Boyd Group Sales Way Up, Slight Net Loss in Q1 2015

All the acquisitions seem to be paying off—at least in their sales numbers.

The Boyd Group, parent company for Glass America, Gerber Collision & Glass and others, has increased its first quarter sales by 53.4 percent to $281.8 million (Canadian dollars) from $183.6 million in 2014.

The $98.2 million increase was largely the result of acquisitions worth $69.4 million as well as incremental sales from the acquisition of Netcost Claim Services in Chicago, according to the company. The company also added three locations in 2015 and acquired Craftmaster Autobody—which had six locations in Florida.

Same-store sales excluding foreign exchange increased $9.8 million or 5.5 percent, and increased a further $20.8 million due to the translation of same-store sales at a higher U.S. dollar exchange rate.

“We are very pleased with our results in the first quarter in 2015 which reflect the successful application of our growth strategy along with operational execution,” says Brock Bulbuck, president and CEO. “It’s important to note that severe winter weather conditions in the first quarter of last year very positively impacted our 2014 results, and surpassing them in Q1 2015 demonstrates the effectiveness of our business model and our ability to execute to achieve growth.”

But sometimes acquisitions bring a loss before a gain.

Net loss for the first quarter was $8.4 million for the company or 3 percent of sales compared to $1.7 million or 0.9 percent of sales last year.

“The loss in 2015 resulted from the fair value adjustments to financial instruments of $16 million which are primarily due to the increase in unit price during the quarter, acquisition, transaction and process improvement costs of $0.2 million and accelerated amortization of acquired brands of $0.5 million,” a company statement reads. “Excluding the impact of these adjustments, net earnings would have increased to $8.3 million or 2.9 percent of sales. This compares to adjusted earnings of $7.3 million or 4 percent of sales for the same period in 2014 if the same items were adjusted.”

“Our goal continues to be to achieve single location growth of 6 to 10% annually, which gives us a target of 19 to 32 new single locations in 2015,” says Bulbuck. “Additionally, we will remain opportunistic for multi-shop acquisitions. While competition to acquire multi-shop operations in the U.S. remains intense, we will remain disciplined and patient to only invest in those opportunities that are accretive.”