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spk00: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the first quarter 2022 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question-and-answer session, and instructions will follow at that time. If anyone should require assistance during the conference, please press star, then zero on your touchtone telephone. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your host, Ms. Linda Moore. Ma'am?
spk02: Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining our call. Welcome to the 2022 First Quarter Earnings Conference Call for Marone BioInnovations. Our presenters today are CEO Kevin Helash and Interim CFO LaDawn Johnson, and they are joined by Matis Vanden, Senior Vice President for International Sales, and Kamal El Mernissi, Senior Director of Product Marketing, for the Q&A session at the end of the call. If you would please refer to slide two, I would like to remind you that this conference call may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 regarding management's future expectations, plans, projections, forecasts, and prospects. Certain material assumptions were applied in reaching these conclusions and making these statements. Therefore, actual results could differ materially from those contained in our forward-looking information. Important factors that could cause differences are contained in the reports filed by the company with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including under the heading Risk Factors, MD&A, and elsewhere in the company's annual report, quarterly reports, and other filings. The company expressly disclaims any obligation to revise or update any guidance or other forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that may arise after the date of this call. After our remarks, we will hold a question and answer session. I will now turn the call over to our CEO, Kevin Helash. Kevin.
spk04: Thank you, Linda, and thanks to everyone joining us today. I would be remiss if I did not start by expressing our sympathies to all those impacted by the conflict in Ukraine. Many of us in the MBI family have personal ties to the country. Our thoughts and prayers are with them, and we hope for a quick end to this humanitarian crisis. I'm proud to say reports indicate that even under the worst of all circumstances, the farmers in Ukraine have been able to plant over 30% of their spring crops according to the country's grain traders union. To illustrate the tenacity this has taken, a recent Reuters report spoke of growers wearing body armor as they go to work in their fields. While we anticipate some effect on our full year revenues in Europe due to the Ukraine conflict, we will work diligently to make up the difference in other parts of the business. Turning specifically to the first quarter, I'd like to speak broadly to the macro conditions we faced and provide additional color on our outlook for the second quarter and first half of 2022. LaDawn will then go into more details on the numbers. To start, please turn to slide three. Our first quarter results with solid revenues in the row crop markets and difficult weather conditions for specialty crop growers in the western U.S. underscore the importance of our strategy to diversify our product mix and our geographic reach, and why our merger agreement with BioSeries is key to the expansion of our business across these segments. We were very pleased with our North American seed treatment business, which expanded in the first quarter thanks to the strong demand for our bio-insecticide, bio-nomadicide product. As you know, in the fourth quarter of last year, our North American customers stocked up in anticipation of a normal season. For our partners serving the row crop markets, we saw an increase in sales in the first quarter as these products began to move through the channel and be placed on farm. The dynamic was different for specialty crops. For the second year in a row in the western United States, severe drought conditions curtail early season use of our fungicides. This is not an issue of performance. Our products continue to have strong support from the market. The challenge is that the dry conditions negate the overall demand for fungicides, which in turn lowers the need for our customers to restock. Just to give you a feel for the severity of the circumstances growers faced, the USDA reported that March precipitation in California was less than half an inch versus more than two inches in an average year. Additionally, Northern California and the Pacific Northwest incurred frost damage in the fruit and nut trees. The impact of the frost and its effect on orders going forward is still being determined. On a positive note, as we indicated in our fourth quarter call, we continue to foresee a sharp rebound in revenues in the second quarter, putting us on track for low to mid-teens growth for the first half of the year, which would represent a material increase over our revenue growth in the first half of 2021. Our forecast is supported by a healthy order book with strong demand from some of our most significant repeat customers. A key component of our growth in the first half will be sales of foliar and seed treatments for major row crops in the United States, Europe, and Latin America. In the US, our seed treatments are primarily used on soybeans, And the latest USDA planting intentions report indicates the potential for a record 91 million acres of soybeans, up 4% from acres planted in 2021. This builds well for the use of our products and sales going into the 2023 season. To a certain degree, the anticipated increase in U.S. soybean plantings is a function of the drought in Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay, which is expected to reduce yields. Despite those conditions, the outlook for our business in Latin America is very healthy going into the 2022 growing season. As we discussed previously, we have made decisions regarding our manufacturing facility and our commercial activity in Russia, which are fully aligned with the broader international community in condemning the current actions by Russia in Ukraine. Our pro-farm team has built a healthy level of inventory within Europe for its line of seed treatments and foliar products. By the end of this month, we expect to have enough seed treatment materials in Europe to supply our customers for the 2023 and 2024 planting seasons. Regarding our four-year products, we plan to have enough inventory by the end of May to cover at least one year of expected demand. We are also moving quickly with our plans to geographically expand the production capabilities of our pro-farm portfolios. We believe that our current scope of options for manufacturing locations, combined with robust inventory, will carry us through any supply chain constraints that are related to Russia going forward. The diversification of our production outside of Russia is a strategy we have been working on due to commercial reasons for some time, but that timeline has been dramatically accelerated in today's environment. All told, while the start to the year was challenging in the Western U.S., the outlook for the first half and remainder of 2022 remains promising. The continued diversification of our portfolio from a crop and geographic perspective remains critical to our long-term success. Of course, our proposed merger with Bioseries will play a key role in meeting that objective. The necessary steps towards completing the merger are well underway, And as previously reported, we expect to close the transaction in the third quarter of 2022. I'd like to turn the call over to LaDawn now to go into the financials beyond revenues in more detail, and then I'll sum up what I believe our key performance indicators are for the remainder of 2022. Over to you, LaDawn.
spk06: Thank you, Kevin. If you would refer to slide four, I'd like to expand upon beyond the revenue numbers Kevin already has discussed. Gross profit in the first quarter was $6.2 million as compared with $7 million in the first quarter of last year. Several factors were at play, most notably chips and product mix. We also experienced higher raw materials costs, which may continue through the year. Additionally, we have expanded production at our Michigan manufacturing plant. This capital expenditure, which was mostly implemented in fiscal year 2021, will enhance efficiency and margins longer term. However, it also created some short-term variances. Gross margins were 55.9%, also lower than in the first quarter of 2021, but in line with our annual target to maintain gross margins in the upper 50% range. That said, this was our 14th consecutive quarter with gross margins above 50%. The increased losses for net income and adjusted EBITDA both reflected in the lower gross profit. Our bottom line results also were affected by the increase in operating expenses, which included a significant level of non-recurring expenses from legal and other consulting fees associated with the merger agreement with BioSeries. Through the fourth quarter of 2021 and the first quarter of 2022, We've incurred $2 million to $3 million in such costs, and these types of non-recurring charges will continue until the deal is closed. Given how MVAI defines adjusted EBITDA, I would remind you that you will not see the full effect of M&A-related charges in our adjusted EBITDA table until the transaction is complete. We also incurred higher R&D costs to support the registrations and regulatory packages for some of the key products in our pipeline. These were planned expenses and key to accelerating our growth. Looking forward, our budget anticipates that 2022 operating expenses, exclusive to the non-recurring charges, will remain flat with OPEX in 2021 plus inflation. Finally, cash and operations increased to $8.4 million. We have been building inventory in anticipation of increased revenues going forward and as we relocated the ProPharm seed and foliar treatments into Europe. The crude liabilities are significantly higher and cash will be affected as we pay down expenses associated with the merger agreement. Overall, as we look to the first half, we believe we are on track to meet our goal of low to mid-teens revenue growth while holding ongoing operating expenses in line. Let me turn the call back to Kevin.
spk04: Thank you, LaDone. If you would turn to slide five, I'd like to point you to the key metrics that will define our success in 2022. As I alluded earlier, our commercial focus remains on continued diversification of our portfolio across crops and across regions. We're anticipating our first large sale of Aplitude ST, our new broad-spectrum biofungicide seed treatment product later this year. This will mark a significant inroad into the corn market for MBI through our partner, Elbaugh. We anticipate Amplitude ST could be used on more than 5 million acres of corn in the United States in the 2023 planting season. Our recent announcements of expanded agreements with our major global partners, like Corteva, are a key driver of our future success. Our European seed treatment business is expected to nearly double in the first half of the year. This growth will be fueled in part by the launch of TAQA and increased demand for our UBP seed treatment. Likewise, the growing relationship with Rhizobacter will continue to be the cornerstone of our expansion in the Latin American market. Additionally, our international foliar crop protection sales are expected to grow by more than 40% for the full year driven by demand-generating activities in the field, additional boots on the ground, and solid-channel partnerships in Brazil, Chile, Mexico, and Central America. We're anticipating significant revenue synergies through our combination with BioSeries, and both companies are bringing important new products into the market in the next few years. As you likely know, BioSeries recently received clearance for the import of its HP4 drought-tolerant soybeans into China, a major milestone in opening the door for the planting of these seeds in the top soybean growing regions of the world. The combination of our soybean treatments and BioSeries HB4 drought-tolerant gene will be an exciting offering to take to our channel partners and growers in the future. From a manufacturing perspective, the capital investment in our Michigan facility has allowed us to wrap up production to meet anticipated demand in 2022 and beyond. We've been able to service our customers without disruption during what continues to be a trying period for supply chains across all industries, not just agriculture. Our R&D pipeline continues to progress, and we are focused on advancing the regulatory packages for our novel bio-insecticide, bio-nomadicide products, MBI-306 in the United States and MBI-206 in Brazil. Pending regulatory approvals, our current forecast is that we may launch both of these in the second half of 2023. Our bioherbicide platform is a key research program and a significant part of the value proposition we bring to our merger with BioSeries. All of our candidates are progressing in line with our expectations. We anticipate we could have a commercial launch of our MBI007 herbicide in 2025, with additional products coming to the market in the next several years thereafter. Recent decisions by the U.S. EPA regarding herbicide safety underscore the importance of bringing growers new weed control options to support their operations. Of course, completing the BioSeries transaction is top of the list for 2022. BioSeries filed the initial F4 registration statement this week, which contains a preliminary proxy statement prospectus and provides further detail on the proposed transaction. To summarize our outlook for the year, we anticipate first half revenues will increase in the low to mid-teens percent based on growth in a historically larger second quarter. We expect to maintain annual margins in the upper 50 percent range, and ongoing expenses are budgeted to remain flat plus inflation. All of this should create a strong platform for the next wave of growth that we perceive through our combination with BioSeries and our ability to further leverage our unique portfolio worldwide. I'd like to turn the call over to the operator now for your questions.
spk00: Ladies and gentlemen, if you have a question at this time, please press the star and then the number one key on your touchtone telephone. If your question has been answered, answered or you wish to remove yourself from the queue, please press the pen key. We stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. Once again, if you would like to ask a question, please press star 1. We have Dimitri from Water Tower Research. Your line is now open.
spk05: Thank you for taking my call. I'd just like to follow up quickly on a statement that you made. regarding Latin American business expectations for the second quarter. You talked about the drought conditions in the region, but you are talking about having a still strong Latin American business. So, can you provide a little bit more granularity of what's driving your conviction in the strength of the business, or which markets are offsetting the drought impact of the regions and crops?
spk04: Yeah, thank you, Dimitri, for your question. I have Mattie Tiennan with me, our SVP of International Sales, and I'll hand that over to Mattie to give you some more color there.
spk03: Thanks, Kevin, and thanks, Dimitri, for the question. You're right. The South American drought and also the fertilizer prices are, of course, putting the farmers in a situation where they're thinking what to do and how to manage their crops. But our products that we're now rolling out and what we launched last year in the market are really key to the farmers' decisions because we have our foliar fertilizers, our specialty fertilizers rolling off to the market. And these are specifically for managing a biotic press, but these products also have a big impact on nutrient use efficiency and nutrient uptake on the plants. So they basically serve both of the downfalls. One is the stress that the plants are facing and then also helping out with the nutrient use efficiency. So that is why we expect a stronger demand, and we've already seen that in the marketplace. Okay, that's helpful. Thank you.
spk05: And then I just want to make sure that on the fourth quarter earnings call, you talked about double-digit or low double-digit growth in first half revenues year over year. Now you're talking about ultimate teens growth. First of all, am I correct that it is sort of an acceleration in your growth expectations? Yes. And secondly, is it customers replenishing faster inventories in the U.S.? Is it new products or products going into markets and regions? What changed that you're now seeing faster growth in the second quarter versus your original expectations?
spk04: Demetrius, Kevin here. So as you can imagine, We are constantly looking at our business and assessing the needs of our customers, looking at market demand and all factors influencing the current crop year. What I'm going to do is hand that over to Kamal, our head of global marketing, to talk about how we're seeing the second quarter and the first half overall.
spk01: Yes, thank you, Kevin, and thank you, Dimitri. So basically, as we move into the second quarter, we'll see a lot more demand for insecticide and nematicide products. And historically, we've been very strong on those offers. And as we move on into the season, of course, a lot more territory will open up here in the U.S. So basically, we'll be talking about the Midwest. We'll be talking about the Carolinas. We'll be talking about the Northeast, where our products are really well distributed. So that gives us a strong indication about how much growth we can have. Basically, there's a lot of discussions, of course, with our channel partners, and we also monitor very closely ourselves directly to the growers, so basically the pull-through that our distributors are doing. And so far, we've seen single-digit growth in terms of those sales to the growers. So that gives us a lot of indication here in the U.S., in California in particular, and as we open up in other territories as well, we should see that growth being materialized in the second quarter.
spk05: Okay, that's helpful. Thank you. And then final question, if I may. You talked about North America and Latin America. Anything going on in Europe besides the war in Ukraine that is affecting your product sales there, either in a positive or a negative way? And what are the conditions there like in terms of farmers' ability to pay up for these inputs, given the increase in pricing that everybody's seeing?
spk04: Yeah, I had to meet you. It's Kevin. Of course, there's a lot of news. in Europe right now, both positive and challenging, let's say. We do have a lot of good things going on in our business, driven by our pro-farm team. Matty, I'll hand it over to you to expand on that.
spk03: Yeah, thanks. Thanks, Dimitri, again, for the question. So I think in Europe we're seeing, of course, our hearts go to the Ukraine and supporting all of our colleagues and partners there to – overcome the situation in Europe. Otherwise, we see, you know, it's a difficult situation for the farmers. At the same time, grain prices are almost record high depending on the crop and, you know, farmers are thinking what to plant and when to plant. But I think there are advantages in Europe and in other places as well is that a lot of our business is on the seed. So seed is the one that gets less affected by the turbulence on the markets. Farmers need the seed, and they know which genetics they rely on. The other thing is that we also rolled out in Europe, we signed a contract for our foliar product, our foliar specialty fertilizer with Corteva in Europe, and this is also a stress management tool, a nutrient use efficiency tool. So I think that, again, we're addressing with our foliar fertilizer and plant health line, we're addressing the problems that the farmers are having And at the same time, on the seed side, we're also addressing similar problems, but we are tied to the seed, which is less effective to the actual turbulence. So I would say that it's a positive scenario. And we're seeing an uptake in Europe, and the business is increasing. So there is good in it, but, of course, the situation in Ukraine is something that we, as everybody else, are very sorry about.
spk05: I understand. Okay, thank you very much. Thank you.
spk04: Thank you, Dimitri.
spk00: Once again, if you wish to ask a question, please press star 1.
spk04: Okay, operator, I think that concludes our Q&A session. So everybody on the call, thank you again for your time. We appreciate your continued interest in Maroon Bio as we transition and become part of a larger global operation with the type of diversification and expanded product offerings that will drive our growth and profitability. We believe our first half demonstrates the value we likewise bring to BioSeries with the world-class offering of unique, sustainable solutions for the ever-evolving needs of growers. Thank you again and we look forward to speaking with you in the coming months.
spk00: Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference. Thank you for your participation.
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