GDI Integrated Facility Services Inc
TSX:GDI
US |
Johnson & Johnson
NYSE:JNJ
|
Pharmaceuticals
|
|
US |
Estee Lauder Companies Inc
NYSE:EL
|
Consumer products
|
|
US |
Exxon Mobil Corp
NYSE:XOM
|
Energy
|
|
US |
Church & Dwight Co Inc
NYSE:CHD
|
Consumer products
|
|
US |
Pfizer Inc
NYSE:PFE
|
Pharmaceuticals
|
|
US |
American Express Co
NYSE:AXP
|
Financial Services
|
|
US |
Nike Inc
NYSE:NKE
|
Textiles, Apparel & Luxury Goods
|
|
US |
Visa Inc
NYSE:V
|
Technology
|
|
CN |
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd
NYSE:BABA
|
Retail
|
|
US |
3M Co
NYSE:MMM
|
Industrial Conglomerates
|
|
US |
JPMorgan Chase & Co
NYSE:JPM
|
Banking
|
|
US |
Coca-Cola Co
NYSE:KO
|
Beverages
|
|
US |
Target Corp
NYSE:TGT
|
Retail
|
|
US |
Walt Disney Co
NYSE:DIS
|
Media
|
|
US |
Mueller Industries Inc
NYSE:MLI
|
Machinery
|
|
US |
PayPal Holdings Inc
NASDAQ:PYPL
|
Technology
|
Utilize notes to systematically review your investment decisions. By reflecting on past outcomes, you can discern effective strategies and identify those that underperformed. This continuous feedback loop enables you to adapt and refine your approach, optimizing for future success.
Each note serves as a learning point, offering insights into your decision-making processes. Over time, you'll accumulate a personalized database of knowledge, enhancing your ability to make informed decisions quickly and effectively.
With a comprehensive record of your investment history at your fingertips, you can compare current opportunities against past experiences. This not only bolsters your confidence but also ensures that each decision is grounded in a well-documented rationale.
Do you really want to delete this note?
This action cannot be undone.
52 Week Range |
31
39.85
|
Price Target |
|
We'll email you a reminder when the closing price reaches CAD.
Choose the stock you wish to monitor with a price alert.
Johnson & Johnson
NYSE:JNJ
|
US | |
Estee Lauder Companies Inc
NYSE:EL
|
US | |
Exxon Mobil Corp
NYSE:XOM
|
US | |
Church & Dwight Co Inc
NYSE:CHD
|
US | |
Pfizer Inc
NYSE:PFE
|
US | |
American Express Co
NYSE:AXP
|
US | |
Nike Inc
NYSE:NKE
|
US | |
Visa Inc
NYSE:V
|
US | |
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd
NYSE:BABA
|
CN | |
3M Co
NYSE:MMM
|
US | |
JPMorgan Chase & Co
NYSE:JPM
|
US | |
Coca-Cola Co
NYSE:KO
|
US | |
Target Corp
NYSE:TGT
|
US | |
Walt Disney Co
NYSE:DIS
|
US | |
Mueller Industries Inc
NYSE:MLI
|
US | |
PayPal Holdings Inc
NASDAQ:PYPL
|
US |
This alert will be permanently deleted.
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the GDI Integrated Facility Services Fourth Quarter 2021 Results Conference Call. At this time, all lines are in listen-only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question-and-answer session.
[Operator Instructions]
This call is being recorded on Wednesday, March 2, 2022.
I would now like to turn the conference over to Mr. Stéphane Lavigne. Please go ahead.
Thank you, operator. Good morning, all, and welcome to GDI's conference call to discuss our results for the fourth quarter and the full year of fiscal 2021. My name is Stéphane Lavigne. I'm Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of GDI. I am with Claude Bigras, President and CEO of GDI; and David Hinchey, Executive VP in Corporate Development.
Before we begin, I'd like to make you aware that this call contains forward-looking information, and we ask listeners to refer to the full description of the forward-looking Safe Harbor provision that is fully described at the beginning in the MD&A filed on SEDAR last night.
I will begin the call with an overview of GDI financial results for the quarter, and then we'll invite Claude to provide his comments on the business. In the fourth quarter, GDI recorded revenue of CAD 432 million, an increase of CAD 68.4 million or 18.7% over Q4 of last year, including an organic growth of 5.1%. We recorded an adjusted EBITDA of CAD 33.5 million in the quarter, an increase of CAD 1.4 million or 4.3% over Q4 of last year. Adjusted EBITDA in our Janitorial business continued to be positively influenced by enhanced services delivered to clients whose facilities remain open or partially open during the pandemic. And our Technical Services business had another strong quarter especially when compared to the prior period as the business rebounded from the COVID pandemic and benefited from the acquisitions completed this year.
On a full year basis, revenue increased by CAD 185.6 million, or 13.1%, to reach CAD 1.6 billion, compared to CAD 1.4 billion last year. Organic growth was 3.7% year-over-year, and revenue growth from acquisition was 11.2%. Adjusted EBITDA in the year amounted to CAD 132.8 million, an increase of CAD 27.8 million or 26.5% over 2020.
Now, moving to our business segments. The Janitorial Canada segment recorded revenue of CAD 140.5 million in Q4, an increase of CAD 2.5 million, or 1.8%, compared to Q4 of 2020. Janitorial Canada organic growth amounted to 1.4% in the quarter due to COVID-19-related revenue fluctuation in certain market segments. This segment also reported adjusted EBITDA of CAD 18.4 million, slightly higher than Q4 of last year, representing margins of 13.1% in Q4 of both years.
Our Janitorial USA segment recorded revenue of CAD 89.2 million in Q4, an increase of CAD 4.8 million compared to Q4 2020, despite the negative FX impact of CAD 2.8 million. The organic growth rate was 8.9%, or CAD 7.5 million, resulting from increased volume of existing clients as well as new client wins. Adjusted EBITDA margins decreased from 10.8% in Q4 2020 to 8.6% in Q4 2021, mainly due to a higher amount of onetime COVID-related service in Q4 of 2020. On December 31, 2021, the Janitorial USA segment completed the acquisition of IH Services, Inc. and its subsidiaries, adding approximately 8,000 employees and approximately CAD 260 million in annual revenue generated across 29 states, significantly expanding GDI's janitorial business in the US.
Our Technical Services segment recorded revenue CAD 189.6 million, an increase of CAD 64 million or 50.9% of Q-over-Q4 of 2020, with strong revenue growth of 37.8% coming from acquisitions and healthy organic growth rate of 13.9% as the business rebounded from the negative COVID effects. Adjusted EBITDA was CAD 11.8 million and adjusted EBITDA margin was 6.2%, compared to CAD 7 million and 5.6% in Q4 of 2020.
Finally, our Complementary Services segment reported revenue of CAD 18.2 million in Q4, a decrease of 15.2% compared to Q4 of 2020, and a negative adjusted EBITDA of CAD 1.2 million, which included a CAD 1.3 million change related mainly to a revision of inventory valuation.
Now, I would like to turn the call to Claude, who will provide further comment on GDI's performance during the quarter.
Stéphane, thank you. Good morning, all. And thank you very much for taking the time to participate in our earning call. So overall, I'm very pleased with GDI's performance in the fourth quarter and the full year of 2021. During the quarter, both our Canadian and US Janitorial segments delivered strong results. At the beginning of Q4, we were seeing a reduction in restrictive COVID measures across most regions, and we were working with our clients to provide enhanced services as their facility began to reoccupy.
Midway through the fourth quarter, the Omicron variant landed in North America and a number of regional governments reintroduced restrictive measures designed to reduce the spread of the virus. The restrictive measures differed greatly by geography and were more pronounced in Canada than in many of the regions where we operate in the United States. While many of our clients in Canada and the US continue to require enhanced COVID-19 services, we saw a lower amount of onetime services in our US segment than we experienced in the previous year.
Moving into the first quarter of 2022. As the threat of Omicron is subsiding, we have been experiencing a relatively rapid easing of restrictive COVID measures, and many clients are implementing reoccupation plans as we speak. We expect that as the pace of reoccupation intensifies and the population of buildings densifies, our clients will continue to require enhanced services to keep occupants safe.
Our Technical Services segment has fully recovered from the negative headwinds faced during the pandemic of 2020 and in early 2021. Our service business is performing well. Our clients are increasingly seeking our advice and support on optimizing the air quality in their buildings. And our project business continues to enjoy backlogs at an all-time high from ongoing success we are having in winning new business.
Additionally, we conclude our highly strategic acquisition in early Q1 of this year, with the acquisition and with the addition of Énergère to our family. Énergère is the leading energy advisory and energy service business in the province of Quebec, providing turnkey energy efficiency solutions that reduce clients' energy consumption, greenhouse gas emission, thus reducing their carbon footprint and enhance their overall ESG profile. Énergère will be a key part of Ainsworth and GDI's value proposition to the market well into the future, as the ESG movements gain momentum, and our fight for global climate warming will undergo a more serious or more intensive attention.
Our Complementary Services segment, which consists of our product manufacturing and distribution business, recorded a decrease in revenue and adjusted EBITDA during the quarter. This business continues to be affected by low demand for daily consumables like soap, towel and tissues, as a result of the low occupancy rate we are experiencing in facilities. However, this slowdown is transitory, and we expect the business to recover as occupancy rate rises.
As I look back at 2021, I can't be more proud of the team at GDI and what was accomplished. First and foremost, we acted as an expert advisor and trusted partner to our clients and played a critical role in keeping the occupant of their buildings safe from the virus. We also concluded a number of certain significant strategic acquisitions. Since January 1, 2021, we have completed six acquisitions: the BP Group in New York City, Enginuity Mechanical in Pennsylvania, Fuller Industries in Kansas, IH Services in South Carolina, and
[indiscernible]
(00:09:37) and Énergère both in Quebec; adding over CAD 550 million in annual revenues.
Operationally and graphically and strategically, we considerably have strengthened three of our business segments and provided us with the tools and talents to continue to be extremely relevant to our customers. On the pro forma basis, GDI has reached $2 billion of revenue milestone, we have doubled our revenue over the last four years, and we have almost tripled our EBITDA.
[ph]
Our insights (00:10:15), we have completed some 46 acquisitions over the last 10 years, which has been a tremendous amount of work, and I congratulate the team for that.
As we begin 2022, I am very optimistic for GDI business. After two years of uncertainty, the outlook for the pandemic is more clear and our clients can focus on implementing, reopening, and reoccupying plants with confidence. We expect that as facility reoccupies, our clients will continue to require enhanced service from our Janitorial business, volume in our manufacturing and distribution will increase, and our Technical Services business will continue to perform well. Even after six acquisitions since the beginning of last year, our balance sheet is strong, our leverage ratio is around 2 times, and we are well-positioned to execute on our strategic growth plan.
And lastly, I would like to take a moment to thank Mr. David Galloway, one of our board member that has been with us since 2015 and that has notified us of his resignation at the end of 2021 for personal reasons. David is a true gentleman and brought to GDI his business experience and wisdom, and we essentially thank him.
At the same time, I would like to welcome Anna Ristic – Anne Ristic, I'm sorry, to the GDI board of director. Anne brings a wealth of experience, having spent more than 20 years in a large national law firm as co-managing director. So, welcome to GDI, and we are sure that your contribution will be tremendous.
So, that concludes my remark, and I will now ask the operator to open the line to analysts for questions. Thank you.
Thank you, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question-and-answer session.
[Operator Instructions]
Your first question comes from Michael Doumet with Scotiabank. Please go ahead.
Hey. Good morning, gentlemen. Nice quarter, and congrats on all the deals.
Yeah. Thank you very much.
Hey, Claude, you talked about it. We've lived with this pandemic for two years now. Are your customers getting to a point where they're looking to embed some of these specialty cleaning services into their contracts? And is that giving you better visibility on the longer term opportunity, as well as pricing conditions for their services?
Mike, I think we're going to see a little bit of everything. Mind you that in the commercial building sector, most of the enhanced work is provided through the occupants of the buildings. So – and the landlord portion is more related to public areas. I cannot predict the future with certainty, but we have seen a mix of both. Some will require it in their contract and some would like to keep a certain, I would say, grasp on the spending. So, they keep it aside.
Got you. That's helpful. And with the US reopening a little bit more quickly here, I think we're all looking to the – to your Janitorial US business for signs of things to come in Canada. I wonder if that's the right way to think about it, because obviously the business mix of the two countries are very different with a lot more commercial office exposure in Canada. Is there an argument that can be made where some of this higher margin work could stick around for longer and maybe in higher quantities, and that can sustain higher margins in Canada or is the conclusion eventually that they could converge?
Yeah. Well, listen, I think that both segments will benefit from enhanced services and occupancy levels going forward. As you know, building occupants are more or less now densifying the space to a healthy level because COVID is not out of our lives for the foreseen future. But you're right, US has a different business segment. They have reopened more quickly than Canada. I would – without making a forward-looking statement, I would presume that Canada will retain a strong enhanced business service level. As you said, the business mix is more on the commercial building and commercial real estate that require those services. Yes, it will come back to a more normal service level, but we are anticipating a higher enhanced service level overall.
Perfect. Those are my two questions. Thank you.
All right. Take care. Have a good day, Mike. Thanks.
Thank you. Your next question comes from John Zamparo with CIBC. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Good morning. I want to start with the...
Good morning.
...IH Services. Good morning. I want to start with the IH Services acquisition. It seems like there's an opportunity for revenue synergies there. I wonder if you can provide any color on how significant that might be. And historically on deals of this size, how long does it typically take to capture revenue synergies?
Well, we are at the beginning of the story, as you know. Yeah. For sure, there will be efficiencies that we will extract out of the business. We're still working actively into it. And mind you that they operate very specific industrial segments and there is a great deal of talent. At this time, yes, for sure, there will be positive synergy, but I am not – I don't try to advance any size or timelines as we are working together with this team in order to identify exactly the best synergic approach without compromising any of the service level provided.
But, yes, there will be some. And for sure in the next quarter, we'll come up with – unlike others, we'd like to make – we'd like to study in depth before we come up with a business plan in the synergy areas. We don't anticipate, but we try to do our homework first, if you allow me to say.
Okay. Fair enough. And then on the other acquisition, on Énergère, can you give some details on this business? You've said CAD 45 million in revenue, but can you add any commentary on growth of that business over the past few years or how margins compare to the rest of the GDI business ?
Okay. Well, listen, I can say that the margins are more or less comparable to our business. The rationale behind it is they have a unique talent structure and a unique knowledge into what I would call the future of real estate demands. You are all aware of the global warming crisis that we are all living. Over the next 10 years, it would be an extremely, I would say, focused need for our real estate clients to reduce their carbon footprints, to enhance their energy consumption. So, we wanted to make sure that we have the talent and the team that can enable us to pollinate through our other regions like in Canada and the US. And our objective is, as we have released lately, as we have created the energy and – I'm sorry, the Energy segment and the Technology segment we just created actually in the last couple of weeks that will encompass Énergère and other technology-driven services that we are rendering in order to really grow revenues.
It's more what if we did more except Énergère, but it would be a business development segment that would provide work into our business segment, mainly Ainsworth but some others as well. So, it would be a key driver of growth for us going forward and we're building a whole business plan around that.
Am I saying it to you clear enough or you'd like me to talk more on it?
Well, I'll always take more, but that is clear and understood.
But seriously, as customers, you know what, we have an extremely strong trade business across Canada and the US. We are CAD 800 million plus. We have about 4,000 techs and specialists on the road. Now, the new need for the customers, we will still need to have upgrades and replacement and break/fix and service costs and maintenance. But we want to move into – being on the offering side, providing customers with solutions for the needs they are facing going forward.
In order to do that, we needed the talent, the expertise, the knowledge, the – I would say, the reference. And this is what Énergère is providing us. It's providing us the
[indiscernible]
(00:20:19) in which we're going to multiply, our Energy and Technology segment in Toronto, in Vancouver, in Calgary, in New York, and in Pennsylvania. So this is the idea behind it, as this whole segment will provide a better understanding of customer needs going forward.
Okay. That's very helpful. Thank you for that. And then if I can just sneak in one more housekeeping question. In the Janitorial segments, when you segregate recurring services versus on-call services, am I correct in assuming that the kind of the onetime disinfection services that's considered on-call, whereas your enhanced sanitation is still considered recurring? Is that fair?
Yes. Exactly. Enhanced business are treated as recurring revenues. Yes. I mean, whenever it's regular and it is within the day-to-day service segment, it goes as recurrent.
Got it. Okay. That's all for me,. I'll pass it on. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. Your next question comes from Maggie MacDougall with Stifel. Please go ahead.
Good morning, Maggie.
Good morning, Claude; and thanks for taking my question. I wanted to switch gears here and just talk a little bit about sort of the tail risks that we're seeing in economies markets, generally speaking. Your supply chain of chemicals, is there any impact whatsoever that we should be thinking about from the really tragic events that have unfolded over the last week? I'm thinking through sort of the commodity complex and how that may feed into cleaning chemicals. I'll let you just answer that question and then I'll have a follow up.
Okay. Thank you. Well, Maggie, first, let me say that our thoughts and our heart goes with the Ukrainian people that, a week ago they were living a normal life and now hell gets loosened in their country. So we are very, very disturbed by that emotionally. And I'm sure I'm speaking for all of us at GDI.
This being said, I would say, first of all is, we do not have much of a transaction with Eastern Europe as far as our supply chain to start with. So that's one thing. And secondly, as you know, I would say this, thank God, all the manufacturing and distribution company in the pandemic we were able to deliver services and get our raw material that we needed to execute. So, I think it was a good positive for us.
Going forward, yes, we were overstocked in 2021 because there was an overproduction, mainly in the disinfecting and sanitizing segments. But going forward, we have acquired a large manufacturing facility in the US because we are reducing our exposure to global supply. At this time, we have some bumps with our Asian partners. We're working through it. Maybe shipping and transportation cost has exploded. So. we're coping with the increase of costs. But again, we are looking to manufacture more and more in North America to reduce our exposure to international market events or international supply chain bumps that we have in the future.
Did I cover it properly for you, Maggie?
You did. Thank you. And then the second question I had was the other major concern that's been out there for a lot of different companies is the wage inflation. The labor markets were tight in the United States. People have experienced rapid escalation there. So, I'm wondering you've got really good pricing pass-through. If there's anything further to add to that, it's really more just the box checking exercise here with the question.
Yeah. Well, absolutely, Maggie. You know what? You put your finger in my day-to-day worrying, if you allow me. That's for sure. But first thing is, we are very fortunate we have – most of our large markets are unionized and we have mid- to long-term union agreements in place. So, that makes it a little bit more secure on the salaries exposure. This being said, yes, it's a – the labor market has tightened up and we have to deploy several initiatives in order to recruit and train because recruiting is one thing, training is another.
And as the market has not reopened totally, we still are good with our service level. But as the market reopens, we need to really, really focus more and more. My risk at the end of the day would not be to not service customers. It would be to have to assume a little bit of over time, which is not a good thing in the business.
But we're not there. We are – you know what, I can tell you that we are working upstream
[indiscernible]
(00:26:06) towards this problem. At last, I would say that we are one of the best employer in our trade, so we attract a lot of people that work in maybe more difficult or less rewarding business environments. So, we cope on that as well to support us.
And lastly, if there are some markets where we really have bigger than anticipated problem with labor, we will service – we will have to define our customer pool. And if we have to divest from some customers to have our labor working and the best environments, we will do so. But we're not there yet. But we're working actively towards it because I don't want to live the problem, so we try to resolve it before it happens.
Appreciate that. One final one. The energy services business that you've started, obviously looks really interesting from a bunch of different angles. I'm wondering how success in that part of your strategy will impact consolidated profitability over the long term. In other words, is that a margin business that is like Janitorial, better than Janitorial, worse than janitorial? and does having another tool in your toolbox with regards to your product offering for your customer base help you with share of wallet or market share growth in ways that are more than just 1 plus 1 equals 2?
Absolutely. Well, Maggie, you know what, for sure, the margin are in line with our global margin. So, that's one thing. Secondly, going forward, as I said, it would be more of a development tool for our trade business as well. So, I anticipate that Énergère will probably triple in size over the next couple of years as we will pollinate the business into our other markets. And also, it would provide extensive work and enhanced technologies to our clients, which is traditionally better margin, if you follow what I'm saying.
So, yes, we anticipate that overall, it would provide us better margin and better stickiness with our clients. So – and it will also respond to a specific need. So, instead of being at the tail of the process, of the project process, we want to be ahead of the process, if you know what I mean, if you'll forgive my bad English.
Your English is excellent. You do not have to make any apologies there. Thank you very much, and I hope you have a great day.
Thank you very much, Maggie.
Thank you. Your next question comes from Zachary Evershed with National Bank Financial. Please go ahead.
Good morning. Thanks for taking my questions.
Hey. Good morning, Zachary.
So, balancing out the new acquisitions in Technical Services against some of the impact of the pandemic, the read-through has gotten a little muddled. So, could you clarify if the segment should follow historical seasonality patterns for revenue and margins going forward?
You know what? Zachary, I'm sorry. I had some mess around me. Can you repeat the question, please?
Absolutely. Do you think that the Technical Services segment should follow historical seasonality patterns for revenue and margins as we emerge from the pandemic, taking into account the new acquisitions?
I have nothing at this time that tells me that we will move away from our seasonality. Because you know what, mind you, the seasonality is really – is mild. It's not like summer we do business, and in the winter, we lose – we don't do any business. There's a mild seasonality. I don't see anything so far that will make it different. Going forward now with – if we undertake larger – we undertake energy management project, will we break some of that seasonality? I cannot tell you yet, Zachary, to be very honest.
Fair enough. And then actually it's a great segue, but thinking about the new revenue mix in Technical Services with Énergère, with the other large acquisitions, do you see anything stopping the segment from getting back to the 7.4% EBITDA margin that you hit in Q4 2019?
As again, I don't want to do forward-looking statement. We are working to enhance our margin to exactly what level going forward. Mind you, Zachary, you know what, there is – we have to take the time to achieve the mission. As you know, we've been added for many years. And, yes, we are working around an overall margin, which would be, I would say, better than our traditional 6%, but it's work in progress.
That's clear. Thanks. And just the last one, again on Énergère and the new Ainsworth Energy and Technology segment, there seems like there's a lot of potential there. How large do you estimate the addressable market is there currently and how large do you think it'll be in five years?
The global – because as you understand that, if you take the mechanical HVAC and Technology segment, we're talking CAD 90 billion in North America. Now, with the global warming, what will be the add up on this market? We anticipate that it will be significant, but I don't have a number to offer to you, Zachary. And more in five years from now. What I come to realize that the market shifts very quickly. But for sure, Zachary, you can take that to the bank that the market will increase significantly over the next five years. And I'm sure you – we have everything in front of us to make a statement there.
All right. Thanks for the color. I'll turn it over.
Thank you.
Thank you. Your next question comes from Frédéric Tremblay with Desjardins. Please go ahead.
Good morning, Claude, Stéphane, and David.
Morning.
Morning, Fréd.
Good morning, sir.
First question for me, I just wanted a bit more color on the growth strategy in the US moving forward. Until recently, I was under the impression that creating a one-stop shop in the Northeast and the Midwest was kind of the short-term goal. But obviously seeing the acquisitions of Fuller and IH Services which have added exposures to other regions and services in the US which is a good thing, don't get me wrong. But given the evolution and just the strategy unfolding there, I just wanted your thoughts, Claude, on the US strategy moving forward in terms of regional services that you're talking about.
Yeah. Okay. Well, Fréd, thank you very much and that's a good question. Okay. It's twofold. Okay. Let's talk about Fuller. Fuller is not a geography play per se. It is that we wanted to acquire sufficient manufacturing capacity and distribution capacity in the US, as we intend to grow our business segment following the growth also of our janitorial services.
So we were able to add on, you know what, plastic molding manufacturing, brushes manufacturing, and a state-of-the-art chemical production plant located in exactly the middle of the United States. It was an occasion that we could not let pass. And it was a very, very, attractive price that we paid for it. So, that's one thing. But you understand that the strategy is not related to segment. So, it was more segmented development than geography or market penetration.
Now, this being said, IH is located in South Carolina, yes, and it service what I would say the Southeast. We are strong in the Northeast. A lot of work to do still to develop the Northeast, but now we have a footprint in the Southeast. But mind you that IH Services provided a significant amount of revenue and services in the Northeast also. So, it does not take us out of our strategy to develop our strength in the Northeast, because there is a significant part of business in the Northeast.
Coming back to, this is where we're working around how we will manage the business and how things will integrate themselves over time. So, I don't think we are getting out of our original objective. We are still working very intensely into the Eastern seaboards, and I think it provided us. And it's not every day, Fréd, that you can acquire a significant business like this at a reasonable multiple. I'm sure you have seen what's happening lately in the acquisition market. So, we kept our head cold and we were looking to find the right talent, the right business at the right price. It has been the success of this business and we don't intend to move out of it, and this represents exactly what we are looking to develop. So now we have a footprint in the South. We are intensifying our business in the North. So, I think we are all good. I don't know. This is how we see it.
Yeah. Perfect. That's awesome. Thank you. Maybe a follow-up just on the Fuller Industries. I think one of the things that was mentioned in your press release yesterday was that, for 2022 there's going to be a focus at Superior Solutions to grow the US business volumes. I was wondering if you could get maybe a bit deeper into some of the initiatives that you intend to implement to drive volume growth from that business in the US.
Well, actually – okay. So, the thing is, now we have a team. We have a team that is dedicated now to develop the US. And we have a leadership that is actually now focused more on the US in some extent. Thirdly is we have a very strong relationship with major, major distributors that are active in Canada, but very active in the US. So, we intend to leverage our relationships in order to really develop our white label product lines. Secondly, is now we are able to manufacture our, I would say, base products like, packaging goods and everything that also provide – will provided us with a better price point on our chemical distribution. So, that's another good positive.
Thirdly, is we are, like I said, is – we are diminishing our dependence on our, I would say, agent – towards our agent market supply through our – now we will manufacture probably all of our plastic goods in our plant in the US. So, as you see, these are all pieces that put together makes us I think a good player going forward in the US market.
Great. And...
And just finishing that to tell you that market is more sensible now into manufacturing in North America with all the supply chain bumps that we're experiencing.
Yeah. That makes sense. And just the last question maybe on Technical Services and the background there. I guess a twofold question. Are you witnessing any compensation either on the labor or materials side in Technical Services? And then the second part of the question is, if you're seeing an inflation, is there a risk that contracts that are in your backlog right now won't produce the margins that you were expecting when the contracts were signed? I'm just trying to maybe better understand those dynamics in terms of the cost and...
Yeah.
...just in the backlog kind of...
Yeah. Okay. Well, let's – yeah. Well, I don't want to get too technical, but, well, our equipment and – larger equipment etcetera, etcetera, are price-secure with our supplier partners. As we actually provide pricing, these prices are secured. So, there's no major issue there. Like I said, you know what, our labor market in these segments are fully unionized with mid-term to longer term salary structure. We are able to pass off increases as all the new bids are always working with less pricing.
So, no, we don't anticipate a degradation of our margin according to inflation. Now, I'm not saying that it will be 100% true, but certainly it will be 95% true.
Great. That's very helpful. Thanks, Claude.
Yeah.
Thank you. There are no further questions at this time. Mr. Bigras, you may proceed.
Well, again, thank you very much. It was a – for the last two years, we have lived extremely, I would say, challenging moments coping with the changes that were occurring. If it's not by week, it was almost by days. Business opening, business closing, business reopening. Work from home, go back to the office, work from home. So, you know what, it was extremely demanding for the team. And I cannot tell you again how proud I am of the team that has remained totally resilient. And our talents are working with us into the future, so that's all good. We were able to execute and continue to grow the business in this pandemic time.
Now, we're seeing more clearly ahead. I don't want to jinx it, but we're starting to see more, I would say, predictable environment going forward. So, I'm very positive, and I'm excited about the future. We have new tools now to address the market. So bear with me. We're working hard into the future to continue to deliver on our goals of our CAD 3 billion revenue with the, I would say, healthy EBITDA margins. So, we're working toward that. Thank you very much.
Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes your conference call for today, We thank you for participating, and ask that you please disconnect your lines. Have a great day.
Thank you. Have a good day.