RiceBran Technologies Reports Full Year 2015 and Q4 Financial Results

SCOTTSDALE, Arizona, March 30, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- RiceBran Technologies (NASDAQ: RIBT and RIBTW) (the "Company" or "RBT"), a global leader in the production and marketing of value added products derived from rice bran, today announced the Company's financial results for both the full year and the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2015.

Q4 2015 Financial Highlights

Revenues: Consolidated revenues for Q4 2015 were $9.9 million compared to $10.7 million in the same quarter of the prior year. USA segment revenue increased to $6.3 million, up 15% from $5.5 million in Q4 2014. Brazil segment revenue declined from $5.2 million in Q4 2014 to $3.6 million in Q4 2015 due principally to a decline in the value of the Brazilian currency.

Gross Profit: Consolidated Q4 2015 gross profit improved by 200% to $2.7 million compared to $ 0.9 million in Q4 2014 with USA segment gross margins reaching 34.9% and Brazil segment improving to 14.5%.

Positive Adjusted EBITDA: Company achieved $650,000 in consolidated positive adjusted EBITDA in Q4 2015 with positive contributions from both the USA and the Brazil segments, compared to an adjusted EBITDA loss of ($1.6 million) in Q4 2014, an improvement of more than $2.2 million quarter over quarter.

Net Loss: Q4 2015 consolidated net loss narrowed to ($1.4 million), a 56% improvement  compared to a consolidated net loss of ($3.2 million) recorded in Q4 2014.

Full year Financial Highlights

Revenues: Full year 2015 consolidated revenues were essentially unchanged at $40 million as a 36% increase in local currency revenues year-over-year was offset by a 28% decline in Brazil's currency exchange rate.

Gross Profit:  Full year 2015 consolidated gross profit increased by 81% to $8.1 million compared to $4.5 million in 2014 reflecting gross profit improvements in both the USA and the Brazil segments.

W. John Short, CEO and President, commented: "For  full year  2015 we delivered a significant improvement in consolidated bottom line results despite essentially flat revenues resulting from (i) a major repositioning for future growth of our largest USA Segment customer; and (ii) the severe macroeconomic and currency challenges we faced in Brazil throughout the year.  In our USA Segment, our largest customer moved into new space to support future growth, reformulated its entire product line for relaunch in Q1 2016 and worked off inventory of legacy products throughout the second half of the year, all of which resulted in slower revenue growth for that customer in the second half of 2015. In the face of that slower second half growth, we focused on adding new customers, increasing high margin product sales and carefully managing expenses.  As a result, we delivered a strong fourth quarter where sales increased 15% over Q4 2014, gross profit increased 30% over the same period and adjusted EBITDA reached $511,000 - an improvement of $930,000 over the same period in 2014.  As we begin 2016, the repositioning of our top customer is now complete and their reformulated products launched successfully in February.  We are seeing significant improvement in revenues from both our largest customer and some of the more than 80 new customers added in 2015.  The demand picture for our products continues to improve and will be further strengthened in the second half of this year with the addition of organic rice bran products to our portfolio based on the agreements we entered into with Narula."

Short continued, "In Brazil, 15 years of almost uninterrupted economic growth abruptly ended in 2015.  Brazilian GDP fell by 3.8% in 2015 and the currency reached an all-time low of more than R$ 4 to the US Dollar.  Both the economy and the currency were negatively impacted by the end of the commodities super-cycle, the collapse of global oil prices and local political scandals.  Brazilian GDP is forecast to fall by another 1.5% to 2% in 2016.  In the face of this collapse, we responded swiftly by significantly downsizing plant operations in mid-2015 and were able to achieve positive adjusted EBITDA in the second half of the year. The economy has continued to deteriorate entering 2016 and we are taking further measures to downsize our Brazilian operations while these conditions persist.  In spite of the bad economic and political news coming out of Brazil, global demand for our Brazilian products remains strong.  With our plant expansion complete, we are well positioned to produce at post-expansion target levels when economic conditions improve.  Another piece of good news out of Brazil is that after nearly 5 years of litigation, we recently recovered $1.9 million that has been held as restricted cash in an escrow account.  Those funds have now been released to RiceBran Technologies and have been used to repay debt and increase working capital availability."

Short concluded, "Overall, we expect to continue to build on the Q4 2015 USA segment momentum throughout 2016 with continued improvement in both top and bottom line performance, and  to take necessary actions to respond to the continuing economic and political challenges in Brazil."

Full Year 2015 Operating Results

Consolidated revenues for the full year of 2015 were $39.9 million compared to 2014 consolidated revenues of $40.1 million. The decrease in revenue was due to our Brazil Segment revenues being negatively impacted by $6.7 million as a result of a 28% decline in the average Brazilian Real versus US Dollar exchange rate between 2015 and 2014. USA segment revenues increased slightly year over year with a continued shift in business mix toward human ingredient sales.

Revenue from our Brazil segment in 2015 totaled $16.6 million, a decline of 2.4% as compared to 2014. Revenue on a local currency basis increased 36% despite a number of issues related to Brazil's economic recession that reduced the availability and quality of raw bran from suppliers. The increase in local currency revenue was driven by higher volumes of production at our Brazilian plant during the course of 2015.  This increase was more than offset by the negative impact of foreign currency translation. The Company expects the business environment in Brazil to remain challenging in 2016 as the country continues to experience a severe economic downturn.

Consolidated gross profit for the 2015 full year reached $8.1 million, an 81% increase compared to gross profit of $4.5 million in 2014. Gross profit in 2015 increased by 9 percentage points to 20.1%.  The increase was mainly attributable to our Brazil segment where we recorded a gross profit of $652,000, an increase of $3.2 million compared to negative gross profit of ($2.5 million) in 2014. Gross profit from our USA segment improved by 1.6 percentage points to 31.8%  reaching $7.4 million compared to $7.0 million in 2014.

Consolidated operating expenses decreased by $2.9 million to $14.3 million in 2015 compared to $17.2 million in 2014. The decrease in operating expenses is  mainly attributable to a $1.8 million decrease in SG&A expenses and a $1.1 million decrease in depreciation and amortization.

Adjusted EBITDA

For full year  2015 we recorded a consolidated adjusted EBITDA loss of ($1.2 million), a $4.0 million improvement over an adjusted EBITDA loss of ($5.2 million) recorded in 2014. Both segments showed significant improvement in this measure in 2015. In our USA segment, adjusted EBITDA loss narrowed to ($67,000) in 2015, compared to ($1.1 million) in 2014 and our in our Brazil segment adjusted EBITDA loss was reduced to ($1.1 million) in 2015 compared to ($4.1 million) in 2014.  Adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP measure management believes provides important insight into the Company's operating results (see reconciliation of non-GAAP measures below).

Additional information can be found in the Company's Form 10-K filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on March 30, 2016.

Conference Call

The Company will hold a conference call to discuss its 2015 full year results and financial guidance on March 30, 2016 at 4:30 PM EDT.  Call-in information is as follows:

• Date: March 30, 2016
• Time: 4:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Savings Time
• Direct Dial-in number for US/Canada: (201) 493-6780
• Toll Free Dial-in number for US/Canada: (877) 407-3982
• Dial-In number for international callers: (201) 493-6780
• Participants will ask for the RiceBran Technologies 2015 Full Year Financial Results Call

This call is being webcast by ViaVid and can be accessed at http://public.viavid.com/index.php?id=118825. 

The call will also be available for replay by accessing http://public.viavid.com/index.php?id=118825.

About RiceBran Technologies

RiceBran Technologies is a human food ingredient and animal nutrition company focused on the procurement, bio-refining and marketing of numerous products derived from rice bran. RiceBran Technologies has proprietary and patented intellectual property that allows us to convert rice bran, one of the world's most underutilized food sources, into a number of highly nutritious human food ingredient and animal nutrition products.  Our target markets are human food ingredients and animal nutrition manufacturers and retailers, as well as natural food, functional food and nutritional supplement manufacturers and retailers, both domestically and internationally. More information can be found in the Company's filings with the SEC and by visiting our website at http://www.ricebrantech.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This release contains forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, statements about RiceBran Technologies' expectations regarding financial performance, production capacity, production levels, product demand, capital expenditures, supply of raw materials, completion of projects and future growth. These statements are made based upon current expectations that are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties.  RiceBran Technologies does not undertake to update forward-looking statements in this news release to reflect actual results, changes in assumptions or changes in other factors affecting such forward-looking information.  Assumptions and other information that could cause results to differ from those set forth in the forward-looking information can be found in this press release and in RiceBran Technologies' filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent periodic reports.

Investor Contact:
Ascendant Partners, LLC
Fred Sommer
+1-(732)410-9810
[email protected]

USE OF NON-GAAP FINANCIAL INFORMATION

We utilize "Adjusted EBITDA" as a supplemental measure in our ongoing analysis of short term and long term cash requirement and liquidity needs. Adjusted EBITDA does not represent cash flows from operations as defined by generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP"), is not a measure derived in accordance with GAAP and should not be considered as an alternative to net income (the most comparable GAAP financial measure to EBITDA). Management uses Adjusted EBITDA as an indicator of our current financial performance. By eliminating the impact of all material non-cash charges as well as items that do not regularly occur, we believe that Adjusted EBITDA provides a more accurate and informative indicator of our cash requirements.

The table below contains a reconciliation of net income (GAAP) and Adjusted EBITDA (Non-GAAP) for the three months ended December 31, 2015 and 2014 and the twelve months ended December 31, 2015 and 2014.  We do not provide a reconciliation of forward-looking net income (GAAP) to Adjusted EBITDA (non-GAAP).  Due to the nature of certain reconciling items, it is not possible to predict with any reliability what future outcomes may be with regard to the expense or income that may ultimately be recognized in future periods.  Any forward-looking Adjusted EBITDA information that we may provide from time to time consistently excludes the same items from projected net income that are excluded from actual net income in the table below. 

SOURCE RiceBran Technologies

Related Links

http://www.ricebrantech.com