Ceres Global Ag Corp. (CRP) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Ceres Global Ag Earnings Call for their first quarter results for the financial year 2025. [Operator Instructions] I would like to remind everyone that today's discussion may contain forward-looking statements that reflect current views with respect to future events. Any such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. For more information on the risks and uncertainties related to these forward-looking statements, please refer to the company's management's discussion and analysis available on SEDAR and company's website. I would now like to turn the call over to Mr. Carlos Paz, CEO of Ceres Global Ag. Please go ahead, Mr. Paz.

Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. This quarter, we set new record volumes handled and achieved solid financial results. Although benign weather conditions in the Northern U.S. Plains and Canadian Prairies limited directional trading opportunities, our team of industry experts and robust trading and risk management practices drove a strong start to the fiscal year. In the first quarter of fiscal 2025, we achieved solid financial results with operating income of $2.9 million and net income of $1.8 million. Thanks to our strategic positioning and effective utilization of our extensive network of assets, our handled volumes increased by 5.5% compared to last year. Looking at our Grain segment. Our joint ventures continue to play a vital role in our asset network by enabling our farmer-direct origination strategy and serving as key bridgeheads for Ceres to reach producers and deliver unique value to customers. Volumes handled at Berthold Farmers Elevator rose by 4% this quarter, mainly due to our systematic planning during spring and summer to accommodate higher harvested volumes. At Farmers Grain, flooding in and around Thief River Falls, Minnesota, affected crop yields and quality this quarter, which resulted in a 2% decline in volumes handled. Here, we will leverage our improvements from last year to build on a talented team, secure freight capacity and ensure timely rail execution to maximize the value of this joint venture. In our Supply Chain Services segment, we achieved record volumes and [ near-record ] revenues this quarter compared to the same period last year. Timely rail logistics increased demand for fertilizer products, and Northgate team's ability to handle higher customer volumes were the main drivers for this increase. The Gateway pipeline connection to Northgate continues to perform well, with volumes through the Gateway facility rising by 2% this quarter compared to the first quarter of 2024. Building on the record-breaking soybean crush volumes from last fiscal year, our Seed Retail and Processing segment has once again achieved record quarterly soybean crush volumes and margins in the first quarter of 2025, reflecting a 4% and 14% increase, respectively, over the same period last year. This success is largely attributed to our team's implementation of operational efficiencies at the Jordan crush plant and to our effective trading and strategic positioning. I will now turn things over to Blake to review our financial results for the quarter. Then before we open the floor for questions, I will comment on the company's plan for the rest of the fiscal year. Blake?

Thank you, Carlos, and good morning, everyone. This quarter, revenue fell by $13.9 million to $202.1 million from the same period last year. Gross profit was $7 million compared to $14.2 million in Q1 of last year. As Carlos mentioned, although the benign weather resulted in fewer grain trading opportunities compared to last year, we still maintained solid financial results this quarter. Income from operations was $2.9 million compared to $9 million in Q1 of last year. Net income was $1.8 million, or $0.06 per share, down from $6.2 million, or $0.20 per share. Adjusted EBITDA and adjusted net income were $4.3 million and $2.1 million, respectively, compared to $10.6 million and $6.4 million in the same period last year. We handled a near-record 31.1 million bushels of grain and oilseed during the quarter, up from 29.9 million bushels in Q1 of last year. Net trading margin was $8.4 million, down 46.6% from the prior year due to lower trading margins across our core commodities. Supply Chain Service revenue was $1.9 million, up 15.4% from last year, mainly due to higher third-party storage and elevations. Our net Seed and Processing margin was $2.4 million in 2024, up 13.6% compared to last year, primarily driven by record crush volumes and margins this quarter. General and administrative expenses were $4 million this quarter, down 21.2% as a result of lower insurance expense, legal fees and incentive accruals this quarter. Interest expense was $737,000, down from $1.3 million last year. There was an income tax expense of $637,000 this quarter compared to an income tax expense of $1.9 million in Q1 of last year. At the end of the first quarter 2025, we had $62.4 million in working capital. This concludes my review of our financials. And for more information, please refer to our MD&A and financial statements. I'll now turn it back to Carlos to provide some comments on our outlook for the quarters ahead.

Thank you, Blake. As we enter the colder months and harvests conclude in the Northern Plains and the Canadian Prairies, our focus will shift to other regions such as South America. Our team will closely monitor weather patterns like La Niña and global crop development to strategically position a network of assets and capitalize on market opportunities. In the Supply Chain Services segment, we expect higher volumes due to a steady industrial product and fertilizer volumes and increased demand for Northgate's transloading products, which should drive solid results next quarter. For our Seed Retail and Processing segment, we expect that the higher-than-average soybean crop production in Manitoba, coupled with our ability to source local beans, will help us maintain high crush capacity utilization and achieve adequate margins next quarter. We have also maintained strong momentum in our regenerative agriculture initiatives. This quarter, we expanded our partnership with Miller Milling, one of the largest wheat millers in the U.S., to implement advanced nutrient practices to improve agronomic and environmental outcomes for wheat growers in North Dakota. The new partnership, along with our collaborations with Trimex, Mexico's largest flour miller; and Lavie Bio, a leader in regenerative ag-bio products, highlights our ability to deliver tailored regenerative agriculture and supply chain solutions. As environmental sustainability becomes increasingly important, we will continue to find opportunities to foster more efficient growing practices among our farmer partners and position Ceres to lead the adoption of regenerative agriculture practices. With a solid start to the year, we remain committed to our core strategy of effectively trading and merchandising our core products, optimizing our partner network, using creative partnerships to increase grain origination and maximizing the value of our assets for our shareholders. As we deploy this strategy, we will monitor geopolitical events that could influence our business and commodity prices. Escalating tensions in the Middle East and the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine continue to be sources of market instability. The recent change in administration in the U.S. also brings added uncertainty to agriculture and energy policies, which may lead to increased market volatility. We will provide additional updates on our outlook at our AGM, which will be held virtually on Monday, November 25 at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time, 10:00 a.m. Central Time. I hope you are all able to attend. On that note, I would like to open the call for questions.

[Operator Instructions] Our first question will be coming from [ Ted Hyland ], private investor.

Just wondering, what is the benefit of regenerative ag? And how does it make money for shareholders?

The benefit of regenerative ag is because that is very much aligned with our mission, that we're enabling our customers achieve great things. And most of our end customers value sustainability as a way of supplying their end customers. So what regenerative ag does for us, it allows us to really increase our origination and been able to increase our trading volumes for our end customers and merchandising volumes as well. So by virtue of having something that our customers value and want to increase, it makes Ceres the preferred supplier for our key customers.

Are they prepared to pay more for that?

Most of the time, yes.

Okay. What percentage then of revenue is just regenerative ag right now then?

Well, if you look at our volumes, as an example, they have increased steadily. And I would say the incremental volumes that we have in wheat, as an example, which is our biggest product line, I would say today, 20% to 25% is attributed to having regenerative ag that allows us to increase the volumes merchandised and sold to these customers. Without having regenerative ag, it might go to another supplier.

Okay. Northgate, is that at capacity, that facility?

Is that at capacity? No. There's plenty more to do in outside of grain. If you look at grain itself, we're running at a pretty high capacity. If you look at the businesses, the non-ag businesses that we're running there, we're running at a high capacity utilization. However, it's about 1,300 acres in a strategic location, which we can do a lot more things in Northgate. So the capacity for the land itself and the facility is not quite at capacity, but the businesses that we're running, they're running at a high capacity utilization today.

You have used partnerships previously. Would you ever consider partnering Northgate?

We consider partnering in businesses there. We're doing today. Gateway is a partnership.

All right. But partnership on the grain side or the wheat side or...

Today, we don't need it. We're doing everything on our own. But of course, we partner with the railroads, we partner with our farmer customers. But as far as partnering with somebody else on grain, now we're -- everything is 100% Ceres.

Okay. Any update on the -- that crush project that didn't go so well?

We're still looking for partners there. If somebody would like to invest in a crush plant, obviously, the prognosis of crush going forward is perhaps has changed a bit. But I think we'll have to see what this new administration does as far as incentives for -- especially around renewable diesel in the U.S. and Canada. But we are always looking if somebody would like to partner for a potential crush project in Northgate, we're all ears.

Great. Just on the shares, do you ever consider doing buybacks, stock price?

Either down the road. But I think near term, we haven't really [ on that].

Okay. And maybe this is for Blake, but the interest charges went down this quarter?

Yes. Yes. The interest charges were down this quarter. We had lower daily average borrowings on our revolving line of credit, largely due to lower commodity prices year-over-year. And additionally, we have used some of the proceeds to pay down -- of our sale of Canterra Seeds to pay down our term loan, which also resulted in lower interest expense on the term loan as well.

So how is lower interest rates? Is that going to be a positive going forward?

Yes. Lower interest rates for Ceres in order to fund our purchases of grain, we borrow on our revolving line of credit. And it is a factor in the cost to carry grain through the year. So lower interest rates for Ceres will be a good thing.

There are no further questions at this time. I'd now like to turn the call back over to Mr. Carlos Paz for final closing comments.

Thank you, everybody, for your participation in today's call. We appreciate your support. I look forward to speaking with you again next quarter.

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes your conference call for today. We thank you for participating and ask that you please disconnect your lines.