Team Inc, based in Sugar Land, has appointed Nelson Haight as its new CFO. He joins from Key Energy Services, where he had been CFO since June 2020. He replaces Susan Ball, who resigned in November 2021.

Team provides testing, inspection and repair services to industries such as refining and power, though the company describes itself as a ‘global leading provider of integrated, digitally-enabled asset performance assurance and optimization solutions’.

The company has had a rough few years following a couple of disastrous acquisitions made in 2015-2016 for $538 million that went south very quickly. At the end of March 2022, the company had shareholders’ equity of $27 million and long-term debt of $501 million.  In the first quarter, the company made a net loss of $32 million on revenues of $219 million.

Amerino Gatti, who had been CEO since 2018, left the company in March to be replaced by interim CEO, Keith Tucker. Mr. Gatti received a severance payment of 18 months of salary ($1.275 million in total, to be paid over 12 months) plus a 12-month consulting contract of $39,583 per month.

The company hired Alvarez and Marsal in 2017 to assist in identifying cost-saving opportunities. After Ms. Ball left, Matt Kvarda, an A&M employee, had been acting as interim CFO.  Since the beginning of 2021, the company has paid A&M nearly $12 million dollars in consulting fees, which includes the interim CFO services.

Mr. Haight will receive a base salary of $450,000. He also received a signing bonus of $25,000 and a guaranteed bonus for 2022 of at least $150,000.

No word on Mr. Haight’s replacement at Key, which is now a private company. In 2020, an out-of-court restructuring resulted in the lenders receiving 97% of the new equity of Key.

SEC filing – Team CFO appointment

Susan Ball has resigned as CFO of Sugar Land-based Team Inc, effective November 12, 2021. The company has retained an executive search firm to find a replacement. It is expected that Ms. Ball will enter into a consulting agreement to assist in the transition.

Team provides testing, inspection and repair services to industries such as refining and power. It has a market capitalization of $100 million.

A poisoned chalice

Ms. Ball was appointed CFO in December 2018. Prior to that, she was CFO at CVR Energy, another company based in Sugar Land, though Ms. Ball got a relocation package when she joined Team (presumably from Kansas City where CVR used to be based). When she was appointed, the market capitalization of Team was $500 million. I noted in my blog post at the time that she had her hands full, namely;

• The company had made two big acquisitions in 2015-2016 for $538 million that turned out to be a disaster (especially Houston-based Furmanite). $325 million of this was paid in cash.
• The company botched an ERP implementation. Spent $47 million on Microsoft Dynamics AX before going live in March 2017!
• Hired Alvarez & Marsal in late 2017 to assist in identifying cost saving opportunities.

Some of these issues still plague the company. In 2020, the company wrote off another $192 million in goodwill impairment from those big acquisitions. That’s on top of the $75 million taken in 2017.

Alvarez & Marsal are still engaged by the company, though their role is winding down. To date, the company has spent about $30 million in professional fees associated with their ‘ONETEAM’ program. I presume most of this went to A&M.

The company has had internal control issues as well. In 2019, it disclosed that an employee in the Netherlands (a Furmanite subsidiary) had overridden controls that resulted in misappropriation of assets over a number of years.

Debt refinanced

Team currently has shareholders’ equity of $167 million, though its balance sheet still has goodwill and intangible assets valued at $187 million.

Long-term debt amounts to $351 million. Under Ms. Ball’s watch, the business was refinanced in late 2020. The first tranche ($93 million) is not due to be repaid until 2023. $250 million is due in 2026. That’s given the company some breathing room as it tries to sort out its business.

SEC filing – Team CFO resignation