GFL Environmental reported 16.3% revenue growth during the second quarter of 2026, with recently completed acquisitions contributing nearly 10 percentage points of the increase as the waste-management company continued expanding its North American operating footprint.
Revenue from continuing operations reached approximately $1.95 billion, compared with roughly $1.68 billion during the prior-year period.
Acquisitions contributed 9.9 percentage points to the quarterly increase, while organic growth contributed another 6.4 percentage points.
GFL completed acquisitions during the first half of 2026 that collectively generate an estimated $435 million to $460 million in annualized revenue.
The results demonstrate how acquisition activity has become the largest contributor to GFL’s current top-line expansion.
Organic revenue growth was driven primarily by pricing rather than higher waste volumes.
Core pricing contributed 6.1 percentage points to growth, while surcharges added 1.1 percentage points. Waste volumes reduced growth by 0.6 percentage points, and commodity prices created another 0.2-percentage-point headwind.
The company therefore generated strong organic expansion despite collecting or processing slightly lower volumes.
GFL’s U.S. operations were particularly dependent on acquisitions. U.S. revenue increased 19.7%, including 14.1 percentage points from acquisitions and 5.6 percentage points from organic growth.
Canadian revenue increased 9.4%. Organic growth contributed 8 percentage points, while acquisitions added 1.4 percentage points.
The geographic results show that GFL’s recent acquisition program has been concentrated more heavily in the United States, while its Canadian operations generated a larger percentage of their growth from existing assets.
Adjusted EBITDA increased 14.8% to approximately $591.2 million.
The reported adjusted EBITDA margin declined 30 basis points to 30.4%, as recently acquired businesses, commodity-price changes, and fuel costs affected the comparison.
GFL said adjusted EBITDA margin expanded approximately 125 basis points after excluding the effects of acquisitions, commodity prices, and diesel fuel.
The difference indicates that the company’s established operations produced meaningful underlying margin improvement even though acquired businesses initially diluted the reported margin.
Free cash flow also improved substantially.
Adjusted free cash flow increased approximately 73% to $236.7 million from $136.8 million.
After including approximately $30 million of incremental growth investments, adjusted free cash flow reached $206.7 million, compared with $50.8 million during the prior-year quarter.
The cash flow improvement was supported by higher adjusted EBITDA, lower cash interest expense, improved working capital, and the timing of capital expenditures.
Reported earnings were substantially weaker than the company’s operating and cash flow results.
GFL recorded a loss from continuing operations of approximately $162.6 million, compared with income of $259.7 million during the prior-year quarter.
The reported loss included a $98.3 million foreign-exchange loss, a $20 million change in the valuation of a call option, and $15.7 million of losses associated with equity-method investments.
Adjusted net income from continuing operations also declined to $67.8 million from $101.5 million.
Adjusted diluted earnings per share fell to $0.19 from $0.26, indicating that the earnings decline was not entirely attributable to foreign-exchange and valuation adjustments.
The company excluded $37.8 million of Founder and Chief Executive Officer remuneration from adjusted EBITDA during the second quarter, compared with $11 million in the prior-year period.
Founder and CEO remuneration totaled approximately $74.2 million during the first half of 2026, compared with $31.8 million during the same period of 2025.
GFL said the amounts represented cash payments that previously had been satisfied through restricted share units.
The company’s acquisition activity has also increased leverage.
Long-term debt reached approximately $9.53 billion at the end of the quarter, compared with $7.40 billion at the end of 2025.
Net leverage increased to approximately four times from 3.4 times. GFL expects the ratio to decline into the mid-three-times range by the end of 2026 as it generates cash and realizes contributions from acquired businesses.
GFL raised its full-year 2026 outlook following the second-quarter performance.
The company now expects revenue of between $7.51 billion and $7.53 billion.
Adjusted EBITDA is projected to reach approximately $2.29 billion, while adjusted free cash flow is expected to total approximately $900 million.
The outlook includes acquisitions completed through July 1 but excludes businesses that had not closed by that date.
As a result, the guidance does not include a contribution from GFL’s proposed acquisition of SECURE Waste.
SECURE shareholders approved the proposed transaction in May, and GFL continues to expect the acquisition to close during the latter part of 2026, subject to regulatory approvals and other customary conditions.
The SECURE Waste transaction would further expand GFL’s operations while adding another large integration project to the company’s acquisition pipeline.
GFL also disclosed that it had received unsolicited, preliminary indications of interest from multiple parties regarding a potential take-private transaction.
The company’s board established a special committee of independent directors to evaluate and oversee discussions connected to the approaches.
GFL cautioned that there is no certainty the preliminary interest will lead to a transaction.
The disclosure creates an unusual strategic situation in which GFL is pursuing a major acquisition while also receiving interest from parties that may seek to acquire the company itself.
GFL’s second-quarter results show that acquisitions are delivering substantial revenue growth, particularly in the United States, while pricing continues to support organic performance despite lower volumes.
The next phase will depend on the company’s ability to integrate its recently purchased operations, improve the margins of acquired businesses, reduce leverage, and convert the expanded revenue base into stronger adjusted earnings.
KEY QUOTES:
“The company has received unsolicited, preliminary indications of interest from multiple parties regarding a potential take-private transaction.”
GFL Environmental statement
