RiceBran Technologies

Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to your Rice Brand Technologies second quarter 2021 earnings call and webcast. All lines have been placed in a listen-only mode, and the floor will be open for your questions and comments following the presentation. As a reminder, today's call is being recorded. If you should require assistance throughout the conference, please press star, then zero. At this time, it is my pleasure to turn the floor over to your host, Jeff Stanlis. Sir, the floor is yours.

Thank you, and good afternoon, listeners. Welcome again to Rice Brand Technology's second quarter 2021 financial results conference call. With us today are Peter Bradley, Executive Chairman, and Todd Mitchell, Chief Financial Officer. I want to remind listeners that during the call, management's prepared remarks may contain forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Management may also make additional forward-looking statements in response to your questions today. Therefore, the company claims the protection under safe harbor for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ from results discussed today, and therefore, we refer you to a more detailed discussion of these risks and uncertainties in the company's filings with the SEC. In addition, any projections as to the company's future performance represented by management include estimates as of today, August 3, 2021, and the company assumes no obligation to update these projections in the future as market conditions change. This webcast and certain financial information provided on the call, including reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures to comparable GAAP financial measures, are available at www.ricebrandtech.com on the Investor Relations page. At this time, I would like to turn the call over to Peter. Peter, go ahead.

Thank you, Jeff, and good afternoon, everyone. The second quarter was further confirmation of the major progress we have made in stabilizing the business and eliminating some of the systemic challenges we face. Revenues were up 28% year over year and adjusted EBITDA improved by 71%, providing evidence of this progress. This improved performance is due to continued growth of our SLB derivatives product lines, better operational execution at our milling facilities, and continued reductions in SG&A. These results clearly demonstrate our business is now on the right path. And while we're not immune to challenges in the macro environment from COVID, weather, and market forces, our business now has a significantly higher and more stable floor. This gives us the opportunity to focus now on raising the ceilings. To this point, I am increasingly excited about the progress we have made in our execution evolution into a specialty ingredients business. This transition will significantly expand their addressable market and meaningfully increase our margin profile, raising the ceiling on our business and creating significant shareholder value. Most notably today, we announced a new distribution relationship with AIDP, one of the leading suppliers of specialty ingredients in the supplement and nutraceutical markets. This milestone agreement, our first major sales and distribution arrangement for our specialty ingredients, will significantly increase our sales coverage in the fast-growing health and wellness sector. With stabilized operations and expanded sales organization, We also launched two new product lines in the second quarter. First, we launched new versions of stabilized rice bran for use in powder beverages, tablets, and capsules to complement our existing line of SRB derivatives for these applications. Secondly, we introduced the line of micronized rice soles for use as a natural flow agent and emulsifier. We have also intensified our product development efforts to provide a pipeline of differentiated value ingredients to fuel future growth. We have robust processing capacity and established expertise giving us a solid footing to introduce new products into the specialty ingredient market. Additionally, we've moved to a customer-centric structure with increased responsibility for our key sales leaders to drive a more responsive organization to capture the opportunity that no doubt exists for our current and future product lines. While I have predominantly focused on our specialty rice-derived ingredients, our two milling operations continue to evolve as critical elements of our growth strategy. Our focus on operational improvement has provided the platform to further develop these operations into specialty milling businesses. At Golden Ridge we commence commercial production of SRB and are currently completing installation and new packing capabilities. And at MGI the facility has commenced milling of specialty barley varieties. As we expand demand through our new sales organization and expand our supply with new product introductions, these operations will play an increasingly important role in our overall growth potential. I will provide some further thoughts on our future strategy, but first let's have Todd run you through the second quarter numbers in more detail.