K-Bro Linen Inc

TSX:KBL

Earnings Call Transcript 2022-Q1

[Operator]

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the K-Bro Linen Systems Inc. First Quarter 2022 Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Also note that the call is being recorded on Friday May 13, 2022.

And I would now like to turn the conference call over to Kristie Plaquin. Please go ahead.

[Kristie Plaquin, executive]

Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today and welcome to our 2022 first Quarter results conference call. On the line with me today is Linda McCurdy, President and Chief Executive Officer. Following our remarks today, we will open it up for questions.

Before we begin, I'd like to remind everyone that statements made during our prepared remarks or in the Q&A portion of the conference call with reference to management's expectations or our predictions of the future are forward-looking statements. All statements made today which are not statements of historical fact are considered to be forward-looking statements. Certain material factors or assumptions were applied in drawing a conclusion or making a forecast or projection as reflected in the forward-looking information. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these statements. Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated. Risk factors that could affect the results are detailed in our public filings.

I'll now turn things over to our CEO, Linda McCurdy, who will provide her insights and remarks on the quarter. Linda?

[Linda McCurdy, executive]

Thank you, Kristie, and good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today to review our 2022 first quarter results. I'll focus on the main highlights of the first quarter and our outlook for the remainder of the year. Kristie will provide more detail on our financial performance and balance sheet, and we'll obviously open it up to Q&A.

In terms of the highlights, I'm pleased with our 2022 first quarter results with revenue and EBITDA of $61.4 million and $7.1 million for the year, with an overall 21% increase in revenue over the same period last year.

While quarterly EBITDA was down from Q1 2021, there are several reasons that I said, I'm pleased with third quarter, particularly given some of the activity in Q1 that bodes well for the remainder of the year, especially H2. And while it's too early to speak in the detail about 2023, we believe the positive events in Q1 will help us in 2023. I'll summarize some of these positive events.

First, our hospitality volume increased approximately 300% from Q1 2021. To translate that into revenue, hospitality revenue increased 131% in Canada and 728% in the U.K. We're seeing continued hospitality improvements into Q2 and expect hospitality volume to recover during the year.

This is especially important in the U.K. where hospitality is most of our volume. And as we know, pre-pandemic the U.K. was a meaningful part of our overall profitability and the more visibility we have on improving [indiscernible], the better it is.

Second, we have talked about the financial impact of the transition of the additional AHS volumes. While we're pleased that we will be processing all of AHS volume under our new contract, we have been integrating the additional volume into our Edmonton and Calgary plant since last September. This means that the additional revenue isn't fully recognized by the end of Q1, and we were still adding new sites and of course, their temporary integration cost of leasing and additional volume on board.

I'm pleased to say that we've fully transitioned all of AHS volume in April. So in Q2, we expect to see more of the revenue impact and less of the integration costs. While each 2 will see the full financial impact of the additional volume with improvements in labor costs as we become more efficient in integrating the volume.

Third, we've incurred significantly higher natural gas costs in the U.K. since the end of last year. As of April, we've hedged our U.K. natural gas cost through the end of 2024, while May and June are at higher rates than Q1, July onward are at rates that will enable us to effectively know our cost structure for the foreseeable future from a gas cost perspective.

In addition, we're working with our U.K. hospitality customers to increase our pricing above what the contracts currently provide to account for the higher natural gas costs, and we certainly have some success with many of our customers.

Fourth, while almost all of our locations are seeing very tight labor conditions, we're taking certain actions to help alleviate and offset some of the financial impact some of the increase in labor costs. We've been successful with some new recruitment strategies in Canada and especially in the U.K., which has helped reduce our overtime and increase our productivity. And we're also working with our hospitality customers, especially in the U.K. to further increase our pricing above what our contracts allow for to account for the higher labor costs. We're appreciative of those customers who are willing to cooperate with us in these efforts.

So really, this is why I've said that I'm pleased with our Q1 performance. While EBITDA is down from last year, we believe that there are several meaningful activities that will positively impact us in Q2 and especially in H2 and beyond.

One additional point before we get to Kristie's review, we remain well-positioned from a balance sheet and liquidity perspective with $61 million of additional borrowing capacity on our revolver line with credit and with an additional $25 million accordion for both purposes.

Total debt increased in the quarter from $38 million to $36.6 million, and our funded debt to EBITDA at the end of Q1 remained conservative at just over 1x. Our balance sheet flexibility is important to us as we consider potential acquisition on varying side.

I'll now turn the call over to Kristie to discuss our detailed financial results for the quarter, after which I'll return to talk about our outlook for the remainder of the year. Kristie?

[Kristie Plaquin, executive]

Thank you, Linda. The information we are discussing today is also highlighted in our 2022 first quarter earnings press release issued yesterday and detailed supplemental financial information can be found on our Investor Relations website under the heading Financial Documents.

Consolidated EBITDA in the first quarter of 2022 decreased by $3 million to $7.1 million compared to $10.1 million in the comparative period of 2021 and margin decreased by 9.6% to 11.5%. The decrease is primarily related to higher natural gas costs, particularly in the U.K., the additional labor costs incurred due to temporarily tight labor markets in certain cities in which we operate, repricing of the corporation's existing business in Edmonton and Calgary with AHS, which took effect on August 1, 2021, in advance of all the new rural business being transitioned, transition costs for the new AHS accounts and lower government assistance received in the quarter.

Net earnings decreased by $2 million or 127.3% from $1.6 million in 2021 to negative $0.4 million in 2022, and net earnings as a percentage of revenue decreased by about 4% to negative 0.7% in 2022 from 3.4% in 2021. The change in net earnings is primarily related to the flow-through items in EBITDA I mentioned earlier, higher finance costs related to the revolving credit facility and lower income tax expense.

Wages and benefits in the first quarter of 2022 increased by $7.2 million to $24.7 million compared to $17.5 million in the comparative period of 2021 and as a percentage of revenue, increased by 3.4% to 40.1%. The increase as a percentage of revenue is primarily related to escalating minimum wage rates and efficiencies associated with the lack of labor workforce availability and the transitioning of new AHS business, as well as lower government assistance received in the quarter for the Canadian division.

Linen in the first quarter increased by $1.3 million to $7.4 million compared to $6.1 million in the comparative period of 2021 and as a percentage of revenue, decreased by 0.8% to 12%. The decrease as a percentage of revenue is primarily related to the changes in the mix of healthcare line related to COVID-19 pandemic and higher hospitality volumes processed compared to the prior year.

Utilities in the first quarter of 2022 increased by $2.8 million to $5.6 million compared to $2.8 million in the comparative period of 2021 and as a percentage of revenue, increased by 3.3% to 9.2%. The increase as a percentage of revenue is primarily related to higher cost of natural gas, particularly in the U.K. and additional healthcare and hospitality volumes process compared to the prior quarter.

Delivery in the first quarter of 2022 increased by $3.6 million to $8.2 million compared to $4.6 million in the comparative period of 2021. And as a percentage of revenue, increased by 3.7% to 13.4%. The increase as a percentage of revenue is primarily related to additional healthcare and hospitality volume process compared to the prior year and the costs associated with the new rural AHS business.

It is also a reflection of adding additional fixed cost to support rising hospitality volumes and the associated inefficiencies that will exist until routes are fully optimized with pre-pandemic volumes. Occupancy costs in the first quarter of 2022 increased by $0.1 million to $1 million compared to $0.9 million in the comparative period of 2021 and as a percentage of revenue remained fairly consistent.

Materials and supplies in the first quarter of 2022 increased by $0.8 million to $2.6 million compared to $1.8 million in the comparative period of 2021 and as a percentage of revenue increased by 0.6% to 4.3%. The increase as a percentage of revenue is primarily related to higher packaging costs related to the new AHS business and a higher chemical costs due to changes in the mix of volumes resulting from the pandemic.

Repairs and maintenance in the first quarter of 2022 increased by $0.5 million to $2.2 million compared to $1.7 million in the comparative period of 2021, and as a percentage of revenue, increased by 0.1% to 3.7%. The increase as a percentage of revenue is primarily related to the timing of maintenance activities.

Corporate costs in the first quarter of 2022 increased by $0.4 million to $2.6 million compared to $2.2 million in the comparative period of 2021 and as a percentage of revenue decreased by 0.4% to 4.2%. The decrease as a percentage of revenue is primarily related to the timing of initiatives to support the corporation's growth and business strategies across the plants.

Now looking at our capital resources. Distributable cash flow for the first quarter of 2022 was $3.6 million, and our payout ratio was 89.9%. In addition, the company paid out $0.3 per share in dividends during the quarter for total consideration of $3.2 million.

The corporation had net working capital of $26.9 million at March 31, 2022, compared to its working capital position of $30.3 million at December 31, 2021. The decrease in working capital is primarily related to the timing difference in relation to cash settlement of new plant equipment, income tax payments and cash received from customers.

At March 31, 2022, total assets increased to $325 million compared to $332.5 million at December 31, 2021, and total liabilities decreased to $144 million from $146 million. Shareholders' equity decreased at March 31, 2022, from December 31, 2021, to $181 million from $186.4 million.

As far as our debt is concerned, we have sufficient room in our credit facility with an operating line of $100 million and a further $25 million accordion for growth purposes. At the end of Q1 2022, we had an undrawn balance of close to $61 million, which reinforces our strong liquidity.

Debt to total capitalization for the quarter ended March 31, 2022, was 16.9%. Total debt decreased in the quarter from $38 million to $36.6 million and was primarily due to the change in working capital items I mentioned earlier. As Linda said earlier, our debt-to-EBITDA ratio was just over 1x.

I'll now turn things back over to Linda for any additional commentary. Linda?

[Linda McCurdy, executive]

Thank you, Kristie. As we discussed with the rebound in the hospitality business, our overall revenue in the quarter was up 6% from 2019. Throughout the quarter, we saw a steady progression in hospitality revenues with March finishing just 10% below historical 2019 levels. We again had to move quickly to adjust significantly increasing volumes by increasing operating hours, recalling and recruiting additional staff and ensuring all aspects of our supply chain to support the increases.

We continue to see strong results in our Healthcare segment and expect that to continue as a result of the new AHS volume that has been fully transitioned as of April, permanent conversions to reusable products as well as efforts by hospitals to reduce the backlog of procedures that have been delayed during the pandemic.

From a hospitality perspective, we believe it's reasonable to expect continued improvement in client activity when compared to 2021 due to its gradual return to business and international travel as COVID restrictions implemented in both Canada and the U.K. has been substantially reduced. As mentioned, we saw this with very strong activity in the second half of the quarter.

While client activity on the hospitality front is still below historical loans, the increases we've experienced since Q2 2020 have resulted in the reopening of all of our operations, including our first plant, which we expect to be operational effective Jan 2022.

We've recalled employees to meet these increased amounts and will continue to address production schedules as well as demand warrants. We expect our biggest short-term challenge will continue to be recruiting and attracting labor to support the growth in revenue, although we have made positive progress on this front.

On the Alberta front, we remain focused on transitioning the new business we secured in the quarter with the last site being transitioned on April 1. With the successful completion of the transition of this business in the beginning of April, as expected we incurred onetime transition costs that we anticipate will continue for the first half of the year until we fully optimize our operations.

From an input cost perspective, since early March 2022, particularly in the U.K., we faced significant volatility in the cost of natural gas due to the current geopolitical issues. In April, to mitigate this instability, we lock in on neutral gas supply until December 2024. Based on lease locked in rates, we anticipate natural gas as a percentage of revenue to increase to 2 to 3 percentage points from historical levels for 2022. We expect to mitigate these costs with price increases to our customers, although there could be some lag. We're confident that the combination of these factors and a relief in the temporary tight labor market in certain cities will contribute to a strong H2 in 2023.

With continued momentum in the business and as hospitality revenues recover to 2019 levels, we will look to refocus on evaluating acquisitions in both the U.K. and Canada, and we'll execute on our strategy to grow our market share, and this will continue as we move forward for the remainder of 2022.

So I'd say the main highlights of the quarter would be that we are pleased with the quarter and we're confident that we'll have a strong year, particularly given the trends that we believe will positively impact us throughout the year.

Q1 is typically on a seasonally low quarter, and this year, our results were also impacted by the factors that I mentioned. We've produced strong cash flow and a demonstrated resilience -- that demonstrates the resilience of our business model. We're very pleased with our strong revenues and EBITDA.

I'll now turn it over for any questions you may have on our first quarter results.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] And your first question will be from Derek Lessard at TD.

[Derek Lessard, analyst]

I have -- the first one I have is, I was wondering how quickly -- I guess, given how your contracts are structured, do you think that you can pass through the higher cost? And I was wondering if there's any difference between geographies? In other words, is it easier to pass through in the U.K. versus Canada or.

[Linda McCurdy, executive]

Sure. Good question. It certainly takes time. It's not as easy as just sending out a form letter and saying, your costs or your price is going up. It's a process of working with each of them individually. I would say that it is slightly easier in the U.K. because the cost increases are more dramatic in the U.K., particularly in terms of energy. But overall, we have a very receptive audience. And we do find actually on the hospitality front, it's actually easier to seek those price increases because I'm not sure why it is probably because have the ability to pass on those cost increases or price increases by reusing hotel room rates more evenly than perhaps healthcare can go back to the government now for more money. But we are being very successful in our journey to do so, but it continues. It doesn't happen overnight. And in many cases, they're obviously out of contract price increases. So we're very happy with our -- with the response that we're getting on that front.

[Derek Lessard, analyst]

So I guess as maybe a follow-up to that. When is it reasonably -- when is it reasonable to expect to see more material impact on your earnings in the latter half of the quarter or sort of Q2 or the year or into 2020?

[Linda McCurdy, executive]

Yes. I think it's both. I think it's not reasonable to expect that to flow through in a meaningful way in Q2, but I think in the latter half of the year and in particular, into Q3 as well -- into 2023, sorry.

[Derek Lessard, analyst]

Okay. And one other question for me before I requeue, and you were breaking up on the phone, so I might have missed it, but you gave I think it was 4 reasons for your optimism. I just wondering if you could maybe go through those drivers again.

[Linda McCurdy, executive]

Yes, absolutely. So firstly, there will be the optimization of integrating the AHS volume that we have done many, many times before, and now it's just a process of working through the integration issues. Second of all, I would say that we are feeling positive about our recruitment efforts. We're trying some new innovative things in terms of using social media. And in particular, we've been very successful in the U.K. and being able to increase our recruitment -- successfully increase our recruitment activity. And we're using some of those strategies in Canada.

What I would say is that we've also brought on additional labor in the quarter to staff up for heavy volumes that we very much feel are going to translate -- or half in Q2 and Q3 based on what we saw in March from a hospitality perspective. And then the other point is that we've locked in our natural gas. And just having that security and knowing what the cost structure is going to be enables us to effectively go to our customers and ask for the appropriate price increases to compensate for that. When it's a continual moving target, it's very difficult to pin down what price increase we're looking for from a customer perspective.

So on all of those -- and finally, on a delivery perspective, again, we expect further optimization of the route from an AHS perspective as well as on the hospitality side, where volumes increase where we can maximize those ones. So for all of those reasons, we feel positive about the latter half of the year in particular.

[Operator]

Your next question will be from Michael Glen at Raymond James.

[Michael Glen, analyst]

Linda, there's -- like what's in the Canadian healthcare business right now, there is a lot of moving parts, the volumes from AHS, the repricing, you're up against some difficult comps still in the prior period. When you look across and you look at the underlying organic growth rate for the business, do you have any views on -- or any thoughts on what that should look like as we cycle past all of these items?

[Linda McCurdy, executive]

Yes. If you take out the impact of all of that, I still think it's low -- yes, low single digits, so not low 3% -- I'd say 3% to 4% in terms of organic growth we can expect when you take out all of the noise. We still see organic growth in our hospitals. We see new beds. We see a backlog, especially in the operating rooms that they're trying to clear out. So I still feel confident that the organic growth rate in the healthcare side of the business is 3% to 4%, 3% to 5%.

[Michael Glen, analyst]

And in terms of M&A, can you just remind us on where you would be comfortable taking the balance sheet to with -- if a larger M&A transaction was to come along?

[Linda McCurdy, executive]

Given the nature of our business, I think it's reasonable to -- our hands are that we can support 3x very easily.

[Michael Glen, analyst]

3x?

[Linda McCurdy, executive]

Debt-to-EBIT-- 2x debt-to-EBITDA. Yes.

[Michael Glen, analyst]

That will be on a pro forma type basis?

[Linda McCurdy, executive]

Yes. Yes.

[Michael Glen, analyst]

Okay. And then one more from my side. Have you -- has there been any additional discussion at the Board level within the company regarding putting in place a normal course issuer bid?

[Linda McCurdy, executive]

Great question. That topic and discussion happens, especially given where we're standing today. And we want to remain focused on keeping the balance sheet clean to continue to pursue acquisitions. And given there's a varying range of acquisition size out there, we will continue to have the discussions that at this point it's straight ahead with continuing to want to grow the business and keeping the balance sheep clean.

[Operator]

Your next question will be from Justin Keywood at Stifel.

[Justin Keywood, analyst]

I had a question on the planned CapEx, if I understand correctly. So there's $10 million for AHS and then there's an additional $5 million for normal course. And I believe there was about $3 million spent in the quarter. So should we assume there's still $12 million to be spent for 2022?

[Kristie Plaquin, executive]

No.

[Linda McCurdy, executive]

No. Go ahead.

[Kristie Plaquin, executive]

That would be a bit too high. The $10 million, a lot of that was spent in 2021. There's still a portion of that to -- that will play into Q2 probably in the $1 million range in terms of what's outstanding. And then the $5 million would be our 2022 CapEx requirement. And I'd say there's approximately $3 million to $4 million out to spend on that. So kind of for the balance of the year, a total of $5 million. Spread fairly evenly between Q2 and Q3.

[Justin Keywood, analyst]

Got it. Okay. And I understand the additional CapEx for AHS. But for the CapEx and just the normal course of business, are you able just to give some context on what that exactly is being spent on?

And then also just given the labor challenges you're seeing, is there an opportunity to maybe incorporate more automation and maybe spend a bit more on CapEx. I realize there's an upfront investment. But if the labor market continues to be tight, maybe there's a good return on that investment.

[Linda McCurdy, executive]

Great question. I think as everyone knows, we went through a major recapitalization or a reinvestment process in all of our large healthcare plants. Several years ago finished -- over the last 5 years, I would say. So on that front, it's not that there's no opportunity, but the opportunities are certainly fewer.

I would say that on our -- in our hospitality plants, we continue to -- and in the U.K., we continue to look at those opportunities. I don't think the magnitude of those CapEx investments would come anywhere close to what we experienced over the last number of years, but it is definitely something that we continue to look at and in terms of ways to reduce our dependency on labor. But again, in our large healthcare plant, unless there's a significant development in robotics in our industry. We are really running state-of-the-art plants.

In terms of where we're spending our roughly $5 million of maintenance CapEx, it will be spread out amongst all of our plants, and we've ranged from replacing boilers to ensuring the roof repairs, parking lot repairs, replacing older futures and folders, a panel, for example, would be $1 million and some of our older hospitality class increased capacity and replaced older kind of washer. So it really is spread out and followed the plan to focus on an individual plant or one particular idle.

[Justin Keywood, analyst]

And then sorry if I missed this, but just on the target EBITDA margin on an annual basis, do you have any expectations of what that could be?

[Linda McCurdy, executive]

I think once we work through our issues, whether it be labor, AHS transition, optimizing delivery routes, it's fair to say that we're confident in an EBITDA margin that is consistent with our 2019 levels. So 17% to 20%. That's before we add a significant amount of incremental volume, which, of course, will leverage our infrastructure, so I think over time, the opportunity is higher than 20%. I'd say over the next H2 and 2023, it's fair to say the 2019 levels are what our expectation would be on an annual basis.

[Justin Keywood, analyst]

So for 2022, is 17% to 20%, and I assume that's adjusted EBITDA to EBITDA, would that be achievable on an annual basis?

[Linda McCurdy, executive]

In the back half of the year. Yes, in the back half of the year. The first half, we'll -- we've got a number of things that we're working through, especially as it relates to AHS.

[Justin Keywood, analyst]

Okay. Great. Sorry, just one more question. The EBITDA to adjusted -- the adjusted EBITDA reduces the lease expense. Is that correct?

[Linda McCurdy, executive]

Kristie?

[Kristie Plaquin, executive]

Yes, that's correct. And maybe just to clarify, Justin, we only now report on EBITDA, which includes the impact of IFRS 16. In the fourth quarter, we stopped reporting on the adjusted EBITDA metric.

[Justin Keywood, analyst]

Okay. So EBITDA with the IFRS 16 would be higher because it wouldn't reduce the lease expense.

[Kristie Plaquin, executive]

Correct. Yes.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] And your next question will be from Anthony Linton at Laurentian Bank.

[Anthony Linton, analyst]

I just wanted to start on your natural gas cost. So just wondering how much of your U.K. consumption is now hedged? And how that contact hedging profile kind of looks as we move towards 2023. I think you had some comments how it's higher in May, June and then the costs sort of unwind as we get lower as we go through 2022.

[Linda McCurdy, executive]

Yes. So what we said was that absent or without any price increases, which is obviously not the case and it's not how we're looking at the world, but without any additional price increases, we expect the increase on the cost structure to be 2 to 3 percentage points, with it being at the top -- the higher end of that range from May and June where we lock in at higher rates. From July onwards, they come off and were locked in until 2024. Again, I would say, with an impact on the overall cost structure of about 2 percentage points without any additional price increases, which, as I said, is not what we're expecting.

[Anthony Linton, analyst]

Okay. So without any price increases, it would be that 2% moving through 2023.

[Linda McCurdy, executive]

Yes.

[Anthony Linton, analyst]

Okay.

[Linda McCurdy, executive]

That's right. Yes.

[Anthony Linton, analyst]

Okay. Got it. And then just on the EBITDA margin profile. I'm wondering how you're thinking about margins, particularly in the U.K. as we move into Q2, just with the reactivation costs related to the Perth facility.

[Linda McCurdy, executive]

Yes. So great point. We -- there will certainly be an impact. It won't be like starting up a brand new plant. So there will be some startup costs. But I do believe that for Q3 and Q4, we'll make significant progress in the U.K. We still expect to finish with a positive contribution from the U.K. division.

And in particular, we feel very confident that in 2023, on the significant progress in terms of getting back to historical EBITDA levels on a calendar basis for 2023. Given everything that we're seeing in that market, in terms of volume, in terms of our ability to pass on our pricing -- pass on price increases, we're feeling pretty confident about a full year of 2023 and the back half of 2022.

[Anthony Linton, analyst]

Got it. That's great to hear. And then maybe just on hospitality, you previously kind of guided towards expectations of hospitality revenue recovering to 80% of 2019 levels with what you're seeing? Is that -- have you seen any upside to that?

[Linda McCurdy, executive]

I think for -- certainly for Q2 and Q3, I would -- we are hearing that they're going to be very solid and very strong to 2019 levels. Obviously, we weren't there in Q1. Having said that, it was heavily impacted in January, and we disclosed those numbers in the MD&A by Omicron. And if you look at the progression between January, February and March, we see -- we saw a very strong March. So I think with a little less clear to me is what Q4 looks like. And how is that compared to how that would compare to 2019. We're definitely still seeing weakness in the business and conference travel, but very, very strong leisure travel.

[Anthony Linton, analyst]

Okay. Got it. That's great to hear. And then just one last clarification, and I'll turn it back. You mentioned target leverage of 3x if you were to take on any acquisitions, is that on a pre or post IFRS 16 basis?

[Linda McCurdy, executive]

Post.

[Anthony Linton, analyst]

Post? Okay. Got it.

[Linda McCurdy, executive]

Yes.

[Operator]

And your next question will be from Endri Leno at National Bank.

[Endri Leno, analyst]

The first one, I just wanted to ask a little bit about healthcare. I mean you put in the cadence throughout the quarter for each month in there. I was wondering if you could talk a little bit whether that improvement during the quarter. Is it all because of the AHS transition? Or did you see improvements elsewhere? And if you are able to quantify those improvements from elsewhere, if that was indeed the case?

[Linda McCurdy, executive]

Definitely mostly from AHS. In fact, in many cases, we've seen reductions, right? So there's no testing centers. There's some level of reduced usage in the hospitals as COVID cases have gone down. So there is a fair bit of noise going on there. But in many of our sites, we have seen reductions in the volumes for sure, as COVID cases have come down. We have seen some pickup in surgeries, but that has not offset the reduction in what we would call COVID volumes. So most of that would come from AHS. Absolutely.

[Endri Leno, analyst]

Okay. And then just to clarify because you said you finished the transition in -- on April 1, if I heard correctly. So what you've seen in March, the 30% increase year-over-year is more or less a stable level that we should see in Q2 from AHS.

[Linda McCurdy, executive]

Yes.

[Endri Leno, analyst]

Okay. Fair Enough.

[Linda McCurdy, executive]

Yes.

[Endri Leno, analyst]

Sounds good. And the other question I wanted to ask and you mentioned that there are still some backlogs out there to be finished. I think PC is mostly done. There might be some in Alberta and perhaps in Ontario, but there were some talk in Alberta that they might use private facilities to help clear. Would that feed into your volumes? I mean do you service those kind of facilities as well?

[Linda McCurdy, executive]

Not so much. And you're right. There has been discussion about using private surgery centers to clear some of the backlog. We do -- I would say, a minimal amount of work for those centers. And it takes a while to put that infrastructure in place in Alberta. They were looking to outsource some of that. I just see that as a more medium term because I'm not sure that, that capacity exists today. But to the extent that those centers become something that is contracted out and being built, we will look to secure that volume. I'm just not sure how meaningful it actually would be, Endri.

[Endri Leno, analyst]

Okay. Okay. No, I just wanted to clarify. And my last question is that you mentioned you have put in some activities and some social media out to reach, especially in the U.K. to secure labor and you feel good about it. Can you comment a bit? I mean, do you -- is it contracted? Do you have any contracts in place? Or is it just kind of the volume and the interest that you've seen? And how successful that strategy might be in Canada as well heading into the summer months?

[Linda McCurdy, executive]

Yes. So I don't want to get into too much detail because we do see it as a bit of a competitive advantage, quite frankly. But we've worked with an outside firm to make it much, much easier to -- for people to apply to any one of our plants. And we have used Instagram and Facebook, which we are finding to be quite helpful, quite frankly. And we're just rolling out those strategies in Canada that we put in place in the U.K.

[Endri Leno, analyst]

Okay. And if I may have a follow-up. I think you had tried something similar as well in Canada in the past, if I recall correctly. Was it successful when you had used it in the past? Or would it be a first time use here?

[Linda McCurdy, executive]

Haven't -- we haven't used social media in Canada the same way that we're using it in the U.K. today and that we're rolling out, not as aggressively as we are now. And, of course, we are still working on our temporary foreign worker program and have applications in. We've used that very effectively several years ago. Unfortunately, there's a bit of a backlog where Ukrainian refugees are taking precedent over other applications. But we still feel that we will be successful in bringing on temporary workers in a number of our markets as well.

[Endri Leno, analyst]

Okay. That partially answered my follow-up. But as an extension, I mean, would the Ukrainian refugees be a potential recruitment source? Or I mean, do you see that happening or not really?

[Linda McCurdy, executive]

What -- we recruit to all new immigrant, new arrivals to Canada, the visitors and all of those offices, we are in there all the time. So we haven't been successful in bringing any of them on board yet, but certainly, we go to all of those new entrants to Canada centers and recruit. So we'd love to have them, obviously.

[Operator]

Next question will be from Michael Glen at Raymond James.

[Michael Glen, analyst]

With the hedging, are we going to have any mark-to-market gains and losses on the P&L?

[Linda McCurdy, executive]

No, because they are all physical hedges. They're not financial hedges, Michael, but great question.

[Operator]

And at this time, we have no further questions. Please proceed with closing comments.

[Linda McCurdy, executive]

So thank you everyone for joining today. Kristie and I'll be available for any follow-up questions anyone has. And we look forward to speaking to everyone at the end of Q2 and have a great day.

[Operator]

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, this does indeed conclude your conference call for today. Once again, thank you for attending. At this time, we do ask that you please disconnect your lines. Have a good weekend.