Casella Waste Posts Smaller Loss for Quarter

Casella Waste Systems Inc. lost a smaller amount in its transitional first quarter compared with 12 months earlier, but the company said it’s on track to get the firm on solid footing.

For the three-month period ended July 31, Rutland, Vt.-based Casella lost $154 million compared with a loss of $163 million a year earlier, according to a news release.

Casella is switching to a calendar year for its financial results beginning in 2015, so it is operating in an eight-month fiscal transition to that schedule.

For the quarter revenue rose 10 percent to $141.4 million from $128.6 million.

"We had a solid first quarter, with positive results primarily driven by management's continued execution of our four key strategies – sourcing incremental landfill volumes; improving collection route profitability; furthering our long-term Eastern region strategy to improve our business positioning and margins; and driving revenue growth through our customer solutions offerings," said John Casella, chairman and CEO.

He continued, "We are on track with the plan that we announced in late June to drive additional free cash flow in calendar year 2015 through further asset repositioning, the performance of final cleanup and closure activities at three sites, and investing in key infrastructure to enable further growth and cost reductions during the transition period 2014. While we're happy with our progress, we still have quite a bit of work to do as a team to drive higher cash flows and returns for our investors.”

The company reaffirmed its operating guidance for the eight-month 2014 transition period of revenues between $356 million and $366 million, and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of between $71 million and $75 million.