BrightView Cuts Profit Outlook as Costs Squeeze Margins
The landscaping-services company absorbed $20 million of self-insurance and fuel-related headwinds.
BrightView Holdings (BV), the commercial landscaping-services company, lowered its fiscal-year profit outlook after third-quarter adjusted EBITDA fell 15.1% to $96.1 million.
The decline reversed adjusted EBITDA growth of 7.6% in the prior quarter, when BrightView reported record adjusted EBITDA. A $16 million self-insurance adjustment and $4 million of higher fuel costs weighed on the latest period.
Revenue rose 1.3% to $717.6 million, slowing from 6.1% growth in the second quarter and 2.6% in the first. Revenue increased about 2.1% sequentially, while adjusted earnings fell to $0.17 a share from $0.30 a share. Net income dropped 81.1% to $6.1 million.
Maintenance Services revenue rose 1.8% to $517.9 million, supported by a second consecutive quarter of year-over-year growth in landscape maintenance. The segment’s adjusted EBITDA dropped 22.9% to $63.0 million as the insurance adjustment, fuel prices and sales-force investment compressed its margin by 390 basis points.
Development Services provided an offset. Revenue was nearly flat at $201.9 million, while adjusted EBITDA increased 5.1% to $33.1 million as project timing and mix lifted the segment’s margin by 80 basis points to 16.4%.
BrightView now expects fiscal-2026 adjusted EBITDA of $340 million to $345 million, down from its previous range of $363 million to $377 million. Adjusted free cash flow is projected at $70 million to $80 million, compared with the prior $100 million to $115 million forecast, while the revenue outlook narrowed to $2.750 billion to $2.780 billion with its midpoint roughly unchanged.
Cash generation weakened alongside profit. Nine-month adjusted free cash flow swung to a $37.2 million outflow from a $25.8 million inflow, and net financial debt increased $173.2 million from fiscal year-end to $976.1 million, pushing net leverage to 2.9 times adjusted EBITDA from 2.3 times.