Vistin Pharma ASA

OSE:VISTN

Earnings Call Transcript 2021-Q2

[Operator]

Thank you all for standing by, and welcome to the quarterly report Q2 2021. [Operator Instructions] Please be advised that today's call is being recorded. I would now like to hand the call over to your CEO, Kjell-Erik Nordby. Thank you.

[Kjell-Erik Nordby]

Thank you. Welcome to the presentation of the second quarter and the first half 2021 results in Vistin Pharma. The presentation will be held by myself and the CFO in Vistin Pharma, Alexander Karlsen. We start with a summary of the quarter. We had a record-high sales volume in the second quarter of 2021. However, the revenue was negatively affected by a significantly stronger NOK versus euro compared to the similar quarter last year. This resulted in a revenue of NOK 67 million versus NOK 73 million in the same quarter last year, an 8% decrease. First -- the revenue for the first half of 2021 ended at NOK 138 million compared to NOK 134 million last year, which is a 2% growth. EBITDA for the quarter ended at NOK 15.6 million versus NOK 20.9 million in the second quarter of 2020, which is a 26% decrease. The reason for the lower EBITDA in this quarter compared to the second quarter last year is an unfavorable currency effect. We, as the rest of the world, experienced record-high international freight costs. The world freight index is currently 500% higher than at the same time last year and this is due to global constraints in limitation of containers and also port congestions following the COVID-19 pandemic. We also in Norway have had significantly higher electricity prices in 2021 compared to last year. The first -- the EBITDA for the first half of 2021 ended at NOK 31.9 million versus NOK 35.1 million last year, a 9% decrease. Operational-wise, the quarter has been very good. We have had all-time high production volume in the quarter then adjusted for a planned 7-day maintenance stop. And the Fikkjebakke plant has been running at full capacity also throughout the second quarter. As you -- most of you probably know, we are investing NOK 100 million in doubling the production capacity at our dedicated metformin site and the project is on track. The first commercial batch from the second production line is expected in the second half of 2022. Approximately 50% of the investments is already paid as of end June. It is, of course, a game changer for Vistin to fill their additional volume with new contracts. So we are also pleased to inform that we have recently signed a new long-term supply agreement with a customer that was signed in August, so it's a post Q2 event, where we expect annual volumes of 1,000 to 1,500 metric tons, which is new volume to Vistin Pharma. Other financials. The cash balance is NOK 60 million at end of June even though that we have paid 50% of the expansion project, and we still have no interest-bearing debt. A dividend of NOK 0.5 per share was paid out in June. And Vistin is -- we have invested significantly in making Vistin Pharma even more green in the last years in different ESG projects. And we have some very, very interesting projects going on, and we are pleased to -- also to report that we have received government grants of NOK 6 million during the first half for these projects that will be used for productivity increase and further enhance our ESG position and deliver the strategy that we have for environmental, health and safety issues. The next slide shows the positive development in the company since 2019. As you can see, we have had a 33% revenue growth from the first half of 2019 until the first half of 2021 and a significant EBITDA growth of 173% in the same period. After the sale of our opioid business and the tablet production facility in Gruveveien, Kragerø, Vistin Pharma is a dedicated metformin producer. And we are one product company and we live and breathe with metformin 24/7 and is the only company in the world that actually have this strong focus. Diabetes is one of the largest health emergencies in the 21st century. If you read the Norwegian newspaper, I think it was Dagbladet yesterday, they had a front page saying that diabetes 2 is a pandemic and health authorities are worried about the development of the disease. Fortunately, metformin is a fantastic drug that actually prevents the development of diabetes 2 and make life better for the people that actually have that disease, and it's the gold standard treatment for diabetes 2. So with diabetes as a growing epidemic and metformin as the gold standard treatment, we see that Vistin has a bright outlook in the metformin segment going forward. Yes. The next slide shows how the mechanism of action of metformin. The only thing that I can say here is that metformin has been in use since the late '60s. It actually have very mild side effects. It's a very safe drug to use and the treatment is also very cost-effective for the health authorities. I mentioned that diabetes is a global emergency. This shows how the WHO expects that the disease will develop in the different regions of the world. Adding everything together, the number of diabetes patients is expected to exceed 700 million by 2045 million, which is almost a 50% increase from today. And if you convert that to metformin and the demand for metformin, that will imply approximately 4% to 5% growth of the metformin demand the coming decade. Slide #9 shows how we are present. We are located in Norway. However, 100% of our revenue is exported to -- all over the world. Some of our major customers are located in Europe, but metformin from Vistin inside the tablets that are manufactured from these multinational pharmaceutical companies are then available to patients all over the world. The next slide is an illustration of the record-high sales and production volume in the quarter. The sales volume for the second quarter, as you can see in the upper left table, was 958 metric tons and that is a 5% increase from the second quarter of 2020. And the year-to-date sales volume is -- was 1,858 metric tons compared to 1,788 metric tons in the first half of 2020, which is a 4% increase in sales volume. And as we have said earlier, we are completely sold out. So that is also -- is linked to our manufacturing capacity. We had a record-high production volume in the quarter, soon close to 1,000 metric tons adjusted for the 7-day planned maintenance stop in week 15 this quarter. Some more information on the corona pandemic status. As I said, the Fikkjebakke plant has been running at full capacity throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and that was still the case in the second quarter. We have taken successful actions to secure the supply of critical raw materials. However, due to limitations of available containers and port congestions in some harbors, for example, in Rotterdam and in Antwerp, this is not only a case that is linked to Vistin. We have experienced significant delays in delivery of raw material, especially from China. We are taking measures to secure that we will have raw materials available for production going forward. However, some of these uncertainties is out of our control. So if we experience additional delays or congestions in harbors, that may lead to short-term interruption in production. This is not something that we can forecast. But the situation in the world is extremely challenging with respect to transportation. In addition, I mentioned that the container freight index is currently 500% higher than last year, which has a negatively impact, of course, on our costs. There are no reported corona-infected employees in Vistin Pharma as of today, and we are strictly following all guidelines from authorities, and we are taking also local measures to reduce the risk of virus spread in the factory, and that has been very successful so far. Positive is that the demand in the market for metformin from Vistin is high and it is not affected by the corona pandemic. And also that we are strategically well positioned to benefit from the expected increase in local supply/demand following the pandemic. And we see that both with the forecast from existing customers, but also that discussions they have with potential new customers. Then we continue with the financial review, and I give the word to the CFO, Alexander.

[Alexander Karlsen, Chief Financial Officer]

Thank you, Kjell-Erik. As Kjell-Erik mentioned, looking at the revenues, it's down around NOK 6 million or 8% decrease compared to the same quarter last year. Several factors affecting the revenue in the quarter. The NOK has strengthened around 10% compared to Q2 last year. So having a similar exchange rate this quarter as the same quarter last year will give revenue quite the same. There's also a couple of factors here. We have some additional sales volume this quarter compared to last quarter -- or same quarter last year. However, there are a bit more unfavorable mix this quarter. We have sold a bit less DC, which has a higher price and a slightly higher margin than the similar quarter last year. Looking at the gross margin. We're seeing pressure on the raw material costs. There are generally high demand out in the world for our most important raw material components. And also we see increasing -- general increase in raw materials like on the oil prices, ethanol, et cetera, that are used. As Kjell-Erik mentioned, record-high transportation costs. Putting some numbers to it, last year, we typically pay NOK 15,000 for a 40-feet container. Prices now are typical close to NOK 100,000. So there's an extreme cost increase on freight, especially from China to Europe. Looking at the results. EBITDA came in at around NOK 15.6 million, lower than NOK 20.9 million in Q2 last year. As I mentioned, if we had like-for-like exchange rates, the EBITDA would be very close to the same quarter last year. Obviously, the increase in raw material prices are affecting our margin and results and also the container cost, as mentioned several times. And as that hasn't been enough, we also see record-high electricity prices in Norway for the last 3, 4, 5 months, and we use quite a lot of electricity in our factory to produce the metformin. There have also been some increased water fees from the municipality. Looking at EBT, it came in around NOK 12 million versus around NOK 24 million last year. A couple of factors there also. Depreciation is a bit higher, just reflecting that we are doing a lot of investments and also the capitalization of the new reactor we installed late last year. The EBT last year is also positively affected for some mark-to-market value reversals of loss booked in Q1. I think we've been through most of the numbers in the P&L statement, however, I can mention that loss after tax NOK 8 million. However, since we have the deferred tax assets, we're not expected to pay any taxes, at least not for 2021 and 2022. Going into the balance sheet. Looking at the assets, quite a big increase in the long-term assets from last year, again, driven by the MEP investments that is listed on the balance sheet as fixed assets. On the current assets, quite similar numbers as last year, except for the cash and cash equivalents, again, driven by a dividend payout in June at around NOK 22 million and that we, as of end June, have paid around 50% or NOK 50 million of the net investment. So total assets around NOK 320 million. And again, similar numbers as previous terms. Having a look at the liabilities side and equity. Equity or share premium a bit down, driven by the dividend payout in June. Total equity, however, a bit higher than same period last year. And I think I mentioned, we have a strong balance sheet with an 83% equity ratio. And both the -- as mentioned, we don't have any interest-bearing debt and the current liabilities same level as last year. I think that was everything about the finance side, Kjell-Erik. And now back to you.

[Kjell-Erik Nordby]

Okay. Then I'll sum up with the outlook. We are still very positive and excited about the future of Vistin Pharma. The metformin market, as mentioned earlier, is expected to continue to grow by 5% to 6% annually. It's very nice to be in a market, which actually is growing and has a steady growth going forward. That is not the case for all businesses after this corona pandemic. And also, we see attractive growth potential from existing customer base. And of course, as the market grows, all the customer also is hopefully growing their business in parallel and then increasing their volume demand from Vistin. And as said in the highlights, we are extremely pleased with signing a new supply agreement with a significant volume going forward. And we are positive and optimistic that we will be able to also sign additional contracts in the time to come to fill the additional met volume according to our plants because we are strategically well positioned as many European clients prefer supply with short travel distances and also overseas and other customers prefer supply of premium product that is documented of being, for example, free from byproducts. So that's something that we build on and believe is a competitive advantage to Vistin. We are in -- to take advantage of our position and the expected growth, we are investing NOK 100 million in doubling the capacity. The first production, commercial batch, is expected in Q2 2022. Project is on track so far. So hopefully, we will have more products to sell in the years to come. So I think that ended our Q2 presentation and the first half 2021 summary. So now it's up for questions. Yes.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions]

[Alexander Karlsen, Chief Financial Officer]

I can answer at least almost the questions that has come in, and there is a question about that we are experiencing higher costs for freight, electricity, raw materials, et cetera. We have had negotiations with our customers and have done some short-term price increases to partly offset the cost increase. This is obviously something we are monitoring closely. And if there are additional increases, especially on the freight side, we have a continuous dialogue with our customers.

[Kjell-Erik Nordby]

We have another question. Can you elaborate on the productivity increase and ESG projects in the coming 18 months? I can say something about it. First of all, we are using a lot of water in our production process to cool the tanks, et cetera. Approximately, we are -- we use almost 30% of the water consumption in the Kragerø City. So we have a project now, which is to recirculate the water. The aim is to reduce the water consumption in the plant by 90%. That has a twofold kind of meaning. First of all, it will reduce our yearly water cost by several millions annually. In addition to that, that is part of an environmental sustainable objective because we will then also not -- it will give more water to the municipal -- to Kragerø, but it also will have less impact on the local environment. Even though that this water is not polluted, we do not want to expose -- or to use more water than necessary. So that is both an environmental objective, but also an extremely important cost-reduction objective. Another important project for us is to reduce the emission to air of solvent. So we have a very kind of -- we are using a very gentle and very mild solvent, butanol. And we are currently installing equipment to reduce the emission of butanol by 90%. And that will also -- the butanol that is not emitted to air, we are hopeful also will be reused in the plant. We are already reusing 90% of the butanol in the process, so that will add another couple of percentage. So these -- we have also other interesting projects going on, but I think these are the 2 major ones, which have the most significant impact both on the environment, but also on the cost situation in the company. We have been asked how many is working in the factory. We have approximately 65.

[Alexander Karlsen, Chief Financial Officer]

Yes. I think we're close to 70 now.

[Kjell-Erik Nordby]

Yes. Close to 70 in the factory. We are only 8 people in the head office here in Oslo. And when the expansion project is fully utilized and we are producing 7,000 metric tons, we will probably add around 15 new employees.

[Alexander Karlsen, Chief Financial Officer]

I'd say 15 to 20, depending on...

[Kjell-Erik Nordby]

Yes. In order to produce double the capacity as we do today. So as you understand, it has a significant scale economy effect since we already have all the infrastructure and all the management presence already. We are also asked a question, what do we want to become when we are grown up? Meaning what do we want to do after we have filled the additional capacity and now producing and selling 7,000 metric tons of metformin? I would say, first, I will open up a bottle of champagne because that will be a significant game changer in Vistin. And as we say in Norway, [Foreign Language]. We have -- there are different options that we are exploring, but I can't say anything more today. I think the absolutely main short-, medium-term focus for us should be to secure that we can sell the additional 3,500 metric tons at a reasonable -- good price and good margin. And we do that, I would like to have a great party.

[Alexander Karlsen, Chief Financial Officer]

Okay. I think that was all the questions as of now. So I think we will say thank you.

[Kjell-Erik Nordby]

Yes. Thank you for listening, and we will be back in the -- when we have the third quarter presentation.

[Alexander Karlsen, Chief Financial Officer]

Yes.

[Operator]

Thank you. That concludes our call for today. You may all disconnect. Thank you all for participating.