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Nature of Business
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2019
Nature of Business  
Nature of Business

Note 1—Nature of Business

Organization and operationsPrimoris Services Corporation is one of the leading providers of specialty contracting services operating mainly in the United States and Canada. We provide a wide range of specialty construction services, fabrication, maintenance, replacement, and engineering services to a diversified base of customers through our five segments.

We have longstanding customer relationships with major utility, refining, petrochemical, power, midstream, and engineering companies, and state departments of transportation. We provide our services to a diversified base of customers, under a range of contracting options. A substantial portion of our services are provided under Master Service Agreements (“MSA”), which are generally multi-year agreements. The remainder of our services are generated from contracts for specific construction or installation projects.

We are incorporated in the State of Delaware, and our corporate headquarters are located at 2300 N. Field Street, Suite 1900, Dallas, Texas 75201. Unless specifically noted otherwise, as used throughout these consolidated financial statements, “Primoris”, “the Company”, “we”, “our”, “us” or “its” refers to the business, operations and financial results of the Company and its wholly-owned subsidiaries.

Reportable Segments — We segregate our business into five reportable segments: the Power, Industrial and Engineering (“Power”) segment, the Pipeline and Underground (“Pipeline”) segment, the Utilities and Distribution (“Utilities”) segment, the Transmission and Distribution (“Transmission”) segment, and the Civil segment. See Note 14 – “Reportable Segments” for a brief description of the reportable segments and their operations.

The classification of revenue and gross profit for segment reporting purposes can at times require judgment on the part of management. Our segments may perform services across industries or perform joint services for customers in multiple industries. To determine reportable segment gross profit, certain allocations, including allocations of shared and indirect costs, such as facility costs, equipment costs and indirect operating expenses were made.

Acquisition of Willbros Group, Inc. — On June 1, 2018, we completed our acquisition of Willbros Group, Inc. (“Willbros”) for approximately $110.6 million, net of cash and restricted cash acquired. Willbros was a specialty energy infrastructure contractor serving the oil and gas and power industries through its utility transmission and distribution, oil and gas, and Canadian operations, which principally provides unit-price maintenance services in existing operating facilities and executes industrial and power projects. The utility transmission and distribution operations formed the Transmission segment, the oil and gas operations are included in the Pipeline segment, and the Canadian operations are included in the Power segment. See Note 4 — “Business Combinations”.

Other Acquisitions — On May 26, 2017, we acquired the net assets of Florida Gas Contractors (“FGC”) for $37.7 million; on May 30, 2017, we acquired certain engineering assets for approximately $2.3 million; and on June 16, 2017, we acquired the net assets of Coastal Field Services (“Coastal”) for $27.5 million. FGC operations are included in the Utilities segment, the engineering assets are included in the Power segment, and Coastal operations are included in the Pipeline segment. See Note 4 — “Business Combinations”.

Joint Ventures — We own a 50% interest in the Carlsbad Power Constructors joint venture (“Carlsbad”), which engineered and constructed a gas-fired power generation facility located in Southern California, and its operations are included as part of the Power segment. As a result of determining that we are the primary beneficiary of the variable interest entity (“VIE”), the results of the Carlsbad joint venture are consolidated in our financial statements. The project was substantially complete as of December 31, 2018, and the warranty period expires in December 2020.

We owned a 50% interest in the “ARB Inc. & B&M Engineering Co.” joint venture (“Wilmington”), which engineered and constructed a gas-fired power generation facility in Southern California, and its operations were included as part of the Power segment. As a result of determining that we were the primary beneficiary of the VIE, the results of the Wilmington joint venture were consolidated in our financial statements. The project has been completed, the project warranty period expired, and dissolution of the joint venture was completed in the first quarter of 2019.

Financial information for the joint ventures is presented in Note 11— “Noncontrolling Interests”.

Seasonality Our results of operations are subject to quarterly variations. Some of the variation is the result of weather, particularly rain, ice, snow, and named storms, which can impact our ability to perform construction and specialty services. These seasonal impacts can affect revenue and profitability in all of our businesses since utilities defer routine replacement and repair during their period of peak demand. Any quarter can be affected either negatively or positively by atypical weather patterns in any part of the country. In addition, demand for new projects tends to be lower during the early part of the calendar year due to clients’ internal budget cycles. As a result, we usually experience higher revenue and earnings in the third and fourth quarters of the year as compared to the first two quarters.

Variability — Our project values range in size from several hundred dollars to several hundred million dollars. The bulk of our work is comprised of project sizes that average less than $5.0 million. We also perform large construction projects which tend not to be seasonal, but can fluctuate from year to year based on customer timing, project duration, weather, and general economic conditions. Our business may be affected by declines or delays in new projects or by client project schedules. Because of the cyclical nature of our business, the financial results for any period may fluctuate from prior periods, and our financial condition and operating results may vary from quarter to quarter. Results from one quarter may not be indicative of financial condition or operating results for any other quarter or for an entire year.