WSP Reports an Increase in Revenues and EBITDA for the First Quarter of 2014

MONTREAL, QUEBEC--(Marketwired - May 13, 2014) - WSP Global Inc. (TSX:WSP) ("WSP" or the "Corporation") today announced its financial and operating results for the first quarter of 2014 covering the period from January 1, 2014 to March 29, 2014.

2014 FIRST QUARTER FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS

• Revenues and net revenues of $511.1 million and $440.6 million, up 6.8% and 8.3%, respectively, compared to Q1 2013.

• Record level backlog of $1,723.1 million and approximately 10.1 months of revenues, up $226.3 million or 15.1% compared to Q4 2013.

• EBITDA of $42.1 million up $5.0 million or 13.5% compared to the first quarter of 2013. EBITDA margin at 9.6% of net revenues, compared to 9.1% for Q1 2013.

• Net earnings attributable to shareholders excluding amortization of intangible assets related to acquisitions (net of income taxes) at $21.4 million, or $0.41 per share, up 14.4% or 13.9%, respectively, compared to Q1 2013.

• Net earnings attributable to shareholders of $17.3 million, or $0.33 per share, up 19.3% or 17.9% per share, respectively compared to the first quarter of 2013.

• Days sales outstanding ("DSO") stood at 90 days and decreased by 3 days as compared to a year earlier.

• Quarterly dividend declared of $0.375 per share, including a 43.6% Dividend Reinvestment Plan ("DRIP") participation. The Board of Directors does not anticipate any changes to the current dividend and DRIP for the remainder of the calendar year.

• Net debt to trailing twelve month EBITDA ratio at 0.8x.

2014 FIRST QUARTER OPERATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS

• Effective January 1, 2014, the Corporation reorganized its corporate structure and completed its rebranding as WSP, setting strong foundations for future growth and positioning itself as a player with a global presence.

• WSP undertook to acquire Focus Group Holdings Inc. ("Focus"), a 1,800 employee engineering and geomatics firm based in Alberta, Canada for an aggregate amount of $366.1 million. The transaction closed on April 10, 2014.

• WSP raised net proceeds of approximately $282.1 million via public bought deal and private placements and obtained an additional $200.0 million in committed credit facilities from its bank syndicate.

• WSP Canada Inc., a subsidiary of WSP, obtained certification from l'Autorité des marchés financiers ("AMF") to participate in the procurement of public contracts in the Province of Quebec.

"Our good performance and recently-completed acquisitions put us on the right path to pursue and achieve our stated 2015 corporate objectives. As we continue to remain focused on financial performance, we will in parallel, spare no efforts in building on the other pillars of our strategy," said Pierre Shoiry, President and Chief Executive Officer of WSP. "As stated in the past, we believe our performance is reflected not only in our financial results, but also in the development of our business strategies centered around our employees and clients, thus creating a high performance organization that creates long term value for all of our stakeholders. In addition, to attain our objectives, we continuously strive to align our structure with the needs of our growing organization, hence us reorganizing our corporate team," he added.

REORGANIZATION OF THE CORPORATE TEAM

As WSP continues to adapt its structure to its strategic plan objectives, WSP has also reorganized its global team:

• Paul Dollin, previously Managing Director, UK/Middle East/Africa/India/ Asia Pacific, has been promoted to the position of Chief Operating Officer. In his new role, reporting to Pierre Shoiry, Mr. Dollin will hold overall responsibility for WSP's day-to-day operations worldwide. He will lead the management teams of operating countries and work closely with the corporate team to ensure that the Corporation realizes its strategic objectives.

• WSP's Swedish operations will continue under the strong leadership of Magnus Meyer, who stepped into the role of Managing Director for Sweden two months ago, in replacement of Rikard Appelgren, Managing Director, Europe, who decided to leave the Corporation to pursue other opportunities. Mr. Appelgren will be continuing as a consultant until the end of July to assist in the transition and will also be available to support the Corporation until December 2014.

• Following the closing of Focus' acquisition, David Ackert was appointed Chief Executive Officer of WSP Canada Inc. and director of WSP's global oil and gas network. As such, Mr. Ackert will focus his efforts on overall strategic and financial growth of the Canadian market.

DIVIDEND

The Board of WSP declared a dividend of $0.375 per share. This dividend will be payable on or about July 15, 2014, to shareholders of record at the close of business on June 30, 2014.

FINANCIAL REPORT

This release includes, by reference, the 2014 first quarter financial reports, including the unaudited interim condensed consolidated financial statements and the Management's Discussion and Analysis ("MD&A") of the Corporation.

For a copy of our full financial results for the first quarter of 2014, including the MD&A and the unaudited interim condensed consolidated financial statements, please visit our website at www.wspgroup.com.

CONFERENCE CALL

WSP will hold a conference call at 4 p.m. (Eastern Time) on May 13, 2014, to discuss these results. The telephone numbers to access the conference call are 1-647-788-4922 or 1-877-223-4471 (toll-free).

A presentation of the 2014 first quarter highlights and results will be available on the same day at www.wspgroup.com in the Investors section, under Presentations & Events.

A replay of the call will be available until May 20, 2014. The telephone numbers to access the replay of the call are 1-416-621-4642 or 1-800-585-8367 (toll-free), access code 26420615. The replay of the conference call will also be available in the Investor section of the WSP website in the days following the call.

ANNUAL MEETING OF SHAREHOLDERS

WSP's annual meeting of shareholders will be held on Thursday, May 22, 2014, at 10:00 a.m. (Eastern time) at the McCord Museum (J. Armand Bombardier Hall) situated at 690 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, Quebec.

ANALYST AND INVESTOR DAY

The Corporation also announced that it will be holding an Analyst and Investor Day on June 19, 2014 at the Crystal Hotel situated at 1100, de la Montagne Street, Montreal, Quebec. During this event, that will be webcasted live, members of WSP's senior corporate and operations management teams will provide an overview of corporate strategy, operations and financial opportunities in the near and long term. For additional information on the Analyst and Investor Day, please visit our website at www.wspgroup.com.

RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

	Q1
	2014			2013
(in millions of dollars, except number of shares and per share data)	For the period from January 1 to March 29			For the period from January 1 to March 30
Revenues	$	511.1		$	478.7
Less: Subconsultants and direct costs	$	70.5		$	71.9
Net revenues*	$	440.6		$	406.8
Personnel costs	$	336.2		$	307.5
Other operational costs(1)	$	65.3		$	64.9
Share of earnings of associates	$	(3.0	)	$	(2.7	)
EBITDA*	$	42.1		$	37.1
Amortization of intangible assets	$	8.6		$	8.5
Depreciation of property, plant and equipment	$	6.4		$	6.1
Financial expenses	$	3.6		$	2.6
Share of depreciation of associates	$	0.6		$	0.9
Earnings before income taxes	$	22.9		$	19.0
Income tax expenses	$	5.3		$	4.3
Share of tax of associates	$	0.7		$	0.6
Net earnings	$	16.9		$	14.1
Attributable to:
- Shareholders	$	17.3		$	14.5
- Non-controlling interests	$	(0.4	)	$	(0.4	)
Basic and diluted net earnings per share	$	0.33		$	0.28
Basic and diluted weighted average number of shares		52,634,219			51,357,337

*	Non-IFRS measures as described in the 'Glossary' section.
(1)	The Other operational costs included operation exchange loss or gain and interest income.

NON-IFRS MESURES

The Corporation uses non-IFRS measures that are considered by companies as indicators of financial performance measures which are not recognized under IFRS and may differ from similar computations as reported by other similar entities and, accordingly, may not be comparable. We believe these measures provide useful supplemental information that may assist investors in assessing an investment in the Corporation's shares.

Non-IFRS measures used by the Corporation are net revenues; EBITDA; EBITDA margin; adjusted EBITDA; adjusted EBITDA margin; net earnings (loss) excluding amortization of intangible assets related to acquisitions (net of income taxes); net earnings (loss) excluding amortization of intangible assets related to acquisitions (net of income taxes) per share; backlog; funds from operations; funds from operations per share; free cash flow; free cash flow per share, DSO and net debt to EBITDA.

Net revenues

Net revenues are defined as revenues less direct costs for subconsultants and other direct expenses that are recoverable directly from the clients. Net revenues are not an IFRS measure and do not have a standardized definition within IFRS. Therefore, net revenues may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers. Investors are advised that net revenues should not be construed as an alternative to revenues for the period (as determined in accordance with IFRS) as an indicator of the Corporation's performance.

EBITDA

EBITDA is defined as earnings before non-operating expenses identified by Management, financial expenses, income tax expenses, depreciation and amortization. EBITDA is not an IFRS measure and does not have a standardized definition within IFRS. Investors are cautioned that EBITDA should not be considered an alternative to net earnings for the period (as determined in accordance with IFRS) as an indicator of the Corporation's performance, or an alternative to cash flows from operating, financing and investing activities as a measure of the liquidity and cash flows. The Corporation's method of calculating EBITDA may differ from the methods used by other issuers and, accordingly, the Corporation's EBITDA may not be comparable to similar measures used by other issuers.

EBITDA margin

EBITDA margin is defined as EBITDA expressed as a percentage of net revenues. EBITDA margin is not an IFRS measure.

Adjusted EBITDA

Adjusted EBITDA is defined as EBITDA excluding global corporate costs. Global corporate costs are expenses and salaries related to centralized functions, such as global Finance, Human Resources and Technology teams, which are not allocated to operating segments. This measure is not an IFRS measure. It provides Management with comparability from one region to the other.

Adjusted EBITDA margin

Adjusted EBITDA margin is defined as adjusted EBITDA expressed as a percentage of net revenues. Adjusted EBITDA margin is not an IFRS measure.

Net earnings (loss) excluding amortization of intangible assets related to acquisitions (net of income taxes) and net earnings (loss) excluding amortization of intangible assets related to acquisitions (net of income taxes) per share

Net earnings (loss) excluding amortization of intangible assets related to acquisitions (net of income taxes) is not an IFRS measure. It provides a comparative measure of Corporation performance in a context of significant business combinations. This measure is defined as net earnings (loss) attributable to shareholders excluding the amortization expense of backlogs, customer relationships and non-competition agreements accounted for in business combinations and the income tax effects related to this amortization.

Net earnings (loss) excluding amortization of intangible assets related to acquisitions (net of income taxes) per share is calculated using the basic weighted average number of shares.

Backlog

Backlog is not an IFRS measure. It represents future revenues stemming from existing signed contracts to be completed. The Corporation's method of calculating backlog may differ from the methods used by other issuers and, accordingly, may not be comparable to similar measures used by other issuers.

Funds from operations and funds from operations per share

Funds from operations is not an IFRS measure. It provides Management and investors with a proxy for the amount of cash generated from (used in) operating activities before changes in non-cash working capital items.

Funds from operations per share is calculated using the basic weighted average number of shares.

Free cash flow and free cash flow per share

Free cash flow is not an IFRS measure. It provides a consistent and comparable measurement of free cash flow generated from operations and is used as an indicator of financial strength and performance. Free cash flow is defined as cash flows from operating activities as reported in accordance with IFRS, less maintenance capital expenditures.

Free cash flow per share is calculated using the basic weighted average number of shares.

Days Sales Outstanding ("DSO")

DSO is not an IFRS measure. It represents the average number of days to convert our trade receivables and costs and anticipated profits in excess of billings into cash. The Corporation's method of calculating DSO may differ from the methods used by other issuers and, accordingly, may not be comparable to similar measures used by other issuers.

Net Debt to EBITDA

Net Debt to EBITDA is not an IFRS measure. It is a measure of our level of financial leverage net of our cash and cash equivalents and is calculated on our trailing twelve month EBITDA.

ABOUT WSP

WSP is one of the world's leading professional services firms, working with governments, businesses, architects and planners and providing integrated solutions across many disciplines. The firm provides services to transform the built environment and restore the natural environment, and its expertise ranges from environmental remediation to urban planning, from engineering iconic buildings to designing sustainable transport networks, and from developing the energy sources of the future to enabling new ways of extracting essential resources. It has approximately 17,000 employees, mainly engineers, technicians, scientists, architects, planners, surveyors, other design professionals, as well as various environmental experts, based in more than 300 offices, across 30 countries, on 5 continents. www.wspgroup.com

Forward-looking statements

Certain information regarding WSP contained herein may constitute forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements may include estimates, plans, expectations, opinions, forecasts, projections, guidance or other statements that are not statements of fact. Although WSP believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to have been correct. These statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties and may be based on assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated or implied in the forward-looking statements. WSP's forward-looking statements are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. The complete version of the cautionary note regarding forward-looking statements as well as a description of the relevant assumptions and risk factors likely to affect WSP's actual or projected results are included in the Management Discussion and Analysis for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2013, which are available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date hereof and WSP does not assume any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise unless expressly required by applicable securities laws.