Waste Management (WM) has reported 22.71 percent rise in profit for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2016. The company has earned $335 million, or $0.75 a share in the quarter, compared with $273 million, or $0.61 a share for the same period last year.
Revenue during the quarter grew 6.59 percent to $3,460 million from $3,246 million in the previous year period. Gross margin for the quarter expanded 39 basis points over the previous year period to 37.95 percent. Total expenses were 82.17 percent of quarterly revenues, down from 84.53 percent for the same period last year. This has led to an improvement of 237 basis points in operating margin to 17.83 percent.
Operating income for the quarter was $617 million, compared with $502 million in the previous year period.
Jim Fish, president and chief executive officer of Waste Management, commented, "In 2016 we continued our focus on core price, disciplined volume growth, and cost control. Our results in each of these areas exceeded our expectations, which led to operating EBITDA growth of 8.1% on an as-adjusted basis.
For fiscal year 2017, Waste Management forecasts revenue to grow in the range of 1.20 percent to 1.60 percent. The company expects diluted earnings per share to be in the range of $3.14 to $3.18 on adjusted basis.
Operating cash flow improvesWaste Management has generated cash of $2,960 million from operating activities during the year, up 18.49 percent or $462 million, when compared with the last year. The company has spent $1,932 million cash to meet investing activities during the year as against cash outgo of $1,608 million in the last year.
The company has spent $1,035 million cash to carry out financing activities during the year as against cash outgo of $2,155 million in the last year period.
Cash and cash equivalents stood at $32 million as on Dec. 31, 2016, down 17.95 percent or $7 million from $39 million on Dec. 31, 2015.
Working capital remains negative
Working capital of Waste Management was negative $418 million on Dec. 31, 2016 compared with negative $165 million on Dec. 31, 2015. Current ratio was at 0.85 as on Dec. 31, 2016, down from 0.93 on Dec. 31, 2015.
Days sales outstanding went down to 28 days for the quarter compared with 30 days for the same period last year.
At the same time, days payable outstanding was almost stable at 51 days for the quarter, when compared with the previous year period.
Debt moves up marginallyWaste Management has witnessed an increase in total debt over the last one year. It stood at $9,310 million as on Dec. 31, 2016, up 4.27 percent or $381 million from $8,929 million on Dec. 31, 2015. Total debt was 44.63 percent of total assets as on Dec. 31, 2016, compared with 43.73 percent on Dec. 31, 2015. Debt to equity ratio was at 1.75 as on Dec. 31, 2016, up from 1.66 as on Dec. 31, 2015. Interest coverage ratio improved to 6.56 for the quarter from 5.52 for the same period last year. Disclaimer: Please note that this is an auto-generated article. IRIS does not guarantee the accuracy, adequacy or completeness of any information and is not responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of such information. IRIS especially states that it has no financial liability whatsoever to any user on account of the use of information provided on its website. For queries contact: editor@irisindia.net
