Q2 2025 Green Plains Inc Earnings Call

Speaker #4: Good morning, and welcome to the Green Plains Incorporated second quarter 2025 earnings conference call. Following the company's prepared remarks, instructions will be provided for Q&A.

Speaker #4: At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. I'll now turn the call over to your host, Phil Boggs, Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Boggs, please go ahead.

Speaker #5: Thank you and good evening, everyone. Welcome to the Green Plains Inc. second quarter 2025 earnings call. Joining me on today's call are members of our executive committee, Michelle Mapes, Interim Principal Executive Officer and Chief Legal and Administration Officer.

Speaker #5: Jamie Herbert, Chief Human Resources Officer; Chris Osowski, Executive Vice President, Operations and Technology; Imre Havasi, Senior Vice President, Head of Trading and Commercial Operations.

Speaker #5: We're pleased to have our Chairman, Jim Anderson, join us today to provide brief comments on board-level alignment around our strategy and outlook. There is a slide presentation available, and you can find it on the Investor page under the Events and Presentations link on our site.

Speaker #5: During this call, we will be making forward-looking statements, including predictions, projections, and other statements about future events. These statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties.

Speaker #5: Actual results could materially differ because of factors discussed in today's press release, in the comments made during this conference call, and in the risk factors section of our Form 10-K, Form 10-Q, and other reports and filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Speaker #5: We do not undertake any duty to update any forward-looking statement. And now, with that, I'd like to turn the call over to Jim Anderson.

Speaker #6: Thank you, Phil. Hello to all. Thank you for joining our call. Q2 has been an active quarter. The team has been adjusting the Green Plains asset base, which has required existing summit activity, exiting some activity, and assets that are not consistent with our plan.

Speaker #6: We've also adjusted our SG&A expense, which has never been easy, but has to be done. Our go-to-market strategy has also changed. The execution of the company's plan is centered on changes to our culture, which starts with the continued focus on operating safely, followed by a laser focus on a fast-acting, numbers-driven decision-making process.

Speaker #6: This new culture demands top-shelf, real-time communication so everyone in the company is clear on the results and the strategy and tactics we're using to deliver our strategy.

Speaker #6: The board has been very impressed with the leadership of the executive team and the speed and effort the entire Green Plains company has used to deliver on these positive changes.

Speaker #6: The company's daily and weekly reporting structure zeros in on the most critical measurements for every area of the company. The critical measurements of the company we use to assess our progress have shown material improvement.

Speaker #6: I want to formally thank all of the Green Plains team for their daily engagement and the pride they have in their company and each other.

Speaker #6: There have also been several market changes, including government policy, which have improved our prospects. Finally, I want to report on the CEO search process. The Non-Gov committee and the rest of the board have spent significant time on this process.

Speaker #6: I earned the final stages of our CEO search. It is our expectation that we'll be in a position to announce our new CEO in the very near term.

Speaker #6: I'm pleased to hand the call over to Michelle Mapes to begin our review of her quarter.

Speaker #7: Thank you, Jim. We entered the second quarter with a clear focus to narrow the aperture of our business to core operations, unlock liquidity through non-core asset monetizations, and deliver measurable progress on our path to improving profitability.

Speaker #7: That is exactly what we are doing. Important to the enhancement of our future earnings power is our carbon strategy, and we have made material progress.

Speaker #7: The construction of our CCS infrastructure is on schedule, with all major equipment on track and key installations underway. As you might imagine, in a project like this, there are daily changes, and you can follow them on our website.

Speaker #7: All indications point to a startup during the first quarter, which we believe will unlock consistent cash flows and long-term value. We are in discussions with counterparties on the monetization of our 45Z carbon credits for 2025 and 2026.

Speaker #7: Based on those discussions and indications in hand, we believe we are in a good position to capture our anticipated pricing for these credits as the projects start up.

Speaker #7: During the quarter, the federal government created more clarity on their policies that positively impacted our strategic investments to reduce CI. Of course, the most notable occurred on July 4th when the President signed into law the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

Speaker #7: This legislation includes several favorable provisions for the renewable fuel sector, particularly confirmation and extension of the 45Z clean fuel production tax credit. The credit has been extended through 2029 and includes full transferability and the notable removal of the indirect land use change penalty, which improves CI by 5 to 6 points.

Speaker #7: The bill also eases qualified sale language and restricts eligible feedstocks to those sourced under USMCA, ring-fencing the feedstocks sourced in North America. With the reforms enacted, the Treasury Department will propose and finalize regulations.

Speaker #7: With the combination of efficiency gains and CI improvements at our plants, along with the policy changes, we believe our annualized EBITDA contribution from our decarbonization strategy will be greater than $150 million annually for 2026 from our Advantage Nebraska plants alone.

Speaker #7: Further, we expect all nine of our operating plants to qualify for the 45Z tax credits in 2026, which will provide additional upside to our projections.

Speaker #7: As we discussed in Q1 and reported again for Q2, we are achieving our cost reduction strategies. We have met our $50 million target through a combination of OPEX reductions at our plants and SG&A efficiencies.

Speaker #7: The organization is committed to continuous improvement, and we are executing plans to streamline our business further. We are confident we will end fiscal year '25 with a run rate for corporate and trade SG&A in the low $40 million.

Speaker #7: Most get confused, believing cost reduction programs are just about removing people. By far, the biggest impact comes from constantly testing the need for all of the processes used to run the company.

Speaker #7: Continuous improvement demands removing things that don't add value, repurposing people and efforts to things that do add value. During the quarter, we executed several non-core asset sales, including our GP Farrelson Joint Venture and Proventis, and took an impairment on our Hopewell asset.

Speaker #7: While we took a non-cash charge for these items, it raised liquidity and eliminated time wasted on non-core activities, as well as a drag on future earnings.

Speaker #7: We also completed a sale of rins in the quarter that accumulated over the last several years. Combined, these actions bolstered our liquidity, reinforced our commitment to a disciplined capital allocation strategy, and helped increase our focus on the core business.

Speaker #7: Finally, we successfully extended the maturity of our junior mezzanine notes. We are maintaining our plan to repay these notes. The range of alternatives includes financing solutions and/or monetizing additional assets that would provide the funds to fully retire the debt.

Speaker #7: The company and the board concluded that obtaining a short-term extension was the best tactic for our strategy, as we believe executing carbon capture monetization will provide better options for a longer-term solution.

Speaker #7: While evaluating liquidity levers with our board of directors, we recently filed an S-3 registration statement. This is a regulatory requirement to maintain future optionality as we and our board of directors continue to evaluate how we finance and grow our business long term.

Speaker #7: No plans to issue securities pursuant to the shelf following effectiveness have been made at this time. With that, I'll hand it over to Phil to review the financial results.

Speaker #8: Thanks, Michelle. For Q2 2025, we reported a net loss attributable to Green Plains of $72.2 million, or $1.09 per share, compared to Q2 2024, which had a loss of $24.4 million, or $0.38 per share.

Speaker #8: These results include $44.9 million in non-cash charges related to the sale or impairment of certain non-core assets, and the sale of an equity method investment.

Speaker #8: The results also include $2.5 million in one-time restructuring charges related to our cost reduction and efficiency improvement programs we've executed. Through our objective analysis, we believe this investment will return well for Green Plains.

Speaker #8: During the quarter, we strengthened liquidity through the execution of non-core asset sales while sharpening our focus on our business using a fast-acting, numbers-based decision-making process.

Speaker #8: Managing the daily measurements, I feel, are most important to each area of our company. Communication and teamwork provide the foundation to outstanding companies and organizations.

Speaker #8: And we have worked every single angle to increase both in Green Plains. We also improved our working capital position by more than $50 million through various initiatives, including the transition to a third-party ethanol marketing provider and the intentional management of our balance sheet with a cross-functional team.

Speaker #8: Revenue for the quarter was $552.8 million, down 10.7% year over year. Our Q2 revenue was lower because we exited ethanol marketing for Farrelson and placed our Fairmont ethanol asset on care and maintenance at the beginning of the year.

Speaker #8: This naturally reduced the gallons that we had to market. Adjusted Q2 2025 EBITDA, excluding the restructuring charges and non-cash charges, ended at $16.4 million, compared to Q2 2024 at $5 million.

Speaker #8: SG&A totaled $27.6 million, which is a $6.3 million improvement from the prior year. As we explained in Q1, we expect this to continue to improve through the rest of the year and remain on track to exit the year at a corporate and trade SG&A target in the low $40 million area and a consolidated SG&A target of $93 million.

Speaker #8: Q2 2025 depreciation and amortization finished at $27.6 million, which includes a $3.1 million impairment of property and equipment recorded in the Ag and Energy segment related to the closure of a non-core feed business.

Speaker #8: Interest expense was $13.9 million, an increase of $6.4 million over the prior year, which was primarily driven by expenses associated with the accounting treatment for warrants related to the $30 million revolving line of credit and the prior extension of the junior mezzanine debt.

Speaker #8: As well as the absence of capitalized interest from prior year project construction, we had an income tax expense of $2.3 million. Our federal net operating loss balance of $222.6 million will provide future tax efficiencies.

Speaker #8: Our normalized tax rate going forward is expected to remain in the 23% to 24% range. On the balance sheet, our consolidated liquidity at quarter-end included $152.7 million in cash equivalents and restricted cash, and $258.5 million in working capital revolver availability, which is designated primarily for financing commodity inventories and receivables within our business.

Speaker #8: We had $93.3 million in unrestricted liquidity available to corporate, inclusive of the $30 million line of credit that expired on July 30th. Note that since the end of the quarter, we collected $23.5 million in cash related to the sale of our Farrelson JV.

Speaker #8: Capital expenditures in Q2 were $11 million, including maintenance, safety, and regulatory investments. For the remainder of 2025, we expect capital expenditures to be approximately $10 million, which excludes the carbon capture equipment for our Nebraska operations that are already fully financed.

Speaker #8: As of June 30, 2025, our balance sheet has broken out the carbon equipment liability, which now stands at $82 million, up from $17.9 million at 12/31.

Speaker #8: This is the natural result of the ongoing progress in the project. The compression assets are recorded in property and equipment, but since these are funded directly by Talgress, it doesn't flow through our cash flow statement as CapEx.

Speaker #8: We believe this provides better clarity to the reader. To satisfy our mandate for continuous improvement, we are taking fast and decisive actions across all fronts.

Speaker #8: Continuing our focus to operate safely, along with improving efficiency everywhere, and disciplined short-term and long-term capital allocation using strict return metrics, we believe this is the best way to return the maximum value to all of our stakeholders.

Speaker #8: And with that, I'll turn the call over to Chris for an update on our operations.

Speaker #9: Thanks, Phil. Q2 marked another quarter of strong operational execution. Continuous improvement is the mandate. Across our fleet of operating assets, we achieved 99% capacity utilization, maintaining the discipline and consistency we demonstrated in Q1.

Speaker #9: These same plants ran at 93.8% in Q2 of 2024. Our plants produced the highest ethanol yields in Green Plains history, while operating at our second-lowest quarterly OPEX costs since early 2023, only bettered by Q1 of this year.

Speaker #9: Our improved operational execution has carried over into the third quarter, with strong throughput utilization across the platform. This includes improving ethanol and corn yields.

Speaker #9: We are forecasting to maintain mid to high 90% utilization for the remainder of Q3. At our buy-in plant, the previously mentioned RTO project was commissioned, and the results are exceeding our expectations.

Speaker #9: The plant has now shown the capability to produce over 3.5 pounds of protein per bushel of corn, while at the same time producing at rates over 120 million gallons on an annualized basis.

Speaker #9: This project is reflective of our commitment to operational excellence that mandates the management of safe operations, using a numbers-based, team-oriented decision-making process that includes detailed management of the most critical measurements daily.

Speaker #9: Our operational excellence initiatives have contributed materially to suppressing our overall $50 million cost reduction goal. Our plant operations team has achieved OPEX reductions of $10 million on an annualized basis.

Speaker #9: A major portion of these savings are the result of our re-engineered maintenance planning and execution strategy. This has reduced our R&M and contract labor spend by disciplined preventative maintenance management, which has increased reliability in our equipment and has built confidence in our team.

Speaker #9: We've also achieved reductions in Gen 1 chemical yeast and enzyme spend as a result of aggressive recipe optimization. Just like every area of Green Plains, our operations team will build on our improvements daily, as we are a team committed to a culture of operational excellence, focused on safety, efficiency, continuous improvement, and accountability.

Speaker #9: We are very proud of the enormous effort and professionalism our operations team has provided. I'd like to thank the team for the huge commitment.

Speaker #9: With that, Imre, please take it from here on our commercial and market update.

Speaker #6: Thanks, Chris. Our markets have improved in recent weeks, supported by strong ethanol exports and supportive policy on 45Z renewable volume obligations and restrictions on imported feedstocks.

Speaker #6: Combined with the corn crop that continues to impress, ethanol crush margins have expanded in the back half of the calendar year. Industry run rates and yields have stayed high, which, as per usual, must be assessed on a daily basis to execute our risk management programs, which include active hedging across our platform.

Speaker #6: Our disciplined approach to locking in crush margins has yielded an odd result. Currently, we are 65% crushed for the third quarter. Corn oil continues to be a bright spot, underpinning the need to maximize our corn oil yields.

Speaker #6: The work our plant operations team is doing to consistently produce at capacity is an enormous contributor to the Green Plains margin creation and structure.

Speaker #6: I want to thank all of them for the huge effort. Protein values are under pressure with the seemingly never-ending capacity additions provided by the soy crushing industry.

Speaker #6: We are aggressively executing our strategy to diversify our protein customer portfolio, which, after careful analysis, we believe will be additive to our margins. Recently, we loaded our first bulk vessel with 6,000 metric tons of sequence, or 60% protein product, which is on its way to Chile for salmon feed applications.

Speaker #6: With that, I'll hand the call to Michelle for closing comments.

Speaker #2: Thank you, Imre. With respect to our strategic review, having executed numerous streamlining initiatives has positioned us well, as all potential paths remain under consideration, including a company sale, asset divestitures, or other material transactions.

Speaker #2: In closing, I will leave you with this: carbon construction is on track, and monetization efforts are underway. Further underpinned by constructive policy updates, this provides upside across our platform for low CI fuel production.

Speaker #2: Our positive EBITDA outlook for Q3 and Q4 has strengthened, driven by our actions, focused execution, and aided by favorable market fundamentals. Combined with a full year of carbon earnings, we are confident that our earnings power in 2026 will be fundamentally transformed.

Speaker #2: We have exceeded our $50 million cost savings goal and continue to identify additional efficiencies as part of our operational excellence and continuous improvement strategy. Our core asset strategy is driving sharper focus and improved asset performance.

Speaker #2: We have strengthened our liquidity through non-core asset sales and extended the maturity of our near-term debt. Our strategic review and CEO search are both active and progressing, and we look forward to providing additional insights at the appropriate time.

Speaker #2: As you should expect, we are committed to continuing to operate safely, executing a disciplined, fast-acting, number-based decision-making process that's fortified by a strong foundation of outstanding real-time communication in all areas of the company.

Speaker #2: We believe this is the best way to create total company teamwork, confidence in our strategy, and in each other, and shareholder value. We hope that through our discussion today you can see the entire Green Plains team is committed to execution and excellence, with a goal of restoring profitability and unlocking value across the Green Plains platform.

Speaker #2: Operator, we will now take questions.

Speaker #4: At this time, I would like to remind everyone that in order to ask a question, press star, then the number one on your telephone keypad.

Speaker #4: Participants will be allowed one question and one follow-up question. Your first question comes from the line of Andrew Strzelczyk with BMO Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Speaker #10: Hey, good morning. Thanks for taking the question. Obviously, there are a lot of moving parts here with the sale of the non-core assets, higher corn oil values, the decarbonization coming online, and cost savings.

Speaker #10: So, I guess what I was hoping is if you put all that together, is there a way for you to help us frame the EBITDA potential in the back half of the year and really in Q4 as we think about the run rate into 2026?

Speaker #2: Thank you for your question, Andrew. Phil, would you like to respond?

Speaker #11: Yeah, yeah, happy to. No, th-thanks, Andrew. Yeah, back half of the year—stronger EBITDA margin outlook. It's supported by rising corn oil prices, continued strong ethanol exports, and a corn crop that is looking solid, from everything that we can tell.

Speaker #11: So, we have a constructive setup. If you look at overall consolidated crush margins, we're probably sitting somewhere in the mid-teens today for the base ethanol business.

Speaker #11: And then, as we start monetizing the carbon opportunities, that starts up sometime here early fourth quarter of 2025, before the ILUC starts here in '26. We'd previously given an indication that carbon would be about a $100 million opportunity.

Speaker #11: So if you prorate that for a fourth quarter startup and take off, you know, maybe a few weeks or something relative to the startup of that, I mean, carbon ends up in like a $20 million to $25 million sort of range for fourth quarter.

Speaker #11: So, yeah, real strong setup for the back half of the year here in terms of crush margins.

Speaker #4: Great, great. Okay, great. That was super helpful. And then, my follow-up is just about the sale of the stake in the Farrelson JV.

Speaker #4: I guess I was just curious. For the thought process there, I suppose it was deemed non-core, but I just wanted to understand kind of how you thought about that piece and maybe more broadly how you thought about valuing that asset as we think kind of about high pro or, or kind of more holistically and longer term.

Speaker #4: Thank you.

Speaker #2: Oh, thank you, Andrew. I think, you know, as you said, it really is our focus. It was not core to what we were doing.

Speaker #2: It was not a project that we were managing. And so, as we've talked, we are making data-driven decisions here at Green Plains.

Speaker #2: And the numbers basically indicated this was something that made sense for us to exit at this time. Chris, would you like to add anything to that as well?

Speaker #12: Yeah, I would say that, you know, we're really focused on this path of operational excellence for our operating assets and driving the yields in our existing MSC processes beyond what was originally planned or expected.

Speaker #12: And we're seeing those results be a buy-in. RTO project execution is a good example of that.

Speaker #4: Great. Thank you very much.

Speaker #2: Thank you, Andrew.

Speaker #4: Your next question comes from the line of Salvator Tiano with Bank of America. Please go ahead.

Speaker #13: Yes, good morning. Firstly, I want to clarify a couple of things on the cash flows. I believe we take our working capital this quarter have slightly negative cash flow from operations.

Speaker #13: I wonder if that includes the $22 million from ring sales, or is this something different? And can you clarify? You made the comment also on the Farrelson sale?

Speaker #13: Did you already receive the proceeds, or are they coming in Q3?

Speaker #14: Yeah, good morning, Sal. The $22.6 million of ring sales was included in the revenue of our Hanol segment, so it is part of operating cash.

Speaker #14: I was really part of a commercial optimization strategy that we'd accumulated over many years, and we had an opportunity to monetize those here in the quarter.

Speaker #14: I wouldn't count on those as being a recurring part of our go-forward strategy. The turnkey asset we have is in receivables as of June 30.

Speaker #14: We did collect that money in July, so I had just added that comment in to clarify that while I was sitting in, it's sitting in an accrued item, not up in accounts receivable, but we have collected that cash.

Speaker #4: Okay, perfect. secondly,

Speaker #13: I want to ask a little bit about, well, if you can clarify a little bit, you know, the $100 million number for carbon capture was something that you had mentioned before.

Speaker #13: And it seems like this could be higher now. So with, you know, all the changes in regulations, is there a specific number we should think about?

Speaker #13: And also, as you have your negotiations with, h, potential buyers of credits, have the, you know, have the, discussions about the ential discount, whether that's 50 or 70 or 90 percent of the face value changed?

Speaker #14: Sure. For 2026, our carbon number that we've talked about here on this call was $150 million. Previously, we've been discussing a $100 million number inclusive of $30 million in voluntary credits. The biggest change in that number is driven by the policy change.

Speaker #14: And so this was the favorable policy updates that we've seen in July. The elimination of the indirect land use change penalty adds about 5 to 6 points.

Speaker #14: So when you factor that in to the $287 million gallons of carbon opportunity from our three Nebraska plants alone, that by itself increases the number by about $30 million.

Speaker #14: And then we're also continuing to evaluate our starting CI scores. Chris and his team in Operations continue to focus on efficiencies and drive higher yields.

Speaker #14: So we're doing everything we can to drive lower starting CI scores, which increases our opportunity as well. So based on Nebraska plants alone, I call that $150 million from those three.

Speaker #14: And then we also have some opportunity across the balance of our platform. We mentioned that all of our plants would qualify for 45Z in 2026.

Speaker #14: And so that creates some additional opportunity for us. We're still working through all of the final numbers, but even at a base qualification with the rounding that's in place, if the other six plants were rounded to 45 CI points.

Speaker #14: So, we've five points. That's worth about $50 million on those $500 million gallons. So, there's certainly some upside there. We'll continue to clarify and refine that number as we go forward, but there's certainly some upside.

Speaker #14: Michelle, if you want to take the monetization piece?

Speaker #2: Absolutely. Thanks, Phil. Sal, you know, we're in preliminary discussions, but things are going to move rapidly, we believe, in the next month or so.

Speaker #2: There's nothing that we've seen so far that would indicate the values that we are proposing are in question. And we should be able to realize those values.

Speaker #4: Perfect. Thank you very much. Your next question comes from the line of Puran Sharma, with Stevens. Please go ahead.

Speaker #15: Tha-thanks for the question. And congratulations on the progress made thus far. Looking forward to seeing how carbon kind of shapes up here in the back half of the year.

Speaker #15: I just wanted to understand the monetization a little bit. You provided some great details thus far, but in terms of how should investors think about Green Plains' position in the capital structure project financing waterfall?

Speaker #15: And, in particular, what portion of, like, such financing or monetization is expected to flow to the company versus the project-level partners?

Speaker #2: Phil, do you want to take a shot, and I can follow up?

Speaker #16: For on the financing waterfall, so we're having significant cash flows that are coming from this project, $150 million. We have that financed with Tallgrass at about a 9% rate over 12 years.

Speaker #16: So, we do have significant cash flows that are going to accrue directly to the company and provide free cash flows that we can then reallocate. We will continue to review that allocation of capital in terms of continuity, leveraging, or deploying that into additional growth projects.

Speaker #16: Again, every project’s gonna have to compete for capital, but we do expect significant cash flows to accrue from the carbon monetization efforts.

Speaker #2: And I would add to that, you know, you can expect what I will call usual and customary operating expenses associated with that, that we'll be covered.

Speaker #2: But like Phil said, significant cash flows flow from that. We're not talking about a tax equity financing structure here. It is truly a monetization of the tax credits, so there will be no other takes off of those numbers.

Speaker #4: Okay, great. I appreciate that clarification. Maybe just for the follow-up, ahead of Target on the cost savings—you mentioned $50 million captured already.

Speaker #4: I was wondering if you could give us a sense of magnitude that you could potentially reach for the year?

Speaker #2: Jamie, do you want to take that? Chris, follow.

Speaker #4: Mm-hmm.

Speaker #2: up?

Speaker #17: You, you, you bet. Good morning. So, all stretches, our culture, and one of you heard this morning the operational excellence theme throughout. And embedded in that is a spirit of continuous improvement.

Speaker #17: And KPIs for every aspect of the business. And when I say every aspect of the business, that's operations, commercial, finance, all of the support functions. We've got to engage teams all across the system that are looking at everything from plant-based teams, looking at driving utilization rates, and at the same time, they've made significant progress reducing chemical and R&M spend.

Speaker #17: Our finance team is driving continuous improvements in the cash conversion cycle. Our internal IT team is continually looking at ways to streamline and simplify software and hardware utilization, decreasing expenses.

Speaker #17: So, in addition to these examples, all driven by highly engaged workgroups, we've got broader opportunities given that we're a leaner, more efficient company today.

Speaker #17: And one example of that is right here in Omaha, the building we're sitting in right now. We're marketing our space. So, the bottom line is we're taking a zero-based expense or zero-based approach to our expenses.

Speaker #17: We're forcing every dollar that we spend across the company to have an ROI associated with it. Yes.

Speaker #4: Yeah, and on top of that, you know, in terms of operational excellence opportunities, we still work on the blocking and tackling of running ethanol plants.

Speaker #4: And managing planned and unplanned downtime to improve overall plant utilization. We expect to continue to improve in that area going forward.

Speaker #2: Thank you, Jamie. Thank you, Chris. I would just add to that, as you can imagine, with the streamlining of our operations, there are processes that aren't needed anymore.

Speaker #2: We continue to test that and eliminate any stuff that's not necessary so that we can continue to be as efficient as possible and bring dollars to the bottom line.

Speaker #4: Great. Congrats on the progress thus far. Your next question comes from the line of Kristen Owen with Oppenheimer. Please go ahead.

Speaker #18: Good morning. Thank you for taking the question. So, Phil, you articulated some of the incremental upside on the carbon opportunity from ILUC and what you do on the rest of the platform.

Speaker #18: But I'm wondering how we should think upside on, say, corn oil, corn oil pricing versus some of the crosswinds that you're seeing on the protein side.

Speaker #18: Can you give us a date, now post-Farrellson sale, like what your corn oil production nameplate production capacity is and how we should think about EBITDA sensitivity to that number?

Speaker #2: Thank you, Kristen. Imre, would you like to respond to that, please?

Speaker #6: Yes, for sure. I think, as we alluded to it, the overall margin structure is pretty solid going forward. And with all the supporting components, corn oil, the export program.

Speaker #6: So we're, we're heading into, in, into, the next quarters with, with, with, with a good, good margin structure. Of course, leveraging the, the tailwinds.

Speaker #6: And, with cheap, flat prices of corn that we expect to continue, support us. You know, corn oil specifically is 100% going to our renewable diesel today.

Speaker #6: And, with the policy changes, that's a product that continues to be structurally supported because there's just a limited supply of that.

Speaker #6: I think when speaking of corn oil, the only risk that we see in terms of maybe not continuing to appreciate and perhaps declining a bit is if the soy complex trades lower.

Speaker #6: And that there's only one reason that would happen. And, and as the lack , trade agreements with China, I mean, you can just see you could see overnight how sensitive the market is to, to, comments about that, the complex rally just as, as the president, indicated that, that's a, that's a, that's commodity or, or that's a, that's a set of commodities that could be leveraged in those trade negotiations.

Speaker #6: So overall, very positive. The, the Chris, you can help me out on this one. The Farrelson joint venture did not contribute as much in terms of oil.

Speaker #6: In terms of revenues, there was some marginal contribution based on the agreement we had in that joint venture. It was primarily focused on protein. And, you know, we already talked about protein markets.

Speaker #6: They are more subdued because of the ample supply of competing ingredients. But of course, you know, we're going to be, in our corn oil yields, and corn oil production will continue to be strong.

Speaker #6: At the highest levels, and of course, by exiting the Farrelson joint venture, we will have less protein to sell. So we'll just manage the portfolio we had prior to that asset coming online.

Speaker #6: And that allows us to, to just, sorry, that allows us to better optimize our portfolio. Would less product...

Speaker #14: Yeah, and just to add to that, you know, I once again, as part of this operational excellence platform, we got focused teams monitoring performance of oil yield in plants on a daily basis and putting in corrective actions to boost that yield to what right now is the highest our platform has seen.

Speaker #14: And we still see upside on that. So that team will continue to work on driving the volume number up and creating value for the organization.

Speaker #2: Thank you for that. Just one, one follow-up question for me. This is our first quarter sort of seeing what bringing on Eco Energy has done for the business.

Speaker #2: A lot of moving pieces in the OPEX line. So, any early sort of learnings or proof points that you can share with us on that transition?

Speaker #2: Thank ou.

Speaker #14: I'll take that first. One of the key benefits that we've seen is the improvement in working capital. So, our finished goods inventory is lower and our accounts receivable are lower.

Speaker #14: We're achieving that $50 million or greater working capital benefit that we pointed to on the last call, which had occurred shortly after we had started putting that in place.

Speaker #14: So that has certainly driven some efficiencies, lowered our working capital borrowings, and lowered our working financing costs. And then we're also seeing just a greater level of efficiencies with regard to how we account for all of that in terms of the back office.

Speaker #14: So we've driven those efficiencies through the organization. In Q2, you see some of that come through the bottom line, but since we implemented it in April, you don't see a full quarter benefit from that.

Speaker #14: So that'll start coming through in the third quarter. And then, Imre, if there are any commercial points that you want to add, and how that structure's working, that'd be great.

Speaker #6: Yes, for sure. I, I, we're very excited about this arrangement and collaboration. I, I think on the commercial front, I mean, as you can imagine, initially, you know, the first few weeks, it was more operationally focused and just getting the process more efficient.

Speaker #6: We have, we continue to work on that, but right now, the focus is more on how we create value together and how this collaboration, Ben, will benefit both organizations.

Speaker #6: We're seeing already benefits in terms of reductions in supply chain costs, access to markets that we have not had access to, and a slight improvement in prices.

Speaker #6: back to our plants. And, and now, as you can imagine, the, the focus is entirely on making sure that as 45Z kicks in as carbon capture kicks in and 45Z kicks in for us, we seamlessly execute, in, to capture those benefits.

Speaker #6: So, I, it's just all high notes. I'm very excited about that collaboration and working together with Eco.

Speaker #2: Thank you.

Speaker #4: Your next question comes from the line of Eric Stein with Craig Hallum Capital Group. Please go ahead.

Speaker #19: Hi, everyone. Thanks for taking the questions.

Speaker #14: Good morning.

Speaker #19: Good morning. So maybe just starting on the 45Z, I mean, you've mentioned ongoing discussions and it sounds like progress to the point where you've got pretty good visibility into some near-term activity or things that you can share.

Speaker #19: You know, just curious, I mean, what does that potentially look like given that you are still waiting on Treasury guidance to dictate the value of those credits?

Speaker #19: You know, just any thoughts on that? I mean, is your commentary showing confidence that that guidance is soon? Or is it more nuanced than that?

Speaker #2: Thanks, Eric. Basically, I would say we're in a situation where the market does expect that guidance to occur. They do expect that guidance to occur.

Speaker #2: Sometime in the foreseeable future, by the end of the year. Depending upon who you talk to, you can get a different answer if it's coming this week, next week, or, you know, 12/31.

Speaker #2: I think you will see some sort of small differentiation between '25 and '26, generally related to the fact that there is a lack of guidance from Treasury.

Speaker #2: But nothing significant in terms of overall values is really how we are thinking about it.

Speaker #19: Got it. Okay. And then maybe the second one for me, just kind of high-level, when you think high proteins and you know, obviously, you talked about the market environment currently as it stands today and, you know, what maybe are your updated thoughts on the optimal mix between 50 Pro and Sequence.

Speaker #19: obviously, in some for some end markets, you're pushing higher than that, but, you know, would love to, kind of get an update on what our thoughts are going forward.

Speaker #2: Imre, you would take that, I see?

Speaker #20: Absolutely. I, I, I'll start with comments that have been made on this call by different team members here in terms of how we make decisions, you know, fact-based, doing the commercial and financial analysis of what our portfolio should look like.

Uh, working on on defining that. Now, of course, uh, where there's value is when you have strategic Partnerships. So once we build those strategic Partnerships, take Chilean salmon, for example, uh, then that's for the long term. So we're not going to be transactional, uh, with some of our, our customers, and that's 1 of the other goals is to continue to build out those strategic partnership with large pet food, uh, customers and large salmon feed, uh, companies so that we can build that long-term relationship that uh, that's higher margin and beneficial for both.

Uh, that's that's the commercial input. I don't know if Chris has anything to add from an operational side perspective or feel from it. Yeah, I I think uh um, in terms of operations, the more we've had opportunity to produce the 60 Pro sequence product, the better we've gotten at doing it and, uh, specifically with respect to managing change over and or campaigns of the product. Uh, we've gotten more precise in the process changes needed to get the Purity, uh, to the necessary level to make inspect product and in doing so we're effectively lowering the Opex cost of of making that sequins material. So that the more we make it the more effective we get at doing it and as a data driven organization, we'll make the best decisions for the uh product, mix for each plant that we have

Okay, thanks for the details.

The next question comes from the line of Matthew Blair with TPH. Please go ahead.

Uh, thank you and good morning. Um, sounds like hedging with a tailwind in Q2 could you, could you help us, uh, quantify the benefit there? What was there a gain? And then so far in the third quarter, are you able to disclose, you know, what kind of volumes you blocked in or what kind of EBITDA contribution you would expect in the third quarter? Thank you.

Go ahead. Emry.

All right, I'll start with that, um, you know, Q2, uh, uh, well, as we we also, we, as we alluded to it margins, picked up relatively slowly. I mean, we were expecting, uh, ah, uh,

Wasn't as huge in Q2 because margins were not as, as great. So, we did hedge on, for example, on days. When, when we had an opportunity to, uh, to lock in, uh, uh, you know, maybe a a few cents, higher margin. We, we also, uh, that's simple Crush, right? So that's the ethanol and price and ethanol, financials and corn Futures. So, uh, the volumes were not as huge like I said, because the margin, uh, simple question margin wasn't as attractive and it just continued to improve throughout the quarter. Uh, we did uh, uh, managed to stay. Uh uh, I'm not saying short, but we had a lot of unsalted corn oil position that as Corner appreciated in the second half of the uh of Q2 that helped uh that helped the enormously. Uh and and you can consider that as a hedge of not hedging, right? Or not selling flat price. Uh, and then our corn ownership uh, was at or or below Market. I think when you add it all together,

Uh, we had a, a, uh, a small benefit I think in Q2, but like I said, we we didn't uh, really hedge larger volumes because of that, uh, margin just not being, uh, at at levels that we, uh, we considered, uh, favorable in in Q2. Um, in terms of Q3, that's a whole different story. Uh, I think you guys followed the, the, the the market and simple Crush, things picked up, uh, quite a bit at the end of July, of course, is July is behind us.

But as margins, simple Crush appreciated.

Uh, we put on a lot more Edge. So we're we're saying, we said in our, our prepared remarks that are 65%, crushed, of course, July is done. So that's part of it. But at current levels, uh, or or as we were approaching current levels, uh, we, uh, we got a bit more aggressive. So we, uh, we logged in, uh, margins for, uh, uh, a good part of August, uh, in the last 2 weeks, uh, within the last 2 weeks, as well as some of September. Uh, and, and let's not forget, you know, we, we're, we're looking at a lot of different things. How the market is behaving, what are the fundamentals, uh, technical analysis, as well as what the corporate goals are in terms of, uh, in terms of different Financial threats thresholds to, uh, to uh, uh, help our, our our help, our earnings and, and, and um, and and, and that's why we're locking those in. But, you know, we're we're 2/3. Uh, closer to 70% in.

The in the last few days uh margin is logged in for the quarter at levels that are very close to where the market is today and and again just last comment, it's not just that simple, crush the ethanol price and foreign Futures. It's everything else you know, corn bought. Uh ddg is sold uh corn oil getting priced at uh at current levels that are that are very attractive.

that's,

Your next question comes from the line of Craig Irwin with Roth Capital Partners.

Please go ahead. Hey, good morning. My my questions around cash needs in the uh, the third quarter. So I guess last quarter you had the uh, the fifty million dollar benefit from uh,

Working capital from a marketing partner, and then you had the $26 million from Ren sales, and now we've got sales and the asset sale there. How does this factor as far as the sequential cash use in the third quarter relative to the first and second quarters?

Morning, Craig. Cash flow will continue to be positive based on current markets right now. So where we've seen Crush continue to expand, this is very positive for our overall cash flow situation. When I think about just base free cash flow for Q3 and Q4.

We should be, we should be strongly positive where we were. We were certainly negative in Q1, but that's turned around nicely in Q2. We're beginning to benefit, and Q3 and Q4 are much better than the first half of the year.

Okay, so then in the third quarter, we should include Geraldson as a $25 million positive contribution to cash flow, or is that part of the positive $25 million with the $50 million and $26 million that you showed us for the second quarter?

Uh know the the 23 23 24 million of of cash from Carlton that we mentioned has been received in July. So that'll come through as a positive cash in the in the third quarter, it was not part of the fifty million dollar working capital Improvement uh that we had. That was a result of the Eco energy transaction.

To spend a few years.

Um, it says that the market could probably get a little tighter, actually, over the next number of weeks. Um,

Can, can you maybe, um, give us color on what you're seeing in the export markets, you know, is this, um, tariff driven or, um, I guess trade deal dividend driven. Um, a lot of people don't really want to talk about the the trade deals, but uh, I guess if there's Market chatter out there and there's activity on people taking early early cargo set, that might be healthy. You know what color can you share with us about the uh about the export markets and why they're firming so rapidly?

Thanks Craig. Go ahead. Emry

Yes. Um, well certainly a bright spot, uh, uh, isn't it? Alright, uh, we are, it's just you when you look at, I mean, our our, our projections, for the year are around, you know, to reach 2.1 billion, that's up from 1.9 billion gallons from last year. And and uh, yes, there, there may be at 1 Point. There's been some early pool in terms of, uh, uh, you know, just just hedging against, uh, Terry. But, but that's really not the case. The case going forward, we, uh, we're seeing increased, um, uh, Imports of uh, or exports into Canada Imports by the Canadians. Uh India is up. Uh, the EU is up. Uh, UK is is

Is, um, it's kind of unchanged, but we expect that uh, to be higher and then than there are a lot of other customers. I I think the broader picture in my opinion, in our opinion is that that's, that's 1 product. I mean, if you look at the administration and all the trade Deals, they are negotiating, they they is what, what, what can the US, uh, export a lot of energy and and uh, and a lot of egg and I think that will continue to be a part of those negotiations. So I think, I think the, when you talk about how sustainable this export program is there is a there is a

A scenario and I think a likely scenario where we will maintain uh uh uh ah, ah, ah, strong export program going forward. And, uh, you made a comment about stocks can get tight. Yes, I mean, you need of course a bigger buffer when you when you're loading. Uh, those larger volumes for exports. And and we're getting uh we're heading into our fall maintenance here, very shortly. Uh, so yes, that's something we have to to watch the industry. Can certainly run at a higher rate to, uh, to satisfy those export demands. But but as demand grows, uh, uh, the industry will, of course be a lot more sensitive to supply disruptions. So, uh, I think, uh, you know, that's something that, uh, that that has to be uh, uh,

Taken into account, but just to summarize it, we expect our export program to be sustained.

Uh, going through the end of the year into next year and, uh, maybe with a with a, with a surprise to the upside, uh, if some of these trade negotiations, um, uh, uh, conclude, uh, and, and favor, um, uh, I don't know.

Great. And that the last 1, if I if I may, so if you have that much locked away in the third quarter, and we're seeing this kind of improvement, you should have very high visibility on your crush. Margins in the quarter, be able to frame out for us what a a reasonable EBT dice. But expectation could be for investors. Can you maybe get, um, quantitative for us or or toss out a range on on, on what you think is reasonable for Aid? Do performance for green planes in the third quarter.

Craig, as I mentioned earlier in the call, we expect Consolidated Crush margins to come in in the mid-teens.

July started off weaker, but we've seen Crest margins expand in August and September to levels that are similar to where we were for all of Q3 and the prior year. This is driven by what we're seeing in corn oil in the corn markets, along with strength on the ethanol side driven by all of these different factors that we've discussed.

So overall EBITDA margins, I'd call it somewhere in the mid-teens. I don't want to put an exact number on it, but we've got a good portion of that crushed and, based on what's on paper today, that's where we would land.

Great, thank you for that.

The next question comes from the line of Lawrence Alexander with Jefferies.

Please go ahead.

Margins, return on capital, cash, payback—any kind of metrics, and when we might be able to get them.

Um, you know, given like Shenandoah coming on next year and then the other planes towards the end of the decade.

Thanks.

Go ahead Chris. Yeah. Um, you know, with regard to CST, I just first want to reiterate that, you know, prior to idling the assets. At the beginning of the year, you know, the technology has been proven out to produce food grade, d95 syrup. And, uh, we have received all of the necessary food, safety certifications, for making food grade product.

Um, but with strengthening ethanol margins, what is the highest protein yield in our fleet of plants? You know we chose to run that Generation 1 ethanol plant at full capacity.

And, uh, in order to fully utilize the CST asset, we'll need to make an additional capital investment, um, in order to process.

Wastewater due to local municipality constraints.

You know, consistent with our capital allocation strategy, which is driven by financial returns, we'll make the appropriate decision on that asset here going forward and plan on revisiting it here in the summer of 2026.

But the Shinida plant team is really focused on.

Running the asset safely and at very high efficiency, and really they're in a position to capitalize on 45Z right now. So that's really what we're focused on delivering.

Thank you.

Your next question comes from the line of Kristen Owen with Oppenheimer.

Please go ahead.

Hi, thank you for allowing the follow-up. Um, it just seemed unfair not to, uh, to to give Jim the opportunity here. Um, so I, I did want to follow up on sort of what you've talked about in terms of the portfolio. Um, you know, thinking 3 to 5 years out, if you can help us understand what are you? Aligning gpre to be today. I mean, we've we've seen what's happened in the protein markets. We've seen, what's happened in the carbon markets? Are arguably. The um, the Outlook is much more favorable for you from a policy standpoint. So as you are thinking of through the Strategic review process, what you know how are you thinking about positioning the portfolio. It's 3 to 5 years from now. Thank you.

Well, thanks, Kristen. I actually will take that. Um, I appreciate the follow-up question. You know, the strategic review is comprehensive in how we are looking at things. But as we've talked about today, you know, we're committed to doing what we said we were going to do, and much of that includes walking before we run. And, you know, running out to that 3- to 5-year plan and where we're headed. Um, so right now, as you can see, we're focused—we're focused on execution, we're focused on streamlining, we're focused on profitability, and we're focused on building shareholder value, which that is where the team has been right now. As you can tell, since the beginning of the year, this company has changed dramatically. And so, as we now start to hit our stride with that focus, we are moving into the phase of launching into carbon and, you know, an excellent government program that has allowed us some unique opportunities that we are uniquely positioned in Nebraska to take advantage of.

So, our low CI biofuel strategy is mission critical to our 3 to 5 year outlook, and who we are as a company, as well as continuing to operate our Gen 1 assets safely and in the most efficient manner that brings value to our shareholders. Beyond that, we have to really digest all that we're doing today and where carbon can take us. Um, so that really is where our focus is right now. Um, more to come as we continue to work through this strategic review.

Process. As I noted, it continues to be active. But, as you can imagine, a strategic review process with the type of change our company has gone through can create all sorts of challenges as well as opportunities, which is why we continue to remain open to those opportunities for our shareholders. Sometimes, when you're trying to reach the best solution, it's not always the fastest solution, but we are committed to a disciplined process, just like we're disciplined in all aspects of our business.

Thank you.

Oh, now turn the call back over to Michelle Mapes for closing remarks. Please go ahead.

Thank you. I'd like to thank you all for your participation in today's call. If you have any follow-up questions that we were unable to answer, please reach out, and we will find time to connect. Thanks again.

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's call. Thank you all for joining, and you may now disconnect.