Spark Power Sees Continued Expansion and Improved Margin Growth Throughout 2021; SG&A Reductions Take Hold; Credit Facility Upgraded

  • First Quarter revenue grows 4.7% Year over Year to $56 million
  • First Quarter Adjusted EBITDA grows 35.6% Year over Year to $7.3 million
  • Continued revenue growth in renewables segment up 26.8% Year over Year to $16.9 million
  • (Spark Power reports in Canadian dollars unless otherwise specified)

OAKVILLE, ON / ACCESSWIRE / May 17, 2021 / Spark Power Group Inc. (TSX:SPG), parent company of Spark Power Corp. ("Spark Power" or the "Company"), has announced its financial results for the three-month period, ended March 31, 2021. All amounts are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise specified.

"As Spark moves forward, we are optimistic about driving continued earnings growth and taking advantage of a stabilizing global economy and business platform," said Richard Jackson, President & CEO of Spark Power. "Although COVID-19 continues to create some business challenges throughout both Canada and the U.S., we are confident about the road ahead and look forward to executing our growth strategy," he said.

Along with executing on its growth, the Company's new Senior Leadership Team, established in early 2021, continues to build its "One Spark" platform, focused on the integration of our operations, culture, and brand.

"As expected, our integration efforts are driving lots of new cross selling opportunities between our lines of business, and resulted in significant overhead cost reductions, that have steadily increased throughout the period, with full realization of these savings projected in the second quarter and thereafter. We continue to emphasize our field focus with the launch of our new company values, operational excellence function, and two-year technology transformation that will place all of our business operations into one common, first-class enterprise resource planning system," said Jackson. "With our revised credit facility now in place, the business is well positioned to scale up throughout the balance of 2021, and beyond," added Jackson.

Upgraded Credit Facility with Bank of Montreal

On May 15, 2021, the Company entered into a term sheet to amend its credit facility with its lender that (i) consolidates the existing term debt facilities and provides for an additional $5.0 million of borrowing, (ii) increases the operating line of credit by $5.0 million and expands the borrowing base, (iii) revises the amortization period of all of the long-term debt to 8 years , (iv) provides covenant relief by moving the basis of calculation to IFRS accounting standards and (v) extends the maturity date of the debt facility to September 30, 2023.

"We are very appreciative of the continued support of our lender," said Dan Ardila, Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer. "This amendment effectively stabilizes our balance sheet and provides additional liquidity to support our continued growth. It is a true vote of confidence from the bank," added Ardila.

Financial Highlights - Q1 2021

  • Revenue of $56.0 million in Q1 2021, as compared to $53.5 million in Q1 2020, representing an increase of 4.7%.
  • Gross margins, excluding depreciation and amortization, increased to 30.1% in Q1 2021 as compared to 29.2% in Q1 2020.
  • Selling, general and administration costs, excluding depreciation and amortization, were $10.7 million or 19.1% of revenue in Q1 2021 as compared to $10.6 million or 19.8% of revenue in Q1 2020, and reflects some of the impact of the 2021 restructuring initiatives completed by management through the first quarter.
  • Adjusted EBITDA was $7.3 million or 13.0% of revenue in Q1 2021, as compared to $5.4 million or 10.1% of revenue in Q1 2020, representing an increase of $1.9 million or 35.2%. Q1 2021 adjusted EBITDA included a gain in the fair value of the derivative instrument associated with a power purchase agreement previously announced in late 2020.
  • Available liquidity under the revolving credit facility was $6.8 million at the end of the first quarter of 2021.

Business Highlights - Q1 2021

  • Spark's renewables business segment, which accounted for over 30% of total revenue in the first quarter, continued its strong growth in Q1 up 26.8%, powered by a particularly strong demand for our U.S. wind services.
  • U.S. expansion in California, Texas, and New York, with strategic location choices based on the recent increase in transactional and long-term services in the region.
  • Laid the groundwork for energy efficiency services, a new offering where Spark's Technical Service and Sustainability segments collaborate to help customers achieve energy savings with rapid payback.
  • Richard Jackson assumes role as President & CEO of Spark Power in January, succeeding Co-Founders and Co-CEOs Jason Sparaga and Andrew Clark.
  • Our Strategic Review Process, which launched in February 2020, is ramping back up as the pandemic scales down.

Quarterly Conference Call

Management is hosting an investor conference call and webcast tomorrow, Tuesday, May 18, 2021, at 8:30 a.m. ET to discuss its financial results in greater detail. To join by telephone dial: +1-888-506-0062 (toll-free in North America) or +1-973-528-0011 (local and international), with conference ID: 40985. To listen to a live webcast of the call, please visit the investor relations section of Spark Power's website at https://sparkpowercorp.com/about-us/investor-relations/. An archived replay of the webcast will be available following the conclusion of the call.

Please dial in or log on 10 minutes prior to the start time to provide sufficient time to register for the event.

Spark Power's First-Quarter 2021 Interim Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements is available on Spark Power's website at www.sparkpowercorp.com, and will be filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

About Spark Power

Spark Power is a leading independent provider of end-to-end electrical services, operations and maintenance services, and energy sustainability solutions to the industrial, commercial, utility, and renewable asset markets in North America. We work to earn the right to be our customers' Trusted Partner in Power™. Our highly skilled and dedicated people, located in the communities we serve, combined with our knowledge of the power industry, technology expertise, and commitment to safety, ensures we deliver the right solutions that keep our customers' operations up and running today and better equipped for tomorrow. Learn more at www.sparkpowercorp.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release may contain forward-looking statements (within the meaning of applicable securities laws), which reflect Spark Power's current expectations regarding future events. Forward-looking statements are identified by words such as "believe", "anticipate", "project", "expect", "intend", "plan", "will", "may", "estimate" and other similar expressions. The forward-looking statements in this press release include statements regarding the Company's opportunities for future growth, acquisitions, future liquidity and other statements that are not historical fact, and without limitation, include statements by Messrs. Jackson and Ardila regarding execution on Spark Power's growth strategy, earnings growth, the stabilizing global economy and the successful implementation Spark Power's technology platform. The forward-looking statements in this news release are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that are difficult to control or predict. Several factors could cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others: the ability of the Company to find a suitable strategic partner, potential buyer or participants for a financing; currency fluctuations; disruptions or changes in the credit or security markets; results of operations; and general developments, market and industry conditions. Readers, therefore, should not place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements. Further, these forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release and, except as expressly required by applicable law, Spark Power assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Non-IFRS Measures
The Company prepares and releases unaudited consolidated interim financial statements and audited consolidated annual financial statements prepared in accordance with IFRS. In this and other earnings releases and investor conference calls, as a complement to results provided in accordance with IFRS, the Company also discloses and discusses certain financial measures not recognized under IFRS and that do not have standard meanings prescribed by IFRS. These include "EBITDA", "Adjusted EBITDA", "Pro-forma Adjusted EBITDA", "EBITDA Margin", "Adjusted EBITDA Margin", "Pro-forma Adjusted EBITDA Margin", "Pro-forma Revenue", "Adjusted Working Capital", and "Adjusted Net and Comprehensive Income (Loss)". These non-IFRS measures are used to provide investors with supplemental measures of Spark Power's operating performance and highlight trends in Spark Power's business that may not otherwise be apparent when relying solely on IFRS measures. Spark also believes that providing such information to securities analysts, investors and other interested parties who frequently use non-IFRS measures in the evaluation of issuers will allow them to better compare Spark Power's performance against others in its industry. Management also uses non-IFRS measures in order to facilitate operating performance comparisons from period to period, to prepare annual operating budgets and forecasts and to determine components of management compensation. For a reconciliation of these non-IFRS measures see the Company's management's discussion and analysis for the three-months ended March 31, 2021. The non-IFRS measures should not be construed as alternatives to results prepared in accordance with IFRS

Selected Consolidated Financial Information

Reconciliation of comprehensive loss to EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA, and Pro-forma Adjusted EBITDA:

The following table is a summary of Spark Power's results for the periods indicated:

Investor and Regulatory Inquiries:
Dan Ardila, Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer
dardila@sparkpowercorp.com
+1 (905) 829-3336 x127

Media Inquiries:
Kim Samlall, Director, Marketing Communications
media@sparkpowercorp.com
+1 (905) 829-3336 x185

SOURCE: Spark Power Group Inc.



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