Bird Construction Aktie

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Bird Construction Second Quarter 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. [Operator Instructions] Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. [Operator Instructions]

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, the 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.

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining Bird Construction's Second Quarter 2026 Conference Call. With me today is Wayne Gingrich, Bird's Chief Financial Officer. Bird delivered a strong second quarter, converting a strong bid pipeline into backlog growth, revenue growth, margin improvement, cash generation under our 2027 strategic plan. Revenue exceeded $1 billion for the first time in our history. Adjusted EBITDA margin expanded to 7.1% and backlog and pending backlog achieved record or near-record levels. The significance of the quarter is not only the scale of the growth, but the fact that revenue, EBITDA margin, backlog and cash flow are all improving together.

Our work program is distributed across multiple sectors and regions supported by Bird's self-performed depth, labor access, technical expertise and national reach. These attributes are central to how we are differentiated and reinforce Bird's position as a specialty contractor with national scale. Bird combines specialized execution capability across -- with broad access across industrial, buildings and infrastructure. This gives us resilience today and multiple paths to capture the long-term growth opportunities across strategic end markets. A significant share of our work is tied to longer-duration investments, recurring revenue streams and collaborative project delivery models, improving visibility into future performance.

Bird recorded revenue of $1 billion in the second quarter, up almost 23% year-over-year. More than 80% of the year-over-year growth was organic with all businesses contributing to the growth as work programs ramped up as expected during the second quarter. Infrastructure also benefited from contributions from FRPD, which was acquired in October 2025. Revenue growth flowed through to improved earnings with the second quarter adjusted EBITDA margin expanding to 7.1%. Margin improvement in the quarter reflected better project mix, continued execution discipline and the operating leverage from investments we have made in people, systems and capabilities.

The first half of 2026 gives us a solid base for the remainder of the year with record backlog, top line growth and improving margin, providing further line of sight towards the 2027 targets. Backlog continues to provide line of sight to future revenue and margin growth. During the second quarter, securements totaled almost $1.8 billion and exceeded work executed by $707 million. Contracted backlog increased to $6.1 billion at quarter end, up 30.6% from a year ago. Pending backlog increased to $6 billion, up 57.5% from a year ago. Combined backlog of approximately $12 billion continues to reflect a high proportion of collaborative contract structures with a favorable margin profile compared with a year ago. It also includes more than $1.4 billion of MSA and other recurring revenue expected to be earned over the next 4 years. These programs support workforce continuity and more predictable cash flow alongside the balance of our projects.

Backlog quality is as important as backlog size. Our combined backlog includes over 80% in collaborative contract structures, recurring revenue programs and work in high-demand sectors where Bird can apply its technical expertise and self-perform capabilities. This improves the line of sight to future revenue while supporting the margin and cash flow profile we are targeting under the 2027 plan.

We continue to be selective in the work we pursue with a focus on scope, partners and contract structures that support margin, cash flow and risk objectives. Bird is not simply exposed to attractive margins -- markets. We have intentionally built a platform where work is distributed across end markets, geographies, customers, programs and funding sources. This reduces [ resilience ] on any single end market or region, while positioning Bird to participate across Canada's priority investment themes. What stands out is the depth of opportunities ahead. Each of our target markets offer substantial long-term demand that is aligned with our capabilities, creating multiple pathways for future growth beyond the current plan period.

Over the past few years, Bird has expanded our labor platform capabilities and delivery capacity needed to support a larger, more diversified work program. This has strengthened Bird's position as a specialty contractor with national scale, pairing self-perform execution and the broader market access of an integrated contractor. Few firms can provide this combination at scale, and our continued securements reflect the value clients place on this operating model.

In industrial, Bird's opportunity set is aligned with investment across oil, gas and LNG, chemicals and power, including renewables and nuclear. In buildings, Bird is organized around data centers, defense, Arctic and remote and social infrastructure. In infrastructure, Bird's target end markets include mining, critical minerals, transportation, infrastructure, utilities, transmission and distribution.

Subsequent to quarter end, we announced approximately $1 billion of project awards across -- project awards and agreements across nuclear, civil, marine and mine infrastructure, industrial facilities, industrial maintenance and buildings. The diversity of these awards reinforces the distributed load across Bird's end markets and shows how our teams continue to win work in areas where client investment remains active. The load is distributed today, the opportunity is distributed ahead and Bird is built for both.

Turning to execution. Our major work programs progressed as expected during the quarter. Large capital investment projects are an important point of Bird's strategy. Projects highlighted here demonstrate how Bird creates value earlier in the project life cycle through early contractor involvement and then expands its role as work moves into execution through our self-perform capabilities. This strengthens client relationships, creates opportunities to expand scope and improves line of sight to future revenue.

These projects are also important from a risk management perspective. Early involvement gives Bird insight into future scope, constructability, sequencing and resource requirements before execution ramps up, which supports better outcomes and more disciplined participation in complex work.

We remain confident in our progress against our 2027 strategic plan, including our target of an 8% adjusted EBITDA margin. Second quarter demonstrated progress with revenue increasing 22.6% year-over-year and trailing 12-month adjusted EBITDA margin reaching 6.7%, up from 6.5% in the prior period. The path toward our 8% adjusted EBITDA margin target is supported by drivers already embedded in the business today. Margins have moved higher over recent quarters as the business benefits from improving buildings performance, infrastructure growth and increased self-perform participation, operating leverage and the return of industrial work programs to fuller utilization.

These improvements reflect the same priorities we have been executing against: disciplined project selection, higher quality backlog, greater exposure to higher-margin sectors, One Bird collaboration and continued investment in data-driven operational intelligence. Together, these drivers support further margin expansion and strengthen our visibility into future earnings and cash flow.

All 3 businesses are focused on margin expansion, but I'll highlight buildings. Margins have improved steadily supported by our strategic market sectors and continued cross-selling across Bird, which helps increase self-perform content and retain more margin within the business. Buildings is a much different business today and is an important source of One Bird opportunities.

Our primary commitment remains execution of the 2027 plan. However, as we begin the 2028 to 2030 strategic planning process, we are -- the work we are winning, the partnerships we are forming and the sectors we are pursuing give us greater visibility to Bird's growth runway beyond 2027.

With that, I'll pass it over to Wayne to discuss the quarter's results in more detail.

Thanks, Teri, and good morning, everyone. Revenue was $1.043 billion in the quarter, up 22.6% year-over-year. More than 80% of the year-over-year growth was organic, led by continued strength in buildings with all 3 businesses contributing to organic growth in the quarter. Infrastructure also benefited from the contribution of FRPD, acquired in October 2025. Revenue growth accelerated faster than originally expected, supported by seasonal activity in buildings and the ramp-up of industrial work programs that had been delayed through much of 2025 and into early 2026. As these programs return to their fuller capacity, we expect them to contribute more meaningfully to second half revenue.

Gross profit increased to $109.8 million and gross profit percentage was 10.5%. The margin reflects disciplined project selection, improving project mix and increasing self-perform participation across the business, with further support expected as industrial work programs return to full capacity through the second half. Together, these elements reinforce the margin progression embedded in Bird's specialty contractor positioning.

Adjusted EBITDA increased 34.6% to $73.9 million, and adjusted EBITDA margin expanded to 7.1%, up 60 basis points from the prior year. We also realized operating leverage in the business with G&A declining to 5.4% of revenue compared to 6.4% in the prior-year period. Adjusted earnings increased 40% to $38.6 million or $0.70 per share. Net income was $30.3 million or $0.55 per share. As noted in our disclosure, net income includes non-cash warrant-related impacts from a strategic customer arrangement as well as a non-cash expense related to shares issued to another strategic partner.

Finally, cash flows from operating activities were $58.4 million in the quarter, an improvement of $133.8 million compared with the prior-year period.

Through the first 6 months of 2026, revenue increased 16.5% to $1.83 billion and adjusted EBITDA increased 24.8% to $111 million with margin improving to 6.1%. Net income increased 40.5% to $41.7 million. Adjusted earnings increased 29.8% to $52.5 million. And cash flows from operating activities improved by $188.8 million year-over-year to $64.5 million. These results demonstrate continued progress toward Bird's 2027 targets.

Cash generation and financial flexibility continue to be important strengths for Bird. Our performance through the first half of 2026 shows how the financial profile of the business is maturing alongside the operating platform. On a trailing 12-month basis, Bird generated $262 million in free cash flow or $4.73 of free cash flow per share. These metrics demonstrate the business' ability to convert earnings into cash and support a larger work program. We ended the quarter with substantial liquidity, including $264.3 million of cash and $446.5 million available under our syndicated credit facility.

During the quarter, Bird achieved an important milestone by achieving an investment-grade BBB (low) rating from DBRS and the completion of our inaugural $250 million senior unsecured notes offering. Together with the amended credit facility, these actions do more than diversify our funding sources. They strengthen Bird's financial position with clients, partners, lenders and surety providers, reflecting how far the business has progressed in recent years. They also provide Bird with direct access to the debt capital market, as needed in the future, supporting our ability to pursue and execute our growing work program without compromising balance sheet discipline.

Additional capacity was added to support growth while preserving a conservative balance sheet. Adjusted net debt to TTM adjusted EBITDA was 0.96x, and the current ratio was 1.32x. These metrics reflect financial flexibility to execute a record work program, support growth and pursue selective strategic opportunities while maintaining balance sheet strength. Combined with our investment-grade credit rating, inaugural senior notes offering and expanded credit facilities, Bird enters the second half of 2026 with broader access to capital, substantial liquidity and the flexibility to support working capital needs, equipment needs and selective growth opportunities.

Our capital allocation approach remains focused and disciplined as demonstrated by how we have deployed capital since 2022 across the priorities that support Bird's strategy. We continue to allocate capital to equipment, technology and productivity initiatives that improve project execution and support margin growth while providing direct returns to shareholders through our dividend and preserving flexibility.

Strategic M&A remains selective and aligned with opportunities that expand self-perform capability, deepen technical expertise or broaden our geographic and service offering. FRPD is a good example of the type of acquisition that strengthens Bird's ability to deliver complex infrastructure work. Overall, our capital allocation approach is consistent with Bird's broader strategy, deploying capital where it strengthens execution, expands capability, supports margin progression and generate cash flow while preserving financial discipline and creating long-term value for shareholders.

With that, I'll turn the call back to Teri.

Thanks, Wayne. Looking ahead, we're focused on converting backlog, executing our current work program and progressing towards our 2027 targets. $12 billion of combined backlog provides strong revenue visibility supported by a distributed mix of sectors, regions, collaborative delivery models, recurring revenue and strategic partnerships. We expect revenue growth to continue through the balance of the year with full year growth that may exceed 20% compared with 2025. We also expect further adjusted EBITDA margin accretion as our industrial program returns to full capacity in the second half, moving us closer to our 8% margin target in 2027.

The second quarter reinforced the key elements of our plan: a distributed work program, broad-based demand, higher quality backlog, improving margins, cash generation and a balance sheet that supports continued growth. It also reinforces Bird's specialty contractor positioning where scale, self-perform capability, labor access and technical execution provide further opportunity for margin progression. Together, these factors strengthen our confidence in the 2027 plan and provide a stronger foundation for the next phase of Bird's growth.

With that, I'll turn the call back to the operator to open the line for questions.

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from Chris Murray of ATB Cormark Capital Markets.

I guess, Teri, going back to your discussion around the potential to see revenue growth this year. One of the questions I think we've got is just your confidence in the industrial business. If you go back a couple of years ago, I think it came as a bit of a surprise when the industrial business, that work kind of went away, if you will, for a bit and caused some dislocation. I'm just wondering your confidence level in the timing of those projects. I know there's a lot of demand right now in a lot of the energy space just for production. So any thoughts around kind of your comfort level with execution over the next couple of quarters would be great.

Yes. So I think -- when you think about what our industrial business obviously constructs, we've got some strong demand continuing to evolve on the chemical side. Obviously, we've got a large project underway up at Sherwood Park or Fort Saskatchewan that is scaling up, and we've got a large assignment there. We've got oil-loading facilities that we're building. So when you think about oil specifically, some strength. If you look at our maintenance business, we have some significant turnarounds that are planned now for Q3 and Q4. So that's certainly a strong -- sense of strong level of confidence in the overall business. And then you start looking at some of the other sectors, we've got renewable work underway and then ultimately continue to see continued growth on the nuclear side.

So if you think of our industrial business, it's certainly lots of strength in the current load that we have and there's probably other areas that I'm not thinking of right now. And then longer term, we certainly are seeing the confidence returning to future oil production and future LNG production. So that takes us certainly into the longer cycle and then ultimately, lots of confidence in nuclear as well.

Okay. And then my other question is just looking at where the backlog has already come to, which is pretty impressive. But can you talk a little bit -- I mean there's some discussion around the fact that the government in September is going to hold a conference, maybe talk a lot about additional infrastructure. Can you just talk about your outlook on some of these larger programs, be that northern defense or even some of the AI stuff and the data center stuff.

And just trying to get a sense of even where the backlog has gone, what's still out there in the pipeline that you think is realistic to be able to book as you go into either later '26, '27? And I guess with a view to how you think '28 through '30 could evolve? I know it's still early days, but any view on that would be helpful.

Yes. I think you've hit on certainly -- from our lens, it's really exciting. I think if you think of the 3 divisions that we have with industrial, buildings and infrastructure, when you think about where -- how those businesses fit, we sort of think about it as a 10-cylinder engine. And we have what I refer to as a distributed load across those 10 sectors right now. It's pretty exciting because you wouldn't typically have all cylinders firing at any time, but it certainly feels that way right now and expect that that's going to continue.

When you start to look at the larger-scale initiatives that are more in the longer term, I think it's going to take a few years, but certainly confidence in oil production. I think, LNG, confidence that, that will continue to evolve in those areas. Nuclear is a pretty exciting area for the future and the types of capabilities that we've developed. So that's on the industrial side.

And you go into -- on the building side, our defense program -- the defense program is daunting, the number of projects that are going through procurement right now. We've not seen a sector that has this kind of demand, I don't think in our history. Maybe go back to the oil booms in -- 15, 20 years ago, but that sector has a lot of tailwinds behind it.

And then you sort of look at -- on the data center evolving, like Canada is in the early stages of a certainly a data center build and the inbounds that we have in our organization today from numerous clients is high, but we're obviously very focused on our partnership with Bell and that program continues to mature. We've had a great start out in Regina on their 300-megawatt facility, and that has -- that certainly is evolving at a pace that even we didn't expect. So yes, lots of excitement.

And then on the infrastructure side with the dynamics of the transportation side, certainly, the marine transportation ports, that whole dynamic has got lots of tailwinds and lots of areas for growth. The timing of our FRPD acquisition was impeccable, considering all the opportunities that are opening up now. And -- but longer term, certainly some strength there. And then obviously, the overall infrastructure that's needed, we're utilizing our infrastructure business as we move forward now on site developments for things like data centers, site developments for defense. So it's a big integrated business now and certainly has all the makings of an investment -- the investment community, of what you would refer to as a specialty contractor and we're excited about that.

Our next question comes from Krista Friesen with CIBC.

Congrats on the quarter here. Maybe just thinking about the margins. Obviously, good margins in the quarter, seeing good year-over-year improvement despite the fact you called out just some mix there with buildings being a little bit greater. Anything that we should be considering or keeping in mind on the mix front as we look out at the back half of the year?

Yes. I can take that one. So buildings has had a very strong start to the year for us and the sectors that the buildings team is focused on are moving them into higher-margin complex work as well, and that's certainly driving strength in our margins.

As we look into the second half, I think what you're going to see is our industrial work program really ramp up. We started to see that here in late Q2, but we'll get a full quarter's benefit of that in Q3 and another one in Q4 and going into early '27 as well as the work programs we kind of called out in 2025 return to the levels that we expect them to be at.

And then as well infrastructure is going to contribute meaningfully to the second half as well. So we see good strength there, not only on the revenue growth side, but also on the margin strength side, too.

Okay. That's great. That's really helpful. And then I was also just wondering if you can maybe give us a little bit of an update on your partnership with the Marten Falls First Nation's group and the Ring of Fire and kind of the work that you're seeing there and when you would expect that to start to meaningfully contribute to your earnings?

So the first phase of that partnership was the work in the community, and that work continues to evolve, and that's the anticipated plan for the balance of 2026. Obviously, lots of motivation to get future work underway to be able to access the large opportunity with the various mines that are in the Ring of Fire. And obviously, we're certainly anticipating that we'll be well into that potentially in 2027, but early days. There's lots of work to do on design and permitting and things like that, that all needs to be done in advance of that activity. But the feeling is we have a fair amount of work to build related to the community of Marten Falls and some of the infrastructure that's needed longer term, so we're focused on that currently.

Our next question comes from Michael Tupholme with TD Cowen.

Maybe just to pick up on that last question there about Marten Falls. So I appreciate what you just said there, Teri, about how the work program kind of looks in 2026 and then maybe building into 2027. But how do we think about the addition to backlog from that opportunity? Is that -- when do you think we start to see some contributions come in from that?

Yes. I think early days, but I would be -- I would think of it as evolving in '27. There's still some uncertainty around timing and permitting and things like that. So it's lots of work going on. But I'd say it's early days on being able to put a pin on exactly when we'd see that evolving. But we're very focused on all the community infrastructure right now.

Okay. Makes sense. With respect to the data center work in Saskatchewan, just got going in the quarter, and it's a fairly tight, compressed schedule in terms of executing all of this work. So how do we think about the step-up from that opportunity in Q3 versus Q2? And then just sort of how we think about that as we look out a little bit here, the contribution from that? Just trying to get a sense for that.

Yes. So the work with Bell in Regina, certainly was a contributor in Q2, but it was only won mid-quarter and was ramping up through the quarter. But coming into Q3 here, we have a lot of momentum on that site. We have a lot of people mobilized, and we're making great progress. So we think that's going to be a strong contributor in both Q3 and Q4 and Q1 and Q2. I think...

We're about 50% of the labor loading right now just to give you a sense. So I don't think we'll hit our 100% targets until Q4, but, yes, it gives you a sense of the evolution.

Okay. That's helpful. Just on the margins, looking at the commentary and the outlook, wasn't totally sure how to interpret what you're trying to get at here with the margins. I mean it's clear you still have your 8% target -- the strategic plan target for 2027. You talk about expecting further progress in the margins and -- as we move through 2026, which is not surprising. You talk about moving closer to the 2027 strategic plan target of 8%. Are you trying to suggest here that we could see you deliver something in and around that 8% level in 2026? Or is this just a comment that there's going to be any progression as you try to build towards that for '27?

Yes, I think the latter, Mike. There's going to be a progression as we build towards the 8% in 2027. We're -- on a TTM basis, we're at 6.7% here right now. We expect that to continue to improve as we go through Q3, the TTM is going to increase. And as we go through Q4, TTM is going to increase again. And expect that trend to continue throughout 2027 as we get to 8% for the year in '27.

Okay. So fair to say that the prior or previously communicated outlook around margins, where you expect to get to and the progression, like you're essentially reiterating that, there's not really [ a change to what ] you communicated?

Yes, that's exactly right. We're confirming what's already been kind of said out there. But we are indicating stronger growth in 2026 than maybe was previously expected. And certainly, that's building on the strength of Q2, but also strength in Q3 and in Q4. And I think when you think about how Q3 and Q4 balance, like I think both of those quarters are going to be pretty equal and both be very strong in the second half where usually maybe you might see more strength in Q3 because some of the seasonality in Q4. I think you're going to see both be very strong.

Okay. That's perfect. Sorry, just to clarify that last point there, like equal, meaning in absolute dollar terms, not a lot of difference between the...

Yes, that's right. In terms of the revenue split between Q3 and Q4, I think they'll be pretty close to each other in dollar value.

[Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from Ian Gillies with Stifel.

The term, specialty contractor, has come up a few times on the conference call. If you look at some of the specialty contractors in North America, many of their EBITDA margins are anywhere from 10% to 15%. So given how you're talking about Bird in that manner, would it be fair to assume that, that would be a good aspirational goal over some undefined period?

Yes.

That's helpful. And then the next one, I guess, for me is the stock has obviously done very well. And alongside that valuation expansion, does that embolden you? Or do you feel like you're much better positioned to do larger deals now? Are there -- is there stuff out there of that size? It just seems like you're in a much better place, obviously, than you were a couple of years ago.

I think so, Ian. I think any time you have the strength, the balance sheet that we have, the momentum we have, it puts you in a different position for sure.

Okay. And then last one for me. It's become less material over time. But on the dividend, can you just remind us whether the target is set off of your new definition of adjusted EPS or GAAP EPS because that obviously is going to affect the outcome and how we may think about dividend growth moving ahead.

Yes. No, it's a good point to clarify. So when we rolled out our strategic plan at the Investor Day, I think, October 2024, we talked about a 33% payout ratio of GAAP net income being the target. And of course, it's never that clean in any given year. But over kind of the strategic plan period, that's certainly the target payout ratio, but it's on GAAP net income.

This concludes the question-and-answer session. I will hand the call back over to Mr. McKibbon for closing remarks.

Thank you to our teams across Bird for their continued commitment to safety, execution and disciplined delivery. Thank you as well to our clients, partners and shareholders for your continued confidence in Bird.

This concludes today's conference call and webcast. You may disconnect your lines. Thank you for participating, and have a pleasant day.

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Bird Construction First Quarter 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. [Operator Instructions]. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. [Operator Instructions].

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 involve 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, the 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.

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining Bird's first quarter 2026 conference call. With me today is Wayne Gingrich, Bird's Chief Financial Officer.

Before we begin, I'd like to acknowledge our teams across the country who recognized safety week last week and the National Day of Mourning on April 28. At Bird, safety is fundamental to how we operate. It's about ensuring our people return home safely every day, and it is inseparable from strong execution and operational discipline. Our focus on safety underpins consistent performance and supports long-term strength of the business. Thank you to our teams for their continued commitment to working safely and to delivering excellence.

Our business is aligned with some of the most significant long-cycle investment programs in Canada's history, getting underway across the country, including defense, nuclear and renewable energy, oil, gas, LNG, health care and educational infrastructure, land and marine infrastructure, mining and community development and data centers. Distinct vertical platforms designed with purpose-built teams strategically developed with the overall benefit to not be overweight in any particular sector subject to economic volatility. In summary, it's an exciting time to be at Bird, and we are built for this.

Bird continues to carry significant backlog, pending backlog and our teams are winning work across our target sectors. That visibility supports disciplined planning and execution while advancing progress toward our 2027 strategic plan objectives. We're starting to see a meaningful shift in how capital is approaching infrastructure investment in Canada. Recent federal actions, including the sovereign wealth fund, investment in skilled trades, the major projects office, on Project 1 review agreements and reinforced NATO defense spending and are moving policy into execution. Together, these measures support projects advancing into construction, and we expect this to improve line of sight on project progression nationally.

Bird delivered a solid start in 2026 with strong revenue growth, stable margins and improved year-over-year adjusted earnings. As we discussed at year-end, we expect revenue growth and margin accretion to accelerate in the second quarter and second half of the year. This is still on track. First quarter results reflect solid execution, a diverse and growing backlog and clear cadence for margin accretion as our record work program converts.

Construction revenue returned to year-over-year growth of 9.2%, while adjusted EBITDA increased 8.9% with an adjusted EBITDA margin of 4.7%. Adjusted earnings and adjusted EPS also increased year-over-year. The quarter reflected strong organic growth in buildings and year-over-year growth in infrastructure supported by both organic activity and contributions from FRPD. Industrial revenue tracked as expected, with a modest year-over-year decline and have an expected ramp-up in the second quarter and second half.

Backlog growth during the quarter reinforced performance trends as securements and conversions increased visibility and supported a favorable margin profile. Subsequent to quarter end, we announced 2 transformational partnerships which I will discuss further in the following slides. We remain focused on disciplined project selection and continued progress towards a more balanced mix across industrial buildings and infrastructure.

Our combined backlog continues to be a key strength. Robust demand drove $1.1 billion of backlog securements and conversions during the quarter, resulting in record contracted backlog of $5.4 billion, up 23.8% year-over-year. Pending backlog totaled $5.6 billion, and this includes approximately $1.5 billion of MSA and other recurring revenue expected to be earned over the next 5 years through our industrial maintenance and environmental remediation businesses.

A high proportion of our backlog is delivered under collaborative contract structures that align incentives and help mitigate cost escalation while supporting consistent margins. Overall, backlog remains well balanced and reflects higher embedded margins than a year ago supporting revenue and margin progressing through 2026 and 2027.

Margin progression continues to be driven by our fundamentals, revenue mix, increased exposure to more complex and higher-margin sectors, strong execution and increased self-perform content and operating leverage as volume scale. In the quarter, revenue mix reflected a higher proportion of buildings revenue, which typically includes less self-performed work. Our full year expectations are unchanged, and we remain confident in achieving our 2027 strategic plan objective of an 8% adjusted EBITDA margin.

Turning to execution. Our focus remains on safe delivery and predictable performance and our major projects progressed as planned during the quarter. Large capital investment projects remain a core element of our strategy, providing long duration revenue visibility and opportunities to expand scope over time. Our approach is to establish early involvement that demonstrate a strong commitment to safe execution and deepen our role as programs advance.

Projects highlighted on this slide illustrate that model in practice and across several end markets. Through this model, LCLPs support margin progression, multiyear growth and strategic capital deployment and remain an important contributor to progress against our 2027 strategic plan objectives and beyond. We recently announced a majority indigenous-owned strategic partnership with Marten Falls First Nation through the formation of Piinahzii LP, focused on the collaborative delivery of community infrastructure that supports both near-term priorities and longer-term development objectives.

Initial opportunities include improvements in the local airport, a solar facility with battery storage and a training center. Marten Falls traditional territory includes large areas within the Ring of Fire region in Northern Ontario. The region is a significant nation-building priority with Canada's critical minerals strategy and host deposits of chromite, nickel, copper, cobalt and platinum group metals critical to electric vehicle batteries and clean energy supply chains.

Despite this potential, development has historically been constrained by the absence of permanent all-season infrastructure, particularly the access roads to remote First Nation communities and prospective industrial sites. Governments are now advancing infrastructure initiatives to address these constraints and improve access as part of a broader effort to unlock long-term economic development.

A number of agreements have advanced over the past year to support momentum on access and enabling infrastructure. Our partnership provides a structural framework to work with the community on infrastructure and readiness initiatives with strong emphasis on capacity building and local participation. Over the coming 3 to 6 months, we expect progress on planning design of access roads within the Marten Falls First Nation with construction anticipated to commence in 2027.

Beyond access roads, the region will enable -- will require additional enabling infrastructure, including transmission, telecommunications and digital networks to support future development. This early engagement positions Bird with potential visibility into a significant multiyear infrastructure program, supporting demand beyond 2027 and backed by our partnership with the Marten Falls First Nation.

This morning, we announced a significant long-term strategic partnership with Bell AI Fabric, Bell Canada's national AI infrastructure platform. This partnership reflects the strength of our integrated self-perform model and our ability to deliver mission-critical infrastructure at scale, underpinned by an increasingly differentiated electrical, mechanical, civil and system capability as a leading specialty contractor.

Under the agreement, Bird and Bell have established a structured basis from which to collaborate on future AI data center projects. This provides us with a meaningful pipeline opportunity in one of the fastest-growing segments of the construction market, while also giving us greater confidence in future demand. That long-term view will enable us to continue investing confidently in our people, supply chain relationships, operational capacity required to support a transformational multiyear build-out program.

To date, Bell has indicated line of sight to monetizing approximately 800 megawatts of power over time. The structure of the partnership is also designed to align incentives over the long term. As part of the agreement, we will grant all warrants to acquire common shares which vest in connection with delivery milestones. This creates strong alignment between both organizations as we work together to build world-class digital infrastructure nationwide.

The data center environment remains a significant addressable market. Over the past 5 years, Bird has built a mission-critical team and is well positioned to pursue large-scale opportunities across Canada as reflected in this morning's strategic partnership announcement with Bell.

Overall, this partnership reinforces our position as the partner of choice for Canada's largest and most complex infrastructure projects. The first project under the long-term strategic partnership with Bell AI Fabric is a 300-megawatt data center announced in March in the rural municipality of Sherwood, Saskatchewan. This facility represents Bell's largest ever investment in Saskatchewan and will be Canada's largest purpose-built AI data center. The first phase is expected to come online in the first half of 2027.

Bird has been selected as the lead construction manager for the Sherwood facility building on our deep roots in Saskatchewan. Since our founding in Moose Jaw in 1920, we have contributed to projects that generations of residents rely on every day from hospitals and schools to industrial, military facilities, energy assets and potash operations.

That long-standing presence matters because projects of this scale and importance require more than technical capability. They require trusted relationships, regional knowledge and a proven ability to deliver in partnerships with communities and stakeholders. A core part of our commitment is our approach to indigenous engagement, not just at Sherwood, but at other critical projects like the Piinahzii Limited partnership in the Ring of Fire.

We believe that meaningful partnerships are built through action, accountability and measurable outcomes. That includes creating opportunities for indigenous employment, procurement, training and long-term community participation. We are proud to have maintained partnership accreditation in indigenous relations since 2013. And in 2024, we achieved the PAIR Silver certification, a recognition that reflects years of sustained effort and continuous improvement.

As we move forward with the Sherwood project alongside Bell and our other project partners, we will focus on local and indigenous involvement throughout the life of the project. The Sherwood project and our other partnerships are not simply about delivering infrastructure. They are about creating durable economic benefits and strengthening communities.

In addition to these recent announcements, we continue to see significant depth across Bird's end markets. Clients are increasingly prioritizing safety performance, delivery certainty, self-perform capability and proven execution. As I referenced, the opportunity set remains broad across defense, nuclear and renewable energy, oil, gas and LNG, health care and educational infrastructure, land and marine infrastructure, mining and community development and data centers.

We are now seeing acceleration in spending in real time, and we expect project flow to continue as policy commitments increasingly move to execution. Many programs are anchored in long-term national priorities tied to energy security, supply chain resilience and geopolitical considerations supporting multiyear construction programs with high barriers to entry due to complexity and certification requirements.

Looking ahead, we remain confident in our progress towards the objectives outlined in our 2027 strategic plan. The fundamentals underpinning the plan have been in place for several years and have continued to strengthen since we formally laid out the strategy in 2024. Performance over the 2022 to 2024 strategic plan period reflects our risk balanced business model and proven ability to deliver growth alongside margin improvement.

We expanded margins by 200 basis points over 2023 and 2024, and our current plan requires a further 150 basis points of improvement across 2026 and 2027. With line of sight from our backlog and strong execution, we remain confident in our ability to achieve the 8% margin target in full year 2027. The next phase is driven by execution-led fundamentals embedded in our backlog and supported by long-term demand across our strategic sectors.

With that, I'll now turn it over to Wayne to walk through our financial performance in more detail.

Thanks, Teri, and good morning, everyone. Our teams delivered a solid quarter and set the foundation for the rest of the year.

Construction revenue was $783.4 million, up 9.2% year-over-year. As Teri mentioned, Buildings delivered strong organic growth. Infrastructure grew both from organic activity and the contribution from FRPD, and industrial was modestly lower as expected. Gross profit was $72.3 million, representing a gross profit margin percentage of 9.2% compared to 9.4% in the prior-year quarter.

Margins were consistent with expectations, reflecting mix, while execution discipline continues to support our margin trajectory. This included a higher proportion of buildings revenue, which generally carries a lower proportion of self-performed work.

Adjusted EBITDA was $37.1 million, up from $34.1 million last year, while adjusted EBITDA margin was 4.7% compared to 4.8%. The increase in dollars was largely attributable to higher gross profit. Net income was $11.4 million or $0.21 per share and adjusted earnings was $13.9 million or $0.25 per share.

On cash flow, we generated $6.1 million, up significantly from 2025. Cash flow generation remains a core strength of the business. In the first quarter, cash flow reflected the quality of earnings. Bird's business model remains cash generative, supported by backlog quality, margin strength and execution discipline. We ended the quarter with $195 million of cash and cash equivalents, along with $341.5 million available under our syndicated credit facility, giving us resilience and flexibility.

Our current ratio of 1.24 further underscores balance sheet strength. Free cash flow generation remained strong with trailing 12-month free cash flow conversion of approximately 259% of net income and $2.31 of free cash flow per share, reflecting strong operating performance. Returns and leverage remained well within our targeted ranges. 12-month adjusted ROE was 25% and net debt to adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was 1.01x, reinforcing our capital discipline. Overall, our balance sheet continues to support execution of our record backlog while providing flexibility to manage working capital requirements, invest in growth and advance our 2027 strategic plan objectives.

Turning to our capital allocation priorities. We maintain our balanced approach. As we've outlined previously, we reinvest in the business, including investments in equipment and technology that enhance productivity, execution and self-perform capabilities. These investments directly support margin progression and long-term returns.

At the same time, we remain focused on strategic M&A that expands our service offerings and self-perform footprint. As shown here, acquisitions have been a meaningful component of capital deployment over the past several years, and we continue to evaluate opportunities selectively with a clear focus on fit, returns and integration. Maintaining a strong balance sheet remains a core priority. As discussed earlier, our liquidity, leverage and capital efficiency metrics position us well to support ongoing execution while preserving financial flexibility.

And finally, returns to shareholders remain an important part of our framework. Based on our 2027 targets, we expect our dividend to continue to grow in line with earnings. Overall, this balanced approach to capital deployment supports execution of our strategy, enhances self-perform and service capabilities and positions Bird to continue creating shareholder value over the long term.

With that, I'll turn the call back to Teri.

Thanks, Wayne. Our outlook for 2026 is consistent with the expectations we communicated at year-end. We expect revenue growth and margin accretion to accelerate in the second quarter and through the second half with all businesses contributing to full year double-digit revenue growth. Our teams are securing new work at a pace that supports continued growth.

Combined backlog of approximately $11 billion reflects a higher proportion of collaborative contract structures, more favorable margin profile than a year ago and a diversified mix of end markets. This backlog profile, together with operating leverage as volumes scale, provides meaningful visibility into margin accretion through the balance of 2026 and into 2027.

Additionally, we have added confidence in our long duration demand, underpinned by the Ring of Fire partnership and associated opportunity set and the Bell AI Fabric partnership announced today. This backlog profile, together with operating leverage as volume scale provides meaningful visibility and margin accretion through the balance of 2026 and into 2027. As new capital enters the market, execution is increasingly the key differentiator. Bird, with its labor depth systems track record of executing complex projects at scale is well positioned for future backlog growth, reinforcing our confidence in the outlook. With sustained demand and long-term structural drivers, we remain committed to our 2027 strategic plan targets.

With that, I'll turn the call back to the operator to open the line for questions.

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from Chris Murray with ATB Cormark.

I guess starting with the outlook, I'm just trying to maybe get a sense of the magnitude of the opportunity here. Certainly, a couple of very interesting announcements, and then there was another announcement this morning from the federal government around energy infrastructure, which probably ends up adding to what we've got going on.

I think on the last call, you talked about the fact that you thought that it was reasonable to hit the kind of even the bottom end of your original revenue guidance for '27, that kind of $4.6 billion to $5.1 billion number. As we start to think about the opportunity set, what's in backlog now, what you've been booking, can you maybe walk us through what that cadence looks like into '27, if there's a reasonable chance that we're going to move beyond that bottom end? And I guess I know you alluded to the fact double-digit kind of growth in '26 into the second half. But can you maybe give us a view of how you think we get to the end of '26, jump off into '27 towards those goals, that would probably be a little bit more helpful for us.

Yes. I can take that one now, Chris. So in October 2024, when we announced our strategic plan goals, we announced a range of, I think, $4.6 billion to $5.1 billion of revenue with the midpoint kind of being at $4.8 billion. And of course, our 8% EBITDA target and our 33% payout ratio of net income for dividends. We remain committed to those numbers. With the $11 billion of combined backlog, $5.4 billion of booked backlog, we've got great visibility going into the second half here. So we really do see that momentum picking up.

We think we're going to gain momentum with the recent announcements here with Ring of Fire and with Bell AI Fabric. That's going to contribute probably less so to '26, but certainly going into '27, we're going to be carrying a healthy book of business. Included in our $11 billion of backlog is actually not very much from these new opportunities. These are kind of second quarter developments. So we're carrying probably less than $100 million in the $11 billion for these. So that's not even reflected in those results. So I think going in, we feel pretty confident in our '27 targets.

Okay. And then I guess just thinking about the magnitude of the growth, Teri, I know you've talked about this before. But it almost looks like you're starting to -- I'll be cautious about outstripping your capacity to manage this growth. I know you've added a lot of capability with some of the acquisitions you've done, some of the teams you've added. But how do you think about managing this magnitude of growth that we have coming down the pipe right now and not having something go wrong along the way?

So we put a tremendous amount of time and investment into assembling a world-class team. And I'm just finding myself lucky coming to work every day and working with these really talented individuals. And what we've been focused on strategically is really setting up these verticals with individual specialized teams. So there's not much overlap, if at all, until you get into almost C-suite of these individual units that we've got set up.

So as I said earlier, on the data center side, we've had a team assembled for over 5 years, and we've invested a lot. We've been building small data centers across the country, but generally quite small and obviously have gained a tremendous amount of experience doing that. And now as we look at a project like this that we've announced, we're well organized, well set up for it.

And I think you referenced the acquisitions. I think it comes from a very strategic mix of things. I think back in 2020, the acquisition of Stuart Olson brought us this massive electrical army. And those are all variables, and we continue to add our business unit here in Toronto. Dagmar has been on -- I think they're on to #6 right now doing site development for data centers. So -- but yes, I think the group we've assembled can scale. And I think the opportunities that are in front of us, we're looking at them with a lot of discipline to ensure that we have the capacity to perform and not let one of our clients down.

Our next question comes from Krista Friesen with CIBC.

Maybe actually just following up on the data centers. Obviously, a lot of work to be done out there, a lot of announcements. I'm just wondering on Alberta specifically, we've heard a lot of announcements for data centers, but it seems like it's taking some time for them to move through the permitting process. Just wondering if you can shed some light on what you're seeing in Alberta specifically.

Yes. The difference in Alberta compared to other provinces, like we're really focused currently on the sovereign data center developers. And those entities before we get to any kind of announcement, have a power agreement in place. Alberta is different in the sense that they've basically said bring your own power and we'll support the permitting and support that process. But the power part of it is considerable that has to be assembled and the work that has to be done. And if someone arrived in Alberta today and thought they would do a data center, they would have had to have been in the queue for a gas-fired power plant 5 years ago to be able to get a power plant.

So you're probably seeing a bit of that. I think the government is really trying hard to free up the permitting side. But it has to still go through the various levels of government, and you've seen some things in the press with different governments, municipal governments and whatnot going through that framework. But yes, we've been really focused on the sovereign developers because in those cases, they've got preferred power agreements.

Okay. That makes a lot of sense. And then just switching gears here. Would you be able to provide us with an update on where things sit with the turnaround for some of your oil and gas clients?

Everything we've heard -- Krista, this is always a little bit -- there's some variability, but everything we're hearing, like our turnarounds were always planned for the fall. And so that's still intact. The feedback we've had is those remain on schedule. We're putting a lot of work on the front end of those. And we anticipate having a pretty busy fall with those assignments in different parts of Canada, which is exciting for us to grow that platform.

Our next question comes from Frederic Bastien with Raymond James.

Congratulations on the 2 partnerships -- congrats on the partnerships you recently signed. On the Bell announcement specifically, can you give us a sense of what is contemplated for the project's first phase?

Relative to what, Fred?

In terms of scope of work, and I know the time line is fairly quick. I think it's supposed to be coming online in the first half of 2027. So how -- just wondering how quickly you mobilize?

Yes. So we have -- we're the preferred construction partner that we've contracted. That's why we're announcing it this morning. We've been working on this for almost 2 months through all the procurement. And so we'll be mobilizing fairly quickly. I'm guessing maybe Monday, but we're mobilizing fairly quickly. The site development is already contracted, so that's underway. And so we'll be following that.

Obviously, the site has got to be fully developed, but we're getting organized for various aspects of the job and exploring various concepts to accelerate the project and including modularization in some of our facilities. Yes, it's early days, but we'll probably have a little more color as we get into our Q2 discussions of what we've got underway and -- but yes, just executed the contract overnight.

Okay. And just curious, was a data center build-out or a partnership of this magnitude even contemplated when you set out your initial goals for 2027?

In the strategic plan, you're talking about? Our strat plan...

I mean, yes, your strat plan, obviously, you obviously have visibility, but yes, just curious where that...

It was small. We had -- it's in the plan, but it was small because, as you know, we developed this plan through the first 9 months of 2024, and it was still -- it was kind of early days on AI and early days on the acceleration of these facilities in the U.S. So it was a smaller subset at the time of the areas where we were -- we had interest. But we were working with our team and traveling the globe to learn everything we could learn, learn who is doing what, where and -- but the plan through '27 was a smaller revenue target.

Okay. Cool. Last question on this one, I promise. Can you provide a bit more color on the issuance of warrants linked to this partnership? I understand it's common in the U.S., but perhaps more of a novel concept here.

Yes. So we're going to be issuing 2.625 million warrants. We like this a lot because it really drives alignment through the strategic partnership. In terms of vesting schedule, the first 750,000 warrants will vest as the first project here in Saskatchewan comes online. And then future tranches of warrants will vest with other future projects that come about and are awarded to Bird. And that will occur over a 5-year period and the warrants have a 7-year total life to be exercised.

Our next question comes from Ian Gillies with Stifel.

Teri, are you able to confirm that the contract structures for this data center partnership will largely follow the IPD structures you'd like to use in other parts of your business?

This is a fairly common contract structure, the CCDC5B. It's something we use quite extensively, but it fits the same types of profiles as we see in our business, and we are very comfortable operating under that type of a framework.

Okay. Maybe switching gears to the West Coast. There's obviously a lot going on there. Can you maybe just provide some updated commentary on maybe how you see LNG development progressing over the next, call it, 12 to 18 months and perhaps any other large industrial developments you see happening along the West Coast?

Certainly, we remain confident in the second phase. There certainly is all the right leading indicators. There certainly hasn't been any press on any reason they wouldn't be moving forward. So we're heavily engaged with that the entity, but we can't obviously comment on that.

We -- a number -- obviously, there's -- we're continuing with Woodfibre that's done very well. We've got other opportunities in the pipeline. The expansion of the second phase of Roberts Bank is in procurement, Roberts Bank Phase 2 in Mainland. That's obviously exciting. And as you move to more of the industrial side, certainly sounding like we're getting close now on a carbon capture and emission cap framework with the news yesterday and some more news anticipated tomorrow. So that will really be a catalyst for new oil production, which we haven't seen since 2014.

So anxious to see that because, obviously, we're so well positioned in Canada's oil sector with our teams that are focused in those areas. Dow Chemical is ramping up in Alberta, which we were hoping for and it's probably ramping up faster than we thought. So that's a good sign. So generally, industrial is picking up nicely as the year evolves in the West.

Okay. And last one for me is when you acquired Jacob Bros, they obviously had some airport expertise in Vancouver. And at Pearson, it feels like the lift program is finally starting getting ready to take off. So with that in mind, can you talk at all about how you're thinking about pursuing some of these airport upgrades in Canada, which seems to be another important driver of construction demand over the next, call it, 3 to 5 years?

Yes. I'd say that we've had a pretty active role in YVR. In Vancouver, YVR seems to be moving back now into development again, which is exciting. A lot of our decisions on what we pursue in Canada really have a lot to do with the model that the client wants to contract under. So you'll often see us and we're very, very lucky first of my career.

We've been in a scenario where you can make choices as to something you don't like versus trying to possibly get through a commercial model that you don't really like, but you try to price your way through it. But -- so we can make choices today in terms of where we go and where we don't go, and we're very focused on collaborative model, but some of the clients or the potential opportunities out there are not quite there. So we'll leave it at that.

Our next question comes from Michael Tupholme with TD Cowen.

The first question is just another question regarding this morning's Bell AI Fabric announcement. For the 300-megawatt Sherwood facility, are you able to talk in a little bit more detail just about the scope of your role or mandate on the project as it relates to being the lead construction partner?

And I guess, sort of as in addition to that, you mentioned there's very little in the backlog for this and I guess, also the Marten Falls opportunity. But when does this get booked into backlog this first data center and the work associated with that? How do we think about potential value -- and I guess, how much of this is self-perform versus work that may be subcontracted...

Maybe I'll tackle parts of that, and Wayne will comment on the mechanics. So this partnership is certainly a partnership that's evolving. We've been contracted because we have the capabilities in a multitude of areas to self-perform the project, but we obviously are aligned with Bell to balance that with local contractors and local indigenous contractors and indigenous trades.

So I would -- it's early days. We just signed overnight. So this will continue to evolve, Mike, and we'll have more clarity on exactly what we're doing. We have the full capability to self-perform the project, but that will evolve over time as we balance the needs of the local community with our approach, and that's just something we have a very good track record of doing. Maybe on the reporting, Wayne?

Yes, in terms of the timing. So Q1, we don't have anything reflected in our $11 billion combined backlog. So in Q2, we certainly will have it reflected in our combined backlog. And I would expect that it would go into booked backlog in full. So there may be components that flow through pending first. But in total, it will be reflected in there.

That's helpful. And just a clarification or a follow-up to that, Wayne. When you book whatever you book in Q2, is that going to be sort of a onetime booking for this entire project? Or is this simply a portion of the -- this particular data center that gets booked in Q2 and more pieces come after that?

We're still working through some of the mechanics of that with Bell. So I'd say more to come here.

Okay. Just one more on this particular opportunity in the partnership. Do you have line of sight to future opportunities beyond this first facility in Sherwood? Like do you have a sense for when -- what that looks like?

Bell has provided their line of sight publicly. And I think that would be all we would say to that.

Okay. Fair enough. Then just shifting gears, a question regarding defense opportunities in Canada. Can you talk specifically about how you're positioned for the forward operating locations and/or northern operational support hubs that the Canadian federal government has talked about building in the North?

So it's certainly an exciting series of opportunities. There are sort of 4 main bases that the government has planned, which is public. There's one in Inuvik, there's one in Yellowknife, there's one in Cadillac and there's one -- and it's more of an upgrade expansion of Goose Bay. So those are the secure bases that will host the either Gripen or F-35 fighters, they'll be based in those bases.

We're currently building the F-35 facility in Cold Lake. And so that's the basis. So then what happens with those is then there's also in parallel to the base development, which I think they have budgeted $20 billion for all 4 total, part of a $40 billion investment in the Arctic. The other $20 billion is all the community development around these secure facilities because you obviously have a high security area that you build and then you have the town where everyone would live and reside. And so there's a combination of both. And I think that makes up the balance of the -- or some portion of the balance of the $40 billion.

And then you're seeing -- which is really exciting for us, you're seeing some ports getting lots of traction. Certainly, it seems like there's a big focus on developing Churchill and then also developing a new Arctic port in Grace Bay, which is one of the only deepwater accessible locations in the Arctic. And -- so lots of activity starting to happen around that. And that's really somewhat independent, although that would be a main supply channel to the basis.

And we're working in new outlet right now in Inuvik and also in Tuktoyaktuk. We're building a school and building a community center. And we've consistently been in those areas. We built a $1 billion hospital in today's dollars in Yellowknife about 5 years ago, finished that, called Stanton. We've done an 80-room hotel in Iqaluit 4, 5 years ago. And we're regularly in and out of Goose Bay with our Inuit partnership, and that's referred to as Timmiak. So that's an Inuit partnership that we have in the Northeast.

So we're pretty well positioned for these as these evolve, and we have a team that's assembled specifically for this group with some really exciting new members that have joined us, including a recently retired Major General from the Canadian Army. So a big focus area for us, what's happening here.

That's very helpful. Really good color. Obviously, it does sound like you're really well positioned. If you were to be successful in some of these opportunities, whether it be bases or ports or both, like timing-wise, could we see something come through this year in terms of awards on some of these? Or are they a little bit further out?

Yes. No, the procurement timing is I think the first one comes in July, August, and then they flow behind those kind of every 6 months, I think, is the way they've set them up. And we have a team assembled. We're not tackling these on our own. We have a team assembled, which is I would say it's a Tier 1 team, including our engineering partner.

Our next question comes from Yuri Lynk with Canaccord Genuity.

I'm just trying to make sure I understand the Bell opportunity. I mean, especially in proportion to the warrants that were issued, I mean, it's a big number, right? And so this might go into backlog in Q2, but your guidance is unchanged. Bell is talking about spending over $1 billion in 2026 on the project. So I'm just trying to square the outlook with the warrants and the potential, like how large this could be? And if you feel it's all reflected in your existing guidance or if it's looking conservative or just how to kind of think about it in the context of over $135 million worth of stock to Bell for this deal?

Yes. I mean it's not -- the warrants aren't tied to one project, 750,000 of the warrants are tied to the one project. The rest of the warrants are tied to future data centers that would be awarded and completed by Bird over the next 5 years. And that would be a pretty significant pipeline of opportunities for our business, but obviously gives us great visibility to work for a great visibility to our work program and to work for a Tier 1 client.

Yes. And just how do I think about the $1 billion of CapEx they're spending in '26 on this project?

Yes. I think we can't really comment on what Bell has announced in terms of their CapEx. We really can't comment on that, to be honest.

Okay. And is your role purely as a subcontractor or do you see?

No. No. We're the general contractor for the project and the various entities that end up in engagements. Some of them are -- one of them was already contracted for our agreement. So that one is getting underway and Bell announced that a week or 2 ago, that's direct to Bell, but the balance of construction will be part of our umbrella.

Okay. And you hope to self-perform 10%, 20%, any -- how do we think about the...

It will depend on the capacity. It will depend on -- we have the capability to subcontract 90%, but it's a variable question right now because that will evolve as -- like I said, we only signed this overnight. And that will evolve with the balance that we agreed to between Bell and ourselves as to -- in terms of what works with the local businesses, and we want to maintain that balance.

So it's difficult to predict right now, Yuri, just in the newness of this. So we'll have more color as the year evolves. But it's exciting, and it's a tremendous opportunity, especially the longer-term partnership and the line that we have with Bell AI Fabric is transformational really for our company. It's just difficult to put a specific guidance to this at this point. We'll have more clarity as we get moving now.

Okay. Okay. And just a last clarification, like as a general contractor, so you're not, say, the construction manager on the project, which would, I think, be a bit of a lower margin.

We're both. Yes. We're a construction manager that has a partnership with Bell to develop this site, and we will have oversight of construction activities. We'll work with, like I said, the local community and the local trades, and that's still in the development stages.

Okay, guys. It sounds like there's still lots to come, definitely exciting. Just trying to make sure I understand the opportunity.

This concludes the question-and-answer session. I will hand the call back over to Mr. McKibbon for closing remarks.

Before we close, I'd also like to highlight that our 2025 sustainability overview has been released. It reflects the progress we've made in embedding ESG priorities across operations and risk management, supporting sustainable value creation for shareholders and stakeholders. The full report is available on our website. Thank you to the teams across the organization for their continued focus on safety and disciplined delivery and to our partners and shareholders for their ongoing support.

This concludes today's conference call and webcast. You may disconnect your lines. Thank you for participating, and have a pleasant day.

Hello, and welcome to the Annual Meeting of Shareholders of Bird Construction Inc. Please note that today's meeting is being recorded. If you participate in today's meeting and disclose personal information, you will be deemed to consent to the recording, transfer and use of same. If you disclose personal information of another person in today's meeting, you will be deemed to represent and warrant to Computershare and the corporation that you first obtained all required consents for the disclosure, recording, transfer and use of such personal information from all appropriate persons before your disclosure. [Operator Instructions]

It is now my pleasure to turn today's meeting over to Vincent Dore, Corporate Secretary. The floor is yours.

Good afternoon. Thank you for joining us today. My name is Vincent Dore, and I am the Senior Counsel and Corporate Secretary of Bird Construction Inc. We thank you for attending the meeting. I would like to note that Bird is permitted to hold a virtual meeting of its shareholders under the Ontario Business Corporations Act and under our bylaws.

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During today's meeting, officers and directors of the company may make statements which constitute forward-looking information for the purposes of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking information is not an assurance of future performance and is subject to risk and uncertainty. The actual results, performance or achievements of the company and its business, may be materially different from the anticipated results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by forward-looking information.

The officers and directors have applied certain assumptions and factors in making forward-looking statements. Shareholders should consult the more detailed discussion and assumptions and risk factors relating to the company and its business in the company's most recent Annual Information Form and Management's Discussion and Analysis.

Forward-looking information is based on the officers' and directors' beliefs and assumptions and undue reliance should not be placed on any forward-looking information. The company does not undertake to update or supplement any forward-looking information unless required to do so by applicable laws.

Thank you. And I will now turn it over to our Board Chair, Mr. Paul Raboud.

Good afternoon. I would like to welcome all of our virtual attendees to this year's Annual Meeting of Shareholders. I'm pleased you could all join us today. I am Paul Raboud, Chair of the Board of Directors of Bird Construction. I've been fortunate to be associated with Bird for 41 years, and this is the end of my fifth year of chairing the board. I've had the pleasure of being part of a great success story, leading up to where we are today.

Let's now begin the official part of the meeting. I would like to call the meeting to order, and I will preside as Chair. We have the following matters of business to conduct today: the presentation of the 2025 financial statements, the election of 10 directors, the reappointment of KPMG as the company's auditors and any other business that may properly come before this meeting.

Shareholders and proxy holders may submit questions to the Board or management using the Q&A icon on the virtual meeting page. The moderator will relay any questions regarding the formal business of the meeting as we progress through the meeting. Any questions that are not related to the formal business of the meeting will be addressed after the formal business of the meeting has concluded.

In order to expedite the formal part of the meeting, certain individuals have been asked to move the formal proposals at the appropriate times. This will allow more time for your questions and comments.

Joining me this afternoon are the other director nominees as well as Terry McKibbon, President and CEO of the company; and Wayne Gingrich, Chief Financial Officer; and members of the senior leadership team of Bird. Mr. Vincent Dore, Senior Counsel and Corporate Secretary of the company, has agreed to serve as the Secretary of the meeting and record the proceedings.

With the consent of the meeting, I shall ask Kyle Gould of Computershare Trust Company to act as scrutineer of the meeting.

The notice calling this meeting of shareholders was filed on SEDAR on February 23, 2026. The notice was mailed on April 2, 2026 to all shareholders of record on the record date of March 16, 2026.

I have been provided with confirmation from Computershare Trust Company of Canada, transfer agent of the company, attesting to the due delivery of the notice, form of proxy, voting instruction form and Management Information Circular. The 2025 annual report was included in the mailing only to those who opted to receive one.

I direct that a copy of the notice, together with proof of service be filed by the Secretary with records of this meeting. The scrutineers' report confirms that a quorum is present at the meeting. I would ask the Secretary to read the report.

There are 27,06,092 shares of the company represented today in person or by proxy. This represents 48.76% of the total shares outstanding and constitutes a quorum for the meeting.

I now confirm that the meeting is regularly called and properly constituted for the transaction of business. I also direct that a copy of the scrutineers' report on attendance be attached to the minutes of the meeting.

I will now turn it over to the Secretary to explain the voting process for this virtual meeting.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We have received all proxy voting results for today's resolutions in advance of the meeting. Anyone in attendance today who has not yet voted and is not signed in as a guest will have an opportunity to vote online in real time using the Computershare platform.

Rather than hold up the business of the meeting for the final tabulation of votes cast on each motion, the Chair will declare interim results received from the scrutineer in advance of the meeting on each of the motions presented.

The Chair has directed that the final combined results of the advanced poll and the votes entered through the virtual platform on all motions today be included with the meeting -- minutes of the meeting. These results will also be available in the report on voting posted on SEDAR+ following the meeting.

The polls are now open. Shareholders and duly appointed proxy holders, please click on the Vote tab to see the various items of business for today's meeting. You will have from now until the conclusion of the meeting to cast your votes on each of these items.

I now turn the meeting over to you, Mr. Chair.

The.

The first item of business is to receive the consolidated financial statements of Bird Construction Inc. for the year ended December 31, 2025, and the auditor's report thereon. I will ask Mr. Gingrich to provide further detail.

The 2025 annual report was mailed to each registered shareholder who opted to receive a copy. Printed copies of the annual report may be requested by contacting the company. Included in the annual report are the consolidated financial statements, the auditor's report of KPMG LLP, and management's discussion and analysis.

The auditors have issued an unqualified report.

If there are any questions concerning the financial statements, I would suggest that they be raised during the question period.

Let's proceed to the scrutineer's report. I have received the preliminary scrutineer's report. According to the report, I declare the motion carried.

The next item of business is the election of directors of the company. The management information circular lists the company's director nominees. In accordance with the company's bylaws, shareholders are required to provide advance notice of their intent to nominate candidates for directors. As no such nominations were received by the company, there are no further nominees eligible to stand for election today.

Accordingly, I now declare the nominations closed.

Our motion to elect 10 directors as described in the management information circular is now in order.

I, Wayne Gingrich, move the election of the following: Ms. Evelyn Angelle, Mr. J. Richard Bird, Mr. J. Kim Fennell, Ms. Jennifer F. Koury, Mr. Terrence L. McKibbon, Mr. Gary Merasty, Mr. Luc J. Messier, Mr. Steven L. Edwards, Mr. Paul R. Raboud and Ms. Sophia Saeed as directors of the company to hold office until the next annual meeting of the shareholders or until their successors are elected or appointed.

I, Vincent Dore, second the motion.

Thank you. Are there any questions on the election of directors? If you have not already done so, you may now vote for the election of directors.

There are no questions at this time.

Let's proceed to the scrutineer's report. I have received the preliminary scrutineer's report on voting for the election of directors. The report indicates that Ms. Evelyn Angelle, Mr. J. Richard Bird, Mr. J. Kim Fennell, Ms. Jennifer F. Koury, Mr. Terrence L. McKibbon, Mr. Gary Merasty, Mr. Luc J. Messier, Mr. Steven L. Edwards, Mr. Paul R. Raboud and Ms. Sophia Saeed have been elected as directors by the shareholders, and that each nominee received more than the majority of the votes cast at today's meeting.

These persons will constitute the Board of Directors of the company until the next Annual Meeting of the Shareholders or until the successors are elected or appointed. I direct that a copy of the scrutineer's report on voting being annexed to the minutes of this meeting.

The next item of business is the appointment of auditors, and I believe Mr. Gingrich has a resolution in this regard.

I, Wayne Gingrich, move that the firm of KPMG LLP be appointed auditors of the company until the next annual meeting of remuneration to be fixed by the directors. The directors being hereby authorized to fix such remuneration.

I, Vincent Dore, second the motion.

Is there any discussion of the motion? If you have not already done so, you may now vote for the election of directors.

There are no questions at this time.

Let's proceed to the scrutineer's report. According to the report, I declare the motion carried.

This is a 1-minute warning prior to polls being closed. If you are participating in the meeting through the virtual platform, please ensure that your votes are recorded. While we pause for a minute for people to vote. I would take this opportunity on behalf of the board to acknowledge and thank the management team and all the employees of the company for their tremendous efforts over the last year.

The performance over -- of the company in 2025 has been very strong and has set us up for a very successful year in 2026. Bird generated strong adjusted financial results. We secured a record year-end backlog, which bodes well for 2026. We delivered excellent service to our customers and most importantly, we operated safely. So congratulations to all of you.

I think everyone has had sufficient time to vote. I now declare the voting closed for all items of business. The scrutineers have completed their final tabulation of votes cast and have reported the combined results of the events poll and the votes entered through the virtual platform on all motions today.

I declare that all motions have passed. A report on all matters voted on at this meeting will be filed on SEDAR. If there's no further business to be brought before the meeting, I shall ask Wayne Gingrich, for his motion to terminate the meeting before we proceed to a question-and-answer period.

I move that the meeting be terminated.

I second the motion.

Any objections? I declare the motion carried and the formal business of the meeting terminated. The meeting is now open for questions.

There are no questions at this time.

Thank you very much for joining us today.

This concludes the meeting. You may now disconnect.

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Bird Construction Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025 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. [Operator Instructions] Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. [Operator Instructions] 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, the 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 now like to turn the call over to Teri McKibbon, President and CEO of Bird Construction.

Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining our fourth quarter 2025 conference call. With me today is Wayne Gingrich, Bird's Chief Financial Officer. Before we begin today's call, I want to recognize the many teams across Bird who took part in Women in Construction Week and International Women's Day. These moments are reminders of the meaningful contributions women make across our organization and our responsibility to create space for every voice to be heard. This year's International Women's Day theme, Give to Gain reflects our belief that when we support each other through mentorship, opportunity and visibility, we strengthen our business.

Our commitment to equity and inclusion continues to shape how we collaborate, innovate and deliver for our clients. 2025, Bird strengthened the underlying fundamentals of the business, exiting the year with record backlog, improved margin quality and increased visibility into a multiyear growth runway. While revenue timing shifted in certain markets, demand did not. Demand across our key strategic sectors remained strong, resulting in more than $11 billion in combined backlog with accretive embedded margins. This reflects growth of 45% over 2024 and provides multiyear visibility underpinning our confidence in our revenue and margin trajectory. As we enter 2026, we believe Bird is better positioned than at any point in our history to benefit from long-cycle infrastructure investments across our core markets.

Full year revenue was $3.4 billion, comparable to 2024. Growth in infrastructure was supported by the ramp-up of the East Harbour Transit Hub, a full year of Jacob Brothers and the addition of FRPD. Growth was offset by timing shifts in project starts across several end markets, which we have discussed in prior quarters. Importantly, momentum in our infrastructure business remains a core driver of our strategy, and we expect that momentum to continue. Margins progressed year-over-year despite lower proportional revenue in our industrial construction and industrial maintenance businesses. Adjusted earnings and adjusted earnings per share remained strong, though slightly lower year-over-year. Our operating model continues to perform and structural margin levers remain firmly in place.

During the year, we secured $4.7 billion worth of work, underscoring the strength of our client relationships and the robustness of the bidding environment. Our backlog is diversified, risk balanced and heavily weighted towards collaborative delivery models. With stronger embedded margins than a year ago, our backlog provides a level of visibility and confidence into future revenues and margins. Depth of our backlog continued to build across priority sectors. Defense backlog increased to over $1.5 billion. We entered a development phase agreement for the Peel Memorial Hospital, secured successive awards on large capital projects, mobilized new work at the Pickering nuclear facility and significantly expanded our industrial maintenance portfolio.

Importantly, the factors that muted near-term growth -- near-term revenue in 2025 did not reduce demand. That demand is firmly embedded in our backlog, pending backlog and recurring revenue programs that extend well beyond 2026. Looking ahead, approximately 54% of our backlog is expected to be recognized over the next 12 months. This is further supported by a record $1.5 billion of recurring revenue contracts with industrial maintenance and other recurring revenue expected to contribute over $500 million per year, along with the continued conversion of pending backlog. Bird's record combined backlog with stronger embedded margins than a year ago demonstrates the underlying momentum of the business and supports our confidence in Bird's long-term trajectory.

We do not see the opportunity set slowing down. And as major projects advance, we expect the volume of opportunities to continue to increase, allowing us to be selective in pursuing the projects best suited to our capabilities. Turning to margins. Quarterly margins were down modestly year-over-year, reflecting the project delays and deferrals in industrial construction and industrial maintenance. On a full year basis, our adjusted EBITDA margin was 6.5%, an improvement of 20 basis points over 2024. Given that from 2024 -- 2022 to 2024, Bird expanded adjusted EBITDA margins by 200 basis points, we remain confident in achieving the remaining 150 basis points within 2 years to go in terms of our current strategic plan time horizon.

The next few slides outline the deliberate and incremental drivers already at work across the business to support the continued progress of our strategy. Large capital investment projects remain a core pillar of Bird's long-term strategy. These programs are inherently multiyear, providing scale duration and opportunities for margin expansion driven by complexity and higher self-perform content. 2025, Bird moved into the execution phase of the East Harbour Transit Hub, expanded scope on Dow's Path2Zero project, secured additional awards at BHP's Jansen Potash project, mobilized new work at the Pickering Nuclear Facility, progressed operations at Woodfibre LNG and entered the development phase of Peel Memorial Hospital. Successive awards demonstrate Bird's ability to engage early, execute effectively and expand participation over the project lifestyle. This track record continues to strengthen our reputation and positions the company well for sustained demand across Canada's evolving nation-building energy and infrastructure investment programs.

There is significant depth across Bird's end markets with near-term tailwinds supporting demand across energy, defense, health care, data centers, transportation and trade infrastructure. We are increasingly being pulled into new opportunities early and across more geographies as clients prioritize safety, delivery certainty, self-perform depth and proven execution. Demand remains resilient across nuclear, LNG, petrochemicals and potash. We were pleased to hear how Dow recommitted to the Path2Zero project where Bird's work remains weighted to the second half of 2026 and '27. Our industrial maintenance portfolio remains a key differentiator, providing a strong base of recurring revenue. New MRO awards and MSAs secured in 2025 increased pending backlog to over $1.5 billion.

The largest of these awards resulted directly from the NorCan acquisition, demonstrating the value of cross-selling and the effectiveness of integrating acquisitions into the Bird operating model. The nuclear sector remains active, representing approximately 10% of our revenue today, and we expect that exposure to grow. Additionally, we've received -- recently achieved new credentials that enable broader participation in the sector. This is timely as we prepare for new build activity to ramp up in the coming years. Our backlog remains robust across health care, defense, education and long-term care. Peel Memorial Hospital is a significant milestone award and a strong validation of our health care expertise and collaborative approach.

As referenced, our defense portfolio continues to accelerate. We're actively tracking over 200 defense-related projects, including substantial investment in the Arctic infrastructure where Bird has a deep experience and a proven track record. Many of these projects are part of the Department of Defense's plan, $100 billion in construction over 10 years, which includes $40 billion in the north over 20 years. We continue to see strong sustained activity in the data center market. As the sector evolves, delivery partners are being selected based on schedule certainty and the ability to self-perform critical path scope. Bird is well differentiated here with integrated civil, electrical, mechanical and project delivery capabilities. Bird offers end-to-end capabilities in this fast-growing sector from land selection and power coordination and sourcing through site development, full electrical, mechanical and structural delivery.

Critical path in data center construction is electrical scope and Bird's position as the country's largest electrical employer enables us to support clients coast-to-coast with scale and schedule certainty. We are currently tracking more than $20 billion in data center opportunities and see momentum continuing to build through 2026. In infrastructure, the acquisition of FRPD has meaningfully expanded our self-perform capabilities in marine construction, dredging and land foundations. FRPD's strong reputation and 115-year track record spanning coast to coast to coast brings deep expertise and a differentiated platform for delivery. This has unlocked new cross-selling opportunities with Jacob Brothers, our industrial group and across the broader organization.

Timing of this acquisition couldn't have been better given the breadth of opportunities developing across all geographic regions in Canada. The momentum is building rapidly, and we expect FRPD to be a significant catalyst for growth. Taken together, strong sector demand, long-duration nation building investments, Bird's execution capabilities, record backlog position the company well for sustained disciplined growth and value creation through 2026 and beyond. In 2025, infrastructure continued to expand, creating a more balanced revenue mix between industrial buildings and infrastructure. Infrastructure growth was supported by a full year contribution from Jacob Brothers, and initial contribution from FRPD and strong execution across transit hydroelectric utilities and mining programs, including continued momentum from recent acquisitions and our Commercial Systems and Utilities group.

Infrastructure with its high proportion of self-perform work will continue to support margin progression as it increases its share of our revenue mix. As our record backlog converts, we expect to benefit from operating leverage across our platform, supported by scale and disciplined cost management. At the same time, we continue to make smart investments to further improve execution and efficiency. In 2025, Bird reached a major milestone with the rollout of our ERP platform, establishing a scalable digital foundation and unified project delivery system. Building on that, we are advancing predictive analytics, digital tools to enhance planning, productivity and safety. Early progress is improving visibility into potential project risks and enabling more proactive data-informed decision-making across the project life cycle.

Together, these capabilities support earlier risk identification, more effective resource allocation and more consistent execution across complex projects, reinforcing margin resilience as the business continues to scale. Across the business, multiple deliberate levers are already at work, mix improvement as infrastructure scales, higher self-perform and equipment-related revenue, operating leverage and disciplined project selection within collaborative lower-risk delivery models. These are not new initiatives. They reflect execution already underway, tangible progress supporting our path to the 2027 adjusted EBITDA margin target of 8% and further revenue growth. We are confident in this trajectory that a backlog and demand environment provide the runway to execute. With that, I'll now turn it over to Wayne to walk through our financial performance in more detail.

Thank you, Teri. Bird's fourth quarter and full year 2025 results demonstrate continued execution of our strategy and the resilience of our operating model. Despite uncertainty impacting near-term revenue timing, we delivered solid margins, adjusted earnings and cash flow. As anticipated, construction revenue in the fourth quarter was $877 million, lower year-over-year, reflecting the timing related to project delays that we highlighted earlier in 2025. Gross profit margin in the quarter was 11.1%, a full percent higher than in 2024. Margins benefited from a higher proportion of infrastructure work, which typically carries greater self-performed content and from disciplined project execution.

These positives were partially offset by delays in project starts where we continue to carry personnel and equipment costs in anticipation of future mobilization. Adjusted EBITDA in the fourth quarter was $66.2 million compared to $71.9 million last year, with an adjusted EBITDA margin of 7.5% compared to 7.7%. Given the softer industrial work program and mix impacts in the quarter, this remains a solid margin outcome. Turning to earnings. Net loss in the quarter was $14 million or $0.25 per share compared to net income of $32.5 million or $0.59 per share in the fourth quarter of 2024. This decline reflects the $62.2 million impairment on accounts receivable and contract assets related to creditworthiness concerns for a single customer that was previously disclosed. The sole project for this customer is substantially complete and no further costs are expected. This impact was partially offset by the $7.6 million bargain purchase gain on the acquisition of FRPD.

Adjusted earnings in the quarter was $31.8 million or $0.57 per share compared to $37.3 million or $0.67 per share last year. Adjusted earnings excludes both the bargain purchase gain and the credit impairment, which are nonrecurring items. Operating cash flow in the fourth quarter was $192.6 million, up $55 million year-over-year. This reflects resilient underlying cash generation that would have been materially higher absent the onetime customer credit impairment. For the full year, revenue totaled $3.4 billion, essentially flat compared to 2024. Growth from the full year contribution of Jacob Brothers, the addition of FRPD and organic growth in infrastructure, including mining work programs in the East Harbour Transit Hub was offset by lower industrial and buildings revenue.

This reflected less favorable weather early in the year, maintenance work deferred into 2026 and client decisions that slowed certain work programs and delayed the start of new projects. Revenue of all the company's businesses in 2025 was impacted by delays in the start of contracted projects resulting from economic uncertainty. Despite flat revenue, profitability continued to improve. Full year gross profit increased to $356.9 million, representing gross margin of 10.5%, up from 9.7% in 2024. Margin improvement was driven primarily by higher relative growth in infrastructure and the continued shift toward higher-margin collaborative work. These results reflect disciplined project selection, strong execution, expanding self-perform capabilities and effective cross-selling across the organization.

Adjusted EBITDA for the full year was $222.1 million, up from $212.8 million in 2024 with an adjusted EBITDA margin of 6.5%. This places Bird within 150 basis points of our 2027 margin target, even in a year where higher-margin self-perform industrial work was temporarily deferred into 2026. Net income for the year was $47.4 million or $0.86 per share, with the year-over-year decline primarily attributable to the fourth quarter impairment. Adjusted earnings for the year was $107.7 million or $1.94 per share compared to $111.3 million or $2.04 per share in 2024. Cash flow generation remained a core strength in 2025. Full year operating cash flow was $113.1 million, which is a strong result despite the onetime customer credit issue and demonstrates the underlying strength of Bird's cash-generating business model.

Free cash flow totaled $71.8 million or $1.30 per share. Our balance sheet remains strong, providing both resilience and flexibility. Adjusted return on equity was 25%. Adjusted net debt to adjusted EBITDA was 0.82x, and the current ratio was 1.26. With $167 million of cash and cash equivalents and an additional $399 million available under the company's syndicated credit facility, Bird has ample liquidity to support working capital, project-driven capital expenditures and accretive acquisitions to further expand our service offerings and self-perform capabilities. Overall, while revenue in 2025 was impacted by uncertainty, Bird delivered strong margins, solid earnings and robust cash flow, supported by a record backlog with higher embedded margins.

Bird remains committed to a balanced and disciplined approach to capital allocation, supporting both profitable growth and consistent shareholder returns. Our priorities are clear and unchanged. We continue to invest in our business through capital expenditures and equipment and technology to support execution. We remain active and disciplined in M&A, pursuing tuck-in acquisitions that enhance our capabilities, expand our footprint in key markets and are accretive to margins and cash flow. We also continue to return capital to shareholders through a monthly dividend with a long-term payout ratio target of 33% of net income, recognizing that the ratio may fluctuate year-to-year.

Bird operates with low capital intensity and our strong balance sheet and consistent cash generation provide flexibility to execute our record backlog while pursuing opportunistic growth. We remain focused on opportunities that deliver outsized value through our cross-selling and our One Bird operating model. Taken together, this disciplined approach continues to support long-term value creation through clear priorities, smart investment and a conservative financial profile. With that, I'll turn the call back to Teri.

Thank you, Wayne. With 2025 behind us, we enter 2026 with momentum and greater multiyear visibility. Our programs are expected to materialize as anticipated with revenue growth accelerating in the second quarter. Recent industrial maintenance awards that added more than $1 billion in pending backlog further support multiyear visibility. Our teams continue to win new work at a pace that drives future revenue growth as the book-to-bill ratio has been consistently greater than 1, reaching 1.4x in 2025.

Bidding environment remains highly active across defense, nuclear, data centers, health care, trade and transportation. With risk balance record backlog of more than $11 billion with average margins higher than a year ago, Bird has strong visibility through 2027 and clear momentum towards its strategic plan growth and profitability targets, supported by a strong balance sheet, disciplined capital allocation and ample liquidity, Bird is well positioned to execute its record backlog, invest in growth and continue delivering shareholder value. I'll now turn the call back to the operator to open the line for questions.

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from Chris Murray with ATB Cormark Capital Markets.

Maybe just starting with the outlook in 2026. Certainly, 2025, as you noted, had some challenges in it. And so I guess what I'm trying to understand is how should we be thinking about year-over-year revenue growth? You did mention kind of starting to ramp back up Q2. The backlog is pretty sizable to have to work through. So just trying to get an idea of how we think of this. I know at one point, you were sort of thinking about a 10% year-over-year growth, but it just feels like next year, just coming off the lower base, we're going to be a lot higher than that. But just how this kind of pattern you think happens? And any commentary about where you thought you were going to be for '27 based on what the original strategic plan would be helpful.

Yes. I think for '26 -- the way the year is shaping up, I think, is consistent with how we tried to frame it in Q3 and again, here at year-end. So I think Q1 is still going to be a little bit muted, like we're going to have some of the project deferrals that we talked about last year that's still going to impact Q1, particularly in the industrial program. I think we're going to see Q2 ramp up pretty significantly towards the end of Q2. And then in the second half of 2026, I think we're going to see very robust growth. So I think '26 overall is certainly going to be double-digit growth and could be depending on how certain of our market sectors play out, could be stronger into the low teens even.

We have record backlog, 54% of it is going to be put in place in 2026, but we also win and execute work throughout the year, and we expect that to continue. Looking ahead to 2027, we've got more visibility into the 2 years out than we've ever had with our $11 billion combined backlog. And what gives us confidence in the margins is that the margins embedded in our combined backlog are higher today than they were a year ago or at any point to be honest in the last 10 years.

So that's why we're confident that we can continue to see margins still improve through '26 and '27. And then from a volume perspective on '27, the range we came out with in our strategic plan back when we did the Investor Day in October '24 was $4.6 million to $5.1 million, and I think the midpoint, $4.85 million. So we still expect to be in that range of revenue for '27 -- the pipeline that we have, and Teri can go into this more in a bit here, too, but the pipeline of projects that we're pursuing right now line up very well to support this growth on top of the record backlog.

Okay. That's helpful. And then just maybe a housekeeping question on the impairment. You did note it was one client, project is complete, but it was tied to a specific asset. So just in terms of recoveries, does this mean that you either have a claim on the asset or there's some other mechanism that will be in place for recoveries? And any idea of timing on recoveries and whether or not this is fully impaired or there's an expectation that you'll only come out whole at the end?

Well, we took a full impairment in Q4 for the $62.2 million made up of accounts receivable and contract assets. So we're not carrying a recovery on the books at this time. We are going to pursue recovery, but we decided to take a pretty conservative view of it. It's certainly -- nothing is going to be imminent on any potential future recovery, and we're just going to follow the normal course there. But just with how the facts are playing out in this particular instance, it's not something that we can really go into a ton of detail on at this point in time. But I guess the key point here is just know that we're going to pursue a recovery, but it would take time before you ever see anything from that, we think.

Our next question comes from Frederic Bastien with Raymond James.

Around this time last year, you were preparing for some turnaround activity that ended up getting pushed out. What indications are you receiving from oil sands clients today that they indicate things will go back to normal this year?

Yes, we're certainly feeling highly confident in the programs. The programs will be in all cases, with all our major clients will be fall turnarounds. So that has moved around a bit in prior years. There's been spring turnarounds. But in our case this year, they're all fall. And that's the sort of the end of the window for their flexibility in terms of when they do these turnarounds. There's regulatory compliance they have to meet. So -- but we expect them to be of considerable scale, and we have some new opportunities that we're potentially positioned for, and we'll see how they materialize as well. So we're expecting a very strong back half of '26 with the large fall turnaround program.

Okay. Great. And Teri, you sound pretty pumped about FRPD. Can you speak to some of the cross-selling opportunities that you expect to deliver from that acquisition? I know you kind of hinted at some, but any specifics that you can point to?

Yes. So it's -- I don't think in my entire career, I've ever been involved in an acquisition with our team that was more timely than this one. This one is just -- you couldn't script it any better the way it's playing out. So we've got the Western ports all getting increased spending levels to increase throughput. And that's a lot of the ports on the West Coast -- and very visible. We're on 1 of the 3 teams that are qualified for the Roberts Bank terminal, which is a large opportunity. As you know, in the West Coast, there's large scopes of work being done with, for example, the Massey Tunnel, which is a tunnel under the Fraser we're well positioned to support those kinds of projects.

You've got Northern Arctic basis, things that are developing, lots of discussion around Churchill. And these are all places that FRB has worked in the past. And you've got the LNG side with both the second phase of LNG Canada, you got Prince Rupert LNG. These are all -- there's not a lot of marine capacity in Canada, a lot of international capacity. It's very expensive to use that. So we're just really well positioned for that business, and they've been running at breakneck speed in the last few months with the opportunities as they are coming in. So we're really feeling good about that. And I think as Canada looks at its east-west trade corridors, any of that work involves significant enhancements of ports, and we're well positioned to support that as we go forward.

And we're also starting to see mining opportunities where mining companies are talking to us about going in and coming in and dredging tailing ponds to reactivate mining in those reserves that at the time they were shut down, they were not cost effective, but they are in today's market. So we're seeing those opportunities evolve. And it's kind of unique. It's not something you see or have historically seen, but those are also certainly happening. So yes, it's a very busy time for FRPD. And obviously, we're starting now in July on our new dredging contract as well and the dredging contract we have with Fraser [indiscernible].

Our next question comes from Ian Gillies with Stifel.

Teri, I think you specifically mentioned the defense backlog in the commentary. But I was wondering if you could maybe talk a little bit about where the nuclear backlog is today, whether it be in absolute or percentage terms and where you might hope to see that in 12 months or 24 months' time, just so we can get a better understanding of how impactful you think that space may be to your business?

A good portion of the nuclear backlog is flowing through our MSA framework. So you've got all that remediation work that we do for CNL and other clients. And you have the nuclear lab up in Chalk River that is advancing construction, which is certainly a large-scale opportunity. I'm not in a position where we can disclose those values of that type of work because it's something that's with our clients is confidential. And we still have a large program underway with Bruce. We've got a large program underway with OPG with there, we're building 5 facilities for OPG right now at the Pickering nuclear facility.

We've got some more work that's evolving in some of the other nuclear facilities in the country. Decommissioning is still at a very high pace, some new opportunities that we're in procurement on for that. So I'd say like it's certainly a robust area. I can speak to it more in terms of overall percentage of revenue because of the MSA aspect of it. So we'll run probably around 10% of our revenue even with our anticipated growth in 2026 in nuclear-related activity. And then I think longer term, you have the new builds, which are going to be significant scale, both at Bruce and Wesleyville. So the scale of those will take considerable capacity from the market that have nuclear credentials, nuclear capabilities.

We're building essentially a weapons-grade uranium testing facility that is the same nuclear grade concrete and things like that as you'd have on an SMR or a large-scale nuclear program. So the resume we're developing is quite strong. And now we have the required certifications and licenses to essentially do an end-to-end in nuclear. We just have to build out our resume a bit stronger, and we have the contracts in place to do that when we're working on a reactor phase.

That's very helpful. And then maybe switching gears to the margin side. You look at Q4, which was very strong and you think about adding scale to that through '26 and '27 and getting leverage on G&A, is the 8% EBITDA margin target, is there a potential you think you could exceed that or even beat that based on what you see right now?

Yes, it's tough to get ahead of that right now and get over our skis a bit on that. I think it's an achievable target. I think as we see the momentum build in Q2 into Q3, we'll have a little more clarity as to how that's evolving. And the world we live in today has got certainly some volatility. But we're pretty confident on the backlog and the kinds of projects we have. These are going ahead. We've tried to position ourselves with blue-chip clients. And the exciting part of our business, to be honest with you, is when you have such a large scale of new work that's evolving both in defense and in data centers.

The scale of these opportunities in those 2 areas, which has not really been in historical times, a very strong position or percentage or a very small percentage of our historical revenue. So you start to see those things layer in. Yes, it's pretty exciting, especially when you have your core markets that we've been working on are very strong. So it puts us in a really nice position for the next 5 years and beyond.

[Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from Krista Friesen with CIBC.

Maybe just to follow up on the last question on the nuclear portion. Are there markets that you would be evaluating for M&A to help boost your resume within nuclear or your product offering? Or is that not something you really see much of in the market right now?

I think it's -- you don't see much of it in the market in Canada, and we're focused, as you know, in Canada. So you don't see much of it. You'd have to almost be moving towards a manufacturing kind of framework, and it's not really what our core business is. So no, I think it's -- we have a very strong resume in large-scale projects with things like LNG, where you're building these massive foundations and large concrete type mobilizing workforces.

So we have a really strong runway, and we're continuing to develop our nuclear resumes so that our clients are confident to award those programs, a small acquisition in that space, it'd have to be small because there's nobody that's got any real scale and it wouldn't really do much for us. And like I said, we're focused on the resume development. We're also doing some large scale. We have a large-scale hydroelectric project underway with OPG, and that's going well, and those all enhance the scale question about our capability to handle large-scale projects.

Okay. Great. And then maybe just on the data center opportunity, you've identified a TAM of $15 billion here in Canada. Are you seeing much work right now? And maybe specifically, what are you seeing in Alberta in terms of projects actually starting to move forward on the data center front?

So we've historically had experience here in smaller data centers in the province like small, predominantly on the electrical side. Currently, and I can't talk about who the clients, it's a very secret of industry, but currently, we just -- it feels like we're just at the tipping point here on large scale. There's some large-scale ones that are in procurement right now that have -- and the scale of these things is just -- is really significant, and it will take out a lot of capacity, to be honest. The secret weapon for us is a large electrical army that we have and a number of those resources here in Alberta. But Alberta has got something like 40 individual companies that are in discussions with the government to develop data centers.

So there's potentially 40 projects. They all won't get built. They all need power and the government's sort of mantra here has been we've got the gas, bring your own power, and we'll work closely with you to develop these. And if that continues, I think you'll see Alberta as a major hub in North America for data centers and the scale of these that are evolving are massive. And some of them are further along in procurement than others. And we typically aren't -- in the early stage of a project. So when a client is going out to get an approval from a municipality to do something, we may or may not be involved at that point. Some companies will go ahead and do that on their own and then engage us after. And in other cases, we're working really early on and working with potential clients to identify opportunities, land opportunities and power opportunities and working with them collaboratively on the power applications and that.

So we're -- we have a pretty good sense of where everyone is and where they're all evolving. And the major markets for us would be Alberta and Ontario. And -- but we've got data centers underway right now in Manitoba. There's emerging opportunities in Saskatchewan. We've got emerging opportunities in Atlantic Canada. So it feels like we're just getting towards the tipping point after a few years of a lot of planning, and it's the -- if you can well imagine the impact these have had in the U.S. on companies like us has been tremendous, tremendous impact in terms of performance and scale. And -- but it feels like we're 3 or 4 years behind the U.S. development. So -- but these companies have a track record and they know what they're doing and they know the critical path is certain aspects of those projects like electrical is critical.

I appreciate the color on that. It sounds like a very big opportunity. If I could just sneak in one more. I appreciate early days since we've seen so much volatility in the price of oil. But are you hearing anything about potential delays in the maintenance work, just given where the price of oil is and maybe customers looking to push out as much as they can right now?

It would be our opinion, despite the press yesterday on this, it would be our opinion that there isn't any ability to defer any of these large turnarounds another year. It wouldn't be -- it wouldn't meet the regulatory obligations. It wouldn't be a good decision given that we have already extended some of them a year. That's just our opinion. We have reached out based on that article that came out yesterday and have confirmed that there is no anticipation of a delay of these turnarounds.

There's a lot of planning that goes into these. And I guess, anybody's guess when things settle down, whether the things are settled down by the fall. But that's the timing of those -- they're not spring turnarounds as they sometimes were historically. They're all fall turnarounds this time around.

[Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from Maxim Sico with NBCN.

I just wanted to circle back, if I may, to the data center space. I mean I presume, obviously, right now, your electrical capacity is sort of fully utilized and assuming some of these big opportunities do come to fruition in terms of -- I mean, are you thinking about any pinch points in relation to accessing labor? Or Teri, I guess, how do you envision those things evolving, let's call it, over the next 24 months?

Yes. One of the benefits we have, Max, is we have an accordion-like capability that is massive at scale when we ramp up and ramp down for the turnaround side. So we have teams and people, that's all they do. So as we enter into the planning stages of some of these projects, it's a really nice feature that we have, and it's a nice -- and we carry a regular base of -- so what we will be doing as these things materialize is diverting attention to these away from some of the other traditional markets that we have, but we have the ability to ramp up considerably to handle. And we have a proven track record of building these for clients. Just the scale of these and the speed of these is really increasing.

Okay. Is there some sort of fungible capacity to -- I mean, I realize that you were not doing like a ton of resi work, but is there some spare left in that bucket or not -- or you're just sort of talking about overall...

Yes, I'd say that if you start to develop significant backlog in the data center space, you start to steer away from other opportunities that you have in other markets that we service. As you know, we have a very large commercial electrical capability, and we have a very large industrial electrical capability. And both of those have accordion like features. We have bases all over Canada. So we can draw from those bases. And the thing with the data centers is largely about speed. So those types of projects can carry the travel costs and the premiums that are associated with attracting that type of capability.

I was told by one of my close friends in the U.S. that runs a very large construction company that if we had this army of electricians available in the U.S., we would have opportunities that would just be daunting to simply enter into because there's so much demand. So we're dealing with clients that are very aware of the complexity of to deliver these projects with speed. You've got to have the resources. And it's typically the first thing they look at is where is the electrical capacity. And that's how they get evaluated. So it feels like we're -- and we've had a lot of inbound requests from different companies. And it feels like we're heading into a nice phase of strong demand. And we've got a track record of delivering these things end to end. So we'll do the site developments. We'll do electrical, mechanical, do the structures, we'll do underground utilities. We'll do all of that with our own companies, and that's what clients are kind of looking for.

Yes. And so can you remind us in terms of the margin generation there? Is there any differential versus kind of the core construction activities on the electrical side of things?

I think it's the turnkey capabilities, if you look at companies in the U.S. that trade publicly that just do site development, the speed of that site development will give you a higher margin opportunity for companies that are more electrical that trade publicly in the U.S., and you can see the margin profile that they're generating. So it's definitely higher across the space because of the speed and because of the quality and because of the expectations and the confidence level of these clients to get these things done on time.

Okay. That's super helpful. And then you had a slide kind of highlighting some of the digital tools deployment that you're doing across the company. I realize it's probably very early days, but Teri or Wayne, if you want to opine on these developments and how that could be perceived, whether in terms of margin uplift or just critical path staying closer to that? Any comments would be helpful.

Well, it's certainly -- I think, again, sometimes you're lucky with your timing. It's for us to put a new advanced ERP in place that has the latest technology and the latest capabilities, and it can be enhanced and expanded upon in many new areas. Predictive analytics is something that we've been working on now for 18 months, and now we're able to evaluate projects. It's a very powerful tool in the sense that I've been in construction my whole career, and you do develop an eye for productivity or an eye for progress on a project.

But despite all that, despite you've been in the business for a long time and you're a seasoned project superintendent project manager, when you can give those individuals leading indicators of issues that you wouldn't normally be able to detect, and it's not just -- if you're dealing with an individual project manager and you're thinking about his particular career, he will only know what he knows through his particular career if you're dealing with thousands of projects, thousands of leading indicators and you have all that in your database, which we have, we're able to generate predictive flags at a very early level, sometimes 10% or 15%, which you normally would be catching up to until you're sort of midway through a project, maybe 50%. So -- as you know, we work a lot with clients.

So we're able to share that predictive ability with the client to -- if you're working collaboratively with clients and the types of contracts we have today, clients are -- they want to be fully aware of anything that's giving them any concern around schedule and anything they can do to enable whether it's moving utility or the utility relocation gets delayed, what is the impact on the project. So with this kind of power that we have now in our new system, and all our leaders in the field with these tools is very powerful.

And it's -- and then you add to that the digital twin where you've got a model now that's eventually it will be controlling all of the projects in terms of progress and design and constructability and work-based planning and safety and all these aspects, it's really going to make a difference in so many areas that project predictability will be considerably higher. And particularly, I'm excited about what it's going to do for safety because if we can ensure with the monitoring that we'll have capabilities to do that every individual worker is, first and foremost, in a position where they're qualified to be in, but also working efficiently with the right tools and the tools in the right place and that's going to make a huge difference as the company moves forward.

This concludes the question-and-answer session. I will hand the call back over to Mr. McKibbon for closing remarks.

So in closing, our foundation is stronger, visibility is greater and the opportunity is significant and multiyear. We remain focused on safety, our people and disciplined project execution, and we are increasingly confident in the trajectory of the business and energized by what lays ahead. Thank you all for joining us this morning.

This concludes today's conference call and webcast. You may disconnect your lines. Thank you for participating, and have a pleasant day.

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Bird Construction Third Quarter 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. [Operator Instructions] Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. [Operator Instructions] 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 involve 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, the 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. You may begin.

Thank you, operator. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining our third quarter 2025 conference call. With me today is Wayne Gingrich, Bird's Chief Financial Officer. .

Before we begin, I'm proud to note that in the third quarter, Bird was once again recognized by the Toronto Stock Exchange, ranking 17 on the 2025 TSX 30. This follows our seventh place ranking in 2024, and we are among only 10 companies that earn a place on the list year-over-year. Being recognized among the top 30 performing companies on the TSX underscores the success of our strategic focus, strong execution and disciplined balanced approach to capital allocation that positions Bird for continued profitable growth in today's active market. It continues to be an exceptional time for our industry with strong demand across key strategic sectors.

Bird's comprehensive self-performed capabilities, further expanded through the recent FRPD acquisition and strong cross-selling opportunities from prior acquisitions continue to differentiate Bird. Combined with our long track record of delivering complex industrial buildings and infrastructure projects, these strengths have positioned Bird to bid on and secure significant new awards, including the recently announced Peel Memorial Hospital Phase 2 redevelopment. With record securements driving our historic combined backlog, our outlook is further strengthened by the federal government's focus on infrastructure investment and nation building across the country, setting the stage for sustained growth and long-term value creation.

Revenue in the quarter was $951 million, representing a 5.8% increase from 2024 with organic growth representing over 60% of the growth. We saw continued strength in our work programs from our mining clients and the ongoing ramp-up of the East Harbour Transit Hub, driving infrastructure growth along with higher institutional construction activity, supporting buildings growth and a full quarter contribution from Jacob Brothers.

Margins remained strong relative to historic levels through slightly lower year-over-year. Gross profit percentage for the third quarter was 10.7% and the adjusted EBITDA margin was 7%. The margin profile this quarter was influenced by the higher relative proportion of buildings work, which typically has lower self-performed content than industrial and infrastructure work and by project start delays where Bird continue to carry personnel and equipment costs in anticipation of mobilization. Our trailing 12-month adjusted EBITDA margin was 90 basis points higher year-over-year and within 140 basis points of our 2027 strategic plan targets. Bird's record combined backlog of over $10 billion with favorable margins to a year ago, continues to provide solid visibility into 2026 and 2027 revenue and margins and supports our path to achieving the objectives set out in our 2027 strategic plan.

Year-to-date securements exceeded $3.8 billion, surpassing both full year 2024 securements and revenue. Our backlog remains diversified, risk balanced and heavily weighted towards collaborative delivery models, providing a clear path to growth and margin accretion as market conditions stabilize.

Finally, Bird's healthy balance sheet continues to provide flexibility to navigate near-term uncertainty while supporting a disciplined, balanced capital allocation strategy. As we turn to backlog, our record $10 billion combined backlog with stronger embedded margins than a year ago, clearly demonstrates the underlying momentum of the business and why we remain confident of our long-term trajectory despite recent bumps in the road due to market uncertainty.

Our strong line of sight to record levels of future work is supported by contracted backlog, surpassing $5 billion for the first time in the company's history. Additionally, significant collaboration -- collaborative awards grew our pending backlog by over $1.2 billion in the quarter to $5 billion. During the quarter, we added more than $1.3 billion in new securements through our backlog, bringing year-to-date securements to $3.8 billion. This figure already surpasses both total securements and revenue achieved in the full year of 2024.

Combined backlog continues to reflect a high proportion of collaborative contract types and favorable embedded margins compared to a year ago. Combined backlog growth reflects the active bidding environment and continued strong demand across Bird's core markets. We see meaningful new opportunities emerging for our MRO team, supported by cross-selling, geographic expansion and continued strength across our nuclear, defense, power generation, large capital investment projects, transportation and institutional buildings markets.

Bird is exceptionally well positioned to capitalize on the growing wave of nation-building initiatives across Canada and the significant infrastructure investments outlined in the budget 2025. Looking ahead, the opportunity set for our business in the next strategic plan period is even stronger than we had anticipated. The work is there, and it's a matter of disciplined execution and patience to fully capture it. While quarterly margins were down year-over-year, reflecting the higher relative proportion of buildings work and the carrying costs associated with personnel and equipment in anticipation of project mobilization, we remain in a very solid position and confident in our continued margin progression through 2027.

Our trailing 12-month adjusted EBITDA margin of 6.6% continues to demonstrate the progress we've made, supported by disciplined project execution, strong self-perform capabilities and highly collaborative lower-risk delivery models. Margin accretion like revenue in our industry is rarely linear and recent client decisions to delay certain projects along with a slower to develop industrial maintenance program may moderate the pace of improvement in the fourth quarter. As with revenue impacts, we expect margins to build momentum during the second half of 2026 as the company's record backlog with higher embedded margins converts to revenue.

Large capital investment projects or LCIPs, continue to be a key pillar of Bird's strategy, offering long-term visibility and scalable growth. These complex multiphase initiatives often begin with targeted scopes, allowing to demonstrate the value early and expand our role over time. While timelines for some projects have shifted, their strategic importance remains unchanged. We continue to win work, and they represent meaningful opportunities for margin accretion and business growth.

In Industrial, we're seeing continued strength in large capital investment programs across nuclear, LNG, petrochemicals and potash, demonstrating resilient demand despite near-term project delays. Our industrial maintenance portfolio provides a strong recurring revenue base and meaningful upside supported by cross-selling and geographic expansion. The nuclear sector remains particularly active, both in Canada and globally, currently representing roughly 10% of revenue.

We remain focused on growth, and we've recently achieved new credentials enabling broader participation across the sector. In buildings, our backlog remains robust across health care, defense, education and long-term care. We recently reached the development phase agreement for the Peel Memorial Hospital Phase 2 redevelopment, a significant achievement for the team and continue to expand our defense backlog, which is at historic levels.

Our experience is strongly aligned with a $19 billion defense and security infrastructure program and ongoing commitments to health care, education and community facilities outlined in the federal budget. In infrastructure, the acquisition of FRPD has expanded for its self-perform capabilities in marine construction, dredging and land foundation, creating new cross-selling opportunities with Jacob Brothers and across our business. Secular tailwinds are powerful with nation-building and federal infrastructure focused set to drive sustained demand for transportation, trade infrastructure and critical minerals development.

Across all sectors, the combination of current demand, strong federal and nation building investments and Bird's proven execution capabilities position the company for sustained long-term growth and value creation.

Turning to the broader macro environment, the federal government's 2025 budget provides a powerful backdrop for long-term growth across our core markets as well as encouragement for the overall economy. The level of commitment to infrastructure in the nation-building program is significant, reinforcing longer-term visibility across Bird's key strategic sectors. Investments outlined span critical areas in transportation, defense, mining, power generation and institutional buildings, all strongly aligned with our capabilities and growth strategy.

The programs designed to streamline regulatory process and accelerate project delivery are positive for Bird, as those have strengthened Canada's supply chain resilience and attracts business investment. When combined with a record backlog, strong client relationships, meaningful indigenous partnerships and balanced exposure across sectors, Bird is exceptionally well positioned to capture this next wave of opportunity and continued driving disciplined profitable growth through 2027 and beyond.

Bird's acquisition of FRPD closed in the third quarter, representing a highly strategic addition to our operations and capabilities, headquartered in BC, FRPD is Canada's largest privately owned marine construction plant foundation and dredging contractor with a strong safety culture and a team of over 300 experienced employees. The company's first fleet, technical expertise and long-standing indigenous partnerships have earned a leading position in complex marine and infrastructure projects. Notably, FRPD has maintained an exclusive multiyear contract for dredging the Fraser River for over 35 years and recently renewed for an additional 12 years with an option for 8 more, providing a stable recurring work program aligned with Bird's disciplined low-risk approach.

This highly strategic and complementary acquisition advances Bird's long-term strategic plan and aligns directly with our disciplined M&A criteria. The acquisition expands Bird's natural infrastructure presence adding marine construction, dredging and land foundation capabilities to our full-service civil platform. It also creates meaningful cross-selling opportunities across our businesses, including with Jacob Brothers and our Industrial and Building divisions, positioning Bird to pursue new scopes of work across the country and broaden our self-perform strength in high-demand markets. Bird supports margin expansion through improved infrastructure mix with a focus of complex, specialized self-perform work while introducing new recurring work programs through FRPD's dredging contract.

The acquisition maintains for a strong balance sheet and financial flexibility, allowing us to continue to invest in both organic and inorganic growth initiatives.

I'll now turn the call over to Wayne to cover our third quarter financial performance in more detail.

Thank you, Teri. Construction revenue for the third quarter of $951.4 million represented a 5.8% increase compared to the same period in 2024. Over 60% of the growth was organic, with continued strength in work programs for mining clients in the East Harbour Transit Hub driving infrastructure growth and higher institutional construction in Eastern Canada driving buildings growth.

Jacob Brothers also contributed to the overall revenue growth with a full quarter of revenue included in 2025 compared to 2 months post-acquisition in 2024. Industrial revenue was lower in the third quarter compared to the prior year. Revenue in all the company's businesses was impacted by delays in the start of certain contracted projects resulting from ongoing economic uncertainty. Gross profit of $101.9 million for the third quarter of 2025, representing a gross profit percentage of 10.7% was $0.4 million lower than the $102.3 million gross profit and 11.4% gross profit percentage recorded in 2024.

The reduction in margin was partially driven by higher relative proportions of buildings work in the current quarter which typically has lower proportions of self-performed work relative to industrial and infrastructure work programs as well as ongoing delays in certain projects starts due to economic uncertainty where the company incurs certain personnel and equipment costs in anticipation of the commencement of the project.

Bird remained disciplined in project selection and cost control and continues to leverage cross-selling opportunities across the company to increase the proportion of self-performed work, thereby retaining more margin within the company. Adjusted EBITDA in the third quarter was $66.9 million compared to $70.1 million in 2024. The adjusted EBITDA margin for the quarter was 7%. This is consistent with the lower gross profit.

Net income and earnings per share was $31.7 million and $0.57 per share compared to $36.2 million and $0.66 in 2024. This decline includes the impact of additional noncash amortization of acquired intangible assets and other expenses related to Jacob Brothers, which was only included for 2 months of Q3 in 2024. Adjusted earnings and adjusted earnings per share were $35.4 million and $0.64 compared to $39.3 million and $0.72 in 2024. In addition to changes in net income and adjusted earnings, the weighted average shares outstanding for the third quarter of 2025 were higher by approximately 502,000 shares related to the Jacob Brothers acquisition in August 2024.

On a year-to-date basis, revenue increased 2.4% to $2.52 billion. Gross profit grew 11.7% to $259.5 million representing 10.3% of revenue, while adjusted EBITDA rose 10.7% to $155.9 million or 6.2% of revenue, reflecting continued margin strength. Net income was $61.4 million, down year-over-year, while adjusted earnings was $40.5 million, were up slightly. Overall, the third quarter reflects resilient performance despite ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty supported by a record backlog with higher embedded margins and strong underlying business fundamentals that continue to provide stability and visibility. While we continue to see sustained strength across the business, we do note in our financial statements and MD&A that subsequent to quarter end, the company became aware of circumstances that arose after the end of the quarter that led us to be concerned about the creditworthiness of one of our customers.

Bird has substantially completed its sole project with this customer and no further project costs are expected to be incurred. Based on amounts outstanding at the end of the third quarter, we expect the maximum exposure to be approximately $62 million. The company is in active discussions with the client to determine to what extent, if any, an impairment of these events may be required in the fourth quarter of 2025. We believe this is a unique and isolated situation and that the creditworthiness of the rest of our clients remain strong.

Turning to cash flow. On a trailing 12-month basis, operating cash flow was $61 million and free cash flow was $25.7 million, reflecting continued solid performance. Seasonal investments in noncash working capital driven by the ramp-up of the company's work programs and increasing self-performed work are expected to unwind over the fourth quarter 2025 as experienced in prior years. Our free cash flow conversion of net income was 27.4% and free cash flow per share was $0.46 for the period.

At quarter end, Bird's current ratio was 1.28x. Adjusted net debt to trailing 12-month adjusted EBITDA was 1.05x and long-term debt to equity stood at 28%. Liquidity and balance sheet strength remain key differentiators with $113.9 million of cash and cash equivalents and an additional $281.7 million available under the company's syndicated credit facility. Bird has flexibility to support ongoing investments in growth-related working capital, project-driven capital expenditures and accretive acquisitions to further diversify service offerings and self-perform capabilities.

Together, these results highlight Bird's solid financial foundation and flexibility to continue investing in organic growth, accretive M&A and shareholder returns while maintaining a conservative balance sheet profile. Bird continues to apply a disciplined and balanced approach to capital allocation, supporting both growth and shareholder returns.

Our priorities remain consistent: investing in our business through targeted capital expenditures and equipment and technology, returning capital to shareholders through a monthly dividend and pursuing strategic acquisitions that enhance our capabilities and expand our presence in key markets. We maintain a low capital intensity, and we continue to target a long-term dividend payout ratio of GAAP net income of 33%, recognizing that the ratio may fluctuate from year to year. Overall, our disciplined approach continues to drive long-term value creation through clear priorities and prudent deployment of capital.

With that, I will turn the call back to Teri.

Thanks, Wayne. Our combined backlog now exceeds $10 billion, a historic level for the company, providing strong visibility to our future work program. The high proportion of collaborative contracting and the higher average embedded margins within this backlog further reinforces confidence in our long-term growth and margin expansion outlook.

We are encouraged by the 2025 federal budget, which supports significant opportunities for 2027 and beyond. With the addition of FRPD, Bird is even better positioned to capitalize on trade, port infrastructure, marine and land foundation opportunities, expanding our self-perform capabilities, introducing cross-selling opportunities and supporting long-term growth. As we look forward to the close of the year and head into 2026, we continue to work closely with clients as they navigate near-term macroeconomic uncertainty.

As noted, 2025 and early 2026 will be impacted by certain industrial projects shifting into 2026, resulting in lower fourth quarter revenue compared to last year. We expect this to be temporary with momentum building through the back half of 2026 as our record backlog converts to revenue. Near-term margins are expected to be more measured, reflecting project timing and mix as our industrial business was fully utilized last year at this time. That said, the underlying margin profile of our backlog remains strong and continues to support our 2027 targets.

Our healthy balance sheet and consistent cash generation remains key strengths, providing flexibility to manage near-term uncertainty while continuing to invest in future growth. We remain confident in the trajectory towards our 2027 strategic plan targets, reinforcing Bird's position as a trusted partner in delivering Canada's critical infrastructure.

With that, I'll turn the call over to the operator.

[Operator Instructions] Our first question will be coming from Krista Friesen of CIBC.

Just thinking about the 2027 guidance and the margin there, how much of that margin improvement is within your control or internal levers you can pull versus maybe relying on the margin that's in the backlog and increasing your exposure to end markets with higher margins?

I can take that one. I think, Krista, it's a couple of things that close that gap, right? And if you think about it, if we got 140 basis points to close between now and in the end of '27 when we think we're going to get to 8% EBITDA. Part of it is volumes are obviously down this year. So we are going to get leverage on our cost structure going forward. So certainly, that's going to help. But we do have to put work in place to get the leverage on that. But then you look at our combined backlog, both $5 billion in booked and $5 billion in pending which we'll convert to backlog. That gives us good visibility on where that work program is going to come from.

If you look at the margins year-to-date today, our industrial work program is a little bit lighter because we've seen some of the MRO work shift to the right into next year, and that will come back. We've seen some of the work at some of the other industrial programs like Dow, for example, pushed to the right, but that is going to come back. We're confident certainly in that. So in the mix of our industrial business increases, we're also going to see a proportionate increase there. And then the other thing, especially with an example of Jacob Brothers or FRPD, we are going to get growth in our infrastructure side as well, and that's a very high-margin business for us.

So that becomes a larger proportion of the total we're also going to see an upward lift there. And I also want to say our buildings business has done a nice job of improving their margin profile. There's less self-performed work certainly in buildings than you have in the other 2 businesses. We've done a really nice job improving the margins and being disciplined in project selection. So with all 3 businesses improving, higher embedded margin in our backlog a pretty good backdrop especially with the federal budget announced and just the opportunities and the sectors we're pursuing. Leverage on the cost structure. Yes. We feel pretty confident in getting to 8%.

Okay. Great. And just one more on the comments about a few of the a few projects slipping into 2026. Can you share a little bit more color just on what sort of projects these are or where they're located?

I think it's a mix, Krista, and certainly in some different sectors. I'd say majority would be in the industrial side with a few that are in our building business as well that are just getting delayed and going through various stages of approvals and whatnot. But it's a mix, I'd say that the -- but we're highly confident now that they'll be getting underway in first quarter and ramping up in second quarter.

And our next question will be coming from the line of Chris Murray of ATB Capital Markets.

So just maybe continuing on the -- trying to understand the guidance update. I guess a couple of pieces of this. So basically, I think you said to us Q4 should be lower than Q4 last year. But I'm assuming that's inclusive of Fraser River. So I just want to clarify that. So it's just not on an organic basis, it's on an absolute basis.

And then the second part of this question, I guess you've been struggling for the last couple of quarters just with the -- just the shift to the right on some of these projects and the delays. What gives you confidence that it's Q2 next year and not like moving everything into '27. So any thoughts around kind of the confidence level that you have on the guidance that's out there today would be helpful.

Well, I'll give you an example, like we had a big shift in our maintenance business. And those plants, nobody's shut down one of those plants since they first got underway in the '70s. So you have to maintain them. So there's an example of one where we would have a high degree of confidence that maintenance will be a very robust area for us in 2026. That's an example. I think we're same signs in some of our industrial program of projects that have had delays that they're getting underway in 2026 with levels of activities and the work that's underway gives us certain confidence that those are going to get underway.

And as I mentioned earlier, some of our other sectors that we're in, have had delays in getting underway. I think the other thing that's is affecting us to a certain extent as we've got a number of large project programs that we've contracted over the last few years and they are quite a bit larger than our historic size and the ramp-up is taking longer because of that and it sometimes can be difficult to predict as you're going through and a lot of that is on the government side. So you're going through different levels of government and reaching FID and moving forward.

So I think there's a few variables, but there certainly is the real, so we can see the light at the end of the tunnel and getting them underway because we're getting to FID on these things. So -- but -- and I think the other higher level of confidence is just the scale of this backlog and the activity that's -- that we're involved in is daunting actually. So it's -- there's going to be an inflection point at some point where this really starts to accelerate next year.

And Chris, just back to the first part of your question. I'm confirming, yes, that's inclusive of FRPD.

Okay. That's helpful. The other item was in your outlook was about the creditworthiness of a customer. I appreciate lots of sensitivities around this. But I was wondering if you could give us some more color about what particularly may have triggered this? And it's probably, call it, $60 million of receivables and contract assets. How should we be thinking about the process and how this may unfold in terms of what this could mean kind of going into the end of the year?

Yes. So a couple of things. This is an event that came up subsequent to quarter end. It's difficult for us to provide specifics about what led to this and those types of things at this point. We do have concerns about this particular client's creditworthiness.

We disclosed the full potential risk, that's out there. That's a $62 million combined in contract assets and accounts receivable. I think process going forward, we're going to go through fourth quarter. We're in discussions with the clients. We're going to make an assessment as to what's recoverable and we are going to take a provision in fourth quarter on this based on what we think we can recover. We're going to pursue all channels going forward to maximize our recovery. But depending on what form or what route that takes, that could take 4 or 5 years. So we're going to make our assessment in Q4, and we're going to pursue recovery but it could take a while before that plays out.

Going into 2026, if we put this slide in Q4 that we've got a clean year going ahead. From a data comparison standpoint, we will adjust this out of adjusted EBITDA and adjusted earnings so that the kind of clean comparison. This is a unique and isolated situation. We feel confident this is not a widespread issue in our portfolio of clients. Our clients have very strong creditworthiness. This is just very unique. So sorry, go ahead, Chris.

Yes. No, I was just going to ask like I'm just assuming like some of the new lienholder protection rules help you in this? And I guess the other question I had is like, is there actually an identifiable asset that this is tied to? Or is this something kind of a broader work program that is more maybe maintenance related or something like that?

Yes. At this time, Chris, we're not going to get into those level of detail, if that's okay.

[Operator Instructions] Our next question will be coming from Maxim Sytchev of NBC.

Maybe the first question for you, if I may. In terms of some of the MRO slippage, is it the function of the commodity environment, which I guess would be surprising as it's in a pretty decent space right now? Or is it more sort of sequencing of projects and how the mine plans are working and how that all kind of goes to kind of downgrades, et cetera? Do you mind just providing a bit more color just to have more comfort around the resumption of that work.

On the maintenance side, certainly, the bulk of the pressure on our maintenance business was centered in oil and gas. And I think those clients just decided to delay their large maintenance turnaround, which is a big chunk of our business for 1 year. And just it's rare that you see them line up the way they did, but they lined up in unison and the larger clients that we have and push those out a year. So -- but obviously, they're not able to do that very often and they made that decision, and we expect that, that scope will come back in '26 and then some. And we've also opened up new fronts with new clients, and we're expecting some exciting opportunities to evolve with companies like [ Irving Oil ], things like that. So I think our maintenance business will be in a really good place in '26.

Okay. And so just to reiterate, I guess you see or you have full confidence that it's hard likely that these types of activities will be pushed by 2 years, right?

No, I don't think anyone would -- yes, I really -- I'm highly confident that won't happen.

Okay. No, no just double checking.

Yes, that's not we were having before. So I just -- I can't imagine that could happen even this 1-year delay is unique, 2 years would be unheard of.

Okay. Okay. No, that's good color. And then in terms of the -- obviously, you've been quite successful in replenishing the health care-related work. And it's all on negotiated sort of new structure with the clients. But do you mind maybe talking a little bit about sort of control processes there, just to make sure that we don't see any repeat of previous issues that we've seen in buildings. I mean that goes back a number of years ago, but maybe any color and context there that would be helpful.

So I think the big difference, we wouldn't be in these contracts if they weren't like highly collaborative. And any of the health care that we've got, we essentially have our cost guarantee.

So whereas if you go back into the '16 to '18, '19 Europe, those were full risk transfer in whether they were P3s or design builds. The risk transfer was very high at that time, and obviously, that put a lot of pressure in that sector. And I think the other difference today that we -- in that time frame, we purely relied upon our subcontractors. And today, we have our own electrical mechanical contracting business. We have our own site development capability to develop these projects these sites. We have our own communication services for underground communication and in-building communications as well, which is a big part of the hospital.

So we have a lot of the pieces that we'll get, obviously, accretive margins out of these projects. So we're really excited about this. I think it's taken time for the clients to realize this is a much better model, but the big areas where most of this activity is today in Canada is Ontario and BC, and they're both feed into collaborative models, and you're seeing that to be a tremendous value and they're now becoming champions of those models and whatnot. And we've been at this a while now.

So we have a deep resume to be able to deliver this kind of thing. And we're also seeing this kind of model being used extensively with the federal government of Defense. So the same kind of model is being used in the defense space as well. So it's -- yes, it's a different world today than the full risk transfer that we had back in the previous year.

Okay. That's helpful. And then just 1 last question. I was wondering if you had some initial reactions to the federal budget. How are you thinking about your potential addressable opportunities there. I mean, certainly, it feels like more capital is coming, but wondering if you can maybe quantifying the timing, et cetera, of anything that could be coming your way.

Yes, we're really excited about the budget. I think the scale, for example, in defense, $19 billion, like that -- that group is moving very, very aggressively forward with a very large program, and you see it coming out in the federal budget, you can see that there's a full support behind it.

So we're -- that's just one example. But if you go across the -- some of the nation building projects that the federal government are engaging in to try to enable to accelerate. We haven't seen the full list yet, but some of the new ones that you see coming through in mining and LNG and obviously, nuclear, all the areas that we have a large presence. I don't think you could wish for a stronger budget and create 1 if you tried, like this was seeing this budget was really, really encouraging. And just we're going to have a nice run as long as we can see out on the horizon with the scale of what's coming through. And it's -- yes, it's a very exciting time to be in our industry, and we're excited about the next couple of years and highly confident that we're going to meet our strategic plan targets.

Our next question will be coming from Michael Tupholme of TD Cowen.

Teri, earlier in the call, you talked about -- you pointed to the backlog and the significant size of the backlog as part of the reason for your confidence in a resumption of activity going forward. I think you described it as daunting just the size of the current opportunity set here.

I guess my question is, can you talk a little bit about your capacity to tackle all of this work as well as the industry's capacity more broadly and what steps you're having to take to ensure you've got the right talent to meet all of this opportunity that's in front of you, both with what you've already secured, but also all these opportunities that are getting talked about in terms of future opportunities, nation-building projects, et cetera.

Thanks, Mike. So I think, first and foremost, we're extremely careful when we're pursuing something that we've got a team assembled for. And that's putting pressure on our earnings in 2025 because we've got these teams assembled ready to go and some of these really large initiatives that we're involved in, we could be working for 18 months with a team of 30 people and before you can even get to break ground kind of thing.

So that is part of the -- I would say that some of the pressure that we're seeing in 2025 with our overall organization. But yes, we're -- we have a very, very mature team that's highly talented. When we don't have the capacity, we'll partner with other companies.

Obviously, our acquisitions are adding tremendous strength to give us that self-perform capability and I just think overall, if you think about the type of company we've built with the high engagement and the fact Republic, we're able to talk about things like TSX 30 and I think we've become a company that individuals in our industry want to work for.

So it's we've got our business in a good spot. And I think we're also very attractive from outside companies to partner with. So that's kind of how we're balancing it. But I'd say that we don't get engaged in something unless we have a solution and for a Tier 1 team.

No, that makes sense. And just with respect to the sort of the broader industry, like I mean, our -- are there challenges within the broader industry just sort of to meet all this demand? I mean clearly, you're being mindful of the talent you need and selective and what you pursue. But just generally speaking, given all of the opportunity like how do you see the industry being able to manage this and cope with it?

So I think if you were to roll the clock back a couple of years when there was such a high demand in housing and condos and that type retail to a certain extent. But if you go back, when you saw that type of demand, that's gone now.

So there's a lot of really talented construction workers that transition from building a condo or an apartment building. It's a pretty easy transition to come and work for us to build the kinds of things we built. So we're seeing a lot of movement, horizontal movement of the trades. And I think we don't seem to feel the pressure on it like we would have a couple of years ago.

That's just where we're at with Bird. It doesn't mean that everyone is like that. I think there's a lot of softness in the smaller companies and the demand for the smaller companies, smaller the former guys, guys that work in horizontal housing, vertical housing and apartment billings and condos, things like that, I think that's a pretty tough sector retail. Those are tough.

So this is a pretty big army of talent that would typically go to work every day in that sector. And we're obviously -- they're able to just transition into what we're doing, and it's pretty similar.

Thats helpful. I don't think it's come up much on this call today, but wondering if you can spend a minute talking about opportunities for yourselves in the nuclear sector and how you're positioned and what your capabilities look like there?

So we've had a heavy focus on remediation on the nuclear side, and that seems to be continuing to accelerate. So that's exciting. So we'll go in and do nuclear remediation on various sites, and that's on a national scale now with different areas that the federal government is looking at.

Obviously, we're very involved building a new campus up at Chalk River for -- indirectly for atomic energy, but through CNL. And then on the new build side, obviously, we're supporting the existing facilities with their infrastructure that they need. As you know, we're not in the refurbishment side of the reactors that we weren't in the nuclear business when that was procured. So -- but we also have been developing our licensing and our accreditations and capabilities and facility certifications, and we've got that in hand now.

So we're in a good spot in terms of the opportunities that evolve. We're excited about the new builds on the sort of some of the full-scale opportunities that are evolving in the planning stages. And I think contractors like us will be in high demand for those projects as they evolve because of their scale. And I think those have a high likelihood of moving forward over the next 2 years for both OPG and Bruce. And that's kind of the highlights. I think it's an exciting business for us. There's always a lot of activity. There's always a lot of maintenance that goes on. We now have those types of agreements and interfaces where we were able to do that. So...

That's great Teri. Just one more quick one here, if possible, on the data center opportunity, can you speak a little bit about what you're seeing right now? It seems to me that maybe notwithstanding all of the headlines about all the activity, like in your own case, it seems like there's been sort of some ebbing and flowing just based on project activity and how it's kind of come along. But anyway, if you can just maybe provide an update on what you're seeing right now and what the opportunity set there looks like?

Yes. We seem to be consistently involved in data centers that are smaller in scale that are, I'd say, below 100-megawatt kind of thing. I'd say the larger ones right now really are -- we've spent a lot of time planning, modeling and working with some of our partners on these. But I'd say there's still clarity that's needed on power sources, power allocation especially in Ontario. In Alberta, there's sort of a philosophy that Alberta is open for business, but bring your own power. That seems to be a bit of a headline. And I think there's some opportunities that are getting underway there. But to bring your own power is probably highly centered around gas-fired cogens and you have to be at the front of the line in terms of those turbines to generate that power or to be able to procure those turbines.

So you have to be in a scenario where you had long lead times and you're out front of that. So there's some uncertainty there. And I think that's how we're approaching it, and we'll see. It's -- there's some variables, but I'd say most of the variables lead to power. And yes, we'll see. So it's -- again, the smaller ones seem to be active, and we're busy with those. The bigger ones, I think, feels like it's taking a little longer unless you've got the power source that's been solidified.

Thank you. And this concludes our question-and-answer session. I would now like to hand the call back to Mr. McKibbon for closing remarks.

So I just wanted to thank everyone for joining today's call. Bird delivered solid performance in the third quarter, supported by a record backlog and continued strength across our key sectors. Importantly, we remain focused on long-term value creation, while revenue growth and margin progression can fluctuate from quarter-to-quarter, our trajectory remains clear, and we are firmly on track to achieve our 8% adjusted EBITDA target by 2027.

Thank you all for joining us this morning on our earnings call.

And this concludes today's conference call and webcast. You may disconnect your lines. Thank you for participating, and have a pleasant day.

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Bird Construction 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. [Operator Instructions] Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. [Operator Instructions]

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 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, the presentation today includes references to a number of financial measures, which do not have a standardized meaning under IFRS and may not be comparable with similar measures presented by other companies and are therefore considered non-GAAP measures.

I would now like to turn the call over to Teri McKibbon, President and CEO of Bird Construction.

Thank you, operator. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. With me today is Wayne Gingrich, Bird's Chief Financial Officer.

Yesterday afternoon, we entered into a definitive share purchase agreement under which Bird will acquire Fraser River Pile & Dredge for an estimated aggregate consideration of $82.3 million. This acquisition builds on Bird's strong infrastructure presence across Canada and continues to expand our self-perform capabilities, adding marine construction, land foundation and dredging expertise that strengthen our cross-selling opportunities across our businesses. The news release and presentation slides are available on our website for reference.

Over the next few slides, I will walk you through the profile of the acquired business, our strategic rationale, the benefits and structure of the transaction, the expected financial impact and how this transaction supports sustainable growth and delivers long-term shareholder value.

Headquartered in New Westminster, BC, FRPD is Canada's oldest and largest privately owned marine construction, land foundation, and dredging company with substantial self-perform capability. Founded in 1911, FRPD's experienced workforce of over 300 salaried, hourly and craft personnel have earned a reputation for safety and high-quality work while delivering some of the largest construction projects in Canada.

Another key strength of FRPD lies in its commitment to community and collaboration, including through its strong indigenous partnerships. Their approach reflects a culture of respect, sustainability and shared success, making FRPD not only a contractor of choice but a valued partner in the regions where they operate.

FRPD maintains a versatile marine and land construction equipment fleet and has a specialized construction skill set that's well suited to Canada's growing demand for infrastructure, including nation-building projects that support port expansion, transportation, trade, defense and energy requirements.

FRPD's projects experience spans multiple key sectors, including bridges, ferry terminals, docks, wharf, land foundations and dredging. Their client base is broad, and they are known for cultivating strong long-term relationships built on trust and performance.

For Bird, the acquisition of FRPD represents another catalyst for future growth, strengthening Bird's national infrastructure vertical and adding new unique self-perform capabilities in the form of marine construction, land foundation and dredging to our already extensive portfolio of capabilities and operating locations.

As with all Bird's recent acquisitions, there is a strong cultural alignment between FRPD and Bird. The incoming team brings deep bench strength, technical expertise and collaborative mindset that mirrors Bird's values. Their commitment to safety, quality and the innovation complements our own, and we are confident this will support a seamless integration.

FRPD has a strong market reputation and proven ability to deliver critical infrastructure for long-term public and private clients such as the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority, BC Hydro, CN Rail and Infrastructure BC.

With the acquisition, these clients now have access to Bird's comprehensive scope of services in BC and Ashland, and Bird's trusted clients have access to new marine construction, land foundation, and dredging capabilities across Canada.

Financially, the acquisition is expected to be accretive to Bird's EBITDA margin, moving us closer to our 2027 strategic EBITDA margin target of 8% and is accretive to Bird's adjusted earnings per share on a full year basis, creating value for our shareholders.

FRPD has a healthy backlog and pipeline of projects and adds an additional multiyear recurring work program to Bird's portfolio with its dredging contract on the Fraser River.

Cross-selling and partnership opportunities with Jacob Bros and across the entire Bird organization are robust, including land foundations for infrastructure, buildings and industrial projects across Canada. These capabilities are highly complementary to our existing service offerings and will allow us to pursue larger, more sophisticated projects as a combined company.

Finally, the acquisition of FRPD positions us to meet market demand for marine construction and other infrastructure services. We see strong investment in both public and private infrastructure and growing demand for specialized services like marine construction that is expected to outpace industry capacity.

The FRPD acquisition positions Bird to capitalize on these high-demand sectors and deliver increased long-term value to our shareholders.

With a deep history centered in BC and along the West Coast, FRPD has expanded its services across Canada and has included contributions to notable projects, including the Centerm Expansion in Vancouver, BC, executed in a JV with Jacob Bros; Diavik Mine in Northwest territories, support Churchill expansion in Manitoba; the Randle Reef Reclamation project in Hamilton; and dredging in the St. Lawrence in the Port of Montreal, just to name a few.

Taking a look at FRPD's project track record, there's a strong cultural alignment with current provincial and federal infrastructure initiatives, investment initiatives. As we mentioned during our second quarter conference call, Canada is entering a period of strategic investment under Bill C-5, the Federal Government's August 26 announcement regarding significant new investments in port infrastructure, including commitments for expanded port facilities in Montreal and Churchill, Manitoba, an initiative tied directly to Canada's critical mineral strategy and Arctic gateway ambitions.

FRPD's past experience operating in Churchill and in the Port of Montreal, along with their key role in major port infrastructure initiatives, such as the 4-year Centerm Expansion Project in Vancouver position them to participate in these upcoming major investments.

The Centerm project delivered in a partnership with Jacob Bros showcase FRPD's marine construction expertise and ability to execute our scale, high impact work in complex coastal environments.

FRPD also has a long-standing client relationship with BC Ferries, having been awarded and executed steady stream of projects over the past 20 years and supporting new organization's current commitment to spend $1.1 billion upgrading and expanding its terminals over the coming years.

Another part of FRPD's business strategy where FRPD has the exclusive contract to dredge the Fraser has had the exclusive contract to dredge the Fraser River for over 35 years and expects to continue to work in future years. FRPD has also done dredging work across the country to support infrastructure and port expansions.

FRPD's land foundations work, while not the largest component of the work print, sees them first on site for new construction, creating new one Bird opportunities for expanded scope with access to Bird's comprehensive self-perform capabilities.

The transaction was an aggregate consideration of $82.3 million will be funded through a new term debt facility negotiated in connection with the acquisition. After the close of the transaction, Bird expects its debt ratios to remain consistent with the company's long-standing practice of maintaining low leverage. FRPD will be acquired in the cash-free, debt-free basis.

Following close, the transaction is expected to be accretive to Bird's adjusted earnings per share by approximately 7% on a full year basis. Accretion has the potential to be further enhanced through future synergies, including cross-selling opportunities.

On a pro forma basis, FRPD is expected to generate approximately $160 million of revenue and $20 million of adjusted EBITDA on an annual basis, a strong backlog and pipeline of construction projects combined with a long-term dredging contract and cross-selling opportunities with Bird's current operations will support further growth in revenue and adjusted EBITDA beyond the current year. We expect the transaction to close in the early -- early in the fourth quarter of 2025, subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions, including approval under the Competition Act.

The acquisition of FRPD is a strong strategic fit with Bird's M&A strategy, which focuses on sectors with specialized capabilities, margin enhancement -- margin enhancement potential and strong cultural alignment.

In addition to strengthening our existing national infrastructure presence, the company unlocks new cross-selling opportunities across Canada, particularly in marine construction, land-based foundation work and dredging with Jacob Bros and other divisions across Bird. These capabilities, supported by a highly experienced workforce and leadership team, are a strong complement to Bird's existing infrastructure in industrial operations and align well with the depth and strength of our team.

The company is focused on specialized projects and unique self-perform services is expected to enhance Bird's adjusted EBITDA margin and support further value creation through adjusted EPS accretion. Exclusive of future synergies, the transaction reflects an implied purchase multiple of 4.1x FRPD's projected full year '25 adjusted EBITDA based on the estimated price of $82.3 million.

I'll now hand the call over to Wayne to discuss our combined operations.

Thank you, Teri. As part of our 2027 strategic plan, we outlined Bird's goal to continue to grow our infrastructure business in relation to other businesses with a long-term goal of achieving an evenly balanced revenue mix between all of the businesses.

Our 2027 expectations that we outlined at our Investor Day in October 2024 were that infrastructure would make up 26% of our total revenue based on organic growth with industrial and buildings at 37% each. With the acquisition of FRPD and assuming growth patterns similar to the rest of the Bird businesses through '26 and '27, we expect to be much closer to our evenly balanced revenue goal by the end of 2027 with infrastructure comprising 30% of total revenue.

Future growth expectations of FRPD will be driven by cross-selling opportunities similar to Bird's approach and success with past acquisitions. FRPD is also expected to act as a catalyst for growth in Bird's other businesses, leveraging our combined suite of capabilities and services, allowing both companies to access new clients and provide new services to existing clients at a greater scale.

Historically, Bird's and FRPD's pursuits have not overlapped. However, we've worked together in the path to deliver an expanded offering to our clients. By leveraging the knowledge, insight and experience from our successful past acquisitions, we are confident in similar success with FRPD.

This is a highly complementary business combination. FRPD is expected to contribute to Bird's top and bottom line with pro forma annual revenue of approximately $160 million and adjusted EBITDA of $20 million.

On this slide, we've laid out pro forma revenue and EBITDA for 2025 based on analyst consensus as of August 18, 2025. Pro forma revenue for full year 2025 would be 4.6% higher than the current consensus estimates, while pro forma adjusted EBITDA would be 8.6% higher. FRPD's strong margins complement Bird's strategic focus on margin accretion with the acquisition expected to add 30 basis points to the adjusted EBITDA margin on an annualized basis if it were owned for the full year 2025.

As we've discussed throughout the presentation, the FRPD acquisition aligns with Bird's M&A criteria, which we've articulated on Slide 11. The acquisition supports our strategy of targeting high-performing culturally aligned and complementary businesses that have strong cross-selling opportunities with our existing businesses.

The acquisition further expands Bird's national infrastructure presence and adds unique and complementary self-perform capabilities. The transaction creates a more comprehensive and compelling platform for the combined company to pursue key infrastructure work across Canada, including nation building projects that support port expansion, transportation, trade, defense and energy requirements.

We anticipate further upside post acquisition driven by cross-selling opportunities, strong market demand for marine construction capabilities and the combined company's ability to pursue projects of varying size and scale, some of which wouldn't have been accessible to either company separately. The acquisition also meets Bird's financial criteria.

FRPD is accretive to EBITDA margins and adjusted EPS and provides a booster revenue. In line with prior acquisitions, Bird also assessed this accretion based on a target capital structure with the FRPD acquisition meeting that threshold as well.

FRPD has a strong backlog and pipeline of new work, including its multiyear dredging work program, which provides additional visibility into future revenue and margins.

The strength of Bird's balance sheet provided the flexibility for Bird to execute the transaction on an all-cash basis using new term debt. Post acquisition, we expect our debt ratios to remain consistent with our long-standing practice of maintaining low leverage with future optionality to pursue both organic and inorganic growth.

Our capital allocation remains balanced, reflecting a combination of M&A, capital investments to support work programs and productivity enhancement and returning capital to shareholders through a monthly dividend. The company continues to target a dividend payout ratio of 33% of GAAP net income over its 2025 to 2027 strategic plan period, and M&A will remain an area of focus for Bird, targeting opportunities that fit our M&A criteria.

With that, I'll hand it back to Teri.

In summary, the acquisition of FRPD is highly complementary to our existing business and support Bird's long-term growth and profitability strategy. The acquisition expands our national infrastructure presence and adds new unique self-perform capabilities in the form of marine construction, land foundations and dredging.

FRPD's highly experienced and skilled team will be a welcome addition to Bird and will make the combined company even stronger. The acquisition of FRPD increases Bird's exposure to key secular tailwinds, expanding the company's capabilities to pursue high demand infrastructure work and training opportunities for larger and different scopes on nation-building projects. The acquisition creates an anticipated 7% adjusted EPS accretion and the potential to realize further upside through cross-selling opportunities and other synergies.

Finally, while contributing to Bird's strategic growth journey, Bird continues to be disciplined in our approach to M&A, ensuring the transaction structurally preserve Bird's strong balance sheet and flexibility to support our balanced capital allocation approach and continued growth into the future.

With that, we'll hand the call back to the operator to take your questions.

[Operator Instructions] Our first question is from Yuri Lynk with Canaccord Genuity.

Teri, maybe you can share with us who you're buying FRPD from, why they're selling and how you're structuring the deal to retain some of the key employees within the company?

So we're purchasing the company from TriWest private equity entity here in Calgary. The employee side of things. Obviously, we've known the employees for quite a period of time, especially through Scott Jacob and Jacob Bros. Scott was instrumental behind the framework of this. And we have, as we always do, have a long-term plan for the employees to retain them and we are confident with the team based on all the time we spent, a considerable amount of time with this team over the past year.

I think the logic for TriWest is not dissimilar to any private equity shop. They have a term that they look at investments. And I can't comment on the timing. Currently, what drove that decision other than it was an asset in their business that they obviously decided that it was time to transact and we are happy they did.

Okay. That's helpful. Can you provide a little bit of color on the dredging side of the business, specifically the Fraser River Channel contract? And firstly, how important that would be to annualized revenue, that one contract? And then maybe just the size of the dredging business relative to the rest, and if it has any different margin profile?

Yes. Roughly, order of magnitude would be 20% dredging, 80% marine and land construction. Company recently entered into a 12-year extension of their current contract with 2, 4-year optional extensions, so essentially 20 years of future work on the Fraser, which is quite exciting. So obviously, it was key for this, putting that scope of work into their backlog. So, and the margin profile on that type of work is higher than normal construction. I would say that's obviously logical given the specialized nature of that kind of work.

Our next question comes from the line of Chris Murray with ATB Capital Markets.

So going back to some of the comments you made around revenue. Can you just maybe walk us through how they've been seeing their revenue stack grow over the last few years? And if you can give us an idea, you did mention that even if we were to think that they were to grow at the kind of, I guess, the 10% organic you guys have talked about for a while. Or is there an opportunity for this to grow at a faster pace? And while you're at it, can you talk a little bit about any seasonality or anything else that we should be kind of thinking about as we model this up?

Yes. Certainly, you're right with the opportunities. I'd say the market currently in Canada for this kind of specialized service is higher than it's ever been. So there's certainly a solid opportunity to grow beyond the 10%. We think the 10% is a reasonable annual growth target. And obviously, the longer-term backlog that's evolving supports that.

These new opportunities certainly are exciting, and we've seen those evolve. We think about the scale of LNG that's evolving, it's considerable work for this part of LNG Phase 2, Western LNG, up in Prince Rupert, is evolving considerable amount of work there.

And then, you look at other large nation building projects that are on the docket, including a lot of work in the Arctic and defense base marine or Northern Arctic bases in places like Iqaluit. But all of that stuff will have considerable amount of marine development. So yes, it's -- the timing is, has worked out well. As you know, these things take a while, and we've been working on this for the past year.

So it's -- on your question on seasonality. Yes, certainly, the seasonality in the dredging business, the balance of the marine business, it really just depends on what it is and where it is, depending on permits. And obviously, the environmental side is something that has pretty stringent permits that only allow you to work in certain seasons, depending on where you are.

It's different depending on where you're working. But they also worked on some of the larger mine sites where they'll come in to do dredging and tailings work and that type of thing.

And on the land side, not so much. The net land side is a lot less -- a lot less impacted by seasonality. So -- and that's an area that we expect to see considerable growth.

Okay. And then my other question is just, again, on some of the mechanics. You've talked about kind of an early Q4 close. Just -- and you mentioned that it's one major seller. So I guess this is a little less complicated. So can you just walk us through what's required to get the close? If there's any break fees or anything that we should be thinking about?

Yes. It's really just a competition bureau, Chris. There's not really [indiscernible] that's -- that we require. It's really the bureau, and there's no overlap. So you can take that as we're highly confident that this will close, given the fact we have no overlap. But as we've seen recently, the time frame for the competition bureau's review is certainly longer than historically it's been. But we'll see. We are expecting to be certainly into Q4, but we could be surprised and get an early decision just given the fact that there is just no overlap. It's not -- there isn't anything that they do that any of the Bird businesses have ever done. So pretty clean.

Our next question comes from the line of Michael Tupholme with TD Cowen.

Over the last several years, Bird has talked a lot about its shift in revenue mix toward a much greater share of revenue coming from collaborative contracting models versus fixed price work. For FRPD, I'm wondering if you can talk about what percentage of their revenue comes from collaborative contracts or lower risk type contracts versus fixed price work.

Yes. It's a mix, I think, Mike, in terms of the types of contracts they have. They obviously work closely with a number of clients. So they've got different commercial models. We don't expect it to be a lot different than we currently have and what Jacobs currently has in terms of the types of things they do. They do a lot of enterprise work. It's such a specialized business that it's certainly easier than, say, a normal construction business to derisk just because of the specialized nature and capabilities of it. So they do a lot of work that would be like reimbursable, for example. I can't give you the exact percentage, but I would say it's not dissimilar to what we're currently doing.

Okay. That's helpful. Just to clarify, I think I missed your answer earlier, Teri, on the percentage of construction versus dredging. Did you say 80% construction, 20% dredging?

Yes, 80% land and marine construction, 20% dredging.

Okay. And within the construction piece, the vast majority of that is marine-related construction, the land piece is quite smaller...

That's probably the same, the 80-20 of the 80%. I would say, probably 80-20 of the 80% would be marine currently, and we see the real potential to grow that land side.

Okay. Helpful. Just in terms of the margins, you did mention dredging is a high-margin part of the business. On the construction side, how would those margins compare to Bird's -- stand-alone Bird margins?

I'd say the three variables that -- in their world would be -- the highest margin is going to be dredging. The next highest is the marine construction and then the next piece of that would be the land side. That's how I would see it. And yes, these infrastructure businesses that we've been acquiring have been some of the strongest margin profile that we have in the business and first year into Jacob Bros, it's performing at a very high level. Margin profile is consistent with what we thought. So we expect the same here.

Perfect. Just -- maybe talked a little bit about this already, but just to maybe build on it. So can you talk a little bit about what's happened in terms of historical revenue performance in the last couple of years. You're talking about $160 million this year. So just trying to understand where that was a few years ago, where we've come from. And then again, you mentioned the 10% potential organic growth, but could be much more significant depending on what projects are secured is. Within the $160 million, though, is there anything large and lumpy in there that is sort of onetime? Or is that a good number to kind of build off of going forward? And then we just sort of see how fast you grow off of this $160 million.

Mike, I can take that one. Actually, I'd say there's nothing really lumpy in there. That revenue has been pretty stable over the last couple of years, been slightly growing certainly. But we think the combination with Bird that we can help accelerate some of that growth. And there's no one key driver that's driven 2025 or prior years. They have a pretty diverse work program contributing to that.

Our next question comes from the line of Frederic Bastien with Raymond James.

Congrats on this transaction. In your prepared comments, you highlighted that FRPD has previously performed work in Churchill, Hamilton, Hamilton Port and also along the St. Lawrence Seaway, which I find quite encouraging given the liberal government's ambitions for trade infrastructure. Just curious how long ago was this work performed? And how would a company like based on BC would have mobilized for such work? Is it presumably, you'd send over some skill trades and then rent the equipment to perform the work there? Just curious how the dynamics could work.

Yes, it could be a mix of things, right, to be honest in terms of the equipment that's required. Order of magnitude, I'd say the timing, Randle Reef was just recent in Hamilton, and Churchill would have been next a few years ago, and then prior to that would have been the dredging into Port Montreal. Exact dates, I don't have for you, but order of magnitude in the last 10 years or more or so.

Yes, I think the key to highlighting that is their experience and their teams' presence in projects across the country. And we are -- we've got bases in all of Canada's major provinces, and we expect and many of those have marine requirements, because of where they're located, whether that's Toronto or Halifax or cities like that. So we expect, sort of, to leverage our large bases in those areas for opportunities that evolve.

Were you finding that some of the work that you were contracted for, you had to subcontract to companies like FRPD?

If I could have one wish, it would be that we had this a year ago, because we've subcontracted significant amounts of marine work. And it's all going well and good support, good partners, opportunities to joint venture with these entities going forward. But yes, that's -- there's some exciting things ahead for us in those same markets. And we've got a lot of this underway that we're subcontracting currently and hence, the logic and the background of why this was so important.

Our next question comes from the line of Ian Gillies with Stifel.

Could you maybe talk a little bit about the historical project size for FRPD for its various projects and where they might have tapped out? And given that you've been involved in some of these new larger projects moving forward, where the potential project sizes are going?

I'd say that to give you an example, like Centerm was recent. Order of magnitude about $0.5 billion in that project, I think. They were a joint venture partner in that with Jacob and Dragados. It's as far as their -- so this gives you a sort of a range that they've been involved in. They would have had joined several risks on the project, not dissimilar to Jacob Bros and their partner, Dragados.

So I'd say that, that's kind of in the upper end of what they've done recently. It doesn't seem to be very qualified for that type of work. But there's a mix a little bit like Bird, like we're not -- we've got a number of projects that are in that range, but they're not -- see them every day. So the profile of what they do is not dissimilar to what we do.

Understood. I can't help but look at the business, and there seems to be -- it would appear that it seems to be a bit more asset intensive, and there's floating assets as well that seem to be embedded in the business. So is CapEx as a percentage of revenue or thinking of it from some other angle, significantly higher?

I think, it'd be similar to what we currently have with some of our infrastructure businesses. It's certainly not -- it's not something that's going to be unique. It's got a lot of similarities to what we're investing, and an example like Jacob Bros. I think if there's growth, there's always flexibility in how you do that with options for fleet and that type of thing for organic growth, growth with the company.

So we do expect to see organic growth, and there's always flexibility on how you acquire that equipment in terms of different rental facilities and rental purchase facilities, that kind of thing. So -- but we don't anticipate this to stick out relative to our other companies in terms of CapEx. So it will be similar.

And at the risk of being completely off base, in the press release, you note that this is the largest private player in Canada. Is there some form of government participation in dredging or any of the marine construction that also competes for this work? I'm just curious on some of the wording in the press release, and so on and so forth.

I'm not sure I understand your question. You said government participation? I'm not sure what you mean with that.

Yes. You noted in the press release that this is the largest private player in Canada. And so I was just curious, like, are you only competing against other private players? Or is there some version of dredging that the government does themselves or is that?

I'm not aware of the government doing any of this themselves. There could be situations where something of considerable scale gets done. There's four large dredging companies in the world, two are in Belgium and two are in Holland. I think there could be something that happens that one of those companies are involved in, I don't know. But yes, no. We're in our normal course of Canadian business that are the largest.

Our next question comes from the line of Anshul Agrawal with CIBC.

So I would like to ask you about the potential upside from cross-selling opportunities from this acquisition? And do you also see any kind of cost synergies from this acquisition or is it more of just revenue synergies?

Yes, I can take that one, Anshul. Thank you. On the cost synergies, like we buy these businesses, we're buying them for the people. We want to retain the people in the business. That's the most important thing, and we have mechanisms in place to do that. So I think there's always going to be some cost synergies on things like insurance and those types of costs where we can leverage Bird's purchasing power. So for sure, there's going to be those types of things.

And then in terms of the revenue synergies, for us, there's going to be, as Teri mentioned in the presentation, there's opportunities for us to pursue projects that neither one of us could have pursued before. So in the event of winning one of those, that's going to be incremental growth to the business. And kind of following that One Bird strategy of Bird where we can self-perform more components of the work, well then, obviously, we're retaining more margin in the business and that's going to be extra accretive to our margin profile over time.

And other thing I have is your future M&A pipeline. So after this acquisition, are you still like to be active on M&A space in the near term? Or would you like to take a pause before moving to M&A again?

Yes. I think it's -- as we indicated in our comments earlier, this transaction fits nicely into our current framework and the conservative approach we take. We're always on the hunt for opportunities that fit our profile. We always have a number of things that we haven't had time to consider, because we're looking at this. So I would say that, yes, nothing has really changed in that regard. It's not a burning platform for us, but something comes along that's quite strategic, that can be a catalyst like this will be and like our recent acquisitions have been, yes, we'll look at it. So that's one of the beauties of the approach we take.

So like just a follow-up on this. So like, are you still okay like if something good comes up, are you still okay for like this kind of -- this size of transaction or?

Yes. And I don't want to leave the impression that we're jumping on to something else next week, but these are a nice fit, this size is a nice fit for us. These sort of $100 million to $200 million transactions because they really move the needle, especially when they've got this high accretion of EBITDA. So that's kind of the sweet spot, I guess, you'd say, and that's how we look at things. But as you know, we did Stuart Olson in 2020, and that was quite transformational. So you just never know what comes along.

Our next question comes from the line of Maxim Sytchev with NBF.

Just a couple of follow-ups, if I may. Are there any, I don't know, like sort of top 3, 5 projects that you guys are pursuing right now that maybe we should be tracking in terms of potential backward additions?

Well, there's -- obviously, these recent projects that were announced will be long ways down the road to move forward. But we have seen the federal government moving very quickly and a lot of defense work. We obviously, with this just being announced yesterday, the entire Bird organization, which we're in the loop on this, we only have a small handful of people that work on these transactions. Now our whole organization is aware.

I think any of the projects that are being discussed, Western LNG and Prince Rupert, LNG Canada Phase 2, a lot of the larger marine work that's happening in the West Coast of BC, new opportunities are evolving in the East Coast, in the Atlantic with [ Reign, ] with our base there in Halifax. So I think it's -- there'll be a long list of things that we'll be looking at with the new acquisition.

Okay. Okay, wonderful. That's great. And then one sort of general question around especially on the piling side of things. I remember there was a transaction that Keller, the U.K. based player acquired in Canada. And at the time, there was some thought process around potential margin compression around the industry, et cetera, which I mean, doesn't seem to be the case. Do you mind maybe commenting a little bit on the competitive landscape in relation to kind of like land-based things that exist right now?

Yes. I think the unique thing with this is we're in a scenario where we can control our own destiny in terms of the execution of large complex infrastructure projects. And that's what we're really looking for on a regular basis. So we're not certainly seeing the pressure on margins with the work that we're working on some contracting currently, and we don't anticipate that moving forward.

I think the types of clients we're working for are looking for the highest levels of safety and quality and execution and putting this new entity into our array of service offerings just gives our clients a much higher level of confidence and it puts us in a strong position to be their service provider. So we've seen that evolve with some of the prior things we're doing. But the market is very, very strong right now and the demand is very high.

Congrats on the deal.

[Operator Instructions] Our next question is a follow-up from Michael Tupholme with TD Cowen.

Wayne, what level of lease liabilities should we expect to see results from this transaction when you -- once you close it?

Yes. I mean, when we consolidate this and if it -- consolidate this in our financials and closes in October, we certainly come out with our opening balance sheet at that time. But plus or minus, what I think you're looking at is if you leased properties that we have now and some small leased equipment, but it won't be that significant of the figure, Mike.

Okay. So not materially different from what we last saw.

No. No.

And then just in terms of the backlog, you mentioned that it's got -- FRPD has a strong backlog. Wondering if you can provide a little bit more detail around the level, if possible, but also the composition. And on the composition side, wondering specifically, I guess, about the dredging contract and how that gets included in backlog. Is the full duration of that included? Or does that come in, in pieces as time passes?

Yes. At this point, Mike, we're not disclosing what the backlog is, and there's a few reasons for that. But what we can say is they have a good backlog to support the work program in front of them, and that's why we're comfortable coming out with the revenue numbers that we have. The dredging work they have is good recurring revenue streams for them as well. So that's another aspect of this business that we like. But yes, at this time, we're just not disclosing the actual hard number.

Our next follow-up is from the line of Chris Murray with ATB Capital Markets.

Just one follow-up on the financing. If you could maybe turn back on what you've done with the cap structure. So can you walk us through sort of the changes that you've made to the cap structure? It sort of sounds like it's just an extension and a bit of an expansion of the term loan. But can you talk about if there's any interest rate savings or anything like that, that we should be thinking about overall? And any additional flexibility, either new accordion features or anything like that, that we could think of if you do look at further M&A?

Yes, I can take that, Chris. So really, what we've done here is when this closes, we'll have an amendment to our existing credit facility. And really, the only thing that's changing is that we're upsizing the term loan portion of that to pay for the proceeds of this acquisition.

And then we'll also use some of those proceeds to repay a portion of the long-term debt that we have drawn on the revolver that was from acquisitions for, I think, Trinity and Dagmar and the like. But there's no economies of scale or discount on the interest for upsizing the facilities, the variable rate facility so it fluctuates with what rates are. But yes, it's an impact for us. There's no change to the accordion facility that's still in place at the current value. The revolver is still going to be the same value.

This concludes the question-and-answer session. I will hand the call back to Mr. McKibbon for closing remarks.

Thank you for joining our FRPD acquisition call this morning. We are pleased to welcome FRPD to the team and look forward to accomplishing great things together. Thank you.

This concludes today's conference call and webcast. You may now disconnect your lines. Thank you for participating, and have a pleasant day.