Two-Month Transition Period Ended December 2022 Li-Cycle Holdings Corp Earnings Call

Speaker 1: Good day everyone and welcome to today's Lifecycle, Business, and Financial Transition Period Results Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, you will have the opportunity to ask questions during the question and answer session.

Speaker 1: You may register to ask a question at any time by pressing the star and 1 on your touchtone phone.

Speaker 1: You may withdraw yourself from the queue by pressing star and 2.

Speaker 1: Please note today's call will be recorded and I will be standing by if you should need any assistance.

Speaker 1: It is now my pleasure to turn the conference over to Ms. Nala Azmi, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead. Thank you. Good morning, and thank you everyone for joining us today for LifeCycles review of our business and financial transition period results ended December 31.

Speaker 1: 2022.

Speaker 1: We will start today with formal remarks from Ajay Kocher, co-founder, president and chief executive officer, Tim Johnston, co-founder and executive chairman, and Debbie Simpson, chief financial officer.

Speaker 2: We will then follow with a Q&A session.

Speaker 2: Ahead of this call, Lifecycle issued a press release and a presentation, which can be found on the investor relations section of our website at investors.lifecycle.com.

Speaker 2: On this call, management will be making statements based on current expectations, plans, estimates, and assumptions, which are subject to significant risks and uncertainties, most of which are difficult to predict, and many of which are beyond the control of life cycle.

Speaker 2: Actual results could differ materially from our forward-looking statements if any of our key assumptions are incorrect, including because of factors discussed in today's press release, during this conference call, and in our past reports and filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Speaker 2: and the Ontario Securities Commission in Canada.

Speaker 2: These documents can be found on our website at investors.lifecycle.com. We do not undertake any duty to update any forward-looking statements, whether written or oral, made during this call or from time to time, to reflect new information, future events or otherwise, except as required.

Speaker 2: With that, I'm pleased to turn the call to Ajay.

Speaker 1: I'm pleased to turn the call to Ajay. Thank you, Noah, and good morning, everyone.

Speaker 3: We are excited to discuss the continued progress in implementing our Spoken Up Network Strategy, to provide a review of our transition period results in our 2023 Business Outlook.

Speaker 3: Turning to slide four, we continue to execute on our strategic objectives.

Speaker 3: solidifying lifecycles position, and the development of the sustainable domestic EV battery supply chain in North America and Europe .

Speaker 3: To highlight some key achievements that we'll discuss in greater detail, we advanced the Rochester Hub construction and are on schedule to start commissioning in late 2023.

Speaker 3: Expanded the development of our global network of spokes.

Speaker 3: mirroring customer demand, and building feedstock for our Rochester hub.

Speaker 3: Enhanced our global position with additional battery supply chain participants.

Speaker 3: including recently being named as the preferred battery recycling partner for Kion, a leading global forklift and warehouse truck supplier.

Speaker 3: and strengthen our balance sheet with the US Department of Energy's loan commitment for $375 million, which will enhance our financial flexibility for future network expansion.

Speaker 3: with the US Department of Energy's loan commitment for $375 million, which will enhance our financial flexibility for future network expansion. Turning to slide five.

Speaker 3: Let's take a step back to discuss where lifecycle fits in the battery supply chain and why. As depicted on the slide.

Speaker 3: The lifecycle focuses on transforming all types of lithium ion batteries into battery-grade materials.

Speaker 3: These are the fundamental building blocks for producing new lithium-ion batteries again.

Speaker 3: A secure supply of critical materials is core to the success of the battery supply chain.

Speaker 3: The life cycle is positioned to specifically address this with domestic and recycled critical materials.

Speaker 3: with respect to our input.

Speaker 3: We are agnostic to the type of lithium ion battery chemistry, form factor, and application.

Speaker 3: This broad range of inputs ensures that Lifecycle is flexible to service many customers.

Speaker 3: including everything from manufacturing scrap to full battery packs. Regarding our output products, we have strategically chosen to produce battery-grade chemicals that can be used to produce battery-grade chemicals.

Speaker 3: as opposed to downstream active materials, for example cathode active materials, for several key reasons.

Speaker 3: First off, economics.

Speaker 3: Some of the most optimal margin points in the battery supply chain are associated with the production and sale of critical materials.

Speaker 3: Hence, Lifecycle has focused here. Additionally, many of Lifecycle's key customers are cathode producers themselves. As such, Lifecycle's choice to produce the fundamental building blocks is a critical part of Lifecycle's success.

Speaker 3: as an input to precursor and cathode production ensures a broad customer aperture.

Speaker 3: and doesn't limit our flexibility. In conclusion, Lifecycle is focused, and its end products are at the center of the value chain. Turning aside six for our business model.

As we discussed in prior earnings calls, we take a modular approach to the implementation of our SpokenHub network strategy in multiple regions.

That is, first, we seek to develop a network of spokes strategically located near customers and feedstock to reduce their handling costs and operational risk.

This is intended to secure sustainable feedstock for a centralized large-scale battery-mature refining facility or hub.

And second, we underpin these investments in the near term with multi-year intake and off-take commercial contracts.

with the mid to long term objective of closing the supply chain loop, meaning matching up customer offtake with intake arrangements.

And finally, we optimize our capital structure with a timed modular approach to capital funding.

A good example is the recent DOE loan commitment that would provide low-cost, long-term financing.

Turn to slide seven for a strategy for growing our global footprint.

Just to reiterate, we cluster or spoke facilities near the highest regional conservative end centers.

focus on being the preferred global recycling partner, and mirror customer demand timing.

allocate capital investment in each project underpinned by commercial contracting, and maintain a strong project pipeline, providing us with the flexibility to shift and scale with market and customer demand.

Turning to slide 8 for a closer look at the favorable industry trends.

Turning to slide 8 for a closer look at the favorable industry trends, starting with North America.

Shown on the right side, the potential total adjustment market, or TAM, is driven by gigafactory investments with supply expected to grow by nearly two times.

by 2025 and four times by 2030.

Notably, we see very favorable supply-demand dynamics developing over these timeframes, and total expected post-processing recycling capacity.

lags quantities of lithium-ion batteries available for recycling.

LifeCycle is strategically growing its commercial position to capture this demand with four operational spokes and other in development.

That will provide feed to our first commercial hub in Rochester, New York.

Turning to slide 9 for review into the accelerating growth trends in the European battery materials market.

We are focused on regional TAM growth with meaningful Gigafactory presence and accelerating EV adoption.

With multiple commercial contracts and similar favorable supply dynamics, we are locating our spoke network in key regional segments including Germany, which represents the largest market for both battery manufacturing scrap and the expected supply of end-of-life with my batteries.

France, which we'll discuss more later, is projected to be the third largest battery cell manufacturing and end-of-life battery market in Europe .

And finally, Norway, which has a growing Gigafactory presence and notably the highest EV penetration rate over 75%, with a regulatory mandate for all new vehicle sales to be 100% zero emissions by 2025.

Let me now turn it over to Tim for an update on the SpokenHub network.

Thanks, RJ. Turning to slide 10 for our brief update on our SPOG networks.

In North America our Generation 3 full battery pack processing plants in Arizona and Alabama are benefiting from higher volumes as we ramp to target throughput at these twin plants.

At our Generation 2 New York spoke, we are leveraging higher operating performance capability having recently upgraded the facility to process a wider range of battery materials.

Further, we will commence initial work later this year at our new Ontario spoke with a Generation 3 plant and warehouse facility to replace the current Generation 1 spoke.

In Europe , construction of our German spoke is well advanced. We are ahead of plan to begin commissioning Line 1 in mid-2023 to be followed by Line 2 in the second half of the year.

In Norway, construction is progressing with the building expected to be finished in late 2023.

We will now return to slide 11 to discuss our new spokesite in France.

Consistent with our strategy, we are excited about this development for several reasons.

Our capital investment in France is supported by multi-year commercial contracts. We're excited to announce our partnership with the Keyon Group.

Keyon is a leading global provider of forklift and warehouse trucks.

LifeCycle is now Tio's preferred recycling partner and the commercial arrangements will begin in France and Germany and will expand globally. France is projected to be one of the largest battery cell manufacturing and end-of-life markets in Europe .

The Gen 3 spoke will be located in the north of France at an existing building site in Haines with access to renewable energy in close proximity to three upcoming gigafactories and several automotive OEM groups.

And the spoke will have an initial processing capacity of 10,000 tons per year with optionality to expand to up to 25,000 tons per year.

Turn to slide 12 to discuss our black mass production strategy.

As we've noted on prior calls, our Sculpt Network build-out and black mass production is anchored to the feedstock requirements of our Rochester Hub.

As you recall earlier with our review of the value chain, we are positioning Lifecycle to be a central partner in terms of closing the battery material supply loop.

In 2023, we are targeting black mass production to be between 7,500 and 8,500 tons for the year. This is in line with our strategy to work with key customers as we ramp towards production requirements to satisfy the needs of the Rochester hub.

This will allow us to maximise recoverable value from the critical materials including lithium, nickel and cobalt.

Turning to slide 13 for a discussion on the Rochester Hub.

This aerial view of the Rochester Hub in early March showed significant progress since our last update just two months ago.

Major equipment is now on site or in route. The warehouse is now 95% complete and will be ready for occupancy by late spring.

and key process buildings are well advanced as you can see from the pictures.

Turning to slide 14 for an overview of the five key pillars driving the project schedule and budget for the Rochester Hub.

The first three are well advanced, specifically equipment procurement with greater than 95% of process equipment ordered, key crystallizer equipment and solvent extraction equipment is now either onsite or in transit.

Bolt procurement such as steel, cabling and piping is largely completed.

And detailed engineering is more than 75% complete and on track ahead of construction needs. The last two pillars are the current key focus to ensure an on-time, on-budget delivery. The unit rates are the installation costs associated with the construction labour.

and labour productivity is the total volume of labour required to complete the installation.

Currently, we are comfortable with the combination of our rates and productivity.

We are pleased to confirm when factoring the fixed pillars and the remaining drivers that we are currently on track trending towards the higher end of the previously disclosed range of $486 to $560 million.

I would like to hand it over to Debbie for an update regarding the DOE announcement, financial results and business outlook.

I would like to hand it over to Debbie for an update regarding the DOE announcement, financial results and business outlook. Thank you, Tim.

Turning to slide 15, we were thrilled to announce that in late February we received a conditional commitment for a loan of up to $375 million from the DOE through its Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing program.

On to slide 15. We were thrilled to announce that in late February we received a conditional commitment for a loan of up to $375 million from the DOE through its Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing program. Let me outline a couple of key points here.

From the DOE perspective, this is the first support from the DOE ATVM program for a sustainable pure-plate lithium-ion batching materials recycling company.

From Lifecycle's perspective, this strategic financing achieves our commitment of executing on low-cost, long-term debt financing, which helps optimize our capital structure and provides liquidity and flexibility to fund future network expansion plans.

Turning to slide 16 for some additional details. The commitment by the DOE follows extensive technical, market, financial and legal diligence since our formal loan application on October 21.

By its further validation of our differentiated recycling technology and underscores life cycle's importance as a critical battery material supplier in the US EV battery supply chain.

Importantly, the proposed terms of the loan are favourable with a term of up to 12 years and interest based on 10-year US Treasury rates.

We expect to close this transaction in Q2 23 subject to customary closing conditions.

Now, turning to slide 17 for a discussion on our two-month financial results ended December 31, 2022.

As a reminder, we changed our fiscal year-end from October 31 to December 31 to better align Lifecycle's financial reporting calendar with our peer-group companies. Briefly, I will review black mass production and sales, revenue and adjusted EBITDA results.

We produced 898 tons of black mass for the two months ended December 31, 2022.

This was at the top end of our guidance range of 850 to 910 and in line with our scheduled maintenance program.

Looking at the top left chart, this result drove the calendar year 22 production to 4,416 tonnes of black mass versus 2,218 in 2021. Total revenue per the top right chart was $5.9 million in a two-month period compared to $2.8 million for the same period last year.

This included a favorable impact of a fair market value gain of $2.3 million compared to $1.2 million in the prior period.

with increasing nickel prices more than offsetting a decline in cobalt prices. Product sales and recycling services were $3.6 million, a 125% increase compared to the prior period.

Our sales volume for the calendar year was 3,760 tonnes of black maps, up from 2,175 tonnes in 2021.

I adjusted the EBITDA loss for the two-month sentence December 31, 2022, with approximately $17.8 million versus $8.5 million in the same period last year.

This reflects increased operating expenses, mainly employee-related costs to support the expansion of our network driven by the growth in our global footprint.

Turning to slide 18 for a review of the strength of our balance sheet.

We ended the period with approximately $518 million of cash on hand.

Combined with the expected BOE loan proceeds, provides meaningful future financial flexibility to fund our current and robust pipeline of near to mid-term growth plans in North America and Europe . For more information, visit www.fema.gov

Capital expenditures for the two months ended December 31, or $22 million compared to $18 million in the same period last year.

This primarily relates to purchase of equipment and construction materials for the Rochester Hub as well as detailed engineering, equipment and installation for our spoke operations.

Turning to slide 19 for an update on our key business outlook metrics for 2023.

As Tim reviewed earlier, we are targeting black mass production in the range of 7,500 to 8,500 tons for the year, growing sequentially higher over the course of the four quarters as we continue to ramp up in North America and bring on our operations in Germany.

In terms of our inventory build to feed the hub, we expect to begin storing black maps towards the back end of 23 and into early 24, aligning with our hub needs and timing.

Capital investment to support the spoken hub network growth is expected to be in the range of $285 to $345 million with a hub build accounting for approximately $250 to $300 million of capital changed.

and the balance being attributed to the development of our spoke network.

Finally, and importantly, we continue to optimize our financial flexibility for future goals. And we expect the $375 million financing.

by the DOE to close in the second quarter.

by the DOE to close in the second quarter. Turning to slide 20 on closing.

I'd like to reiterate what we said at the beginning of the call regarding the positive stripes that we are making as we execute on our spoken hub strategy.

We are advancing the Rochester Hub project on time and within budget, including commencing commissioning in late 2023.

expanding our global network of spokes with multi-year commercial contracting and mirroring customer demand, and building strength in our balance sheet for growth with the DOE funding.

expanding our global network of spokes with multi-year commercial contracting and mirroring customer demand, and building strength in our balance sheet for growth with the DOE funding. That concludes our formal remarks.

Operator, we are ready to take questions. Thank you. At this time, if you would like to ask a question, please press the star and 1 on your touch tone phone.

You may remove yourself from the queue at any time by pressing star 2. Once again, that is star and 1 to ask a question. We will pause for a moment to allow questions to queue.

Again, to ask a question, please press star 1.

Our first question comes from Jeff Osborne with TD Cowan.

Yeah, good morning. Very helpful detail so far on the call. I was curious if there's anything incremental on the hub economics that either you've learned internally or through the DOE process and their extensive evaluation of you folks relative to what was shared both in the SPAC merger deck and subsequent publications from you folks as we think about the...

commissioning process of the facility would be helpful to understand. Hey Jeff, good morning. Yeah, so maybe I'll start quickly on what you just asked, and Tim can speak simply to some aspects. Yeah, and it's worthwhile to emphasize that the DOE did significant work here. I think today we...

indicated that you would have heard Debbie say that we actually applied for that back in October of 2021. So that was quite a path there, rigorous path including lots of diligence.

VZB, if we've learned anything new, I can turn it over to Tim who can add a little on that. Yeah, Jeff. So essentially no is the answer. The scope of the project has remained unchanged. We still plan to process 35,000 tons per year of black mass. The chemistry has held up all the way through the process. Therefore...

The unit operations have done so as well. The key GOS drivers remain from an operating perspective associated with variable inputs such as reagents, which because the chemistry hasn't changed, because the unit operations haven't changed, haven't moved significantly. From

the capital cost perspective, we're indicating that we're moving towards the higher end of the range of $486 to $560 million. This being one of the things we wanted to illuminate today is that...

we really made significant process in locking down key components associated with the capital cost. And we described that in terms of five key pillars, being equipment procurement, bulk procurement, detailed engineering, largely complete.

and now focusing on the final two aspects which are really associated with construction labor which is the labor unit rates and productivity which we continue to manage and monitor through the final execution of the project.

That is very helpful. Couple other quick ones here. Is there any update you can give us on how long we should anticipate the commissioning process to take as you ramp that up? Obviously, you have never done this before, but I didn't know if you could share what your internal expectations were or how investors should think about that.

So yeah, Jeff, as we indicated, we're on track to start commissioning I think this year. We do expect in lockstep with that we'll give more outlook as part of that, not today necessarily, but yeah, that's more to come on that in the coming periods.

I figured that was the answer, just thought I would check. And then two other quick ones. Any update on what, now that you have three facilities or three locations in Europe , where that black mass is going to go later this year and into next? Is that going to remain in Europe to be sold as black mass or are you going to bring that into the US? That was a bit unclear to me.

I want to touch on today was our modular approach to how we build out. I think it's becoming hopefully clearer and clearer to folks. So that was what I was talking about, you know, what are the components of that, right? So we have spokes.

eventually a scaled hub, commercial partnerships in and out, and a funding package to support that. And so, you know, that's what you've seen in North America. Speaking of Europe , you would have seen now, obviously, several of those aspects in place. For example, you just cited the spoke presence that's continuing to grow and lockstep with customers.

In terms of where that black mass will go, we do have optionality to bring it to the Rochester hub in the near term or the medium term. But that said, from a geopolitical perspective, policy perspective, economic perspective, and closing the loop domestically, we would see over time that it makes sense to close that loop in a domestic sense as well, speaking to Europe as a broader jurisdiction. So...

So more on that to come when we're ready, but that's what we're trying to eliminate there, is basically that's a strategy. And then vis-a-vis your question on lithium off-take, Tim can speak to that. Yeah, no worries, Geoff. And so our focus at the moment is to be extremely disciplined when it comes to off-take. Essentially.

what we're building is a book that relates back to circular economy and that means that we're contracting and seeking the contract with the same customers that we're receiving materials from to deliver materials including lithium back to their own supply chain. And so whilst we work with Traxxas and we work with Glencore.

This contract does include lithium, Jeff, so it does include lithium nickel cobalt, as well as manganese and graphite. So we have the offtake for that. There's a buyer, but what Tim's referring to is, okay, where does it go downstream of that? And so we have a buyer for it, that's D-RIST.

but we're being very prudent downstream of that working with our partners including Traxxas and Glencore or broadly to close that loop so trying to link it up with input as well as output.

Makes sense. That's all I had. I appreciate the clarity there.

It makes sense. That's all I had. I appreciate the clarity there. Thank you. Thanks, Joe.

Thank you. As a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please press star 1 at this time. Our next question comes from Brian Dobson with Chardon. Hi, thanks for taking my questions. It's Greg Pendian for Brian Dobson. Just, I guess, dovetailing on the prior question, can you just talk about the hub? Have you learned... I know it was interesting times building the hub. Thanks for taking my questions. Hi, thanks for taking my questions.

You know, material costs were high, but have you learned anything from this hub for future hubs that you think you can trim that cost range down for a future hub?

Yes, and hi Brian , good morning. It's good for Tim to address. Yeah, no worries. And so in short, absolutely, we've learned a lot through executing on this process. I would say, you know, on the high side, we've learned, you know, our execution strategy overall in terms of focusing on...

early stage procurement of key materials and equipment has worked quite well. We're receiving a lot of this equipment on site now, well ahead of when it actually needs to be installed. But where there has been slippages, we've been able to catch that without impacting the overall schedule, which is a big advantage I think to the overall strategy.

In terms of other things that we've learned in relation to this is really coming back to the sequencing of execution. I would say the process and scope of the project hasn't changed significantly. It really comes down to the strategy behind the execution.

which we've continued to refine. So as we look at future potential hubs, we have a clear understanding of what the key drivers are, how to prioritize them and organize them to minimize inconsequential costs associated with the project. So what I mean by that is

and then you can do it with a lot of different tools, not direct costs on equipment, for example, but really more around how you build the project. That's helpful, thanks a lot. Thank you. Thank you. Once again, if you would like to ask a question,

We'll pause for a moment to allow questions to queue. Our next question comes from Evan Silverberg with Morgan Stanley .

Hey guys, Evan Silverberg on for Adam Jonas. A quick question on the black mass production. As you guys are installing more capacity, are you taking your time ramping the factories or is it more that the feedstock coming in isn't quite in lockstep with how you guys are building out capacity at this time?

Good morning. Yes, Tim can start me off by knocking out on his news. Yes, good morning, Evan. So it's really two aspects. The first is that we continue and we tried to demonstrate that in the presentation today, we continue to grow our feedstock supply in line with our customers.

And so we're continuing to grow lockstep with the market and you're seeing another forecast of basically a doubling of year on year production of black mass which would be our third year in a row for doubling production.

The other aspect is we are continuing to ramp up our two new and largest facilities in North America being Arizona and Alabama. It became four shift 24 hour operations late last year and the

Alabama facility added a fourth shift in January making a 24-hour operation. So we're continuing to ramp up those facilities. The other aspect to remind everyone Evan is that this of course, you know, ties in closely with our execution strategy for the Rochester hub.

The timing of the black mass that we need for that facility is on track and we're continuing to grow black mass production in line with that.

There's maybe time left together. I think the point there is that we're not a black mass.

only production company, we're a resource recovery company. And Blackmass is a means to an end to ultimately get those battery grade materials out. And for us, it's the feedstock to the hub. So what we want to see is that it's growing in lockstep with when we need it. And that's the key point that Tim was just making. And we see that in line from our perspective. Tim Buesinger I appreciate that color. Would you guys consider in the future, and you know, once Rochester's open, would you ever consider breaking...

the feet of that hub, there's optionality to also get black mats from the market. We want to ultimately, primarily, fulfill that internally. And so I think the key point to focus on is really that feet to the hub, and then what does that mean ultimately for those battery-grade materials that are being produced. Yeah, and Evan, there is significant value in having a diversified network of merchant spark facilities.

to access a broad market of input materials to generate black mass. And so as we continue to build out our network we can flex with the market where it makes the most economic sense to produce the lowest cost metal units delivered to the hub. And that's really our focus. So at the end of the day the spokes are low capital intensity assets.

that give us broad access to recycled materials to feed the Rochester hub. Thanks for that color guys.

broad access to recycled materials to feed the Rochester hub. Thanks for that color guys. Appreciate it. Thanks Ed.

Thank you again. That's star one to ask a question. We'll pause just a moment to allow questions to queue. It appears we have no further questions at this time. I'll turn the call back over to Ajay Kochar for any additional or closing remarks.

Thank you. So to summarize, we kicked off 2023 with great momentum, executing our spoken-up network strategy and growth plans. Thanks to the outstanding achievements by the team, our prospects are accelerating through increased global commercial partnerships and significant government support. We're positioning lifecycle as the go-to innovative, sustainable, and localized solutions provider to the battery supply chain enabling a clean energy future.

we remain focused on delivering significant value to our key stakeholders and are excited to continue to update you folks as we continue to progress. Thank you for all your time and support of LightCycle.

This does conclude today's call. Thank you for your participation. You may disconnect at any time.