Burcon NutraScience Corporation (BU) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Burcon is a plant protein technology leader for the global food and beverage market. We're here with Burcon's CEO, Kip Underwood. Kip, Burcon recently announced the acquisition of a manufacturing facility. How is that coming along?

Hey, Martin, great to see you again, and thanks for the opportunity. The acquisition of the facility in Galesburg, Illinois, is truly -- it's an inflection point for Burcon. It's a transformative moment. We're targeting a growing market. We have differentiated, highly relevant technology. We have a strong sales funnel. We have customers who want to buy our products. They want access to our technology. The missing ingredient for Burcon has always been a route to market. How do we get our products in the hands of these customers? The Galesburg facility, it unlocks our potential, it enables us a route to market access. And truly, the facility is a perfect fit, right? So it's the right location, close to raw material, close to customers, right scale for us and our level of maturation for our customers, and really is large enough to put Burcon itself on a strong financial footing, which is key for us in the future.

All right. It's an existing food manufacturing processing facility, but you've got to adjust it for your added special equipment for your products and processes and so forth. How is that transition coming along?

I'd say in a word, seamless, but you're right. So one of the reasons the Galesburg facility was perfect for us, existing facility, existing food-grade facility, existing leadership and existing shop floor employee or shop floor team. All of that Group has elected to join us for our future journey. So having a food-grade facility that has probably 2/3 of the bones we need to make our products. People who know the food industry, people know the equipment and most importantly, all of them wanting to join us for our journey. That was one of the big reasons that Galesburg facility, in particular, was the right fit and the right place for us.

So you're able just to -- you haven't really had to hire anyone? You're just transitioning the existing team over and getting them now working on your products and your processes?

Absolutely and that's one of the keys, one of the fun things to watch already, has been the coalescence of the team. So, we bring the Burcon team with 20-plus years of plant-based protein innovation, right? We team that up with the local knowledge of the Group on the ground. And even in a few weeks, watching those two groups come together and truly become one team. I can't imagine we're going to be able to do in the future with the power of this Group acting as one, not as two.

Okay. Since the acquisition here, what's been happening then? Tell us about what's going on the plant floor?

We've been busy, Martin. We are focused on speed and urgency. So in less than 2 weeks, we finished designing on our process layout. We installed our equipment. We had industry experts in as well as contractors, electrician, pipe-fitters, installed our proprietary unit processes. We've also fully commissioned those, not just those pieces of the puzzle, but also the entire process. And right now, we are well on our way to fully establishing the capability to make our entire plant protein portfolio, including PE, hemp, canola and sunflower protein.

All right. That's great. What are the next steps?

So for us, really, it's scale up...

Okay.

Focused on high quality, consistent quality and really excelling -- planning to exceed our future customers' expectations. And we have the people, the facility, the technology to deliver our products to market. We have customers waiting for us to do this, and it is time for us to deliver.

All right. Kip, thanks for that update. That's -- congratulations on the acquisition and the progress, and I'm looking forward to getting updates as things progress. Have a great day.

Thanks, Martin. I appreciate the time.