ConDig (03-May-17.) Sterling Construction Co, Inc. narrowed its losses in the first quarter of this year as revenue at the civil construction company jumped up 21%.
The Woodlands, Texas-based company posted a net loss of $2.3 million for the three months ended March 31 compared with a net loss of $7.3 million in the same period last year.
It comes as revenue increased to $153.4 million from $126.6 million in the year-ago period.
The rise comes as the company reported ramping up large projects in Utah, which are being constructed by Sterling’s majority-owned construction joint ventures, along with the increased execution on projects in Texas and Colorado, partially offset by the winding down of a large project in California.
Total backlog at the end of the first quarter was $925 million, up 12.4% from the fourth quarter. But this excluded $55 million of projects where Sterling was the apparent low bidder and the contract had not yet been signed.
Gross margin on projects in backlog averaged 8.4% compared with 7.7% for the year-ago period, while gross margin of the projects awarded in the first quarter of this year averaged more than 9%.
Sterling said it expects full-year revenues to be between $850 million and $880 million and net income attributable to Sterling common stock holders to be between $9 million and $11 million.
“We believe that our core heavy civil construction operations are well positioned to perform with consistent profitability and that the outlook for our end markets points to continued opportunities to win attractive new awards,” Joe Cutillo, Sterling’s newly appointed chief executive officer, said.
Last month, Sterling said it had completed its acquisition of Denton, Texas-based concrete construction company Tealstone Construction for about $85 million.
“We believe that the acquisition of Tealstone, a leading Texas-based concrete construction company, is a critical step in our strategy to expand into adjacent markets that can provide us with higher margin project opportunities,” said Cutillo.