Andrew Littlefair
Analyst · Rob Rowe with Lake Street Capital Markets. Please proceed with your question
Thank you, Bob. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us. The second quarter of this year demonstrated that our continued focus on increasing our fuel volume proved to be fruitful with an 11% increase over the same quarter in 2018.We deliver just shy of 100 million gallons in the second quarter which equates to 1.1 million gallons of natural gas fuel being delivered to our customers across the country every day of the quarter.To put the growth and acceptance of natural gas fueling in perspective, we delivered 700,000 gallons of fuel in our first full year of business and almost entirely in one state. Our financial performance continues to improve through the second quarter as well with $72.3 million in revenue which is slightly up over a year ago.But what I would point out is that our operating results continue to improve as we add volumes on lower operating interest cost, which in the second quarter resulted in positive operating cash flow. What is propelling our fuel volume growth is that more, more customers are realizing the incredible benefits of renewable natural gas.You've heard me report multiple times that are Redeem branded RNG is an easy way for fleets to capture tremendous environmental benefits both long-term carbon reduction and short-term pollution at our existing natural gas fueling infrastructure while remaining highly competitive with fleets operating on diesel.One of the most significant advancements and the acceptance of RNG is the announcement that UPS made in the second quarter that they would be purchasing 170 million gallons of Redeem from us through 2026 making the largest RNG vehicle fuel purchased ever.The significance of this move by UPS, one of the largest logistics companies in the world and a company that has been at the forefront in aggressively finding ways to operate in a more environmentally sustainable way cannot be overstated.By expanding their use of the world's cleanest fuel to 18 existing UPS natural gas stations in 12 different states around the country, UPS should realize a reduction of 1,074,000 metric tons of greenhouse gases over the life of the agreement. This is the equivalent to planting 17 million trees or removing 228,000 cars off the road.It is important to note that all this additional RNG volume is in states outside of California, where UPS is already used 28 million gallons to operate their California fleets since switching to RNG in 2014.These significant environmental savings by UPS including major reductions in greenhouse gases are being achieved today, not years in the future like other alternatives such as electrical problems [ph].With this broad expansion of the use of RNG, UPS is demonstrating that a company can easily switch to a fuel to operate thousands of heavy-duty trucks around the country, while staying highly competitive in assuring quality and timely service for their customers. Most recent UPS deal is a great example of Redeem being used in a heavy-duty truck application, but all our transportation segments are embracing the fuel.During the last quarter we also signed a significant agreement was Santa Monica's Big Blue Bus to continue to supply the transit agencies 200 buses with Redeem in one of the most environmentally conscious cities in the country.The deal represents over $2.3 million gallons of Redeem a year. We have recently expanded the availability of Redeem to the New York City area by opening the City's first RNG publicly accessible station in the South Bronx.Redeem is now being used by a variety of vehicles including heavy-duty trucks, beverage delivery trucks and service vehicles. Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority is recommitting to its use of Redeem by replacing older CNG buses with 100 CNG buses and upgrading another 125 with the new Commons new Zero engines.These new buses will be in operation for up to 12 years demonstrating that the transit agency likes their experience with RNG and the environmental benefits it brings. LA Metro has also announced that they will increase their use of RNG for their CNG buses from 50% to a 100% by next year.ABM aviation one of the country's largest aviation services companies expanded their fleet of natural gas vehicles to help move passengers around LAX, while the airport undergoes a massive remodel. Clean Energy is expected to provide ABM with 180,000 gallons Redeem for these new vehicles.Other transit agencies and solid waste companies continue to expand their use of Redeem or sign up for it for the first time during the second quarter allowing Redeem to get close to the 50% mark of Clean Energy's overall vehicle transportation fuel mix.This put us on track to achieve our goal of providing 100% of our vehicle fleet customers with redeem, which will translate into tremendous amount reduction in greenhouse gases, all at competitive price to diesel and no disruption in operation.I will also note that this impressive growth in our RNG product was done at a time when the prices of RINs, the environmental credits generated under the federal renewable fuel standard by dispensing RNG product in the vehicles was very low, over 70% lower than a year ago.We believe that RIN pricing will begin to strengthen later this year and in the next year as the EPA sets the upcoming renewable volume obligations or RVO. And if so the upside should be substantial.A segment that is expected to fuel the growth of our overall volume and Redeem in particular is a heavy-duty truck market. As I reported last quarter our new Zero Now Financing program has begun to show results. Orders for heavy-duty trucks began earlier this year and continue at a nice pace.We are in discussions with dozens of the country's largest trucking companies about how they can take advantage of this offer to expand their fleets with the new trucks equipped with the latest generation of the Cummins 12-litre engine, which reduces NOx by over 90%.I'm also pleased to announce that some of the companies have begun to take delivery of the first 100 trucks equipped with a new engine and will fuel a Clean Energy stations with Redeem. Many of these firms took part in a pilot program run at the Port of Los Angeles and Long Beach to test an early version of the new Cummins 12-liter new Zero engine.I'm pleased to say that the year-long test program was a success demonstrated by the fact that the companies that participated have the confidence in the performance of the engines to order more trucks. Another bit of information from the ports that I would like to pass along is that Clean Energy recently completed the station within the Port of Los Angeles to fuel terminal tractors equipped with the new Cummins engine.This is part of a program sponsored by the Port of LA and the California Energy Commission in their ongoing effort to clean up the dirtiest air in the country. Grant was given for the purchase of 20 new natural gas terminal trucks and for the fueling station. And by the way, grant of the same amount was given to a Chinese manufacturer of large electric vehicles for trucks and a charging station.And it's worth noting that with the same amount of money only three EV trucks will eventually be delivered once the charging station is operational versus 20 natural gas trucks that have been begun to fuel at our station.This is a great anecdote and helps to explain why there was a headline in the trucking trade publication earlier this week that said, "natural gas truck sales surge even as electric trucks get the high hype".With driver shortages, tariffs and other obstacles facing trucks in logistics firms, there was only one alternative they can choose that won't give them added cost and additional headache as they look for ways to meet stricter emission standards and that is natural gas.All-in-all, the second quarter was very productive. And the momentum continues in our business across the board as we improve our financial position. We are keeping our SG&A expense and capital level spending at levels that will allow us to exploit our volume growth with higher margins. Our interest expense is down 60% from year ago and our cash position is strong.And with that, I will turn the call over to Bob for more details.