Bioceres Crop Solutions Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
May 11, 2023

There are 9 speakers on the call.

Operator

Hello, and welcome to today's BioCeris Crop Solutions Fiscal Third Quarter 2023 Financial Results Conference Call. My name is Bailey, and I'll be the moderator for today's call. All lines will be muted during the presentation portion with an opportunity for questions and answers at the end. I would now like to pass the conference over to our host, Paula Cervanti, Head of Investor Relations. Paula, please go ahead.

Speaker 1

Good morning. Thank you, and welcome to everybody for joining our call. Presenting today will be Federico Truco, our Chief Executive Officer and Enrique Lopez Lecube, our Chief Financial Officer. Both of them will be available for the Q and A session. Before we proceed, I would like to make the following safe harbor statement.

Speaker 1

Today's call will contain forward looking statements, and I refer you to the forward looking statements section of today's earnings release and presentation as well as the recent filings with the SEC. We assume no obligation to update or revise any forward looking statements to reflect new or changed circumstances. This conference call is being webcast, and the webcast link is available at Bioceris Crop Solutions' Investor Relations website. At this time, I will turn the call over to our CEO, Federico Trucco. Thank you.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Paula, and welcome everyone to our fiscal Q3 earnings call. We're delighted to resume our growth trajectory with solid numbers being reported in this quarter despite the historical drought in Argentina, which continue to affect our sales in these important markets. Please turn to Slide 2 for our key business and financial highlights. Our outstanding performance in this quarter results from the combination of strategic actions Total revenues were up by 33% when compared to the pro form a numbers for the Q3 of last year, which are inclusive of historical revenues from ProFarm. Top line growth was primarily driven by revenues in the Crop Nutrition segment, resulting from the initial profits generated by the strategic partnership with Syngenta, which more than offset the negative impact of the extended route in Argentina.

Speaker 2

Adjusted EBITDA was $35,800,000 in the quarter, mainly benefited from profits from the Syngenta agreement that were recognized in this period. On an LTM basis adjusted EBITDA stood at $85,300,000 and Enrique will discuss our financial performance in greater depth during his part of the presentation. We are also making great strides internationally on the HB4 front. Brazil's recent full commercialization and cultivation approval for HB4 Wheat consolidated Our collaboration with local institutions and seed developers such as Embrapa and OR Cementes. Additionally, the approval of HB4 grain importation by Brazil adding to the prior approval for flower importation allows us to further diversify our go to market strategy in Argentina as I will discuss later in today's call.

Speaker 2

Also in Brazil, our 84 soybean program is steadily advancing with an initial set of varieties tested by farmers in 5 states with at least one variety consistently outperforming the top commercial alternatives. I will provide an update on the current soy harvest in Argentina and more information about next steps later in the call. Finally, during this quarter, we have published our inaugural sustainability report And I will briefly discuss some key aspects of our sustainability strategy towards the end of today's call. Now let's pass over the presentation to Enrique.

Speaker 3

Thank you, Federico, and good morning to everyone on the call today. I'd like to dive further into our financial performance and expectations for the remainder of the year. Before we start, let me remind everyone that as on the previous two earnings calls, All yearly comparisons in this presentation are made on a pro form a basis, meaning that they include pro form a numbers for fiscal year 2022. So let's jump to Slide 4, which provides some context on the evolution of the fiscal year to date. As you might recall, we started the fiscal year with an outstanding Q1 in which revenues increased by 71% year over year And EBITDA almost doubled, continuing the growth momentum from previous quarters.

Speaker 3

This was partly a result of early sales that our commercial teams locked in ahead of what looked like a challenging summer crop season in one of our primary end markets, Argentina. During the Q2, an impressive streak of continuous quarterly growth that spanned across more than 2 years was interrupted by a severe drought in Argentina, with overall revenues declining 7% year over year. This climatic event had a particularly negative impact on our micro aided fertilizers business, which had been previously delivering outstanding growth and, of course, also reduced the need for some of our crop protection products. It was not surprising to see that demand for insecticides and fungicides was substantially weaker along with a pullback in demand for fertilizers as Farmers dealt with getting planters into rock solid fields. Despite these headwinds, we saw our revenues decline only 7% on the back of geographic diversification and commercial savviness, which brings us to the 3rd quarter, a period for which, as Federico mentioned, we are delighted to report a 33% increase in the top line compared with the pro form a numbers from a year ago.

Speaker 3

This is important for multiple reasons, but I would argue that resuming growth and being able to successfully navigate traumatic conditions in a key end market are amongst the most important. You might recall that at the time of our Q2 earnings call, we indicated that weather conditions had started to improve in Argentina. However, the transition from La Nina to El Nino was slower than what all forecasts had expected. And the months of February March were still dry and unseasonably hot. This ruled out the possibility of pre season sales Now the strategic agreement for our inoculants business with a market leader such as Ingenta is what allowed us to more than offset The impacts of this unanticipated scenario.

Speaker 3

We will get into a bit more detail in coming slides. Finally, looking at the year to date revenues, performance in the 1st and third quarters allowed us to offset the decline in the 2nd quarter, our most important quarter in terms of sales, and Steel achieved a 28% increase compared with a pro form a 9 month period of 2022. With year to date revenues standing at $315,000,000 if the weather situation in Argentina finally improves in coming weeks, We believe we are in good shape to reach our target of 20% top line growth for the full fiscal year from the roughly $359,000,000 in revenues for fiscal 2022 on a pro form a basis. Now turning to Slide 5, let's take a look at this quarter's revenues in more detail. Revenues in Crop Nutrition doubled, Driving most of the growth in the quarter, while seed and integrated products grew 65%, more than offsetting the decline in crop protection.

Speaker 3

The performance in Crop Nutrition was mainly driven by inoculant results from the agreement with Syngenta. To recap briefly, in September 2022, We announced a partnership with Syngenta Seed Care to accelerate and expand the international growth of our inoculant business. Under this agreement, Syngenta became the exclusive distributor of certain Bioceris' biological seed treatment solutions, mainly inoculants, for a period of 10 years in geographies outside of Argentina. The agreement includes contractually stipulated minimum profit sharing targets that Syngenta must meet annually as well as an upfront consideration to compensate for transition costs and profits shared with Syngenta over the initial 12 months of the agreement. The period during which Syngenta is expected to take over the commercial operation and prepared to achieve the agreed growth goals.

Speaker 3

In this quarter, we are recognizing both initial operational profits from the agreement as well as $33,000,000 from the upfront compensatory payment that corresponds to the countries in which profit sharing already begun in January 2023. Although we expect operational profit sharing with Syngenta to continue flowing throughout the remainder of 2023, We do not expect any additional compensatory payments to be recognized until January 2024, when new countries will be incorporated to the profit Sharing framework and an additional $17,000,000 in compensatory payment are expected to be booked. The performance from the agreement with Syngenta is what drove the increase in revenues in our most relevant segment for the quarter and allowed us to successfully weather the storm under an unprecedented halt in demand of fertilizers in Argentina, which we estimate to have reduced sales by $10,000,000 compared with the year ago quarter. The inoculants agreement reflects the value of strategic actions taken a few months back that allowed us to monetize our extensive portfolio of technologies in alternative ways. Turning to Crop Protection.

Speaker 3

Revenues declined 3% with lower insecticide, fungicide and adjuvant sales in Argentina, a decline that was not fully offset by increased sales in other countries of Latin America. Pro form product sales in the U. S. Also saw some softness, shaped by heavy rains in California, which prevented growers from accessing their fields and pushed demand of bioinsecticides The Q4 of the Q4. Sealed Integrated Products revenues increased 65%, driven by sales of seed treatment packs in Argentina as well as increased sales in Europe.

Speaker 3

Let's now turn to Slide 6, please. Gross profit was up by 84% year over year with the increase driven by the same dynamics I just described for revenues. Gross profit from the Syngenta agreement, both from shared profits as well as the compensatory payment, largely offset The decline in microfiber fertilizer profits and the fact that in the year ago quarter, we had recognized 100 Although going forward, we do not expect to maintain an 84% gross margin in Crop Nutrition, it does illustrate the outsized effect on margins that proceeds from the inoculant agreements can have. We expect these profits to be uneven at first as revenue recognition will not be to become a stable and meaningful contributor to our financial results over the life of the agreement. Regarding the R2 segments With a much stronger profitability profile, the gross profit increase brought by CEDIA and Integrated Products almost doubled the decline of gross profit from lower margin crop protection products.

Speaker 3

Overall gross margin for the quarter stood at 61%. Now considering that some of the profits we booked from Syngenta this quarter cover calendar 2023 in full, This margin level is not something we expect to repeat in the coming quarters, but rather continue targeting a range of 42% to 48% depending on revenue composition. Turning to Slide 7. Adjusted EBITDA reached $35,800,000 this quarter, which is traditionally our lowest due to revenue seasonality. As was the case with gross margin, this quarter's EBITDA received the full benefit of profits from ZYNGENTA, some of which account for full calendar 2023.

Speaker 3

On a different note, a proactive control on costs implemented in Argentina during the quarter to offset headwinds from dry weather as well as the realization of cost synergies in Profarm further contributed to the improvement of the adjusted EBITDA metric. The continued execution of cost synergies in ProFarm gives us confidence This quarter reminds us that our business sometimes does not lend itself to evenly balanced quarters and is usually best understood on an annual basis. For the last 12 months, adjusted EBITDA was $85,300,000 a 67% improvement compared with the same period of the previous year on a pro form a basis. Now please turn to Slide 8 to wrap up with some brief remarks on our financial debt and cash position. Total financial debt as of March 31 was $250,000,000 The increase year over year is driven by the financing agreements linked to the merger with ProPharm as well as new financing obtained during the last quarters to support working capital.

Speaker 3

As mentioned in our last earnings call, in February, we issued a $26,600,000 public bond in the Argentine local market, of which roughly $21,000,000 matured in February 2025 and the remaining amount in February 2026. All the proceeds were used to pay down short term debt, thus extending our debt maturity profile and reducing the portion of current debt to 42% from 56% in the year ago quarter. It is also important to note that our cash position and net working capital long exceed Importantly, all profits from Syngenta, operational and compensatory, Flow from the top line to the bottom line of the P and L very efficiently and have a high conversion to cash. Along with our February issuance, this drove our cash balance to $71,000,000 at the end of the quarter, a much desirable position to be in considering the growth nature of our business, The turmoil in the global markets and the headwinds from drought. Our leverage ratio was 2.1x, a significant improvement compared to As we look ahead, we are cautiously optimistic about the Q4.

Speaker 3

In South America, farmers in Argentina are still waiting for a couple of more rains to occur Before feeling confident about winter crops, plantings. If soil moisture gets close to normal levels, we see strong activity coming. Not only do we have a unique technology at a moment when farmers have a fresh memory of what climate change can do to their businesses, But we also have wheat seed availability, an input that could be in short supply if acreage returns to normal. Brazil is coming out of a bumper crop, which makes us feel confident about allocating capital to move HB4 soybeans forward as fast as biology allows. And finally, on the Pro Farm front, we are well aligned with our cost target and if weather supports demand for bio insecticides in California, we are on track to achieve our EBITDA neutral target by fiscal year end.

Speaker 3

Although last year's Q4 was a strong one, We are confident that with the right conditions, we will be able to deliver growth and improve on the $85,000,000 in last 12 months EBITDA that we reported today. That concludes my remarks. I will hand the floor over to Federico now.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Enrique. And please now to number 9, sorry. Brazil's full approval of HP4 wheat completes our regulatory process in this country, complementing the key approval received In 2021 for feed and food use of HP4 Flour. This regulatory milestone has two important implications. It adds a 3,200,000 hectare market to our current 6,500,000 hectare market in Argentina, which is a 50% increase in our current available market opportunity, which translates to an incremental target of 1 point 1,000,000 HP4 hectares, 2 thirds of which we expect to result from the El Dorado region of Brazil.

Speaker 2

To be able to meet this target, we have established 2 important collaborations. With Embrapa, as previously announced, Aim at combining HB4 technology with Embrapa's tropical wheat genetics currently utilized in 50% of the Esarado wheat hectares And with OR Cementes, a historical provider of top performing wheat genetics, utilized in 20% of Brazil's wheat area. A second aspect Derived from this approval is the clearance for HP4 grain importation, which is very important in terms of further diversifying Our commercial strategy in Argentina with low level presence of HP4 grain no longer being a matter of regulatory concern. In just a moment, I will try to summarize where we stand in terms of go to market channels for HV4 seats. But first, please turn to Slide 10 for an update on our soybean efforts.

Speaker 2

We are very happy to show our initial results from 800 hectares planted in Brazil with an initial set of 16 Generation HB4 Farmers. Each farmer tested 1 or 2 HB4 varieties against several top performing commercial controls And what you see in the chart is the win rate of the top performing material in each of 8 regions with 6 to 56 sites per region. It is important to note that drought was not significant in Brazil in the last season. So these results are derived from generally high yielding conditions. We are now doing off season seed increases to be able to expand the program to 50 farmers in the upcoming cycle covering a total area of approximately 10,000 hectares.

Speaker 2

In Argentina, 26 percent of the hectares with HP4 soy have been harvested already and we expect all fields to be finalized by the end of the month. We'll report the performance of the current portfolio of varieties once harvest is completed in our next earnings call. However, it is important to know that seed quality in fields harvested up to date is very poor and this will affect seed availability in the next season. Seed quality for the next season is an industry wide concern And we are analyzing off season strategies to try to minimize any inventory gaps. Regarding our commercial approach, In Slide 11, you can find a summary describing our current proprietary and non proprietary channels for both crops.

Speaker 2

In the case of wheat, we're significantly expanding access to multipliers and distributors in Argentina Following Brazil's grain import approval, we have currently enabled 45 Pios de Esynias seed multipliers who can now develop their own inventories for future direct to farmer certified seed sales. At the same time, We have enabled third parties such as Pux and Ijos to develop HV4 varieties with their own genetics, allowing us to address the needs of farmers more quickly in certain regions. Collectively, our Proprietary and non proprietary channels supply more than 40% of the conventional wheat genetics in Argentina. As discussed before, our Brazil collaborators currently provide genetics to 25% of that market. And although we are not clear yet for cultivation in Australia, our recently acquired assets in that country can provide Our projected 5% to 10% footprint once approvals are in place in an initial phase.

Speaker 2

In the case of soy, we expect to initiate multiplier relationships in Argentina in the next campaign, although these may be initially limited by the seat availability due to quality considerations as we just discussed. In Argentina, our existing collaborators provide genetics for 30% of the market, whereas in Brazil, They may cover up to 80%, giving us access to the genetics required to address our targeted expectations. Finally, turning to the next slide, we would like to take a few minutes to discuss our sustainability strategy. As described in our recently published sustainability report, in addition to our internal sustainability efforts, Our portfolio of products, technologies and contractual arrangements such as those in generation HP4 services contracts We're encouraged to see that farmers' adoption of good agricultural practices can be independent of regulations when signs and business models are used to align productivity incentives with positive externalities. This concept is at the heart of our all around value proposition.

Speaker 2

Let me just provide Some examples by showing you what happened in generation HP4 wheat fields over the last two seasons. And please turn to the next slide for that. What you see here are the average improvements in utilized water For the reduction in CO2 emissions per ton of grain produced under the HB4 program compared to the non HB4 fields. And what you see in terms of water is a 5% reduction on a per ton basis or per basis and a 30% reduction in carbon footprint on unequal units. Also and importantly, as we deploy our biological solutions like we do today with our Risselaerma biofranchiside, We can significantly reduce the environmental impact quotient of the C treatments.

Speaker 2

So what you see there is the environmental impact of a standard seed treatment with synthetic chemistries Compared to the impact of the expected impact of our Risoderma C treatment that is 6 times less in terms of active ingredient exposure to the environment. We think these type of measurements will be Significantly improved particularly in markets where we are deploying our bio insecticidal solutions as well like Risonema in Brazil that is coming up as a replacement of chemical nematicides and other insecticides, Being able to discontinue neonics and avamectins that are often associated to toxic effects And these are products that have shown 0 effect of toxicity in non target organisms Such as pollinators and bees. So we will start to emphasize the biodiversity metrics On top of the water and carbon footprint metrics that we are showing here to be a pioneer in this important aspect of sustainability on a forward going basis. So with that, I think we can close

Operator

Thank you. Our first question today comes from the line of Ben Klise from Lake Street Capital Markets. Please go ahead. Your line is now open.

Speaker 4

All right. Excuse me. All right. Thanks everybody for taking my questions. A few from me.

Speaker 4

First, I'll start with HB4. Federico, I appreciated your comments on all the various initiatives under both wheat and soy. All that considered, I'm wondering if you can comment on How, if at all, your expectations have changed for your prior targets for both of these? You had previously targeted $15,000,000 of EBITDA in wheat And $24,000,000 $20,000,000 of EBITDA for soy by $25,000,000 I'm just wondering given all of these dynamics, Are you still confident in those estimates or do you think there's going to be some downside pressure given especially weather conditions?

Speaker 2

Hi, Ben. Thank you for your questions. Great to have you in the call. I don't think we can adjust any of our guidance. In wheat, we feel fairly confident in terms of where we stand today.

Speaker 2

And as Enrique indicated, rains have resumed. And with a couple more rains, I think we're going to have a very strong wheat season in Argentina. We have all the inventory that is required. We have the performance. There's the sort of top of mind aspect of drought in our customers' heads today.

Speaker 2

So I think we're going to have a very good season and one that will put us in place to meet that guidance in the upcoming fiscal year. In soy, we're only 25% done. So we don't know how much Inventory we'll have for the upcoming season in Argentina. The good news is that Brazil is moving at a So I think there might be some compensatory effect there that might allow us to keep the current target, But today is probably too early to tell on the soy front.

Speaker 4

Got it. Very fair and great to hear your Conference on the weak side in the face of this in the face of these weather conditions. Turning to the Syngenta agreement, Again, a lot to unpack here. I'm wondering if you guys can help us understand the degree to which The upfront $50,000,000 payment was a function of the effectively replacing Profit that now is shared with Syngenta versus upfront payments just that Syngenta is making for the agreement itself. I mean, how much of that $50,000,000 is effectively just shifting profit from Just Bio Series to the joint initiative versus

Operator

kind of

Speaker 4

a royalty payment, if you will?

Speaker 2

Sure, Ben. So let me tell you how I think about this and maybe Andre can then jump in. But essentially the Syngenta agreement has I guarantee profitability to us of $280,000,000 over 10 years. Now that is not $28,000,000 every year. So the initial years, whether it's a transition, are not as efficient as the 2nd and third and fourth year on a forward going basis.

Speaker 2

So Part of the initial payment we received compensates in year 1 and in year 2 for the onboarding of new geographies And the inefficiencies that might result from passing the business over to Singenda. But I think and to be clear on this is that whatever we are reporting today on an adjusted EBITDA basis is where we expect to deliver growth on top of in future quarters and future years. So it's not like We believe this represents a new base on top of which we will be able to deliver strong growth And perhaps slightly overloaded in the Q1 where of the calendar year 'twenty three where Maybe ideally, it should have been spread over all of calendar year 'twenty three, but I will let Enrique add his comments to these aspects.

Speaker 3

Hey, Ben. Good to have you on the call. Look, I think that what Federico just said is absolutely correct. This is not the plug and play. I mean, this agreement with Syngenta in our view is a fantastic agreement for the company and requires some handholding at the beginning.

Speaker 3

And what we probably need to sort of like emphasize is that This is not an automatic agreement. It's taking a lot of joint work between the two companies, not only on the R and D front, sort of like looking Ahead on what else we can build together, but also on sort of like transferring the commercial operation to them. So the compensatory payment offsets part of that. And as Federico said, it might be a little bit front loaded on this 1st calendar quarter. But at the end of the day, we are Sort of like setting our minds to build on top of this.

Speaker 3

There might be some lumpiness, but this is what we're thinking to build on.

Speaker 4

Got it. Very helpful. There's plenty of dynamics going on. I appreciate all those comments. There's a lot more to discuss, I guess.

Speaker 4

I'll leave it with one question on HP-four soy and your expansion initiatives in the United States. Can you comment on initiatives that you're taking with spring planting season now well underway in the U. S. With HB4 Soy specifically to get this through the to get this to commercial scale?

Speaker 2

Sure, Ben. So in the U. S, we are probably a year behind or maybe a year and a half behind where we are in Brazil. So we will be at the 800 hectare level probably next year. We're now Developing varieties with the genetics of 2 providers, one which we announced, which is Dom Mario And another one that has not been announced, but it's a top provider for U.

Speaker 2

S. Soy genetics And we expect those to be in place depending on what we get in the current in the upcoming cycle for the fiscal for 2024, 2025 season, if you will. So it's that's what You should think of the U. S. As one coming a year behind Brazil.

Speaker 4

Got it. Got it. Very helpful. All right. There's plenty more to discuss, but I'll leave it there.

Speaker 4

Thanks for taking my questions and I'll get back in line.

Operator

Thank you. The next question today comes from the line of Brian Wright from ROTH MKM. Please go ahead. Your line is now open.

Speaker 5

Thanks. Good morning. Just wanted to dig in a little bit on the soy program in Brazil on that chart. I think it was Slide 9 or 10 depending on whether you're using the PDF or the anyway On it looks like Area 304 had 100% success rates. I know there was only 6 Location data points, but that wasn't chosen for the targeted region.

Speaker 5

And so I was just kind of curious So why that one was excluded?

Speaker 2

So It's not shown, I think. But it is a targeted region. So 304 is a targeted region.

Operator

It

Speaker 2

is The only reason there were only 6 sites there is mostly due to logistics and our ability to Having a greater number of sites, but yes, it's where we got the best performance. So we're definitely going to pursue

Speaker 5

Okay. I was just wondering because you had made a comment about the seed quality And so I didn't know if there was some leakage there.

Speaker 2

No, sorry. I'm sorry. The question. Seed quality is only an Argentine issue, not a Brazil issue. In Brazil, we are doing off season, but just to have seed purity guarantee, which you don't get out of the farmers' fields, it has to be done In a special way, and that's kind of probably generating a little bit of confusion there.

Speaker 5

Okay. Okay. Thanks for that clarification. And then I just wanted to follow-up a little bit on the slide on the sustainability I just want to make sure I interpreted what you said correctly. And so Those benefits from a sustainability perspective were a function of the seed treatment Tax and how all that does savings, there's no incremental benefit in this analysis for just the higher yields that you get on average given diverse kind of climate conditions.

Speaker 5

Is that

Speaker 2

correct? No. So there are 2 elements. So there are 2 aspects that we want to address with sustainability. 1 is climate change and the other one is Biodiversity protection, sort of the shift away from synthetic chemistries.

Speaker 2

So in terms of climate change, Basically, there's a carbon footprint metric and there's a water footprint metric that are associated to the incremental grain Sorry, incremental yield of an HV4 crop under this particular condition. So there in terms of Both of these indicators what you see is that we're using 5% less water on a per kilo basis or per ton basis And there is 30% less CO2 emissions on a per ton or per kilo basis of HB4 grain being produced compared to non HB4 grain produced by non HB4 seeds. On the second aspect, which is okay, to achieve that, what chemicals were utilized? At the seed treatment level, we replaced the biofungicides that are normally used with a biological alternative. And by doing that, we reduced 6 times the active ingredient or toxicity, if you will, of the active ingredient load to the soil environment.

Speaker 2

I don't know if that is clear or still confusing to you.

Speaker 5

Yes. No, So it's 2 different aspects. And in that first aspect with the water reduction and the carbon footprint, It does include the relative yield impact is

Speaker 6

part of the driver of that.

Speaker 2

Yes.

Speaker 5

Okay. Thank you so much.

Operator

Thank you. The next question today comes from the line of Bobby Belson from Canaccord. Please go ahead. Your line is now open.

Speaker 7

Yes. Thanks for taking my questions. So Yes. Maybe just switching gears a little bit back to the weather outlook for Argentina. Maybe Help us understanding what you're seeing regionally in different areas.

Speaker 7

I believe that There is more progress being made in terms of moisture levels in certain regions.

Speaker 2

Hi, Bobby. It's great to have you on the call. Yes, I think we're still cautious now because Last time we connected in our Q2 earnings call, we felt that we were almost done. And then It didn't rain anymore and it got worse instead of better. And that in part Affected our Q3 results as Enrique just described.

Speaker 2

Rains have significantly resumed in many areas of Argentina. Still they haven't replenished the underground water to the extent that would be required For a record harvest, I think we might be 2 rain events away from that to be simplistic instead of my comment. But forecasts are looking good. And I think when we look at sort of the monthly dynamics In our Resource Lactor business, we're liking what we see. So we're cautiously optimistic about The weather front and we believe that farmers will want to recover part of the lost income of the 2 last harvests in the upcoming winter season if conditions aligned and we hope for that.

Speaker 7

Great. Thanks. And then maybe in terms of help us understand what you're seeing in terms of Some international suppliers of crop protection and other products into Argentina and the current inflationary environment, Are there difficulties for some of your competitors in terms of importing into the country? And how does that position Bioceres to maybe benefit?

Speaker 2

Well, As this is obviously public knowledge, Argentina doesn't have a wealth of dollars in the Central Bank to be able to import In unrestricted terms, so for those providers that are heavily reliant on imported active ingredients, Except for China, that's probably an exception to what I'm saying. And but In general, it's becoming tougher for those that rely on Central Bank Dollars to perform their General importations. Now this might be sort of Transitory benefit to us because we do not rely on that. I mean we for the microbilled fertilizer business if you will, We have the inventories and the access to the raw material that is required to fully supply Our existing customer base and be able to catch up on our lost sales of the second and third quarter. So it might be A transitory advantage to maybe some other entities that are dependent on importations for a similar type products.

Speaker 2

I don't know, Kike, if you want to add anything to that or

Speaker 3

No, I think that's fine. Obviously, that's Sort of like a structural advantage probably to biologicals, you're just ramping up bacteria. So I think that structurally speaking, that is this is an example of why biologicals not only makes sense From a sustainability perspective, from a biodiversity perspective, but also from a logistics perspective, I mean, with global supply chains Having been disrupted more than a few times in the last 5 years, having the ability to manufacture locally, I think, has become more important than what it was in the past.

Speaker 7

Great. Well, congratulations on the strong results And I'll hop back into the queue.

Operator

Thank you. The next question today comes from the line of Kent Oliver from Brookline Capital Markets. Please go ahead. Your line is now open.

Speaker 6

Hi, thank you and good morning. I want to be sure I understand the Payments in the context of the profit guarantee. So in October, you received the $50,000,000 upfront payment And it looks like you will recognize that you recognize $33,000,000 of it in the quarter just reported. You will recognize the balance in the Q3 fiscal Q3 of 2024. So the first question will be, is that correct?

Speaker 6

And then the related question is, is this $50,000,000 part of the $280,000,000 profit guarantee Or is it separate? Thank you.

Speaker 2

Hi, Kent. Thank you for participating in the call. You got it right. I think you got it right. These are part of the 280,000,000.

Speaker 2

So but they were not evenly spread on an annual basis. So that's why the upfront payment compensated in part for Probably slow start of the profit sharing, so that we can as new geographies are delivered to Syngenta Zone, We can get to sort of the steady state level of the $280,000,000 on an annual basis. So there's $33,000,000 in this quarter, there'll be $17,000,000 in the same quarter of next Here on top of whatever we are generating with the different geographies at the time. So this will tend to normalize over the 10 years. And remember the €280,000,000 are the base.

Speaker 2

No, that's the minimum profit guarantee. On top of that, we get to share at the 50% level In Brazil and between 35% 45% of the profitability in the rest of the world excluding Argentina where we have retained full rights.

Speaker 6

Excellent. Thank you. And the other question, which is pretty What's the definition of win rate that you show on Slide 10?

Speaker 2

The win rate is essentially how many times was our variety, the number one variety Compared to the rest of the commercial varieties or the controlled varieties. So a win rate of 100% means that we won In every single instance in the 6 sites, we were the number 1. 78% 80% would say we won in 8 Sites, out of 10 sites.

Speaker 6

Right. Is there a minimum threshold of performance, say it has to be 10% better or 15% better or is it just Anyhow,

Speaker 2

So anything above 50% means that your genetics are at par with the top performing materials for that particular region. Remember, this is not under drought. So what we want here is to have genetics that have no penalty. So that the farmer, if there is a good year, the odds of being at par with Any of the other alternatives should be fifty-fifty almost random. Above 50 is great, Below 50 means we need to improve the genetics to be able to not penalize the farmer on a good year.

Speaker 2

But this is not looking at the drought effect. This is looking at the sort of the generic background of these materials so that they can be competitive under all

Operator

conditions.

Speaker 6

Great. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question today comes from the line of Kristen Owen from Oppenheimer. Please go ahead. Your line is now open.

Speaker 8

Great. Thank you. Good morning and I appreciate you taking the question. Enrique, you started to mention this in some of your prepared remarks, I'm wondering if you can give a bit more of a detailed update on where we stand with ProPharm, 1st in terms of the demand outlook given some of the weather conditions that you discussed in California, but then also if you could expand on the update around breakeven profitability for that business. Thank you.

Speaker 3

Hi, Kirsten. Good to have you on the call, and thanks for the question. Sure. Look, I mean, In terms of pro form, I think that we are confident about the cost piece Because that's something that is not dependent on any sort of like exogenous factors. So there, we are tracking well both in terms of the synergy costs And also sort of like streamlining the R and D work in such a way that we don't sort of like jeopardize Long term value, but that we make that efficient, at least under what we consider to be efficient out of the 20 years of R and D Experience that Bioceris has.

Speaker 3

On the revenue side, what we saw is that California got too much water Now so farmers were not able to get on the fields to spray, which at the end of the day should Sort of a push demand into the Q4. So if that happens and we are well aligned with our plans for revenues in the fiscal year, we should be able Even to beat sort of like the EBITDA neutrality because what we are seeing in pro form is better margins than the historical margins. So Good on the margin side, check. On the cost side, now what we need is the market to be there. And by the way, I'm saying that from a very short Term framework.

Speaker 3

I mean, we're not expecting demand to be there, the factor that will be driving revenues up. There's a lot of work that we can do in the midterm with Profarm to continue expanding the market. But in the short term, I mean, it is what it is, Right. What Profarme had accomplished in terms of commercial expansion is what it was, and we're working to expand that market penetration. In the short term, we are still dependent on sort of like whatever was built in the past to be there for us in terms of demand.

Speaker 3

So if those things happen, I think that we are in very, very good shape To have ProForm be contributing to our EBITDA. And as I said, we hope to sort of like Build on top of the $85,000,000 of EBITDA that we are reporting today on an LCM basis.

Speaker 8

Okay. That's super helpful. Thank you for that update. And then I wanted to ask just a question around the incremental HB4 grain opportunity, the additional 3,400,000 hectares. So you talked about some of the seed Just help us understand or contextualize, given some of the other comments that you've made about weather, How quickly you can move to serve that additional acreage opportunity and how we can think about quantifying that growth opportunity in the model?

Speaker 8

Thank you.

Speaker 2

So, hi, Christian. This is Federico. In terms of the 3,200,000 hectares of Brazil, Obviously, the generics that we have in Argentina are not applicable to Brazil. So that's why we partner with Embrapa and OR Cementes To develop locally adapted varieties, this will take a few years before we can be At the stage where we are today in Argentina and also I think This is not something that will result will impact the guidance that we provided. So the guidance that we provided for fiscal 2024 In wheat, we'll be 100% met with Argentine acreage.

Speaker 2

This will be built on top of that As these 3,200,000 hectares become onboarded. Now Brazil wants to be self sufficient in wheat. And to be able to do that, They need the productivity and the acreage in the Cerro region to materialize and that can be done today with a combination of HP4 For technology with tropical genetics that is unique to us and then wrap up collaboration. So it might take us a few years to be there, But I think it can become a very meaningful market for us, bringing incremental growth to the guidance we provided for fiscal 2024.

Speaker 3

Yes. And complementing on what Federico said, Kirsten, I think the only reason why we're not still putting An EBITDA number behind the target market is because we want to figure out how long it's going to take us to get there in terms of the variety development that Federico just mentioned. Now once we have a little bit more visibility on that, we will provide some guidance because we think This is for sure a very clear opportunity for HP4, probably a much clearer opportunity in Argentina that is an already existing market where you need to make You saw some room despite having a unique technology. Here, we're talking about sort of like shaping the landscape, shaping the market and changing The supply and demand dynamics for Brazil. So we are probably working with some partners that might help us do that faster.

Speaker 3

When we have more visibility, we will throw some numbers into this.

Speaker 8

Okay. Thank you very much. That's Extremely helpful for contextualizing that announcement. Last one, if I could just squeeze it in. Given some of the return to normal some of the unusual things that were going on 4Q last year.

Speaker 8

Just for modeling purposes, help us understand how you're thinking about working capital needs For this Q4 and how that could compare to last year's Q4? And I'll leave it there. Thank you.

Speaker 3

Yes. I mean, look, I think that we touched upon this on the last earnings call. We do expect sort of like working capital to still be on the current levels for the foreseeable future, probably the next two quarters. And this is a higher working capital position than what we would like to have. But coming out of sort of like The dry weather situation in Argentina where we want to stand by our distributors, that's one thing.

Speaker 3

And obviously, ramping up HP4, those two things are probably the biggest drivers for our working capital position. I wouldn't expect it to go any higher in sort of like terms of Our proportionality to sales, but rather we are going to keep an eye on trying to streamline our working capital position. That might take us 2 or 3 additional quarters, But don't expect this to sort of like continue going up on a proportion to sales, But rather going back to what was in the last couple of years.

Speaker 2

And I think an important element to what Enrique Insane is the fact that we're now enabling for instance in the HP4 wheat business multipliers. So now the burden of the working capital For incremental inventories, it's not in our shoulders. For the multipliers that are producing seed for future sales, It's in their shoulders and having that network become available, I think, takes part of the Working capital pressure off from the seat side of the business.

Speaker 8

Great. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. There are no additional questions waiting at this time. So I'd like to pass the conference over to Federico Trucco for any closing remarks. Please go ahead.

Speaker 2

I want to thank everyone again for joining the call. I think we had a great quarter And one that in a way helps us better illustrates the value of some of the strategic agreements we did last year In moments when we need them the most, no? Because we had a historical drought in Argentina, which still remains a very important market for us. So we hope that in the future we can do more of these type of deals. I think we have portfolio with multiple technologies and technology families that can give us the incremental diversification, Incremental profitability and a more diversified go to market approach.

Speaker 2

We're actively working on that. We're going to close a good fiscal year, we believe. And please Do feel free to reach out if you want to follow-up on any of the different aspects we discussed today. Have a great day and looking forward to connecting in the future.

Operator

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you all for your participation. You may now disconnect your line.

Powered by Quartr
Earnings Conference Call
Bioceres Crop Solutions Q3 2023
00:00 / 00:00