EcoSynthetix Inc

TSX:ECO

Earnings Call Transcript 2021-Q4

[Operator]

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by. Welcome to the EcoSynthetix 2021 Fourth Quarter and Year-End Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions]Listeners are reminded that portions of today's discussion may contain forward-looking statements that reflect current views with respect to future events. Any such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in forward-looking statements. For more information on EcoSynthetix's risks and uncertainties related to these forward-looking statements, please refer to the company's Annual Information Form dated February 24, 2022, which will be posted on SEDAR.This morning's call is being recorded on Friday, February 25, 2022, at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time.I would now like to turn the call over to Mr. Jeff MacDonald, Chief Executive Officer of EcoSynthetix. Please go ahead, sir.

[Jeffrey Douglas MacDonald, CEO & Director]

Thank you. Morning, and thank you all for joining us today. Yesterday afternoon, we released our 2021 fourth quarter and year-end results which you can find on our website at ecosynthetix.com. You can also download a copy of the slides that accompany today's call from our website or alternatively access them on the webcast.Opportunities we're seeing in the market are as strong as they've ever been in my time with the company. The momentum toward sustainable solutions with the accounts and the prospects we work with is a major tailwind. The progress we've made with our key accounts and the demand we're seeing across each of our 3 markets are all working in our favor.Top line results demonstrate the momentum we're building. Sales were up 46% to $4.9 million in Q4 compared to the same period last year. Cash flow from operations was $300,000 in Q4 and $500,000 for the full year. 2021 represents the third consecutive year of positive cash flows from operations for the business.The push towards sustainability and a reduction in the carbon footprint of the supply chain for manufacturers and retailers continues. Earlier this year, IKEA, a thought leader in the wood composites product space published its Annual Sustainability Report. In it they highlight that glue used in their boards represents 5% of the total IKEA climate footprint. Call out that moving toward bio-based glues is a key enabler to meeting their overall climate goal. Biopolymers offer significant carbon reductions across all 3 product categories we serve, ranging from a 2/3 carbon reduction in paper and personal care to a nearly 50% reduction in wood composites. Based on these carbon footprint measures and our sales volumes, we expect that EcoSynthetix will be a climate positive company in 2022.Achieving climate-positive status means that the carbon footprint reductions our customers generate from the use of our technology will exceed the carbon emissions associated with our business. We believe this is a major milestone for us, which will only improve as we drive further adoption of our biopolymers in the market.The interest in our ability to support a manufacturer or retailers carbon footprint is strongest in Europe. It's generating interest in our platform and then the impact we can have for the customers that use our products. SWISS KRONO is a great example. On the particleboard side, they're seeing an uptick in interest as a result of the carbon reduction that they're beyond particleboard offers to customers. While production remains a small proportion of their overall output at the commercial line that is qualified, they report capturing greater attention from prospective customers based on their ability to reduce carbon footprint.Progress with SWISS KRONO on the oriented strand board side is also going well. The pricing dynamics for alternative chemistries of OSB binders positioned DuraBind at a competitive advantage. We believe there are additional opportunities at other production lines within their network where we can deliver value this year. This is our blueprint for growth. Win one line, demonstrate success and move to other lines within the same customer's network and then win new accounts.During the quarter, we received an annual contract renewal and purchase orders for continuous monthly volumes with our second commercial account in the wood composites space. This was a major milestone for the company. It's the culmination of a 6-year development program. Since that time, monthly production has remained consistent, and we believe there is an opportunity to grow volume on this first commercial line at the account.As a backward integrated manufacturer and international retailer of wood composites, multiple drivers are critical to them for success. Performance is a must and DuraBind delivers. It is competitive with conventional urea formaldehyde formulations.DuraBind addresses their sustainability and carbon reduction goals. It is the healthiest and lowest carbon footprint alternatives available in the market. Cost is also crucial. Their ability to provide value to end customers is of the utmost importance to them. We have demonstrated to them our ability to deliver value. In today's commodity environment, we are extremely competitive with urea formaldehyde from a cost of replacement perspective.Based on our progress on this first line, we believe our addressable opportunity from this first line is upwards of $5 million annually once we achieve the optimized run rate levels that we're targeting at this account. This is larger than the typical range we expect and have discussed previously of $500,000 to $3 million from each wood panel line. This improvement is primarily due to our next-generation tackifiers and catalysts that allow for increased usage of DuraBind and improved processing on the line.Our growth in the near term will be primarily driven by our ability to continue to support and grow with these first 2 commercial wood composite accounts. They represent more than 20 lines of production in total across their 2 networks. They have demonstrated thought leadership, embracing sustainability and establishing meaningful carbon reduction targets. There is no one else thinking of sustainability as strongly as these 2 companies. We have the product and the capabilities to grow volumes within their lines where DuraBind is already qualified and to expand the number of qualified lines within their networks. We do continue to pursue and attract interest from new prospects, but the opportunity and progress we've made with these first 2 accounts is the highest priority commercial activity for long-term success.Prior to moving to the paper and paperboard market, it's important that I call out the unprecedented impact we're seeing from the global supply chain constraints. These constraints consist of both headwinds and tailwinds for the business, but our primary preoccupation is on the headwinds. The supply constraints have increased price across various inputs. When it's one of the alternative chemistries that we replace like SB Latex and paper or pMDI and urea formaldehyde in wood composites, that higher price can be a tailwind for us, and we're experiencing those conditions across all 3 of those chemistries.However, we're also experiencing volatility and unprecedented supply constraints in Europe for our key input cornstarch. We successfully managed to secure sufficient supply up to this point to meet customer demand and have effectively been able to pass through increased costs given the pricing dynamics of SB Latex and wood panel resins. Our ability to secure supply moving forward will be critical to meeting demand. The situation is very challenging. We're working with our vendors to ensure we maintain a consistent supply. We will continue to monitor the situation and maintain open communication with our key customers who are also experiencing similar conditions across a range of inputs.On the paper and paperboard side of the business, we're seeing positive momentum in a few areas. Firstly, the consolidation within the graphic paper market due to the macro demand pressures it's facing has helped to strengthen our account base. As I mentioned on the call in November, we did see one mill close, which will be a revenue drag of approximately $1.4 million in 2022. However, we have otherwise seen steady demand from the paper market with improved volumes in each of the last 3 quarters.Secondly, the price of SB Latex is correlated to oil pricing, and it is experiencing upward pressure. It remains above $1 per pound at current levels, which provides sufficient room for us to offer customers a cost savings compared to using SB Latex and still retain a margin despite the increased costs we're seeing from the supply chain constraints. Thirdly, we continue to work on interesting opportunities and development projects in the specialty packaging and barriers vertical. These are growth opportunities, but they are more niche in nature.And lastly, a newer area of interest for prospects is in the wet end of the paper manufacturing process, what I call the other end of the paper line. We've already secured our first commercial accounts in this area. At this end of the paper line, we are using our biopolymers to improve the strength of the fiber during paper formation. This is a key area for mills because it would enable cost savings for them in terms of more expensive inputs that are required to maintain strength during the formation stage. The potential of our biopolymer strength aids would enable customers to make lighter weight sheet or use lower-cost materials, as well as potentially achieve higher line speeds. It is still early days, but we believe it's an exciting growth opportunity.On the personal care front, we are seeing good momentum in the first few weeks of 2022 with new orders for our hair fixative ingredient. This vertical was most effective of all of our 3 markets by the pandemic. Based on feedback from our partner and the industry, the macro fundamentals of the personal care market are expected to improve through the course of 2022 as people return to a more normal environment.Our development and marketing partner, which is a global chemical company is working on new formulations in both the hair fixative market, the broader personal care market as well as the home care market. We expect to have additional updates in the coming quarters on their progress with these new formulations and the potential for product launches based on some of the new products we've provided them with in 2021. Our partner continues to support the first product that launched in the market and is working with distribution partners to support adoption.We view the personal care opportunity as a warrant to our growth. Our strongest growth opportunity remains the wood composites market. We believe the demand and interest in sustainable, healthier ingredients will be a continuing tailwind, whether it's within the personal care or wood composites markets. The benefits that our biopolymers provide touch on the major themes of forward-thinking manufacturers, retailers and end customers want.And with that, I'll turn it over to Rob to review the financials. Rob?

[Robert Martin Haire, CFO & Corporate Secretary]

Thanks, Jeff, and good morning. Net sales were $4.9 million in Q4 2021, up 46% or $1.5 million compared to the same period in 2020. The increase was due to higher volumes, which impacted sales by $600,000 or 20% and a higher average selling price, which impacted sales by $900,000 or 26%. The increased volumes in the quarter more than offset the approximately $300,000 drag from the one paper mill closure due to the consolidation in the sector that we referenced in the November call. The pricing increase was the result of higher market pricing for incumbent chemistries and an effective pass-through of higher manufacturing costs.Net sales were $18.2 million in 2021, an increase of 33% compared to 2020. The improvement was due to higher volumes of $2.5 million or 18% and higher average selling price of $2 million or 15%. Gross profit was $1 million in the quarter, up $300,000 or 49% compared to the same period in 2020. In the annual period, gross profit was $4 million, up 45% compared to 2020. The improvements in both periods were due to higher sales volume and a higher average selling price, partially offset by higher manufacturing costs.Net of manufacturing depreciation, gross profit as a percentage of sales was 24.8% in the quarter compared to 27.2% in the same period in 2020. In the annual period, gross profit as a percentage net of depreciation was 26.2%, which was comparable to the 26% in 2020.Supply chain constraints on freight and raw materials has created operational challenges and higher manufacturing costs. However, the pricing dynamics of petro-based chemicals we compete with are creating pricing tailwinds for us, which allowed us to implement pricing actions to help offset the cost escalations and retain our margin profile.SG&A expenses were $1.5 million in the quarter, an increase of $300,000 compared to the same period in 2020. The change is primarily due to lower payments received under the CEWS program of $100,000 and an increase in $100,000 salaries and benefits. For the annual period, SG&A expenses were $5.4 million, an increase of $1 million, primarily due to $200,000 lower payments received under the CEWS program and $600,000 increase in salaries and benefits, driven by a $400,000 increase in the provision for variable base compensation.R&D expenses were $500,000 and $1.8 million in the quarter and for the annual periods, respectively, compared to $300,000 and $1.4 million in the corresponding periods in 2020. R&D expense as a percentage of sales was 10% for both Q4 and the annual '21 period compared to the 8% and 10% in the corresponding periods in 2020. We continue to invest in innovation to improve our value proposition and expand our addressable market opportunities.Adjusted EBITDA loss was $300,000 in the quarter compared to a loss of $100,000 in the same period in 2020. Adjusted EBITDA loss was $900,000 in the annual period compared to $800,000 in 2020. The increased loss in both periods was primarily due to higher operating costs, which offset higher gross profit.As of December 31, 2021, we had $42.2 million in cash compared to $42 million as of December 31, 2020. During the quarter, we invested $400,000 in NCIB share buybacks and $1.2 million in 2021. We've demonstrated our ability to responsibly manage our cash research through multiple cycles while continuing to invest in our long-term growth strategy.With that, I'll turn it back to Jeff for closing comments.

[Jeffrey Douglas MacDonald, CEO & Director]

Thanks, Rob. The market is moving toward us. Our biopolymers offer a healthier, more sustainable alternative to conventional petroleum-based chemistries. These are major themes for forward-thinking manufacturers, retailers and consumers, which today are more frequently found in Europe. Personally, one of my greatest concerns was, would the market adopt more sustainable solutions, was the drive for change strong enough. Today, I believe the growth opportunity in front of us has never been stronger. Will it happen as fast as we all want? I'm cautious, but it is clearly taking root. The performance, value and the sustainability of our technology has earned the support of major global players in large markets, SWISS KRONO, a global chemical company in personal care, the backward integrated manufacturer and international retailer of wood composites as well as many leading paper and paperboard accounts.These are global players in industries that have used conventional chemistry is well established for more than 60 years. They have moved to work with us, invested in their facilities, and they're driving further implementation and adoption across new lines. The advantages our biopolymers offer across each of our 3 end markets and the market dynamics as customers, retailers and manufacturers pursue more sustainable and healthy alternatives, position us to deliver long-term sustainable growth.We appreciate the trust and patience that our shareholders have shown. I look forward to updating you further as we make progress.With that, I'll turn it back to the operator, and we'll open up the call for questions. Thank you.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] The first question comes from Meaghen Annett with TD Securities.

[Meaghen Annett, Analyst]

First question relates to your relationship with the leading manufacturer retailer in wood composites. So there are clearly multiple avenues of growth with that account, including expanding production beyond the one mill that DuraBind is in, integrating with the supply chain. And I see that you've laid that blueprint out in your slide deck this quarter. But can you talk to the timing of when you see each of those avenues ramping up within that account in particular?

[Jeffrey Douglas MacDonald, CEO & Director]

And great to have you along officially with us this morning. Yes, we obviously can't give really discrete details on progress there. But what I will say is unlike as we progress through the development period with that customer, time lines have become a lot more fixed and a lot more operational. And I'm feeling really good that for the first time ever, we put plans in place. And for the most part, we're sticking to those plans of progress.We expect that if that customer continues to stick with that plan, we would be fully implemented on the first line through the course of this year, and we would be working on subsequent lines with them, which are dedicated lines within their operational footprint, but also then beginning to support their move to translate that into the rest of their supply chain, which is very important because they are sourcing about 70% of their wood panel products from other of the -- kind of top 15 suppliers around the world. So following sort of the full implementation of the first line it becomes probably equally important to drive adoption internally within the customer as well as within their supply chain. And we think once it's proven at one, it can become sort of a multi-pronged approach to go into others.We know that, that is within their plans. There are no concrete time lines for exactly when that happens with other lines. The major milestone for this year is to get that full implementation on the first line, which we see -- as I said, we see as a bigger opportunity for us than we've ever seen before, just on the one line and to begin the steps with additional lines sort of more towards the back end of this year.

[Meaghen Annett, Analyst]

Okay. Great. And then maybe to sort of reason to my next question. On the paper and paperboard side, the language in your outlook in the MD&A stated that paper and paperboard should comprise the majority of revenue in 2022. So I assume that's based on the business in hand today. And maybe you can just elaborate a little bit more on what the potential would be for that mix to shift further to wood composites or personal care in 2022?

[Jeffrey Douglas MacDonald, CEO & Director]

Yes. I think that's a statement we hope to make obsolete for an MD&A very soon, and we're actually pretty close to that point. We don't segment in detail. But I can say that it was not very long ago, just a few years ago when graphic paper made up 90% plus of our revenue base as we were beginning our diversification strategy. Today, it's substantially less than that. And I think that statement -- as we enter 2023, that statement should be completely flipped from what you just referred to.

[Meaghen Annett, Analyst]

Okay. And then just last question. You've also alluded to exploring opportunities in other applications in paper and paperboard. So can you talk about those opportunities in the context of your 3- to 5-year $100 million revenue target? And if you're able to put any numbers around that opportunity, that would be helpful in terms of potential revenue per line or otherwise?

[Jeffrey Douglas MacDonald, CEO & Director]

Yes. So let's talk about that in terms of, let's say, our original opportunity for diversification within paper, which is more in the coating end. And our belief has always been and remains today that as graphic paper declines, we believe there's opportunity to make up for it with some of the new developments in specialty papers and packaging on the coating end. So we've always thought about that opportunity as kind of remaining steady for us in the $15 million, $20 million range. The wet end side of things, which is sort of the fourth element of paper and paperboard that I mentioned in the script, is a new opportunity for us. And we actually -- we see that as having the potential to shore up any further downfalls we may see in graphic paper that we can't keep up with in the coating end. But we already believe that it can go way beyond that in terms of the market potential for it. So we're looking at that actually as potential upside to the $100 million view or helping us to ensure it just given some of the uncertainty of the verticals we've been in and the timing within them as we've all experienced.So we're past the point in that vertical now being, I would say, cautiously optimistic. We're very excited about it. The results we've seen in a very short time there are incredibly exciting. The strength improvements and the speed improvements we're making on some of these paper formation lines is actually remarkable. And we're doing that with major tissue and packaging board players, which we are starting, as we always do, at a first site, but these are companies with multiple sites around the world, multiple mills, and we feel there's great expansion from the start that we have there.So we're getting increasingly excited about that. It's pretty early days to put a strong quantification on it. We've just really across the commercial threshold with our first account. But as we progress through this year and learn more, and it is a learning experience really month-by-month right now, but all positive, we'll be able to, I think, put some better insight into what that could be for us.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] With that, your next question comes from Daniel Marks with Stonehouse Capital.

[Daniel Marks;Stonehouse Capital;Analyst]

Just one quick thing I wanted to clarify. Your 46% sales growth over Q4 2020, $1.5 million, $1.6 million. In 2020, that included revenue from your previous -- the paper mill that shut down, is that correct? So really, your increase in year-over-year sales would be substantially more than the 46% -- that account.

[Jeffrey Douglas MacDonald, CEO & Director]

Yes. Sorry, Dan, I can cut you off there. Yes. The Q4 number, actually, the shortfall for us from that account would have been something like $300,000. So when we think about our growth, we -- it's the number we showed the $4.9 million, but we've actually also made up for the $300,000 from that lost account. So yes, we don't want to dwell on the past in the lost account, but we feel like we made up a lot of ground with what is a higher quality mix of revenue and margin.

[Daniel Marks;Stonehouse Capital;Analyst]

And with the -- I know you don't give segmented data, but of that growth, what -- could you give us some idea? Is that predominantly wood composites? Did personal care kick any in -- just a high-level split between where that growth came from?

[Jeffrey Douglas MacDonald, CEO & Director]

Yes, the personal care piece of it is still not a meaningful contribution. So I wouldn't attribute anything significant to that. But it kind of goes back to my first answer to Meaghen there that the diversification of our revenue mix is really driving the growth and the mix and we believe going forward, an improvement in margins. So fair to say that what we've made up there is largely made up of important new markets and predominantly would within that.

[Daniel Marks;Stonehouse Capital;Analyst]

Got it. I wanted to follow up on Meaghen's question on the I guess the wet end business. Just seeing a first commercial account already, what's sort of the time line in that? It's obviously -- when I compare it to your strategic account, which has taken 6 years, what's the time line for this business in terms of trying to add new accounts?

[Jeffrey Douglas MacDonald, CEO & Director]

It's looking very interesting. So I don't want to get ahead of ourselves yet. But -- and I also should say that, that first account was the culmination of over a year of work, which started in laboratories and then very slowly and cautiously got on to the first line. These are -- like the other industries we serve, these are big lines, and they don't take shutting them down lately. But we made steady progress, I would say, over that year. And then once the results were demonstrated that customers moved really fast toward implementation.In the case of that customer, they did require an equipment installation to support the use of our product. So that added a little bit to that year-long journey. So that first proving step was a great reference to the other companies that we've gone to since then. And we've seen both -- from our perspective as well as others that we're working with on the wet end side from their perspective, we've seen some of the fastest implementations of industrialization of chemistry that we've seen. And we hope, obviously, that, that continues. But we've made -- the first opportunity we worked on was in one application, which is packaging related, tissue related actually. And then the second one was in more of a packaging board vertical where things went very, very quickly and where the customer is already looking toward how we can get to commercialization quickly with them and expand into other operations with them.So we're optimistic, and there are some early signs that these could be very fast adoption opportunities. It is dependent, though, in some cases, on the need for equipment to deliver our product. We have seen that in some cases, a customer has a piece of equipment that they may have used for dry addition of something into their paper furnish at some point. And in those cases, and one example in particular that we've worked on, that allows them to move quickly and not even really think about the capital investment. In other cases, there will be a capital investment of say, $100,000, $200,000 or euros. But from what we've seen with these improvements we're getting, that's a really quick payback, and they're looking right through those investments.

[Daniel Marks;Stonehouse Capital;Analyst]

Okay. So obviously, this is -- if you're getting $100,000, $200,000 payback in short order, this is -- it sounds like economically this is a bit of a no-brainer for your customer.

[Jeffrey Douglas MacDonald, CEO & Director]

Yes. It is a no-brainer, and it's got us having a really good look at how much value we actually are offering and that's -- like that's part of the month-by-month journey we're going through here as we learn what our biopolymers are actually offering to these lines. But clearly, it's a lot of value to these companies.

[Daniel Marks;Stonehouse Capital;Analyst]

Okay. And just from my own clarification. Can you give me some exact examples of like what this goes into? I know you've mentioned tissue and packaging board, but is that like toilet paper, Kleenex, cereal boxes or cardboard boxes, what type of product would it go into?

[Jeffrey Douglas MacDonald, CEO & Director]

Yes. So the first applications were exactly like what we call tissue and towel. So it's toilet paper, paper towels, Kleenex, those kind of things. And subsequent to that, we got into -- your second point there, which is packaging board that could be formed into cereal boxes, components of cardboard boxes basically any place where you'd use fiber in a packaging application. So we're quite optimistic there.The other point I've mentioned in the past is that upstream from these applications where you're actually forming the packaging or forming the tissue. We're working on opportunities where we can actually enhance the strength of the pulp that goes into these applications. And those can be very large concentrated opportunities if we are able to continue to show similar results there. So like I said, this is -- it's really unfolding as an opportunity and where this may be applied. But so far, everywhere we've applied it has had pretty exciting results for us.

[Daniel Marks;Stonehouse Capital;Analyst]

Okay. So it's very, very -- it's early, but if you're talking about the toilet paper market or the cereal box market, obviously, these could actually be bigger than your wood composites or personal care market. Would that be fair to say? I mean, again, I know you're cautious and it's early, but huge markets, nonetheless.

[Jeffrey Douglas MacDonald, CEO & Director]

Yes. In terms of the addressable space, it's definitely bigger as an addressable top line than the personal care space. And I would say, depending on the scope of what we can address with these biopolymers, it could rival the total market size of the wood binders as well.

[Daniel Marks;Stonehouse Capital;Analyst]

Okay. Two more quick questions. You mentioned with your strategic account that you're now in a position where you think you can do $5 million worth of annual business compared to the $0.5 million to $3 million. Is that for all of their in-house and external lines? Or is it just sort of the first one only?

[Jeffrey Douglas MacDonald, CEO & Director]

So I guess we do have to be cautious in that, that is where we've proven things so far. We believe that the benefits of these new products are translatable really to any line. There are always differences between the lines, so it could be plus or minus a little bit, but there's nothing to suggest that this is unique to this line. So I mean, we believe that at least within their network in producing particleboard, that should be our addressable opportunity per line.

[Daniel Marks;Stonehouse Capital;Analyst]

Got it. One last question. I heard your comments on the stock buyback. Just you also -- you did exercise some options and retained some stock. It was just a little bit confusing in your filings as to where did you come out? Are you in a net buyer? Or did you just exercise and sell everything?

[Jeffrey Douglas MacDonald, CEO & Director]

Well, glad if we can clarify that, I'm a substantial net buyer. Yes. So I'm not a stock picker. I guess, like a lot of you on the call, and that's the only single stock I own. And I own it because I'm confident in it because it's the work I do every day. Yes, I was a net buyer -- what you may have seen, I guess, in the filings as a sale when I exercise the options, what was sold, was simply to cover the strike price and the tax burden associated with it. But otherwise, I held everything.

[Daniel Marks;Stonehouse Capital;Analyst]

And Jeff, like about how many -- what's your net holding them in the business of outright shares owned not options, not RSUs or any of that, just what do you own stock at?

[Jeffrey Douglas MacDonald, CEO & Director]

So I don't have the number right in front of me, Dan, but I think it's close to 1 million shares.

[Daniel Marks;Stonehouse Capital;Analyst]

Okay. That's all for me.

[Operator]

Your next question comes from Gerry Wimmer with Investorfile.

[Gerry Wimmer;Investorfile;Analyst]

Jeff, Rob, great year and also a great overview of what may be to come. It seems like you have a lot of tailwinds in all your key markets, like you said. My first question is going to be on maybe a headwind. You talked about your input brought at cornstarch. And first of all, how much of your -- how much delivery do you have of cornstarch to satisfy your customer demands for, say, 2022?

[Jeffrey Douglas MacDonald, CEO & Director]

How much of it do we have secured? Is that what you are asking?

[Gerry Wimmer;Investorfile;Analyst]

Yes.

[Jeffrey Douglas MacDonald, CEO & Director]

Yes, I should say. Thank you, Gerry. Thanks for your compliments, and thanks for getting on with some questions. So typically, what we've done in the North American market is just -- it's really a dynamic that's existed in that market. It's a little bit different than Europe.In North America, we've always had forward contracts, and we're far out -- I'll just say, far out into 2022. And I would say at reasonable prices in the North American market, although availability is a challenge. In Europe, until about 6 months ago, we never had to buy forward. We were always able to secure our cornstarch in the spot market to the extent we needed it. Volume was never a constraint, and we were always able to secure that relatively stable pricing.That changed in the last 6 months, and we were quickly told by really all of the starch suppliers that we work with there that we have to enter into forward contracts and the prices were up substantially. So we're out partway into 2022 with our purchases there, with some cost increases already on the books for those forward contracts, which has had us very busy passing along price increases to try to cover those costs as effectively as we can. But -- so in both markets now, we're out substantially into 2022. The back half of both still may have some work to do to secure what we need.

[Gerry Wimmer;Investorfile;Analyst]

Okay. And is there any -- I know -- very current event, but Ukraine is a major exporter of corn I believe. Anything -- do you see this as an issue or too hard to tell?

[Jeffrey Douglas MacDonald, CEO & Director]

I think it's early to say at this point, but they -- you're right on. They are an exporter of corn. They are a producer of starch-based products. And I think the other dynamic that's in play here is that starch is not only used for industrial purposes like ours, it's also used for food. And in food inputs, when wheat becomes a challenge, corn as a substitute in some cases. So I think some of the concerns about what may or may not be coming out of Russia in terms of grains, also could put some pressure on our ability to secure cornstarch for our product.So we're all over this on a daily basis. It's quickly become the most important issue other than growth that we face. And it really is day-by-day in terms of what that impact is going to be and us doing our best to secure everything we can so that doesn't impair our growth.

[Gerry Wimmer;Investorfile;Analyst]

Okay. Great Congratulations. You secured TD Securities analyst coverage. Obviously, she was on asking some good questions. So I congratulate on you both for being able to secure that and looking forward to more endless coverage as the story unfolds.You mentioned that your company is going to be carbon-neutral sometime this year. Could you give me any insight on what may that impact in terms of attracting institutional investors and funds that may be now looking at only carbon-neutral companies?

[Jeffrey Douglas MacDonald, CEO & Director]

Well, obviously, we're very hopeful that -- and it's great that you actually link those 2 points together because I think it's fantastic to have Meaghen onboard, and we're very thankful for that.And I think being able to get our carbon-neutral as you said, but we call it climate positive, and I'll explain what that means and why I think it might be interesting. But getting that message out there so that we have more eyeballs on it because I do think it's important and increasingly important to a number of investors, both retail and institutional. We're doing our best to get that message out there, but clearly having this coverage can only help.Why we think it's important? I mean you see it from everyone today, an oil company, a bank talking about all the great things they're going to do to be less bad by 2030 to reduce their carbon footprint by X percentage. We're actually going to be climate positive this year, which means that for the product we put out there to our customers, the net gain in climate reduction that they achieve will more than offset our footprint as an organization in what we believe is the early stages of our growth. So it's -- for us, it's really all about our customers and how we can help them make substantial impacts in their carbon footprint reduction.We measure that alongside them. And if we hit our expectations for this year, we're going to more than offset the footprint that we have as a company, and that just gets better and better all the time as we grow, which is very different from the messages that other so-called green companies or ESG-friendly companies are putting out there, whether they're trying to be less bad and reduce their carbon footprint. We're actually doing a positive thing with every pound of product we sell. We think it's a great story, but we'd love to get it out there a lot more broadly and effectively.

[Gerry Wimmer;Investorfile;Analyst]

Yes. No, I think it is a very interesting storyline that I think will benefit you amongst the institutional investors who are going to definitely be more focused or dedicated funds for such opportunities, which are not so plentiful at this point. So it should be a good tailwind when it comes to your stock moving forward. So I think congratulations of achieving that or will be achieving that. All my other questions were kind of answered from the prior 2 callers. So again, I look forward to connecting with you both on Q1, which is not that along the way.

[Jeffrey Douglas MacDonald, CEO & Director]

Great. Thanks a lot for your support, Gerry.

[Robert Martin Haire, CFO & Corporate Secretary]

Thanks, Gerry.

[Operator]

There are no further questions. Mr. MacDonald, you may proceed.

[Jeffrey Douglas MacDonald, CEO & Director]

I'd just like to thank everyone for joining us again today, and we'll be back in touch very soon.

[Operator]

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes your conference call for today. We thank you for participating and ask that you please disconnect your lines. Have a great day.