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DATE

Wednesday, February 4, 2026 at 11 a.m. ET

CALL PARTICIPANTS

  • Chief Executive Officer — D. Scott Patterson
  • Chief Financial Officer — Jeremy Rakusin
  • Operator

TAKEAWAYS

  • Consolidated Revenue -- $1.38 billion for the quarter, representing a 1% increase; full-year revenue reached $5.5 billion, up 5%.
  • Adjusted EBITDA -- $138 million for the quarter, flat compared to prior year; $563 million for the year, up 10%, with a margin improvement to 10.2% from 9.8%.
  • Adjusted EPS -- $1.37 for the quarter, up 2%; $5.75 for the year, reflecting 15% annual growth.
  • FirstService Residential Revenue -- $563 million for the quarter (up 8%), and $2.3 billion for the year (up 7%), with 4% organic growth annually.
  • FirstService Residential EBITDA -- $51.5 million for the quarter (up 12%), and a full-year margin of 9.8% (up 50 basis points).
  • FirstService Brands Revenue -- $820 million for the quarter (down 3%) and $3.2 billion for the year (up 4%); quarterly division EBITDA at $88.5 million (down 12%).
  • Restoration Brands Performance -- Quarterly revenues flat sequentially but down 13% year over year; prior year quarter included $60 million of storm-related revenues; for the year, restoration was down 4%.
  • Roofing Segment -- Quarterly revenues grew by a few percentage points due to acquisitions but were down organically by over 5%; new commercial construction remains weak, reroof demand stable.
  • Century Fire Protection -- Quarterly revenue increased over 10% with high single-digit organic growth; backlog described as strong with robust expectations for the upcoming year.
  • Operating Cash Flow -- $155 million for the quarter (up 33%), and more than $445 million for the year (up 56%); capital expenditures totaled $128 million for 2025, with $140 million planned for 2026.
  • Acquisition Spending -- $107 million deployed in 2025, focused on tuck-under acquisitions.
  • Leverage -- Net debt to adjusted EBITDA reduced to 1.6 times from 2.0 times at prior year-end; liquidity at $970 million combining cash and undrawn revolver capacity.
  • Dividend -- Annual dividend increased by 11% to $1.22 per share in US dollars.
  • Outlook (Consolidated) -- First quarter revenue growth forecast in the mid-single-digit range, with high single-digit increases projected in subsequent quarters; EBITDA margin expected to remain roughly flat for the year.
  • FirstService Residential Organic Growth Outlook -- Medium-term forecast calls for continued mid-single-digit organic growth, with near-term pressure expected to yield 3%-4% organic growth in Q1 due to amenity service declines.
  • M&A Environment -- Management stated, "multiples are high across the board" and noted limited quality deal flow, resulting in a patient, selective approach and focus on tuck-unders and franchise buy-ins.
  • Restoration Storm Revenue Impact -- Named storms contributed less than 2% of total restoration revenue for the year, compared to a historical average of over 10% since 2019.

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RISKS

  • D. Scott Patterson acknowledged, "Several contact contracts primarily with multifamily apartment owners were not renewed at year-end. Some voluntary and a few involuntary all primarily due to pricing," impacting revenue in amenity management within FirstService Residential.
  • Roofing segment faces "muted" demand, with D. Scott Patterson noting, "New commercial construction outside of the data center and power is down significantly," and gross margin pressure resulting from intensified competition and more firms bidding on limited opportunities.
  • Restoration backlog was "down from the prior year, initially pointing to a revenue decline for Q1," but recent uptick in winter storm activity led management to expect Q1 results that are modestly up over the prior year, with future revenue dependent on unpredictable weather patterns and storm activity.

SUMMARY

FirstService Corporation (FSV +7.20%) reported modest quarterly revenue growth and flat EBITDA, driven by strong results in FirstService Residential but offset by weakness in brands, especially restoration and roofing. Management emphasized disciplined acquisition spending, strong free cash flow, and improving balance sheet metrics, including lower leverage and increased liquidity. The company raised its dividend by 11%, reflecting confidence in cash generation and forward prospects. Strategic guidance pointed to mid-single-digit revenue growth for the upcoming quarter and high single-digit growth potential later in the year, while margins are expected to remain stable. Smaller near-term gains are forecast in amenity services and restoration backlog, alongside continued acquisition caution amid elevated deal multiples and industry uncertainties.

  • Restoration segment’s revenue exposure to severe weather dropped markedly, with only 2% associated with named storms for the year, compared to a five-year average of more than 10%.
  • Century Fire Protection continues to drive outperformance, posting over 10% revenue growth and maintaining a strong backlog, with management projecting "another year of 10% growth or more."
  • Management expressed "no indication that multiples are trending higher or lower" in M&A, reinforcing that the environment remains competitive and selective deal-making will persist.
  • Management clarified that operating efficiencies and offshoring in FirstService Residential have largely been realized, with further margin expansion limited for the near future.
  • “We expect our revenues to be up modestly,” said D. Scott Patterson, in reference to Q1 restoration activity following a recent winter storm, but cautioned that it is "too early" to quantify the full-year impact given uncertain reconstruction work.

INDUSTRY GLOSSARY

  • Tuck-under Acquisition: A small or mid-sized acquisition that augments an existing platform company or operating segment, typically filling a geographic or service-line gap rather than establishing a new standalone platform.
  • Organic Growth: Revenue growth generated from a business’s existing operations, excluding contributions from acquisitions or divestitures.
  • Backlog: The value of contracted work that remains to be completed and is expected to drive future revenue recognition.

Full Conference Call Transcript

D. Scott Patterson: Good morning, everyone, and welcome to our fourth quarter and year-end conference call. Thank you for joining us today. Jeremy Rakusin is on the line with me, and we'll follow my overview comments with a more detailed review of our financial results for the quarter and the full year. We're pleased with how we closed out the year in an environment that continues to challenge us across several of our businesses. Our fourth quarter results in aggregate were modest than our expectation that we communicated at the end of Q3, with revenues up 1%, EBITDA flat with the year ago, and earnings per share up 2% to $1.37.

For the year, we reported solid results that we're proud of in the face of tough macro headwinds. Revenues finished 5% up over the prior year, Consolidated EBITDA was up 10%, double the revenue growth, reflecting a 40 basis point improvement in margins. And earnings per share reflected further leverage, with year-over-year growth at 15%. Looking now at the separate divisions for the quarter. Revenues at FirstService Residential were up 8% in aggregate with organic growth at 5% matching our expectations and the results for Q3. The growth was broad-based across North America generally reflects net contract wins versus losses. Looking forward, we expect organic growth to continue in the mid-single-digit range.

There could be modest movement from quarter to quarter, with seasonality and fluctuation in ancillary services, but on average for 2026, we're expecting mid-single-digit organic growth similar to our full-year result for 2024 and 2025. We will face organic growth pressure early in the year relating to declines in certain amenity management services that we provide to some of our managed communities but primarily to multifamily rental and other commercial customers. These services include pool construction and renovation, which is being impacted by the same economic headwinds we're seeing in roofing and home services. It also includes contracts to provide custodian and front desk concierge labor. Several contact contracts primarily with multifamily apartment owners were not renewed at year-end.

Some voluntary and a few involuntary all primarily due to pricing. These cancellations will impact our revenue, but have little impact on profitability. We expect to be at the bottom end of our mid-single-digit range at 3% or 4% for Q1. This is unrelated to our core community management business which we believe will carry the division to mid-single-digit organic growth for the year. Moving on to FirstService Brands. Revenues for the quarter were down 3% in aggregate, and 7% organically, with organic growth at Century Fire more than offset by organic declines with our restoration brands and our roofing platform.

Looking more closely at restoration, Paul Davis and First On-Site together recorded revenues that were flat sequentially compared to Q3 and down 13% versus the prior year. Somewhat better than expectation, due to our pickup in claim activity during the quarter with our Canadian operations. We benefited in the prior year quarter from Hurricanes Helene and Milton, and generated about $60 million in revenue from the storms. Excluding these specific events, our restoration brands were up modestly year over year. As I described on last quarter's call, revenues from named storms have on average exceeded 10% of our total restoration revenue since 2019. For 2025, revenues from named storms amounted to less than 2% of total restoration revenues.

We finished the year down 4% in restoration, relative to an industry that we believe was down over 20%. Our platform investments and focus on day-to-day service delivery continue to drive gains in wallet share with key national accounts and overall market share. Looking forward, we expect to show growth for the full year 2026 assuming we return to historic average weather patterns. Our restoration brands have grown on average by 8% organically since 2019 and we expect that to continue on average going forward. Our backlog at year-end was down from the prior year, pointing to a revenue decline for Q1. However, we've seen an uptick in activity over the last week from the expansive winter storm.

It's still very early, but based on activity levels, and the nature of the quick response mitigation work, we expect to show Q1 results that are modestly up over the prior year. Moving to our roofing segment. Revenues for the quarter were up a few percentage points the result of tuck-under acquisitions made during the year. However, as expected, revenues were down organically by over 5%. The demand environment in roofing remains muted. New commercial construction outside of the data center and power is down significantly. On the reroof side, we continue to see tighter capital expenditure budgets amongst our customers and delays with some larger projects.

As I noted last quarter, we're confident that our market position and relationships remain strong. Bid activity is solid, and our backlog is stabilized. Our expectation is that we will show modest organic growth this year with sequential improvement quarter to quarter. Looking to Q1, we expect revenues to be up mid-single-digit versus the prior year, and approximately flat organically. Now to our home service brands where revenues were up by 3% over the prior year, better than expectation, and a result we're proud of in an environment where consumer confidence remains depressed. The consumer index was down again in December, marking five months of sequential decline.

As I said out on the last few calls, our teams are doing more with less. By incrementally improving lead to estimate ratios, close ratios, and average job size. Current economic and industry indicators do not suggest an improved environment through 2026. Our lead flow the last several weeks is flat to slightly down with the prior year. If this continues, our current conversion metrics would suggest that we will drive higher revenue year over year in the low to mid-single-digit range for Q1 and 2026. And I'll finish with Century Fire where we had a strong Q4 and finish to the year. Revenues were up over 10% versus the prior year with high single-digit organic growth.

Century continues to experience solid growth on both sides of its business. That is installation, and repair service and inspection. The growth is broad-based across almost all our branches at Century. We're benefiting on the installation side of our business from solid activity in multifamily and warehouse with some positive exposure to data center construction. Our backlog is strong, and activity levels remain buoyant. Looking forward, we expect another year of 10% growth or more spread evenly across the quarter. Let me now call on Jeremy to review our results in detail and provide a consolidated look forward. Thank you, Scott. Good morning, everyone.

Jeremy Rakusin: As you just heard for the fourth quarter, we delivered on our expectations provided on our Q3 call which culminated in solid annual operating and financial performance. As we look back at our consolidated annual results for 2025, we are pleased with the growth we delivered on the earnings lines. Notwithstanding the top-line headwinds we are facing throughout the year. I'll first walk through a summary of these financial metrics and then move on to reviews of our segmented divisional performance as well as our cash flow and balance sheet. Note that my upcoming comments on our adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EPS results, respectively, reflect adjustments to GAAP operating earnings and GAAP EPS, which are disclosed in this morning's release.

And are consistent with our approach in prior periods. During the fourth quarter, our consolidated revenues were $1.38 billion, up 1% versus the prior year period. Our adjusted EBITDA of $138 million was in line with Q4 2024, yielding a margin of 9.9% slightly down from the 10.1% level during the prior year. Our Q4 adjusted EPS was $1.37 up from $1.34 in last year's fourth quarter. For the full year, consolidated revenues increased 5% to $5.5 billion and adjusted EBITDA came in at $563 million, up 10% over the prior year, and delivering a 10.2% margin up 40 basis points compared to 9.8% in 2024. Adjusted EPS for the 2025 fiscal year was $5.75, up 15% versus 2024.

This five, 10, and 15% top to bottom line annual growth profile reflects the exceptional efforts of our operating leaders across every brand. As they emphasize efficient jobs, execution, the face of market challenges and drove margin improvement where possible. Turning now to a segmented walk-through of our two divisions. For FirstService Residential, revenues during the fourth quarter were $563 million, up 8% and the division reported EBITDA of $51.5 million, a 12% increase over the prior year period. Our margin for the quarter was 9.1%, modestly up from the 8.8% in Q4 2024.

The quarterly performance largely mirrored the full-year growth profile for the division, We closed out the year with annual revenues of $2.3 billion up 7% over 2024, including 4% organic growth. Annual EBITDA increased 13% with our full-year margin at 9.8% up 50 basis points over the 9.3% margin for 2024. In summary, the FirstService Residential division achieved key financial targets for the year, getting back to mid-single-digit annual organic top-line growth, while also driving profitability to the upper end of our 9% to 10% annual margin band. Looking next at our FirstService Brands division, the fourth quarter included revenues of $820 million down 3%, compared to Q4 2024. And EBITDA came was $88.5 million down 12% year over year.

These year-over-year decreases were due to declines in organic top-line performance and the related negative operating leverage at our restoration and roofing brands partially offset by another strong quarter of organic growth and profitability at Century Fire Protection. The brands division margin during the quarter was 10.8% down 110 basis points from 11.9% in the prior year quarter. For the full year, revenues were $3.2 billion and EBITDA came in at $354 million, both up 4% over the prior year. As a result, our full-year brands margin remained in line with the prior year. At 11%. Finally, two remaining points to highlight regarding profitability below the operating division lines that contributed to the 15% annual EPS growth.

First, we reported significantly lower corporate costs both during the current fourth quarter and annually for 2025, versus the comparable prior year periods. Most of the variance was attributable to the positive impact of noncash foreign exchange movements largely reversing the negative impacts we saw in 2024. Second, our annual interest costs will lower throughout all periods in 2025 compared to the prior year due to lower debt levels on our balance sheet and declining interest rates. I'll now summarize our cash flow and capital deployment. During Q4, operating cash flow was $155 million a 33% increase over the prior year quarter.

And contributing to annual cash flow from operations of more than $445 million which was up 56% versus 2024. Our capital expenditures during 2025 totaled $128 million and we expect 2026 CapEx to be approximately $140 million an increase proportionate to the collective growth of our businesses. Our acquisition spending during the year totaled $107 million as we remain selective and disciplined in a competitive acquisition environment. Finally, we announced yesterday an 11% dividend increase to $1.22 per share annually in US dollars up from the prior $1.10. Beyond financing these capital outlays, our strong free cash flow contributed to further strengthening of our balance sheet throughout the year. At 2025 year-end, our leverage sits at 1.6 times.

Net debt to adjusted EBITDA down from two times at prior year-end. With cash on hand and undrawn capacity within our bank revolving credit facility, aggregating to $970 million we maintain significant liquidity to direct towards attractive investment opportunities as they emerge. Finally, in terms of our outlook, Scott has already provided detailed commentary on the top-line growth indicators for the individual brands. On a consolidated basis for the upcoming first quarter, we are forecasting revenue growth to be in the mid-single-digit range. In subsequent quarters, throughout the year, we expect to see an uptick with high single-digit year-over-year increases in revenue primarily driven by organic growth.

Any tuck-under acquisitions during the year will contribute further to this top-line growth profile. In terms of consolidated EBITDA for the first quarter, we expect to be roughly in line with Q1 2025. For the balance of the year, we anticipate EBITDA year-over-year growth in the high single digits at similar rates or slightly better than revenue growth. Consolidated EBITDA margin for the full year is expected to be relatively flat compared to the 10.2% annual margin we just reported for 2025. Operator, this concludes the prepared comments. Can now open up the call to questions. Thank you very much.

Operator: Thank you. As a reminder, to ask a question, please press Our first question will be coming from Frederic Bastien of Raymond James. Your line is open.

Frederic Bastien: Hi. Good morning, Scott and Jeremy. Just wanna talk about M and A. I mean, cracks appear to be showing in private equity various reports suggesting that mid-market firms are holding on to investments they can't sell and then struggling to raise capital. To buy businesses. Is that you know, that in theory should be positive for strategic buyers like FirstService. From your perspective, are you seeing any change? Is the company is the competitive landscape improving from, say, you know, where it was three, six, twelve months ago?

D. Scott Patterson: We haven't seen it yet, Frederic. It's definitely a slower market than, say, twelve months ago. Particularly in roofing, but really across the board. You know, we know of a number of opportunities that have been pulled or delayed until the environment improves. And there's no indication that multiples are trending higher or lower. They still remain high across the board. We haven't seen mid-market private equity deals come to the market you know, I'm just I'm just thinking about it. Really, it's we haven't seen it yet. I would say, Frederic.

Frederic Bastien: Okay. Thanks for that. Now obviously, recognizing it's still tough out there, where do you see the best place to deploy future capital? Is it in newer platforms like roofing or restoration or you know, or go back to the more long-dated franchises like California Closet. I know you bought, like, the twenty or so largest franchises in, you know, early probably ten years ago, five, ten years ago. Where do you stand on potentially consolidating the rest of the California Closet franchises?

D. Scott Patterson: Yeah. I mean, definitely, we wanna own the major markets. Over time. Particularly if they're underperforming. But it you know, that will be sort of one step at a time as those families are ready to sell. It's been it's been a few years since we pulled in a California Closets franchise. But I think on average, we would expect to pull in one a year. And I think the same at Paul Davis. Too. You know, it in the best interest of the brand, if there's an underperforming market, we will look to pull that franchise in and operate it. And, we would expect to see you know, one or two of those a year as well.

Otherwise, it would be tuck-unders within our existing platforms. That's our focus. I would say that we are being very patient in the current environment. Multiples are high, and they there aren't high number of quality companies coming to market. So we are focused on picking our spots and finding the right partners. If there's a situation where the founder is looking to exit that's not a great fit for us. We're focused on partnering and then driving sustainable growth.

Frederic Bastien: Thank you. I appreciate your comments. That's all I have. And our next question will be coming from Stephen MacLeod of BMO Capital Markets. Your line is open.

Stephen MacLeod: Thank you. Good morning, guys. Lots of great color on the call, so thank you. I just wanted to just focus on the margins a little bit. With respect to the outlook. Would be fair to say that margin outlook in kind of both segments is sort of flattish through the year. Presumably, sounds like not much movement in the FSR margin, but maybe you'll see some headwinds in Q1. But on a full-year basis in brands, would you expect both segments to be sort of flattish year over year?

Jeremy Rakusin: Yeah. Hi, Stephen. It's Jeremy. Correct. Full year both divisions, roughly in line, and hence the consolidated margin in line. You know, the first quarter we expect residential margins to be roughly in line again, consistent with the full year. And the a decline in brands margins in the first quarter. And hence the sort of flat EBITDA with a little bit of revenue growth in the first quarter. Right. So branch margin is a little declining and then picking up in sequential quarters as we see you know, commensurate uptick in revenue growth.

Stephen MacLeod: Okay. That's great. Thank you. And then just with respect to you know, Scott, you talked about, just the recent freeze that we saw through North America. And, you know, potentially an uptick in activity. Is I know early days, but is there any way to kinda quantify you know, what that potentially could look like as the year progresses?

D. Scott Patterson: No. It's it's It's it's still very early and taking shape. And some of the areas are impacted. They're still frozen. So there is an opportunity when the thaw starts. But very hard to quantify at this point. I mean, if we've we've just based on attempted it for Q1, on some of the activity. You know, as I said, we expect our revenues to be up modestly. Our backlog at year-end was down because we didn't have a carryover from Q4 storms. which was pointing to a soft Q1. We do think the activity will take us back to you know, through prior year. Modestly. But you know, mitigation work comes in We respond and move on.

And for the most part, the jobs are smaller at this point, and the unknown is the reconstruction. You know, will there be any? Will we get the work, and how much revenue will it generate? So that will evolve in the coming in the coming weeks and months, but it's still too early to really give you any more than that.

Stephen MacLeod: Yeah. Yeah. That's fair. I figured that would be the case. And would it be fair to assume that, in Q4, you had basically zero revenues from named storms relative to $60 million last year. Is that right?

D. Scott Patterson: Right. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

Stephen MacLeod: And then maybe just finally, just speaking of capital allocation, would you consider sort of being active on the buyback given where the stock is and given the NCIB you have out outstanding?

D. Scott Patterson: That is that is not something that we've discussed.

Stephen MacLeod: Okay. Would be a board-level discussion, and it hasn't come up.

Stephen MacLeod: Okay. Okay. That's great. Thanks, guys. I appreciate it.

Operator: And our next question will be coming from Stephen Sheldon of William Blair. Your line is open.

Stephen Sheldon: Hey, Scott and Jeremy. Thanks for taking my questions. First, just on kind of margins, great year-over-year margin trends in residential once again this quarter. And then full-year results came in closer to the high end of that 9% to 10% margin range. You've historically talked about there. Can you unpack some of the levers driving that? Is that still mainly being driven by some of the offshoring and AI leverage and things like that and call center operations? And has your thinking on the margin trajectory over the next few years changed at all?

I mean, you already talked about kinda flattish for 2026, but is there an opportunity down the road, you think, where you could potentially get the margin in residential into the double-digit range above 2%?

Jeremy Rakusin: Yeah. It's Steven. Jeremy again. The progression, we've we've done a lot of the heavy lifting in those areas. In fact, they started in '24 and really started to play out on the margin improvement in '25. We're starting to lap those now. You know? So a lot of the and you saw the margin start to taper. Towards the margin expansion start to taper towards the back end of the year, which is indicative that, you know, we've squeezed a lot of the low-hanging fruit. Team's always working on related initiatives to those, that you just called out, as well as others. And, again, we don't see much for '26.

But, in terms of going above 10%, yeah, that's an opportunity over a multiyear time horizon for sure, and, we'll continue to evaluate the team's progress in that and then know, call out the opportunities as we see them coming through.

Stephen Sheldon: Got it. That's helpful. And then wanted to ask about just the roofing side. And I guess from your view, I get the new construction piece, you know, the that's something that, yeah, you can look at permits and starts with either that's you know, it's been very weak, and not a lot of pickup that we're expecting here over the next year or two. But I guess on the reroofing side, you know, what could it take for that to pick up?

You know, I guess the question would really be, how long can commercial properties wait and push out reroofing as I would assume that can only be delayed for so long before that owner or manager takes on bigger risks related to it with a bigger loss potential. So I guess, yep, how, you know, how long can rerouting really stay kinda depressed? Thanks.

D. Scott Patterson: Certainly, it you know, it can't be deferred for long, Steven. And we do think the market has stabilized. Our backlog certainly has stabilized, and it's heavily weighted towards reroof as you would expect. You know, historically, we've been two-thirds reroof and one-third new construction, and so we're very much focused on the reroof side of that. So the overall market has shrunk certainly but our momentum in reroof has stabilized. And as I said, we expect to grow this year. And look for sequential improvement quarter to quarter. And you know, generally, feel optimistic. We're bidding work. We feel good about our market position. We believe in our leadership. Locally. Branch to branch.

And certainly, we will continue to invest in the platform this year. And hopefully in further tuck-under acquisition. So we're feeling we're feeling optimistic that know, we'll we'll start to see quarter over quarter and year over year growth from here.

Stephen Sheldon: Very helpful. Thank you.

Operator: And our next question will be coming from Erin Kyle of CIBC. Your line is open.

Erin Kyle: Hi, good morning, and thanks for taking the questions. I just want to stick on the roofing segment here. Maybe start with more of a macro question. I guess, your views as it relates to the new construction cycle in The U. S. And the question is kind of on the basis of you know, if new construction remains depressed here as it's looking to be do you anticipate competition in, like, the reroof segment just anything you can to intensify further than it's already been? Or I know you mentioned it's stabilizing, but add to speak to just competition in that space would be helpful.

D. Scott Patterson: Yeah. I mean, the competition has intensified. Certainly, there are fewer opportunities and more companies bidding. And it, it has, compressed gross margins. And so we don't expect that to alleviate in the near term until there is an uptick in the in the new construction market. And I don't know that I can give you more than that, Erin.

Erin Kyle: No. That's helpful there. Maybe I'll switch gears on M and A as well. And you mentioned it in response to your previous question. But I for 2026, is roofing still a focus area for tuck in M and A? And then maybe more broadly here, if we think about your commercial maintenance businesses that you currently operate in, what is the appetite maybe for another large platform deal in an adjacent space or any larger M and A?

D. Scott Patterson: I think we're we're focused primarily on tuck-unders right now and certainly roofing. Is an area where we're we're committed to. Again, you know, I said we're picking our spots. We're very patient, and it's about the leadership and the partnership. We're open-minded to larger acquisitions, certainly, and I it would be you know, an adjacency and I'm not sure it would be a platform per our description, which would be sort of a separate operating team, it's more likely to be within restoration or within roofing or within fire. But we're we're open-minded certainly. But also being cautious around valuation and in a market that's still you know, in our mind, over. Overheated.

Erin Kyle: Thank you. That's helpful. I will pass the line.

Operator: And our next question will be coming from the line of Tim James of TD Cowen. Your line is open.

Tim James: Thank you. Thank you for the time. My first question, going back to M and A for a minute, appreciate the comments on kind of the competitiveness in that market. Can you talk about if valuations do remain high, whether it's, you know, through '26 into '27, does that change your approach at all? And what I'm thinking about rather simplistically is do you change the risk profile of the businesses you buy, or do you, you know, pay higher valuations? How do you approach it as multiples, and as the competition for M and A remains relatively elevated.

D. Scott Patterson: We would approach it the same way we did this past year. You know, as Jeremy said, we allocated over $100 million on tuck-unders. But these are these are solid good add-ons. With great leadership that fills white space for us or adds to our service line. And these are at valuations that we're we were comfortable with. And in most cases, we were able to differentiate ourselves from private equity and increasingly, we're seeing opportunities to do that. With families and owners that want to be in a family where they're not resold. They want a they want a forever owner. And so we're seeing more opportunities like that.

And so I would we're we're not going to, change our risk profile unless the returns change to hit our hurdle rates, We'll continue to work hard, and if you know, I would think that in 2026, it may well be a capital allocation year similar to '25 in what we're we're comfortable with that.

Tim James: Okay. That's helpful. And then, you know, is there any sort of silver lining here potentially in the roofing business with you know, you talked about it being very competitive gross margin pressure. Are you seeing any silver lining in that may be is kind of shaking out some businesses to look for, a sale opportunity, or is it too early to see that yet in the marketplace?

D. Scott Patterson: No. I think that's true. I think that's true. There are we're seeing opportunities that they're they're reluctant to transact because their revenue and EBITDA may be down from previous years. But it's you know, the market's not gonna change dramatically in '26, certainly. So we are seeing we are seeing opportunities. Where the seller comes to grips with a lower valuation based on results that are lower. Than the past few years.

Tim James: Okay. That's great. Thank you very much.

Operator: And as a reminder, to ask a question, please press 11 on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. Our next question will be coming from Daryl Young of Stifel. Your line is open.

Daryl Young: Hey, good morning, everyone. Just wanted to circle back on margins for a second. I might have expected to see more margin expansion as opposed to the guide for flattish this year. Just given the operating efficiencies you've had. And I wonder if possibly you're toggling between the price volume equation and some of your end markets and maybe giving away some price in order to keep the growth going. Is that the right way to think about it, or is there something else going on that's keeping margins call it, know, lower for longer?

Jeremy Rakusin: Daryl, I assume you're talking more on the brand segment?

Daryl Young: Well, even within with even within resi as well.

Jeremy Rakusin: Okay. Well, I'll touch on Brent. You know, Scott touched on it in roofing. The competitive environment. A lot of our competitors that were accustomed to getting a lot of new construction work migrating to reroofs and putting pressure on bidding and gross margin. So we're gonna see roofing margins notwithstanding the uptick in the top line through the year, a compression on margins in that business. And that will be offset in the brand segment by you know, better margins year over year in '26 for restoration. Again, a function of higher normalized activity levels, higher revenue growth, and so forth. So that's really the puts and takes for the most part in the year in brand.

And then at residential, we don't get a lot of pricing in that business. It's a very high variable cost business. So, you know, growing revenues and EBITDA in lockstep is the typical path we happen to garner a lot of efficiencies in '25 in the areas that we've spoken about through the year. And starting to lap that now. Again, I mentioned it earlier, we'll continue to look at other opportunities for efficiencies. But I, you know, I wouldn't be baking in a lot of that into the baseline model for 2026.

Daryl Young: Got it. Okay. Thanks. And then you touched on data centers in one of your remarks. Are these projects getting big enough and, fast enough that you could potentially have a cross-sell or a go-to-market approach between, say, Century Fire and roofing and maybe even restoration where you kinda create national account strategies across all your divisions? To tackle the data center build-out?

D. Scott Patterson: No. We're not, we're not approaching it that way. Darryl. Century has long-term relationships with a few large general contractors that you know, are involved in new construction of warehouses and also engaged in data center contracting construction. So Century is benefiting from the from the data center boom. But definitely, picking their spots and being cautious about balancing this work and these customers with other day-to-day customers, and I don't see us tilting more to data centers than the current mix reflects. Roofing doesn't have the same relationships.

And you know, it I think we're very cautious about really leaning in sustainable growth. rather than focusing on durable, We've seen a few of our competitors jump in and it really consumes them. And they let down they've they're you know, they've let down their day to day. So we're we're approaching it in a different way. And only at Century Fire at this point.

Daryl Young: Good context. Thanks very much. That's it for me.

Operator: And this concludes today's program. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.