HOUSTON, April 6, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Orion Marine Group, Inc. (NYSE:ORN) (the "Company"), a heavy civil marine contractor serving the infrastructure sector, today is providing its investors with an update on the Company's end markets.
Market Outlook
The Company remains pleased with its end market outlook for 2015 and beyond. During the first quarter the Company bid on approximately $320 million worth of opportunities and was successful on approximately $50 million, representing a win rate of approximately 16%. The Company reminds investors that the timing and size of awards can and does affect the win rate in any particular quarter.
The Company currently has approximately $354 million worth of bids outstanding; of which the Company has been notified it is the apparent low bidder on approximately $28 million. Additionally, of the $354 million currently outstanding, approximately 60% are for private sector clients, many of which are larger design-build opportunities. As the Company has mentioned in the past, private sector design-build projects can result in the delay of the timing of awards, as the evaluation process by the client is typically longer than in the public sector. However, design build opportunities often allow the Company to bring multiple services to bear on a single project, thereby enhancing overall asset utilization when projects begin to execute. Overall, the Company remains pleased with its level of bid opportunities in its tracking database and believes there is, and will continue to be, ample opportunity to support continued growth and meets the Company's full year goals.
Federal & State Update
With funding in place for the remainder of the 2015 federal fiscal year, the Company was hopeful to see more lettings in the first quarter of the calendar year from the US Army Corps of Engineers. Initial bid letting schedules from the Corps indicated a steady amount of opportunities throughout 2015, yet only half of the opportunities expected in the Company's market areas to date have been let. However, while the total number of projects the Company expects the Corps to let in the Government's Fiscal 2015 remains the same, the bulk of the letting schedule may now be seen later than initially expected.
Congress is also expected to address the funding issues surrounding the Highway Trust Fund in the coming months, which is expected to run out of funding by May. The White House has proposed a 6 year, $478 billion bill funded through non-traditional methods that is now being considered by Congress. However, the Company believes another short-term stopgap bill to be passed prior to May, with any long-term solution delayed until sometime in the future. Despite this continued uncertainty, the Company continues to see and bid on a healthy amount of bridge construction opportunities. However, the Company believes a long-term highway bill could ease some competitive pressures through longer term visibility.
Local Update
Port expansion and infrastructure improvements continue to be a strong source of bid opportunities. The Company believes that as the use of waterborne transportation to move goods and people continues to increase, demand for deepening projects, infrastructure improvements and maintenance services will remain strong for the foreseeable future. As the expansion of the Panama Canal continues, the Company is working on and continuing to see opportunities for deepening projects and infrastructure to handle the larger ships that will soon transit the Canal.
Private Update
Private sector opportunities continue, as demand for expanded waterside infrastructure remains strong. As mentioned previously, the Company is still active in bidding on and executing capital expansion projects for private sector clients, both domestically and abroad. Demand from energy sector clients in the mid- and downstream sectors has remained steady for both capital improvement and maintenance projects. The Company believes this is a function of record levels of domestic energy production, coupled with a lack of growth in the country's refining capacity and the waterside infrastructure that supports it. Additionally, the Company continues to track and pursue opportunities for the recreational industry. As mentioned previously, over 60%, or approximately $200 million of the total amount of bids outstanding is for private sector clients. The Company believes this illustrates the continued high level of demand from the private sector for its suite of marine infrastructure solutions.
About Orion Marine Group
Orion Marine Group, Inc. provides a broad range of heavy civil marine construction and specialty services on, over and under the water in the Continental United States, Alaska, Canada and the Caribbean Basin, and acts as a single source turn-key solution for its customers' marine contracting needs. Its heavy civil marine construction services include marine transportation facility construction, marine pipeline construction, marine environmental structures, dredging of waterways, channels and ports, environmental dredging, and specialty services. The Company is headquartered in Houston, Texas.
Forward-Looking Statements
The matters discussed in this press release may constitute or include projections or other forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, the provisions of which the Company is availing itself. Certain forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology, such as 'believes', 'expects', 'may', 'will', 'could', 'should', 'seeks', 'approximately', 'intends', 'plans', 'estimates', or 'anticipates', or the negative thereof or other comparable terminology, or by discussions of strategy, plans, objectives, intentions, estimates, forecasts, assumptions, or goals. In particular, statements regarding future operations or results, including those set forth in this press release, and any other statement, express or implied, concerning future operating results or the future generation of or ability to generate revenues, income, net income, profit, EBITDA, EBITDA margin, or cash flow, including to service debt, and including any estimates, forecasts or assumptions regarding future revenues or revenue growth, are forward-looking statements. Forward looking statements also include estimated project start dates, expected project duration, estimated project completion dates, anticipated revenues, and contract options, which may or may not be awarded in the future, including the statements set forth above in this press release. Forward looking statements involve risks, including those associated with the Company's fixed price contracts, unforeseen productivity delays that may alter the final profitability of the contract, cancellation of the contract by the customer for unforeseen reasons, delays or decreases in funding by the customer, and any potential contract options, which may or may not be awarded in the future, which awards are in the sole discretion of the customer. Past performance is not necessarily an indicator of future results. In light of these and other uncertainties, the inclusion of forward-looking statements in this press release should not be regarded as a representation by the Company that the Company's plans, estimates, forecasts, goals, intentions, or objectives will be achieved or realized. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. The Company assumes no obligation to update information contained in this press release whether as a result of new developments or otherwise.
For a further discussion of these and other factors that could cause the Company's actual results to differ materially from any forward-looking statements (including our current expectations, estimates or forecasts), please refer to the risk factors described in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2014 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on February 27, 2015, and other risk factors that may be described in documents subsequently filed with the SEC from time to time by the Company. All such documents are available on the Company's website at www.orionmarinegroup.com or at the SEC's website at www.sec.gov.