RiceBran Technologies

And welcome to the Rice Brand Technologies fourth quarter and full year 2022 earnings column webcast. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. Please note, this conference is being recorded, and I will now turn the conference over to your host, Mr. Jeff Stanis at FNKIR. Sir, the floor is yours.

Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to the Rice Brand Technologies fourth quarter 2022 Financial Results Conference Call. Hosting the call today are Peter Bradley, Executive Chairman, and Todd Mitchell, Rice Brand's Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer. I want to remind participants that during the call, management's prepared remarks may contain forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Therefore, the company claims protection under safe harbor for forward-looking statements as 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, March 16, 2023, and the company assumes no obligation to update these projections in the future as market conditions change. The webcast and certain financial information provided in 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, please go ahead.

Thank you, Jeff, and good afternoon to everyone. 2022 was a year of both great progress and significant challenges. Notably, we entered into an agreement with Gander Foods with respect to our rice milling operations And for the first time, Golden Ridge delivered a full quarter of positive contribution to adjusted EBITDA in the fourth quarter. Additionally, MGI delivered strong revenue and profit contribution growth. Particularly pleasing was the momentum was maintained in the fourth quarter despite challenges with completing a major capital project at the mill. MGI now has 50% more capacity and a broader range of manufacturing capabilities providing a solid platform for growth. The core SRB business held its own, delivering double-digit revenue growth and maintained its profit contribution. The benefits of the revenue growth and solid pricing action though, were offset by both higher raw material and operating costs. While we've been able to grow volume through aggressive sales efforts, we were unable to maintain our engagement with a previously disclosed new customer in the pet food category because we were unable to resolve certain technical performance issues. The added value derivatives business, though, had a tough year. The raw material and processing challenges which materially impacted them in the first half of the year and led to the inability to meet market demand resulting in customer losses accentuated by increased competition in the derivatives category. Now let me turn the call over to Todd to discuss the results.