Hudson - Earnings Call - Q2 2021

Transcript

Speaker 0

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Hudson Technologies Second Quarter twenty twenty one Earnings Call. At this time, all participants have been placed on a listen only mode. We will open the floor for your questions and comments after the presentation. It is now my pleasure to turn the floor over to your host, John Nesbitt. Sir, the floor is yours.

Speaker 1

Thank you. Good afternoon, and welcome to our conference call to discuss Hudson Technologies' financial results for the second quarter twenty twenty two. On the call today are Brian Coleman, President and Chief Executive Officer and Nat Krishnamardi, Chief Financial Officer. I'll now take a moment to read the Safe Harbor statement. During the course of this conference call, we will make certain forward looking statements.

All statements that address expectations, opinions or predictions about the future are forward looking statements. Although they reflect our current expectations and are based on our best view of the industry and of our businesses as we see them today. They are not guarantees of future performance. Please understand that these statements involve a number of risks and assumptions and since these elements can change and in certain cases are not within our control, we would ask that you consider and interpret them in that light. We urge you to review Hudson's most recent Form 10 ks and other subsequent SEC filings for a discussion of the principal risks and uncertainties that affect our business and our performance and other factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially.

With that, I will now turn the call over to Brian Coleman. Go ahead, Brian.

Speaker 2

Thank you. Good evening and thank you for joining us. We are pleased to have delivered very strong second quarter results characterized by substantial revenue growth, significantly improved margins and improved profitability. During the quarter, we benefited from very strong demand coupled with favorable pricing trends across our portfolio of refrigerants. As we anticipated, we saw increased sales activity related to the continued reopening of our economy.

Additionally, the return to business as usual coincided with the warm summer weather in the North and Northeast, which has historically driven heightened demand in the marketplace as cooling systems come back online. From our vantage point today, we're seeing more normal levels for demand than we had seen last year. From a pricing standpoint, during the second quarter, we saw improved pricing across most refrigerants we sell and we believe prices will remain stable for the near term with the expectation of increases in 2022 season as the implementation of the AMAC phase down begins. With that reference in mind, I'd like to take a minute to discuss our gross margin performance. The significantly improved gross margin in the second quarter is primarily attributable to the higher selling prices of certain refrigerants.

As you know, we take a FIFO approach to inventory management. And during the second quarter, we were largely selling through inventory we had acquired at lower costs. Therefore, we saw a more favorable impact on our gross margin performance. Moving forward through the balance of the cooling season, we expect to see a return to more historical gross margin performance of the upper 20s to the lower 30% levels with particularly HFC refrigerant inventory at price points more in line with the current selling prices. Hudson is well positioned in the refrigerant supply chain at two key points, serving as a leading provider of all types of refrigerants.

To give some context, we sell HFCs, which are currently the most commonly used refrigerant and represents the largest installed base of equipment, as well as legacy refrigerants like CFCs and HCFCs. And eventually, we will serve as a supply source for next generation HFOs. We are secure in our leadership position and with our capabilities and relationships, we remain optimistic about our prospects for the future. As we discussed before, our industry is on the cusp of exciting new regulatory changes and remain focused on the opportunities before us as environmental and sustainability legislation is adopted. The AIM Act, which was passed in December of twenty twenty, requires the phase down of HFC production over the next fifteen years with a cumulative 40% reduction in the baseline scheduled to take place in just two and a half years.

With the large and growing installed base of HSC systems, reclamation will be critical to maintaining necessary HSC supply levels to ensure an orderly phase down. As a leading reclaimer, we believe this represents a significant long term opportunity for Hudson to act as an HFC supplier while also supporting the transition away from the production of virgin HFCs. In September, the EPA will finalize the HFC allocations likely for the years twenty twenty two and twenty twenty three. Hudson believes it will receive allocations under this rulemaking. With the allocation rule, we'll have more visibility around how the industry will be positioned to meet demand as HSC production becomes more limited.

Moreover, the EPA will have to administer other aspects of the AIM Act over the next several months which should help fine tune the overall financial opportunity for our company. Along with the establishment of an allocation framework, the AIM Act mandates the EPA to support the growth and development of the reclamation market. Hudson represents approximately 35% of all refrigerant reclamation activity in The US and our capabilities as a reclaimer uniquely position us to support the phase down of HFC refrigerants. And as an effective resource in the circular economy of the refrigerant industry. We are energized by the opportunities we are seeing not only to grow our business, but also to provide our services to benefit the environment.

We're pleased with our progress to date in the 2021 selling season and look forward to continuing to meet the demands of our customers as the end markets they serve return to normal operations. We're encouraged by the opportunities we're seeing in the marketplace and we look forward to leveraging our capabilities to enhance our leadership role as a refrigerant provider and reclaimer as the HFC phase down begins. Now I'll turn the call over to Nat to review the financials. Go ahead, Nat. Thank you, Brian.

For the

Speaker 3

second quarter ended 06/30/2021, Hudson recorded revenues of $60,500,000 an increase of 27% compared to $47,700,000 in the comparable 2020 period. The growth is related to increased volume as well as increased selling prices for certain refrigerants during the quarter. Gross margin was 36% for the second quarter of twenty twenty one compared to 27% in the second quarter of twenty twenty. The improved gross margin is primarily attributable to higher selling prices in the quarter, which in the context of our FIFO approach to inventory favorably impacted our margin performance. As Brian mentioned, we expect to see a return to more historical gross margin performance as we close out the seventh season with inventory that was purchased at a higher price.

SG and A for the second quarter of twenty twenty one was $6,800,000 consistent with SG and A in the second quarter of twenty twenty and decreased as a percentage of revenue to 11.1% as compared to 14.2% of sales in the same quarter last year. We recorded operating income of $14,400,000 in the second quarter of twenty twenty one compared to operating income of $5,200,000 in the second quarter of twenty twenty. Interest expense for the second quarter of twenty twenty one was $2,900,000 compared to $3,100,000 reported during the second quarter of twenty twenty, mainly due to principal payments made on the term loan. The company recorded net income of $11,300,000 or $0.26 per basic and $0.24 per diluted share in the second quarter of twenty twenty one compared to net income of $2,400,000 or $06 per basic and diluted share in the same period of 2020. At 06/30/2021, we had approximately $41,000,000 of total availability consisting of our cash balance and revolver availability.

We have strong liquidity and our term loan and revolving loan credit facilities provide us with a solid financial platform and flexibility as we look forward. Our leverage ratio at 06/30/2021 was 4.18 as compared to five point eight four and eleven point two two as of 12/31/2020 and 2019 respectively. This improvement is a result of both increased earnings and delevering the balance sheet. As discussed on the last call, we have initiated the process to refinance our debt and expect to be complete during the fourth quarter of this year. I will now turn the call back over to Brian.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Nat. As we close out the 2021 selling season, we're excited about the opportunities ahead and are focused on growing our leadership position in the refrigerant and reclamation industry. Operator, we'll now open the call to questions.

Speaker 0

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, the floor is open for questions. And the first question is coming from Ryan Sigdahl from Craig Hallum. Ryan, your line is live.

Speaker 4

Good afternoon, guys. Congrats on the strong results.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Ryan.

Speaker 4

First, want to start on reclamation. Given the increase significant increases in R-twenty two pricing, therefore, ability likely to pay more for the dirty gas. Does that help to improve the feedstock supply?

Speaker 2

Not really, Ryan. We've we've expressed frustration in the recovery rates of r '22 for a number of years now. We certainly did expect reclamation to have grown at levels much higher than where we are today. And the last reported data, it only shows about 8,000,000 pounds being reclaimed annually. So the economic factor hasn't really stimulated increases or changes in behavior.

Now I think an important distinction about the HFC phase out though is that in the HSC phase out as the AIM Act is currently constructed, as legislated, so it's the law now, the EPA is mandated to find ways to help grow the reclamation market. So what we are expecting is through various means, and these are the further rulemaking that the EPA will be dealing with in the future, the EPA is going to seek ways to help encourage, increase the overall recovery rates, which really leads to the increases in reclamation volumes. Another factor I think that's probably important and why HFCs are different than the prior phase out For example, in the state of California, there's a lot of reporting requirements regarding recovery rates and so forth at the contractor level. And now that the OEMs are part of a rulemaking specific to state of California are being asked to include a certain percentage of reclaim in their factory charge units, I believe the industry is going to be more engaged on an overall basis to encourage recoveries. And when you think about in two and a half years, a 40% reduction off of the current cap relative to the HSC phase down, that's a very significant constraint on supply that likely reclaim will have to meet some portion of that overall need.

Speaker 4

That's helpful. Do you think there's anything that could stimulate R-twenty two just to help get that feedstock and change behavior? Or is it really shifting from R-twenty two on to the HFC opportunity at this point?

Speaker 2

I mean, we certainly are not giving up on the R-twenty two and we certainly would love to increase the volumes of recovery on r 20 2. Certainly, now that the price is over $20 a pound, we're making closer to $10 per pound when years ago we're maybe making only $5 per pound. Again, it's always a gross profit dollar story per pound recovered and resold. Yes, we would love to see increases. Yes, we've tried to enter different parts of the channel and we're looking to grow our overall R22 reclaim.

But we're basically suggesting from a modeling point of view, stick with the current £8,000,000 number And we know that there should be some further upside in the sale price of R-twenty 2 as we continue with the phase out and being solely sourced with reclaim product and the stockpiles should eventually be eliminated.

Speaker 4

Got it. So stability in volumes on the reclamation for R-twenty two, just not growth at this point?

Speaker 2

That's what we would say is best to model right now because we haven't really cracked the nut on finding ways to grow the overall recovery rate.

Speaker 4

Helpful. Then just on pricing, I don't think I caught it if you mentioned it, but what was pricing in the quarter and then also current pricing?

Speaker 2

Pricing is now over $20 a pound. We started within the quarter around closer to $15 So we saw growth of R-twenty two through the quarter and continues to be at those levels. We still over time, we can't say when, we still have that expectation that R-twenty two could get to $30 a pound, possibly more as we've seen with the CFC phase out. So we still think there's price increases available to R-twenty two.

Speaker 4

And then on the Department of Defense DLA contract, it looks like it was amended, raised the maximum value recently here. Any update there on that amendment as well as how that contract is progressing?

Speaker 2

So yes, we got the five year renewal. We may have done a press release, I think, in late June for that that announcement. The DLA does their press releases in the context of when the contracts renew, so that's why there was a delay. Again, it's still a large pot of money. It's not pot of money that's restricted on an annual basis.

So unfortunately, we peaked at close to about 25,000,000 right now, I think, in annual revenue. But, again, we're trying to find ways to increase the spend through the DLA contract as opposed to the various agencies using using their annual budget. For the first time, the DLA has added a program manager to this contract. We think that is going to help us in terms of marketing and awareness to be able to grow the dollars through that contract.

Speaker 4

One more for me and then I'll turn it over. You mentioned debt refinancing started the process. Any more detail you can give there? I know you said expectation by Q4, but where you're at in the process given the fundamental improvement for the company as well as industry? What's your confidence there and where you're in the process?

Thanks.

Speaker 3

Sure, no problem. This is Nat here. We're in preliminary stages right now far as the process as from a process perspective. As I mentioned on the call, the leverage ratio is down significantly from the last couple of years. So that puts us in a really good position, as we move forward and obviously with the earnings growth as well.

It puts us in an even better position to move forward. We're expecting to close out probably sometime in Q4. So again, like I said, preliminary stages working with multiple parties to advance.

Speaker 4

Thanks. Congrats again on the nice results and I'll turn it over.

Speaker 3

Thank you, Ryan. Thank you.

Speaker 0

Okay. We have no remaining questions in queue. I'd now like to turn the floor back to management for closing remarks.

Speaker 2

Well, you, operator. I'd like to thank all of our employees for their continued support and dedication to our business, particularly in these difficult times. I want to again thank our longtime shareholders for your support and those that recently joined us for their support. Thank you everyone for participating in today's conference call and we look forward to speaking with you after the third quarter results. And have a good night everybody.

Speaker 0

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. This does conclude today's conference call. Stay with your lines. Have a wonderful day.