Cold weather delays, added costs to P3 project hit Bird Construction’s first quarter results

MISSISSAUGA, Ont.—Bird Construction Inc. reported a net loss of $6.5 million for the first quarter of 2019 after markets closed May 7. The figure stacks up against a similar loss of $6.4 million in he same quarter of 2018.

The company earned $261.8 million in construction revenue in the first three months of the year, compared to $294.4 million a year earlier.

“The first quarter was more challenging than initially anticipated due to harsher than expected winter conditions and the resulting impact on some projects in addition to further execution issues on a [Public Private Partnership] project in an office that has now been restructured to address systemic performance issues,” Ian Boyd, the company’s president and CEO, said in a statement.

Bird said the cold weather in central Canada resulted in work on some jobs starting later than scheduled, as well as decreased productivity on others. The unnamed P3 project incurred additional costs as a result of a “design-related scope growth” and the need to accelerate spending to meet the scheduled completion date, the company said.

Boyd predicts improved performance in the months ahead.

“Looking ahead, our earnings will improve through the remainder of 2019 as the Cedar Valley Lodge and OPP Phase 2 Modernization projects come into full production by July and as our significant list of projects in pre-construction phases become contracted and construction begins,” he said. “However, the setbacks experienced in the first quarter means that the ramp up to our historical normal earnings in the range of $25 million will be delayed into 2020.”

Throughout the first quarter, the company booked $248.9 million in new contracts, keeping its backlog essentially flat at $1.28 billion compared to three months earlier. It sat at $1.3 billion at the end of Q1 2018.