Willdan Group Reports First Quarter Results

Willdan Group, Inc. (“Willdan”) (Nasdaq: WLDN) today announced its financial results for the first quarter ended April 4, 2025.

First Quarter 2025 Highlights^a

• Contract revenue of $152.4 million, up 24.4%.
• Net revenue^b of $85.3 million, up 23.8%.
• Net income of $4.7 million, up 59.3%.
• Adjusted EBITDA^b of $14.4 million, up 30.9%.
• GAAP Diluted EPS of $0.32, up 52.4%.
• Adjusted Diluted EPS^b of $0.63, up 57.5%.

Executive Management Comments

“We exceeded analyst expectations in the first quarter, delivering double-digit growth across our key metrics,” said Mike Bieber, Willdan’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “New wins, steady funding in our core programs, and three strategic acquisitions are driving our broad-based growth. Data centers and electrification are increasing demand for electricity and fueling investment in reliable power and resilient grid infrastructure. Normalized for the extra week in this year’s first quarter, we delivered 12% organic revenue growth. With record first quarter performance, we are raising each of our fiscal year 2025 financial targets.”

Fiscal Year 2025 Financial Targets

Willdan is raising each of its financial targets for fiscal year 2025 and now expects^c:

• Net revenue^b between $325 million and $335 million.
• Adjusted EBITDA^b between $65 million and $68 million.
• Adjusted Diluted EPS^b between $2.75 per share and $2.90 per share.

Assumes 15.1 million diluted shares, 16% effective tax rate, and no future acquisitions.

First Quarter 2025 Conference Call

Willdan will be hosting a conference call to discuss its first quarter financial results today, at 5:30 p.m. Eastern/2:30 p.m. Pacific. To access the call, listeners should dial 877-407-2988 (or 201-389-0923). The conference call will be webcast simultaneously on Willdan’s website at https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/m8apftij/.

A replay of the conference call will be available through Willdan’s website at https://ir.willdangroup.com/events-presentations.

About Willdan Group, Inc.

Willdan is a nationwide provider of professional, technical and consulting services to utilities, government agencies, and private industry. Willdan’s service offerings span a broad set of complementary disciplines that include electric grid solutions, energy efficiency and sustainability, engineering and planning, and municipal financial consulting. For additional information, visit Willdan's website at www.willdan.com.

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures

“Net Revenue,” defined as contract revenue as reported in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) minus subcontractor services and other direct costs, is a non-GAAP financial measure. Net Revenue is a supplemental measure that Willdan believes enhances investors’ ability to analyze Willdan’s business trends and performance because it substantially measures the work performed by Willdan’s employees. In the course of providing services, Willdan routinely subcontracts various services. Generally, these subcontractor services and other direct costs are passed through to Willdan’s clients and, in accordance with GAAP and industry practice, are included in Willdan’s revenue when it is Willdan’s contractual responsibility to procure or manage such subcontracted activities. Because subcontractor services and other direct costs can vary significantly from project to project and period to period, changes in revenue may not necessarily be indicative of Willdan’s business trends. Accordingly, Willdan segregates subcontractor services and other direct costs from revenue to promote a better understanding of Willdan’s business by evaluating revenue exclusive of subcontract services and other direct costs associated with external service providers. A reconciliation of Willdan’s contract revenue as reported in accordance with GAAP to Net Revenue is provided at the end of this press release. A reconciliation of targeted contract revenue for fiscal year 2025 as reported in accordance with GAAP to targeted Net Revenues for fiscal year 2025, which is a forward-looking non-GAAP financial measure, is not provided because Willdan is unable to provide such reconciliation without unreasonable effort. The inability to provide a reconciliation is due to the uncertainty and inherent difficulty of predicting the subcontractor services and other director costs that are subtracted from contract revenues in order to derive Net Revenues. While subcontractor costs have increased recently, subcontractor costs can vary significantly from period to period. Subcontractor costs and other direct costs were 44.0% and 43.7% of contract revenue for the quarter ended April 4, 2025 and March 29, 2024, respectively.

“Adjusted EBITDA,” defined as net income plus interest expense, income tax expense, stock-based compensation, interest accretion, depreciation and amortization, transaction costs, and gain on sale of equipment, is a non-GAAP financial measure. Adjusted EBITDA is a supplemental measure used by Willdan’s management to measure Willdan’s operating performance. Willdan believes Adjusted EBITDA is useful because it allows Willdan’s management to evaluate its operating performance and compare the results of its operations from period to period and against its peers without regard to its financing methods, capital structure and non-operating expenses. Willdan uses Adjusted EBITDA to evaluate its performance for, among other things, budgeting, forecasting and incentive compensation purposes.

Certain items excluded from Adjusted EBITDA are significant components in understanding and assessing a company’s financial performance, such as a company’s costs of capital and stock-based compensation, as well as the historical costs of depreciable assets. A reconciliation of net income as reported in accordance with GAAP to Adjusted EBITDA is provided at the end of this press release. A reconciliation of targeted net income for fiscal year 2025 as reported in accordance with GAAP to Adjusted EBITDA for fiscal year 2025, which is a forward-looking non-GAAP financial measure, is not provided because Willdan is unable to provide such reconciliation without unreasonable effort. The inability to provide a reconciliation is due to the uncertainty and inherent difficulty of predicting the interest expense, income tax expense, stock-based compensation, interest accretion, depreciation and amortization, and gain on sale of equipment that are subtracted from net income in order to derive Adjusted EBITDA.

“Adjusted Net Income,” defined as net income plus stock-based compensation, intangible amortization, interest accretion, and transaction costs, each net of tax, is a non-GAAP financial measure.

“Adjusted Diluted EPS,” defined as net income plus stock-based compensation, intangible amortization, interest accretion, and transaction costs, each net of tax, all divided by the diluted weighted-average shares outstanding, is a non-GAAP financial measure. Adjusted Net Income and Adjusted Diluted EPS are supplemental measures used by Willdan’s management to measure its operating performance. Willdan believes Adjusted Net Income and Adjusted Diluted EPS are useful because they allow Willdan’s management to more closely evaluate and explain the operating results of Willdan’s business by removing certain non-operating expenses.

Reconciliations of net income as reported in accordance with GAAP to Adjusted Net Income and diluted EPS as reported in accordance with GAAP to Adjusted Diluted EPS are provided at the end of this press release. Reconciliations of targeted net income as reported in accordance with GAAP to targeted Adjusted Net Income for fiscal year 2025, which is a forward-looking non-GAAP financial measure, and targeted diluted EPS as reported in accordance with GAAP to targeted Adjusted Diluted EPS for fiscal year 2025, which is a forward-looking non-GAAP financial measure, are not provided because Willdan is unable to provide such reconciliations without unreasonable effort. The inability to provide such reconciliations is due to the uncertainty and inherent difficulty of predicting the stock-based compensation, intangible amortization, and interest accretion, each net of tax, that are subtracted from net income and diluted EPS in order to derive Adjusted Net Income and Adjusted Diluted EPS, respectively.

Willdan’s definitions of Net Revenue, Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Net Income and Adjusted Diluted EPS have limitations as analytical tools and may differ from other companies reporting similarly named measures or from similarly named measures Willdan has reported in prior periods. These measures should be considered in addition to, and not as a substitute for, or superior to, other measures of financial performance prepared in accordance with GAAP, such as contract revenue, net income and diluted EPS.

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements in this press release that are not purely historical, including statements regarding Willdan’s intentions, hopes, beliefs, expectations, representations, projections, estimates, assumptions, aims, plans or predictions of the future are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended, including statements regarding broad-based growth, data centers and electrification increasing demand for electricity and fueling investment in reliable power and resilient grid infrastructure, and financial targets for fiscal year 2025. All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this press release are forward-looking statements. It is important to note that Willdan’s actual results could differ materially from those in any such forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from its expectations include, but are not limited to, Willdan’s ability to adequately complete projects in a timely manner, Willdan’s ability to compete successfully in the highly competitive energy services market, Willdan’s reliance on work from its top ten clients; changes in state, local and regional economies and government budgets; Willdan’s ability to win new contracts, to renew existing contracts and to compete effectively for contracts awarded through bidding processes; Willdan’s ability to make principal and interest payments on its outstanding debt as they come due and to comply with financial covenants contained in its debt agreements; Willdan’s ability to manage supply chain constraints, labor shortages, elevated interest rates, and elevated inflation; Willdan’s ability to obtain financing and to refinance its outstanding debt as it matures; Willdan’s ability to successfully integrate its acquisitions and execute on its growth strategy; and Willdan’s ability to attract and retain managerial, technical, and administrative talent.

All written and oral forward-looking statements attributable to Willdan, or persons acting on its behalf, are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements and risk factors disclosed from time to time in Willdan’s reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including, but not limited to, the Annual Report on Form 10-K filed for the year ended December 27, 2024, as such disclosures may be amended, supplemented or superseded from time to time by other reports Willdan files with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including subsequent Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q or Current Reports on Form 8-K. Willdan cautions investors not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. Willdan disclaims any obligation to, and does not undertake to, update or revise any forward-looking statements in this press release unless required by law.

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