Cibus, Inc. (CBUS) Q1 2026 Earnings Report, Transcript and Summary

Good afternoon, and welcome to the Cibus First Quarter 2026 Earnings Call. [Operator Instructions] Please also note today's event is being recorded. At this time, I'd like to turn the conference over to Carlo Broos, Interim Chief Financial Officer. Sir, please go ahead.

Thank you, and good afternoon. I would like to thank you for taking time to join us for Cibus First Quarter 2026 Financial Results and Business Update Conference Call and Webcast. Presenting with me today is Peter Beetham, Co-Founder, Interim Chief Executive Officer, President and COO; and Greg Gocal, Co-Founder and our Chief Scientific Officer. Before we begin the call, I'd like to remind everyone that statements made on the call and webcast, including those regarding future financial results and future operational goals and industry prospects are forward-looking and may be subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the call. Please refer to Cibus SEC filings for a list of associated risks. This conference call is being webcast. The webcast link along with our press release and corporate presentation are available on the Investor Relations section of cibus.com to assist you in your analysis of our business. And with that, I would now like to turn the call over to Peter.

Thanks, Carlo, and good afternoon, everyone. I'm so pleased to report continued momentum toward our commercial goals across our priority programs during the first quarter of 2026. If I had to distill our message today into a single word, it would be execution. We raised significant capital over the last several months, approximately $37 million in gross proceeds across 2 public offerings. And we have immediately put that capital to work, advancing our commercial objectives for our priority programs. We are uniquely focused on changing the speed and scale of breeding. We're focused every day on moving materials through the system, advancing customer relationships and delivering on the milestones that we strongly believe will create value for our shareholders. 2025 was about building that foundation, which saw us sign up new seed company customers, establish material transfer agreements, complete pre-commercial pilot runs and importantly, position our priority programs for opportunities that Cibus is uniquely positioned to capitalize on. We executed on all those objectives, the mark of a successful year. Now in 2026, our focus has shifted to executing on the commercial opportunities ahead of us, getting material back into the hands of our customers, negotiating pricing and volume agreements and converting our pipeline into revenue-generating opportunities. In fact, just last week, we delivered gene edited rice with herbicide tolerant traits back to Interoc, a perfect example of our commercialization progress as it is an important step toward the deployment of our commercial launch plans for the Rice royalty business. We look forward to executing more planned transfers to our Latin American partners this year. So the backdrop for this work has never been more compelling. Today's agricultural landscape underscores the urgency and vital importance of our mission. Ongoing disruptions in global fertilizer supply chains, in terms of both nitrogen production, delivery and pricing are creating real financial challenges for farmers navigating the global geopolitical landscape, particularly in nitrogen-intensive crops within our portfolio like rice, wheat and canola. These disruptions highlight the significant value creation potential embedded across our trait development platform and reinforce why novel precision breeding solutions in elite seeds are essential to building a more resilient and productive agricultural system. Just remember, seeds are the engine room of production in agriculture. It is precisely why we exist to make each acre more productive. And this wave of disruption and uncertainty reemphasizes what we began to see earlier this year. The seed companies want to get more deeply integrated with our technologies rather than simply accessing a single trait. They are coming to us not for one edit in one crop, but to explore broader ongoing relationships where Cibus serves as a gene editing engine across their breeding programs. Last quarter, I described how that evolution may map to our economics. The important update is that we are now seeing it play out in practice. The commercial discussions we are having today, whether it relates to a trait license opportunity in rice, a fragrance scale-up with our CPG partner or a new partner-funded development program in wheat or canola, all flow through the same structure. Cibus makes the edit and Cibus retains part of the value created through royalties. What has changed is the pace. The number of active conversations, the depth of those conversations and the proximity to revenue are all meaningfully advanced from where they were when we last spoke in March. That is what gives me confidence that this model is not just well designed, it is working. Now I will dive into our priority pipeline updates, beginning with rice, where we have 7 active rice seed company customer relationships across LATAM and the United States, and we are advancing discussions with additional seed companies in new markets, including Brazil, with the support of RTDC, and Argentina. We are also continuing to explore opportunities in the large Indian rice market with support from RTDC and our partner, AgVaya. I'm really pleased to report that we are on track for our planned 2027 initial LATAM commercial launch. LATAM represents the primary thrust of our near-term efforts to build the rice business, representing the bulk of the $200 million annual addressable royalty opportunity across the Americas combined 5 million to 7 million peak addressable acres. With respect to the United States, over the past several weeks, we have refined our launch model with our chemistry partner, Albaugh. In the near term, Albaugh is working through its chemical registration workflow with regulators here in the U.S.A., which is a key gating item for our U.S. launch. While we have made great progress, the registration process for use of their clethodim herbicide in rice is behind the initial time line we were working against, which pushes the estimated U.S. launch from 2028 to 2029. The work we are doing right now with elite seed from partners must align with herbicide registration. So getting materials through the system and into the hands of our seed company partners is the critical path for success. In terms of our progress in Q1, in January, we executed a nonbinding letter of intent or LOI with Interoc, one of our lead Latin American seed partners, establishing a framework for the commercialization of co-developed herbicide-tolerant rice traits across key Latin American markets. This agreement targets initial market entry into Ecuador and Colombia in 2027, with phased expansion into Peru, Central America and the Caribbean, followed by U.S. expansion now in 2029. In March, Interoc received an additional import permit to allow for the transfer of material bearing our HT traits. This was an extremely important regulatory step that clears the path for us to begin delivering gene edited trait material into the seed system in Latin America. And in May, we executed delivery of completed gene edited materials in Interoc's elite rice germplasm. This transition facilitates the immediate commencement of production and brings us one step closer to an agreement with Interoc to launch Cibus-enhanced seed products into the Latin American agricultural markets. Turning now to Sustainable Ingredients. Last quarter, we reported receiving our first customer payment in Q4, representing a significant milestone. And as I shared with you last quarter, this sets us up to formalize our expanded partnership and target commercial scale production during 2026. The work on that front is progressing. I want to give you a sense of what that looks like inside the organization right now. With the successful scaling of our technology validated through our pre-commercial pilot runs and continued customer payments reinforcing that progress in Q1, the program is now firmly in a commercial ramp-up phase. The conversations we are having today are about further scale-up schedules, production volumes, pricing terms and finalization of product formulations with our CPG partner. We expect additional scale-up orders of our initial biofragrances in the second half of 2026, and development of additional fragrance products is underway using the same yeast platform that produce our initial products. This extensible feature of our platform is important. It means we are able to leverage our prior work rather than building from scratch each time we target a new sustainable bio fragrance. Stepping back, the addressable opportunity here is significant. The global fragrance market is estimated at over $65 billion. And when fully commercialized, we believe our natural biofragrance partnerships could represent up to a $20 million to $40 million annual royalty opportunity to Cibus. Our initial biofragrance royalties also serve as a near-term revenue bridge that will ramp as our rice royalty stream builds towards its 2027 LATAM launch. And it demonstrates something I think is underappreciated, the same core competencies that enable developing herbicide tolerance in rice is creating commercial value in the vast consumer products industry and is driving discussions across our entire opportunity pipeline. Beyond biofragrances, we also continue to advance our partner-funded crop-based oleic oils program as part of the broader Sustainable Ingredients portfolio. And finally, I should note that the regulatory environment continues to be a tailwind at a moment when it matters most. As global supply chains face disruption and farmers look for new solutions, the doors for precision breeding are opening in the jurisdictions that matter. The EU's political agreement on New Genomic Techniques legislation is advancing with the EU Environment Committee, ENVI, and the European Commission formally endorsing language, which sets up the Parliament for a vote in the upcoming plenary session. Within Latin America, Ecuador has confirmed that our HT1 and HT3 rice traits are equivalent to those developed through conventional breeding, which is directly enabling our LATAM launch time line. And Peru has followed with a similar determination. Remember, in the United States, we now have a total of 17 positive USDA-APHIS determinations. Our teams have been active players in these regulatory conversations for decades, and I want to emphasize the commercial significance of this momentum we are seeing. Regulatory harmonization across these jurisdictions is not just a policy headline, it is what is driving the commercial conversations we are having right now with seed companies across 3 continents. Without it, the technology readiness would not matter. With it, we have an increasingly clear runway. I will now pass the call over to Greg to discuss the opportunity pipeline traits and programs. Greg?

Thank you, Peter. I'll focus my remarks today on the key technical milestones that support our priority programs and our broader opportunity pipeline. Our scientific progress is directly enabling the commercialization momentum Peter described. In rice, last fiscal year, we achieved an order of magnitude improvement in editing efficiency, the results of systematic optimization across reagents, cell culture conditions, delivery mechanics and regeneration. We're compounding those gains through rapid deployment and strategic application of AI and machine learning, which is accelerating target identification, improving the precision of predictive edit outcomes and feeding continuous learnings back into each new campaign. The result is a trait machine process that is faster, more scalable and more consistent than ever. Combined with our semi-automated workflows and robotic assistance, we now have the throughput to support the kind of deeper ongoing partnerships Peter outlined, functioning not just as a trait provider, but as an editing capability, complementing our customers' breeding programs. Shifting to our opportunity pipeline programs, I'll keep my remarks focused on how the current environment is accelerating interest in what we've built. Peter described the disruption that farmers are facing. What I want to walk you through is why our pipeline is uniquely positioned to meet that moment, starting with nutrient use efficiency. Our nutrient use efficiency collaboration with the John Innes Centre has always been one of strategic importance in our pipeline, but the current environment makes the case even more clearly. Remember, only about 1/3 of applied nitrogen fertilizer is typically absorbed by plants. In a world where nitrogen supply is constrained and costs are rising, a trait that improves that uptake presents an amplified value proposition. And it has multi-crop potential within our portfolio across rice, wheat and canola. This is exactly the kind of complex biological challenge our RTDS platform was designed to solve. And it is exactly the kind of trait that generates significant commercial interest when farmers are under pressure. In canola, we have several important developments to report. Work is now underway on the DEFRA-funded consortium within our U.K. farming innovation program, where we are the gene editing partner applying our RTDS platform to develop durable resistance to Light Leaf Spot disease in oilseed rape. The program is advancing as planned with an initial funding contribution expected in 2026. On Pod Shatter Reduction, following 2 years of encouraging U.K. field trials in customer germplasm, we are preparing to plant this fall in the U.K. under the Precision Bred Organisms framework. This is a significant commercial catalyst and is top of mind for seed companies we are working with in Europe. On our wheat platform, we've previously disclosed successfully regenerated plants from single cells in a wheat cultivar. Single cell regeneration is the gateway to applying our full RTDS editing capability in a new crop. Having accomplished that, the entire trait development process for that crop opens up. This, in turn, spurs opportunity for future partner-funded development in one of the world's most cultivated crops. And as the European regulatory landscape becomes clearer, we're seeing increased interest. And in soybean, we continue to build on last year's successful edit for the HT2 trait, continuing our soybean platform development in conjunction with the Sustainable Ingredients program. The regeneration in wheat mirrors the actions we aim to make in soybean once the platform is operational and represents the potential to accelerate trait development in one of the world's most cultivated crops. The key message I want to leave with you is this, our RTDS platform is performing across multiple crops and increasingly complex traits. Every one of these pipeline programs is available for partnership. And together, they represent significant optionality for the business. And with that, I'll hand the call over to Carlo for the financial update. Carlo?

Thank you, Greg. Looking at our financials for the first quarter. Cash and cash equivalents as of March 31, 2026, was $30.3 million. During the quarter, we completed 2 public offerings, raising $22.3 million in gross proceeds in January and approximately $15 million in gross proceeds in March. Taking into account the net proceeds from these offerings and the impact of our implemented cost-saving initiatives, we expect that existing cash and cash equivalents are sufficient to fund planned operating expenses and capital expenditure requirements into late in the first quarter of 2027. Moving now to our operating results for the first quarter. Research and development expense was $8.7 million, compared to $11.8 million in the year ago period. The $3.1 million decrease is primarily due to cost reduction initiatives. SG&A expense was $5.1 million, compared to $9.9 million in the year ago period. The $4.8 million decrease is primarily due to a $3 million litigation expense in the first quarter of 2025 as well as cost reduction initiatives. Combined, operating expenses declined by nearly $8 million year-over-year, and we remain on target to deliver annual net cash usage of approximately $30 million or less during 2026. Royalty liability interest expense related parties was $9.1 million, compared to $8.4 million in the year ago period. The $0.7 million increase is due to the recognition of interest expense on the accumulating royalty liability. Net loss was $21.2 million for the quarter, compared to $49.4 million in the year ago period. Net loss per share of Class A common stock was $0.33, compared to $1.34 in the year ago period. The improvement was primarily driven by a noncash goodwill impairment in the prior year, which accounted for approximately $0.57 in net loss per share of Class A common stock as well as the impact from our cost reduction initiatives and an increase in weighted average shares outstanding. The big picture here is that our streamlining efforts are translating directly to the P&L. Our runway is supported by the capital we raised in the quarter, and our focus remains on near-term revenue execution by Sustainable Ingredients. And with that financial overview, let me now turn it back to Peter for his closing remarks.

Thank you, Carlo, and thank you, Greg. Let me close by putting the quarter in context. On our last call, I laid out what 2026 would look like. We would be advancing toward a definitive agreement with Interoc, expanding our biofragrance partnerships, seeing important regulatory momentum in the EU, witnessing continued progress in our opportunity pipeline and demonstrating disciplined cost management execution. Today, I'm really pleased with where we stand against those objectives. The Interoc letter of intent sets the framework for our pending definitive agreement. Our Sustainable Ingredients program is moving toward commercial scale. The regulatory advances are as we expected. Our opportunity pipeline is generating new engagement with potential partners. And our cost discipline is translating to the P&L. In an environment where farmers worldwide are looking for answers to some of the most fundamental challenges in agriculture, I believe Cibus is in the right place with the right technology at exactly the right time. There is more work ahead of us, but the trajectory is clear, and I'm proud of what our team is building. Operator, we're now ready to take questions.

[Operator Instructions] Our first question today will come from Matthew Venezia with AGP.

So first one, in the PR, you guys have a bullet about the amendment to your current contract with your Sustainable Ingredients partner to expand the R&D activities there. Can you give us a little color into whether that's related to the biofragrance program or Sustainable Ingredients in soy or both? And what those increased revenues might look like? And then I have a follow-up.

Thank you, Matt. We are excited to put this in the press release because it is an extension of the hard work the team has been doing in the Sustainable Ingredients area. It is to do with the soybean oleic oils. And so with that, I think that -- the activities that we've been doing have been expanding that area and really making great advances. And the upshot of that is that we've seen the ability to amend that contract and have an expansion as part of our R&D revenue going forward. And I'll hand it to Carlo to add any additional color.

No, I think that's spot on, Peter. When you look at the last quarter, there was also some extra work done and that was recognized by a partner, and that's why we had a catch-up payment in this quarter. That's also why you see our revenue going up. Just happy with that recognition. Hope that covers it, Matt?

Great. Yes. Sorry, I don't know if you guys can hear me. I think my connection is a little off. But in terms of the burn rate right now. Is this where you guys are expecting it to level off? Or are you expecting it to go a little bit lower even further into the back half of this year? And then if you can give just a little bit more color on the delay in the launch for rice in the U.S., I know you mentioned the herbicide labeling process, but if you can give color if that's kind of more on Albaugh's side and if you have a lot of control over the time line there at all. So those 2 would both be helpful.

Yes. Let me start. Thanks for the question. So first, on the burn. So we're working towards that target to be on a net annualized burn of $30 million or less, and we're in a transition. The reorg was late in quarter 1. So you can imagine there's triple effect into even the second quarter. So what you will see happening is that the burn goes down from quarter 1 to quarter 2, and that we're in better shape in quarter 3 and quarter 4. I suspect in quarter 3 and 4, we are very close to the targets we have mentioned so far.

Thanks, Carlo. Let me follow on with your second question, Matt. What I would like to -- everyone to remember is the Latin American market in our rice herbicide tolerance royalty business really is the bulk of our $200 million opportunity. The U.S. is smaller acres. It is a higher dollar per acre, but it really is quite small compared to the Latin American market. And where we are with the primary thrust in Latin America, and that's why we're excited about getting material back to our customers really is -- when it comes to the U.S. shift that we've discussed today, Latin America will be in the commercial full swing by then. So really, what this update shares is that we're really sharpening the commercial plan rather than weakening it. And I think it's really important to understand that with Albaugh, we've been working closely with them on clethodim registration over rice and it is a gating item to the commercial launch, but it doesn't constrain any of our other initiatives in the platform. And that when it comes to the time lines on chemical registration, working with the regulators in the U.S., there's a number of gap analysis that you have to do. And so the good news is we've really refined that process, and so we're really confident of, now, the time line between here and '29. Hopefully, that answered your question.

Yes. No, very helpful. Congrats on the progress and skew toward commercialization.

Our next question will come from Sameer Joshi with H.C. Wainwright.

Just a few quick ones. For the biofragrances customer, like who is the -- can you give us a flavor of what the end product is and who the end customers are for these biofragrances? Are these multiple fragrances or a particular type of fragrance?

So thank you for the question. Look, the exciting thing about our fragrance work is that it is part of a huge global fragrance market. We've mentioned it, the $65 billion global fragrance market. And we're really working on and validating the commercial scale-up right now. And look, where we are, which is exciting is that we're really understanding the scale-up schedules, the production volumes, the pricing terms and the finalization of product formulations. We have not announced what the product formulations will be. And as we deliver that in the second half of the year, we'll keep you updated on that front. But the reality is that we're continuing that discussion around the really important commercial ramp-up agreements, but also the scale of that production in the second half of 2026. Really exciting for us because understanding that this is not just a one-off. There's -- we believe we can use the platform, which is extensible, this yeast platform to leverage our prior work to build additional fragrances into this marketplace.

Okay. And then sort of a similar question on the ingredients portfolio. You mentioned you're working on several leads on that front. What is the potential market size of the opportunities that you're pursuing right now? And maybe also give us a sense of what kind of compounds or what kind of molecules are you working on?

Thanks for the question. Let me share sort of in general terms, we're looking at Sustainable Ingredients that are fantastic with regards to replacing ingredients that have limited volume upside. And we've talked about oleic oils as one of the areas that we're being focused on. And that supply chain, as we know right now, are always tested. And I think in agriculture, the backdrop of where we are geopolitically have had impacts. And so for us, when we're working with customers and potential clients in the future, we're looking at other sources, more sustainable sources, more consistent around that area of Sustainable Ingredients. And crops hold a great opportunity to build that out. And understanding that seeds and seed genetics using the Cibus technology, as Greg pointed out, we are the perfect technology for complex editing that allow you to get to those sorts of new characteristics in crops. That's -- hopefully, that helps on some of the overview of your question.

Our next question will come from Alex Hantman with Sidoti & Company.

Congrats on the quarter. First question, just on rice. So now that Interoc has received additional import permit and you've transferred gene edited traits in their rice seeds. Could you talk a little bit about the remaining gating items before full commercial agreements and sort of the pacing of LATAM commercialization then based on that?

Thanks, Alex. Great question. Look, we -- that's what's exciting for us, getting part of the execution that I've talked about, and 2026 is all about commercial execution, is getting our edited materials that are in their elite genetics. We've done earlier transfers to start the deployment of rice herbicide tolerance into Latin America. But getting their elite genetics into their hands starts the whole deployment. In other words, there's a number of steps that are involved in that is getting their materials into production. And over the next 18 months, there will be a number of milestones that we'll announce over our reporting that will get it to registered seed, certified seed that then will go into a launch in 2027. The difference with Interoc in Latin America is the chemical registration is going concurrently. And we see a clear path to both that and the seed being ready in the latter half of 2027.

Great context. And then just on the finances, so given the runway that you've spoken about, I'm curious how you think about the company's preference for sort of financing ahead of commercialization milestones and getting a timing buffer versus waiting for additional derisking events like the partnership agreements you've been accruing or the scale-up orders that it sounds like you're marching well towards.

Thank you, Alex. Let me start and then Peter can fill me in. I think the good news is, it's $37 million gross in the first quarter. So over $33 million net. And as you've read, that gives us runway into the first quarter of 2027, commercial revenue starting this year, ramping up pretty material in '27. So the question is, is there still a gap? And how do you want to bridge that gap? And I don't think that's any different than it has been before. So I think a couple of ways to bridge such a gap. I think most important is that commercial revenue start this year and '27 looks good. So we'll -- yes, we have sufficient time to plan for that, Alex.

At this time, there are no further questions in queue. I will now turn the meeting back to Mr. Beetham for any additional or closing remarks.

Thank you so much. As I stated, 2026 is all about execution. We've laid the foundation for a global commercial trait royalty machine, and we are on the verge of unleashing this coiled spring, and I feel really good about that. Not only that, I am so proud to lead this team into this commercial phase and really look forward to work with this great team, and you're going to see us deliver over the next few years. So what I'd like to do is thank you all for joining today on this call. And as I said earlier, we believe Cibus is in the right place with the right technology at exactly the right time. And with that, I thank you all again for joining.

Thank you. This brings us to the end of today's meeting. We appreciate your time and participation. You may now disconnect.