Aemetis, Inc. Reports First Quarter 2021 Financial
Results
CUPERTINO, Calif. – May 12, 2021 - Aemetis, Inc.
(NASDAQ: AMTX), a renewable natural
gas and renewable fuels company focused on negative carbon
intensity products, today announced its financial results for the
three months ended March 31, 2021.
“On track with our Five Year Plan, revenues from ethanol
sales in Q1 2021 increased 8% compared to Q1 2020 as economic
recovery from COVID-19 created increased demand for liquid
transportation fuels along with its associated stronger
pricing,” said Todd Waltz, Chief Financial Officer of
Aemetis. “Ethanol revenues during the first quarter of
2021 increased to $42.8 million compared to $39.5 million during
the first quarter of 2020. The price of ethanol has steadily
increased from $1.40 price per gallon in January 2021 to more than
$2.90 per gallon today, reflecting higher fuel demand and increased
enforcement by the EPA of
federal laws related
to renewable fuels. The EPA’s recent actions to enforce
compliance with the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) have been a
meaningful driver of growth for the renewable fuels industry,
expanding markets and significantly increasing the value of our
negative carbon intensity dairy Renewable Natural Gas (RNG),
ethanol and other biofuels. This year, those classified as
‘Obligated Parties’ under the RFS began to more fully
comply with fuel blending rules compared to previous years,
resulting in a significant increase in the prices of Renewable
Identification Numbers (RINs) that support increased blending of
renewable fuels as an ongoing trend,” added
Waltz.
“We are pleased with the milestones accomplished during the
first quarter of 2021, including our Carbon Zero renewable
jet/diesel project receiving an exclusive license to use the
patented technology that extracts low-cost, low carbon sugar from
waste wood for use in biofuels production, significant progress
shown by the recent issuance of 19 key permits for construction of
the jet/diesel plant, and the awarding of energy efficiency grants
that now provide a total of $16.8 million for the ethanol plant
upgrades currently in process,” said Eric McAfee Chairman and
CEO. “The Aemetis Biogas RNG project received approval for an
Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) pathway that established a -426
carbon intensity for our dairy RNG biogas project, and we received
California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) approval for a 32-mile
extension to our existing 4-mile biogas pipeline, in addition to
$23 million grant funding awarded by government agencies and
utilities. We also formed the Aemetis Carbon Capture
subsidiary to inject CO2 emissions into sequestration wells which
are expected to be drilled at our two biofuels plant sites in
California above unique shale formations, therefore avoiding the
need to construct expensive CO2 pipelines to sequester carbon
underground. These milestones reflect our execution of the
projects under our Five Year Plan that produce negative carbon
intensity products to rapidly grow value for Aemetis shareholders.
We invite investors to review the updated Aemetis Corporate
Presentation on the Aemetis home page prior to the earnings
call.”
Today, Aemetis will host an earnings review call at 11:00 a.m.
Pacific time (PT).
Live Participant Dial In (Toll Free): +1-844-407-9500
Live Participant Dial In (International): +1-862-298-0850
Financial Results for the Three Months Ended March 31,2021
Revenues
during the first quarter of 2021 increased to $42.8 million,
compared to $39.5 million for the first quarter of 2020. Our North
America operations in the first quarter of 2021, as compared to the
first quarter of 2020, experienced steady sales volume with an
increase in the selling price from $1.56 per gallon to $1.91 per
gallon, and increase in the delivered corn price from an average of
$5.20 per bushel during the first quarter of 2020 to $6.87 per
bushel during Q1 2021.
Gross
loss for the first quarter of 2021 was $3.6 million, compared to a
$0.4 million loss during the first quarter of 2020. Losses during
the first quarter of 2021 resulted from crush margin that was
overall weaker than the same period of the previous year. Within
the first quarter of 2021, the crush margin improved as ethanol
rose from $1.40 per gallon in January 2021 to more than $2.90 per
gallon today.
Selling, general and administrative expenses increased to $5.4
million during the first quarter of 2021 from $3.9 million during
the same period in 2020.
Operating loss was $9.0 million for the first quarter of 2021,
compared to operating loss of $4.5 million for the same period in
2020.
Interest expense, excluding accretion of Series A preferred units
in the Aemetis Biogas LLC subsidiary, increased to $7.2 million
during the first quarter of 2021 compared to $6.9 million during
the first quarter of 2020. Additionally, our Aemetis Biogas
initiative recognized $1.9 million of accretion of the preference
payments on its preferred stock during the first quarter of 2021
compared to $960 thousand during the first quarter of
2020.
Net loss increased to $18.1 million for the first quarter of 2021,
compared to net loss of $12.1 million for the first quarter of
2020.
Cash at the end of the first quarter of 2021 was $15.8 million
compared to $592 thousand at the close of the fourth quarter of
2020. Cash strengthened from proceeds of $62.4 million of stock
sales, used to repay $36.9 million of high interest rate debt,
invest in capital projects and fund working capital for
operations.
About Aemetis
Headquartered in Cupertino, California, Aemetis is a renewable
natural gas, renewable fuel and bioproducts company focused on the
acquisition, development and commercialization of innovative
technologies that replace traditional petroleum-based products.
Founded in 2006, Aemetis has completed Phase 1 and is expanding a
California biogas digester network and pipeline system to convert
dairy waste gas into Renewable Natural Gas (RNG). Aemetis owns and
operates a 65 million gallon per year ethanol production facility
in California’s Central Valley near Modesto that supplies
about 80 dairies with animal feed. Aemetis also owns and operates a
50 million gallon per year production facility on the East Coast of
India producing high quality distilled biodiesel and refined
glycerin for customers in India and Europe. Aemetis is developing
the Carbon Zero plant in Riverbank, California to convert
cellulosic hydrogen from waste orchard wood and renewable
electricity from solar and hydroelectric sources into renewable jet
and diesel fuel. Aemetis holds a portfolio of patents and related
technology licenses for the production of renewable fuels and
bioproducts. For additional information about Aemetis, please
visit www.aemetis.com.
NON-GAAP FINANCIAL INFORMATION
We have provided non-GAAP measures as a supplement to financial
results based on GAAP. A reconciliation of the non-GAAP measures to
the most directly comparable GAAP measures is included in the
accompanying supplemental data. Adjusted EBITDA is
defined as net income/(loss) plus (to the extent deducted in
calculating such net income) interest expense, income tax expense,
intangible and other amortization expense, accretion expense,
depreciation expense and share-based compensation
expense.
Adjusted EBITDA is not calculated in accordance with GAAP and
should not be considered as an alternative to net income/(loss),
operating income or any other performance measures derived in
accordance with GAAP or to cash flows from operating, investing or
financing activities as an indicator of cash flows or as a measure
of liquidity. Adjusted EBITDA is presented solely as a supplemental
disclosure because management believes that it is a useful
performance measure that is widely used within the industry in
which we operate. In addition, management uses Adjusted EBITDA for
reviewing financial results and for budgeting and planning
purposes. EBITDA measures are not calculated in the same manner by
all companies and, accordingly, may not be an appropriate measure
for comparison.
Safe Harbor Statement
This news release contains forward-looking statements, including
statements regarding our assumptions, projections, expectations,
targets, intentions or beliefs about future events or other
statements that are not historical facts. Forward-looking
statements in this news release include, without limitation,
statements relating
to our five-year growth plan, future growth in revenue, expansion
into new markets, our ability to commercialize and scale the
licensed patented technology, the ability to obtain sufficiently
low Carbon Intensity scores to achieve below zero carbon intensity
transportation fuels, the development of the Aemetis Biogas Dairy
project, the development of the Aemetis Carbon Zero plant at the
Riverbank site, the upgrades to the Aemetis Keyes ethanol plant,
the development of the Aemetis Carbon Capture projects, and the
ability to access the funding required to execute on project
construction and operations..
Words or phrases such as “anticipates,”“may,”“will,”“should,”“believes,”“estimates,”“expects,”“intends,”“plans,”“predicts,”“projects,”“showing
signs,”“targets,”“will likely
result,”“will continue” or similar expressions
are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These
forward-looking statements are based on current assumptions and
predictions and are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties.
Actual results or events could differ materially from those set
forth or implied by such forward-looking statements and related
assumptions due to certain factors, including, without limitation,
competition in the ethanol, biodiesel and other industries in which
we operate, commodity market risks including those that may result
from current weather conditions, financial market risks, customer
adoption, counter-party risks, risks associated with changes to
federal policy or regulation, and other risks detailed in our
reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission,
including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended
December 31, 2020, our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the
quarter ended March 31, 2021 and in our subsequent filings with the
SEC. We are not obligated, and do not intend, to update any of
these forward-looking statements at any time unless an update is
required by applicable securities laws.
(Tables follow)
AEMETIS, INC.
CONSOLIDATED CONDENSED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS AND COMPREHENSIVE
LOSS