Boyd CEO “Glass Acquisitions Represent Opportunity for Future”

Brock Bulbuck

More glass company acquisitions could be in Boyd Group’s future, said Brock Bulbuck, CEO. However, right now, Canadian-based Boyd Group Income Fund, parent company to Gerber Collision & Glass, Glass America and Hansen Collision and Glass, is focused on integrating the glass businesses it has acquired over the last year, Bulbuck said.

“When we acquired Netcost Claims Services (a third-party automotive glass claims distributor) it had an in-house call center,” Bulbuck explained in a company conference call Friday. “Our preexisting company, Gerber National Glass Services, outsourced its call center. The integration of those two businesses required that we ramp up resources of our in-house call center into training mode while at the same time maintaining the third-party call center. So the bottom line is that we are carrying more resources than we need to carry over the integration and transition period. That should moderate over a number of a quarters.”

Netcost is transitioning into a part of the Gerber National Glass Services brand.

“We really have not turned our attention significantly to further acquisitions in glass … but we do believe that represents an opportunity for us in the future,” Bulbuck added, when discussing the company’s year-end financials.

Full-Year Results

For 2014, Boyd’s overall sales, including the U.S. and Canada, totaled $665.36 million USD ($844.1 million CAD), up $209.51 million USD ($265.8 million CAD), or 46 percent, compared to $455.82 million USD ($578.3 million CAD) in 2013.

The glass business contributed incremental sales of $33.5 million USD ($42.5 million CAD) over the $36.88 million USD ($46.8 million CAD) contributed in the same period of the prior year. This was primarily due to the acquisitions of Glass America and Netcost, according to the company’s financial report.

Sales in the U.S. for the full year were $601.42 million USD ($763.1 million CAD), up $194.35 million USD ($246.6 million CAD), or 53.1 percent, over the same time frame in 2013. The glass business contributed $33.5 million USD ($42.5 million CAD) of incremental sales.

Net loss for the year was $12.06 million USD ($15.3 million CAD), or 1.8 percent of sales compared to $9.14 million USD ($11.6 million CAD), or 7.2 percent of sales, for the same period of 2013.

“The loss in 2014 primarily resulted from the fair value adjustments to financial instruments of $29.48  million USD ($37.4 million CAD), acquisition, transaction and process improvement costs of $4.97 million USD ($6.3 million CAD) and accelerated amortization of acquired brands of $1.26 million USD ($1.6 million CAD),” according to the company’s report.

At the end of the year, the company had total debt outstanding, net of cash, of $70.55 million USD ($89.5 million CAD), compared to $38.16 million USD ($48.4 million CAD) at the end of 2013. The increase in net debt is primarily due to the issuance of $45.33 million USD ($57.5 million CAD) in convertible debentures in September 2014, according to officials.