Consolidated Water Co. Ltd.

Good morning. Thank you for joining us today to discuss the results for Consolidated Water's third quarter of 2024. Hosting the call today is the Chief Executive Officer of Consolidated Water Company, Rick McTaggart, and the company's Chief Financial Officer, David Sassnett. Following their remarks, we'll open the call to your questions. At any time during the call, you may join the question and answer session by pressing the star key followed by the number one. To withdraw your question, please press the star key, followed by the number two. Before we conclude today's call, I'll provide some important cautions regarding the forward-looking statements made by management during the call. I'd like to remind everyone that today's call is being recorded, and it will be made available for telecom replay for the instructions in yesterday's press release, which is available in the investor-led Relations section of the company's website. Now, I'd like to turn the call over to Consolidated Water Company's CEO, Rick McTaggart. Sir, please go ahead.

Thank you, David. Good morning, everybody. Thank you for joining us today to discuss our financial and operating results for our third quarter of 2024. As you saw in our press release issued yesterday, We reported revenue of 33.4 million and net income from continuing operations of 5 million or 31 cents per diluted share for this past quarter. These results were consistent with our expectations given the completion of two large design build projects earlier this year. We were pleased to see the continuing trend of increasing retail water sales in our exclusive utility service area on Grand Cayman, which was due to business and population growth on the island. Our bulk segment had relatively consistent revenue compared to last year. However, we saw an increase in gross margin due to the operations and maintenance contract for the new Red Gate II plant for the Water Authority in Grand Cayman. which became effective May 1st of this year. I'll just note, because we guarantee the energy consumption of our plants to our clients in this type of contract, which gives the clients certainty of costs, our margins are typically better early in the contract lifecycle when the equipment, particularly the RO membranes, are new. Looking at services revenues, they declined by about half due to our anticipated reduction in construction revenue related to the conclusion of our Liberty Utilities and Red Gate II construction projects. These projects had a major impact on 2023 revenue, but were completed prior to the start of the third quarter of this year. The decline in construction revenue was partially offset by a $2.5 million increase in O&M revenue, recurring revenue. This increase included $2.1 million from our REC subsidiary in Colorado, which we acquired in October of last year. REC provides us with a new channel for expansion of our design, build, and O&M businesses into water stress regions of Colorado. The balance of the increased recurring revenue resulted from incremental O&M contracts with our PERC water subsidiary. We continue to advance our development activities on the $147 million project to design, construct, operate, and maintain a seawater desalination plant for the Board of Water Supply in Honolulu, Hawaii. Since we announced the project in June of last year, we have been advancing through the piloting, design, and permitting stage. We plan to begin the construction phase late next year, which represents the largest portion of revenue we expect to generate from this project. We continue to gather essential operational data from the seawater desalination and post-treatment pilot systems that will inform the final design and permitting of the full-scale project. At present, we are close to completing the first phase of the pilot testing and are nearing 60% completion of the final design for the project. In all, the Hawaii project is comprised of a two-year development phase followed by a two-year construction phase. And after construction and commissioning, we expect to operate the plan under a 20-year O&M agreement. And there are two additional five-year extensions to that O&M agreement that are exercisable at the client's option. So now before getting into recent developments and our outlook for the rest of the year, I'd like to turn the call over to our CFO, David Sassnett, who will take us through the financial details for the quarter. David.

Thanks, Rick. Good morning, everyone. Our revenue for the third quarter totaled $33.4 million. This was a 33% decrease from the same quarter of last year, and this decrease is almost entirely due to a $20.6 million decrease in construction revenue, as Perks Project for Liberty Utilities in Arizona and our Red Gate II construction project in Grand Cayman were both completed before the start of the third quarter this year. Our retail revenue increased due to a 4.2% increase in the volume of water sold, and this reflects a 4.8% increase in the number of customer connections in our license area. over the last year. Revenue for the third quarter typically is very solid for us. I would just want to point out to people who follow our company that fourth quarter revenues typically drop a little bit in the retail business because of seasonality. So we expect to do perhaps a little bit better than last year in our fourth quarter retail revenue. But keep in mind that fourth quarter is one of our weaker quarters retail-wise. The increase in bulk segment revenue was due to the commencement of operating and maintenance contracts. for the new Red Gate contract for the War Authority of Cayman and an amendment of our North Sound contract with the War Authority of Cayman. Both the new Red Gate contract and the North Sound contract amendment became effective on May the 1st of this year. Revenue generated under our operations and maintenance contracts totaled 7.5 billion in the third quarter, which represents a 49% increase for the same quarter of 2023. REC contributed 2.1 million the increase and the remainder related to incremental PERC contracts. Our manufacturing segment decreased by 362,000, excuse me, our manufacturing segment revenue decreased by 362,000 to 4.4 million in the third quarter, but despite this slight decline in revenue, our manufacturing gross profit grew by 84%, reaching 1.6 million, with this due to our focus on our part of higher margin products. Our consolidated gross profit for the quarter was $11.6 million, or 34.8% of total revenue, as compared to $16.6 million, or 33% of total revenue for the third quarter of 2023. Net income from continuing operations attributable to our shareholders for the quarter was $5 million, or $0.31 per diluted share. This compares to net income of $8.8 million, or $0.55 per diluted share, the third quarter of last year. We reported a net loss in discontinued operations of $503,000 for the third quarter as compared to a loss of $233,000 for the third quarter of 2023. We anticipate completing the formal dissolution of our Mexico subsidiaries and thus eliminating these losses from our discontinued operations and our overall operations by the end of Q1 of next year. Including discontinued operations, net income attributable to consolidated water shareholders for the quarter was 4.5 million or 28 cents per diluted share. And this compares to net income of 8.6 million or 54 cents per diluted share for last year. Turning to our balance sheet, at the end of the quarter, September 30th, 2024, we had 104.9 million in cash and cash equivalents. Our working capital was 133.9 million Our debt was only approximately $200,000, and our stockholders' equity totaled $209.8 million. In all, we continue to maintain a very healthy level of liquidity and credit capacity and an extremely solid financial condition. Our projected liquidity requirements for the remainder of the year include capital expenditures for existing operations of approximately $3.8 million. This includes approximately $872,000 to be incurred for our new West Bay plant, and approximately $3.1 million for a project in the Bahamas, the Cat Island project. We paid approximately $1.8 million in dividends in October, and our liquidity requirements obviously may also include future quarterly dividends if such dividends are declared by our board. So this completes our financial summary for the quarter. Now I'd like to turn things back over to Rick.

Thanks, David. Now for more operational details across our business segments. We've been pleased with the revenue growth in our retail segment, as David mentioned, which has resulted from increased business activity and additional service connections on our utility system in Grand Cayman. Fortunately, Grand Cayman did not see any significant or lasting damage from the hurricanes. that impacted the island earlier this year. Although the total rainfall during the storms this past quarter was higher than the same quarter last year, the rainfall was concentrated over just a few days and ultimately it did not adversely impact our water sales on the island. Bulk revenue and gross profit margin increased because of the start of the new Red Gate II operating and maintenance contract, which commenced in the second quarter of this year. This additional O&M contract revenue offset revenue declines in our Bahamas business that resulted from lower energy costs, which in turn reduced the energy cost pass-through charges to our customer. Also during the second quarter, we secured a 29-month extension of the North Sound plant operating and maintenance contract, and Grand Cayman with only a minor reduction in fees to the client. As David mentioned, despite the small decline in manufacturing revenue this quarter, our gross profit in that segment grew by 84% to $1.6 million thanks to our relentless pursuit of higher margin products focused on maximizing production efficiency for that business. Based on the opportunities we see ahead, we believe that this improving trend in our manufacturing segment will continue and operating results of this business segment will remain stable and profitable. Services segment made solid progress to steady growth in operations revenue bolstered by our newest subsidiary, REC. has integrated well and has opened as expected important new opportunities in Colorado. Similar to our experience with PERC, we see that our greater management and financial capabilities will enable REC to pursue larger projects and achieve accelerated growth. We're especially optimistic about the synergies between REC and PERC sales teams. REC has become a natural extension of PERC enabling us to replicate the success PERC has achieved over the past five years in a new market. In Colorado, recent statutory changes to treated wastewater discharge requirements created several opportunities for us to support municipalities in need of upgrades. This regulatory change positions REC and PERC to capitalize on a number of smaller design-build project opportunities in the state. In the Bahamas, we are progressing as anticipated on the new $7 million 15-year agreement with Water and Sewer Corporation to design-build, own, operate, and finance two seawater desalination plants on Cat Island in the Bahamas. Construction will, or it is including, installation of two 250,000-gallon storage tanks, along with supply and disposal wells and backup generators. Each facility will be designed to produce 90,000 imperial gallons of desalinated water daily, and they are expected to provide potable and reliable water supply to more than 1,100 homes on the islands. This is our first project with WSC and what they call the family islands in the Bahamas, so that's pretty much everywhere except Providence. In that area, the family islands have historically been served by our competitors, so we're excited about this opportunity and see it as a key step forward to expanding our Bahamas operations beyond Nassau. Looking forward, we remain excited about the future for many reasons. At the macro level, cooling water scarcity continues to build interest in advanced treatment and desalination solutions for impaired water sources. As water supply challenges increase, there's a rising demand for the specialized capabilities that we provide. Specific positive factors include the strong water sales growth in Grand Cayman and long-term recurring revenue from our Caribbean-based bulk water businesses. and our U.S.-based O&M business. Our manufacturing business continues its positive trend, and we expect our desalination plant project in Hawaii to significantly enhance revenue and earnings over the coming years. Enabled by an exceptionally strong balance sheet, we will continue to invest in new long-term projects, and these include the new desalination plants in the Bahamas on Cat Island, as well as new infrastructure for the growing water needs of our utility customers in Grand Cayman. Both of these things will ultimately drive future bulk and retail revenue growth. Our strong balance sheet also enables us to move quickly in any potential opportunistic acquisitions. While we are currently in a period between large construction projects, we believe that our award-winning plant designs, our cost-efficient project delivery models, and our unmatched industry experience will help us secure new projects we are pursuing. The course we started for the company several years ago, which involved diversifying our product offerings and marked areas beyond seawater desalination in the Caribbean, has continued to prove successful and lays the path for strong growth ahead. We complete 2024 and prepare for the new year. We anticipate that all of these positive factors will continue to support our long-term growth and its future profitability and further strengthen shareholder value. With that, I'd like to open the call up for questions.

We will now begin the question and answer session. To ask a question, you may press star, then one on your touchtone phone. If you are using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing the keys. If at any time your question has been addressed and you would like to withdraw your question, please press star and then two. Our first question comes from Jerry Sweeney with Roth Capital.

Please go ahead. Good morning, Rick and David. Thanks for taking my call. Sure.

Hi, Jerry and Jerry.

I had a couple questions. I'm going to start with the Hawaii desal project. This is a little bit more about details. Obviously, I think you said there's a pilot design permit in construction phase. Do you have an idea when the construction phase is at least planned to start? And could you remind us how much of the tender is allocated to the – or cost is allocated to the construction phase?

Yeah, so – We expect it to, I mean, the, the plan is to start it, um, in the fourth quarter of next year. Um, I think about, uh, the development phase is about $27 million and the balance of the 147 million is the, uh, construction costs. Okay.

And let me clarify, let me clarify.

So we're allowed to draw 27 million. in the design phase, but the amount of revenue that we recognize in the design phase will not be 27 million. It'll be based upon the actual cost we incur. These projects typically are funded ahead of time so that we don't get into a cash flow challenge. And then after, when we start construction, the actual construction price will be recalculated because the contract we signed had clauses in it that allow for increases in the price of construction based upon changes in materials and labor costs from the date that we signed the contract to the date that construction starts. So, I hope that clarifies things for you.

So, there's inflation adjustments available? Okay.

Yes, that's correct.

But, roughly speaking, fourth quarter of 25, we should start, the construction phase is the chunkier part of the revenue side, and we should start seeing that hit.

That's correct. That's the majority. That's about 80% of the revenue, I think, somewhere in that range.

Yep. And two years construction time? Would it be sort of equally allocated?

Yeah. No, it's going to be sort of a curve. I mean... I got you. A ramp-up, steady-state ramp-up. And, you know, obviously, if we can do it faster, that works for everybody. But the maximum amount of time that we have is about two years to build the plant, you know, Got it.

Switching gears to PERC, REC, U.S., what does the project backlog look like? Obviously, lots of talk about heavy civil water infrastructure in the United States, a long-term opportunity there. I'm just curious as to what you're seeing in the project RFP pipeline, etc.,

I mean, without getting specific, I mean, we are quite busy getting jobs and pursuing jobs. I mean, there's probably six or seven that come to mind in our current market area there in Arizona and California. We have lost some jobs over the last year that you're probably aware of in the press, but... I think, uh, the overall, overall, uh, Kennedy universe there is, is getting stronger. I mean, there's just, there's no, uh, you know, big teams are quite busy pretty much all the time and you've got a proposals. So, uh, when one of these meaningful ones hits, I mean, we have gotten a couple of smaller jobs that, uh, you know, are in the sub $10 million range. over the last six to eight months. But, um, you know, one of the big ones hits will certainly let everybody know.

Got it. But the key message here is that market's strong and has gotten stronger over the past year per se.

Yeah. I mean, in all honesty, I mean, it's attracting a lot of attention from competitors. So we're adapting to be more competitive and, uh, you know, to sell the client and the types of project delivery models and things that we do best. And then work requests for the client as well. Got it.

And then just one last question for me. The Cat Islands, the family islands, how big of an opportunity can that be? How many potential projects or maybe more background?

I mean, they pull this informally. In the Bahamas, there's probably another three islands that require immediate attention. They're smaller projects. They're not Nassau-sized islands with 250,000 people or whatever. Cat Island is 180,000 imperial gallon a day total capacity. Our Nassau plants produce 14 million gallons a day or something. But, you know, the size and the scale requires that we charge more for the water. That's just the way it is. So, you know, these projects could generate, you know, a million dollars a year in incremental revenues fairly easily, you know, over a 15-year period, 20-year period, whatever. the contract turns on. Got it.

But, I mean, you have Cat Island additive. I mean, Nassau is, you know, close to capacity and demand. There may be some opportunity there. Is that fair as well?

Yeah, we're hoping that at some point they ask us to increase our capacity there. I mean, it is Last year we were running in the high 90% online range there, which obviously is quite amazing for this type of equipment. We'd really like them to expand that plant there to give us a little bit more breathing room and to give them breathing room. We're well above the guaranteed amounts that we're providing from those plants. Got it.

So Cat Island, Nassau, and then obviously, you know, the Caymans are, you know, continuing to grow. So you have a nice little growth trajectory on their core desal business or historical or legacy desal business.

Yeah.

Okay. All right. That's it for me. I appreciate it. Thanks.

Again, if you have a question, please press start and then one. At this time, we are showing no further questions. This concludes our question and answer session. I'd now like to turn the call back over to Mr. McTaggart. Sir, please go ahead.

Thank you. I'd just like to say thank you to everybody for joining today and wish everybody happy holidays. Our next earnings call will be in March of next year when we discuss our our full year 2024 results. So thank you and take care.

Thank you. Before we conclude today's call, I would like to provide the company's safe harbor statement that includes cautions regarding forward-looking statements made during today's call. The information that we have provided in this conference call includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. including but not limited to statements regarding the company's future revenue, future plans, objectives, expectations, and events, assumptions, and estimates. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words or phrases usually containing the words believe, estimate, project, intend, expect, should, will, or similar expressions. Statements that are not historical facts are based on the company's current expectations, beliefs, assumptions, estimates, forecasts, and projections for its business and the industry and markets related to its business. Any forward-looking statement made during this conference call are not guarantees of future performance and involves certain risks, uncertainties, and assumptions which are difficult to predict. Actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed in such forward-looking statements. Factors that would cause or contribute to such differences include but are not limited to tourism and weather conditions in the area we serve, the economic, political, and social conditions of each country in which we conduct or plan to conduct business, our relationships with the government, entities, and other customers we serve, Regulatory matters, including resolution of the negotiations for the renewal of our retail license on 3N Cayman, our ability to successfully enter new markets, and various other risks as detailed in the company's periodic report filings with the Security and Exchange Commission, SEC. For other information about risks and uncertainties associated with the company's business, please refer to the management's discussion and analysis of financial conditions or results of operations and risk factors section of the company's FCC filings, including but not limited to its annual report on the Form 10-K and quarterly reports for Form 10-Q. Any forward-looking statements made during this conference call speaks as of today's date. The company expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to update or revise any forward-looking statements made during the conference call to reflect any change in its expectations with regard thereto or any changes in its events, conditions, or circumstances of which any forward-looking statement is based, except as required by law. I would like to remind everyone that this call will be made available for replay starting later this evening. Please refer to yesterday's earnings release for dial-in replay instructions available via the company's website at www.cwco.com. Thank you for attending today's presentation. This concludes the conference call. You may now disconnect.