Northern Technologies International - Q3 2024

Transcript

Operator (participant)

Today, and welcome to the third quarter 2024 earnings conference call and webcast. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. To ask a question, please press star one, one. As a reminder, this call is being recorded. As part of the discussion today, the representatives from NTIC will be making certain forward-looking statements regarding NTIC, NTIC's future financial and operating results, as well as their business plans, objectives, and expectations. Please be advised that these forward-looking statements are covered under the Safe Harbor Provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, and that NTIC desires to avail itself of the protections of the Safe Harbor for these statements.

Please also be advised that actual results could differ materially from those stated or implied by the forward-looking statements due to certain risks and uncertainties, including those described in NTIC's most recent annual report on Form 10-K, subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, and recent press releases. Please read these reports and other future filings that NTIC will make with the SEC. NTIC disclaims any duty to update or revise its forward-looking statements. I would now like to turn the call over to Patrick Lynch. Please go ahead.

Patrick Lynch (President and CEO)

Good morning. I'm Patrick Lynch, NTIC's CEO, and I'm here with Matthew Wolsfeld, NTIC's CFO. A press release regarding our fiscal 2024 third quarter financial results was issued earlier this morning and is available at ntic.com. During today's call, we will review various key aspects of our fiscal 2024 third quarter financial results, provide a brief business update, and then conclude with a question-and-answer session. Please note that when we discuss year-over-year performance, we are referring to the third quarter from our current fiscal year in comparison to the third quarter from our previous fiscal year. Our third quarter results reflect the progress we're making, navigating a fluid macro environment while capitalizing on growing demand within our Natur-Tec and Zerust Oil & Gas markets. We achieved record quarterly Natur-Tec sales, driven by continued growth in North America and India for our compostable plastic products and specialty resins.

While shipping delays caused the timing of approximately $600,000 in orders to be moved from the third quarter to the fourth quarter, negatively impacting our third quarter results, demand for our oil and gas solutions is expanding. As a result, we expect a significant rebound in oil and gas sales in the fourth quarter. Furthermore, I'm particularly encouraged by the continued year-over-year improvement in our gross margin, demonstrating that our initiatives aimed at offsetting supply chain and raw material challenges are working as intended. We anticipate that profitability will continue to improve and that we will continue to generate positive operating cash flow throughout the remainder of fiscal 2024.

Year-over-year cash from operating activities improved by 116% to $7.6 million, primarily due to higher net income for the nine months ended May 31, 2024, and positive changes in working capital. We intend to continue allocating capital to support our growth initiatives and quarterly dividend payments while using excess cash flow to pay down the balance on our existing line of credit. As we look to the remainder of fiscal 2024, we believe we are well positioned for top-line growth, driven by our Zerust Oil & Gas and Natur-Tec product categories. We also remain focused on enhancing the performance and profitability of our international joint ventures. In addition, we continue to make strategic investments in our operations aimed at supporting additional growth opportunities across our markets, most notably in North America, Brazil, and India.

I am pleased with NTIC's performance and believe fiscal 2024 will be another good year of growth and profitability. So with this overview, let's examine the drivers for the third quarter, ended May 31, 2024, in more detail. For the quarter, our total consolidated net sales decreased 1.4% to $20.7 million as compared to the third quarter ended May 31, 2023. Total net sales for the third quarter by our joint ventures, which we do not consolidate in our financial statements, decreased year-over-year by 2.7% to $25.6 million.

EXCOR Germany, our largest joint venture, experienced a 7.1% decrease in net sales compared to the prior fiscal year period, due primarily to a previously disclosed loss of a customer and softer demand within the region related to higher energy prices and other externalities linked to the war between Ukraine and Russia. Fiscal 2024 third quarter net sales by our wholly-owned NTIC China subsidiary increased on a year-over-year basis by 6.7% to $3.5 million. Sales trends in this geography have stabilized, and NTIC China has experienced two consecutive quarters of year-over-year sales growth. We remain cautiously optimistic that demand in China will improve throughout the remainder of fiscal 2024 and into fiscal 2025, helping to support higher incremental sales and profitability in this market.

We are committed to the long-term opportunities the Chinese market provides our industrial and bioplastic segments, and we continue to take steps to enhance our operations in this geography. As a result, we continue to believe China will likely become a significant geographic market for us in the future. Now, moving on to Zerust Oil & Gas. For the fiscal 2024 third quarter, Zerust Oil & Gas sales were $1.4 million, compared to $2.0 million for the same period last fiscal year. The 31.9% year-over-year decrease in Zerust Oil & Gas sales was primarily associated with approximately $600,000 in sales that were expected to ship before the end of the third quarter of fiscal 2024, but got delayed until the beginning of the fourth quarter.

So now, these $600,000 in sales, coupled with orders booked for delivery before August 31st, are anticipated to make sales in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024 exceptionally strong for our Zerust Oil & Gas solutions. Overall, demand continues to grow among both new and existing customers of our Zerust Oil & Gas solutions, which today still focus primarily on protecting above-ground oil storage tanks and pipeline casings from corrosion. As a result, we believe that fiscal 2024 will be another good year of growth for Zerust Oil & Gas as this business further scales and continues to contribute to our overall profitability. We are optimistic these trends will continue into fiscal 2025. Turning to our Natur-Tec Bioplastic business. Natur-Tec sales were strong during the third quarter and increased 20.1% year-over-year to a quarterly record of $5.8 million.

Natur-Tec's growth during the third quarter was a result of new customer wins in North America and India, as well as expanding relationships with existing customers. We expect Natur-Tec sales growth to continue throughout fiscal 2024 and into fiscal 2025. Globally, we continue to see robust market demand for new applications of certified compostable plastic products and resin compounds, as well as increased interest in commercial and municipal programs that use certified compostable plastics as alternatives to conventional plastics. As a result, we believe we are well-positioned for long-term, sustainable growth within our Natur-Tec Bioplastics business. We also continue to make strategic investments across several parts of our business in order to capitalize on current and expected future growth opportunities. In India, we are consolidating three separate Natur-Tec warehouses into a single larger facility and also are adding manufacturing capacity to support Natur-Tec sales growth in the region.

Sales in Brazil have doubled since fiscal 2019, so we are in the process of adding a facility to support growth opportunities in both that country as well as the broader region. We also continue to invest in our domestic operations, as demonstrated by the new Circle Pines, Minnesota, facility that came online earlier this year. At this location, we've been able to insource certain manufacturing processes that were previously outsourced as part of our efforts to improve gross margin. As you can see, fiscal 2024 is shaping up to be a strong year of growth, profitability, and strategic investments for NTIC. We are excited by the positive momentum underway and the direction NTIC is headed. Before I turn the call over to Matt, I want to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of our global team of both employees and joint venture partners.

Our recent success and the opportunities we are pursuing to drive value to our shareholders in the future are a direct result of their efforts. With this overview, let me now turn the call over to Matt Wolsfeld to summarize our financial results for the fiscal 2024 third quarter.

Matthew Wolsfeld (CFO)

Thanks, Patrick. Compared to the prior fiscal year period, NTIC's consolidated net sales decreased 1.4% for the fiscal 2024 third quarter because of the trends that Patrick reviewed in his prepared remarks. Sales across our global joint ventures declined 2.7% in the fiscal 2024 third quarter. Joint venture operating income was down 3.6% compared to the prior fiscal year period. The year-over-year reduction in joint venture operating income was primarily due to lower sales and the resulting lower net income of our German joint venture, partially offset by improved profitability across many of our other joint ventures. Total operating expenses for fiscal 2024 third quarter increased 7.1% to $9 million, compared to $8.4 million for the same period last fiscal year. Higher operating expenses were primarily due to increased personnel costs.

As a percentage of net sales, operating expenses were 43.4% for the fiscal 2024 third quarter, compared to 40% for the prior fiscal year period. Gross profit as a percentage of net sales was 38.2% during the three months ended May 31, 2024, compared to 36.1% during the prior fiscal year period. The 210 basis point improvement was primarily a result of successful actions taken by the company to offset supply chain disruptions and raw material challenges, including insourcing of various production. Net income attributable to NTIC was $997,000, or $0.10 per diluted share for the fiscal 2024 third quarter, compared to $1.1 million, or $0.11 per diluted share for the fiscal 2023 third quarter.

As of May 31st, 2024, working capital was $23.2 million, including $5.8 million in cash and cash equivalents, compared to $23 million, including $5.4 million in cash and cash equivalents as of August 31, 2023. As of May 31st, 2024, we had outstanding debt of $4.8 million. This included $2 million in borrowings under our existing revolving line of credit, compared to $3.6 million as of August 31st, 2023. We generated $7.6 million in operating cash flows for the nine months ended May 31st, 2024, compared to $3.5 million for the nine months ended May 31st, 2023.

The 116% year-over-year improvement in operating cash flow was driven primarily by stronger core profitability and positive changes in current assets and liabilities. Throughout fiscal 2024, we expect to generate continued operating cash flow, which we plan to invest in the growth of our business, support our quarterly cash dividend, and pay down the remaining balance on our existing revolving line of credit. On May 31st, 2024, the company had $24.2 million of investments in joint ventures, of which 55.4%, or $13.4 million, was in cash, with the remaining balance primarily invested in other working capital. During fiscal 2024 third quarter, NTIC's board of directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.07 per common share that was payable on May 15th, 2024, to stockholders of record on May 1st, 2024.

To conclude our prepared remarks, our third quarter financial results reflect the progress we're making navigating a fluid business environment while successfully pursuing our product and market and geographical diversification strategies. We're seeing stable North American demand trends and robust growth across our global oil and gas and bioplastics market, and we expect these trends to continue throughout the remainder of our fiscal year. As a result, we believe fiscal 2024 will be another good year of sales and higher profitability for NTIC, and we're excited by our long-term prospects. With this overview, Patrick and I are happy to take your questions.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. If you'd like to ask a question, please press star one, one. If your question has been answered and you'd like to remove yourself from the queue, please press star one one again. One moment for questions. And our first question comes from Timothy Clarkson with Van Clemens & Co. Your line is open.

Timothy Clarkson (VP of Investments)

Hey, guys. Decent quarter. Just was wondering about... I saw that, you know, obviously, you know, your fixed expenses were up a little bit. What? I mean, what was the typical increase in salaries at Northern Technologies for this year?

Patrick Lynch (President and CEO)

We changed salaries on September first of each year with the fiscal year. Last year, I wanna say the average increase was probably 3%-4%.

Timothy Clarkson (VP of Investments)

Okay. Okay. In terms of looking at the, you know, the two big growth areas, the compostable and the oil and gas, any significant changes in the players who are buying, say, compostables? Is that still about the same people, or are there any new positives that you're seeing out there?

Patrick Lynch (President and CEO)

They're, they're, certainly the similar people. It's really a matter of expanding the distributors that we have across North America and then getting it in new markets, whether they're in Europe or other opportunities that we're seeing throughout, throughout Southeast Asia. So they're the same types of players, but we're just seeing that the market is continuing to increase due to, you know, various municipal legislation, state legislation, or even national legislations that we're seeing around the world related to the use of conventional plastics and the ability to use compostable plastics instead. So it's just a lot more people getting into the industry and getting into the space from a consumption standpoint.

Timothy Clarkson (VP of Investments)

Right. Now, typically, on the compostables, are you selling a finished product, or are you selling the goop that makes the finished product?

Patrick Lynch (President and CEO)

We're selling, we're selling both. We certainly started out selling the finished products to various customers, where we're selling bin liners or trash bags, cutlery, and now we're working towards... You know, a lot of the newer opportunities and sales that we've had are with the selling of, you know, specialty blended resins so that companies can make their own products out of the, you know, proprietary resins that we have. So we're taking the base resins and modifying them to make a specialty resin so that, you know, companies have the ability to essentially make anything that they're currently making out of conventional plastics, a compostable, a compostable plastic.

Timothy Clarkson (VP of Investments)

Which is more profitable?

Patrick Lynch (President and CEO)

They're pretty close from a gross margin standpoint. We just feel like the specialty resin market, of being able to sell container load quantities of resin, appears to be long-term, probably the bigger market, as far as kind of how things are transitioning. So it's not as much a matter of which gross margin is better, it's just a matter of being able to, you know, kind of value the size of the opportunities. So in-

Timothy Clarkson (VP of Investments)

Right.

Patrick Lynch (President and CEO)

Some of the opportunities where we're selling resins, you know, you're talking about selling containers of resin, compared to when you're selling the finished products, you're ultimately selling case loads or pallet loads of product. So it's just a matter of the opportunity, but we're certainly going after both areas.

Timothy Clarkson (VP of Investments)

How about on the oil and gas? Any changes in the kinds of people buying the product, or is it pretty much the same guys you've been seeing?

Patrick Lynch (President and CEO)

Certainly, it's a similar customer base. What we're seeing is, you know, more adoption of the technology, of using the VCI solution compared to, you know, the alternative solutions. And so, you know, when we're going to trade shows, when we are presenting to customers, when we are kind of moving forward and looking at the opportunities, more people understand the solution and kind of review the results. This is why we're starting to see kind of the expansion of the oil and gas group now.

I know that third quarter was a little disappointing from an oil and gas standpoint, but we've always kind of highlighted the volatility of the numbers. I can say that-

Timothy Clarkson (VP of Investments)

Right.

Patrick Lynch (President and CEO)

I can say that the actual, you know, POs that we have in hand right now, not just opportunities or things in the pipeline, but actual POs that we have, you know, are really significant, that they're gonna, you know, it'll, it'll make our fourth quarter from an oil and gas standpoint, you know, a pretty strong fourth quarter. That'll. You know, I know that last, in the last earnings call we had, we talked about the second half of the year being stronger than the first half of the year from an oil and gas standpoint.

Obviously, with the third quarter results, it doesn't look like that's the case, but I can tell you that based on, you know, actual POs and expected delivery dates at this point in time, it would still will be a significantly stronger second half to the year from an oil and gas standpoint.

Timothy Clarkson (VP of Investments)

Great. Great. Okay, I'm done. Thanks, guys.

Patrick Lynch (President and CEO)

Yeah. Thanks, Tim.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. As a reminder, to ask a question, please press star one, one. Our next question comes from Gus Richard with Northland. Your line is open.

Gus Richard (Managing Director)

Yes, thanks for taking the questions. Just on Zerust Industrial, you know, that was down year-over-year. Is that a function of, you know, the weakness in Germany, or is there an end-market exposure that's causing that to be down year-over-year?

Patrick Lynch (President and CEO)

As we mentioned, we were down in Germany because we had lost a significant customer, but also our European joint ventures overall are feeling a bit of economic pressure based on the ongoing war with Ukraine and the externality that's causing, for example, higher energy prices in Europe.

Gus Richard (Managing Director)

Okay, got it. And then just looking at Zerust Oil & Gas, you know, in the first half, you did $3.7 million round numbers. You know, you had a soft Q2. Is it sort of reasonable to assume that, you know, you're on roughly a $2 million a quarter run rate? You know, I know it's volatile. Going into Q3, if I just take the $600,000 that got delayed in Q3 and add it to that run rate, am I coming up with roughly the right number for Q4?

Patrick Lynch (President and CEO)

It could, it could be even stronger, even stronger than that. But I mean, as far as the $2 million run rate for oil and gas, if I look at, you know, I look at that, I think that's a pretty fair baseline to look at. But as I said, it, it is volatile. I mean, that's just one of the things that we, that we run into with oil and gas are some of the size of the opportunities.

Gus Richard (Managing Director)

Right. And then thinking about 2025 and oil and gas, you know, is it reasonable to assume that the base run rate is gonna increment up a little bit, you know, maybe $2.5 million-$3 million a quarter, you know, plus volatility? Or, you know, do you think you'd remain at that $2 million quarter run rate?

Patrick Lynch (President and CEO)

I think that, I think that as we exit the fiscal 2025, you know, in, in third and fourth quarter, you're gonna, you're gonna continue to see the, the increase. I mean, I think it's just a matter of looking at, you know, kind of looking at the, the moving average rather than kind of the quarter by quarter. But I think if you, you know, that's certainly what we're targeting, is that kind of growth or, or more.

Gus Richard (Managing Director)

Got it. That's very helpful. And then, just, you know, going back to industrial, you know, and thinking about that business, you know, Europe has been a big portion of your revenue. You know, is that business gonna stabilize? What do you think the, you know, the growth rate is over the next couple of years for, Zerust Industrial?

Patrick Lynch (President and CEO)

Well, there's two different ways that we kind of look at it. One is, if you look at, you know, obviously, the largest individual player is the German joint venture that we have. From a positive standpoint, we have seen increases. You know, the German joint venture kind of bottomed out from a revenue standpoint in our first quarter at about EUR 7.8 million. And we've seen increases in each of the last two quarters to kind of get back out to, you know, revenue of about EUR 9.2 million, with the expectation that we're gonna kind of continue to see growth coming out of that entity. And if we're able to put three or four quarters in a row together from a German standpoint, that will help.

Similarly, if I look at, it's a similar trend, if I look at kind of all the joint ventures, that they're kind of seeing a little bit of a, call it a bottoming out or a trough, kind of around Q4 or Q1 of this year, with kind of growth coming, you know, from beyond that. So, you know, we are starting to see a little bit of a rebound coming out of, coming out of Europe, which is helping from a, joint venture operating income contribution standpoint. You know, the other thing that I'll point out when you talk about the industrial sales is that our third quarter of fiscal 2023, so the last...

You know, I know that when we were comparing numbers earlier on in the call, and we talked about the industrial business being down compared to, you know, Q3 of last year. Q3 of last year was probably the strongest industrial quarter that we've had. Specifically in North America, it was, you know, it was well above average and a very strong third quarter. You know, so the comparative, you know, from a comparative quarter standpoint, that's one of the reasons why industrial is down. When I look at it just on a kind of a trailing three or four quarter standpoint, it's kind of an average quarter. You know, from Q4 of last year until Q2 of this year, we've averaged about $4.4 million-$4.5 million.

In Q3 of this year, we're at 4.6, or I'm sorry, we've averaged $5.4 million in North America, and we're at about $5.6 million in Q3. And that's kind of while we're looking at this and still feel like that's kind of down compared to where we expect revenues in North America industrial to be. So certainly the hope is that we're gonna see kind of a rebound in the industrial, industrial sales in North America. But I think part of the reason why it looks so poor in Q3 is just because Q3 of last year was so high. Does that make sense?

Gus Richard (Managing Director)

Okay. And then just, you know, your thoughts on growth rates for that business going forward, you know, and seasonality for the fourth quarter?

Patrick Lynch (President and CEO)

Well, typically, third and fourth quarter are stronger quarters for us just because of the, you know, the, we do have some, you know, we do have some seasonality given the kind of the rough season that happens during the summer. But typically, the industrial, the Zerust Industrial sales will outpace GDP by 3%-4%. So we typically target 10%-11% of growth across the industrial market, whether it's in North America or Brazil or, you know, other areas. There's some subsidiaries that we have, like, like India and China, that historically have shown a higher growth rate than what we see in the more, call it, mature markets like North America and Germany. But typically from an industrial standpoint, we kinda target that, you know, 10%-12% number.

Gus Richard (Managing Director)

Got it. Thanks. Very helpful.

Patrick Lynch (President and CEO)

Yep. Thanks, Gus.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. I'm showing no further questions. Thank you for your participation. This does conclude the program, and you may now disconnect. Everyone, have a great day.