06:59 AM EDT, 05/16/2024 (MT Newswires) -- ATS (TSX and NYSE: ATS), an automation services provider, on Thursday reported fiscal fourth-quarter adjusted earnings from operations of $95.9 million, or $0.65 per basic share, down 5.9% from $101.9 million, or $0.73 per basic share, a year earlier.

Analysts surveyed by Capital IQ expected $0.57.

Revenue for the quarter ended March 31 was $791.5 million, up 8.3% from $730.8 million a year earlier. Analysts polled by Capital IQ expected $723.8 million.

Adjusted EBITDA for fiscal Q4 was $115.8 million, down 2% from $118.2 million a year earlier.

Order bookings for fiscal Q4 were $791 million, a 7.3% year-over-year increase, reflecting 5.2% growth from acquired companies, in addition to organic order bookings of 2.1%.

At March 31, the order backlog was $1.79 billion, 16.7% lower than at March 31, 2023, mainly on account of lower order backlog within the transportation market which included several large Order Bookings a year ago.

Looking ahead, the company expects revenue from programs related to GLP-1 drugs and associated drug delivery services, such as auto-injectors, to move toward a high single-digit percentage of total revenues over the next several years.

For fiscal 2025, despite expected lower revenues from electric vehicles, the company believes that ATS is well-positioned to drive revenue growth in other markets, including life sciences, and expects this growth, combined with the addition of Paxiom to largely offset reduced volumes from EV.

Late Wednesday afternoon ATS entered into a definitive agreement to buy Paxiom Group, a provider of primary, secondary, and end-of-line packaging machines in the food and beverage, cannabis, and pharmaceutical industries.

The purchase price represented an EV/EBITDA multiple accretive to ATS' current trading multiple, however, specific financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

The deal is expected to close in the third calendar quarter of 2024. ATS plans to fund the purchase with cash and by drawing on its revolving credit facility.