Earnings Labs

Gevo, Inc. (GEVO)

Q2 2015 Earnings Call· Tue, Aug 4, 2015

$1.93

+1.32%

Key Takeaways · AI generated
AI summary not yet generated for this transcript. Generation in progress for older transcripts; check back soon, or browse the full transcript below.

Same-Day

-9.19%

1 Week

-12.13%

1 Month

-15.81%

vs S&P

-9.20%

Transcript

Operator

Operator

Welcome to Q2 2015 Gevo Incorporated Earnings Conference Call. My name is Adrian and I will be operator for today's call. [Operator Instructions]. I will now turn the call over to Brett Lund, Gevo's Chief Legal Officer. Mr. Lund, you may begin.

Brett Lund

Analyst

Good afternoon, and thank you for joining Gevo’s second quarter 2015 conference call. I’m Brett Lund, Gevo’s Chief Legal Officer. With me today are Pat Gruber, our Chief Executive Officer and Mike Willis, our CFO. Earlier this afternoon we issued a press release which outlines the topics that we plan to discuss today. A copy of this release is available on our website at www.gevo.com. I would like to remind our listeners that this conference call is open to the media and we are providing a simultaneous webcast of the call to the public. A replay of our discussion will be available on the website later today. On the call today and on this webcast, you will hear discussions of non-GAAP financial measures. Non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered in isolation from or as a substitute for financial information presented in accordance with GAAP. Reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures is contained in the press release distributed today, which is posted on our website. We will also provide certain forward-looking statements about events and circumstances that have not yet occurred, including projections of Gevo’s operating activities for the remainder of 2015 and beyond. These statements are based on management's current beliefs, expectations and assumptions, and are subject to significant risks and uncertainty, including those disclosed in Gevo's most recent annual report on Form 10-K, as amended which was filed with the SEC on March 30, 2015 and in subsequent reports and other filings made with the SEC by Gevo. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements speak only as of today's date, and Gevo disclaims any obligation to update information contained in these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Please refer to Gevo's SEC filings for detailed discussions of the relevant risks and uncertainties. On today's call, Pat will begin with a review of our recent business developments. Mike will then review our financial results for the second quarter of 2015. Following the presentation, we will open up the call for questions. I will now turn the call over to Pat.

Pat Gruber

Analyst

Thank you for joining our call today. The short version of our quarter is this, we remain on track to accomplish the goals we laid out earlier this year, additionally our balance sheet has 22.5 million on it at the end of the second quarter that’s the most of 2013. So we’re happy with our current liquidity position. As we guided earlier this year we still expect to sign at least binding license agreement, we continue to work through definitive licensing agreements with Praj and Porta Hnos. Recall that Praj is interested in the conversion of sugar molasses twice the [indiscernible] outside of the U.S. we’re thinking leverage their large process technology footprint. They believe that they can roll out 250 million gallons of isobutanol capacity over 10 years. The negotiations are taking longer because in parallel we’re now looking at ways to potentially partner here in the U.S. as well as directly in our plants in [indiscernible]. I met directly with Praj's Chairman Pramod Chaudhari as recently as two weeks ago at the Bioindustrial Conference and some might of you have even seen a picture upload and be taken by Jim Lane of Biofuels Digest and posted on his website. So we remain very bullish that we will ultimately get to a definitive agreement with Praj and as we recall Porta that’s the ethanol producer in Argentina, they are processing engineering company as well. We’re making good progress with them in negotiating agreement through our corn based isobutanol in Argentina and possibly elsewhere in South America. So our licensing efforts continue to remain on track. Now turning to jet fuel, the process for ASTM certification for jet fuel also remains on track. The certification is expected sometime in the next 2 to 3 months. The [indiscernible] work has been…

Mike Willis

Analyst

Thank you, Pat. First I'd like to note that all share and per share numbers in my prepared remarks are being expressed on a post reverse-split basis. Gevo reported revenue in the second quarter of 2015 of $8.9 million, as compared to $7.7 million in the same period in 2014. The increase in revenue during 2015 primarily a result of the production and sale of approximately $8 million of ethanol, isobutanol and distiller's grains at the Luverne plant as compared to $5.5 million in the second quarter of 2014. The $8 million of revenue generated in the second quarter of 2015 from Luverne also compares favorably to the $5.1 million generated in the first quarter of 2015 when we took advantage of a weaker ethanol margin environment to take the plant down for various maintenance initiatives. During the second quarter of 2015, hydrocarbon revenues were $0.8 million, primarily related to the shipment of bio-jet fuel and iso-octane during the quarter. In the second quarter of 2014, Gevo benefited from the recognition of $1.5 million of revenue following a shipment of paraxylene to tar industries, $1 million of which was paid to Gevo in 2013, and was used for the design and construction of the paraxylene demo plant in Silsbee. Gevo also continue to generate revenue of $0.2 million during the second quarter of 2015 associated with ongoing research agreements. Cost of goods sold increased to $9.9 million in the second quarter of 2015 versus $8.3 million in the same period in 2014, due to the increased production activity at the Luverne plant. Gross loss was $1 million for the second quarter of 2015. After deducting depreciation expense of $1.4 million, the non-GAAP cash gross margin was a positive $0.4 million for the second quarter of 2015. R&D expense was $1.8…

Pat Gruber

Analyst

Thanks, Mike. Now looking forward we plan on getting lighter deals done. We'll continue to work for market development, price to [ph]. We'll continue to work with strategies on our ethanol conversion business. We continue to expect to make really good progress. With that we can open it up for questions. Thanks.