GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands, Nov. 15, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Consolidated Water Co. Ltd. (Nasdaq Global Select Market: CWCO), a leading developer and operator of advanced water supply and treatment plants, reported results for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2021. Quarterly and first nine-month comparisons are to the same year-ago period unless otherwise noted.

The company will hold a conference call at 11:00 a.m. Eastern time tomorrow to discuss the results (see dial-in information below).

Financial and Operational Highlights

• Retail revenue for the third quarter of 2021 increased 5% to $5.2 million and bulk revenue increased 13% to $6.9 million.
• For the first nine months of 2021, revenue totaled $50.2 million, which included bulk revenue up 8% to $19.8 million and services revenue up 6% to $10.5 million.
• As of September 30, 2021, cash and cash equivalents totaled $40.4 million, working capital was $69.3 million, debt was $0.2 million, with stockholders’ equity at $157.4 million.
• Paid $1.3 million in dividends in Q3 2021.
• PERC Water continued to expand its recurring revenues by signing a five-year wastewater plant maintenance services contract with a gaming and live entertainment business in Southern California.
  

Management Commentary

“The continued cessation of tourism on Grand Cayman due to the global pandemic resulted in our retail segment revenue up only about 5% compared to the same year ago quarter, on about a 1% increase in volume, yet still far below historical levels,” commented Consolidated Water CEO, Rick McTaggart. “However, our bulk water segment increased 13% to $6.9 million, performing better than anticipated.

“Our manufacturing segment revenue generated by our Aerex subsidiary decreased as a result of reduced orders from a major customer. Although it is important to note that all the manufacturing revenue we recognized for the quarter was from new customers and/or products. In fact, we generated manufacturing revenue of $3.2 million from new customers and products for the first nine months of the year. This was the result of a strengthened manufacturing sales team at Aerex, which is focused on new market sectors to diversify our product mix and customer base.

“Like many companies, our manufacturing segment has been adversely affected by supply chain challenges, including material shortages, price increases and logistical delays. This has pushed out to next year certain orders we had expected to complete in the last half of 2021. As a result, we expect revenue for our manufacturing segment for the second half of 2021 to be about equal to the first half.

“We continue to build manufacturing backlog and have refocused on the municipal water market which has been active and is expected to benefit significantly from the recently passed federal infrastructure funding bill. We are actively rebuilding our municipality relationships and sales channels, with this supporting greater revenue diversification.

“Our services revenue increased 6% to $10.5 million for the first nine months of the year, which accounted for 21% of overall revenue compared to 17% for the same year-ago period. This was driven by growth in our PERC Water subsidiary.

“During the quarter, PERC continued to grow its recurring revenues by signing a five-year contract to provide operating and maintenance services for the wastewater plant of a gaming and live entertainment business in Southern California. New project opportunities for PERC, both sole-sourced and competitively bid, continue to be strong and include bids for two major projects that were submitted in the first nine months of this year.

“We expect to hear whether PERC was selected for these projects by early next year. But based on this overall increased bidding activity that reflects strengthening market demand, we believe PERC’s performance for 2022 will exceed this year as new water treatment projects come to market after the lull due to the pandemic.

“Near the end of October, the Cayman Islands government announced that the country will reopen its borders for nearly all vaccinated travelers this Saturday, November 20th. We see the reopening as a major step toward the reopening of hotels and resorts in Grand Cayman and expect a gradual return to normalcy for our retail water segment. The Bahamas remains open to tourism, and we are seeing increased marketing activity to tourists.

“We believe our strong balance sheet and liquidity enables us to ride out the continued adverse economic impacts of the pandemic, while enabling us to fund growth initiatives. We see the increase in PERC’s bidding activity and the increased project activity in our markets as potential major catalysts for our growth in 2022 and thereafter.”

Q3 2021 Financial Summary

Revenue for the third quarter of 2021 declined by 7% to $16.4 million from $17.7 million for the third quarter of 2020. The decline reflects decreases of $141,000 in services segment revenue and $2.2 million in manufacturing segment revenue. The decrease in revenue for these segments was partially offset by an increase of $254,000 in retail segment revenue and $807,000 in bulk revenue.

Retail revenue increased due to a 1% increase in the volume of water sold by Cayman Water. The sales volumes for both 2021 and 2020 are significantly below the historical volumes for the retail segment prior to 2020 due to the continuing cessation of tourism on Grand Cayman resulting from border restrictions initiated in March 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The increase in bulk segment revenue was attributable to an increase in energy costs for CW-Bahamas, which increased the energy pass-through component of CW-Bahamas’ rates.

The decrease in services revenue was due to a decline in plant construction revenue of $525,000, partially offset by an increase of $385,000 in revenue from operating and maintenance contracts attributable to new contracts.

The decrease in manufacturing revenue for the third quarter of 2021 was due to the loss of orders from Aerex’s former largest customer.

Gross profit decreased 8% to $5.7 million for the third quarter of 2021 from $6.2 million for the same year-ago quarter, with gross profit as a percentage of revenue decreasing from 35.2% to 34.7%.

Net income from continuing operations attributable to stockholders was $1.4 million or $0.09 per basic and diluted share, compared to net income of $1.8 million or $0.12 per basic and diluted share for the third quarter of 2020.

Net income attributable to Consolidated Water stockholders for the third quarter of 2021, which includes the results of discontinued operations, was $286,000 or $0.02 per basic and fully diluted share, as compared to $1.4 million or $0.09 per basic and fully diluted share for the third quarter of 2020.

Cash and cash equivalents totaled $40.4 million as of September 30, 2021, as compared to $41.2 million as of June 30, 2021.

First Nine Months 2021 Financial Summary

Revenue for the first nine months of 2021 was $50.2 million, down 13% compared to $57.5 million for the same year-ago period. The decrease was primarily driven by decreases of $1.6 million in the retail segment and $7.7 million in the manufacturing segment. The decrease in total revenue was partially offset by increases of $1.5 million in the bulk segment and $572,000 in the services segment.

Retail revenue decreased due to the volume of water sold, which decreased by 9%. This sales volume decrease is due to the continuing cessation of tourism on Grand Cayman resulting from border restrictions initiated in March 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The decrease in manufacturing segment revenue was due to the loss of orders from Aerex’s former largest customer.

The increase in services segment revenue was due to an increase of $2.7 million in revenue from operating and maintenance contracts attributable to new contracts, which served to more than offset a decline in plant construction revenue of $2.1 million.

The increase in bulk segment revenue is attributable to an increase of 3% in the volume of water sold by CW-Bahamas and an increase in energy costs for CW-Bahamas, which increased the energy pass-through component of CW-Bahamas’ rates.

Gross profit for the first nine months of 2021 was $17.9 million or 35.6% of total revenue, down 19% from $22.0 million or 38.2% of total revenue for the same year-ago period.

Net income from continuing operations attributable to stockholders for the first nine months of 2021 was $1.2 million or $0.07 per basic and diluted share, compared to net income of $7.6 million or $0.50 per diluted share for the same year-ago period.

Net loss attributable to Consolidated Water stockholders for the first nine months of 2021, which includes the results of discontinued operations, was $390,000 or $(0.03) per basic and fully diluted share, down from net income of $3.2 million or $0.21 per basic and fully diluted share for the same year-ago period.

Third Quarter Segment Results

First Nine Months Segment Results

Conference Call

Consolidated Water management will host a conference call tomorrow to discuss these results, followed by a question-and-answer period.

Date: Tuesday, November 16, 2021
Time: 11:00 a.m. Eastern time (8:00 a.m. Pacific time)
Toll-free dial-in number: 1-844-875-6913
International dial-in number: 1-412-317-6709
Conference ID: 10161781

Please call the conference telephone number five minutes prior to the start time. An operator will register your name and organization. If you have any difficulty connecting with the conference call, please contact CMA at 1-949-432-7566.

A replay of the call will be available after 1:00 p.m. Eastern time on the same day through November 23, 2021, as well as available for replay via the Investors section of the Consolidated Water website at www.cwco.com.

Toll-free replay number: 1-877-344-7529
International replay number: 1-412-317-0088
Replay ID: 10161781

About Consolidated Water Co. Ltd.
Consolidated Water Co. Ltd. develops and operates advanced water supply and treatment plants and water distribution systems. The company operates water production facilities in the Cayman Islands, The Bahamas and the British Virgin Islands and operates water treatment facilities in the United States. The company also manufactures and services a wide range of products and provides design, engineering, management, operating and other services applicable to commercial and municipal water production, supply and treatment, and industrial water and wastewater treatment. For more information, visit www.cwco.com.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release includes statements that may constitute "forward-looking" statements, usually containing the words "believe", "estimate", "project", "intend", "expect", "should", "will" or similar expressions. These statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements inherently involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements. Factors that would cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to (i) continued acceptance of the company's products and services in the marketplace; (ii) changes in its relationships with the governments of the jurisdictions in which it operates; (iii) the outcome of its negotiations with the Cayman government regarding a new retail license agreement; (iv) the collection of its delinquent accounts receivable in the Bahamas; (v) the possible adverse impact of the COVID-19 virus on the company’s business; and (vi) various other risks, as detailed in the company's periodic report filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). For more information about risks and uncertainties associated with the company’s business, please refer to the “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and “Risk Factors” sections of the company’s SEC filings, including, but not limited to, its annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, copies of which may be obtained by contacting the company’s Secretary at the company’s executive offices or at the “Investors – SEC Filings” page of the company’s website at http://ir.cwco.com/docs. Except as otherwise required by law, the company undertakes no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Company Contact:
David W. Sasnett
Executive Vice President and CFO
Tel (954) 509-8200
[email protected]

Investor & Media Relations Contact
Ron Both or Justin Lumley
CMA
Tel (949) 432-7566
Email Contact

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