Perma-Fix Environmental Services on Friday reported a $1.1 million drop in revenue for the third quarter of 2017, while its operating and net losses both snuck up by hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Quarterly revenue fell on a year-over-year basis from $12.9 million in 2016 to $11.8 million this year, as revenue in Perma-Fix’s services business was more than halved from $5.3 million to $2.4 million. That reduction was connected to a large commercial project that wrapped up last December and the months-long delay in a government nuclear services project, according to a Perma-Fix press release.
Meanwhile, revenue in Perma-Fix’s treatment business rose 22 percent, from $7.6 million in third-quarter 2016 to $9.4 million in the three months ended Sept. 30, 2017. The improvement derived from increased waste volume and a waste mix that boosted the average price for treatment.
“We made significant progress across both segments by strengthening our offerings, expanding our market share, and laying the foundation for growth in our services segment through new initiatives that will leverage our core competencies,” CEO Mark Duff said in the company’s earnings call.
Perma-Fix said the government services project began in August. The Atlanta-based nuclear services and waste management specialist at this point is not providing details on the specific client, a spokesman said Friday.
In October, 3 gallons of tank waste from the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state were transported for treatment at a nearby Perma-Fix facility in the city of Richland. This was the first-ever off-site shipment of waste from the former plutonium production complex.
Duff noted that Perma-Fix’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization rose from $152,000 in third-quarter 2016 to $654,000 in the most recent quarter, on the back of the improved treatment business.
Still, “We’re obviously disappointed with the revenue from our services segment,” the CEO said. “Strengthening this segment is critical to maintaining our sustainable growth and will be the focus of our management team, and specifically myself, to leverage our technologies and relationships from the treatment segment to grow the services segment.”
Perma-Fix’s operating loss rose from $1.4 million in third-quarter 2016 to $1.9 million in 2017. The loss encompassed a roughly $672,000 non-cash tangible asset impairment charge connected to its Materials and Energy Corp. facility in Tennessee, along with $500,000 in costs for the treatment site’s pending shutdown.
Net loss attributable to common attributed to common stockholders for the quarter increased from $1.6 million, $0.13 per share, in 2016 to $2 million, $0.17 per share, this year.
