color, these collaborative contracting methods bring all parties together early in the process to provide transparency and few surprises. As such, the client works with the designer and contractor through all delivery phases as one integrated collaborative team. This delivery method provides higher owner control, commitment, and dedicated resources, which increases transparency and as a result, provides increased project budget certainty for the client. By its very nature, these collaborative integrated delivery methods allow a balanced transfer of risk, allowing the client and Bird to share the risk which reduces our overall risk profile.
Additionally, we have amassed significant capabilities to offer master service agreements to clients under long-term contracts, providing excellent visibility to forward revenues. In fact, within our pending backlog, we have roughly CAD 850 million of recurring MSA work that span between one and five years. Our MSAs are predominantly comprised of MRO contracts with industrial clients where we have long histories of working together. While we have historically had a large presence in Alberta within the oil and gas sector, we have broadened our footprint moving out east to provide substantial capabilities to clients outside of the oil and gas sector. Our strong construction and self-perform capabilities, combined with our commercial systems group, where we employ over 1,000 electricians, allow us to provide a compelling one-stop shop offering to our clients.
I believe this is a competitive advantage for us and will continue to bear fruit going forward. In fact, we have taken our deep bench strength and broadened service offering into new emerging markets, further diversifying our book of business. We're working with our clients to build sustainable projects. As you can see on slide 12, we are leveraging our civil, structural, and mechanical, and electrical capabilities to execute complex major projects in the alternative energy and environmental sectors. Over the past 50 years, Bird has executed on some of the largest infrastructure projects from hydroelectric infrastructure, nuclear and renewable power, to organic waste processing and waste energy recovery projects. Overall, as we are well positioned to capitalize on and contribute to new environmentally friendly solutions, which provides us with significant growth for Bird in the coming years.
Additionally, as it relates to sustainability, I'd also like to highlight that we just released our 2021 sustainability report. I would encourage everyone to visit our website and download the report. All told, our ability to win an increased share of business through a broader service offering, coupled with a significant portfolio of major contracts and MSAs under long-term contracts, has allowed us to report a record combined backlog of CAD 4.7 billion as at the end of the first quarter, which you can see on slide 14.
The record combined backlog, in combination with a healthy economic backdrop and strong expected government infrastructure spending, provides strong tailwinds to organic revenue in the near term to medium term. Our goal over the past number of years to drive increased diversification, revenue visibility, and higher margins, all while reducing our risk profile since 2018 is bearing fruit, as evidenced by our first quarter results. We expect our go-forward results to continue to reflect our strategic goals as we continue to add value for our clients and build Canada over the next century. With that, I'd like to turn it over to Wayne to go over our financial results.
Thank you, Teri. Please turn to slide 15. Despite the challenges of managing through the pandemic as well as weather-related delays, we reported construction revenues of CAD 475.5 million for the first quarter. This represents a 6.9% increase year over year. Gross profit was CAD 41.6 million, or 8.8% of revenues for Q1 2021. This compares to CAD 39.9 million or 9% of revenues in the comparable period in 2021. The year-over-year increase in gross profit was driven by higher construction volume and stable gross profit margins from disciplined project execution, contracting and execution, and just good management of construction costs incurred.
I would highlight that this increase was posted despite a meaningful year-over-year CAD 11 million CEWS recovery, which helped to offset pandemic-related costs in Q1 2021, which did not recur this year. General and administrative expenses were CAD 31.3 million or 6.6% of revenues this quarter, compared to CAD 29.4 million in the first quarter of 2021. Adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter of 2022 was CAD 17.8 million or 3.8% of construction revenues. This compares to Adjusted EBITDA of CAD 21 million in Q1 2021 or 4.7% of revenues. Impacting the year-on-year comparison were the CEWS recoveries in Q1 2021 totaling CAD 11.2 million recorded in cost of construction in general and administrative expenses. As I just mentioned, no such recoveries were recorded this quarter.
These CEWS subsidies will distort the year-over-year comparative reported margins until Q3 this year, when the trailing twelve-month impact of subsidies will lapse. Net income for the period amounted to CAD 6.4 million, compared to CAD 7.1 million in Q1 2021. On a per share basis, earnings were CAD 0.12 versus CAD 0.13 in the prior year quarter. As Terry indicated, we've made a concerted effort to diversify our business, drive higher revenues through recurring revenue streams, and increase our embedded margin and manage the overall risk profile of our business. We've accomplished this in a number of ways. Notably, we have maintained a diversified sectoral work program balanced across institutional, commercial, and industrial contracts to drive stronger growth both on the top line and on the bottom line.
As can be seen on slide 16, our contract portfolio is comprised mainly of low to medium risk contracts. In fact, over 95% of our revenues for full year 2021 were in the lower two risk categories, meaning IPD or alliance, construction management, stipulated sum or unit price contracts, for example. Moving on, I'd like to quickly touch on the integrations of both Stuart Olson and Dagmar Construction. We have brought all the teams together and now believe that we have a cohesive team that is able to cross-sell our capabilities across Canada. To date, we've seen synergistic top-line benefits from the Bird, Stuart Olson, Dagmar combination, and we've won contracts that individually we would not have won on our own.
From a cost standpoint, we have largely worked through acquisition and integration-related expenses and do not expect these to recur in a meaningful way on a go-forward basis, as we've talked about previously. We expect to realize further cost savings over the next couple of years as we integrate both companies onto one unified IT platform. Turning to our financial position on slide 18, we continue to retain a strong balance sheet with significant financial flexibility. As at the end of the quarter, we have accessible cash and cash equivalents of CAD 73 million and approximately CAD 140 million of available capacity under our committed syndicated credit facility. As at quarter end, all of our financial metrics are well within our comfort levels and provide ample flexibility to pursue additional accretive M&A.
Our adjusted net debt to trailing twelve months adjusted EBITDA ratio was 0.03 times, while our debt-to-equity ratio was 28.3%. Turning to slide 19. We continue to balance our capital allocation priorities between organic opportunities, dividends, M&A, and debt repayments. For Q1 2022, we generated cash flow from operations before non-cash working capital of approximately CAD 19 million, while CapEx was CAD 5 million. We expect that as the business returns to normal, capital expenditures will return to pre-pandemic levels. As always, we remain committed to returning excess capital to shareholders via our monthly dividend payment. For the first quarter, we returned CAD 5 million by way of dividends. As it relates to our M&A strategy, we will remain disciplined and opportunistic. Overall, we have made significant strides building our business profitably while diversifying by end market and geographical exposure.
As such, I'm very pleased with our financial strength and our positioning within the Canadian construction industry. With that, I'll turn it back to Teri.
Thanks, Wayne. I think our Q1 results are a true reflection that we have built a strong platform for future growth and strong profitability. Given our long-standing experience in the Canadian construction industry, we're well positioned to capitalize on the strengths of the Canadian economy. As highlighted on slide 20, heightened expected infrastructure spending announced by the federal and provincial governments with their recent budget announcement, combined with previously announced infrastructure-related spending, is expected to provide a healthy pipeline of opportunities for us. Additionally, a higher commodity price environment, which has resulted in increased capital spending in LNG, oil and gas, agriculture, and mining should also act as a natural tailwind for Bird.
This underpinned by our strong backlog and growing diversified presence geographically as well as by product offering is expected to result in solid organic revenue growth in 2022 and in the years to come. With that, I'd like to turn it back to the operator for questions.
Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. 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 you lift the 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. Our first question comes from Chris Murray of ATB Capital Markets. Please go ahead.
Thanks, guys. Good morning. Can we just talk a little bit about, you know, your backlog that you've got at this bigger point and how we should be thinking about embedded margins, particularly as the quality of work looks like it's been improving a little bit. You know, appreciating that, you know, if we already account for the Q2's numbers, you know, how you think that those should evolve over the year.
Yeah, I can take that one, Chris. I think overall, we're pretty happy with the margin profile embedded in our backlog and our pending backlog for that matter. You know, we have a nice balance of work between self-perform and general contracted work. You know, as we've said in prior quarters, you know, we generally have higher embedded margins in self-perform work in the industrial business, where generally most of our self-perform work is. So that and commercial systems have a really good margin profile there. You know, CEWS, you know, certainly that was not something that's embedded in our backlog margins at all.
That was obviously a subsidy recorded as a cost reduction in prior quarters in the comparative periods, but not something that factors into our margin profile. What you kinda see in Q1 here is just the margins we're earning either from backlog or just through you know the favorable settlement of claims with contracts, where every quarter we have a few of those.
Okay. All right, fair enough. Maybe just thinking about M&A. You know, when you look at the opportunities, it certainly sounds like, you know, the acquisitions of Stuart Olson and Dagmar have gone well. You know, any thoughts around, you know, what to acquire right now? You know, I'd assume most contractors at this point are pretty healthy. You know, how are you thinking about acquisitions in terms of growth at this point? Any thoughts about, you know, maybe needing to go into the U.S. or anything like that?
We're constantly looking for, you know, new opportunities. You know, some small, some larger, constantly evaluating. You know, I would say that in the past six months or so, we've had a lot of opportunities with the new diversified platform for organic growth. We're always we've always got our eye on opportunities that are evolving, and I think we've, in the past, have communicated, you know, areas that we're interested in growth. Obviously, areas in renewable power, in the energy sector and in increased capacity to broaden our civil infrastructure platform in Canada. You know, leveraging off the success and the strength of Dagmar. Looking at expanded, you know, mechanical electrical process.
You know, obviously, with an emerging, you know, energy environment with disruption with a lot of things happening, having that internal capability to self-perform a lot of that work, a couple of the existing teams we have is an area of focus. You know, it's a mix of things, but a heavier bent on, you know, self-perform, I would say, you know, in terms of what we're interested in. As far as the U.S., you know, the opportunities in Canada right now certainly are keeping us completely consumed. You know, I think as you look longer term, you know, our current strategic plan is focused on Canada. As you look longer term, I think we have an eye on opportunities there.
I'd say that right now in the near term, it's a big focus on Canada.
Okay, fair enough. Just a couple clean up questions on this. Wayne, you did mention that CapEx will be back to pre-pandemic levels, but you know, well, diplomatically, pre-pandemic also didn't include two other acquisitions and some IT spending. Do you mind maybe dialing in what that number might look like a little more in detail? Also, any thoughts around you know, working capital, anything unusual we should expect from the pattern this year?
Yeah, maybe I'll take the second question, you know, first. Sorry, were you talking about non-cash working capital or just working capital?
Yeah, non-cash working capital. Exactly.
Non-cash working capital. You know, Q1, you know, we invested about CAD 30 million in non-cash working capital, which is an improvement over prior year. That's really driven by some growth year-over-year, but just project mix that we have as well. I think through Q2 and Q3, as you see the work program ramp up, you're gonna see investment in non-cash working capital. Then, our usual seasonality flows subside in Q4. Generally, that releases to a significant degree at the end of the year, and we expect that to continue.
Yeah, I'd say in certain cases, we're trying to be proactive in getting in front of, you know, acquiring certain materials on projects so that, you know, we can try to manage any sorta supply chain delays. We had a little bit of that in Q1. I think you'll see that continue in Q2 and Q3. Again, I think you'll probably see that release in Q4. Nothing really unusual there other than that our business is expected to grow and we expect it to grow every quarter, you know, this year. That draw on cash will be spread through the year, not all at one point in time.
In terms of, you know, CapEx. If you look at the chart we posted there, you know, we had Bird in 2019 at CAD 14 million and, you know, primarily just Bird in 2020 at CAD 14 million. Last year was even reduced with a combination of both, Stuart Olson and Bird at CAD 12 million. You know, when you look at our first quarter here, for example, we had CAD 5 million, a good portion of that related to things that we wanted to acquire in 2021, but we couldn't get delivery. We had disclosed that as a contingent liability and then received those things in the first quarter.
You get a bit of a timing issue that way carrying into 2022 from 2021. Yeah, I think you'll see our regular cadence on project expenditures in Q2, Q3. You are gonna see an increased, you know, spend as we roll out our technology platform. Yeah, so in terms of order of magnitude, you know, I don't usually give specific guidance, but I think you're certainly gonna be north of CAD 20 million for the year, maybe even in the CAD 25 million range. Then, you know, any variance from there is really just project driven variances, I suppose.
Okay. That's helpful. Thanks, Teri. I'll pass along and get back with you. Thanks, folks.
Great. Thanks, Chris.
Our next question comes from Frederic Bastien of Raymond James. Please go ahead.
Good morning, guys.
Hi, Fred.
Can you speak to the recent changes at the board level and how they broadly strengthen your organization?
Yeah. We're certainly excited with the new directors that have come on board. Obviously, Jennifer Koury's got an extensive experience with large global firms, more recently BHP. You know, in today's world, having an established leader with experience in people and culture, obviously our organization. Its success is founded on our people and culture strategy. Certainly enjoying you know having Jen join the board. J. Kim Fennell would be considered a global expert in information technology and certainly in the recent year, you know, the last 12 months or so, big uptick in the focus from Silicon Valley in construction.
Getting a Silicon Valley executive with the, you know, the experience he has from, you know, being in the inner circle, C-suite of Uber, across a number of, you know, other companies, more recently serving on the board of Ritchie Bros. You know, certainly Kim gives us, you know, a real wealth of knowledge. Lastly, Gary Merasty , certainly, and Bird has got a, I think, you know, extensive reputation across Canada working with various partners, across a number of different sectors there. Gary comes to us with extensive experience in Western Canada in the construction industry in Saskatchewan, and also as a federal M.P.
Having Gary assist us and guide us with our Indigenous relations strategy is tremendous and enjoying having him on the team. Yeah, really excited about the new group. I think they're well suited for the future of the company as the company evolves. But also, you know, sad to see two of our retiring directors who have been part of the history of the company for many years, you know, 20, 30 years of history and obviously guided us through some challenging times in the economy.
Certainly wanna thank Ron Huntley and Greg Doyle for their contribution over such an extended period of time, and so we'll miss them so.
Great. Okay, thanks. Thanks, Teri, for that. Ontario's residential construction sector is facing one of its largest strikes in years, currently, and I guess the fear is that this may spread into the ICI sector. Do you have any comment on, I mean, the trend that's happening here? You know, it's a tough question, but I was just wondering if you had any thoughts there.
Yeah, I think, you know, it does. We do expect that it's gonna affect our business here in Ontario. The timeframe is sometimes difficult to predict. You know, in the residential side, there is a term limit that there's a six-week term limit that, you know, beyond that, it moves to arbitration. Depending on how it evolves. There is a series of, you know, there's about 30 different agreements and trades that are, you know, in that sector, and about half of them have ratified their agreements. You know, we are dealing with isolated areas. We do expect it will migrate to impact ICI. But again, it's a.
You're right, it's a complicated question because it has multiple tentacles in terms of the various agreements we have. We have a lot of ICI or a lot of ESCO work right now. The ESCO agreements are not subject to these agreements that would cause us this interruption of labor. But yeah, obviously we'd like to see these things get resolved. It's the first time in many years that this is happening. It's not something we're used to. It's a little difficult to predict the impact of it other than to say it in the residential side, it won't be longer than six weeks.
In the ICI side, it's a little more complicated to answer that as it evolves. You know, I've said before
The unions in Canada, you know, have a very strong leadership. We have a tremendous relationship with them. The leadership is they're businessmen. They understand the impact of what this can cause. Obviously in a very robust market right now as Canada's economy recovers, we just hope that there's, you know, there's some levels of fairness that you know is thought of as these conditions continue.
Okay. Thanks. That's all I have. I'll turn it back.
Our next question comes from Michael Tupholme of TD Securities. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Good morning.
Hi, Mike.
Mike.
Hey. First question is just about the comment that you made regarding seeing increased employee absenteeism and intermittent supply chain challenges that affected the first quarter. Not surprised that you called those factors out. I guess what I'm wondering is if are you able to quantify what sort of an impact those factors had on revenues and margins in the quarter?
I mean, we didn't specifically disclose it. If you think about it this way, we did say it. You know, last year in Q1, we had specific project sites that were shut down, so it was a little bit easier to quantify. I think we had it pegged somewhere in the CAD 80 million-CAD 90 million range. You know, this year is probably less than that. It's more difficult to quantify 'cause it's spread across a much broader range of projects, but in smaller impacts. It's probably not to the same degree as last year. You know, but it's not an insignificant number.
Like, I think you're looking in the CAD 50, 60, 70 million range for sure.
Okay. Any comment on how that would've impacted margins? There's obviously less overhead absorption when you experience those factors, just 'cause the reported EBITDA margin was 3.8%. Can you talk at all about what sort of impact that would've had on the margin?
Yeah. I think of it more like, you know, our gross profit percentage is, you know. Take that times the impact and, you know, tax affected and, you know, you probably do have some overhead related, you know, expenses that go against that. But it's not gonna flow through at the same 3.8%. It certainly would have been additive to our overall EBITDA percentage 'cause a lot of your G&A costs are fixed, and you would've got leverage on those.
Okay. Then looking forward, I mean, the supply chain challenges likely persist. I think you sort of talked about that. I mean, the Omicron impact, I suspect you know, you called it, that was more in the early part of the quarter. I guess as we look forward to Q2 and I guess the rest of the year, yeah, I don't know, are you able to kinda talk about the extent to which these kinds of factors, and maybe it's again more on the supply chain side, are likely to continue to be a headwind? I guess you did call out the prospect or the expectation of improving rates of year-over-year growth in revenues.
on that point, I guess I'm just trying to understand, is this sort of a step-up in Q2, the year-over-year rate of growth in Q2 steps up versus what it was in Q1, and then it kinda runs at some sort of more consistent level? Or are you looking for that to ratchet up every quarter as you move through the year?
I think ±, you're gonna see the growth rate year-over-year in the high single digit, you know, levels. That obviously includes the addition of Dagmar in there when I say that. You know, somewhere between where we were in Q1, which is probably 7% and maybe in the 8%-9% when things recover from the pandemic a little bit, with the absenteeism we had there in Q1. Yeah, I think you know, certainly there's always factors that can have an impact on that. You know, right now we're seeing less impact from the pandemic going into Q2 here.
You know, supply chain issues. You know, we think will still persist throughout the year, and we're trying to manage those as best we can. You know, the situation with the strikes that we talked about, you know, before. I mean, that can be a bit of a wild card too, depending on what turn that takes, so.
Okay. No, that's helpful. Maybe just two follow-ups on all of that. I guess, first off, can you talk a little bit about on the supply chain side. What areas are you seeing the greatest challenges in? Then secondly, That's very helpful, your commentary about the rate of organic or sorry, the rate of revenue growth. Just trying to get a sense for the strike. I realize it's you know, there's a lot of unknowns there at this point, but could that be a situation that could materially change what you're thinking about at this point for the kinds of rates of revenue growth you just called out, Wayne?
Is this sort of more at the margin, you know, in terms of changes that could have?
Well, I'll answer the second one first. On the strike, you know, ballpark 20% of our revenue's in Ontario, so you can sort of look at it that way. Currently, we have, you know, some slowdowns on sites because of the you know, the strikes that are underway currently. The sites are not, you know, shut down. There's just some slowdowns.
Difficult to predict, you know, what's ahead over the next. On the residential side, like I said, there's a term, you know, that allows us to, you know, at least predict where that ends. You know, on the supply chain side, it, you know, it's a combination of, you know, obviously escalation on certain materials. Shipping is not to be underestimated. There's shipping delays and shipping challenges, you know, throughout the world. Lastly, the impact of war in Europe obviously is creating on some of the specialized components that we would have on more complex mechanical, electrical equipment, things like that might be sourced from European countries.
There's certainly some impacts there. It's a, you know, it's a mix and it's from one week to the next, it ebbs and flows and you know we work with our clients to find alternative products and so it's more difficult to really you know in both the supply chain escalation and labor unrest, it's a moving target every week, so it's difficult to put any kind of forecast to it. I wish we could, but it's really difficult to do that.
Okay. That's helpful. Thank you. Then just last one. In talking about the bidding prospect pipeline, you highlighted the improvement in commodity prices as one of the reasons to be optimistic about the outlook. I appreciate the fact that in many areas, commodity prices have increased quite substantially. Like, I take your point on the suggestion that this could be positive for the outlook. I guess what I'm wondering is if you can comment a little bit more on some of the discussions you're having with your customers. Have you actually seen sort of a step up in the number of opportunities in the commodity and resources sector? I mean, obviously there's a big focus on capital discipline by a lot of commodity producers.
Just wondering if you've actually seen and can talk about the kind of increase in opportunities if there has been one so far, or if this is sort of more prospective you're thinking at this point?
Well, we certainly see, you know, obviously in, you know, speak to oil and gas when, you know, commodity prices are higher, they will do more. There'll be more activity. It's just generally the way it ebbs and flows. You know, you'll see more of the longer term, you know, work that they sometimes will not do when commodity prices are tighter. You'll see more of that type of activity. We look across, we're really seeing, you know, obviously a higher demand now is mining. You know, you start thinking about the future electrification. Some of it is just driven by that. Some of it is, you know, some of it is related to, you know, higher commodity prices.
You get more metals, you know, that are utilized in electrification being mined and produced. You start looking at things like potash, obviously some big investments going into, you know, like companies in Saskatchewan such as Jansen with BHP. Big commitments there. That project's moving along. You look at, you know, the new mining announcement we announced in Ontario. You know, it's the first big mining announcement we've had in Ontario for a while. You start to see some of those areas, and then you start seeing some of the, you know, the diversification of energy with things like hydrogen. Obviously, pretty exciting with what's happening and the commitments being made by governments and major producers to, you know.
You start looking at the infrastructure that's needed to, you know, to fuel rail systems with hydrogen. There's a fair amount of infrastructure that's gotta be built to be able to, you know, whether you're using it for rail or whatever you're using it for, there's. There's some really exciting opportunities we feel that are all. You go across all those sectors. You know, extending upon the potash idea of thinking of it as mining, but extending to ag, a lot of agricultural efforts being made right now, big investments coming into food manufacturing. We're seeing a lot of. We have a tremendous resume, you know, in that area for delivering projects.
You know, complex, large-scale food manufacturing facilities, you know, we're certainly a go-to for that type of thing. We're seeing a lot of opportunities there in dairy and pea processing and, you know, all that type of thing. Yes, you know, it's pretty exciting. You know, unfortunately, the year, you know, you had some impacts with supply chains and, you know, labor unrest, things like that. We'll get through that and, you know, you expect to see some pretty robust activity as we get through those, you know, what we'd call them shorter-term, you know, challenges.
Okay. That's very helpful. Thank you.
Our next question comes from Maxim Sytchev of National Bank Financial. Please go ahead.
Hi. Good morning, gentlemen.
Hi, Max.
Terry, just maybe the first question for you. I mean, given generally speaking a pretty robust backdrop in for an industrial type work, do you think you're gonna be able to keep that 95% kind of low to medium risk contract composition from a backlog perspective on a prospective basis?
Yeah, I think so, Max, because what we're seeing now is the larger projects, you know, in that space are all really moving towards an alliance, you know. Water treatment are predominantly moving to IPD. You know, we're seeing it now being used extensively progressive design build. You know, we're seeing a lot of those evolving. Yeah, I think that's, you know, 'cause that's what we're really focused on and it's one of the differentiators with us. We've been very focused on this, you know, now for three years and it's, you know, certainly helping to bring better predictability to our performance.
Right. In terms of Dagmar's contract sort of risk profile, how would you sort of qualify there?
You're referencing the recent announcement or just their overall profile?
Yeah, or just in general. Yeah, like. Yeah. Yeah.
They're a company that typically has, you know, has had a tremendous consistent track record working on what I would call, you know, predominantly unit priced projects that you see in the types of things they target. We would quantify, you know, unit price type work in that sort of medium risk sort of profile. You know, they're not, you know, they're not in a focus in design builds, things like that or, you know, any of the, you know, the P3 type things. It's really impressive to work with that team and the depth of that team and, you know, we really feel that team can be leveraged into other projects with the balance of the Bird team. We've got a, you know, pretty extensive capabilities in Western Canada.
We're coupling those together to look at, you know, opportunities that are, you know, evolving and it's very exciting and, you know, celebrating months of that acquisition to be, you know, to be performing and hitting, you know, so many opportunities in front of us.
Okay. Good to hear. My last question pertains to the LNG Canada project. I think in the past, we're thinking about sort of instrumentation, electrical, pickup and activity on that site, sort of circa 2023. Do you mind maybe just providing a bit of an update in terms of, you know, where you are in terms of the bidding process there? Yeah, I guess any color there. Thanks.
Yeah. You know, we're very focused on the, you know, the work remaining 2022 into 2023. A lot of it is just extension and, you know, remaining components of what we were currently doing. We've had great success there. Our team on that site has performed at, you know, tremendous levels given all the, you know, the pandemic pressures. Our clients on that site have been very pleased with performance. We're seeing, you know, all the gaps that, you know, the project is going well overall at Kitimat.
We're seeing just a number of opportunities to fill you know some of the gaps in the you know in the interface between you know the modules and the foundations and scope of work on site. I'd say early days on some of the future works. A lot of this has been modularized, so it's more that interconnection that'll be opportunities and we'll see where that evolves. Early days on that, I would say right now, Matt.
Okay. It should be still, I guess, in 2023, 2024, just so that we get kind of a timeline.
Yeah, probably more like 20, I would say more 24, probably those types of, you know, more specialized areas in the final, you know, but maybe mid 23 into 24.
Okay.
I would say right now we're very focused on, you know, the core assignments and expansion of those as they continue to roll out. You know, some of the bulk work has been done. Now there's still a lot of work to do there that's not contracted yet.
Okay. Okay, that's good to hear. Then in terms of potentially thinking about the second train, is this still a 2025, kind of like FID timeline? Or, I mean, given LNG pricing right now, is there sort of any shot on the ground in terms of potential accelerating this or is there even the ability to do so or not?
Yeah. It's, you know, just to clarify, the two trains, we're building the first two trains and then phase II is two further trains. The first two trains are, you know, like I said, proceeding, you know, extremely well. Clients pleased. You know, I think the project is proceeding well. You know, obviously we're not privy to, you know, the framework of where they're at relative to FID. There was an announcement or there was a recent discussion around that was public in the press around, you know, studying whether phase II could start earlier than 2025. I don't have any color on that other than what I read, you know, that they were looking at, you know, could some of that start earlier.
You know, it's not something we can really comment on because we're not controlling some of that sequencing. I would say that if I was based on the success in the markets as you reference, I would be highly confident that phase II, train three and four is well underway in 2025.
Okay. Okay, that's great. That's it for me. Thank you very much.
Our next question comes from Ian Gillies of Stifel. Please go ahead.
Morning, everyone.
Hi, Ian.
Morning, Ian.
With respect to some of the government work you may be pursuing, are you seeing any change in behavior in that they may be looking to slow down just given what's happening with inflation and so on and so forth, or is there been no change there?
So far, no change on our end, Ian Gillies. You know, there's such a multitude of things that are happening, you know, across the country with CAD 350 billion in spending opportunities. I would say so far, no indications that there's any changes that are evolving.
Okay. With respect to the oil sands, once again, are you seeing any changes in customer behavior, either maybe adding in a bit more work or maintenance given the strength of oil prices or even potentially delaying because they wanna keep production as high as possible where prices are robust? Just anything interesting happening there.
Yeah, it's an interesting way to look at it. We, you know, typically see a higher demand when pricing is higher and more of the you know things that they should do are done versus you know just the minimal things are done in lower you know commodity price environment. I think, you know, generally speaking, we would see a higher demand, and we are seeing a higher demand. You know, I think our resume and reputation continues to grow and there continues to be new opportunities every quarter. You know, I think we referenced we signed CAD 90 million of new opportunities in the first quarter in our MRO business.
You know, we're continuing to see a pretty strong pace and we're, you know, we're looking at opportunities outside of that core. We had a very successful year in 2021 with, you know, a new non-oil sands client, which was TransAlta. That's, you know, expanding into further work and great performance there by our MRO team. And that was predominantly mechanical, which is also, you know, unique in the sense that historically we were more predominantly electrical with, you know, the historical layered entity, which was, you know, in oil sands since oil sands started.
In fact, we just spent three days in Fort McMurray in Cold Lake last week, so we were able to, with our senior leadership team, spend a bit of time and get you know a good update from our teams. It was time well spent and really impressive to see the scale of some of the things we're doing.
Got it. Last one for me. On the NCIB front, I know you guys have not been particularly interested in that path historically. Does it become any more interesting now given what's transpired with the share price and the outlook, which quite frankly doesn't seem like it's changed a whole lot?
Yeah, it's certainly something that, you know, with our board on a quarterly basis, we talk about, you know, obviously opportunities and options and framework for relative to, you know, the various options that are available to us. It's not something that I would say is on the radar currently.
Okay. That's helpful. Thanks very much. I'll turn it back over.
Our next question comes from Gabriel Moreau of iA Capital Markets. Please go ahead.
Hi. Good morning.
Good morning.
About the Port Hope Area Initiative, what exactly is the kind of work and contract that you think you will be able to bid on?
CNL is managing the remediation of a, you know, broad area that many years ago got contaminated with low-level radiation. Part of that scope is, you know, it's obviously, you know, we're on an MSA with two other companies to work on various assignments. Some of them are, you know, related to landfill sort of management of this, you know, contaminated material. Some of them are, you know, broader, where you're going into areas and communities where there is contamination in the soil and removing that soil and replacing it. I would say when you think about just, you know, remediating an area, you know, the various things that you would need to do as part of that predominantly centered on contamination that's in the soil.
Thank you. That's it for me.
Thank you.
Once again, if you have a question, please press star then one. Our next question comes from Michael Tupholme of TD Securities. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Just a further clarification on the Port Hope Area Initiative contract. Over what time period would you be looking at doing this work, Teri?
10 years, Mike. You know, right now it's set at, I think CAD 1 billion, but it's a 10-year framework, 10-year program.
Okay. Do you have a sense for how many other groups are sort of eligible? Like, have a group of companies been selected and?
Yeah.
Therefore, are all sort of eligible to bid, and how large is that group?
three groups. We're one of three groups, and we're all invited to bid on, I think, every assignment that comes out. I think that's how it works. We bid on the assignments and move along.
Okay. That's great. Thank you.
This concludes the question and answer session. I will hand the call back over to Mr. McKibbon for closing remarks.
Thank you everyone for taking the time to join our first quarter earnings conference call. I'd like to thank the entire Bird team for their efforts, dedication, and commitment to build safely, to build together, and to build value for our company, our clients, our communities, and our shareholders. I look forward to updating you with our second quarter results.
This concludes today's conference call. You may disconnect your lines. Thank you for participating and have a pleasant day.