GFL Reports 38% 4Q Revenue Growth & Eyes Acquisitions

GFL Environmental Inc. (GFL) today announced its results for the fourth quarter and full year 2020.

The Company grew revenue by nearly 38% and credits its strong quarter results to organic growth in its solid waste business, cost control initiatives, and the realized synergies of its acquisitions. Patrick Dovigi, founder and chief executive officer of GFL, said the Company is also eyeing a robust M&A pipeline — both tuck-ins and larger opportunities.

"I am incredibly proud of what our employees have accomplished this year", said Dovigi. "Despite the impact of the pandemic on the North American economy, as a group we were able to deliver on our 2020 commitments and produce exceptional financial results.”

"During the fourth quarter, we grew revenue by 37.8% and Adjusted EBITDA by 49%, as compared to the prior year, resulting in expanded Adjusted EBITDA margin of 25.2%. The margin increase was largely due to organic growth in our solid waste business in both Canada and the U.S., as well as cost control initiatives and synergies realized from acquisitions, resulting in better than expected free cash flow generation for the period. In our solid waste line of business, we continued to see sequential improvements in the commercial activity and volumes in the markets we serve, contributing to 4% of organic growth in the quarter and margin expansion of 240 basis points. During the quarter, we also continued to see higher volumes in our MRF operations as a result of new contract wins in both Eastern and Western Canada."

Highlights from Q4 and Full Year 2020

Dovigi concluded, "As we head into 2021, GFL has never been in a better financial position. Our free cash flow gives us the ability to naturally de-lever while at the same time allowing us to continue to deploy capital on attractive organic growth opportunities, accretive tuck-in acquisitions, as well as sustainability initiatives. We have always been opportunistic acquirers. Interest rates are at all-time lows giving us access to financing markets that position us well to continue to lower our cost of debt while pursuing accretive M&A at very attractive multiples, both tuck-ins and potentially larger-sized opportunities, within our expanded platform. 2021 has the potential for being another year of outsized M&A and you should expect to see us continue to make these strategic value-creating investments as these opportunities arise."

Sustainability and safety were also highlights for GFL in 2020 as mentioned on the earnings call. The Company noted that its safety statistics were the best in GFL history. Dovigi highlighted their recent sustainability-related awards and noted that it is a core value of the Company and GFL’s goals and initiatives for 2021 will be laid out soon.