Note 1. Organization and Description of Business

Organization

Concrete Pumping Holdings, Inc. (the “Company”) is a Delaware corporation headquartered in Denver, Colorado. The Consolidated Financial Statements include the accounts of Concrete Pumping Holdings, Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiaries including Brundage-Bone Concrete Pumping, Inc. (“Brundage-Bone”), Capital Pumping (“Capital”), Camfaud Group Limited (“Camfaud”), and Eco-Pan, Inc. (“Eco-Pan”).

Nature of business

Brundage-Bone and Capital are concrete pumping service providers in the United States ("U.S.") and Camfaud is a concrete pumping service provider in the United Kingdom (“U.K.”). Their core business is the provision of concrete pumping services to general contractors and concrete finishing companies in the commercial, infrastructure and residential sectors. Most often equipment returns to a “home base” nightly and these service providers do not contract to purchase, mix, or deliver concrete. Brundage-Bone and Capital collectively have approximately 100 branch locations across 20 states, with its corporate headquarters in Denver, Colorado. Camfaud has approximately 30 branch locations throughout the U.K., with its corporate headquarters in Epping (near London), England.

Eco-Pan provides industrial cleanup and containment services, primarily to customers in the construction industry. Eco-Pan uses containment pans specifically designed to hold waste products from concrete and other industrial cleanup operations. Eco-Pan has 18 operating locations across the U.S. with its corporate headquarters in Denver, Colorado. In addition, we have concrete waste management operations under our Eco-Pan brand name in the U.K. and currently operate from a shared Camfaud location.

Seasonality

The Company’s sales are historically seasonal, with lower revenue in the first quarter and higher revenue in the fourth quarter of each year. Such seasonality also causes the Company’s working capital cash flow requirements to vary from quarter to quarter and primarily depends on the variability of weather patterns with the Company generally having lower sales volume during the winter and spring months.

Impacts of Macroeconomic Factors and COVID-19 Recovery

Global economic challenges including the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine have contributed to rising inflation, significant increases in fuel costs, supply-chain disruptions, and adverse labor market conditions. For example, the war in Ukraine has had a global impact on the supply and price of fuel and has contributed to increased inflation around the world. While the Company has increased the rates per hour we charge for our services when possible to make up for our increased costs, rising fuel prices had a material impact on our results of operations for the twelve months ended October 31, 2022. The impact from fuel price increases has reduced our gross profit by approximately $10.1 million and our gross margin by approximately 2.5% since October 31, 2021. In regard to the impacts from COVID-19, the Company’s revenue volumes during fiscal 2022 have largely recovered in most of our markets; however, the lingering impact from COVID-19 remains an issue and has contributed to a tight labor market that has impacted our operations in certain markets.

With respect to our financial condition, impairments may be recorded as a result of adverse challenges related to the macroeconomic factors described above. While no impairments were recorded during the fiscal years ended October 31, 2022 and 2021, the Company will continue to evaluate its goodwill and intangible assets in future quarters.