IESC Ies Holdings, Inc. - 10-K
0001048268-25-000174Year-over-year tone shift - average net-tone change across Risk Factors and MD&A vs the prior 10-K. This filing is 0.12pp more bullish than last year's.
Why YoY instead of absolute: the LM lexicon has ~6.6× more negative words than positive (legal/risk-disclosure language is heavy on hedging), so every 10-K reads bearish on raw tone. Year-over-year change strips that bias and surfaces the actual shift in management's framing.
Tone shift by section
The two components the gauge averages: how Risk Factors and MD&A each shifted in net tone versus last year's 10-K. The headline above is their average, so a green needle over a soft section just means the other section carried it.
Sentence-level sentiment highlighting with category and subcategory filters is coming once the snippet-scoring pipeline lands. For now, dig into the actual section text on the Sections tab.
Language change vs prior 10-K
Risk Factors (Item 1A) - words with the biggest YoY frequency increase- claims+1
Risk Factors (Item 1A)
8,354 words
Item 1A. Risk Factors
You should consider carefully the risks described below, as well as the other information included in this document before making an investment decision. Our business, results of operations or financial condition could be materially and adversely affected by any of these risks, and the value of your investment may decrease due to any of these risks.
Risks Relating to the Operations of our Business
Demand for our services is cyclical and vulnerable to economic downturns affecting the industries we serve.
Demand for our services has been, and will likely continue to be, cyclical in nature and vulnerable to downturns in the construction industry, the housing market, and other industries in which our end customers operate. Many of our customers depend on the availability of credit to purchase our services or electrical and mechanical products. In the past, when the general level of economic activity has been reduced from historical levels, certain of our customers have delayed or cancelled projects or capital spending, thereby reducing our revenues and profitability. General concerns about the fundamental soundness of the economy may cause customers to defer projects, even if they have credit available to them. Prolonged uncertainties in the credit market, or the return of constrained credit market conditions, including the impact of interest rates in the housing markets, could adversely affect demand, which would have adverse effects on our financial condition and results of operations.
We could be adversely impacted by changes in general economic conditions, including the effects of inflation, supply chain constraints, and an economic downturn or recession.
Our business and the industries in which we operate are vulnerable to changing macroeconomic conditions, including supply chain constraints, high rates of inflation, changes in consumer sentiment, elevated interest rates, and market disruptions resulting from a number of factors, including geo-political events such as the Ukraine-Russia war, the conflict in the Middle East, and trade tensions between the U.S. and China. These and other market factors have negatively impacted, and may continue to negatively impact, our revenues and our cost for labor, materials, utilities, and other goods and services as well as our ability to collect on our outstanding receivables, to the extent our customers are affected by the same negative conditions. Further, if the U.S. economy experiences a downturn or recession, our customers may be unable to obtain financing for new projects, or they may decide to delay or cancel projects even if they have credit available to them. As a result, these conditions have had, and they or any similar future conditions may continue to have, adverse impacts on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
The highly competitive nature of our industries could affect our profitability by reducing our revenues or profit margins.
The industries in which we compete are highly fragmented and are generally served by many small, owner-operated private companies. There are also several large private regional companies and a small number of large public companies from which we face competition in these industries. In the future, we could also face competition from new competitors entering these markets because certain segments, such as our electrical contracting services, have a relatively low barrier for entry while other segments, such as our services and custom engineered electro-mechanical products for mission critical infrastructure, have attractive growth and profitability characteristics. Some of our competitors in certain markets may offer a greater range of services than we offer in those markets, including mechanical construction and facilities management. Competition in our markets depends on a number of factors, including price. Some of our competitors may have lower overhead cost structures and may, therefore, be able to provide services comparable to ours at lower rates than we do. If we are unable to offer our services at competitive prices or if we have to reduce our prices to remain competitive, our profitability would be impaired.
We generate a significant portion of our revenues under fixed price contracts. The estimates we use in placing bids and changes in commodity and labor costs could have an adverse effect on our ability to maintain our profitability.
We currently generate, and expect to continue to generate, a significant portion of our revenues under fixed price contracts. The cost of fuel, labor and materials, including copper wire or other commodities, may vary significantly from the costs we originally estimate. Variations from estimated contract costs along with other risks inherent in performing fixed price contracts, including our ability to successfully manage and execute projects, have in the past resulted in, and may in the future result in, actual revenue and gross profits for a project differing from those we originally estimated and could result in losses on projects. Depending upon the size of a particular project, variations from estimated contract costs can have a significant impact on our operating results.
If the costs associated with labor and commodities, such as copper, aluminum, steel, electrical components, fuel, and certain plastics, increase due to low supply, inflation, general market conditions, supply chain disruptions and delays, or other forces, losses may be incurred. Some of our materials have been and may continue to be subject to sudden and significant price increases, and continued high demand and low supply for those resources may lead to additional price increases. Depending on competitive pressures and the fixed price nature of many of our contracts, we may not be able to pass on these cost increases to our customers, which would reduce our gross profit margins and, in turn, make it more difficult for us to maintain our profitability. We have a work force of over 10,000 employees, and our labor costs may fluctuate based on availability of and demand for workers as well as other labor related risks, including risks related to collective bargaining agreements, benefits arrangements, increased healthcare costs, wage and hour claims and other compensation arrangements.
A failure to secure new contracts may adversely affect our cash flows and financial results.
Much of our revenue is derived from projects that are awarded through a competitive bid process. Contract bidding and negotiations are affected by a number of factors, including our own cost structure and bidding policies. The failure to bid and be awarded projects, cancellations of projects or delays in project start dates could affect our ability to deploy our assets profitably. In addition, our ability to secure new contracts depends on our ability to maintain all required electrical, construction, mechanical and business licenses. If we fail to successfully transfer, renew or obtain such licenses where applicable, we may be unable to compete for new business. Further, when we are awarded contracts, we face additional risks that could affect whether, or when, work will begin. We could experience a decrease in profitability if we are unable to replace canceled, completed or expired contracts with new work.
We derive a meaningful portion of our revenues from a small number of customers, and the loss of one or more of these customers could adversely affect our revenues, results of operations, and financial condition.
While we do not have any single customer that represented more than 10% of our consolidated revenue in fiscal 2025, there are customers that are significant to our individual operating segments. Although we have long-standing relationships with some of these significant customers, it is not possible for us to predict the future level of demand for our services by these customers, and if one or more of them were to significantly delay, reduce or curtail activity, or stop accepting bids from us, it could have a material impact on our operating results.
We rely on third parties, including subcontractors and suppliers, in connection with many of our projects and a failure to retain subcontractors or obtain supplies, or increased costs as a result of using these third parties, could adversely impact our revenues, results of operations, and financial condition.
We hire third-party subcontractors to perform work on certain of our projects, and if we are unable to retain qualified subcontractors or if our subcontractors do not perform in accordance with their obligations, we have in the past incurred, and may in the future incur, additional costs or experience delays in project execution, which could subject us to contractual penalties. We also rely on suppliers
for the materials necessary to complete our projects, and if a supplier fails to provide supplies when scheduled or at a higher price than expected, project delays and additional costs could have an adverse effect on our operating results.
Our inability to carry out plans and strategies as expected, including our inability to identify and complete acquisitions and investments that meet our investment criteria in furtherance of our corporate strategy or the subsequent underperformance of those acquisitions and investments, may adversely impact our future growth and profitability.
Our corporate strategy includes creating shareholder value through acquiring businesses that we believe will strategically complement our existing business segments or acquiring or investing in stand-alone platform companies based in North America. While we believe that acquisitions will provide an opportunity to expand into new or related services, products, end-markets or geographic areas and diversify our revenue and profit streams, potential acquisitions could result in changes in our operations from those historically conducted by us and introduce the requirement for new controls. Alternatively, our failure to diversify from existing markets may limit our future growth. In addition, we have made, and may continue to make, investments in debt or equity securities of publicly traded and privately held companies, including early-stage companies and more established companies. We are subject to risks associated with these investments. In addition, we may have limited ability to dispose of these investments due to lack of an active market for or contractual limitations on our ability to sell a particular investment, and the partial or complete loss of invested capital, and significant changes in the fair value of our investment portfolio could adversely impact our financial results. Further, valuations of non-marketable debt and equity investments are inherently complex due to the lack of readily available market data and may involve subjective judgments and estimates. Some of our past acquisitions and investments have not performed as expected, and there is no assurance that future acquisitions and investments will perform as expected or generate a positive return on investment due to factors we could not predict prior to the acquisition or due to incorrect investment assumptions.
Acquisitions, dispositions and other strategic transactions that we may pursue could have a negative effect on our results of operations.
We are actively seeking to engage in acquisitions of operations, assets and investments, or to develop new types of work or processes, and we may seek to engage in dispositions of certain operations, assets or investments from time to time. If we are unable to successfully integrate newly acquired assets or operations or if we make untimely or unfavorable investments or dispositions, it could negatively impact our financial condition, results of operations and the market value of our common stock. Additionally, any future acquisition, investment or disposition may result in significant changes in the composition of our assets and liabilities, and as a result, our financial condition, results of operations and the market value of our common stock following any such acquisition, investment or disposition may be affected by factors different from those currently affecting our financial condition, results of operations and market value of our common stock.
The difficulties of integrating a business, assets or operations may include, among other things:
• geographically separated organizations and possible differences in corporate cultures and management philosophies;
• significant demands on management resources, which may distract management’s attention from day-to-day business;
• differences in the disclosure systems, compliance requirements, accounting systems, and accounting controls and procedures of the acquired company, which may interfere with our ability to make timely and accurate public disclosure; and
• the demands of managing new locations, new personnel and new lines of business acquired.
Backlog may not be realized or may not result in profits.
Customers often have no obligation under our contracts to assign or release work to us, and many contracts may be terminated on short notice. Reductions in backlog due to cancellation of one or more contracts by a customer or for other reasons, or our failure to execute projects in backlog as expected, could significantly reduce the revenue and profit we actually receive from contracts included in backlog. In the event of a project cancellation, we may be reimbursed for certain costs, but typically have no contractual right to the total revenues reflected in our backlog.
We may fail to adequately recover on contract change orders.
From time to time, we may pursue claims against our customers to recover costs incurred on a project in excess of the original contract amount. Such additional costs may be incurred in connection with project delays caused by our customers or third parties, including other trades, or changes in project scope or specifications. While we generally negotiate with the customer for additional compensation, we may be unable to obtain, through negotiation, arbitration, litigation or otherwise, adequate compensation for the additional work performed or expenses incurred. The process of pursuing a claim may be lengthy, result in significant legal fees, and negatively impact our relationships with customers. In addition, our ability to recover on contract change orders could be negatively impacted by our customers' reduced access to capital in a weak economic environment, particularly in a period of restrictive credit markets. Furthermore, we may be required to invest significant working capital to fund cost overruns while the resolution of a claim is pending, and our additional costs may not be recovered until the claim is resolved, if at all. When appropriate, we establish provisions
against possible exposures, and we adjust these provisions from time to time, but our assumptions and estimates related to these exposures might prove to be inadequate or inaccurate. Unfavorable resolution of these matters can result in a reduction of revenues and profit recognized in prior periods or the recognition of a loss, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.
We may incur significant charges or be adversely impacted by the closure or sale of facilities or assets.
In the past, we incurred significant costs associated with the closure or disposition of facilities, and we expect from time to time to evaluate the need for future facility closures or dispositions of assets. If we were to elect to dispose of a substantial portion of any of our segments, facilities, or assets, the realized values of such assets could be substantially less than current book values, which would likely result in a material adverse impact on our financial results. In addition, we may have warranty claims, costs pursuant to obligations to indemnify buyers after assets are sold, or other unexpected liabilities from closed facilities beyond the closing date, and if we dispose of a segment or business, we may continue to be subject to certain prior liabilities of that business after its disposition and may not be able to negotiate for limitations on those liabilities, all of which could adversely impact our financial returns.
Epidemics, pandemics, and other potential public health emergencies could have a future materially adverse impact on our business, including our financial condition, cash flows and results of operations.
Pandemics and other public health emergencies, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, have had adverse impacts on our results of operations in the past. The impact of future epidemics, pandemics or other public health emergencies on our business is difficult to predict, but adverse impacts could include the potential for job site closures or work stoppages, supply chain disruptions, delays in awarding new project bids, construction delays, reduced demand for our services, delays in our ability to collect from our customers, or illness of management or other employees.
The availability and cost of surety bonds affect our ability to enter into new contracts and our margins on those engagements.
Many of our customers require us to post performance and payment bonds issued by a surety. Those bonds guarantee the customer that we will perform under the terms of a contract and that we will pay subcontractors and vendors. We obtain surety bonds from two primary surety providers; however, there is no commitment from these providers to guarantee our ability to issue bonds for projects as they are required. Our ability to access this bonding capacity is at the sole discretion of our surety providers. Accordingly, if we were to experience an interruption or reduction in our availability of bonding capacity, or if we are unable to obtain bonds at a reasonable cost, we may be unable to compete for, or work on, certain projects.
We are subject to risks associated with seasonality, adverse weather conditions, and climate change.
Our business is subject to seasonal variations in operations and demand that affect the construction business, particularly in the Residential and Commercial & Industrial segments. Adverse weather conditions, including rain, heat, ice, cold or snow, may not only delay our work and contribute to project inefficiency, but may negatively impact our schedules and profitability by delaying the work of other trades on a construction site. Extreme weather conditions (such as hurricanes or other storms, droughts, extreme heat or cold, wildfires and floods) have from time to time had, and may in the future have, a negative impact on our business, including by limiting the availability of resources, increasing our costs, damaging property, disrupting our workforce, or causing projects to be delayed or cancelled. A portion of our business operates in certain geographic areas, such as Texas and Florida, where these risks are elevated. If the cost of property insurance in those or other geographic areas increases, or if it becomes more difficult to obtain, it could have a negative impact on customer demand, particularly in our Residential segment. To the extent climate change results in an increase in extreme weather events and adverse weather conditions, the likelihood of a negative impact on our results of operations may increase.
Our results may fluctuate from period to period due to cyclicality, regional economic conditions, or other factors.
Factors arising from the cyclicality of industries in which we operate, including the timing of new customer contracts, may result in significant fluctuations in our operating results on a quarterly or annual basis. Our results from period to period may also be affected by regional economic conditions that affect the construction market. In particular, a prolonged period of weak demand in the oil and gas industry or increased regulatory restrictions on the industry could dampen the housing market in certain regions, resulting in reduced demand for the services provided by our Residential segment. Infrastructure Solutions’ revenues from industrial services may be affected by the timing of scheduled outages or capital projects at its industrial customers’ facilities, by demand for design, construction and site support of data centers, and by changes in spending in public infrastructure, power and steel markets. Industrial and rail customers may also be affected by volatility in oil prices. Accordingly, our performance in any particular quarter or year may not be indicative of the results that can be expected for any other quarter, for the entire year, or for any other year.
We may experience difficulties in managing our billings and collections.
Our billings under fixed price contracts in our contracting business are generally based upon achieving certain milestones and will only be accepted by the customer once we demonstrate those milestones have been met. If we are unable to demonstrate compliance with billing requests, or if we fail to issue a project billing, our likelihood of collection could be delayed or impaired, which, if experienced across several large projects, could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations. Further, some of our customers may be highly leveraged or may be subject to their own operating and regulatory risks, which may also limit their ability to pay.
Our operations are subject to numerous physical hazards. If an accident occurs, it could result in an adverse effect on our business.
Hazards related to our industry include, but are not limited to, electrocutions, fires, injuries involving ladders, machinery-caused injuries, mechanical failures and transportation accidents. These hazards can cause personal injury and loss of life, severe damage to or destruction of property and equipment, and suspension of operations. While we have invested significant efforts in our safety programs in an effort to minimize safety risks, we have experienced serious accidents in the past and may experience additional accidents in the future. Serious accidents may subject us to penalties, civil litigation or criminal prosecution. Our insurance does not cover all types or amounts of liabilities. In addition, if our safety record were to substantially deteriorate over time, our customers could cancel our contracts or not award us future business.
Our current insurance coverage may not be adequate, and we may not be able to obtain insurance at acceptable rates, or at all.
We maintain insurance coverage in part because some of our contracts require us to carry certain levels of insurance coverage, which is common in the industries in which we operate. Our third-party insurance is subject to high deductibles for which we establish reserves, and therefore we are effectively self-insured for typical claims up to those deductibles. In addition, we maintain most of our employee health insurance coverage on a self-insured basis and are responsible for losses up to our stop loss coverage, which sets a limit on our liability for claim costs. No assurance can be given that our insurance or our provisions for incurred claims and incurred but not reported claims will be adequate to cover all losses or liabilities we may incur in our operations, including employee health care costs, which have increased in recent years; nor can we provide assurance that we will be able to maintain adequate insurance at reasonable rates.
Litigation and claims can cause unexpected losses.
In all of our businesses, we are subject to potential claims and litigation, including contractual disputes, warranty claims, and claims related to our compliance with legal and regulatory requirements. We have in the past been, and may in the future be, named as a defendant in lawsuits, claims and other legal proceedings; such claims and litigation are common in the construction and electrical and mechanical maintenance businesses and may be related to contract delays, changes in the scope of work or alleged defects. There are also inherent claims and litigation risks associated with the number of people that work on construction sites and the fleet of vehicles on the road every day. In our Infrastructure Solutions businesses, we also may be subject to product liability litigation. We also have in the past been, and may in the future be, subject to employment-related claims including workers' compensation, employment discrimination, and wage and hour claims. Claims are sometimes made and lawsuits filed for amounts in excess of their value or in excess of the amounts for which they are eventually resolved. Claims and litigation normally follow a predictable course of time to resolution. However, there may be periods of time in which a disproportionate amount of our claims and litigation are concluded in the same quarter or year. If multiple matters are resolved during a given period, then the cumulative effect of these matters may be higher than the ordinary level in any one reporting period. In addition, due to the inherent uncertainties of litigation, we cannot accurately predict the ultimate outcome of any such actions or proceedings, which could result in significant expense, damage to our reputation and diversion of management’s attention from our business.
Latent defect litigation is normal for residential home builders in some parts of the country. Any increases in our latent defect claims and litigation could place pressure on our profitability.
Regulatory requirements could result in significant compliance costs and liabilities.
We have operations throughout the United States and are subject to multiple state and local regulations. In addition, our segments from time to time perform work as federal government subcontractors, or perform work on projects that have received federal government funding, and as a result may be subject to federal laws and requirements applicable to government contractors. If we fail to comply with those requirements, we may be subject to fines, penalties or suspension from doing business with the federal government. Our 174 locations are located in 28 states, which exposes us to a variety of different state and local laws and regulations, including those pertaining to electrical contractor and other licensing requirements. These laws and regulations govern many aspects of our business,
and there are often different standards and requirements in different locations. Changes in law, regulations or requirements, or a material failure to comply with any of them, could increase our costs and have other negative impacts on our business by, among other things, increasing costs, harming our reputation and, in some instances, causing us to be in violation of our contractual obligations. In addition, we are required to maintain certain electrical, construction, mechanical and business licenses. If we fail to successfully transfer, renew or obtain such licenses where applicable, we may experience increased costs and other negative impacts on our business.
Disruptions to the proper functioning of our information technology systems or security breaches of our critical data, sensitive information or information technology systems could disrupt operations and cause increases in costs, decreases in revenues and/or harm to our reputation.
Our Company continues to increase its dependence on information technology systems, networks, and infrastructure to conduct our day-to-day operations and manage the way we provide services to our customers. Disruptions to our information technology systems or our failure to adequately protect critical data, sensitive information, and information technology systems could materially affect our business or result in harm to our reputation. Our critical accounting, project management, estimating, and financial information systems, some of which are third-party platforms, all rely on the proper functioning and security of our information technology environment and are critical to the successful operation of our business. We also collect and retain information about our customers, stockholders, vendors, and employees, with the expectation by such third parties being that we will adequately protect such information. Although our information technology systems, networks and infrastructure are protected through our policies, procedures and physical and software safeguards, our information technology environment is still vulnerable to natural disasters, power losses, telecommunication failures, deliberate intrusions, inadvertent user misuse or error, computer viruses, malicious code, ransomware attacks, acts of terrorism and other cyber security risks, which could cause a loss of critical data, or release of sensitive information. If critical information systems fail or are otherwise unavailable, or if sensitive information is released, we could experience reputational harm, loss of customers and revenue, loss of proprietary data, regulatory actions and scrutiny, statutory penalties, and litigation.
We have from time to time experienced cybersecurity incidents, such as ransomware attacks or unauthorized parties gaining access to our information technology systems, and privacy incidents, such as potential or actual exposure of data. While to date such incidents have not had a material impact on our business, there can be no assurance that future incidents would not have an adverse effect on our business or reputation. Additionally, the process of integrating the information systems of the businesses we acquire is complex and exposes us to additional risk as we might not adequately identify weaknesses in the acquired business’s information systems or information handling, privacy and security policies and protocols, which could expose us to unexpected liabilities or make our own systems and data more vulnerable to attack. In addition, data privacy laws and regulations governing the unauthorized disclosure of confidential information may pose compliance challenges and result in additional costs for our businesses. A failure to comply with such laws and regulations could result in penalties or fines, legal liabilities or reputational harm.
We may be required to conduct environmental remediation activities, which could be expensive and inhibit the growth of our business and our ability to maintain profitability, particularly in our Infrastructure Solutions business.
We are subject to a number of environmental laws and regulations, including those concerning the handling, treatment, storage, and disposal of hazardous materials. These laws predominantly affect our Infrastructure Solutions business but may impact our other businesses. These environmental laws generally impose liability on current and former owners and operators, transporters and generators of hazardous materials for remediation of contaminated properties. We could be held liable for such contamination created not only from our own activities but also from the historical activities of companies we have acquired, or the activities of others on properties that we own or lease. There can be no assurance that the discovery of currently unknown problems or conditions will not require substantial additional expenditures. In addition, if we do not comply with these laws and regulations, we could be subject to material administrative, civil or criminal penalties, or other substantial liabilities.
Compliance with current and future environmental laws and regulations, including those relating to climate change, could adversely impact our business.
Increasing concerns about climate change and other environmental issues may result in additional environmental regulations and restrictions, and we cannot predict the nature, scope or effect of legislation or regulatory requirements that could be imposed, or how existing or future laws or regulations will be administered or interpreted. Compliance with more stringent laws or regulations, as well as more vigorous enforcement policies of the regulatory agencies, could increase the costs of projects for us or our customers, potentially resulting in reduced profitability or a reduced demand for our services, or require us to incur substantial costs of compliance.
The loss of a group or several key personnel, either at the corporate or operating level, or general labor constraints could adversely affect our business.
The loss of key personnel or the inability to hire and retain qualified employees could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Our operations depend on the continued efforts of our executive officers, senior management and management personnel at our segments. As a service organization, relationships with significant customers can be dependent on certain employees within our organization, and our ability to meet our contractual obligations to our customers and support our growth strategy may be limited by our ability to retain and train necessary personnel. We cannot guarantee that any member of management at the corporate or operating segment level will continue in their capacity for any particular period of time, and there is significant competition in our industry for managerial personnel. We have a severance plan in place that covers certain of our senior leaders; however, this plan can neither guarantee that we will not lose key employees, nor prevent them from competing against us. If we lose a group of key personnel or even one key person at a segment, we may not be able to recruit suitable replacements at comparable salaries or at all, which could adversely affect our operations. Additionally, we generally do not maintain key man life insurance for members of our management.
Our business is labor intensive, and many of our operations experience a high rate of employee turnover. We also may be constrained in hiring and retaining sufficient qualified employees to support our growth strategy due to general labor shortages in our industries. In addition, a lack of skilled labor or increased turnover rates within our employee base could lead to increased costs, such as increased overtime to meet demand and increased wage rates to attract and retain employees. Continued labor constraints may limit our ability to grow and may limit our profitability due to the impact of rising wages.
Risks Relating to our Financial Results, Financing and Liquidity
The impact on our customers of negative conditions in the credit and capital markets may adversely affect our business.
A number of economic factors, including financing conditions for our customers' industries, have, in the past, adversely affected our customers and their ability or willingness to fund expenditures. Many of our customers depend on the availability of credit to help finance their capital and maintenance projects. At times, tightened availability of credit and changes in interest rates that affect the cost of construction financing and mortgages have negatively impacted the ability of existing and prospective customers to obtain sufficient financing and fund projects we might otherwise perform. As a result, our customers may defer such projects for an unknown, and perhaps lengthy, period. Any such deferrals would inhibit our growth and would adversely affect our results of operations.
In a weak economic environment, particularly in a period of restrictive credit markets, we may experience greater difficulties in collecting payments from our customers due to, among other reasons, a diminution in our ultimate customers’ access to the credit markets. If clients delay in paying or fail to pay a significant amount of our outstanding receivables, it could have an adverse effect on our liquidity, results of operations, and financial position.
To fund our working capital requirements, complete acquisitions and service any debt we may incur, we may require a significant amount of cash. Our ability to generate cash from operations or to access the capital markets for required funding depends on many factors that are beyond our control.
Our ability to continue to grow our business, including through acquisitions and the funding of working capital requirements, as well as our ability to make payments on or refinance any indebtedness we may incur, will depend on our ability to access capital markets and generate cash from operations in the future. This is subject to our operational performance, as well as general economic, financial, capital market, competitive, legislative, regulatory and other factors that are beyond our control.
There can be no assurance that our business will generate sufficient cash flow from operations or asset sales, or have access to sources of cash from the capital markets or from borrowings under our credit facility, in amounts sufficient to enable us to complete acquisitions, to service any debt we may incur or to fund our other liquidity needs. We may need to refinance our credit facility on or before maturity. We cannot provide assurance that we will be able to refinance our credit facility on commercially reasonable terms or at all. Our inability to access capital on commercially reasonable terms could have a material adverse effect on our business.
Changes in tax positions or changes in tax laws may adversely affect our results.
Our effective tax rate and cash paid for taxes are impacted by the tax positions that we have adopted. Taxing authorities may not always agree with the positions we have taken. We have established reserves for tax positions that we have determined to be less than likely to be sustained upon examination by taxing authorities. However, there can be no assurance that our results of operations will not be adversely affected in the event that disagreement over our tax positions does arise. Additionally, new tax laws or changes in
existing interpretation and guidance could affect our provision for income taxes, deferred tax assets and liabilities, and reserves for uncertain tax positions, potentially resulting in an increase to our effective tax rate, which could adversely affect our results.
We have restrictions and covenants under our credit agreement and the failure to meet these covenants could result in a default under our credit agreement.
We may not be able to remain in compliance with the covenants in our credit agreement, including financial covenants which, among other things, require minimum levels of liquidity and require us to maintain specified leverage and interest coverage ratios as defined under our credit agreement. Other covenants, among other things, limit our ability to provide liens, restrict fundamental changes, limit transactions with affiliates and subsidiaries, restrict changes to our organization documents, limit asset dispositions, limit investments, limit the ability to incur debt, restrict certain payments to shareholders, limit our ability to repurchase our stock, and limit the ability to change the nature of our business. A failure to fulfill the terms and requirements of our credit agreement may result in a default under our credit agreement and acceleration of any indebtedness we may incur, as well as a default under one or more of our material agreements, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our ability to conduct our operations and our financial condition.
The preparation of our financial statements requires management to make certain estimates and assumptions that may differ from actual results, and we may be adversely impacted by new accounting, control and operating procedures.
GAAP accounting requires that a number of estimates and assumptions are made by management that affect the amounts reported in the financial statements. These estimates and assumptions must be made because certain information that is used in the preparation of our financial statements is either dependent on future events or cannot be calculated precisely from available data and, accordingly, requires the use of management’s judgment. Estimates and assumptions are used in, among other areas, our assessment of revenue recognition of construction in progress, fair value assumptions in accounting for business combinations, stock-based compensation, reserves for legal matters, and realizability of deferred tax assets and unrecognized tax benefits. Actual results could differ from those estimates and assumptions, and such differences may be material to our financial statements.
In addition, we may be adversely impacted by new accounting pronouncements which change our revenue recognition or other accounting practices or otherwise alter how we report our financial results, or which require that we change our control and operating procedures, which we may be unable to do in a timely manner.
Our use of percentage-of-completion accounting could result in a reduction or elimination of previously reported profits.
A significant portion of our revenue is recognized using the percentage-of-completion method of accounting, utilizing the cost-to-cost method, which results in our recognizing contract revenues and earnings ratably over the contract term in proportion to contract costs incurred. The earnings or losses recognized on individual contracts are based on estimates of contract revenues, costs and profitability. We review our estimates of contract revenue, costs and profitability on an ongoing basis. Prior to contract completion, we may adjust our estimates on one or more occasions as a result of change orders to the original contract, collection disputes with the customer on amounts invoiced or claims against the customer for increased costs incurred by us due to customer-induced delays and other factors. Contract losses are recognized in full when determined to be probable and reasonably estimable. Although we have historically made reasonably reliable estimates of the progress towards completion of our construction contracts, the uncertainties inherent in the estimating process make it possible for actual costs to vary materially from estimates, including reductions or reversals of previously recorded revenues and profits.
Our reported operating results could be adversely affected as a result of goodwill impairment charges.
GAAP accounting requires that goodwill attributable to each of our reporting units be tested at least annually, or when changes in circumstance indicate the carrying value of our reporting units may not be recoverable. At September 30, 2025, we had recorded $107.8 million of goodwill on our Consolidated Balance Sheets. Factors that could lead to impairment of current goodwill in the future include significant adverse changes in the business climate, declines in the financial condition of our business, and actual or projected future operating results affecting the Company as a whole or affecting any particular reporting unit. On an ongoing basis, we expect to perform impairment tests at least annually as of September 30. Impairment adjustments, if any, are required to be recognized as operating expenses. We cannot assure that we will not have future impairment adjustments to our recorded goodwill.
Risks Relating to Our Common Stock
Existence of a controlling shareholder.
A majority of our outstanding common stock is owned by Tontine, and Jeffrey Gendell, founder and managing member of Tontine, serves as Executive Chairman of our Board of Directors. Tontine owns approximately 54 percent of the Company’s outstanding common stock based on a Form 4 and a Schedule 13D/A filed by Tontine with the SEC on September 17, 2025, and the Company's
shares outstanding as of November 17, 2025. As a result, Tontine can control most of our affairs, including the election of our directors, who in turn appoint executive management and can control most actions requiring the approval of shareholders, including the adoption of amendments to our corporate charter and approval of any potential merger or sale of all or substantially all of the Company's assets or business segments or the Company itself. This control also gives Tontine the ability to bring matters to a shareholder vote that may not be in the best interest of our other shareholders or stakeholders. The concentration of ownership may also have the effect of discouraging a change in control transaction, which could prevent other shareholders from selling their shares in the Company at a premium as part of such transaction. Additionally, Tontine is in the business of investing in companies and may, from time to time, acquire and hold interests in businesses that compete directly or indirectly with us or act as suppliers or customers of the Company. Most of Tontine's shares are registered for resale on a resale shelf registration statement filed by the Company with the SEC. Pursuant to such resale shelf registration statement, Tontine has the ability to resell any or all of its registered shares from time to time in one or more offerings as long as the registration statement remains effective and the Company remains eligible to use it, as described further in the registration statement and in any prospectus supplement filed in connection with an offering pursuant to the shelf registration statement. Tontine’s sale of all or a significant portion of its shares could result in a change of control of the Company, which may trigger the change of control provisions in a number of our material agreements, including our credit agreement, bonding agreements with our sureties, and our executive severance plan.
Our common stock has less liquidity than many other stocks listed on the Nasdaq Global Market.
Historically, the trading volume of our common stock has been relatively low when compared to other companies listed on the Nasdaq Global Market or other stock exchanges. While we have experienced increased liquidity in our stock during recent years compared with historical levels, we cannot say with certainty that a more active and liquid trading market for our common stock will continue to develop. Because of this, it may be more difficult for shareholders to sell a substantial number of shares for the same price at which shareholders could sell a smaller number of shares.
In addition, our historically lower liquidity has in the past contributed to increased volatility in the price of our common stock. This lower liquidity, along with the other risk factors discussed herein, may impact our stock price in the future.
We may issue additional shares of common stock, preferred stock or convertible securities that will dilute the percentage ownership interest of existing stockholders and may dilute the book value per share of our common stock.
Our authorized capital includes 100,000,000 shares of common stock and 10,000,000 shares of preferred stock. As of September 30, 2025, we had 22,049,529 shares of common stock issued, 19,854,463 shares of common stock outstanding and no shares of preferred stock issued or outstanding. As of September 30, 2025, we had the ability to issue 1,265,801 shares of common stock, including upon the exercise of options, as future grants under our existing equity compensation plans.
Although we currently do not have any intention of issuing additional common stock (other than pursuant to our equity compensation plans) or preferred stock, we may do so in the future as consideration for certain acquisitions and in order to meet our capital needs. Subject to applicable Nasdaq Listing Rules, our Board of Directors generally has the authority, without action by or vote of the stockholders, to issue all or part of any authorized but unissued shares of common stock or preferred stock for any corporate purpose. We may seek additional equity capital in the future as we develop our business and expand our operations. Any issuance of additional shares of common stock, preferred stock, or convertible securities will dilute the percentage ownership interest of our stockholders and may dilute the book value per share of our common stock.
Substantial sales of our common stock could adversely affect our stock price.
Sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock by holders of our common stock, including Tontine, or the perception that such sales could occur, could adversely affect the market price of our common stock by introducing a large number of shares into the market. Such sales, or the perception that such sales could occur, could cause the market price of our common stock to decline. We cannot predict whether future sales of our common stock, or the availability of our common stock for sale, will adversely affect the market price for our common stock or our ability to raise capital by offering equity securities.
Increasing scrutiny and changing expectations with respect to our approach to climate related risks may expose us to reputational or other risks.
Various stakeholders have increased their emphasis on companies' disclosures of climate related risks and the environmental impact of operations. Mandatory and voluntary reporting of climate related matters continues to expand. A failure to comply with requirements or to meet investor or customer expectations and standards, which are evolving and vary considerably, or the perception that we have not responded appropriately to the growing concern for climate related issues, could result in reputational harm to our business and could have an adverse effect on us.
In addition, organizations that provide ratings information to investors on such matters may assign unfavorable ratings to IES or our industries, which may lead to negative investor sentiment and the diversion of investment capital to other companies or industries, which could have a negative impact on our stock price and our costs of capital.
Our bylaws designate the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware as the sole and exclusive forum for certain types of actions and proceedings that may be initiated by our shareholders, which could increase the costs for our shareholders to bring claims, discourage our shareholders from bringing claims, or limit our shareholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our current or former directors, officers, employees or shareholders in such capacity.
Our bylaws provide that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware is, to the fullest extent permitted by law, the sole and exclusive forum for claims, including derivative claims that are based upon a violation of a duty by a current or former director, officer, employee or shareholder in such capacity or as to which the Delaware General Corporation Law confers jurisdiction upon the Court of Chancery. The exclusive forum provision may increase the costs for a shareholder to bring a claim or limit a shareholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that the shareholder finds favorable for disputes with us or our directors, officers, employees or shareholders in such capacity, which may discourage such lawsuits against us and such persons. Alternatively, if a court were to find these provisions of our bylaws inapplicable to, or unenforceable in respect of, the claims as to which they are intended to apply, then we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such matters in other jurisdictions, which could adversely affect our business, financial position or results of operations. While the exclusive forum provision applies to state and federal law claims, our shareholders will not be deemed to have waived our compliance with, and the exclusive forum provision will not preclude or contract the scope of exclusive federal or concurrent jurisdiction for actions brought under, the federal securities laws, including the Exchange Act, or the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder.
General Risks
Our internal controls over financial reporting and our disclosure controls and procedures may not prevent all possible errors that could occur. Internal controls over financial reporting and disclosure controls and procedures, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the control system’s objective will be met.
On a quarterly basis, we evaluate our internal controls over financial reporting and our disclosure controls and procedures, which include a review of the objectives, design, implementation and effectiveness of the controls and the information generated for use in our periodic reports. In the course of our controls evaluation, we sought (and seek) to identify data errors, control problems and to confirm that appropriate corrective actions, including process improvements, are being undertaken. This type of evaluation is conducted on a quarterly basis so that the conclusions concerning the effectiveness of our controls can be reported in our periodic reports.
A control system, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the control system’s objectives will be satisfied. Internal controls over financial reporting and disclosure controls and procedures are designed to give reasonable assurance that they are effective and achieve their objectives. We cannot provide absolute assurance that all possible future control issues have been detected. These inherent limitations include the possibility that our judgments can be faulty and that isolated breakdowns can occur because of human error or mistake. The design of our system of controls is based in part upon certain assumptions about the likelihood of future events, and there can be no assurance that any design will succeed absolutely in achieving our stated goals under all potential future or unforeseeable conditions. Because of the inherent limitations in a control system, misstatements due to error could occur without being detected.
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MD&A (Item 7)
9,194 words
Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
The following discussion and analysis should be read in conjunction with our Consolidated Financial Statements and the notes thereto, set forth in Item 8. “Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. For additional information, see “Disclosure Regarding Forward Looking Statements” in Part I of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
OVERVIEW
Executive Overview
Please refer to Item 1. “Business” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for a discussion of the Company’s services and corporate strategy. IES Holdings, Inc., a Delaware corporation, designs and installs integrated electrical and technology systems and provides infrastructure products and services to a variety of end markets, including data centers, residential housing, and commercial and industrial facilities. Our operations are organized into four business segments: Communications, Residential, Infrastructure Solutions and Commercial & Industrial.
Industry Trends
Our performance is affected by a number of trends that drive the demand for our services. In particular, the markets in which we operate are exposed to many regional and national trends such as the need for mission critical facilities as a result of technology-driven advancements, capital spending on data centers, distribution centers, and high-tech manufacturing facilities, the demand for single and multi-family housing, demand for back-up power, output levels and equipment utilization at heavy industrial facilities, demand for our rail and infrastructure services and custom engineered products, and changes in commercial, institutional, public infrastructure and electric utility spending. Over the long term, we believe that there are numerous factors that could positively drive demand and affect growth within the industries in which we operate, including (i) an increasing demand for data storage, (ii) population growth, which will increase the need for commercial and residential facilities, (iii) aging public infrastructure, which must be replaced or repaired, and (iv) increased emphasis on environmental and energy efficiency, which may lead to increased public and private spending. However, there can be no assurance that we will not experience a decrease in demand for our services due to economic, technological or other factors beyond our control, including interest rate increases, increases in the price of copper, aluminum, steel, fuel, electrical components, certain plastics, and other commodity prices and other economic factors, which may reduce the demand for housing in the regions where our Residential division operates, and may impact levels of construction. For further discussion of the industries in which we operate, please see Item 1. “ Business - Operating Segments ” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Business Outlook
While there are differences among the Company’s segments, on an overall basis, increased demand for the Company’s services and the Company’s previous investment in growth initiatives and other business-specific factors discussed below resulted in aggregate year-over-year revenue growth in fiscal 2025 as compared to fiscal 2024.
Our business segments each have their own unique set of factors influencing demand for our services. Heading into fiscal 2026, backlog across our business segments as a whole remains at record levels, reflecting strong demand in key end markets. Demand with respect to data centers, a key end market served by our Communications, Infrastructure Solutions, and Commercial & Industrial segments, remains particularly strong. However, availability of labor and capacity could constrain the rate at which we are able to grow this business. In our Residential business, we expect the challenges that affected demand for our services in the single-family market throughout fiscal 2025 will continue to affect us going into fiscal 2026, as housing affordability continues to be negatively impacted by elevated mortgage rates and the impact of inflation on materials and labor costs. In addition, consumer expectations about future interest rate reductions may cause some home buyers to delay purchases in anticipation of lower mortgage costs. In the multi-family business, prolonged elevated borrowing costs for project owners have resulted in a reduction in backlog at September 30, 2025 compared with September 30, 2024. This is expected to result in lower multi-family revenues in fiscal 2026 as compared with the prior year.
To continue to grow our business, including through acquisitions and the funding of working capital, we may require a significant amount of cash. Our ability to generate or otherwise access cash depends on many externally influenced factors, including demand for our services, the availability of projects at margins acceptable to us, the ultimate collectability of our receivables, our ability to borrow on our credit facility, and our ability to raise funds in the capital markets, among many other factors. We anticipate that the combination of cash on hand, cash flows from operations and available capacity under our credit facility will provide sufficient cash to enable us to meet our working capital needs, debt service requirements and capital expenditures for property and equipment through the next 12 months. We expect our capital expenditures will range from $110 million to $130 million for the year ending on September 30, 2026.
RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
We report our operating results across our four operating segments: Communications, Residential, Infrastructure Solutions and Commercial & Industrial. Expenses associated with our corporate office are classified separately. The following table presents selected historical results of operations of IES, as well as the results of acquired businesses from the dates acquired.
Year Ended September 30,
(Dollars in thousands, Percentage of revenues)
Revenues
Cost of services
Gross profit
Selling, general and administrative expenses
Contingent consideration
Gain on sale of assets
Operating income
Interest and other (income) expense, net
Income from operations before income taxes and equity method investment income
Provision for income taxes
Equity method investment income
Net income
Net income attributable to noncontrolling interest
Net income attributable to IES Holdings, Inc.
2025 Compared to 2024
Consolidated revenues for the year ended September 30, 2025, were $487.1 million higher than for the year ended September 30, 2024, an increase of 16.9%, with increases in our Communications, Infrastructure Solutions and Commercial & Industrial operating segments, partly offset by a decrease in our Residential segment. See further discussion below of changes in revenues for our individual segments.
Our overall gross profit percentage increased to 25.5% during the year September 30, 2025, as compared to 24.2% during the year ended September 30, 2024. Gross profit as a percentage of revenue increased at our Communications, Infrastructure Solutions and Commercial & Industrial operating segments and decreased at our Residential segment. See further discussion below of changes in gross margin for our individual segments.
Selling, general and administrative expenses include costs not directly associated with performing work for our customers. These costs consist primarily of compensation and benefits related to corporate, business segment and branch management (including incentive-based compensation), occupancy and utilities, training, professional services, information technology costs, consulting fees, travel and certain types of depreciation and amortization. We allocate certain corporate selling, general and administrative costs across our segments as we believe this more accurately reflects the costs associated with operating each segment.
During the year ended September 30, 2025, our selling, general and administrative expenses were $475.0 million, an increase of $78.3 million, or 19.7%, over the year ended September 30, 2024, driven by increased personnel costs and higher incentive compensation across our business as a result of higher earnings, as well as continued investment in the scalability of the business. Selling, general and administrative expenses as a percentage of revenue were 14.1% for the year ended September 30, 2025 compared to 13.8% for the year ended September 30, 2024.
2024 Compared to 2023
Consolidated revenues for the year ended September 30, 2024, were $507.1 million higher than for the year ended September 30, 2023, an increase of 21.3%, with increases at all of our operating segments. See further discussion below of changes in revenues for our individual segments.
Our overall gross profit percentage increased to 24.2% during the year September 30, 2024, as compared to 18.7% during the year ended September 30, 2023. Gross profit as a percentage of revenue increased at all four of our operating segments. See further discussion below of changes in gross margin for our individual segments.
During the year ended September 30, 2024, our selling, general and administrative expenses were $396.7 million, an increase of $98.1 million, or 32.8%, over the year ended September 30, 2023, driven by increased personnel costs, primarily at our Residential operating segment, and higher incentive compensation across our business as a result of higher earnings. Selling, general and administrative expenses as a percentage of revenue increased to 13.8% for the year ended September 30, 2024 from 12.6% for the year ended September 30, 2023.
Our results for the year ended September 30, 2023 included a pretax gain of $13.0 million from the sale of STR Mechanical, LLC (“STR”), which previously operated as part of our Commercial & Industrial segment, on October 7, 2022.
Communications
2025 Compared to 2024
Year Ended September 30,
(Dollars in thousands, Percentage of revenues)
Revenues
Cost of services
Gross Profit
Selling, general and administrative expenses
Gain on sale of assets
Operating Income
Revenue. Our Communications segment’s revenues increased by $364.2 million, or 46.9%, during the year ended September 30, 2025, compared to the year ended September 30, 2024. This increase primarily resulted from increased demand from our data center customers, coupled with continued strong demand from high-tech manufacturing and e-commerce distribution center customers.
Gross Profit. Our Communications segment’s gross profit during the year ended September 30, 2025, increased $112.0 million, or 73.4%, as compared to the year ended September 30, 2024. Gross profit as a percentage of revenue increased from 19.7% for the year ended September 30, 2024 to 23.2% for the year ended September 30, 2025. The increase in gross profit and gross profit as a percentage of revenue primarily reflects increased volume, successful project execution, favorable contract pricing and the impact of a more disciplined bidding process.
Selling, General and Administrative Expenses. Our Communications segment’s selling, general and administrative expenses increased $32.4 million, or 49.3%, during the year ended September 30, 2025, as compared to the year ended September 30, 2024. The increase is a result of higher personnel costs including higher incentive compensation as a result of higher earnings, as well as continued investment in an organizational structure that will enhance the scalability of our business. Selling, general and administrative expenses as a percentage of revenue in the Communications segment were 8.6% during the year ended September 30, 2025, compared to 8.5% for the year ended September 30, 2024.
2024 Compared to 2023
Year Ended September 30,
(Dollars in thousands, Percentage of revenues)
Revenues
Cost of services
Gross Profit
Selling, general and administrative expenses
(Gain) loss on sale of assets
Operating Income
Revenue. Our Communications segment’s revenues increased by $175.7 million, or 29.2%, during the year ended September 30, 2024, compared to the year ended September 30, 2023. This increase primarily resulted from increased demand from our data center, high-tech manufacturing and e-commerce distribution center customers.
Gross Profit. Our Communications segment’s gross profit during the year ended September 30, 2024, increased $46.8 million, or 44.2%, as compared to the year ended September 30, 2023. Gross profit as a percentage of revenue increased from 17.6% for the year ended September 30, 2023 to 19.7% for the year ended September 30, 2024. The increase in gross profit and gross profit as a percentage of revenue primarily reflects increased volume, successful project execution, favorable contract pricing and the impact of a more disciplined bidding process.
Selling, General and Administrative Expenses. Our Communications segment’s selling, general and administrative expenses increased $11.4 million, or 21.0%, during the year ended September 30, 2024, as compared to the year ended September 30, 2023. The increase is a result of higher personnel costs including higher incentive compensation as a result of higher earnings, investment in an organizational structure that will enhance the scalability of our business, and higher wages in an increasingly competitive labor market. Selling, general and administrative expenses as a percentage of revenue in the Communications segment were 8.5% during the year ended September 30, 2024, compared to 9.0% for the year ended September 30, 2023.
Residential
2025 Compared to 2024
Year Ended September 30,
(Dollars in thousands, Percentage of revenues)
Revenues
Cost of services
Gross Profit
Selling, general and administrative expenses
Contingent consideration
Gain on sale of assets
Operating Income
Revenue. Our Residential segment’s revenues decreased by $84.5 million, or 6.1%, during the year ended September 30, 2025, as compared to the year ended September 30, 2024. Revenue in our single-family electrical business decreased by $66.7 million, resulting from a decrease in new housing starts in most of our key markets. Consumer demand in the single-family housing market was impacted by concerns over housing affordability and general economic conditions, leading to a decline in construction volumes and pressure on pricing for the year ended September 30, 2025. Multi-family and other revenue decreased by $18.6 million, as the pace of new multi-family projects has been affected by prolonged elevated interest rates. Revenue in our plumbing and HVAC business decreased by $0.9 million, as the impact of a decrease in housing starts was largely offset by expansion of these trades into new markets.
Gross Profit. During the year ended September 30, 2025, our Residential segment gross profit decreased by $28.0 million, or 7.7%, as compared to the year ended September 30, 2024, and gross margin as a percentage of revenue decreased to 25.8% during the year
ended September 30, 2025 from 26.2% for the year ended September 30, 2024. The decrease in profitability was driven primarily by a decline in construction volumes as discussed above and pricing pressures as single-family home builders reduced their pricing in response to weaker demand, and in turn requested price concessions from their suppliers.
Selling, General and Administrative Expenses. Our Residential segment's selling, general and administrative expenses increased by $4.4 million, or 1.9%, during the year ended September 30, 2025, compared to the year ended September 30, 2024. The increase was driven primarily increased investment in technology and other resources to support future growth of the business, partly offset by reduced incentive profit sharing for division management resulting from lower earnings. Selling, general and administrative expenses as a percentage of revenue in the Residential segment increased to 17.8% during the year ended September 30, 2025, from 16.4% during the year ended September 30, 2024 as a decline in overall revenues as discussed above resulted in less absorption of fixed costs.
2024 Compared to 2023
Year Ended September 30,
(Dollars in thousands, Percentage of revenues)
Revenues
Cost of services
Gross Profit
Selling, general and administrative expenses
Contingent consideration
(Gain) loss on sale of assets
Operating Income
Revenue. Our Residential segment’s revenues increased by $109.3 million, or 8.5%, during the year ended September 30, 2024, as compared to the year ended September 30, 2023. The increase was primarily driven by an $81.0 million increase in revenues from our plumbing and HVAC business as we expanded our offerings during the year ended September 30, 2024. Our single-family electrical business continued to have strong demand as revenues increased by $14.9 million, while multi-family and other revenue increased by $13.4 million resulting from continued strong demand and successful execution of existing backlog, partially offset by a reduction in activity in certain areas as we became more selective in our bidding process.
Gross Profit. During the year ended September 30, 2024, our Residential segment gross profit increased by $111.4 million, or 44.0%, as compared to the year ended September 30, 2023, and gross margin as a percentage of revenue increased to 26.2% during the year ended September 30, 2024 from 19.8% for the year ended September 30, 2023. The increase in profitability was driven primarily by improved project execution in our multi-family business, as well as the benefit of improved procurement and other processes implemented as part of the reorganization of the segment in fiscal 2023.
Selling, General and Administrative Expenses. Our Residential segment's selling, general and administrative expenses increased by $58.6 million, or 34.5%, during the year ended September 30, 2024, compared to the year ended September 30, 2023. Selling, general and administrative expenses as a percentage of revenue in the Residential segment increased to 16.4% during the year ended September 30, 2024, from 13.3% during the year ended September 30, 2023. The increase was driven primarily by higher personnel costs in connection with a reorganization of the segment's management structure in fiscal 2023 and increased incentive profit sharing for division management resulting from higher earnings.
Infrastructure Solutions
2025 Compared to 2024
Year Ended September 30,
(Dollars in thousands, Percentage of revenues)
Revenues
Cost of services
Gross Profit
Selling, general and administrative expenses
Contingent consideration
(Gain) loss on sale of assets
Operating Income
Revenue. Revenues in our Infrastructure Solutions segment increased by $147.6 million, or 42.0% during the year ended September 30, 2025 compared to the year ended September 30, 2024. The increase in revenues was driven primarily by continued strong demand and expanded capacity in our custom engineered solutions businesses. Acquisitions completed during the fiscal year contributed revenues of $15.1 million in the year ended September 30, 2025. In addition, the year ended September 30, 2025 included a full year of revenue contribution from Greiner Industries, Inc. (“Greiner”), which was acquired on April 1, 2024, compared to six months of revenue contribution in the year ended September 30, 2024.
Gross Profit . Our Infrastructure Solutions segment’s gross profit for the year ended September 30, 2025 increased by $66.2 million, or 62.8%, as compared to the year ended September 30, 2024, primarily resulting from higher volumes, improved pricing and operating efficiencies at our custom engineered solutions manufacturing facilities as well as the impact of investments to increase capacity we have made over the last several years. Gross profit as a percent of revenue increased to 34.4% for the year ended September 30, 2025 compared to 30.0% for the year ended September 30, 2024.
Selling, General and Administrative Expenses. Our Infrastructure Solutions segment’s selling, general and administrative expenses during the year ended September 30, 2025, increased $14.4 million, or 38.6%, compared to the year ended September 30, 2024, primarily as a result of increased employee compensation cost to support growth in the business, in part due to acquisitions completed during fiscal 2025, and increased incentive profit sharing resulting from higher earnings. In addition, the year ended September 30, 2025 included a full year of expenses related to Greiner compared to six months of expenses in the year ended September 30, 2024. Selling, general and administrative expenses as a percentage of revenue decreased from 10.7% for the year ended September 30, 2024, to 10.4% for the year ended September 30, 2025 as we benefited from the scale of our operations.
2024 Compared to 2023
Year Ended September 30,
(Dollars in thousands, Percentage of revenues)
Revenues
Cost of services
Gross Profit
Selling, general and administrative expenses
Contingent consideration
Gain on sale of assets
Operating Income
Revenue. Revenues in our Infrastructure Solutions segment increased by $133.7 million, or 61.5% during the year ended September 30, 2024 compared to the year ended September 30, 2023. The increase in revenues was driven primarily by continued strong demand in our custom engineered solutions manufacturing businesses. We also acquired Greiner on April 1, 2024, which contributed $34.0 million in revenue in the year ended September 30, 2024.
Gross Profit . Our Infrastructure Solutions segment’s gross profit for the year ended September 30, 2024 increased by $50.9 million, or 93.5%, as compared to the year ended September 30, 2023, primarily resulting from higher volumes, improved pricing and operating
efficiencies at our custom engineered solutions manufacturing facilities as well as the impact of investments to increase capacity we have made over the last several years. Gross profit as a percent of revenue increased to 30.0% for the year ended September 30, 2024 compared to 25.1% for the year ended September 30, 2023.
Selling, General and Administrative Expenses. Our Infrastructure Solutions segment’s selling, general and administrative expenses during the year ended September 30, 2024, increased $11.1 million, or 42.4%, compared to the year ended September 30, 2023, primarily as a result of increased employee compensation cost to support growth in the business, in part due to the acquisition of Greiner in April 2024, and increased incentive profit sharing resulting from higher earnings. Selling, general and administrative expenses as a percentage of revenue decreased from 12.1% for the year ended September 30, 2023, to 10.7% for the year ended September 30, 2024 as we benefited from the scale of our operations.
Gain on Sale of Assets. Our results for the year ended September 30, 2023 included a $1.0 million gain from the sale of a portion of the property on which one of our operating facilities is located. The sale of this excess land will have no impact on the operations of the facility.
Commercial & Industrial
2025 Compared to 2024
Year Ended September 30,
(Dollars in thousands, Percentage of revenues)
Revenues
Cost of services
Gross Profit
Selling, general and administrative expenses
Gain on sale of assets
Operating Income
Revenue. Revenues in our Commercial & Industrial segment increased $59.8 million, or 16.2%, during the year ended September 30, 2025, compared to the year ended September 30, 2024. The increase was primarily driven by increased activity in the education and healthcare end markets, continued strong demand and successful execution in the data center end market, and the expansion of one of our operations in the Midwest market.
Gross Profit . Our Commercial & Industrial segment’s gross profit during the year ended September 30, 2025 increased by $12.7 million, or 17.1%, as compared to the year ended September 30, 2024. Gross profit as a percentage of revenue was 20.3% for the year ended September 30, 2025 compared to 20.2% for the year ended September 30, 2024. Segment results in the year ended September 30, 2025 and 2024 benefited from favorable project execution and additions to the original scope of work at favorable margins on large data center projects.
Selling, General and Administrative Expenses. Our Commercial & Industrial segment’s selling, general and administrative expenses during the year ended September 30, 2025 increased $6.8 million, or 20.6%, compared to the year ended September 30, 2024. The increase was driven primarily by increased employee compensation cost, including higher incentive compensation as a result of higher earnings. As a percentage of r evenue, s elling, general and administrative expenses increased from 8.9% during the year September 30, 2024 to 9.3% during the year ended September 30, 2025.
2024 Compared to 2023
Year Ended September 30,
(Dollars in thousands, Percentage of revenues)
Revenues
Cost of services
Gross Profit
Selling, general and administrative expenses
Gain on sale of assets
Operating Income
Revenue. Revenues in our Commercial & Industrial segment increased $88.4 million, or 31.6%, during the year ended September 30, 2024, compared to the year ended September 30, 2023. The increase primarily relates to a large data center project.
Gross Profit . Our Commercial & Industrial segment’s gross profit during the year ended September 30, 2024 increased by $42.9 million, or 137.1%, as compared to the year ended September 30, 2023, and gross profit as a percentage of revenue increased from 11.2% for the year ended September 30, 2023 to 20.2% for the year ended September 30, 2024. Segment results in the year ended September 30, 2024 benefited from favorable project execution and additions to the original scope of work at favorable margins on the large data center project, improved project execution across the business, improving bid margins in certain markets, and a more selective bidding strategy implemented in the prior year.
Selling, General and Administrative Expenses. Our Commercial & Industrial segment’s selling, general and administrative expenses during the year ended September 30, 2024 increased $7.7 million, or 30.5%, compared to the year ended September 30, 2023. The increase was driven primarily by increased employee compensation cost, including higher incentive compensation as a result of higher earnings. Selling, general and administrative expenses as a percentage of revenue was 9.0% and 8.9% in the years ended September 30, 2023 and 2024, respectively.
Gain on Sale of Assets . As discussed above, our results for the year ended September 30, 2023 include a pretax gain on sale of $13.0 million from the sale of STR in October 2022.
INTEREST AND OTHER EXPENSE, NET
Year Ended September 30,
(In thousands)
Interest expense
Deferred financing charges
Total interest expense
Interest income
Other income, net
Total other income, net
Total interest expense and other income, net
During the year ended September 30, 2025, we incurred interest expense of $1.8 million primarily comprised of interest expense on our finance lease agreements and fees on an average letter of credit balance of $5.5 million under our revolving credit facility and an average unused line of credit balance of $248.7 million. The increase in interest expense in the year ended September 30, 2025 compared to the year ended September 30, 2024 was primarily the result of a higher average unused line of credit balance compared to the prior year resulting from an increased maximum revolver amount under the amended credit agreement entered into on January 21, 2025 and increased amortization of capitalized debt issuance costs related to the new amended credit agreement. Total other income, net of $12.2 million in the year ended September 30, 2025 was primarily the result of interest income of $2.9 million and unrealized gains on investments in trading securities of $7.5 million.
During the year ended September 30, 2024, we incurred interest expense of $1.3 million primarily comprised of interest expense on our finance lease agreements and fees on an average letter of credit balance of $5.5 million under our revolving credit facility and an
average unused line of credit balance of $144.5 million. The reduction in interest expense in the year ended September 30, 2024 compared to the year ended September 30, 2023 was a result of a decrease in average outstanding borrowings under our revolving credit facility, which had no outstanding balance during the year ended September 30, 2024. Total other income, net of $5.1 million in the year ended September 30, 2024 was primarily the result of interest income of $4.0 million and unrealized gains on investments in trading securities of $1.8 million.
During the year ended September 30, 2023, we incurred interest expense of $3.0 million primarily comprised of interest expense on an
average outstanding balance of $26.9 million under our revolving credit facility and on our finance lease agreements, in addition to
fees on an average letter of credit balance of $4.7 million under our revolving credit facility and an average unused line of credit
balance of $117.8 million. Total other income, net of $1.8 million in the year ended September 30, 2023 was primarily the result of gains on investments in equity securities of $1.0 million.
PROVISION FOR INCOME TAXES
For the year ended September 30, 2025, we recorded income tax expense of $96.8 million, which reflects a higher pretax income than in the year ended September 30, 2024, partially offset by $11.1 million of non-cash tax benefits from the recognition of previously unrecognized tax benefits in fiscal 2025.
For the year ended September 30, 2024, we recorded income tax expense of $72.2 million, which reflects a higher pretax income than in the year ended September 30, 2023, partially offset by $5.5 million of non-cash tax benefits from the recognition of previously unrecognized tax benefits in fiscal 2024.
For the year ended September 30, 2023, we recorded income tax expense of $38.8 million.
WORKING CAPITAL
During the year ended September 30, 2025, working capital exclusive of cash increased by $76.6 million from September 30, 2024, reflecting a $187.4 million increase in current assets excluding cash partially offset by a $110.9 million increase in current liabilities during the period.
During the year ended September 30, 2025, our current assets exclusive of cash increased to $958.3 million, as compared to $770.9 million as of September 30, 2024. The increase was primarily driven by a $92.5 million increase in accounts receivable including retainage due to higher overall volume of sales and the timing of customer billings and project execution at the end of the year. Marketable securities also increased by $69.6 million as a portion of our excess cash was invested in trading securities. In addition, costs and estimated earnings in excess of billings increased by $9.1 million, driven by the timing of contract billings, and inventory increased by $9.8 million primarily due to acquisitions completed during the year ended September 30, 2025.
During the year ended September 30, 2025, our total current liabilities increased by $110.9 million to $633.4 million, compared to $522.6 million as of September 30, 2024, driven by a $93.1 million increase in accounts payable and accrued expenses primarily as a result of increased activity and the timing of payments across all of our operating segments and a $17.8 million increase in contract billings in excess of costs and estimated earnings, which varies based on the timing of contract billings on projects on which revenue is recognized using the percentage of completion method.
Surety
Many customers, particularly in connection with new construction, require us to post performance and payment bonds issued by a surety. These bonds provide a guarantee to the customer that we will perform under the terms of our contract and that we will pay our subcontractors and vendors. If we fail to perform under the terms of our contract or to pay subcontractors and vendors, the customer may demand that the surety make payments or provide services under the bond. We must reimburse the sureties for any expenses or outlays they incur on our behalf. To date, we have not been required to make any reimbursements to our sureties for bond-related costs.
As is common in the surety industry, sureties issue bonds on a project-by-project basis and can decline to issue bonds at any time. We believe that our relationships with our sureties will allow us to provide surety bonds as they are required. However, current market conditions, as well as changes in our sureties' assessment of our operating and financial risk, could cause our sureties to decline to issue bonds for our work. If our sureties decline to issue bonds for our work, our alternatives will include posting other forms of collateral for project performance, such as letters of credit or cash, seeking bonding capacity from other sureties, or engaging in more projects that do not require surety bonds. In addition, if we are awarded a project for which a surety bond is required but we are unable to obtain a surety bond, the result could be a claim for damages by the customer for the costs of replacing us with another contractor.
We believe the bonding capacity currently provided by our sureties is adequate for our current operations and will be adequate for our operations for the foreseeable future. As of September 30, 2025, the estimated cost to complete our bonded projects was approximately $199.8 million.
LIQUIDITY AND CAPITAL RESOURCES
As of September 30, 2025, we had cash and cash equivalents of $127.2 million and $294.5 million of availability under our revolving credit facility. We anticipate that the combination of cash on hand, cash flows from operations and available capacity under our revolving credit facility will provide sufficient cash to enable us to meet our working capital needs, debt service requirements and capital expenditures for property and equipment through the next twelve months. Our ability to generate cash flow is dependent on many factors, including demand for our services, the availability of projects at margins acceptable to us, the ultimate collectability of our receivables, and our ability to borrow on our revolving credit facility or raise funds in the capital markets, if needed.
The Revolving Credit Facility
On January 21, 2025, we entered into the Fourth Amended and Restated Credit Agreement (the “Amended Credit Agreement”). Pursuant to the Amended Credit Agreement, our maximum revolver amount increased from $150 million to $300 million, and the maturity date was extended from September 30, 2026 to January 21, 2030. In addition, the limitation on borrowings based on available collateral under the previous credit agreement was eliminated under the Amended Credit Agreement.
Under the Amended Credit Agreement, the Company is subject to certain financial covenants including a maximum Consolidated Total Leverage Ratio (as defined in the Amended Credit Agreement) of 3.00 to 1.00 and a minimum Consolidated Interest Coverage Ratio (as defined in the Amended Credit Agreement) of 3.00 to 1.00. As of September 30, 2025, the Company was in compliance with the financial covenants under the Amended Credit Agreement.
Amounts outstanding bear interest at a rate equal to either (1) the Base Rate (which is the greater of the Federal Funds Rate (as defined in the Amended Credit Agreement) and the Prime Rate (as defined in the Amended Credit Agreement)), (2) the Daily Simple SOFR (as defined in the Amended Credit Agreement) or (3) Term SOFR (as defined in the Amended Credit Agreement), plus, in each case, an interest rate margin, which is determined quarterly based on our Consolidated Total Leverage Ratio, in accordance with the following thresholds:
Pricing Level
Consolidated Total Leverage Ratio
Interest Margin applicable to Daily Simple SOFR/Term SOFR
Interest Margin applicable to Base Rate
Greater than or equal to 2.50 to 1.00
2.25 percentage points
1.25 percentage points
Greater than or equal to 1.75 to 1.00, but less than 2.50 to 1.00
2.00 percentage points
1.00 percentage points
III
Greater than or equal to 1.00 to 1.00, but less than 1.75 to 1.00
1.75 percentage points
0.75 percentage points
Less than 1.00 to 1.00
1.50 percentage points
0.50 percentage points
In addition, we are charged monthly in arrears for an unused commitment fee of 0.25% to 0.35% per annum on any unused portion of the revolving credit facility based on the Company's Consolidated Total Leverage Ratio.
The Amended Credit Agreement restricts certain types of transactions when the Company’s Consolidated Total Leverage Ratio, after giving pro forma effect thereto, exceeds 2.75 to 1.00. The Amended Credit Agreement continues to contain other customary affirmative and negative covenants as well as events of default.
Under the Amended Credit Agreement, if in the future our Consolidated Total Leverage Ratio is greater than 3.00:1.00, or our Consolidated Interest Coverage Ratio is less than 3.00:1.00, or if we otherwise fail to perform or otherwise comply with certain of our covenants or other agreements under the Amended Credit Agreement, it would result in an event of default under the Amended Credit Agreement, which could result in some or all of our then-outstanding indebtedness becoming immediately due and payable.
At September 30, 2025, we had $5.5 million in outstanding letters of credit and no outstanding borrowings under our revolving credit facility.
Investments
From time to time, the Company invests in non-controlling positions in the debt or equity securities of other businesses. Our Board of Directors has approved an investment policy that, after taking into consideration the liquidity required to support and invest in the Company's operations, permits the Company to invest in marketable securities, including equities and fixed income securities that can
be easily bought and sold on a public market, and non-marketable securities, including equity and fixed income investments in private companies as well as private investments in public companies, subject to size limits and required approvals for certain investments.
Operating Activities
Our cash flow from operations is not only influenced by cyclicality, demand for our services, operating margins and the type of services we provide, but can also be influenced by working capital needs such as the timing of our receivable collections. Working capital needs are generally lower during our fiscal first and second quarters due to the seasonality that we experience in many regions of the country; however, a seasonal decline in working capital may be offset by needs associated with higher growth or acquisitions.
Operating activities provided net cash of $286.1 million during the year ended September 30, 2025, as compared to $234.4 million of net cash provided in the year ended September 30, 2024. The increase in operating cash flow resulted primarily from increased earnings partially offset by an increase in cash used in working capital during the year ended September 30, 2025 compared to the year ended September 30, 2024.
Operating activities provided net cash of $234.4 million during the year ended September 30, 2024, as compared to $153.9 million of net cash provided in the year ended September 30, 2023. The increase in operating cash flow resulted primarily from increased earnings partially offset by an increase in cash used in working capital during the year ended September 30, 2024 compared to the year ended September 30, 2023.
Investing Activities
Net cash used in investing activities was $163.7 million for the year ended September 30, 2025, compared to $108.8 million of net cash used in investing activities in the year ended September 30, 2024. During the year ended September 30, 2025, we had capital expenditures of $67.3 million as we continued to invest in equipment to increase the manufacturing capacity of our Infrastructure Solutions segment's operations, warehouse capacity and equipment for our Communications segment primarily in support of our data center customers, and other capital expenditures to support the growth of our business. We also paid $52.4 million in conjunction with business combinations. Additionally, we paid $44.9 million to acquire a membership interest in Jett Texas Company LLC (“Jett”), an investment company, as part of the financing of Jett's investment in the CB&I storage solutions business.
Net cash used in investing activities was $108.8 million for the year ended September 30, 2024, compared to $2.8 million of net cash provided by investing activities in the year ended September 30, 2023. During the year ended September 30, 2024, we completed the acquisition of Greiner for $67.0 million. We also had capital expenditures of $45.2 million as we acquired new facilities to increase the manufacturing capacity of our Infrastructure Solutions segment's operations, purchased new assets instead of entering into new lease agreements at our Residential and Communications segments, and made other capital expenditures to support the growth of our business. During the year ended September 30, 2023, the sale of assets, including the sale of STR, provided cash of $20.6 million, which was partially offset by capital expenditures of $17.7 million.
Financing Activities
Net cash used in financing activities was $96.1 million in the year ended September 30, 2025. Net cash used in financing activities for the year ended September 30, 2025 included $41.6 million used for the repurchase of our common stock, including repurchases to satisfy statutory withholding requirements upon the vesting of employee stock compensation, $40.0 million paid to acquire the 20 percent noncontrolling interest in Edmonson Electric, LLC, and distributions to noncontrolling interests of $8.6 million.
Net cash used in financing activities was $100.5 million in the year ended September 30, 2024. Net cash used in financing activities for the year ended September 30, 2024 included $44.0 million used for the repurchase of our common stock, including repurchases to satisfy statutory withholding requirements upon the vesting of employee stock compensation, $32.0 million paid to acquire the 20 percent noncontrolling interest in Bayonet Plumbing, Heating & Air-Conditioning, LLC, and distributions to noncontrolling interests of $16.2 million.
Net cash used in financing activities was $105.8 million in the year ended September 30, 2023. Net cash used in financing activities
for the year ended September 30, 2023 included net repayments on our credit facility of $82.7 million, distributions to noncontrolling
interests of $11.5 million, and $8.3 million used for the repurchase of our common stock, including repurchases to satisfy statutory withholding requirements upon the vesting of employee stock compensation.
CONTROLLING SHAREHOLDER
Tontine Associates, L.L.C. ("Tontine Associates"), together with its affiliates (collectively, "Tontine") is the Company's controlling stockholder, owning approximately 54 percent of the Company’s outstanding common stock based on a Form 4 and a Schedule 13D/A filed by Tontine with the SEC on September 17, 2025 and the Company's shares outstanding as of November 17, 2025. Accordingly, Tontine has the ability to exercise significant control over our affairs, including the election of directors and most actions requiring the approval of shareholders.
The Company is a party to a sublease agreement with Tontine Associates, for corporate office space in Greenwich, Connecticut. In December 2022, the Company entered into an amendment of the sublease agreement, which was set to terminate on February 28, 2023, to extend the term of the agreement through August 31, 2024 and to increase the monthly payments from approximately $8 thousand to approximately $9 thousand effective March 1, 2023. On August 1, 2024, the Company entered into an amendment of the sublease agreement to extend the term of the agreement through September 30, 2025, effective September 1, 2024. On August 1, 2025, the Company entered into an amendment of the sublease agreement to extend the term of the agreement through September 30, 2026. Payments by the Company are at a rate consistent with that paid by Tontine Associates to its landlord.
On December 6, 2018, the Company entered into a Board Observer Letter Agreement (the "Observer Agreement") with Tontine Associates in order to assist Tontine in managing its investment in the Company. Subject to the terms and conditions set forth in the Observer Agreement, the Company granted Tontine the right, at any time that Tontine holds at least 20% of the outstanding common stock of the Company, to appoint a representative to serve as an observer to the Board (the “Board Observer”). The Board Observer, who shall serve at the discretion of and must be reasonably acceptable to those members of the Board who are not affiliates of Tontine, shall have no voting rights or other decision making authority. Subject to the terms and conditions set forth in the Observer Agreement, so long as Tontine has the right to appoint a Board Observer, the Board Observer will have the right to attend and participate in meetings of the Board and the committees thereof, subject to confidentiality requirements, and to receive reimbursement for reasonable out-of-pocket expenses incurred in his or her capacity as a Board Observer and such rights to coverage under the Company’s directors’ and officers’ liability insurance policy as are available to directors.
Jeffrey L. Gendell was appointed Executive Chairman of the Company effective July 1, 2025 after serving as Chief Executive Officer of the Company from October 1, 2020 to June 30, 2025, and as the Company's Interim Chief Executive Officer from July 31, 2020 to September 30, 2020. Mr. Gendell has also served as a director and as Chairman of the Board of Directors since November 2016. He is the managing member and founder of Tontine, and the brother of David B. Gendell, who has served as a member of our Board of Directors since February 2012, and who previously served as Interim Director of Operations from November 2017 to January 2019, as Vice Chairman of the Board from November 2016 to November 2017 and as Chairman of the Board from January 2015 to November 2016. David B. Gendell was an employee of Tontine from 2004 until January 2018.
OFF-BALANCE SHEET ARRANGEMENTS AND CONTRACTUAL OBLIGATIONS
As is common in our industry, we have entered into certain off-balance sheet arrangements that expose us to increased risk. Our significant off-balance sheet transactions include letter of credit obligations, firm commitments for materials and surety guarantees.
Some of the underwriters of our casualty insurance program require us to post letters of credit as collateral, as is common in the insurance industry. To date, we have not had a situation where an underwriter has had reasonable cause to effect payment under a letter of credit. At September 30, 2025, $5.5 million of our outstanding letters of credit were to collateralize our insurance programs.
From time to time, we may enter into firm purchase commitments for materials such as copper wire and aluminum wire, which we expect to use in the ordinary course of business. These commitments are typically for terms of less than one year and require us to buy minimum quantities of materials at specified intervals at a fixed price over the term. As of September 30, 2025, we had firm commitments of $13.4 million outstanding under agreements to purchase materials over the next 12 months in the ordinary course of business.
Many of our customers require us to post performance and payment bonds issued by a surety. Those bonds guarantee the customer that we will perform under the terms of a contract and that we will pay subcontractors and vendors. In the event that we fail to perform under a contract or pay subcontractors and vendors, the customer may demand the surety to pay or perform under our bond. Our relationship with our sureties is such that we will indemnify the sureties for any expenses they incur in connection with any of the bonds they issue on our behalf and may be required to post collateral to support the bonds. To date, we have not incurred any material costs to indemnify our sureties for expenses they incurred on our behalf.
CRITICAL ACCOUNTING POLICIES
The discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations are based on our Consolidated Financial Statements, which have been prepared in accordance with GAAP. The preparation of our Consolidated Financial Statements requires us to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, disclosures of contingent assets and liabilities known to exist as of the date the Consolidated Financial Statements, and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses recognized during the periods presented. We review all significant estimates affecting our Consolidated Financial Statements on a recurring basis and record the effect of any necessary adjustments prior to their publication. Judgments and estimates are based on our beliefs and assumptions derived from information available at the time such judgments and estimates are made. Uncertainties with respect to such estimates and assumptions are inherent in the preparation of financial statements. There can be no assurance that actual results will not differ from those estimates.
Accordingly, we have identified the accounting principles which we believe are most critical to our reported financial status by considering accounting policies that involve the most complex or subjective decisions or assessments. We identified our most critical accounting policies to be those related to revenue recognition, accounting for business combinations, and estimation of the valuation allowance for deferred tax assets and unrecognized tax benefits. These accounting policies, as well as others, are described in Note 2, “Summary of Significant Accounting Policies” in the notes to our Consolidated Financial Statements and at relevant sections in this discussion and analysis.
Revenue Recognition. We enter into contracts principally on the basis of competitive bids. We frequently negotiate the final terms and prices of those contracts with the customer. Although the terms of our contracts vary considerably, approximately 87.1% of our revenues are based on either a fixed price or unit price basis in which we agree to do the work for a fixed amount for the entire project (fixed price) or for units of work performed (unit price). Approximately 12.9% of our revenues are earned from contracts where we are paid on a time and materials basis. Our most significant cost drivers are the cost of labor and materials. These costs may vary from the costs we originally estimated. Variations from estimated contract costs along with other risks inherent in performing fixed price and unit price contracts may result in actual revenue and gross profits or interim projected revenue and gross profits for a project differing from those we originally estimated and could result in losses on projects. Depending on the size of a particular project, variations from estimated project costs could have a significant impact on our operating results for any fiscal quarter or year.
We complete most of our projects within one year. We frequently provide service and maintenance work under open-ended, unit price master service agreements which are renewable annually. We recognize revenue on service, time and material work when services are performed. Work performed under a construction contract generally provides that the customers accept completion of progress to date and compensate us for services rendered, measured in terms of units installed, hours expended or some other measure of progress. Revenues from construction contracts are recognized on the percentage-of-completion method. Revenues recognized on a percentage-of-completion basis, all of which are fixed price or cost plus arrangements, comprised approximately 64% of our total revenue for the year ended September 30, 2025. The percentage-of-completion method for construction contracts is measured principally by the percentage of costs incurred and accrued to date for each contract to the estimated total costs for each contract at completion. We generally consider contracts substantially complete upon departure from the work site and acceptance by the customer. Contract costs include all direct material and labor costs and those indirect costs related to contract performance, such as indirect labor, supplies, tools, repairs and depreciation costs. Changes in job performance, job conditions, estimated contract costs, profitability and final contract settlements may result in revisions to costs and income, and the effects of such revisions are recognized in the period in which the revisions are determined. Provisions for total estimated losses on uncompleted contracts are made in the period in which such losses are determined.
We generally do not incur significant costs related to obtaining contracts, or initial set-up or mobilization costs, prior to the start of a project. When significant pre‑contract costs are incurred, they will be capitalized and amortized on a percentage of completion basis over the life of the contract.
The current asset “Costs and estimated earnings in excess of billings” represents revenues recognized in excess of amounts billed that management believes will be billed and collected within the next twelve months. The current liability “Billings in excess of costs and estimated earnings” represents billings in excess of revenues recognized. Costs and estimated earnings in excess of billings are amounts considered recoverable from customers based on different measures of performance, including achievement of specific milestones, completion of specified units or completion of the contract. Also included in this asset, from time to time, are claims and unapproved change orders, which include amounts that we are in the process of collecting from our customers or agencies for changes in contract specifications or design, contract change orders in dispute or unapproved as to scope and price, or other related causes of unanticipated additional contract costs. Variable consideration, including claims and unapproved change orders, is estimated at either the expected probability weighted value or the most likely amount in a range of possible consideration amounts, utilizing estimation methods that best predict the amount of consideration to which we will be entitled (or will be incurred in the case of liquidated damages, if any). Claims made by us involve negotiation and, in certain cases, litigation. Such litigation costs are expensed as incurred.
Business Combinations . In accounting for business combinations, certain assumptions and estimates are employed in determining the fair value of assets acquired, evaluating the fair value of liabilities assumed, as well as in determining the allocation of goodwill to the appropriate reporting unit. These estimates may be affected by factors such as changing market conditions affecting the industries in which we operate. The most significant assumptions requiring judgment involve identifying and estimating the fair value of intangible assets and the associated useful lives for establishing amortization periods. To finalize purchase accounting for significant intangible assets and liabilities, we utilize the services of independent valuation specialists to assist in the determination of the fair value.
New Accounting Pronouncements. Recent accounting pronouncements are described in Note 2, “Summary of Significant Accounting Policies — New Accounting Pronouncements ” in the notes to our Consolidated Financial Statements and at relevant sections in this discussion and analysis.
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- Ticker
- IESC
- CIK
0001048268- Form Type
- 10-K
- Accession Number
0001048268-25-000174- Filed
- Nov 21, 2025
- Period
- Sep 30, 2025 (Q3 25)
- Industry
- Electrical Work
External resources
Permalink
https://insiderdelta.com/issuers/IESC/10-k/0001048268-25-000174