Covanta releases Q4 financial results

Covanta Holding Corporation of Morristown, New Jersey, recently reported its financial results for the year ended Dec. 31, 2018.

Total revenue was $1.87 billion for the year, up $116 million, or 6.6 percent, compared to 2017. Organic growth, excluding the impact of commodities, accounted for the majority of the improvement, said Bradford Helgeson, the executive vice president and chief financial officer of Covanta, in a conference call last month.

The company generated $457 million of adjusted EBITDA and $100 million of free cash flow for the year, compared with $408 million in the same time frame last year. “For 2019, we expect adjusted EBITDA in the range of $440 million to $465 million and free cash flow of $120 million to $145 million,” Covanta President and CEO Stephen Jones said during the conference call.

Jones said Covanta processed 20.4 million tons of material last year, which included material at its waste-to-energy facility in Dublin, Ireland, as well as two large plants in Palm Beach, Florida, that began operations late last year.

“From a performance perspective what a year, we set records seemingly across the board. We processed more waste, generated more energy and recovered more metals than we had in any other year in the history of the company,” Jones said.

Jones said the company also had its safest year in its history. The company’s plant in Dublin saw a 31 percent reduction in incidents year over year.

Other key highlights from Covanta for the year include:

• 2018 results at the high end of guidance range

• Record operating performance on waste processing, energy generation, and metal recovery

• Reached financial close on first UK project in partnership with Green Investment Group

• Began construction of first Total Ash Processing System ("TAPS")

• Meaningful progress on fleet optimization

"We finished 2018 on a strong note, delivering double-digit adjusted EBITDA growth with record operating and safety performance" Jones said. "Further, we have taken significant steps towards our strategic growth objectives, with our first UK project and first TAPS project recently moving into construction. Looking ahead to 2019, we expect to generate significantly improved free cash flow, continue to optimize our unmatched domestic fleet and move several new projects into construction in the UK."

More detail on our fourth quarter results can be found in the exhibits to this release and in our fourth quarter 2018 earnings presentation found in the Investor Relations section of the Covanta website at www.covanta.com.