Earnings rose at Perma-Fix, Atlanta, in 2020, with growth in the hazardous waste company’s Services Segment offsetting a pandemic-driven reduction in waste receipts at the federally focused Treatment Segment.
For the full year, company wide net income was around $2.8 million, or $0.23 a share, up from some $2.2 million, or $0.19 a share, in 2019. Yearly revenue rose 43.5% in 2020 to $105.4 million from about $73.5 million. The Services Segment accounted for most of that topline growth.
On the other hand, the Treatment Segment was a drag on revenue for the year, mostly because COVID-19 slowed waste shipments to processing sites in Florida, Oak Ridge, Tenn., and Richland, Wash., near the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site. Segment revenue fell to $30.1 million in 2020 from $40.3 million in 2019. The operating unit, the smaller of the company’s two main segments, handles all of its government waste treatment business.
But the company said the essential operations of the two main revenue-generating units, Services and Treatment, were healthy in 2020. Company wide, adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) were $5.4 million, essentially flat compared with 2019, according to the company’s latest earnings report.
In addition to the usual operating expenses, Perma-Fix’s 2020 adjusted EBITDA excluded research and development costs related to its Medical Isotope Project and costs associated with the 2019 closure of its East Tennessee Materials and Energy Corporation facility.
The company’s Oak Ridge Environmental Waste Operations Center generated no revenue in 2020, according to the company’s latest 10-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
For the fourth quarter ended December 31, Perma-Fix posted a net loss in operating income, Permafix had a net loss of $10,000, which translated to no earnings on a per-share basis. That’s down from earnings of $930,000, or $0.08 a share in the 2019 fourth quarter. Quarterly revenue was about $28 million, up some $6 million from about $22 million a year ago.
Waste shipments to Florida, Oak Ridge and Richland remained low but are recovering in the early months of 2021, Mark Duff, Perma-Fix’s CEO said on an earnings call Monday. Shipment levels should return to normal this summer, Duff forecast.
For the company’s waste treatment segment, operating income was $5.4 million, significantly down year-over-year from $12.2 million. Yearly revenue was also down to $30.1 million, compared to $40.3 million in 2019.
In the fourth quarter, the Treatment Segment posted a net loss of $983,000, compared with a profit of $2.1 million in 2019. Revenue was $5.6 million, down year-over-year from $10.2 million in 2019.
In Perma-Fix’s Services Segment — which provides waste management, nuclear decommissioning and site remediation services — income was $10.4 million in 2020, up year-over-year from $3.3 million. 2020 revenue for the segment was $75.2 million, up from $33 million in 2019.
Quarterly profit for the services segment was $2.6 million, up year over year from just $478,000. Revenue was up to $22.6 million from $11.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2019.
