Vancouver, BC - Viridis Energy Inc. ("Viridis" or the "Company") CA:VRD +11.11% VRDSF 0.00% , today reported financial results for its first quarter ended March 31, 2014. During the quarter, the Company was impacted by a six week trucking strike that impacted its British Columbia plant as well as extreme weather conditions that caused production challenges at its newly revitalized plant in Nova Scotia. Despite these short-lived impediments, Viridis grew revenues 143% year-over-year. First quarter progress:
Viridis Energy
-- Materially improved its balance sheet since year-end 2013:
--Early March, entered into a $3.25 million secured loan facilities agreement with the Royal Bank of Canada ("RBC"). The Loan bears interest at the annual rate of Royal Bank's prime rate plus 3% (currently equates to 6%), payable monthly over 48 months. Proceeds from the loan were used to repay the $3.3 million loan owed by Viridis' Okanagan Pellet Company ("OPC") subsidiary to Cornwall Investments LLC that carried interest costs of 9% per year (prime plus 6%). In addition, RBC will provide Viridis with a $250,000 line of credit at RBC's prime rate plus 3% interest per annum, for general working capital purposes.
--On March 31, 2014, Cornwall Investments LLC ("Cornwall") exercised 25,000,000 of its Viridis common share purchase warrants at a price of $0.15 per share, generating proceeds of $3.75 million to Viridis.
--Subsequent to quarter-end, Viridis' wholly owned subsidiary, Scotia Atlantic Biomass Company Limited ("Scotia") was awarded a Capital Investment Incentive ("Incentive") of up to C$517,520 by the Government of Nova Scotia. Initial proceeds from the Incentive will be used to purchase new capital equipment to increase production performance at the Scotia plant.
Scotia Atlantic
- Shipped its first large cargo of wood pellets to Europe from its 120,000 ton capacity Nova Scotia facility, after restoring production a few months ago.
Viridis Merchants
- Arranged its second transaction, since the Company's wholly owned dealer subsidiary was launched in November 2013, totaling 12,000 tons of wood pellets from a S.E. U.S. producer, which will augment Viridis' product deliveries to customers in the Northeast United States. This transaction is expected to generate over $2.5 million in revenues over the 12-month period beginning April 2014.
"We started this year with two significant revenue developments. We released the largest wood pellet shipment ever exported from Nova Scotia from a plant that we re-opened only a few months prior, and we posted the second transaction for Viridis Merchants. Had it not been for the abnormally hostile winter and a rare trucking strike, we would have posted a record quarter as well. The disruption in shipping alone impacted our quarterly results by approximately $700,000 in delayed revenues," commented Christopher Robertson, Viridis' CEO. "As discussed at year-end, Viridis is well positioned for a breakout year in 2014. Our OPC plant is operating at full capacity and Scotia Atlantic Biomass is gaining meaningful progress towards achieving full operating capacity. Additionally, both Viridis Merchants transactions have begun contributing to revenues. Consequently, we anticipate 2014 revenues will fall in a range between $30 million and $35 million, exiting the year at a profitable run-rate."
Viridis reported revenues for the three months ended March 31, 2014 of approximately $5.6 million compared to $2.3 million for the same period of the previous year and $6.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2013. The year-over-year improvement predominately reflects the continued ramp-up of production from the Company's plant in Nova Scotia, and revenue from Viridis Merchant initial transaction. The decline in revenues from the fourth quarter was attributed to the impact of a strike by third-party freight operators, which has since been resolved, that prevented the Company's Okanagan plant from delivering product during a six week period in the first quarter.
The Company reported a comprehensive net loss of $(1.6) million or $(0.01) per basic share for the first quarter 2014 compared to a comprehensive net loss of $(753,000) or $(0.01) per basic share for the first quarter 2013 period and a comprehensive net loss of $(1.3) million or $(0.01) per basic share for the fourth quarter 2013. The Company reported a loss from operations of $(1.4) million for the current year first quarter versus a loss from operations of $(561,000) for the same period of the prior year and a loss from operations of $(1.2) million in the fourth quarter 2013.
The Company's gross profit during first quarter 2014 of $332,000 or 6 percent of total revenue, compared to $336,000 or 14.5 percent during the prior year first quarter and $615,000 or 10 percent during the fourth quarter of 2013. The decrease on gross margin was primarily due to two events which impacted the Company's two facilities. In addition, as anticipated, the first Viridis Merchant transaction, which generated less gross margin than the Company's production business due to the lower working capital profile of its transaction, commenced shipment during the first quarter. Gross margins going forward are expected to increase as the Company achieves higher production levels and continued operating efficiencies.
Operating expenses for the three months ended March 31, 2014 increased to $1.7 million from $900,000 in the comparable period in 2013. Included in the 2014 operating expenses was almost $570,000 in freight charges, compared to only $8,000 in the comparable period of 2013. Excluding freight, the year over year operating expenses increased by 26%.
Finance and accretion expense for the three months ended March 31, 2014 totaled $224,000, compared to $192,000 in the same period of 2013 and $194,000 in the fourth quarter of 2013. The increase was the result of full quarter accretion expense of $42,000 during the three months ended March 31, 2014 compared to $23,000 in the same period of the prior year.
At March 31, 2014, the Company reported cash and cash equivalents of $2.9 million, primarily resulting from the exercise of 25,000,000 stock purchase warrants at $0.15 per share by the Company's largest shareholder, generating $3.75 million in additional capital. The Company also reported accounts receivable of $1.3 million, representing DSO of 20 days, and inventory of $2.0 million, which increased significantly from year-end inventory level of $927,000 due to the temporary freight disruption experienced during the first quarter. The Company's current ratio 1.4x at the first quarter-end, compared to prior year as well as year-end 2013 level of 1.2x. On March 31, 2014, Viridis had short-term debt of $1.0 million and long term debt of $5.9 million. The Company's shareholder equity totaled $5.7 million on March 31, 2014, an increase of $2.1 million over year-end 2013.
Viridis common shares outstanding on March 31, 2014 totaled 139.3 million shares, an increase of 25 million shares due to the Cornwall Investments LLC ("Cornwall") exercise of its Viridis common share purchase warrants at a price of $0.15 per share on the final day of the quarter which generated proceeds of $3.75 million. The Company's fully diluted share count totals 149.5 million, inclusive of all options (average exercise price of $0.26) and warrants (average exercise price $0.39). At first quarter end, the Company has tax loss carry forwards of approximately C$17.5 million, which expire between 2029 and 2033.
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|Viridis Energy Inc. |
|---------------------------------------------|
|Consolidated statements of financial position|
|---------------------------------------------|
|(Expressed in Canadian dollars) |
|As at March 31, 2014and December 31, |
|2013 |
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------------------------------------------------------------------------
| | |31-Mar-14 | | |31-Dec-13 |
| | | | | | |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------|
| | |(Unaudited) | | | |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------|
| | | | | | |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------|
|ASSETS | | | | | |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------|
| | | | | | |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------|
|Current | | | | | |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Cash and cash equivalents |$| | |$| |
| | | 2,932,710 | | | 1,594,246 |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Accounts receivable | | 1,252,351 | | | 1,275,959 |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Inventory | | 1,992,723 | | | 926,933|
|----------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Prepaid expenses | | 493,849| | | 546,917|
|----------------------------------------------------------------------|
| | | 6,671,633 | | | 4,344,055 |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------|
| | | | | | |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------|
|Property, plant and equipment | | 9,604,611 | | | 9,045,376|
|----------------------------------------------------------------------|
| | | | | | |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------|
| |$| 16,276,244 | |$| 13,389,431 |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------|
| | | | | | |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------|
|LIABILITIES and SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY| | | | | |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------|
| | | | | | |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Accounts payable |$| 3,675,821| |$| 3,329,868|
|and accrued | | | | | |
|liabilities | | | | | |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Deferred income | | - | | | |
| | | | | | 196,595 |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Due to related parties | | | | | |
| | | 43,527 | | | 44,373 |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Current portion of loans payable | | 1,017,095| | | |
| | | | | | 113,529 |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------|
| | | 4,736,443| | | 3,684,365|
|----------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Loans payable | | 5,860,650 | | | 6,198,921|
|----------------------------------------------------------------------|
| | | 10,597,093 | | | 9,883,286|
|----------------------------------------------------------------------|
| | | | | | |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------|
|Shareholders' equity (deficit) | | | | | |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------|
| | | | | | |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Share capital | | 31,647,578 | | | 27,322,578 |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Contributed surplus | | 2,871,376| | | 3,446,376|
|----------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Accumulated deficit | |(28,839,803) | | |(27,262,809) |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------|
| | | 5,679,751| | | 3,506,145|
|----------------------------------------------------------------------|
| | | | | | |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------|
| |$| 16,276,244 | |$| 13,389,431 |
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Viridis Energy Inc.
Consolidated statement of loss and total comprehensive loss
(Expressed in Canadian dollars, except number of shares and per share amounts)
For the three months ended March 31, 2014 and 2013
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| | |Three Months Ended March 31, |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| | |2014 | | |2013 |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| | |(Unaudited) | | | |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| | | | | | |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|Sales |$| 5,641,727| |$ |2,319,852 |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|Cost of sales | | 5,310,035 | | | 1,983,485 |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|Gross profit | | 331,692| | | 336,367 |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| | | | | | |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|Operating expenses: | | | | | |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Selling and marketing | | 124,510| | | |
| | | | | | 45,837 |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Freight-out | | 568,572| | | |
| | | | | | 8,209 |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| General and administrative | | 991,759| | | 842,883 |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Total Operating Expenses | | 1,684,841 | | | 896,929 |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|Loss before other items | | (1,353,149) | | | (560,562) |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| | | | | | |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|Other items: | | | | | |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Foreign exchange loss | | | | | (2,264)|
| | | (4,867) | | | |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Finance expense | | (177,295) | | | (166,552) |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Accretion expense | | (41,683)| | | (23,202) |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|Total other items | | (233,845)| | | (192,018) |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| | | | | | |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|Loss before income taxes recovery | | (1,576,994) | | | (752,580) |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|Income taxes recovered | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
| | | | | | - |
| | |- | | | |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| | | | | | |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|Net loss and total comprehensive loss |$| (1,576,994) | |$ | (752,580) |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| | | | | | |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| | | | | | |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|Net loss per share - basic and diluted| |$ (0.01) | | |$ (0.01) |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| | | | | | |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|Weighted average number of common | | 114,576,661 | | |61,510,840 |
|shares outstanding - basic and | | | | | |
|diluted | | | | | |
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SOURCE: Viridis Energy Inc.
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