Birchtech Corp. (BCHT) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good day. Welcome to the iAccess Alpha Virtual Best Ideas Spring Investment Conference 2025. The next presenting company is Birchtech Corp. [Operator Instructions] I'd now like to turn the floor over to today's host, Richard MacPherson, Chief Executive Officer at Birchtech Corp. Sir, the floor is yours.

Well, thank you very much. And folks, thanks very much for joining me today to hear the Birchtech story. We're known as America's Clean Coal and Clean Water Company. There is a Slide which I'll pop up forward-looking statements. Please take time to review those as we go through my presentation. Moving on into the presentation, I'll give you an overview of BirchTech. So we develop activated carbon technologies and provide consulting services to remove mercury from the air we breathe and forever chemicals from the water we drink. Our team includes leading activated carbon experts in both water and air in the U.S. and allows us to drive environmental technology innovation, both in air and water purification. So in our Clean Air technologies, which we've been involved in for these past 14 years, we have an established core business of reducing mercury emissions in coal-fired plants. We have a patented process called the SEA process, and that's been actively involved in over 80% of the power plants that use absorbent technology to remove mercury. Over $260 million has been spent with us since our inception. In the water purification side of our business, which we've been working on these past 3 years and are now just moving into commercially, we've developed technologies that are targeted towards forever chemicals, but also have a broad-ranging effect on the remediation of wastewaters and other water purification. So we're very much looking forward to moving into this new area of business, which has the potential overall to generate about $1.5 billion of revenue as an industry annually. We have a strong IP portfolio and a successful enforcement strategy to make sure that the asset is protected. We have 35 total patents, both in air and water business. And of late, we've had to defend those patents, but we've successfully secured $35 million in license arrangements and income from legal claims from those that have infringed upon this IP. An additional $57 million was awarded by jury, which is out for final judgment at this time to another group that carried on infringement for a number of years. So as we move into 2025, there are regulatory tailwinds that will provide long-term value for the company and its technologies as we apply them both to the air and water purification. Moving on to the next slide. Our go-to-market strategy is that we are growing our business, defending our IP portfolio and moving rapidly into the water business. So mercury emissions in the United States is a long-standing basic approach that has been taken both by the administration and the operators of the power plants to ensure that clean coal continues to provide the power that North America needs to power its economy and keep the environment clean. We're an active part of that process using our new SEA technologies, which we introduced in 2015 and continue to provide today. We have, however, had to enforce the validity of those patents over the last number of years and continue to do so. We secure significant license revenues from those that do use it in regards to the value statement that it provides them in their ongoing compliance efforts. The potable water treatment solutions that we've been developing promise to be some of the newest and best technologies in the water purification industry. We are in the final testing stages at this point, and we'll be introducing them commercially in the second half of 2025. If I move on now to the slide about our legacy business, and we talk about our established position, which is the base that we work from, we offer customized solutions for coal-fired power plants to reduce mercury emissions. We also improve overall emissions opacity and things of that nature with some of our custom approaches. Coal-fired power plants today account for over 16% of the base load of U.S. power and is projected to remain a significant fuel source through 2050 and is looking as well with the new administration to increase in the coming years, providing clean coal power for all of North America. Our patented SEA technology is a 2-part process that helps coal-fired power plants meet and exceed the EPA regulations that have been actively in place for the last decade. Part 1, SEA is a hi mixture, which is injected directly in the boiler and Part 2 is a back-end sorbent injected in the back end of the boiler and this process and the materials used in the process are patented and protected under our SEA program. Our team also customizes solutions to meet specific flue gas challenges of different boilers. The Air business revenue run rate is to ramp up as we expect over the next 18 months or so to a potential of $40 million annually by the end of 2026. And with that growing base of business, we're very well established and looking forward to growing well into the years to come. If I move on to Slide 10, and we look at the customer economics for Air, we'll get a sense of how that will play out. Our current customers and flow-through economics of this patented strategy show us having, in a lot of cases, an upfront licensing fee for the users of our technologies, of our patented technologies and then also supply side agreements, which will provide a constant renewable source of revenue for the company as we supply those licensed users for years and years to come. Typically, we would offer and receive a license agreement with an upfront fee and then supply them on an annual basis. Typically, it would be in the $1 million to $2 million or more annually as we go forward on 5-year renewable contracts. A revenue run rate of $25 million, for example, creates significant operating leverage, resulting in EBITDA margins of over 30% our projections for 2025 are a basic $23 million, which does not include any license revenue or any of the water purification revenues that we expect to bring in, in the latter half of 2025. So we're well positioned as we go forward in terms of providing a solid base and growing business for our shareholders. If we move to talk now about new regulations, positioning the water treatment in that market for growth. In 2027, under present regulations, the water utilities are expected to have a system in place are recognized to be able to remove forever chemicals. And that by 2029, that system is -- has to be operable and taking out the forever chemicals. Many of the states themselves are trying to get ahead of that regulation and have things up and running before then. And we find that there is a heightened increase in activity and testing ongoing now, and we expect the latter half of 2025 and beyond to be quite busy in the utilities at the state level, finding out ways to be able to meet these new regulations and get in compliance ahead of time. Moving on to the next slide. Our proprietary process for water purification is in 2 parts. Firstly, we are reactivation experts and experts in analysis. So reactivated carbon, we expect to outperform virgin carbon sales, and we are highly motivated and have been doing a great deal of research and development in this field. We're developing a full-service novel approach to reach PFAS compliance with expert consultants, providing the utilities what they need and know in order to be able to meet those regulations. So we'll be deploying world-class consulting experience to clients across the country. Thermal reactivation of carbon in our design center at State College, Pennsylvania will be the center for our work and efforts to bring this knowledge to the marketplace. We'll be obtaining water samples from municipalities, testing the performance of virgin granular activated carbons and reactivated carbons at our testing center in Grand Forks, North Dakota. So we have put together 2 world-class facilities, one to produce the batch samples and do the material comparisons and then another lab that we built in North Dakota to be able to do world-class simultaneous testing of multiple utility facilities waters on a regular basis going forward to bring the information that's necessary to the marketplace in a fast professional manner. And so with these new laboratories that we have up and running, we expect to be able to make great strides and inroads into the market. So we have a robust infrastructure, as I've mentioned, starting in Grand Forks, North Dakota, a testing center that's unequaled in the country to be able to simultaneously test utility waters with their present technology against the new ones that we have developed and are developing. And also in St. College, Pennsylvania, a design center that is fabricating and developing and producing new granular activated carbons for use in this comparative testing head-to-head testing. Our manufacturing center, of course, in Texar Canada has been now converted to produce granular activated carbons, which we'll be bringing to market in the second half of 2025. And we have a future home for granular activated production, which will be operating in the second half of 2025, bringing commercial product to the market, and that's in Southeastern U.S. So this is our company profile, of course, and it's a very prestigious group, which have much pedigree and over a decade experience both in the air and water side of remediation and purification. And we have been joined over this past year by 9 new individuals specializing in the water treatment side of the business that are working out of our new facilities in both Pennsylvania and in North Dakota. Financial summary. We have a reoccurring revenue base providing the base for growth that we've been enjoying in an accelerating basis. If you look to the graph on the right, you'll see what our core business provides in regular material sales and then the light blue shaded area shows what we're running on a TTM basis with regards to the IP value of licensing as we go forward. It's expected to maintain that level going through '25 and '26. This, of course, does not include any of the onetime awards that we may receive from any litigation that we have been engaged in or are presently engaged in. So the upcoming catalysts in '25, just to reiterate, $57 million was awarded to us by the Federal Court this time last year. We're waiting final judgment from the judge, and we're expecting that to come in due time. That is not accounted for in any of our projections, but will possibly be a very solid onetime injection of cash into the company. Our first sales into the water treatment market will begin in mid-2025. We have lined up about $7 million worth of feedstock, which could generate about $8 million worth of product sales in the last half of 2025. And again, none of that is included in any guidance that we've given to date. We're also targeting an uplisting to a major U.S. exchange expected to happen in the third quarter, and we're looking strongly at the New York Stock Exchange for that uplisting. Increased revenues on a regular basis on our supply side will be coming from the ROFRs that we include in the license agreements that we negotiate with those that we are in discussions with now with regards to the infringing of our patented process. We're also looking to sign a strategic joint venture with a couple of majors, international majors. Those discussions are ongoing. When we have material positions with that, we will be bringing that to market. And we're very much looking forward to beginning the construction of a significant granular activated carbon facility in Southeastern United States, and we'll be bringing news to the market of that as we get started the Groundwork has been done with regards to permitting, site location, things of that nature. And so as we move through the year and solidify those plans, we'll be bringing that information to market. So the key takeaway folks, the team is solid, experienced with the know-how to not only continue to grow the air, but create, build and operate new GAC facilities. We have great regulatory tailwinds. But even without those regulations, the water purification business is huge. We very much expect to be able to take a nice share of market using the technologies we've developed for the traditional forms of water purification. We have large addressable markets. They're stable. We have a profitable air business going forward as we ramp up under the ROFR agreements that we're now signing. And there is a massive, what we believe, underserved water business that we will be breaking into starting in the second half of this year. And of course, our IP portfolio is very strong, has been successfully defended, and we intend to continue that as we go forward to assure a growing value, enterprise value for our shareholders. And the move into the water business is underway. That initial feedstock agreement is in place and the build-out of a GAC facility in 2025 is underway with the planning in place for that to take effect. I think I'll pass on the time line for success folks because we're running out of time. I'll move to the closing slide. And if I can take any questions that might be asked, we'll go forward with there. Just waiting to see if I can locate some questions.

[Operator Instructions]

Okay. So folks, I have been able to identify some questions that have come in. I'll start and go through. And operator, if you could let me know how much time we have left.

Certainly, there's approximately 9 minutes left at this time.

Okay. So we have 11 questions. I'll give 45 seconds to each. First question, what is the opportunity with your water technology overseas as far as licensing your product? And how quickly can an agreement and profits be materialized? Firstly, I can say that we do have ongoing conversations with at least one major operator overseas in Asia, and we will be meeting with them again in the coming months and expect to put together a license agreement whereby our new technologies could be licensed in Asia. I expect that under that license agreement, there are multimillion dollar annual opportunities for the firm. Moving on to the second question. What are the revenue growth expectations for Vertex air and water treatment in 2025? Answer, we've given guidance to $23 million, which is based only on the supply side of our air business and license agreements as we have experienced to date. We have not allowed for any water treatment revenue nor have we allowed for any future wins on the IP side, which have been significant on a TTM basis. So I feel that the $23 million is very conservative. We feel very good and bullish about what the final numbers will be, and we will update on a quarterly basis as we go forward. Next question, how does BCHT plan to monetize its recent $57 million jury award and secure additional license agreements? We have a number of ongoing litigation positions now other than the Delaware win, and we're in discussions with several of them in terms of coming to a business solution, which would see us achieve both licensing revenue and a ROFR for very significant supply side revenues over the next 5 to 10 years. The $57 million jury award was a starting point for the court to evaluate the actual willfulness of the award, and we're waiting for the judge to post his final decision on that number as we go forward. Next question, do emissions match gas-fired plants? And does the economy justify coal plants doing versus gas? What I can say to that folks is coal plants are on the rebound. They're at 16% of the base load. I expect that to go up closer to 20% as plants that were supposed to close most likely will stay open and plants that may have recently closed may come back online. So I think overall, coal-fired business has a bright future under the new administration. Next question. What do you think the business looks like in 5 years, mix of business, margins and long term? That's a big question. No time to answer it in detail other than we will have a very strong base in the air side and transition nicely with disruptive technologies into the water business. My thought is the water business will most likely be 5 to 10x that of the air, given that I've already said we look to having about $40 million annual as potential in the air side. Next question. Please discuss your JV and partnership strategy? Because I'm in due diligence, I can't do that. However, I can say we are doing what we can to move into the water business as thoroughly as possible in the short term because I'm very confident once we start our comparative testing, we will have huge demand. We've already identified close to $80 million in soft commitments. And so my efforts in the short term are to be able to start to fulfill the water requirements while we build out our main plant, which will generate about $60 million a year. So in the short term, we're trying to put $8 million to $20 million of product in the market throughout '25, '26, while the other main facility is being built, and we have a plan and a means to make that happen. Next question, how significant is the PFAS water treatment market? And how do we plan to capture market share? I think we've already dealt with that one. Second and last, do you see early intro into the water business raising your operating cost base? No. Our cost base does not need to go up until the end of 2026, and that would be through the build-out of a new plant, which would be financed under debt financing. We have several options to do that, which will not offset our operating capital. In the meantime, the technology that we've developed will allow us to work with some of our present partners to produce $8 million to $20 million of the product without adding to our CapEx in any significant fashion. Final question, if we have time, what is the financial impact of our shift into water purification and what margins are expected? Initially, in 2025, our margins will not be huge, probably 20%. As we move into '26, they will improve probably above 30%. And once our full new plant is up and running, that will be very significant, 40% to 50% given the value of the technologies that we have created. These new technologies, which have been patented will be disruptive and make a significant dent in the water treatment business, and we expect to get great margins without increasing the cost to the end user to be able to purify their water. And folks, that finishes the questions for today. I want to thank you all for joining me and very much look forward to working with you all in the coming years. Cheers.

Thank you. That concludes the Birchtech Corp. presentation. You may now disconnect. Please consult the conference agenda for the next presenting company.