ABM Industries Announces 2011 Fourth Quarter and Full-Year Financial Results

Revenues for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2011 reached a record $1.08 billion, a 20% increase compared to fourth quarter of fiscal year 2010 revenues of $901.4 million, driven primarily by acquisitions. Income from continuing operations for the quarter was $18.2 million compared to $21.4 million for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2010, primarily reflecting the impact of increased labor expense from one additional workday as well as higher taxes from the reduced availability of employment-based tax credits compared to the year-ago quarter. Net cash flow from continuing operations for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2011 increased 9.4% to $74.2 million. For the full year, the Company reported a 21.5% increase in revenues to $4.2 billion compared to $3.5 billion for fiscal year 2010, driven by acquisitions. Income from continuing operations increased to $68.7 million, or $1.27 per diluted share, compared to $63.9 million, or $1.21 per diluted share, for the 2010 fiscal year. Adjusted income from continuing operations increased to $75.0 million, or $1.39 per diluted share, compared to $70.5 million, or $1.34 per diluted share, in fiscal year 2010.

Fourth Quarter Results

"Even in the face of continuing economic headwinds, ABM continues to deliver strong results," said Henrik Slipsager, president and chief executive officer, ABM Industries. "The businesses we acquired helped drive a record $1.08 billion in quarterly revenues, our fourth consecutive quarter with revenues in excess of $1 billion and a 20% increase compared to the year-ago quarter. All four Divisions produced higher revenues year-over-year as the successful integration of the companies we acquired continues to help drive overall top line growth and increased profitability for the Company. Income in the quarter was impacted by the increased labor expense from one additional workday and higher taxes compared to the year-ago quarter. We achieved net cash flow from continuing operations of $74.2 million, a 9.4% increase compared to the fourth quarter of 2010."

For the quarter, Janitorial revenue increased by 1.4% year-over-year while operating profit declined 8.4%, driven by higher labor costs resulting from the additional workday. Engineering revenues grew by 149.0% over the 2010 fourth quarter and profits by 41.4%, primarily reflecting the contributions of Linc. Parking revenues were 19.3% higher than the year-before quarter and profits were up by 11.2%, driven by results from the L&R acquisition. Security increased revenues by 3.1% while profit fell by 6.8%, primarily the result of price compression.

Year in Review

Slipsager added: "The successful integration of Linc was one of the year's highlights and we are proud that, as promised, Linc was slightly accretive to ABM's earnings in fiscal 2011, excluding acquisition costs. For the year, each Division generated higher year-over-year revenues and profitability. On operating profit, Engineering grew by more than 45%, reflecting the contribution of Linc. Janitorial grew revenues and operating profit over 2010, despite the additional workday, higher state unemployment insurance expense and increased fuel costs for the year. As a result of our continued focus on our long-term strategy, we achieved an 18% increase in adjusted EBITDA to $184 million for the year, which reflects a doubling of adjusted EBITDA in the past four years, despite one of the worst economic periods in history."

"From a cash-flow perspective, we achieved one of our strongest fiscal years including $156.8 million in cash flow from continuing operations," said executive vice president and chief financial officer James Lusk. "Also, we reduced borrowings since the Linc acquisition by more than $150 million to $300 million at October 31, 2011, and lowered our adjusted EBITDA leverage ratio to approximately 1.6x from 2.5x."

Slipsager concluded: "We ended the year well-positioned as we have leveraged our acquisitions to increase sales, expand our service capabilities and extend our market reach. We look forward to the 2012 fiscal year to continue executing on our long-term strategic plans and launching new initiatives to drive future growth in key vertical markets."

Dividend

The Company also announced that the Board of Directors has declared a first quarter cash dividend of $0.145 per common share which is a 4% increase payable on February 6, 2012 to stockholders of record on January 5, 2012. This will be ABM's 183rd consecutive quarterly cash dividend.

Guidance

Given the continuing macro-economic conditions, the Company is estimating that full fiscal year 2012 income from continuing operations per diluted share will be in the range of $1.26 to $1.36 and adjusted income from continuing operations per diluted share, for the same period, will be in the range of $1.40 to $1.50. Fiscal year 2012 will have one extra day compared to fiscal 2011, which will occur in the 2012 third quarter and is expected to impact earnings per diluted share by $0.04 to $0.05. In addition, the effective tax rate for fiscal year 2012 is expected to be in the range of 39% to 41%, from 35% in fiscal year 2011.

About ABM Industries Incorporated

ABM Industries Incorporated (NYSE:ABM), which operates through its subsidiaries (collectively "ABM"), is a leading provider of integrated facility services. With fiscal 2011 revenues of approximately $4.2 billion and nearly 100,000 employees, ABM provides commercial cleaning and maintenance, facility engineering, energy efficiency, parking and security services for thousands of commercial, industrial, government and retail clients across the United States and various international locations. ABM's business services include ABM Janitorial Services, ABM Facility Services, ABM Engineering Services, Ampco System Parking and ABM Security Services.