Noranda Income Fund (OTC:NNDIF) Q2 2022 Earnings Conference Call July 26, 2022 8:30 AM ET
Company Participants
Paul Einarson – CEO, Canadian Electrolytic Zinc Limited, Noranda Income Fund’s Manager
Sylvain Lirette – CFO, Canadian Electrolytic Zinc Limited, Noranda Income Fund’s Manager
Conference Call Participants
Ben Franklin – Riverstyx Capital
Operator
Good morning ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the Noranda Income Fund Second Quarter 2022 Financial Results Conference Call and Webcast. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Following management’s presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session open to financial analysts and investors only. Instructions will be provided at that time for you to queue up for questions. [Operator Instructions] I would like to remind everyone that this call is being recorded today, July 26th at 8:30 AM Eastern Time.
I will now turn the conference over to Mr. Paul Einarson, CEO of Canadian Electrolytic Zinc Limited, Noranda Income Fund’s Manager. Sir, please go ahead.
Paul Einarson
Thank you, operator and good morning everyone. Thank you for joining us. Also joining me this morning is our CFO, Sylvain Lirette.
Before we start, I would like to draw your attention to slide three of the presentation regarding forward-looking information. During the course of today’s presentation, we will be making a number of forward-looking statements that are based on certain assumptions and subject to a number of risk factors outlined on this slide.
As a result, Noranda Income Fund cannot guarantee that any forward-looking statement will materialize and you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Please note that all dollar amounts in this presentation are in U.S. dollars unless otherwise indicated.
Turning to slide four, the second quarter of 2022 has been challenging for the Fund, both from a financial and operational perspective. Our financial results continue to be negatively impacted by lower zinc production and sales, primarily reflecting our ongoing production challenges. We are also dealing with an inflationary environment, creating various input cost pressures.
From an operational perspective, the second quarter was dominated by continued labor availability constraints and ongoing difficulties in cellhouse operating conditions.
Corrective actions taken in the first quarter have not yet fully materialized. The tight labor market and increased employee turnover has decreased our operational effectiveness. As previously communicated while the facility benefits from a strong team, there are positions that need to be filled and this is a more challenging — this is more challenging than it has been historically. Once filled, additional training and coaching is required as we look to build up operator experience.
Our team is working actively to recruit and fill vacancies in a competitive job market. We’ve also implemented action plans to effectively onboard new operators, who may have less experience as the team continues to work to address ongoing production challenges. But this is no easy feat. COVID-related absenteeism has also been a contributing factor.
Regarding cellhouse conditions and equipment performance, these unexpectedly deteriorated in the second quarter. This included a planned cellhouse shutdown in June that took much longer than anticipated and which subsequently negatively impacted operational efficiency for part of the month.
With respect to the degradation in cellhouse conditions and equipment fragility, management is carefully evaluating the potential capital investments required to address these underlying issues.
As a result of our ongoing challenges both on the operational and labor front, we have no choice but to further revise our production and sales guidance for 2022 to between 225,000 and 240,000 tons.
Achieving the low end of this new range is dependent on maintaining our current pace of production through to the end of the year. Achieving the higher end of the range is dependent on an improvement in our labor position and operational efficiency before the end of the year.
Falling within our revised guidance range is also dependent on the situation not for the deteriorating in terms of the labor situation, equipment failures, and unplanned maintenance, and a new wave of COVID.
During the quarter, we did not complete — we did complete the two expansion projects as planned. While we will be unable to fully leverage the benefits of our filtration investments until the production challenges are behind us, we have already utilized our additional cooling tower capacity with several hot stretches this summer.
I will now turn it over to Sylvain to review our financial and report operating results in more detail.
Sylvain Lirette
Thank you, Paul and good morning everyone. Let’s start with our key performance drivers in Q2 on slide six. Zinc concentrate and secondary feed processed was lower than in the same period in 2021 as a result of lower production level.
Commodity prices have mostly remained high in the first half of the year as reflected in the higher average LME zinc price. However, the zinc price decreased sharply in the last half of June. The concentrate inventory is protected against the zinc price decrease through the inventory management program, which we will talk again in the next slide. By-products revenues increase as a result of higher sulphuric acid net back offset by lower volumes. Finally, the average exchange rate was lower at $0.78.
Turning now to slide seven. In Q2, there was a significant decrease in zinc metal production and sales. This is due to the ongoing labor and operation challenges in the cellhouse as previously discussed. Lower sulphuric acid sales volume is mainly related to lower volumes of concentrate process.
Turning now to slide eight. Earning before income taxes were $111.9 million. It is important to keep in mind that this includes an unrealized derivative financial instrument gain of $130 million reduced by an involuntary write down of $16.8 million. This is compared to a loss before income taxes of $13.3 million for the same period of last year, which include an unrealized derivative financial instrument gain of $0.9 million and no write-down of the inventory value.
After removing the unrealized derivative financial instrument impacts and other adjustments, adjusted EBITDA in Q2 was negative $2.3 million compared to a negative $11.4 million in Q2 of 2021.
Adjusted EBITDA compared to the same prior year period mainly reflects higher commodity prices and treatment charges, partially offset by lower zinc and acid volumes in the quarter.
In Q2, CapEx was $12.3 million. This includes strategic expansion projects of $5.4 million, which were both commissioned during the second quarter. The balance is sustaining CapEx necessary for maintaining our operations.
Turning now to cash flow on slide 10. Excluding changes in working capital, interest, and tax payments, cash flow from operation was a negative $1.7 million in Q2. This is compared to negative cashflow of $11.2 million for the same period last year. Cash flow in Q2 of 2022 was primarily impacted by lower volumes, partly offset by higher commodity prices and treatment charges.
Looking now to our ABL, as of June 30th, 2022, it was at $179.1 million, including letters of credit, living, and access availability of $0.9 million. Our senior secured metal liability stood at $39.9 million. Working capital increased to $234.6 million, up from $155.5 million as of December 31st, 2021.
Paul, back to you.
Paul Einarson
Thank you, Sylvain. The economic and zinc market outlook remains complex and difficult to predict with a challenging labor market, global supply chain issues, high energy costs in Europe, and the conflict in Ukraine, and the ongoing pandemic among other factors.
Looking at a revenue drivers, indicative spot treatment charges have increased from $85 per ton at the end of 2021 to the current level in June of $235 per ton. It’s important to keep in mind that for the Fund any positive impact of higher treatment challenges this year will be limited by our lower volumes and related operational challenges as we continue to consume inventory acquired in the first half of the year.
The prices of zinc, copper, and sulphuric acid were strong through 2022. Most recently though, we did see zinc prices fall off significantly in June off negative market sentiment and growing concerns about the global economy. A slow recovery from Q2, COVID-19 lockdowns in China is another contributing factor.
Specifically in Europe, zinc smelters have been constrained in production due to high power costs. Smelters remain a bottleneck in the zinc production cycle. Industry analysts highlight that future impacts to the zinc market may include a prolonged war in Ukraine, potential further COVID-19 lockdowns in China, Chinese government stimulus spending, continued energy supply disruptions in Europe, and delays in new mine production.
Industry analysts also report that zinc premiums may have peaked in the second quarter of 2022. Here at the plant, we have been impacted by many of the same rising input cost pressures.
Looking at concentrated supply, the [indiscernible] mine closed in June, and we have received our final delivery from that local source. We will continue to optimize our concentrate feed mix, albeit with a higher proportion of offshore concentrates.
In conclusion, our number one near-term priority is addressing our labor and operational issues and returning to normal operating conditions in the cellhouse. This work is ongoing and essential to our ability to benefit from some of the improving zinc market conditions around our key revenue drivers.
We also look forward to benefiting more fully from our strategic projects once our operational challenges are behind us. We are confident that once we accomplish this, we will be in a solid position for the long-term. Our job is to mitigate the various challenges that stand in our way as we look to achieve this and our revised annual production and sales guidance.
Thank you for joining us this morning. Operator, back to you for the Q&A.
Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
Thank you, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions]
Your first question comes from Ben Franklin of Riverstyx Capital. Please go ahead.
Ben Franklin
Thank you. Paul, can you just tell me what the current employee count is right now?
Paul Einarson
Yes, we’re just over 500 people at the current time, our full complement is 550. So, we’re about 40 positions short at the current time.
Ben Franklin
Okay, that’s helpful. And in inventory, I was just looking at it — looks like finished project — finished products have been well over 9 million this year, but they used to be less than 2 million. Is there any reason why you’ve been holding more finished inventory lately?
Paul Einarson
No, not really. It’s just a timing matter at quarter end.
Ben Franklin
Okay. And production is down, the inventory is up. Do you still need to be purchasing this much inventory, especially considering the $2.5 million paid to Glencore for interest expense just to buy it?
Paul Einarson
Now, there’s two elements to that Ben, one is the with the high zinc costs — the high zinc prices, you’re going to see that a higher volume or a higher inventory balance sheet amount. So, we’ll see that number come down as the zinc prices are anticipated to be lower in the second half of the year.
The other aspect of it is that we planned for much higher level of production and with the offshore fee that comes in, we can’t cancel those on a short-term — really on a short-term basis, we need kind of four to six months because all the shipping schedules are already set and then boats are already arranged.
So, we do work with Glencore to get ahead of that as much as possible, but there will be some lag in there. So, we have delayed and/or canceled some vessel shipments as early as Q1 and Q2, we were starting to move some shipments out. So, we are reducing some of our receptions — our planned receptions in the future. So, we should see that number come back in.
Regardless, what we see at the current time and into the future for what our plans are, we are still within our target range for inventory levels. So, last year, we were quite low based on low performance from the local mines. And the inventory levels have risen up slightly, but it still puts us within our target range. So, last year, we operated much of the year below our target range and now we’re back within that target range, but not above it. So, we’re comfortable with the current levels of inventory. We continue to monitor it closely and discuss with Glencore on vessel shipments and make adjustments wherever required.
Ben Franklin
Okay, that’s helpful. And any ballpark — sorry, go ahead
Paul Einarson
It’s high on the radar screen Ben.
Ben Franklin
Okay. Do you have any ballpark for what kind of CapEx you might be required for the cellhouse conditions?
Paul Einarson
We’re still in the process right now evaluating the situation to see to what extent we can perform repairs and/or need to do any kind of replacements of equipment
Ben Franklin
Okay. And last one, correct me if I’m wrong here, but Noranda management has a duty to Glencore, right?
Paul Einarson
Well, we are employees of Glencore Company, but we are the operator of the facility and we do have regular discussions and report also to the Board of Trustees of Noranda Income Fund. We’ve worked very closely–
Ben Franklin
Okay. Is there any way to get Independent Directors to answer questions on these calls?
Paul Einarson
There’s no forum for that set up at the current time Ben, but we can certainly arrange something offline. And we can speak with somebody. If you want to shoot me a message after this, we can try to set something up.
Ben Franklin
Okay, thank you. That’s all.
Operator
[Operator Instructions]
As there are no questions from the phone lines, ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude your conference call for this morning. We would like to thank you all for participating and ask that you please disconnect your lines.
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