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Moolec Science S.A. (MLEC)

Q3 2023 Earnings Call· Wed, May 31, 2023

$8.55

-0.58%

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Transcript

Gaston Paladini

Management

Thank you, Martín. Hello, everyone. I'm thrilled to present our first business update conference call as a public company. I want to thank you all in advance for your interest and support. These few months have been exciting for Moolec due to all the milestones we are about to share now. I would like to start by outlining today's agenda on Slide 3. First, we have been able to deliver scientific and operational milestones in a very short period of time. We have made significant progress on different fronts, such as R&D and regulatory matters. Secondly, we are happy to announce integrations on both downstream and upstream capabilities. Thirdly, I would like to walk you through the execution of Moolec's business plan in order to implement our short, medium and long-term strategy. And last, we will show our significant highlights on the financial front. Let's move forward now to the next slide, where I will share our latest scientific and operational milestones. On the cheese and nutraceutical program, we are moving according to schedule with our safflower molecular seeds multiplication campaigns on both SPC2 and GLASO products. Also in the last one, GLASO, we have achieved expression levels of approximately 60%, which is 10% above our expectations, significantly improving the GLA oil yield. Finally, I would like to highlight that last March, we received regulatory clearance from the USDA-APHIS for our GLA production safflower plants. On the meat replacement program, new proteins were successfully expressed in the several [indiscernible] and other ones reached the transformation stage. We were able to scale up our prototyping operations from 3 liters to 300 liters and PCR analysis confirmed that transgenic events contain the desired animal genes in . Moving now to Slide 6. I want to show you a summary of how our pipeline strategy looks today. In terms of research and development for new products, Moolec is at the forefront of the plant-based animal protein food ingredients and is committed to being a leader in this field. Our team is working really hard in the development of revolutionary products through a process of discovery, transformation, development, selection and scale up into production, while simultaneously undergoing regulatory approvals with agencies like the FDA and the USDA. Displayed in orange, you can observe our latest progress as of today. Project moved from discovery to transformation stage since the feasibility assessment and contract design were successfully concluded. Also the regulation pathway for GLA safflower oil, GLASO was completed after we received regulatory statutory [indiscernible] clearance, as I previously mentioned. Let's now turn to Slide 7, where Amit Dhingra will present a bit of scientific dive into our soybean . Amit, go ahead.

Amit Dhingra

Management

Thank you very much, Gaston. In this chart, I will walk you through how we work through the process of discovery to selection to get that 1 selected event. Our ultimate goal is to get to that 1 transgenic event that has the best combination of the highest expression level of animal protein and yield performance, then that seed is multiplied for further work. For discovery, we started by synthesizing DNA or the gene coding for animal proteins of interest. After that, the gene was inserted into an expression vector. A vector is like a truck that allows us to deliver the cargo of gene expression components into the cells and integrate the animal protein DNA into the plant DNA so that the animal protein can be expressed stably in the transgenic lines through different generations. During the genetic transformation stage, vectors are inserted in plant chromosomes, plants expressing the desired proteins are grown in cultures and selected by using PCR. In this project, we started with 550 0 generation or T0 transgenic events that were narrowed down to 256 transgenic generation 1 or T1 events using PCR that allowed us to know whether or not those events contained the desired animal protein genes. Soon after, the remaining events were further narrowed down using the main KPIs from the plants where we finally selected 140 second-generation transgenic or T2 transgenic events. So we are currently at the development stage. We will get to third-generation or T3 transgenic events using animal protein level of expression as the key selection criteria. We already have some significant results regarding expression levels. Once we have these 3 transgenic events, we will test them in the fields to see how they behave under real agronomic conditions in order to finally select the best event. Now…

Gaston Paladini

Management

Thank you, Amit. Let's move forward now to the next topic in our agenda, which addresses the integration of upstream and downstream capabilities. Let's move ahead to Slide 11. On the business front, our team has been working to grow and develop our products and business both organically and inorganically. We are always actively analyzing value-added opportunities. On April 11 this year, we were pleased to announce and disclose the acquisition of a plant-based ingredient capability. This includes a state-of-art soybean processing facility with 10,000 tons per year of capacity that is already fully operational. These facilities are strategically located in a soybean corridor to maximize raw material origination and focuses on the development of texturized vegetable , TVP, that serve as food ingredients in meat substitute as meat replacement. This capability bring to Moolec Science a highly experienced team with a 10-year track record on production and commercialization of soy ingredients. This will be complementary in areas such as product development, sales and engineering. The deal terms included $6 million, of which $2 million was paid in cash at closing, $0.5 at 6 months, and the rest will be paid with MLEC shares from which $0.5 million will be transferred in 12 months and the rest with a period subject to meeting certain business metrics during the next 3 to 4 years. Let's go now to Slide 12. You can see a lot of soybeans here. This is because we are pleased to announce today that we have signed a memorandum of understanding or an MoU with Bioceres Crop Solutions . We believe this has synergies with the acquisition we just discussed. This strategic deal will give Moolec the possibility to finance working capital needs for the next 18 to 24 months. The MoU formalized and reaffirms the commitment…

Jose Lopez Lecube

Operator

Thank you very much, Gaston, and good morning to everyone. It is a pleasure to be providing the first business update of Moolec. Today, I would like to take some time to review our corporate structure at the listing, run through the latest financial highlights and provide color on what strategic initiatives we are pursuing. Please keep in mind that all numbers mentioned today are in U.S. dollars, unaudited and based on IFRS unless otherwise stated. Moving on now to Slide 19. As the business combination effectiveness and subsequent commencement of trading in NASDAQ, our corporate structure still reflects a very strong presence of our regional shareholders, manifesting a renewed vote of confidence in our progress as a company. As a spinoff of Bioceres Group, a proven leader in life sciences, we maximize efforts and traction by combining technologies in mutually beneficial partnerships as described in previous sections. This has also positive financial implications we will touch on in the following slides. Moving forward to Slide 20. I would like to go through our underlying financial strategy and the most important events that for the company. The current year has proven to be challenging for financial markets. After business combination with LightJump and subsequent listing on January 3, Moolec received $10 million of proceeds facing a high level of redemptions in line with market trends. As of the 31st of March, we have $6 million of cash and cash equivalents. We continue navigating a difficult year for financial markets. We are managing our cash position efficiently while at the same time, putting in place initiatives to generate increasing positive operating cash flow. In order to manage our cash position in the short term, we have negotiated payment schedules for the majority of listing expenses, issued $2 million of debt through…

Gaston Paladini

Management

Sure. Well, thank you, Brian, for that. And good morning to everyone. Very pleased to start this Q&A and to be hosting this first business update for Moolec as a public company. Again, thank you, Brian, it's a good question, of course, because we are definitely a science-based company focusing Molecular Farming technologies by being pioneering with this tech. And I will pass the post to Amit to explain our significant progress in Molecular Farming, specifically in the safflower seeds that we are in scale-up stages and also in our soybeans and in the labs and greenhouses stages. So Amit, please move forward and please bring more details to Brian.

Amit Dhingra

Management

Thank you, Brian, for your question, and good morning, everyone. I'm very excited about this update, sharing this update about Moolec Science. So in the first quarter, I'll start with the 3 sections. Of course, we talked about safflower. We have quantified the expression of GLA oil, which, as we shared earlier, out of the total oil content, 60% of the oil is GLA, and that is really exciting for us. And then we also talked about the RSR or the regulatory approval, which now allows us to move forward with several aspects. So the regulatory approval is completed for 1 of our products, which is really significant, as you can imagine. So that's the first part of that. Now I'll switch to soybean. In soybean, we are already at T2 generation. So once we integrate these expression cassettes or the vectors that produce that animal protein, we have confirmed by PCR. We have moved these onto the second generation already. We are also right now in the process of confirming the expression levels. We are seeing some significant results. We are in the process of confirming everything right now, which is really exciting to see this all materialize together. And those plants are in the greenhouses right now. As soon as we have confirmed everything, we'll move them to the multiplication stage where we can then start working with those products. And then finally in peas, we have confirmed that the peas that we have selected by PCR have the gene that we want to express. Those plants are currently in the greenhouse going through the motions of getting to the different generations. It is very important to see the stability of this expression cassette that is stably integrated over multiple generations. That's a standard in the industry or just in the process of creating -- utilizing the Molecular Farming technology. So that's a quick update on what we've been working with that. Thank you. Anything else to add, Gaston. Over to you.

Gaston Paladini

Management

Yes. No, I think it's a very good answer. Thank you, Amit. Of course, Brian, we could get deeper into the technology in one-to-one or maybe in another question. I'm really now -- sorry, Martín, that I jumped here that have just sent a question regarding the HB4 platform and the HB4 soybean from Bioceres. So Jessica says, how does this differ from traditional soybean. Quick answer is that this is a technology that Bioceres has been developing for more than 20 years as a drought-tolerant technology in soybean and also in wheat. So that means lower carbon footprint, water footprint as well, the lower use of chemicals and this platform has the possibility to gather information and to get the traceability technically from seed to fork because this technology also is included in the platform of traceable farmers, so we know where this seed and grains come from and any specific information about this production. And you also make a question regarding what will the HB4 soybean [indiscernible] be used for. And that's a very important question because it's not also a strategic upstream acquisition, so a financial acquisition that Jose could explain later on because this is technically the raw material that we need for our downstream brand-new capabilities to produce TVP, texturized vegetable . That's the base of our ingredient and this is a base of soy, of course. I don't know if the audience knows, but soy proteins are one of the best meat analog, meat replacement in the food industry. In the traditional food industry, replacing meat in the processing meat industry and also in the alternative industry. So we have the procurement of this soybean to produce ingredients right away. And that's quite important for us for our current operation. So Jose, I don't know if you want to expand the question? If not, we could go directly to Brian's new question.

Jose Lopez Lecube

Operator

Thank you, Gaston. And again, it's a pleasure for me to be part of this first business update. So what I would say about the Bioceres, BIOX deal is that it has different levels of positive implications for Moolec. Of course, we're working on definitive documentation and definitive terms. But as you mentioned, the first positive implication is the soybean traceability and that will be used for or the recently acquired assets that Gaston mentioned. But it's very important that for these recently acquired assets, we have a secure source of raw material. And on top of that, that we have in place a scheme that guarantees working capital through a structure that will allow us to be fair or to pay the soybean and Moolec will have the optionality to pay for that soybean in 3 years in cash or with equity. So that is very positive in terms of the funding of Moolec overall.

Gaston Paladini

Management

Thank you, Jose. Now Martín, you want to read Brian's new question? Martín Taraciuk: Yes. We have Brian's new question. And the question is, what is the practical effect the GLA expression levels at 60%, [indiscernible] expectations? You mentioned on the call, this was a function of oil yields. How does this compare to current standards?

Gaston Paladini

Management

Thank you, Martín, and thank you, Brian. I think it's a very good question. Well, the level of expression for us is one of the most important KPIs as a science-based company because we are producing molecules and a specific high-value ingredients into plants. So if we could get better results of a level of expression in seeds that's very positive for us. But I will leave that question to Amit to better explain this specific milestone for Moolec from the scientific point of view and also from a business point of view because this is when the science and the business join and connect by getting good results in the lab and in the fields. Amit?

Amit Dhingra

Management

Yes. Thank you, Gaston. The big part is that you asked the question about what -- how does it compare? So the total oil yield or total oil content in soybean is 40% of oil.

Gaston Paladini

Management

In safflower, sorry, Amit.

Amit Dhingra

Management

Sorry, sorry. Yes, sorry. And I was going on that side. So it's about 23% total, but oil in safflower and as you can see, by first such presentation, I can be a bit nervous, right? Anyway, so 23% and then of that, 60% of the oil content of total of that is GLA, and it does not significantly impact the total oil content. Now this is a value add. But also this is coming from the fields actually. So this is in real agronomic conditions while it can fluctuate here and there a little bit, but I think just getting the 10% extra in the last year season that we had. That, of course, has a practical implication on the economics of production as well as which Jose can speak to better. But I think in general, generally speaking, it doesn't change the plant. There was no impact on the plant's performance. Nothing really changed. So this is, again, a great example of how you can produce a value-added product in a crop without having a detrimental effect. Now that doesn't apply universally, but in this particular case, for sure that we've been able to see a very good achievement of this milestone. We were expecting 50% and it's at 60% today. Martín Taraciuk: Thank you. So we don't have any more questions. [Operator Instructions]. So this concludes our Q&A session. At this time, I would like to hand the call to Gaston for final remarks.

Gaston Paladini

Management

Thank you, Martín. I will really like to thank you all again for joining us today. It's a great milestone for Moolec as a company by being here hosting our first business update. Well, as you surely know, we are focusing on building value for our stakeholders, of course, and saving the planet by planting the future of food with Molecular Farming technologies, that's our core, and that's our goal. That's what we are. That's why we are here. And that's the main reason why we are here, creating the future of food in Moolec. We definitely want a better future for all, and that's why we really push boundaries here with this tech in food. We value your feedback and support, of course, and we look forward to updating you again soon. The best is yet to come. Stay tuned. Thank you so much.