Mark H. McKinnies
Analyst · Colin Rusch from Northland Capital Markets
Thanks, Mike, and good afternoon, everyone. Thanks for joining us. Turning now to Slide #9 in the package. We highlight our RC segment results, which are consistent of the consolidation of the financial results of Clean Coal Solutions LLC or Clean Coal. During the third quarter of 2013, we had 10 facilities producing RC, 7 of the total were leased or sold to third-party RC investors and 3 were operated by Clean Coal and retained for its own account, with one of those being leased just this last October, last month. The 3 operated by Clean Coal generated tax credits for ADA of approximately $2.9 million during the quarter, which we expect to offset future tax expense. As we have mentioned before, when clean coal operates an RC facility for its own use, it records the purchase and sale of coal at approximately $20 to $40 per ton, incurs operating expenses of approximately $3 per ton of coal treated and generates approximately $7.50 per ton in total tax benefits. Because we provide an allowance -- a valuation allowance for all of our deferred tax assets, our share of those tax benefits are not shown in the financial statements. When an RC facility is leased or sold to an investor, Clean Coal recognizes revenues and receives ongoing payments from the RC investors. But from that point forward, it does not incur the coal purchase cost or the related operating cost. Total RC revenues were $55.8 million during the third quarter of 2013 and included rental and other income of $20.3 million from facilities leased or sold and $35.5 million in revenue from the resale of coal produced by those RC facilities operated by Clean Coal. During the quarter, gross profit from the RC segment was $16.2 million or 29% of the RC revenues compared to just $2.9 million or 4% during the third quarter of 2012. Gross margin adjusted to exclude the coal sales, raw coal purchases and retained tonnage operating expense was $19.3 million for the third quarter of 2013 versus $11 million for the third quarter of 2012, representing 95% and 99%, respectively, of the adjusted RC revenues for the applicable period. Please note the non-GAAP measure reconciliation comments on this slide and in the appendix. Looking at the operating statistics shown on the lower section of Slide 9 for the third quarter of 2013. 10 operating RC facilities produced a total of 6.3 million tons. 5.3 million of these tons were produced at RC facilities leased or sold to third-party investors, and 1 million tons were produced at RC facilities retained by Clean Coal for its own account, generating tax credits for its owners. This compares to a total of 5.3 million tons treated in the third quarter of 2012 and 3.8 million tons in the second quarter of 2013. We expect to see higher RC production in the fourth quarter, given the expectation of starting several RC facilities during the final quarter of this year. Turning to Slide #10. We highlight our Emission Control or EC segment activities, which provide the equipment, chemicals and services to help our customers meet existing and upcoming emission regulations. EC revenues in the third quarter were $14.5 million, which were up over 300% from the same period in 2012 due primarily to increased equipment revenues as we progress on the contracts awarded in response to the MATS rule. EC segment gross margin of 18% was lower than the 23% in the year ago period, primarily reflecting a different product mix in the quarter, giving our percentage of completion of revenue recognition accounting and an evolving mix of jobs won and products produced results in the segment maybe somewhat lumpy when comparing quarterly periods. However, we expect to report continued growth, with the medium-term gross margins in this segment to be about 20%. As of September 30, 2013, we had contracts in progress for work related to our EC segment totaling approximately $56.6 million, up from $33.2 million as of the end of June 30, 2013. Turning to Slide #11. We highlight our CO2 capture segment that represents DOE and industry-supported development and demonstration contracts. Revenues during the third quarter of 2013 increased significantly to $4.3 million due to moving in to the construction phase of the project. We had DOE contracts, including anticipated industry cost share and the progress totaling approximately $4.3 million as of the end of September 2013. We expect to recognize a total of about $1.2 million from these contracts in the remainder of this year and the balance next year. Turning to Slide #12. We provide a summary of our consolidated financial performance in 2013. I'd like to provide some additional color in some areas. Consolidated revenues and cost of goods sold in all the periods seen on this slide include the purchase and sale of coal for the retained RC facilities, which is a 0 margin pass-through. Excluding the coal sales revenues, our consolidated revenues were up 155% from the same quarter last year and up 44% from the second quarter of this year. SG&A expenses, which totaled $9 million in the quarter compared to $5.2 million in the same quarter in 2012 and $8.1 million in the second quarter of 2013. The increase from last quarter of 2013 reflects inclusion of the noncash cost for the executive long-term incentive plan awards that were put in place in May of this year and increases in other compensation and professional service amounts recognized during the quarter. The increase from the prior year includes amounts incurred by BCSI, which acquired the assets of Bulk Conveyor Specialist Inc. in August last year, higher amounts from Clean Coal and overall increases in overhead due to increases in our staff and expansion of our corporate facilities. Also, I'd like to point out that our income statement reflects the cost of operating those RC facilities that are incurred by Clean Coal for its own use of $3.1 million for the quarter. Year-to-date, ADA's share of tax credits earned from those operations was more than $11.5 million. As noted before, the tax benefits from these credits is not recognized in our present financials as we record a valuation allowance for all our deferred tax assets. Below the operating line -- income line, we report the following for the third quarter: income of $547,000 from our equity interest and the net income of Clean Coal Solutions Services, LLC, which is our 50% owned joint venture that provides personnel and administration for the routine operations at the RC facilities; and other expense of $430,000 that includes ongoing royalties paid as part of the settlement of the Norit arbitration that was reached back in 2011. Also shown along the blank income tax line is a subtraction of $6.3 million for the income attributable to the noncontrolling interest of Clean Coal for the quarter. For the third quarter of 2013, our net income was $1.6 million or $0.16 per basic and diluted share compared to a net loss of $3.9 million or $0.39 per share for 2012. Cash flow provided by operations for the quarter was $14.2 million compared to cash provided by operations of $7.7 million for the same period last year. Our consolidated cash position as of September 30 was $14.7 million, which does not include the $1.6 million we hold in certificates of deposit to support letters of credit and the more than $6 million in cash received by Clean Coal in late October in upfront payments from the new RC leased. During the quarter, Clean Coal made cash distributions of approximately $12.4 million to our JV partners. Our financial position remains solid and has been bolstered by the upfront lease payments received as part of the recent RC leases. In addition, ADA secured a $10 million line of credit that we are using for letters of credit needs for our rapidly growing Emission Control equipment business. As Mike noted, we are taking steps in Clean Coal to accelerate the pace of closing leases. This means commencing operations with those RC facilities as soon as practical and often likely in advance of a leasing transaction. For many -- the many M-45-PC units we expect, this also means -- may mean installing chemical storage to reduce ongoing cost that could amount to $1 million per facility. With the present level of rental income, Clean Coal has the necessary resources to fund the chemical and startup activities. However, devoting funds to these activities may mean lesser amounts available for distribution of the JV partners. Of course, these types of expenditures are more than offset by the upfront payments Clean Coal typically receives when a leased transaction closes. We expect to see lower distributions from the JV through the early part of 2014 as a result of these acceleration efforts. Although our working capital deficit was $15.3 million at September 30, such amount includes as liabilities current deferred revenues totaling $50.2 million and has been steadily improving. The current deferred revenues generally represent cash received or milestone billings outstanding that we expect to recognize as revenue in the next 12 months. However, such amounts negatively impact our overall working capital as they are recorded as current liabilities. Long-term liabilities totaled $20.8 million, which amount also includes $17.2 million of deferred revenues, and stockholders’ deficit totaled approximately $46.1 million at quarter end. With that, operator, would you please open the call for questions?