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VSE Corporation (VSEC)

Q4 2025 Earnings Call· Thu, Feb 26, 2026

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the VSE Corporation Fourth Quarter 2025 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your first speaker today, Michael Perlman. Please go ahead.

Michael Perlman

Analyst

Thank you. Welcome to VSE Corporation's Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025 Results Conference Call. We will begin with remarks from John Cuomo, President and CEO, followed by a financial update from Adam Cohn, our Chief Financial Officer. The presentation we are sharing today is on our website, and we encourage you to follow along accordingly. Today's discussion contains forward-looking statements about future business and financial expectations. Actual results may differ significantly from those projected in today's forward-looking statements due to various risks and uncertainties, including those described in our periodic reports filed with the SEC. Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update our forward-looking statements. We are using non-GAAP financial measures in our presentation. Where available, the appropriate GAAP financial reconciliations are incorporated into our presentation and posted on our website. All percentages in today's discussion refer to year-over-year progress, except where noted. At the conclusion of our prepared remarks, we will open up the line for questions. With that, I'd like to turn the call over to John.

John Cuomo

Analyst

Good morning. Thank you for joining us today for VSE's Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025 Conference Call. 2025 was an exceptional and transformational year for VSE. We completed our multiyear transformation and transition to a pure-play aviation aftermarket company, delivered record aviation revenue and profitability, surpassed $1 billion in annual revenue for the first time in our history and strengthened our balance sheet. These results reflect disciplined execution and validate the strategy we have been advancing over the past several years. During the year, we expanded our engine and component capabilities through highly complementary acquisitions, advanced key OEM programs, increased MRO capacity and accelerated integration and synergy capture activities across the platform. Each of these actions enhances our operating leverage, deepens our proprietary capabilities and strengthens our competitive positioning in the global aviation aftermarket. We entered 2026 with strong momentum. Our aviation-only platform is scaled and positioned to drive sustained organic growth and continued margin expansion and improved free cash flow generation. Let's move to Slide 3, where I would like to highlight our recent developments. Let me start with our announced transformational acquisition of Precision Aviation Group, or PAG. On January 29, we entered into a definitive agreement to acquire PAG, a leading provider of MRO and supply chain solutions across commercial, business and general aviation, rotorcraft and defense markets. This is a highly strategic transaction that meaningfully expands our scale and strengthens our engine and component service capabilities across the aviation aftermarket. Importantly, PAG aligns directly with our strategy of adding high-value, high-margin, mission-critical proprietary and differentiated services to our portfolio. From a financial perspective, PAG expects to generate approximately $615 million in adjusted revenue for the full year 2025 with adjusted EBITDA margins above 20%. Following the anticipated close in the late second quarter, our combined…

Adam Cohn

Analyst

Thank you, John. Let's turn to Slide 7 of the conference call materials, where I will provide an overview of our fourth quarter consolidated financial performance. For the fourth quarter of 2025, we generated $301 million of revenue or an increase of 32%. Consolidated adjusted EBITDA increased 55% to $52 million compared to the fourth quarter of 2024. Adjusted EBITDA margin was 17.2% in the quarter, an approximate 260 basis point improvement over the prior year period. Adjusted net income was $26 million and adjusted diluted earnings per share was $1.16. Moving now to the full year 2025. Revenue was approximately $1.1 billion in 2025, up 41% versus 2024. Adjusted EBITDA for the full year was $183 million, representing an increase of 56% as compared to 2024. Adjusted net income increased 121% to $83 million, and adjusted net income per diluted share increased 87% to $3.92 per diluted share. Turning to Slide 8. I'll review the Aviation segment's fourth quarter performance. Aviation revenue increased 32% year-over-year to a record $301 million in the fourth quarter. Both distribution and MRO delivered strong results, increasing 37% and 24%, respectively. The 37% increase in distribution revenue was driven by strong performance across new and existing programs, product line expansion, market share gains and a partial quarter contribution from Kellstrom in the prior year period. The 24% increase in MRO revenue was driven by expanded repair capacity, new repair capabilities, sustained end market demand and contributions from the Turbine Weld acquisition. Excluding the impact of all recent acquisitions and including Kellstrom beginning in December, organic Aviation segment revenue increased approximately 12% year-over-year in the fourth quarter. Aviation adjusted EBITDA increased 43% to a record $55 million, representing 18.3% of revenue. The year-over-year improvement reflects a greater mix of higher-margin product and repair activity, increased…

John Cuomo

Analyst

Thanks, Adam. I'd like to conclude our prepared remarks by looking ahead and reviewing our 2026 priorities on Slide 11. First, we are focused on executing our recent acquisitions and accelerating integrations and synergy realization. Second, we are implementing newly awarded distribution and OEM solutions programs, including those I mentioned earlier, across our core platforms. Third, we are expanding MRO capacity and technical capabilities to capture incremental growth opportunities. Fourth, we are advancing and converting our organic growth pipeline. Fifth, we are continuing to enhance our processes and systems to enable scale and support future integrations. And finally, we expect to close the PAG acquisition in the second quarter and initiate a disciplined structured integration and synergy capture process immediately thereafter. In closing, 2025 was a defining year for VSE. We delivered record financial performance, completed our transformation to a pure-play aviation aftermarket company, expanded our proprietary and exclusive content portfolio and strengthened our balance sheet. At the same time, we positioned the company for its next phase of growth, both organically and through the announced acquisitions of Aero 3 and PAG. As we look ahead to 2026, we see a supportive market environment, accelerating organic momentum, expanding margins and a clear path to greater scale and capability. Our strategy remains consistent and disciplined, focus on high-value, high-margin, mission-critical aftermarket services, expand proprietary content, drive operational execution and allocate capital thoughtfully. We believe the actions we've taken over the past several years have built a stronger, more resilient and more scalable aviation platform, and we are confident in our ability to continue delivering long-term value for our shareholders. I want to thank our shareholders for their continued support and confidence in our strategy and most importantly, to thank our global VSE team for their dedication and execution. Your commitment is what drives our performance and positions us for an even stronger future. Operator, we are now ready to take questions.

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] And our first question will come from Ken Herbert from RBC.

Kenneth Herbert

Analyst

John, maybe I just wanted to -- I appreciate the detail you provided on the sort of the margin walk through '26. But can you just maybe dig a little bit deeper into how we should think about the run rate synergy captures on Kellstrom, Aero 3, TCI, the recent acquisitions? And where are you relative to initial expectations there? And as we think about sort of opportunity in '26 and beyond on those?

John Cuomo

Analyst

Yes, it's a great question. I'd say that we'll give an update with the first quarter with regard to Aero 3. I'd like to let the business run for a solid quarter, see exactly how it performs, where I can kind of micro manage the financials before we kind of lay out what we think we can do with the business. But with regard to Kellstrom, the business on an individual basis is at or above our company-wide margins today. So we're extremely ahead of the totality of where we thought the business would be. We've owned it for 14 months, and we've taken it from 11% margins to about 17% -- this year, I would tell you that we still have some margin opportunity as we continue -- on the cost side as we continue to finish the integration. The area -- and this goes for Turbine Weld and for TCI, our opportunity to have solid kind of double-digit growth in '26, '27 on those 3 sites is there's a strong line of sight. And I just want to make sure we're investing in the headcount and the capability sets. So we've been, I'd say, slightly conservative on our modeling on synergies. But essentially, it's 100 to 200 basis points is kind of what we've got baked into our plan. But I've been more conservative because if I can bring on the labor and get our business to grow 12%, 13%, 14% over the next 24 months, I'd rather be in that position.

Kenneth Herbert

Analyst

That's great. And I just wanted to follow up. You made a comment in terms of your priorities on advancing the organic growth pipeline. And you've announced some deals with Pratt Canada recently. Can you give any more examples of where we might see that organic pipeline growing and how we think about maybe the opportunity there to push sort of better than, call it, the 10% growth we're seeing this year?

John Cuomo

Analyst

Yes. I mean, I think it's a great question. I'd say there's a couple of things. Number one is we've got a really strong pipeline. The question just is when do you close the deal and when do you receive the revenue. We've got a number of really kind of strategic MRO contracts that we're working on, on the commercial side with major airline customers. The question just is not an if, but when do you start really seeing the value of those awards. I would say the greater opportunity, though, is probably about 60% of our business is engine focused. And that's both on business and general aviation and commercial. That market is there. It's just building out the capacity for it and potentially working with our OEM partners where they're focusing on, for example, LEAP or GTF where they want to outsource a more legacy engine to us and that work we can move pretty quickly. So I'd say expect to see us really talk more about the commercial MRO side of the business, whether it's avionics, hydraulics, pneumatics or anything touching the engine. those are the biggest areas of organic growth opportunities where we can realize revenue and earnings, I'd say, quickly in the next 12 to 18 months.

Operator

Operator

Our next question will come from Sheila Kahyaoglu from Jefferies.

Sheila Kahyaoglu

Analyst

John, I always appreciate that you provide color out there. So maybe how do we think about on Slide 10, when you talk about your revenue growth profile versus the market of high single-digit, low double-digit growth, how much of that is coming from your outperformance is coming from share gains versus pricing? And how do you think about the growth within your different markets, whether it's engines, wheels and brakes or general aviation versus commercial?

John Cuomo

Analyst

Yes. I mean I appreciate the question because I do think that we get comped many times with just the generic commercial aftermarket. And we do have a strong business in general aviation and rotorcraft content, which is on an organic basis, growing slightly slower, maybe 200 basis points, 300 basis points slower in terms of growth. So you're thinking more kind of mid-plus single digits rather than high single digits. Where we love those markets is we have the ability to kind of build a bigger competitive moat because we're -- we look at it on a platform-by-platform or engine-by-engine basis, and we can drive higher content. So we love those markets, but organically, they tend to grow slightly a little slower. So we look at the business in 4 buckets. We think our commercial engine business will grow low double digits. We think our business and general aviation engine business will grow kind of high single digits. right below that is more the component side of the commercial business and that mid-single-digit growth rate would be business and general aviation components. And I would tell you on the pricing side, we're seeing a little bit of moderation in pricing. I mean we've had very aggressive pricing over the last 5 years, plus tariff impact, which does get pushed down to the end user. So in those market growth rates, I would tell you, think of it more as 50-50 price and volume.

Sheila Kahyaoglu

Analyst

Got it. And then maybe if I could ask another one. It's -- I don't think it's necessarily on your slides for your '26 priorities in terms of free cash flow improvement. And maybe that's because you're investing in new awards and to ensure you have the labor there and potential. But can you think about -- can you talk to us about free cash flow potential in 2026?

John Cuomo

Analyst

Yes, sure. I mean, by the way, it should be. So that was on my part. Thanks for highlighting it. But because it should be. It is definitely a conversation we're having.

Sheila Kahyaoglu

Analyst

No, I looked at it as a positive that you're investing in organic growth.

John Cuomo

Analyst

But it's a combination. We've hit the scale now. First quarter is always going to relatively be free cash flow negative. We just -- we have so many end of year opportunities, and we're putting cash to work. But as you look at the back end of the year, you should see a stronger free cash flow conversion. Adam, do you want to speak in a little bit more detail to it?

Adam Cohn

Analyst

Yes. Thanks for the question, Sheila. So yes, I mean we made significant improvement in 2025, as you mentioned, improving, call it, around $57 million year-on-year. We are expecting to continue to improve, specifically excluding this APU program investment that we talked about. But I think you're seeing the benefit of the portfolio shift to more MRO, less working capital-intensive revenue, and we are continuing to optimize our distribution program, resulting in improved terms as well. And I think you'll continue to see that shift, especially through the PAG acquisition as well. So we'll provide more specific guidance after the close of the PAG acquisition and the permanent debt financing and some of the deal-related items. But as John said, we are expecting improvement into 2026. We will see more cash use in the first half of the year driven by the APU investment, but you should expect very strong free cash flow generation in the second half of the year.

Operator

Operator

Our next question will come from Louie DiPalma from William Blair.

Louie Dipalma

Analyst

Congrats on the flurry of activity on the business development front over the past 12 months.

Operator

Operator

Adam, are you able to hear Louie?

Adam Cohn

Analyst

Yes.

Louie Dipalma

Analyst

Can you hear me?

Operator

Operator

John, can you confirm that you can hear or you still can't hear Louie?

John Cuomo

Analyst

I cannot. I hear you and I hear Adam. I do not hear Louie.

Operator

Operator

And Louie, I brought you back up to the stage. Can you say a couple of words to make sure John can hear you, please?

Louie Dipalma

Analyst

Fantastic. I was wondering what was the origin of the OEM licensing fuel pump deal and the APU distribution agreement. John, were these competitive situations or deals that arose from your existing partnerships without a formal process?

John Cuomo

Analyst

It's a great question. I'd say that both of the agreements were definitely a result of the focus as we build these relationships that we're getting ahead of potential future opportunities, and we're highlighting to our OEM partners where we think we can add value. I would say that one of them was more competitive of a process and the other one was more of us working out a partnership agreement.

Louie Dipalma

Analyst

And the next question perhaps for Adam. Adam, if you abstained from M&A for a couple of years, would you still expect to expand the EBITDA margin by roughly that 50 basis points level that you set out for this year just based on your operating leverage, cross-selling, increased utilization and just expansion into higher-margin solutions. And so are you -- do you need M&A to expand margins? Or do you have a long runway for organic margin expansion?

Adam Cohn

Analyst

Yes. We definitely don't need M&A to expand margins. And I think if you go back historically, you can look at the year-over-year margin improvement and exclude M&A, we've been pretty clear on buying some of these businesses at lower than segment or consolidated margin, and you've seen the organic margin expansion. I think there's a number of opportunities. One is obviously integrating the businesses and synergies. You can say some of that is inorganic, but we continue to in-source some of our repairs internally that continues to drive margins. You hit on the operating leverage. And as we grow organically at very strong growth rates, you continue to see that operating leverage improve over time. And then there's just further optimization efforts in our existing business around supply chain and other indirect spend. So I think 50 basis points is a decent barometer, but there's significant organic expansion opportunities in the business without M&A.

Louie Dipalma

Analyst

And tying the 2 questions together, would that OEM licensing fuel pump deal, would that typically be higher margin like in the 20% range or even above that? And would that be similar to what you did with the Honeywell deal?

Adam Cohn

Analyst

Yes. Those type of opportunities would typically be higher than our consolidated margin, similar to the Honeywell program on the higher end of the margin range.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from Michael Ciarmoli from Truist.

Michael Ciarmoli

Analyst

John, just back on to this APU opportunity. Can we assume -- I don't think you said the OEM, is this Honeywell? If it's not Honeywell, are you then basically selling all the components into the licensed repair network? I mean, do you have an expectation of what this revenue ramp looks like once you -- or even once you get to full kind of run rate, how this would be additive to organic growth?

John Cuomo

Analyst

It is -- I don't -- I'd rather not say the OEM at this point, but we are selling to the operators and into the networks. But it's -- we are just in the finalization of it. The reason we really shared it with the quarter is because we're going to -- we want to accelerate the transition. So there will be an inventory purchase. So I wanted to make sure you were able to model the inventory purchase in the first quarter. Our first quarter earnings will be in early May. We'll have a better feel then of how fast we can transition, which is how fast we can be additive in terms of revenue and earnings. I'd say we're a little premature there. I just wanted to make sure that you all weren't surprised by the inventory build that we were going to do in the first quarter to support this. But I just need to see how fast we can actually transition the program before I can commit to the revenue.

Michael Ciarmoli

Analyst

Got it. Got it. Did this have anything -- I know when you made the PAG acquisition, they had some APU exposure. Was this related to PA broaden that...

John Cuomo

Analyst

I think there's more...

Michael Ciarmoli

Analyst

Repair, but, yes.

John Cuomo

Analyst

Yes, this is something we were working on prior to that.

Michael Ciarmoli

Analyst

Okay. Got it. And then maybe just back to Sheila's kind of revenue question. I feel like all of our models here are pro formas built on top of pro formas and so on.

John Cuomo

Analyst

I know, kind of complicated.

Michael Ciarmoli

Analyst

Can you give us a sense -- I don't know if you answered kind of distribution versus MRO growth in terms of parsing that out. And obviously, you've got some of these new programs ramping distribution. But can you even talk to it, I guess, the breakdown or growth rates among the 2 lines? And then are you -- is this market share wins that you're seeing driving kind of same stores? Just to give us a little bit more confidence in our modeling.

John Cuomo

Analyst

Yes. I think where you're seeing us outpace the way we look at our markets in those 4 buckets that I shared during Sheila's question, we are -- the outpacing of that is from share gain. And the share gain across the board. This year, the organic growth rate in our distribution business will be lower than the MRO business. We do have that one actuation program headwind to that program that ended last year that -- so we do have a little bit of a headwind in that business today. It's still going to be strong high single-digit organic growth rate, but expect that to couple with the MRO growth rate, which will be probably more in the low double-digit side, if I was looking at it by capability set. But traditionally, in our business, they've been pretty similar. This year, we just have that little bit of a headwind, which is bringing the organic growth in distribution a little lower.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from John Godyn from Citi.

John Godyn

Analyst

I just wanted to follow up on margins. You guys had a tremendous performance in the fourth quarter. I appreciate some of the commentary for 2026, but maybe we can talk about what would drive the low end versus the high end of margin guide for '26 and if there's room to perhaps exceed expectations in '26.

John Cuomo

Analyst

Yes, John, thanks for the question. I'd say it's on the low end, the 2 things that would drive it is just natural mix. So the mix on the lower end of the margin profile. And then labor, if we're able to bring on labor to support back end of the year kind of engine growth and new program growth that our SG&A is kind of a little tighter than what our plan is. That would probably drive the low-end opportunity. I think at the high end, there's a couple of levers that we'll focus on pulling this year to drive margin. On the number one, Ken mentioned it is additional synergy opportunity that we've got with the acquired businesses and how we integrate them. Number two is, as we look at accelerating organic growth more on the proprietary side of the business, which tends to be higher margin. So we're moving mix on the higher margin side. And then as far as kind of some of our process and efficiency opportunities, if we can accelerate those kind of faster than planned, those will drive kind of from an SG&A as a percentage of sales, a slight improvement, which will impact margins on the positive side. So we've got some levers to pull. I just -- it's just about a matter of timing, right? So I just want to be conscious of the timing and make sure that we can -- we've got a lot on our plate in terms of execution that we can execute it the right way.

John Godyn

Analyst

That's fantastic. And sort of similar question but bigger picture, as we look at that 20% margin target, maybe you can just elaborate on what the shape of that looks like? And if there are any big milestones that kind of unlock a step change in margins or if you expect it to just be kind of ratable and linear over the next few years?

John Cuomo

Analyst

Yes. I mean it's -- we had a path to 20% prePAG announcement. The announcement of PAG will accelerate that path in a faster way. I'd say that once we close the deal and we kind of recast our guidance for the back end of the year, I'll have a better feel. It's -- I'd say the gating factor on timing is how fast we can get through some of the synergies that we publicly shared. That first phase of $15 million of synergies really gets us there. So the question just is how fast can I execute on it? I traditionally like to let a business kind of run itself on its own for 3 to 6 months before we start integration. Here, if there's some kind of low-hanging fruit for lack of a better phrase, like that we would focus on that near term to help us accelerate that. But I would say don't expect the 20% number in 2026. Our goal would be back end of the year '27.

Operator

Operator

Our next question will come from Jonathan Siegmann from Stifel.

Jonathan Siegmann

Analyst

Maybe just back to that inventory build in Q1. I appreciate the quantification of that. Is it -- granted, it's got -- the business has got to ramp up, but is it too aggressive to think you'll eventually be turning that inventory 1 to 2 times a year? Is that the right way to think about it? Or is there a reason it would be substantially less?

John Cuomo

Analyst

I think you're looking at it the right way. I would say year 1 of a program will never turn it twice. That's more of as we optimize the program. So we tend to be conservative in the first year because we want delivery performance to the end users to be at the highest level and having that inventory always drives our ability to do that. So it's a -- I would tell you, as we get into '27 and definitely into '28, you'll see that inventory optimize a little better.

Jonathan Siegmann

Analyst

That's great. And then you also highlighted additional opportunities like this. So I just -- the sales process, how long does it take to close?

John Cuomo

Analyst

Good question. It could be 3 months to 3 years. I mean it depends because we're working on these kind of programs with a lot of our business that we're working on where as the OEM is working on next-generation products and they want to reallocate resources or something in their definition of end of life becomes something that they want to have a discussion on. So it really sometimes the conversation starts and it's until they realize that they need to allocate resources to a different part of the business that starts to accelerate that kind of opportunity set. So really, unfortunately, it's a complicated part of our -- the nature of our business, which is why you have to have a deep pipeline because timing of the acquisition -- the organic programs is difficult. Likewise, it's also difficult to time the transition. So the reason we shared the inventory, it's the fastest way to transition, it's painful from a working capital perspective. But buying all the inventory and transitioning quickly will allow us to move faster on the transition versus kind of a trickle in transition. So this one, hopefully, we can transition in the first to second quarter. But it's -- the timing of these deals is all over the place.

Jonathan Siegmann

Analyst

But the returns are great. So congratulations again.

John Cuomo

Analyst

Thank you, appreciate it.

Operator

Operator

Our next question will come from Jeff Van Sinderen from B. Riley Securities.

Jeff Van Sinderen

Analyst

Just wondering if we could delve a bit deeper into the Pratt PT6 agreement. Is there more you can tell us about that, maybe order of magnitude, how significant is it? Maybe what it can contribute to the business?

John Cuomo

Analyst

Yes. I mean, I'd say it's premature to give you a little bit more detail there because we -- what we like to do is similar to like an M&A deal is that we like to test the markets to make sure that and validate kind of the assumptions that we put into our model, which we believe is conservative. But I mean, Adam, we -- or Michael, have we -- are we comfortable sharing any details around that? Or at this point, we...

Adam Cohn

Analyst

Yes, I would say that the purchase was around $10 million or so. And you're not going to really see a significant earnings contribution from that program. Similar to Honeywell, we are the current distributor on the program. So we need to burn through all of our higher cost of inventory before we could start selling through the lower cost inventory. So we'll see some margin pickup in the back half of the year, which is reflected in our guidance, but you're not going to see a material impact in the first half of the year.

Jeff Van Sinderen

Analyst

Okay. That's helpful. And then I think we're all aware you guys have a large acquisition pending. But where do you stand on organically increasing MRO capacity as you think about this year? And then maybe what are you experiencing on the employee hiring front for MRO?

John Cuomo

Analyst

Yes. I mean we've been having a bunch of strategy sessions this week. We are seeing both turnover improvements as well as retention improvements. And I think the brand is becoming more well recognized in the market where we're attracting more talent. So I'd say the bigger opportunities we still have to focus on are our engine-related MRO shops where, a, the market is very receptive. And if we can bring the labor in, we can utilize that labor pretty much immediately. But it's still a tight labor market. So that's really, I'd say, the biggest concern area from a labor perspective. We are investing organically in probably about 4 specific facilities this year that we're working on building capacity to support kind of future for those sites, hopefully, double-digit organic growth as we look at the next kind of chapter for those businesses.

Operator

Operator

Our next question will come from Scott Deutsche from Deutsche Bank.

Scott Deuschle

Analyst

John, I'm not sure how familiar you are with Woodward, but they have now spoken publicly about working to license third parties to help support their aftermarket growth on programs like the LEAP engine. So can you say whether that's an opportunity which you are actively pursuing and which would fit in your wheelhouse?

John Cuomo

Analyst

Yes. I mean I'd say that as they start to look at those opportunities, that's right in our wheelhouse. When we look at kind of engine accessories or -- we do some authorized work with Woodward on some of our fuel engine accessory shops. So taking the MRO work we already do for somebody like them just as an example, and then converting that into a license opportunity, that's like exactly when you talk about kind of what is the sweet spot look like, where we're going to support that OEM, help them extend the life of aging aircraft and -- but really do so in a value-added way to the end user as well. Those are the sweet spots of the deals that make the most sense to us.

Scott Deuschle

Analyst

Do you think you could help them with some of their more complex parts like fuel metering unit?

John Cuomo

Analyst

Yes. I would tell you that our fuel control program now that I've looked back on it was a very complicated first product for our team to go through. The quality of our engineering and supply chain organization that we've stood up that is basically an OEM-driven organization is, I believe, second to none and will really put us in a competitive position for future opportunities. We don't want to -- nor do we have the capacity or capabilities to actually be the manufacturer of those complex products. So as long as one of our gating factors is to make sure that we can manage a complex supply chain that we don't need to be the actual manufacturer. So that's kind of one of those gating things that product line by product line that I have to look at to make sure that, that's really where we can add value. And the second thing is we don't mind supporting in production aircraft but we don't want the majority of the revenue to be supporting kind of new build. We are -- our organization and our design is obviously built around aftermarket. So I want to make sure that the majority of the use, whether it's parts or MRO capabilities in addition to the manufacturing is all aftermarket focused. So those are kind of the gating things we look at to see if we can really add value and if we're going to -- it's going to be the right fit for us.

Scott Deuschle

Analyst

Okay. And then do you see any opportunities for BSDC to do any distribution or repair work for aero derivative engines?

John Cuomo

Analyst

We looked at an M&A opportunity earlier this year and do I think it's an interesting market and one that a few of kind of our industry peers have focused on? Absolutely. I think for us, we just hit $1 billion of revenue for the first time. Hopefully, we'll be driving closer to $2 billion this year. We have so much just core organic opportunities within our core space and the resources are so limited on the engine side to begin with that for right now, we're going to keep our focus there. It doesn't mean we can't add it as a capability set at a later date. But right now, I'd say it's -- we're going to keep it out of scope.

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] And our next question will come from Louis Raffetto from Wolfe Research.

Louis Raffetto

Analyst

You covered pretty much everything. So maybe just a couple of cleanup questions. Adam, do you have the organic growth for MRO and distribution in the fourth quarter? Are they both pretty much around that 12%?

Adam Cohn

Analyst

Yes. It was a little bit more skewed towards distribution than MRO, fairly balanced, but more -- a little higher in distribution.

Louis Raffetto

Analyst

All right. And then I just want to make sure I understand the $20 million of interest expense. Is that including the sort of modest additional expense related to the TEUs?

Adam Cohn

Analyst

No. It's going to be roughly in that range. It just -- it doesn't include any interest income though. So it's only interest expense. And as you know, we did the equity raise. So there's some cash on the balance sheet. We'll earn some interest income ahead of the PAG closing. But it does include it.

Louis Raffetto

Analyst

All right. And then just on the stock comp, would that continue to be split sort of between the aviation segment and corporate? Or will that...

Adam Cohn

Analyst

That's a fair way to think about it.

Operator

Operator

And I am showing no further questions from our phone lines. I'd now like to turn the conference back over to John Cuomo for any concluding remarks.

John Cuomo

Analyst

Yes. I just want to thank everybody for making the time for us today. I know it's a long and detailed call, a lot of moving pieces in the business right now. We couldn't be more excited about how we finished 2025 and equally excited about all of the opportunities, both organically with our new program wins and execution on those as well as bringing our recently acquired and soon-to-be acquired businesses into the VSE family and the opportunities that lie ahead for those businesses as well. Thank you again, and have a great Thursday.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. This does conclude today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect. Everyone, have a wonderful day.