Ameresco Reports First Quarter 2013 Financial Results

• First quarter revenue of $110.1 million
• First quarter net loss of $1.9 million
• First quarter net loss per diluted share of $0.04

FRAMINGHAM, MA – May 9, 2013 – Ameresco, Inc. (NYSE:AMRC), a leading energy efficiency and renewable energy company, today announced financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2013. The Company has also furnished prepared remarks in conjunction with this press release in a Current Report on Form 8-K. The prepared remarks contain supplemental information, including non-GAAP financial metrics, and have been posted to the “Investor Relations” section of the Company’s website at www.ameresco.com.

Total revenue for the first quarter of 2013 decreased to $110.1 million from $146.6 million, or 25%, for the same period in 2012. First quarter operating income decreased from $3.4 million for 2012 to an operating loss of $2.1 million for 2013. First quarter adjusted EBITDA, a non-GAAP financial measure, decreased from $9.1 million for 2012 to $4.3 million for 2013. First quarter net income decreased from $1.7 million for 2012 to a net loss of $1.9 million for 2013. First quarter 2013 net loss per diluted share was $0.04, compared to net income per diluted share of $0.04 for 2012.

“We had anticipated a more challenging quarter than the typical first quarter seasonality of our business. While revenue was below our expectations, stronger than expected gross profit led to bottom line results ahead of plan,” stated George P. Sakellaris, President and Chief Executive Officer of Ameresco. “We remain encouraged by the continued demand for our energy efficiency solutions as evidenced by an increase in total construction backlog in the first quarter, driven by a 34% year-over-year improvement in awarded projects. We are reaffirming our 2013 guidance based upon our current expectations for revenue growth and profitability in the second half of the year.”

Additional First Quarter 2013 Operating Highlights:

• Revenue generated from backlog was $65.4 million for the first quarter of 2013, a decrease of 37% year-over-year.
• All other revenue was $44.7 million for the first quarter of 2013, an increase of 3% year-over-year.
• Total construction backlog was $1.51 billion as of March 31, 2013 and consisted of:

• $343.8 million of fully-contracted backlog of signed customer contracts for installation or construction of projects, which we expect to convert into revenue over the next 12-24 months, on average; and
• $1,164.9 million of awarded projects, representing projects in development for which we do not have signed contracts. Historically, awarded projects have converted to signed contracts over 6-12 months on average. However, we have been experiencing an unusually sustained lengthening of conversion times of awarded projects to signed contracts, a trend we expect to continue.

FY 2013 Guidance
Ameresco is reaffirming our guidance for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2013. We continue to expect to earn total revenue in the range of $620 million to $670 million. We also expect net income for 2013 to be in the range of $18 million to $22 million. Our 2013 guidance is based upon the following assumptions: a challenging first half of 2013; that a seasoned backlog along with a continued focus on converting awarded projects to signed contracts begins to yield results later in the second quarter; a more meaningful improvement in fully-contracted backlog in the second half of 2013; modest to strong revenue growth within a few regions; a gradual improvement in market conditions; 10% year-over-year revenue growth from our all other offerings; and maintaining operating expenses at the current run rate.

Webcast Reminder
Ameresco will hold its earnings conference call today, May 9, at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time with President and Chief Executive Officer, George Sakellaris, and Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Andrew Spence, to discuss details regarding the Company’s first quarter 2013 results, business outlook and strategy. Participants may access it by dialing domestically 888.713.4214 or internationally 617.213.4866. The passcode is 68829544. Participants are advised to dial into the call at least ten minutes prior to the call to register. A live, listen-only webcast of the conference call will also be available over the Internet. Individuals wishing to listen can access the call through the “Investor Relations” section of the Company’s website at www.ameresco.com. If you are unable to listen to the live call, the webcast will be archived on the Company’s website shortly after the call and be available for one year.

Pre-Registration for the call is also available at:
https://www.theconferencingservice.com/prereg/key.process?key=PTL74X3RY. Pre-registrants will be issued a pin number to use when dialing into the live call which will provide faster access to the conference by bypassing the operator upon connection.

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures
This press release and the accompanying tables include references to adjusted EBITDA, which is a non-GAAP financial measure. For a description of this non-GAAP financial measure, including the reasons management uses this measure, please see the section following the accompanying tables titled “Exhibit A: Non-GAAP Financial Measures”. For a reconciliation of adjusted EBITDA to operating income, the most directly comparable financial measure prepared in accordance with GAAP, please see Other Non-GAAP Disclosure in the accompanying tables.

Prior Period Financial Results
Certain prior period financial information included in this press release and the accompanying tables have been revised from amounts previously reported to reflect our previously reported restatement. See note 2 to our consolidated financial statements included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 18, 2013 for further discussion.

About Ameresco, Inc.
Founded in 2000, Ameresco, Inc. (NYSE:AMRC) is a leading independent provider of comprehensive services, energy efficiency, infrastructure upgrades, asset sustainability and renewable energy solutions for facilities throughout North America. Ameresco’s services include upgrades to a facility’s energy infrastructure and the development, construction and operation of renewable energy plants. Ameresco has successfully completed energy saving, environmentally responsible projects with federal, state and local governments, healthcare and educational institutions, housing authorities, and commercial and industrial customers. With its corporate headquarters in Framingham, MA, Ameresco provides local expertise through its 66 offices in 34 states and five Canadian provinces. Ameresco has more than 900 employees. For more information, visit www.ameresco.com.

Safe Harbor Statement
Any statements in this press release about future expectations, plans and prospects for Ameresco, Inc., including statements about market conditions, pipeline and backlog, as well as estimated future revenues and net income, and other statements containing the words “projects,” “believes,” “anticipates,” “plans,” “expects,” “will” and similar expressions, constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including the timing of, and ability to, enter into contracts for awarded projects on the terms proposed; the timing of work we do on projects where we recognize revenue on a percentage of completion basis, including the ability to perform under recently signed contracts without unusual delay; demand for our energy efficiency and renewable energy solutions; our ability to arrange financing for our projects; changes in federal, state and local government policies and programs related to energy efficiency and renewable energy; the ability of customers to cancel or defer contracts included in our backlog; the effects of our recent acquisitions; seasonality in construction and in demand for our products and services; a customer’s decision to delay our work on, or other risks involved with, a particular project; availability and costs of labor and equipment; the addition of new customers or the loss of existing customers; and other factors discussed in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2012, filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on March 18, 2013. In addition, the forward-looking statements included in this press release represent our views as of the date of this press release. We anticipate that subsequent events and developments will cause our views to change. However, while we may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, we specifically disclaim any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release.

Exhibit A: Non-GAAP Financial Measures

We define adjusted EBITDA as operating income before depreciation, amortization of intangible assets, impairment and share-based compensation expense. Adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP financial measure and should not be considered as an alternative to operating income or any other measure of financial performance calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP. For a reconciliation of adjusted EBITDA to operating income, the most directly comparable financial measure prepared in accordance with GAAP, please see Other Non-GAAP Disclosure in the tables above.

We believe adjusted EBITDA is useful to investors in evaluating its operating performance for the following reasons: adjusted EBITDA and similar non-GAAP measures are widely used by investors to measure a company’s operating performance without regard to items that can vary substantially from company to company depending upon financing and accounting methods, book values of assets, capital structures and the methods by which assets were acquired; securities analysts often use adjusted EBITDA and similar non-GAAP measures as supplemental measures to evaluate the overall operating performance of companies; and by comparing our adjusted EBITDA in different historical periods, investors can evaluate our operating results without the additional variations of depreciation and amortization expense, and share-based compensation expense.

Our management uses adjusted EBITDA: as a measure of operating performance, because it does not include the impact of items that we do not consider indicative of our core operating performance; for planning purposes, including the preparation of our annual operating budget; to allocate resources to enhance the financial performance of the business; to evaluate the effectiveness of our business strategies; and in communications with the board of directors and investors concerning our financial performance.

We understand that, although measures similar to adjusted EBITDA are frequently used by investors and securities analysts in their evaluation of companies, adjusted EBITDA has limitations as an analytical tool, and investors should not consider it in isolation or as a substitute for GAAP operating income or an analysis of our results of operations as reported under GAAP. Some of these limitations are: adjusted EBITDA does not reflect the Company’s cash expenditures or future requirements for capital expenditures or other contractual commitments; adjusted EBITDA does not reflect changes in, or cash requirements for, our working capital needs; adjusted EBITDA does not reflect stock-based compensation expense; adjusted EBITDA does not reflect cash requirements for income taxes; adjusted EBITDA does not reflect net interest income (expense); although depreciation, amortization and impairment are non-cash charges, the assets being depreciated, amortized or impaired will often have to be replaced in the future, and adjusted EBITDA does not reflect any cash requirements for these replacements; and other companies in our industry may calculate adjusted EBITDA differently than we do, limiting its usefulness as a comparative measure.

To properly and prudently evaluate our business, we encourage investors to review our GAAP financial statements included above, and not to rely on any single financial measure to evaluate our business. Please refer to the above reconciliation of adjusted EBITDA to operating income, the most directly comparable GAAP measure.