Alan Palmer
Analyst · Raymond James
I'd just point out, and I think this quarter of this year compared to the same quarter of last year, is a real good example of something that I've been saying before that the timing of when we get our revenue in the quarter, the first month and second month of the quarter versus the last month of the quarter, has a big impact on that because we bill 100% of our revenue after the end of the month. But if you look last year, we had better margins, as we've talked about. We had real strong revenue last year in December, less in October and real strong in November. This year, as we've said, the weather impacted us more in November and December. So what you look at is the cash flow from operations this year because December and even November are slower months in the quarter, it was $29 million. Last year, it was a negative cash flow from operations because we did so much revenue in December, which was the last month of the quarter. But back on a bigger scale and you pointed something out there, when we acquired Ferebee, it was at the very end of the quarter, it was in the first of December. But because it was an acquisition that included their working capital, we did not have to fund that working capital, which would have been $9 million or $10 million roughly out of our cash flow from operating activities, it was part of down in the purchase price, where other periods, if we buy a company and we're not buying the working capital, then it shows up as working capital. We have to fund out of that first month and that ends up in that first quarter that we report. So that's a, say, $10 million difference that would have come out of operating cash flow if it had not been a platform company where we acquire the working capital. So those are things, nuances, that can make a difference. But again, last year, the organic revenue was higher in the quarter. And again, if it happens at the end of the quarter, that working capital cash flow doesn't show up until the next following quarter.