BrightView (NYSE:BV) reported a “strong start” to fiscal 2026, highlighting revenue growth, improved profitability, and continued progress on employee retention and sales-force expansion during its first-quarter earnings call. Management also reiterated full-year guidance for revenue, EBITDA, and free cash flow, citing improving underlying indicators in its land maintenance business despite weather-related disruptions in the quarter.
First-quarter results: revenue up 3% to $615 million
Chief Financial Officer Brett Urban said first-quarter total revenue was $615 million, up 3% year over year. The increase was driven primarily by higher snowfall and what management described as continued improvement in underlying land metrics.
Within maintenance land, management said results were impacted by weather-related factors. Urban explained that increased snowfall limited the company’s ability to perform core land maintenance in certain markets. Asplund provided additional detail during Q&A, stating maintenance land revenue declined by $8.9 million in the quarter, including roughly $3.5 million tied to a year-over-year “stepover” from two named hurricanes in the prior-year quarter and about $6 million attributed to outsized snowfall that constrained land work.
In the development segment, revenue decreased 7%, which Urban attributed to project timing and mix. He said the headwinds were timing-related, began late in fiscal 2025, and “should not be viewed as lost revenue over the long term.” Asplund added that some large development projects in northern markets progressed but could have advanced more without the snow, with timing affecting when revenue can be recognized.
Adjusted EBITDA growth, partially offset by sales-force investment
Urban said BrightView delivered another quarter of adjusted EBITDA growth as the company continues its transformation. He cited several drivers that benefited profitability, including:
- Benefits from refreshing the fleet, including lower rental and repair and maintenance costs
- Procurement initiatives that helped unlock purchasing power
- Efficiencies that contributed to G&A savings
Those benefits were partially offset by accelerated investment in the sales force. Management said revenue-generating resources were up 180 employees, or roughly 20%, versus last year.
Workforce and customer metrics: turnover down, retention improving
Asplund emphasized progress in frontline employee turnover and customer retention, positioning these metrics as central to improving service consistency and future growth. He said frontline turnover improved by roughly 30% over the past two years and described the company’s investments as supporting its goal of becoming the “employer of choice.”
As a recent initiative, Asplund noted BrightView implemented “advanced pay,” which allows employees to access a portion of earned wages ahead of the typical pay cycle.
On customer retention, Asplund said the company improved retention by approximately 450 basis points as of the first quarter of fiscal 2026, after reaching a low of about 79% in 2023. He attributed the improvement to more consistent service, investments in employees, and a record level of capital investment to refresh the fleet.
Asplund also discussed changes across the branch network, saying the company has seen sequential improvement in both the top and bottom quartiles of customer retention. He described a “10% shift” in both quartiles, and in Q&A said the share of branches above 90% retention increased to about 30%, while the share below 70% fell to about 10%. He said he is not satisfied until no branches are below 80% retention and framed 85% as the next milestone, with a long-term objective of sustaining 90%+ retention.
Sales-force buildout and contract book: “leading indicator” for growth
Management repeatedly pointed to sales-force expansion and improving customer retention as drivers of what it called improving underlying land metrics. Asplund said BrightView added about 80 incremental sellers in the quarter, following roughly 100 added in the second half of fiscal 2025. He said the company is pacing ahead of its Investor Day plan to expand the sales organization by 50% by 2030, targeting about 500 net new hires by that year.
During Q&A, Asplund said the company does not plan to slow down hiring, adding that if branches can absorb more go-to-market resources, “we’re not going to stop at the 100.” Urban said new sellers take time to ramp, describing productivity as ramping from semi-productive in the first six months to more fully productive after 12 months.
Asplund highlighted three consecutive quarters of positive net new sales in the land contract business. He also pointed to a new metric the company shared: its land contract book of business. Management said the contract book has grown about 2% over the last three quarters, which they described as a leading indicator of future land contract revenue growth. Urban added context by noting that BrightView’s land business is about $1.7 billion in revenue, with about two-thirds in contracted work and one-third in ancillary services, and described the contract value “on the books” as a key underpinning for confidence in back-half fiscal 2026 growth.
Capital allocation: fleet refresh, buybacks, and a “robust” M&A pipeline
Urban described BrightView’s balance sheet as supporting strategic investment, noting a favorable debt structure with no long-term maturities until 2029 and liquidity of about $500 million. He said the company is continuing its fleet refresh in fiscal 2026, moving from core mowers and production vehicles to trailers. Urban also said 2026 is expected to be the “last year of elevated CapEx,” with capital spending around 6.5% of revenue before returning toward a 3.5% to 4% range.
On shareholder returns, Urban said BrightView increased its share repurchase authorization to $150 million from $100 million and repurchased $14 million of shares in the first quarter. Asplund and Urban both said they view the stock as undervalued, with Asplund noting an average repurchase multiple of roughly 7.5x during the quarter.
While emphasizing buybacks and fleet investment as current priorities, management said it remains “poised” to return to M&A when the time is right and described a robust acquisition pipeline focused on service line density and market expansion.
Looking ahead, management reiterated fiscal 2026 guidance and said underlying trends—particularly customer retention, sales-force expansion, and contract book growth—support expectations for land revenue to return to growth in the back half of the year and for the company to deliver a third consecutive year of record adjusted EBITDA.
About BrightView (NYSE:BV)
BrightView Inc (NYSE:BV) is a leading commercial landscaping services company in the United States, offering a comprehensive suite of outdoor asset management solutions. The company’s core business activities include landscape maintenance, development and enhancement services tailored to a wide array of clients such as corporate campuses, healthcare facilities, multi-family residential properties, retail centers and municipalities.
BrightView’s service portfolio covers routine grounds maintenance, landscape construction and design-build, irrigation system installation and management, tree care, seasonal color programs and snow and ice management.
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