Charge Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRGE) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Charge Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRGE) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript November 11, 2023

Operator: Good day, everyone, and welcome to Charge Enterprises Third Quarter 2023 Financial Results Webcast. I am Matthew, I’ll be the operator for today’s webcast. Today’s webcast is being broadcast over the Internet and is also recorded for playback purposes. After the speakers’ remarks, there will be a previously solicited question-and-answer session. For opening remarks and introductions, I would like to turn today’s webcast over to Vice President, Investor Relations with Charge Enterprises, Christine Cannella. Please go ahead, Miss. Cannella.

Christine Cannella: Thank you, Matthew. Good morning, everyone. I’m Christine Cannella, Vice President of Investor Relations with Charge Enterprises. Welcome to Charge Enterprises Third Quarter 2023 Financial Results Webcast. You will find our press release and our 10-Q, along with a copy of today’s slide presentation on the Investors section of our website at www.charge.enterprises. If you are following along today with our earnings presentation, please turn to Slide 2. Joining me for today’s discussion are Craig Denson, Interim Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer; and Leah Schweller, Chief Financial Officer. Craig will give a review of our key business highlights from the quarter. Leah will then walk you through a review of our financial performance, and then we will answer your questions.

We are conducting a moderated Q&A session answering questions previously submitted. We thank you for your questions. Moving on to Slide 3. We would like to remind you that much of the information we will be speaking to you about today, including the answers we give in response to questions, may include forward-looking statements within the provisions of the federal securities safe harbor law. In today’s press release and in our SEC filings, we detail material risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control and could cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations. These forward-looking statements apply as of today, and we undertake no obligation to update these statements after the call. For a more detailed description of certain factors that could cause actual results to differ, please refer to our Form 10-Q filed with the SEC and our earnings release posted on our website and filed with the SEC on Form 8-K.

Please note that our press release and our webcast today include non-GAAP financial measures, reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures and set forth in the press release we issued today and the slide presentation with today’s webcast, which are provided on the company’s website. With that, I will ask you to turn to Slide 4, and I’m pleased to hand over today’s webcast to Craig.

Craig Denson: Thank you, Christine, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us to discuss our third quarter 2023 results, and I’m pleased to be speaking with you as Charge Enterprises’ Interim CEO and COO. Before I review our financial and operational performance for the third quarter, I’d like to say a few words about my current role. I’m excited to be the Interim CEO, which came effective on August 31, 2023, and I’m energized by the great team we have in place as well as the significant opportunities in front of us. Prior to being named the Interim CEO, I have roles in various capacities at Charge most recently as the Chief Operating Officer. Before Charge, I was President and CEO of PTGi International, one of Charge’s subsidiaries that was acquired back in November 2020.

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Q&A Session

I will remain the Interim CEO position throughout the Board’s search process for a permanent CEO. As Charge’s COO, I am very familiar with Charge Enterprises, both our strengths and areas where we can improve. Since assuming the CEO position, the team and I have been keenly focused on our commitment to the three fundamental objectives we outlined in our press release at the end of August. We believe that executing against these objectives will strengthen our business and ultimately benefit our shareholders. I’ll review these initiatives shortly. But first, I’d like to briefly review the products and services Charge Enterprise offers where we are focused and where we are going. Today, Charge is a business that connects people everywhere in the communication, infrastructure and EV charging markets.

We provide a suite of services for our clients across EV charging, broadband and wireless, electrical and with the acquisition of Greenspeed, now commercial lighting, solar and energy storage solutions to name a few. Since our humble beginnings in late 2020, we have undergone a rapid transformation from a wholesale telecom provider to an electrical infrastructure company. We aim to be the go-to trusted partner to all of our customers. So with that grounding, I’ll now provide an update on our progress against the three fundamental objectives that we committed to at the end of August. First, we are working on a comprehensive strategic plan. This process includes a thorough evaluation of our business segments, competitive analysis of the external environment, alignment of our organic growth and M&A strategy and an effective allocation of capital.

As part of this plan, management and the Board are evaluating our talent, succession planning and corporate governance, making appropriate enhancements accordingly. The assessment remains ongoing, and we are encouraged by our analysis and planning sessions to date. Second, we have advanced our commitment towards instituting a robust communication framework to advance our public communications and branding efforts through our recently announced partnership with Gateway Group. We look forward to utilizing their comprehensive communication and branding services to improve our public communication initiatives and bolster our brand position in the marketplace. And third, in conjunction with our recent acquisition of Greenspeed, we would deploy initiatives that are geared toward integrating all of our products and services across our Infrastructure segment, operating subsidiaries, while driving cost synergies across the organization.

This strategic objective is aimed at maximizing margin through cross-functional collaboration, driving full utilization of our existing internal capabilities and providing an environment for increased scalability and profitability. We are working together to ensure we leverage the tremendous talent and depth of experience in our businesses to bring all the products and services that Charge subsidiaries offer in one complete product and service offering. We remain completely focused on generating positive adjusted EBITDA in the full year of 2024 and are confident in our ability to achieve this goal. We are very focused on executing against these fundamental objectives, which we will believe will advance the company’s future growth and shareholder value.

We look forward to discussing our new strategy during our first fiscal quarter of 2024, where we will detail our path forward. Now let’s turn to the third quarter of 2023 key highlights, and then Leah will take us through the financials. I am pleased to report another strong quarter of growth for our Infrastructure segment, as demonstrated by the $32 million of revenue generated in the quarter, a 19% increase compared with the same period last year. The year-over-year increase in revenue was driven by strong project delivery within our electrical services contracting business and the acquisition of Greenspeed Energy Solutions on August 1 of this year. The decline in Telecommunication revenues, as we have previously communicated, was expected due to the market conditions and given the economic model of this segment had little impact on profits and cash flow.

The Greenspeed acquisition reflects our commitment to expand our infrastructure products and services and allows us to broaden our geographic reach in a more profitable and efficient manner. Charge now has the ability to serve our clients with in-house resources in 25 states, thus eliminating the need for more expensive subcontractor alternatives, which we have historically utilized to perform work outside our geographic footprint. The combination of our EV charging business with Greenspeed is already producing significant benefits ranging from best practices with design and engineering, cost efficiencies and timely execution of our project. We continue to expect Greenspeed to be accretive to both adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow in the full year of ownership.

We are excited to welcome the talented individuals at Greenspeed to the Charge team and believe our shared vision will allow us to seize new opportunities in the EV charging, solar and lighting markets. Incorporating Greenspeed products and services into our clients’ ecosystem will help them prepare for the future while mitigating future costs. The addition of Greenspeed and resulting increase to our in-house ability to execute projects in 25 states will drive increased customer offerings and shareholder value by retained margin and revenue expansion. The timing of the Greenspeed acquisition fits perfectly with our recent announcement of Stellantis selected Charge Enterprises to assist us in U.S. dealerships and with EV charging infrastructure.