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BIOX CORPORATION
2010 SECOND QUARTER RESULTS
09H00 E.T.
CNW GROUP
APPROXIMATELY 34 MINUTES
MAY 14, 2010
"Though CNW Group has used commercially reasonable efforts to produce this transcript, it does not represent or warrant that this transcript is errorfree. CNW Group will not be responsible for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential, loss of profits or other damages or liabilities which
may arise out of or result from any use made of this transcript or any error contained therein."
« Bien que Groupe CNW ait fait tous les efforts possibles pour produire cet audioscript, la société ne peut affirmer ou garantir qu’il ne contient aucune erreur.
Groupe CNW ne peut être tenue responsable de pertes ou profits, responsabilités ou dommages causés par ou découlant directement, indirectement,
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OPERATOR: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for
standing by.
Welcome to the BIOX Corporation 2010 Second Quarter
Results conference call. At this time all participants are in a listen-only
mode. Following the presentation we will conduct a question and answer
session. Instructions will be provided at that time for you to queue up for
questions. If anyone has any difficulties hearing the conference, please
press star, zero for operator assistance at any time.
Listeners are reminded that portions of today’s discussions,
including responses to questions posed in today’s call, could constitute
forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties
relating to BIOX’s future financial or business performance and conditions.
Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these
forward-looking statements.
Risk factors that may be, that may affect
results are detailed in BIOX’s filings with Canadian securities regulatory
authorities which can be accessed at www.SEDAR.com. Please note that
BIOX is under no obligation to update any forward-looking statements
discussed today, except as required by applicable law, and investors are
cautioned not to place undue reliance on these statements.
I would like to remind everyone that this call is being recorded on
Friday, May 14th, 2010 at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time.
"Though CNW Group has used commercially reasonable efforts to produce this transcript, it does not represent or warrant that this transcript is errorfree. CNW Group will not be responsible for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential, loss of profits or other damages or liabilities which
may arise out of or result from any use made of this transcript or any error contained therein."
« Bien que Groupe CNW ait fait tous les efforts possibles pour produire cet audioscript, la société ne peut affirmer ou garantir qu’il ne contient aucune erreur.
Groupe CNW ne peut être tenue responsable de pertes ou profits, responsabilités ou dommages causés par ou découlant directement, indirectement,
accidentellement ou corrélativement à l’utilisation de ce texte ou toute erreur qu’il contiendrait. »
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I would now like to turn the conference over to Mr. Tim Haig,
President and Chief Executive Officer. Please go ahead, sir.
TIMOTHY HAIG (President and Chief Executive Officer, BIOX
Corporation): Thanks Melissa and good morning, everyone. Thank you
for joining the conference call today. This morning we issued our 2010
Second Quarter Financial results by press release and a copy of these
results are available on our web site at www.BIOXCorp.com. With me
today is our CFO, Chris Clinning. I will summarize the key events of the
quarter and Chris will review the financial results for Q2. Then I’ll close
with a few comments and a Q&A.
The second quarter was a strong quarter for BIOX which represents
a new stage in our evolution as a corporation.
From a production
standpoint our Hamilton facility continues to operate efficiently and
effectively. From an execution standpoint we successfully completed the
JJR IV transaction to list on the Toronto Stock Exchange. We took receipt
of 46.7 million in gross proceeds from a private placement and we
submitted two applications for inclusion of additional production facilities to
ecoENERGY for Biofuels Program. Finally, from a regulatory perspective,
there was significant progress made in improving the underlying
"Though CNW Group has used commercially reasonable efforts to produce this transcript, it does not represent or warrant that this transcript is errorfree. CNW Group will not be responsible for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential, loss of profits or other damages or liabilities which
may arise out of or result from any use made of this transcript or any error contained therein."
« Bien que Groupe CNW ait fait tous les efforts possibles pour produire cet audioscript, la société ne peut affirmer ou garantir qu’il ne contient aucune erreur.
Groupe CNW ne peut être tenue responsable de pertes ou profits, responsabilités ou dommages causés par ou découlant directement, indirectement,
accidentellement ou corrélativement à l’utilisation de ce texte ou toute erreur qu’il contiendrait. »
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fundamentals of the broader renewable fuels market both in Canada and
the United States which I will address in a moment.
Our focus moving forward is on execution and expansion.
The
renewable fuels market is maturing but today it is still in a relatively early
stage in its ramp up. But market forces are driving in one direction –
towards growth.
National energy security, environmental pressures on
energy policies and—are real and are not going away. We believe our
biodiesel production technology, and our plant design presents a strong
opportunity to capitalize on the shift to include renewable fuels as part of
the solution to meet the demand for a stable, secure, and sufficient energy
supply.
We are part of that solution today.
Our first plant, the Hamilton
facility, has produced approximately 125 million litres of biodiesel as of 31
March, 2010. We believe we have raised the capital from a private place
and which is sufficient to enable us to build a second facility providing
another 67 million litre of nameplate capacity annually.
In terms of execution, we produced 15.6 million litres of methyl ester
in Q2. This translates to a 93 percent of name place, nameplate capacity
for the quarter, which exceeds our up-time target of 90 percent. We have
"Though CNW Group has used commercially reasonable efforts to produce this transcript, it does not represent or warrant that this transcript is errorfree. CNW Group will not be responsible for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential, loss of profits or other damages or liabilities which
may arise out of or result from any use made of this transcript or any error contained therein."
« Bien que Groupe CNW ait fait tous les efforts possibles pour produire cet audioscript, la société ne peut affirmer ou garantir qu’il ne contient aucune erreur.
Groupe CNW ne peut être tenue responsable de pertes ou profits, responsabilités ou dommages causés par ou découlant directement, indirectement,
accidentellement ou corrélativement à l’utilisation de ce texte ou toute erreur qu’il contiendrait. »
5
proven over the past 24 months that we’re able to operate the facility
efficiently and effectively at full capacity on a continuous basis.
In terms of expansion, during Q2 2010 we submitted two
applications to ecoENERGY for Biofuels Program through Natural
Resources Canada, or NRCan. These applications outline our plans to
build 67 million litre nameplate facilities in Hamilton and Montreal.
The
design of these facilities are substantially the same as our existing
Hamilton facility.
There is no scale-up, which obviously limits our
technology and engineering risk as we look to expand our production
capacity with the benefits of the knowledge and experience that we have
gained on the first facility. BIOX Corporation has a culture of striving to
optimize and improve, and we will take our learning and apply it to our
capacity expansion program.
The ecoENERGY Program received 68 applications by the March
31st deadline. NRCan has indicated it is aiming to make the final program
decisions based on the highest ranked project by fuel type in the summer
of 2010, which is a delay from the original target of May due to the number
of applications. While, while this process continues, we are pressing on
with the planning, development and engineering phase of our expansion
plan.
Our current estimation on completion date for construction
"Though CNW Group has used commercially reasonable efforts to produce this transcript, it does not represent or warrant that this transcript is errorfree. CNW Group will not be responsible for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential, loss of profits or other damages or liabilities which
may arise out of or result from any use made of this transcript or any error contained therein."
« Bien que Groupe CNW ait fait tous les efforts possibles pour produire cet audioscript, la société ne peut affirmer ou garantir qu’il ne contient aucune erreur.
Groupe CNW ne peut être tenue responsable de pertes ou profits, responsabilités ou dommages causés par ou découlant directement, indirectement,
accidentellement ou corrélativement à l’utilisation de ce texte ou toute erreur qu’il contiendrait. »
6
commissioning of a second 67 million litre nameplate capacity is the fourth
quarter of the calendar year 2011. This is consistent with our previous
estimate of 20 months post availability of funding but obviously, is subject
due to change or any lengthy delay in NRCan’s decision making process.
Our current estimate for our portion of the capital required, including
commissioning cost for the process area of the 67 million litre nameplate
capacity plant is approximately $38 million.
This is the update as it relates to our execution and expansion plans.
I would like to take a moment to review what we believe is an equally
important to our business, which is the regulatory environment within,
within which we operate.
The evolution of renewable fuels market is
closely tied to the progress and implementation of new and changing
regulation within the three primary jurisdictions which we are focused on:
Canada, the US, and the European Union.
A number of significant developments have taken place in the past
few months in both Canada and the US. On April 10th, 2010 regulations
relating to Bill C-33, which is an act to amend the Canadian Environmental
Protection Act, were published in the Government of Canada’s Gazette.
This document clearly outlines the implementation plan on how Canada
will fulfill the requirements of renewable content in gasoline, diesel fuel,
"Though CNW Group has used commercially reasonable efforts to produce this transcript, it does not represent or warrant that this transcript is errorfree. CNW Group will not be responsible for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential, loss of profits or other damages or liabilities which
may arise out of or result from any use made of this transcript or any error contained therein."
« Bien que Groupe CNW ait fait tous les efforts possibles pour produire cet audioscript, la société ne peut affirmer ou garantir qu’il ne contient aucune erreur.
Groupe CNW ne peut être tenue responsable de pertes ou profits, responsabilités ou dommages causés par ou découlant directement, indirectement,
accidentellement ou corrélativement à l’utilisation de ce texte ou toute erreur qu’il contiendrait. »
7
and heating oil. As per normal regulatory process, there was a 60 day
public consultation period which is scheduled to end June 9th. The final
regulations will be published in the Government of Canada Gazette, Part II,
which will call for the commencement of a 5 percent renewable fuel
content in gasoline as of September 1, 2010.
Also, as expected, the
Canadian Gazette, Part I, announced a 2 percent renewable fuel content in
diesel fuel and heating oil commencing in 2011, or earlier, subject to
technical feasibility through an amendment to the regulations.
In February the US Environmental Protection Act issued final rules to
implement the expansion, the expanded renewable fuel standard, referred
to often as Renewable Fuels, RFS2, to commence on July 1, 2010. RFS,
like the Canadian program, sets the base amount of renewable fuels
content that must be blended in traditional fuels. Specifically, it requires
1.15 billion US gallons of bio-mass based diesel to be blended with
petroleum diesel over the course of 2009 through to the end of 2010,
increasing to 1 billion US gallons to be blended annually by 2012.
A
minimum 1 billion US gallons of bio-mass based diesel must be used
domestically between 2012 and 2022.
The clarity, the clarity and certainty in terms of timeline and
implementation of these two laws, in Canada and the US, are of specific
"Though CNW Group has used commercially reasonable efforts to produce this transcript, it does not represent or warrant that this transcript is errorfree. CNW Group will not be responsible for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential, loss of profits or other damages or liabilities which
may arise out of or result from any use made of this transcript or any error contained therein."
« Bien que Groupe CNW ait fait tous les efforts possibles pour produire cet audioscript, la société ne peut affirmer ou garantir qu’il ne contient aucune erreur.
Groupe CNW ne peut être tenue responsable de pertes ou profits, responsabilités ou dommages causés par ou découlant directement, indirectement,
accidentellement ou corrélativement à l’utilisation de ce texte ou toute erreur qu’il contiendrait. »
8
significance to both BIOX and the biodiesel market in general. Today we
sell biodiesel as part of a voluntary market.
The price we receive is
correlated to the price of petroleum diesel, or more specifically, NYMEX
Heating Oil rack rate. Under these new regulations in Canada and the US,
diesel refiners and importers will be required by law to blend renewable
content which clearly moves us from a voluntary market to an obligatory
market.
In an obligatory market we believe the price of biodiesel will shift, as
it has done with the price of ethanol under other obligatory markets, such
as Brazil, and become correlated with the cost of production, primarily the
feed stock.
We believe our proprietary, patented process gives us a
technological and efficiency advantages relating to other biodiesel
producers and will allow us to achieve greater margins in an obligatory
market.
Specifically our ability to use low cost feed stocks, like animal fats
and yellow grease with no yield loss, and our plant is designed in proximity
to large petroleum diesel infra-structure will reduce transportation and
logistics, should provide us a cost advantage relative to other biodiesel
producers.
"Though CNW Group has used commercially reasonable efforts to produce this transcript, it does not represent or warrant that this transcript is errorfree. CNW Group will not be responsible for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential, loss of profits or other damages or liabilities which
may arise out of or result from any use made of this transcript or any error contained therein."
« Bien que Groupe CNW ait fait tous les efforts possibles pour produire cet audioscript, la société ne peut affirmer ou garantir qu’il ne contient aucune erreur.
Groupe CNW ne peut être tenue responsable de pertes ou profits, responsabilités ou dommages causés par ou découlant directement, indirectement,
accidentellement ou corrélativement à l’utilisation de ce texte ou toute erreur qu’il contiendrait. »
9
Prior to turning over the call to Chris, I would like to address the
status of the US Federal Excise Tax Incentive Program, commonly
referred to as the Blended Tax Credit. The US Blended Tax Credit will—
which provides $1 US tax incentive per US gallon to producers and
distributors of biodiesel expired on 31 December 2009. While (inaudible)
legislation has been passed in both the US House of Representatives and
the US Senate, that would retroactively reinstate this program to 1
January, 2010, the two Bills must be reconciled prior to final approval.
Senior legislators have publicly set the end of May for the reconciliation of
this Bill and the passing of the Bill.
However, program delays have caused changes in the way we and
other biodiesel producers are pricing our product. We continue to sell it at
a premium to NYMEX heating oil, however, the collection, receivable, and
recognition of revenue from the $1 US per US gallon portion of the price is
now contingent on the passage and retroactivity, and the status of this
legislation.
Further delay in the legislation, or if it passes without
retroactivity, would significantly and adversely impact revenues, margins of
biodiesel producers, including us. Based on the progress of the legislation
to date, it’s important to the overall biodiesel market at this early stage, and
"Though CNW Group has used commercially reasonable efforts to produce this transcript, it does not represent or warrant that this transcript is errorfree. CNW Group will not be responsible for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential, loss of profits or other damages or liabilities which
may arise out of or result from any use made of this transcript or any error contained therein."
« Bien que Groupe CNW ait fait tous les efforts possibles pour produire cet audioscript, la société ne peut affirmer ou garantir qu’il ne contient aucune erreur.
Groupe CNW ne peut être tenue responsable de pertes ou profits, responsabilités ou dommages causés par ou découlant directement, indirectement,
accidentellement ou corrélativement à l’utilisation de ce texte ou toute erreur qu’il contiendrait. »
10
the public comments from senior legislators in support of the retroactive
status, we believe the blended program will be reinstated and retroactively.
Like engineer, like energy providers and producers, we deal in a
highly regulated market. While many of these regulations, such as RFS2,
serve to expand and grow the market opportunity available to us, we must
remain patient and cognizant of certain regulations, like the Blended Tax
Credit, are important to the stability of the biodiesel market during what is
relatively early period prior to broader market adoption.
And with that, I’d like to turn over the call to Chris to review the
financials.
CHRISTOPHER CLINNING (Chief Financial Officer and Secretary,
BIOX Corporation): Thank you, Tim and good morning, everyone. As Tim
mentioned, Q2 was a strong quarter from both a year-over-year and on a
sequential basis for BIOX. Production for the quarter totalled 15.6 million
litres of methyl esters, compared with 13.4 litres in 2009, a 16.4 percent
increase. Year-to-date we have produced 27.4 million litres compared to
26.6 million litres in 2009
Sales volumes increased significantly in the quarter to 14.6 million
litres of biodiesel sold, compared with 11.5 million litres in 2009, a 27
percent increase over 2009 and a 29 percent increase of the 11.3 million
"Though CNW Group has used commercially reasonable efforts to produce this transcript, it does not represent or warrant that this transcript is errorfree. CNW Group will not be responsible for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential, loss of profits or other damages or liabilities which
may arise out of or result from any use made of this transcript or any error contained therein."
« Bien que Groupe CNW ait fait tous les efforts possibles pour produire cet audioscript, la société ne peut affirmer ou garantir qu’il ne contient aucune erreur.
Groupe CNW ne peut être tenue responsable de pertes ou profits, responsabilités ou dommages causés par ou découlant directement, indirectement,
accidentellement ou corrélativement à l’utilisation de ce texte ou toute erreur qu’il contiendrait. »
11
litres sold in the first quarter of this year. Year-to-date we have sold 25.9
million litres of biodiesel, compared with 24.2 million litres in 2009.
Average revenue per litre of biodiesel sold for the quarter was $0.98,
compared with $0.78 per litre in the second quarter of 2009. Year-to-date
average revenue per litre of biodiesel sold was also $0.98, compared with
$0.87 per litre in 2009.
Sales of bio-(inaudible) were 1.1 million litres for the quarter and 2.5
million litres year-to-date, compared with 1 million litres and 2.6 million
litres for the corresponding periods in 2009.
We did not sell any glycerin in the quarter. However, subsequent to
March 31st we sold the majority of our inventory of glycerin for nominal net
proceeds.
Our sales revenue for the quarter was 14.8 million, compared with
9.4 million in 2009, a 57 percent increase. And also a 28 percent increase
over the 11.6 million in sales revenue generated in the first quarter of
2010. Year-to-date sales revenue was 26.4 million, compared with 21.9
million in 2009, a 21 percent increase year-over-year. The increase in
sales revenue for the quarter and year-to-date is primarily due to higher
sales volumes and higher revenue per litre sold, as discussed previously.
"Though CNW Group has used commercially reasonable efforts to produce this transcript, it does not represent or warrant that this transcript is errorfree. CNW Group will not be responsible for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential, loss of profits or other damages or liabilities which
may arise out of or result from any use made of this transcript or any error contained therein."
« Bien que Groupe CNW ait fait tous les efforts possibles pour produire cet audioscript, la société ne peut affirmer ou garantir qu’il ne contient aucune erreur.
Groupe CNW ne peut être tenue responsable de pertes ou profits, responsabilités ou dommages causés par ou découlant directement, indirectement,
accidentellement ou corrélativement à l’utilisation de ce texte ou toute erreur qu’il contiendrait. »
12
Our direct expenses for the quarter were 13.1 million, compared with
8.1 million in 2009. Year-to-date expenses, direct expenses, were 23.2
million, compared with 20.7 million in 2009.
The increases in direct
expenses in 2010 were due to higher sales volumes and higher costs per
litre sold due to changes in commodity prices, primarily the price of feed
stock.
Feed stock costs account for 74 percent of direct costs for the
quarter and 73 percent of direct costs year-to-date, compared with 63
percent and 71 percent for the corresponding periods in 2009.
We
continually monitor the cost of feed stock. As Tim mentioned feed stock is
the primary component of our production process and cost. As feed stock
costs makes up the majority of the costs to produce biodiesel, a key
relationship impacting our profitability is the sale price of our biodiesel,
which is based on the monthly NYMEX Heating Oil rack rate plus a
negotiated premium, compared with our feed stock costs. Our ability to
use lower cost feed stock material, without yield loss, is a critical
component of our competitive advantage.
Our operating loss for the quarter was $0.8 million, compared with
an operating loss of 1.3 million in 2009. Year-to-date operating loss was
1.6 million, compared with 3.6 million in 2009, a 64 percent improvement
"Though CNW Group has used commercially reasonable efforts to produce this transcript, it does not represent or warrant that this transcript is errorfree. CNW Group will not be responsible for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential, loss of profits or other damages or liabilities which
may arise out of or result from any use made of this transcript or any error contained therein."
« Bien que Groupe CNW ait fait tous les efforts possibles pour produire cet audioscript, la société ne peut affirmer ou garantir qu’il ne contient aucune erreur.
Groupe CNW ne peut être tenue responsable de pertes ou profits, responsabilités ou dommages causés par ou découlant directement, indirectement,
accidentellement ou corrélativement à l’utilisation de ce texte ou toute erreur qu’il contiendrait. »
13
year-over-year. Operating income prior to non-cash items for the quarter
was 0.2 million, compared with a loss of 0.1 million in 2009. Year-to-date
operating income prior to non-cash items was 0.5 million, compared with
an operating loss prior to non-cash items of 1.4 million in 2009.
Operating income prior to non-cash items for BIOX Canada Limited,
our wholly-owned subsidiary that operates the Hamilton production facility,
was 1.5 million for the quarter compared with 1.1 million in 2009. Year-todate operating income prior to non-cash items for BIOX Canada Limited
was 2.7 million, compared with 0.7 million in 2009, a 285 percent
improvement year-over-year.
The decrease in operating losses and
increased operating comprised non-cash items was primarily due to higher
gross margins achieved in 2010, compared with 2009, related to our sales
and direct expenses I mentioned early.
Net loss and comprehensive loss was 5.9 million or $0.20 per share
and 7 million, or $0.27 per share respectively for the quarter and year-todate, compared with 1.5 million or $0.07 per share, and 4.7 million or $0.22
per share for the corresponding periods in 2009.
I would like point out that the quarter included 4.5 million of nonrecurring costs related to completion of the reverse take-over of JJR in
March. That 4.5 is made up of 3.9 million in non-cash, non-recurring costs
"Though CNW Group has used commercially reasonable efforts to produce this transcript, it does not represent or warrant that this transcript is errorfree. CNW Group will not be responsible for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential, loss of profits or other damages or liabilities which
may arise out of or result from any use made of this transcript or any error contained therein."
« Bien que Groupe CNW ait fait tous les efforts possibles pour produire cet audioscript, la société ne peut affirmer ou garantir qu’il ne contient aucune erreur.
Groupe CNW ne peut être tenue responsable de pertes ou profits, responsabilités ou dommages causés par ou découlant directement, indirectement,
accidentellement ou corrélativement à l’utilisation de ce texte ou toute erreur qu’il contiendrait. »
14
for the valuation of warrants that were outstanding prior to the
amalgamation, and 0.6 million of non-recurring costs related to the RTO
itself.
In addition, during the quarter we incurred 0.4 million of non-
capitalized costs related to expansion planning and development.
We finished Q2 with a significantly strengthened balance sheet. At
March 31st, 2010 we had a cash balance of 42.5 million, compared with
just 0.2 million on September 30th, 2009. Our working capital balance at
March 31, 2010 was 41.8 million, compared with 0.2 million at September
30th, 2009. The increase in cash and working capital balances was a result
of the 44.2 million of net proceeds from the issuance of subscription
receipts pursuant to the private placement completed in December 2009,
and the subsequent release from escrow of those funds in connection with
the completion of the amalgamation on March 1st, 2010.
In summary, Q2 was a good quarter. Our production volumes, sales
volumes, and revenue per litre were all higher in both quarters, in both the
quarter and on a year-to-date basis compared with 2009.
And our
operating income improved significantly. We look forward to providing you
with additional updates as the year progresses.
And with that, I’ll turn it back over to Tim for closing comments.
Thank you again for your time and your continued support.
"Though CNW Group has used commercially reasonable efforts to produce this transcript, it does not represent or warrant that this transcript is errorfree. CNW Group will not be responsible for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential, loss of profits or other damages or liabilities which
may arise out of or result from any use made of this transcript or any error contained therein."
« Bien que Groupe CNW ait fait tous les efforts possibles pour produire cet audioscript, la société ne peut affirmer ou garantir qu’il ne contient aucune erreur.
Groupe CNW ne peut être tenue responsable de pertes ou profits, responsabilités ou dommages causés par ou découlant directement, indirectement,
accidentellement ou corrélativement à l’utilisation de ce texte ou toute erreur qu’il contiendrait. »
15
TIMOTHY HAIG: Thanks, Chris. Renewable fuels generally and
biodiesel specifically are an important part of the solution to address the
world’s rapidly growing energy requirements. Public policy makers are
faced with the challenge of dealing with both the difficult energy security
issues and the very real, highly visible environmental impacts relating to
fossil fuel extraction and consumption. These are primary drivers for the
momentum in the regulatory environment that drives the demand for
renewables and, in our opinion, will only get stronger
BIOX is well positioned to capitalize on this growing demand. We
have the experience and track record of efficiently operating the largest
biodiesel production facility in Canada.
We believe our proprietary
patented process gives us a technological advantage that allows us to
efficiently use lower cost feed stock material and a plant design and
location advantage that places us in close proximity to petroleum diesel
infra-structure.
And finally, we have the capital in place to fund our
expansion plans and construct a second 67 million litre nameplate facility.
This facility will be built and managed with the same team that built and is
managing the current Hamilton facility.
We believe the under, the
underlying fundamental growth in the biodiesel market and our expansion
plan represents a strong opportunity for BIOX.
"Though CNW Group has used commercially reasonable efforts to produce this transcript, it does not represent or warrant that this transcript is errorfree. CNW Group will not be responsible for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential, loss of profits or other damages or liabilities which
may arise out of or result from any use made of this transcript or any error contained therein."
« Bien que Groupe CNW ait fait tous les efforts possibles pour produire cet audioscript, la société ne peut affirmer ou garantir qu’il ne contient aucune erreur.
Groupe CNW ne peut être tenue responsable de pertes ou profits, responsabilités ou dommages causés par ou découlant directement, indirectement,
accidentellement ou corrélativement à l’utilisation de ce texte ou toute erreur qu’il contiendrait. »
16
And on behalf of the Company, I would like to thank our
shareholders for their commitment to BIOX and we look forward to
updating you on our execution plan and our growth plan.
That concludes the formal remarks for this morning. I’d like to thank
the participants on the call.
At this point I’d like to open the call for
questions.
OPERATOR: If you would like to ask a question during this time,
simply press star and the number one on your telephone keypad. If you
would like to withdraw your question, press the pound key. We’ll pause for
just a moment to compile the Q&A roster.
Your first question is from the line of Denis Mohess from Dundee
Securities. Your line is open.
DENIS MOHESS: A quick question on the feed stock availability for
your new plant. Can you provide any colour on that?
TIMOTHY HAIG: Yes, we can. Our feed stock, the feed stocks we
use is a commodity. It’s priced off the Jacobsen, as an example, out of
Chicago. We have a volume metric supply contract agreement in place
with one of the larger rendering companies in North America, and we will
be acting on it the same way as we acted on this original plant in Hamilton.
Does that answer your question, Denis?
"Though CNW Group has used commercially reasonable efforts to produce this transcript, it does not represent or warrant that this transcript is errorfree. CNW Group will not be responsible for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential, loss of profits or other damages or liabilities which
may arise out of or result from any use made of this transcript or any error contained therein."
« Bien que Groupe CNW ait fait tous les efforts possibles pour produire cet audioscript, la société ne peut affirmer ou garantir qu’il ne contient aucune erreur.
Groupe CNW ne peut être tenue responsable de pertes ou profits, responsabilités ou dommages causés par ou découlant directement, indirectement,
accidentellement ou corrélativement à l’utilisation de ce texte ou toute erreur qu’il contiendrait. »
17
DENIS MOHESS: Yes. So, based on like the pricing is based on
Jacobsen in Chicago so, you know, is there a, affects risk involved? I
assume the feed stock is costing like in US dollars?
CHRISTOPHER CLINNING: It’s Chris, Denis. Yes, we purchase in
Canadian dollars, but it is a US based, denominated commodity but we
actually have a fairly good natural hedge based on, on, on the fact that
we’re selling (inaudible) prices which again are reflecting US dollars. So,
we’re selling in US dollars to our customers primarily based on the NYMEX
Heating Oil rack rate. We’re buying in Canadian dollars but it is really
reflective of the exchange rate on that US denominated commodity on the
feed stock side. So it works pretty well. There really isn’t any significant
exposure.
DENIS MOHESS: Okay. That’s good. Maybe I might have missed
it. Have you given the split between your sales in the US and Canada? In
terms of geographic split?
TIMOTHY HAIG: We sell everything directly out of our plant. It’s
FOB Hamilton, so we sell to distributors out of Hamilton. So they take it to
either the US, or inside Canada, and potentially to Europe as well, but all
our sales are effectively Canadian sales.
"Though CNW Group has used commercially reasonable efforts to produce this transcript, it does not represent or warrant that this transcript is errorfree. CNW Group will not be responsible for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential, loss of profits or other damages or liabilities which
may arise out of or result from any use made of this transcript or any error contained therein."
« Bien que Groupe CNW ait fait tous les efforts possibles pour produire cet audioscript, la société ne peut affirmer ou garantir qu’il ne contient aucune erreur.
Groupe CNW ne peut être tenue responsable de pertes ou profits, responsabilités ou dommages causés par ou découlant directement, indirectement,
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18
DENIS MOHESS:
Okay.
That’s great.
And one last question.
Where do you—do you have any expectations around the cost for feed
stock which, where are they heading? Like have you seen increase in
feed stock costs or is it going, is it stable?
TIMOTHY HAIG: I think the key thing—if you look at recently you’ll
see there has been some increases over the last, over the last few weeks,
although based on the last couple of days it’s reversed itself and starting to
go the other way. I think always the key thing to remember for us, from our
perspective, is not where the feed stock price is going, but where it is
relative to Heating Oil rack rate. And if you look at the history of that
relationship, they move fairly closely in tandem. It’s certainly not perfect
but they move up and down together as part of the energy complex fairly
closely.
So the important thing for us is not, you know, whether, whether the
feed stock is going up and down, but how, how it works related to the, that
NYMEX Heating Oil rack rate and frankly, what premium we can achieve
above NYMEX Heating Oil rack rate ‘cause that drives our pricing and
drives the margin. And I think, you know, I can comment on that portion a
little bit as well to say that we are seeing increased premiums in the market
for biodiesel so we are seeing that upward pricing pressure right now,
"Though CNW Group has used commercially reasonable efforts to produce this transcript, it does not represent or warrant that this transcript is errorfree. CNW Group will not be responsible for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential, loss of profits or other damages or liabilities which
may arise out of or result from any use made of this transcript or any error contained therein."
« Bien que Groupe CNW ait fait tous les efforts possibles pour produire cet audioscript, la société ne peut affirmer ou garantir qu’il ne contient aucune erreur.
Groupe CNW ne peut être tenue responsable de pertes ou profits, responsabilités ou dommages causés par ou découlant directement, indirectement,
accidentellement ou corrélativement à l’utilisation de ce texte ou toute erreur qu’il contiendrait. »
19
which is a good thing.
Although again, it’s always relative to what’s
happening on the feed stock side.
CHRISTOPHER CLINNING: But to add to that, Denis, they split
the—we are pressing, the thesis we have, we’ve put forward is in an
obligatory market. They will have to blend and what we’re looking for and
what BIOX will be able achieve at a higher margin compared to other
biodiesel producers, if I’ve made myself clear on that.
DENIS MOHESS: Okay, one last housekeeping question. It seems
like the inventory level has come down pretty significantly. Is that the
going rate forward like, or is it, or do you expect it to go up again?
TIMOTHY HAIG:
I would say March was somewhat unusual in
terms of the lower inventory number. And that was really a reflection of the
fact that we did spot sales close to the end of the month and, and
effectively cleared out the majority of our inventory.
We’re usually
carrying, you know, a week and a half worth of finished goods inventory at
any particular time but it, it was certainly lower than that at March because
we had a good sales opportunity, good pricing and so we cleared it out.
DENIS MOHESS: Okay. Thank you very much. Those are all my
questions.
TIMOTHY R. HAIG: Thank you.
"Though CNW Group has used commercially reasonable efforts to produce this transcript, it does not represent or warrant that this transcript is errorfree. CNW Group will not be responsible for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential, loss of profits or other damages or liabilities which
may arise out of or result from any use made of this transcript or any error contained therein."
« Bien que Groupe CNW ait fait tous les efforts possibles pour produire cet audioscript, la société ne peut affirmer ou garantir qu’il ne contient aucune erreur.
Groupe CNW ne peut être tenue responsable de pertes ou profits, responsabilités ou dommages causés par ou découlant directement, indirectement,
accidentellement ou corrélativement à l’utilisation de ce texte ou toute erreur qu’il contiendrait. »
20
OPERATOR: Your next question is from the line of Carolina Vargus
from Clarus Securities. Your line is open.
FRANCISCO LUNG: Francisco filling in for Carolina. Just a few
questions. The first one is what has been the impact of the US Tax, US
Tax Credit on your demand? Could you speak a little bit about that?
CHRISTOPHER CLINNING: In terms of the, you’re talking about the
blended credit?
FRANCISCO LUNG: Yes.
CHRISTOPHER CLINNING: There is no issue on the demand side
whatsoever. It’s not impacting the demand for our product at all. In fact,
we’ve got a lot more demand than product available for sale. The issue
clearly right now is simply how that is priced. And as Tim mentioned in the
script, for the first three months of the year we were selling at that NYMEX,
plus a premium, and collecting that, that entire amount. What’s happening
now is because the traders and the distributors have taken on a significant
amount of risk over the first three months relative to that dollar blended
credit, the way we have to sell it today is without that dollar included in our
pricing. It’s included in our pricing but it’s contingent on the blended credit
being passed and being retroactive.
"Though CNW Group has used commercially reasonable efforts to produce this transcript, it does not represent or warrant that this transcript is errorfree. CNW Group will not be responsible for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential, loss of profits or other damages or liabilities which
may arise out of or result from any use made of this transcript or any error contained therein."
« Bien que Groupe CNW ait fait tous les efforts possibles pour produire cet audioscript, la société ne peut affirmer ou garantir qu’il ne contient aucune erreur.
Groupe CNW ne peut être tenue responsable de pertes ou profits, responsabilités ou dommages causés par ou découlant directement, indirectement,
accidentellement ou corrélativement à l’utilisation de ce texte ou toute erreur qu’il contiendrait. »
21
FRANCISCO LUNG: Okay, great. My second question is: Could
you speak a little bit about the soybean prices being so close to the tallow
prices and if there’s some kind of impact on that?
TIMOTHY HAIG: Please go ahead.
CHRISTOPHER CLINNING: I think if you looked at the relationship
between, between soy and, and tallows, or animal fats, et cetera
historically you will see periods when that curves tightens. So we’ve seen
this before. And, generally what happens or always what happens, is the
market adjusts back to that 30 to 40 percent gap, just based on the usage
for that material.
Clearly, you know our, our technology allows us to
whatever, to use whatever is the least expensive feed stock and that’s
what we’ll do. And so it’s, I think, it’s another one of those short term
impacts that doesn’t have a lot of affect on us. If, if soy is priced such that
we can get a better deal on buying soy, it helps our economics, we’ll by
soy. But overall, I think you’ll see that, you know, if you look at the history
that, that natural gap will return.
FRANCISCO LUNG:
Okay.
And my last question is have you
chosen a location for your second plant?
TIMOTHY HAIG: We’re working on both Hamilton and Montreal for
a second plant. A lot of this comes down to the ecoENERGY Program
"Though CNW Group has used commercially reasonable efforts to produce this transcript, it does not represent or warrant that this transcript is errorfree. CNW Group will not be responsible for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential, loss of profits or other damages or liabilities which
may arise out of or result from any use made of this transcript or any error contained therein."
« Bien que Groupe CNW ait fait tous les efforts possibles pour produire cet audioscript, la société ne peut affirmer ou garantir qu’il ne contient aucune erreur.
Groupe CNW ne peut être tenue responsable de pertes ou profits, responsabilités ou dommages causés par ou découlant directement, indirectement,
accidentellement ou corrélativement à l’utilisation de ce texte ou toute erreur qu’il contiendrait. »
22
going forward. We’re working on both of them and we’ll make a decision in
the next few months.
FRANCISCO LUNG: Okay, great. That’s all I have.
TIMOTHY HAIG: Thanks, Francisco.
FRANCISCO LUNG: Thanks.
OPERATOR: Again, if you would like to ask a question, press star,
then the number one on your telephone keypad.
Your next question is from the line of Rupert Merer from National
Bank Financial. Your line is open.
RUPERT MERER:
The blended tax credit that you’ve been
discussing, can you mention what the impact would be on your Q3
revenue? Is it going to be a dollar a gallon equivalent hit to revenue?
TIMOTHY HAIG: It is a dollar per gallon in terms of the, the credit
itself. It certainly won’t be, will not have that impact if, as we expect, the
credit is reinstated at the end of May. Once the reinstatement happens,
and assuming that reinstatement’s on a retroactive basis which is what
everybody’s discussing and what the proposal is, then…
CHRISTOPHER A. CLINNING: What the Bill actually says.
TIMOTHY HAIG: Then it will not have that. It will have zero impact
on our revenue.
"Though CNW Group has used commercially reasonable efforts to produce this transcript, it does not represent or warrant that this transcript is errorfree. CNW Group will not be responsible for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential, loss of profits or other damages or liabilities which
may arise out of or result from any use made of this transcript or any error contained therein."
« Bien que Groupe CNW ait fait tous les efforts possibles pour produire cet audioscript, la société ne peut affirmer ou garantir qu’il ne contient aucune erreur.
Groupe CNW ne peut être tenue responsable de pertes ou profits, responsabilités ou dommages causés par ou découlant directement, indirectement,
accidentellement ou corrélativement à l’utilisation de ce texte ou toute erreur qu’il contiendrait. »
23
RUERT MERE:
So if it isn’t approved by the end of this quarter,
what do you anticipate would be the impact on your revenue? And then,
what is your agreement with your distributors should the credit be passed
after Q3? Will you still see a retroactive payment made?
CHRISTOPHER CLINNING: On the first, the first question, if it was
not passed and not retroactive, it would be a dollar per gallon. Right now
we’ve effectively sold our April production on that type of an arrangement.
We’re, we’re evaluating what to do in terms production for the balance of
the quarter, whether we keep that same arrangement or store some
product, et cetera. So I can’t give you the exact number in terms of what
the impact would be. In terms of that fraction for April, if the, if the credit
was not passed, it was passed later and it was not retroactive, then we
would lose that dollar. Is that your question?
RUPERT MERER: Yes, it is. If it is passed then retroactive you
would get the dollar back and you would recognize that revenue in the, in
your Q4, perhaps, or…
CHRISTOPHER CLINNING: Oh, absolutely. Yes, for sure. If it’s
retroactive, yes there’s a timing issue. If it goes beyond the quarter end,
then obviously we can’t recognize the revenue on it, but if it passes
subsequent to the quarter, then absolutely. We get that dollar.
"Though CNW Group has used commercially reasonable efforts to produce this transcript, it does not represent or warrant that this transcript is errorfree. CNW Group will not be responsible for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential, loss of profits or other damages or liabilities which
may arise out of or result from any use made of this transcript or any error contained therein."
« Bien que Groupe CNW ait fait tous les efforts possibles pour produire cet audioscript, la société ne peut affirmer ou garantir qu’il ne contient aucune erreur.
Groupe CNW ne peut être tenue responsable de pertes ou profits, responsabilités ou dommages causés par ou découlant directement, indirectement,
accidentellement ou corrélativement à l’utilisation de ce texte ou toute erreur qu’il contiendrait. »
24
RUPERT MERER: Okay, great. Second question. Looking at the 2
percent renewable diesel requirement in Canada, you mentioned that it’s
subject to the technical feasibility review. Do you have any updates or any
visibility on that review process, where it stands today?
TIMONTHY HAIG:
Yes, we do, because we’re also part of
Canadian Renewable Fuels Association, which works closely with NRCan
on these, these studies. There are a few studies. They’re going well. As
expected and as happened when ethanol came in, there were a few
technical things, like storage and other usage that they wanted to trial.
Those trials are going very well. They’re on, their program’s to finish in
June and we will be back to the government to have the, the regulatory
package approved through Cabinet.
RUPERT MERER: Okay. You don’t foresee any risk?
TIMOTHY HAIG: No, I don’t. I don’t.
RUPERT MERER: Okay, great. Thanks very much.
CHRISTOPHER CLINNING: Thanks, Rupert.
TIMOTHY HAIG: Thanks, Rupert.
OPERATOR: There are no further questions at this time. Mr. Haig,
I’ll turn the call back over to you.
"Though CNW Group has used commercially reasonable efforts to produce this transcript, it does not represent or warrant that this transcript is errorfree. CNW Group will not be responsible for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential, loss of profits or other damages or liabilities which
may arise out of or result from any use made of this transcript or any error contained therein."
« Bien que Groupe CNW ait fait tous les efforts possibles pour produire cet audioscript, la société ne peut affirmer ou garantir qu’il ne contient aucune erreur.
Groupe CNW ne peut être tenue responsable de pertes ou profits, responsabilités ou dommages causés par ou découlant directement, indirectement,
accidentellement ou corrélativement à l’utilisation de ce texte ou toute erreur qu’il contiendrait. »
25
TIMOTHY HAIG: Well thanks, everyone for coming. That wraps up
our Q&A. I’d like to thank everyone for the really good question. And we
really do look forward to working with you and updating you in the coming
months.
With no further adieu we’d like to close the line and thank
everybody for their time.
CHRISTOPHER CLINNING:
Thank you.
TIMOTHY HAIG: Thank you.
OPERATOR: This concludes today’s conference call. You may now
disconnect.
*****
"Though CNW Group has used commercially reasonable efforts to produce this transcript, it does not represent or warrant that this transcript is errorfree. CNW Group will not be responsible for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential, loss of profits or other damages or liabilities which
may arise out of or result from any use made of this transcript or any error contained therein."
« Bien que Groupe CNW ait fait tous les efforts possibles pour produire cet audioscript, la société ne peut affirmer ou garantir qu’il ne contient aucune erreur.
Groupe CNW ne peut être tenue responsable de pertes ou profits, responsabilités ou dommages causés par ou découlant directement, indirectement,
accidentellement ou corrélativement à l’utilisation de ce texte ou toute erreur qu’il contiendrait. »

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