Waste Management recorded its 1Q 2014 revenue of $3.40 billion compared with $3.34 billion for the same 2013 period.
The company’s revenue increased by 1.8 percent, or $60 million for the quarter; excluding a negative $17 million in foreign currency translation, revenue would have increased 2.3 percent, the company said.
Net income for the quarter was $228 million, compared with $168 million, for the first quarter of 2013, representing more than 35 percent improvement year over year.
Internal revenue growth from yield for collection and disposal operations was 2.6 percent.
Core price, which consists of price increases and fees, other than the Company’s fuel surcharge, net of rollbacks, was 4.2 percent, up from 3.2 percent in the first quarter of 2013.
Internal revenue growth from volume was negative 1.8 percent, a 40 basis point sequential improvement from the fourth quarter of 2013.
Average recycling commodity prices were approximately 1.8 percent lower in the first quarter of 2014 compared with the prior year period. In total, recycling operations negatively affected earnings by less than $0.01 per diluted share when compared to the prior year period.
Operating expenses increased by $23 million compared to the prior year period. The majority of the increase relates to operating costs within acquired operations, primarily the Company’s Montreal acquisition.
David P. Steiner, president and chief executive officer of Waste Management, said, “We are on target through the first quarter and encouraged by the positive momentum in our business. At the beginning of the year, we gave guidance that our 2014 free cash flow would exceed $1.3 billion.”
The company expects to generate between $1.4 billion and $1.5 billion of free cash flow, Steiner added.