LM Funding America, Inc. (LMFA) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the LM Funding America, Inc. First Quarter 2025 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please note that today's conference is being recorded. I will now hand the conference over to your speaker host, Cody Fletcher of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you, operator, and thank you all for joining LM Funding America's first quarter 2025 earnings conference call. Joining us today are Chairman and CEO, Bruce Rodgers; President of U.S. Digital Mining, Ryan Duran; and CFO, Richard Russell. For today's call, we have uploaded an accompanying supplemental investor presentation, which can be found under the Events section of LM Funding's Investor Relations website. Before we get started, please note that our remarks today may include forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially. We will also reference certain non-GAAP financial measures today. Please refer to our 10-Q filing and our website for a full reconciliation of these non-GAAP performance measures to the most comparable GAAP measures. For a comprehensive discussion of these and other risks, please refer to our filings with the SEC available on sec.gov, and in the Investors section of our website at www.lmfunding.com/investors. I will now turn the call over to our CEO, Bruce Rodgers. Bruce?

Thanks, Cody. Good morning, and thank you for joining us today. The first quarter of 2025 marked another period of strong execution and strategic progress for LM Funding. Since entering the Bitcoin mining business in 2021, we have transitioned from an asset-light model to a vertically integrated operator, gaining full control of our fleet, improving margins and reducing operational risks. We mined 24.3 Bitcoin for the quarter, continuing to scale our production capabilities while improving our operational efficiency. In parallel, we've begun monetizing our curtailment energy sales by selling energy back to the grid during periods of peak demand, creating a natural hedge against Bitcoin price volatility and further reducing our cost of operations. Our disciplined approach to cost management also drove a meaningful reduction in operating expenses as we continue to build a leaner more agile, vertically integrated business without compromising performance. Rick will cover this in more detail shortly. We're seeing progress in margin improvements and cost control, furthering our disciplined growth strategy. Finally, we again call attention to the disparity between the value of our Bitcoin held versus our market cap. On April 30, we held 148.7 Bitcoin. Given a market price of $104,000 per Bitcoin, our Bitcoin holdings will be worth $15.5 million or approximately $3.01 per share when our stock is trading at $1.87 as of May 13, close. I'll now turn the call over to Ryan Duran, our President of U.S. Digital Mining, to review our operational highlights in more detail. Ryan?

Thank you, Bruce. In the first quarter, we focused on maximizing the operational efficiency of our existing infrastructure while targeting strategic growth opportunities. We achieved 560 petahash at the end of March, deployed LuxOS upgrades across our Oklahoma fleet and executed our first power sales back to the grid. In May, we ordered two 1-megawatt immersion mining containers for our previously announced 2-megawatt expansion of our Oklahoma site. We expect to complete construction and energization by the end of third quarter, pending international shipping time lines. We believe the shift to immersion cooling marks a meaningful advancement in our operational strategy. This technology will allow us to operate in crowded and harsh environments that offer access to lower-cost power. Immersion technology reduces dust, heat and humidity, leading to a more consistent performance with longer equipment lifespan and improved reliability. We expect Immersion technology to expand our operational horizons and add shareholder value. Our shift to immersion cooling led to the strategic decision to sell the 2006 Bitmain S21+ machines ordered last December and delivered this April. Machine prices have been relatively stable throughout this period, so we anticipate this transaction to be cash neutral. Lastly, as mentioned in our April production update, we began relocating our 800 machines from our hosting partner site to our wholly owned Oklahoma site. Once installed, these machines will operate with lower power costs, enabling us to mine Bitcoin more cost effectively. Our CFO, Rick Russell will now provide a review of the financial highlights for the first quarter of 2025. Rick?

Thank you, Ryan. In the first quarter of 2025, we mined 24.3 Bitcoin at an average price of $93,500, which was 12% more Bitcoin mined sequentially. Bitcoin mining revenue for the quarter was approximately $2.3 million, up 25% sequentially, reflecting the success of our infrastructure investments and improved machine efficiency from the LuxOS upgrades. Year-over-year, revenue declined 50.5%, largely due to the impact of the April 2024 halving. Additionally, we have made significant strides in our operational strategy. As Bruce mentioned, during the first quarter, we generated approximately $150,000 from power sales back to the grid, offsetting our mining cost of revenue. This contributed to an improvement in mining margins from 31.2% in Q4 2024 to 38.5% in Q1 2025. In April, we generated approximately $120,000 in power sales, demonstrating early momentum in this initiative. By incorporating curtailment into our operational models, we aim to stabilize operating costs by establishing a partial hedge against Bitcoin's price volatility. As Bruce also mentioned, another highlight for the quarter was a reduction in our staff costs, professional fees, SG&A and other costs by 7.7% year-over-year. This improvement was driven by our transition to a leaner operational model while maintaining output and efficiency. Net loss for the quarter was $5.4 million with a core EBITDA loss of $2.8 million, both driven by a $1.8 million Bitcoin noncash write-down for fair market value of our Bitcoin held as of March 31, 2025. However, as of the date of this call, the $1.8 million write-down has nearly reversed given Bitcoin's price recovery to approximately $104,000 as of May 13, 2025. We finished the quarter with $1 million in cash, and our Bitcoin holdings increased 160.2 Bitcoin valued at $13.2 million as of March 31, 2025, or approximately $2.58 per share. Using our April month-end holdings of 148.7 Bitcoin at a Bitcoin price of $104,000 as of May 13, 2025, the calculated value of our holdings would be approximately $15.5 million or about $3 per share compared to our May 13 stock price of $1.87 on the same date. Bruce will now provide some thoughts on our outlook and strategy heading into the remainder of 2025.

Thanks, Rick. Looking ahead, as Ryan mentioned, we're excited to begin immersion mining with expansion of our Oklahoma site. We believe immersion Mining will produce immediate returns in Oklahoma and open up unique mining site selection opportunities to us. We're seeking to deploy immersion technology at greenfield and brownfield sites offering 5 to 20 megawatts, facilities that typically fall below the acquisition thresholds of larger operators or offer environments best suited for immersion mining. In Oklahoma, curtailment and energy sales complement our mining revenue and provide a natural hedge against Bitcoin price volatility. By treating Bitcoin mining sites like ours as power producers, our energy agreement in Oklahoma allows us to sell curtailed energy back to the grid at market prices. We hope to build a sustainable business model around similar sites that can thrive in various market conditions, mining Bitcoin with greater flexibility and at lower costs. We remain bullish on Bitcoin and committed to our long-term Bitcoin accumulation strategy. We hobbled. We began our treasury strategy in 2021. Holding and mining Bitcoin remains a logical continuation of this strategy. Recent news reports indicate we're not alone in our thinking. In 2024, we borrowed $5 million secured by our Bitcoin holdings. So like others in the news, we may want to add Bitcoin to our balance sheet with debt and/or equity. In closing, we believe this approach to Bitcoin treasury management will create substantial long-term value for our shareholders, particularly given that our Bitcoin holdings are currently valued at more than 1.5x our market capitalization. Thank you for your time this morning and your continued support.

[Operator Instructions] Our first question coming from the line of Michael Donovan with H.C. Wainwright.

This is Michael Donovan on in for Kevin Dede. Can you guys talk a little bit more about the Oklahoma site build-out and what you're thinking about currently in Texas?

Sure. Texas has got out a counterparty issue. So I don't think that there's anything in the short term horizon for us at this point. Oklahoma, we are up and running, and we've ordered the 2 immersion containers to expansion by 2 megawatts there and that is on the timetable that we've discussed earlier, and we'll update you as the quarter progresses.

Now, the 2 megawatts we expect, I think, Ryan, the machines to be ready to ship to us from China [indiscernible].

Okay. I appreciate that. Now after that April sales of the S21, so does that take care of all the machines that were in inventory and not plugged in?

That does take care [indiscernible]. So we did sell the S21s and [indiscernible] and pulling out some of the old S21 [indiscernible] the net revenue will be about the same as the cost [indiscernible].

Okay. Now then for, I guess, just a 20,000-foot perspective question with the new sites, do you have any geographies in mind targeting the 5 to 20 megawatts greenfield/brownfield build-outs? Or are you exploring, still in exploration?

The geography is [indiscernible]. [ So I can't do any of that through our ] energy providers have [indiscernible]. That's taking us right now a lot, this is in Oklahoma [indiscernible] from Texas [indiscernible] in Texas that this kind of power arrangement.

[Operator Instructions] And since there are no further questions in the queue, I would like to thank everyone for joining us on LM Funding America's Inc. First Quarter Earnings Call. Thank you for your participation, and you may now disconnect.