Local Bounti Corporation (NYSE:LOCL) Q1 2023 Earnings Conference Call May 10, 2023 8:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Jeff Sonnek - SVP, ICR

Craig Hurlbert - Co-Founder, Co-CEO & Chairman

Travis Joyner - Co-CEO & Director

Brian Cook - President

Kathleen Valiasek - CFO

Conference Call Participants

Colin Rusch - Oppenheimer

Benjamin Klieve - Lake Street Capital Markets

Chris Barnes - Deutsche Bank

Brian Wright - ROTH MKM

Operator

Good morning, and welcome to the Local Bounti's First Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions].

At this time, I'd like to turn the conference over to Jeff Sonnek, Investor Relations at ICR. Please go ahead.

Jeff Sonnek

Thank you, and good morning. Today's presentation will be hosted by Local Bounti's Co-CEOs, Craig Hurlbert and Travis Joyner; President, Brian Cook; and Chief Financial Officer, Kathleen Valiasek.

The comments made during today's call contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements other than statements of historical facts are considered forward-looking statements. These statements are based on management's current expectations and beliefs as well as a number of assumptions concerning future events. Such forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements. Some of these risks and uncertainties are identified and discussed in the company's filings with the SEC.

We'll also refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures today. Please refer to the press release, which can be found on our Investor Relations website, investors.localbounti.com, for reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures to their most directly comparable GAAP measures.

With that, I'd now like to turn the call over to Craig Hurlbert, Co-CEO. Craig?

Craig Hurlbert

Thank you, Jeff, and good morning, everyone. We started 2023 on a strong note with the first quarter performance that was consistent with our plan. As we move into the second quarter, our growing operations are progressing nicely. Most recently, with the completion of our Georgia 6-acre greenhouse facility in April and the advancement of our new facilities in Texas and Washington. But perhaps most importantly, we put the financial resources in place to support our business for the long term. This was no small feat given the current economic environment.

As we communicated on our last earnings call, we expanded our credit facilities with Cargill by up to $110 million with simultaneously relieving cash needs to fund our operations. Just last week, we built upon that support with the closing of a $35 million sale leaseback transaction. This cash, combined with the cash available from our Cargill amendment, provides us with approximately $58 million of accessible cash to run our operations and scale up our business with the intent to reach breakeven adjusted EBITDA by the end of 2024 or early 2025. Our entire team continues to push our national platform ahead into the future, constantly learning from our own trials and the mistakes of others to become the most capital-efficient CEA platform in the industry. Travis will speak to some of the operational gains that we are realizing with our Stack & Flow Technology in Georgia today and also speak to some additional productivity levers that we will be implementing in the future. These are extremely exciting advancements which demonstrate our unique ability to squeeze the most out of our assets to maximize revenue and cash flow while delivering long-lasting, delicious and sustainably grown products to over 10,000 locations nationwide. Our Stack & Flow Technology continues to underpin our business model as the optimal capital-efficient tool to enhance crop turns and maximize return on investment across a variety of CEA approaches.