BioHarvest Sciences Inc. (BHST) Earnings Call Transcript

Good morning and welcome to the BioHarvest Sciences Second Quarter 2026 Financial Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I will now hand the call over to Dory Kurowski of LifeSci Advisors. Please go ahead.

Greetings, and welcome to the BioHarvest Sciences Second Quarter 2026 Financial Results Conference Call. With us on the call this morning is Dr. Zaki Rakib, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Before we begin, I'd like to remind you that management will be making projections and forward-looking statements on the call today regarding future events. Any statements that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. These statements are made pursuant to and within the meaning of the safe harbor provision of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. We encourage you to review BioHarvest Sciences' SEC filings, including the company's most recent Form 6-K, which identify risks and uncertainties that may cause future actual results or events to differ materially. These filings can be found on the company website as well as the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. Please note that the forward-looking statements made during today's call speak only to the date they are made, and BioHarvest Sciences undertakes no obligation to update them. And with that, I would like to turn the call over to Dr. Zaki Rakib, Chief Executive Officer of BioHarvest. Please go ahead.

Hello, Dr. Zaki, just a reminder to unmute please.

Yes, you can hear me. Should I start from the beginning? Did you hear...?

Yes, please. Thank you.

Okay. Sorry, my apologies. Thank you, Dory, and thank you all for joining us this morning. This morning, we proudly announced our first-ever CDMO manufacturing and supply agreement, another validating deal that shows the value of our programmable plant cell biology, which yields highly consistent, bioavailable and patent protected precision botanics. These are non-GMO compounds possessing enhanced potency and purity compared to the original plan. Our AI-driven development and industrial scale bioreactors are a revolution in plant cell culture production at mass scale. This morning's announcement relates to our program that we have with a UAE-based customer for a global luxury rare fragrance. I'll talk more about this exciting announcement and what it means to BioHarvest after you hear the prerecorded review of the financials that includes a more detailed summary of our numbers for this quarter. Please note that our CFO, Bar Dichter, has prerecorded the financial summary, but for happy family-related circumstances will not be joining the call today. Our company's Controller, Roi Atsaraf, will be on the call, and if necessary, he will follow up with any unaddressed financial questions on the call. Operator?

Thank you, Zaki. Good morning, everyone. I will provide you with a summary of our financial results. A full breakdown is available in our SEC filings and in the press release that crossed the wire before market opened today. Please note that all figures are in U.S. dollars unless stated otherwise. Revenues for the second quarter of 2026 were $8.8 million, an increase of 3.8% year-over-year from $8.5 million for the same period last year. Cost of revenue was $3.7 million compared to $3.4 million for the same period last year. Gross profit for the second quarter of 2026 was $5.1 million or 58% of total revenue compared to $5.1 million or 59% of total revenue for the same period last year. Sales and marketing expenses totaled $4.4 million for the second quarter of 2026 compared to $4 million for the same period last year. R&D expenses totaled $1.7 million for the second quarter of 2026 compared to $1.4 million for the same period last year. G&A expenses totaled $1.5 million for the second quarter of 2026 compared to $1.6 million for the same period last year or 17% of revenues as compared to 19% for the same period last year. Total operating expenses for the second quarter of 2026 were $7.6 million compared to $6.9 million for the same period last year. The increase is driven by technology development expenditures with CMO services business unit as well as investing in new marketing strategy for the products business unit. Net losses for the second quarter of 2026 totaled $3.7 million or $0.17 per basic and diluted share as compared to a net loss of $4.1 million or $0.24 per basic and diluted share for the same period last year. Adjusted EBITDA loss, a non-IFRS measure for the second quarter of 2026 totaled $1.6 million compared to $1.2 million for the same period last year. Cash and cash equivalents, together with bank deposits as of June 30, 2026, totaled $16.2 million compared to $3.7 million as of June 30, 2025. I would now like to pass the call back to Zaki.

As mentioned at the start of this call, I'm extremely pleased to share that BioHarvest has secured our first supply and manufacturing contract with our fragrance customer for a rare premium scent that is widely regarded as one of the most valuable fragrance raw materials in the world. It is significantly ahead of the schedule we had previously outlined. This agreement reflects our partners' high prioritizations of this program as well as their awareness that BioHarvest has multiple competing development programs. The partner through the agreement expresses a desire to secure the earliest possible product availability for commercialization purpose. Today's announcement is an important strategic milestone in our quest to be the largest producers of cell culture-based rave fragrances. The 20-ton commitment with the delivery of the final product for our partner specifications has the potential to translate to $20 million to $30 million in revenue for BioHarvest in the 2027, 2028 time frame. We will start limited production in the first half of 2027 in a dedicated section of our facility. Our botanical synthesis technology is a horizontal platform covering multiple industries, and it carries a very large opportunity for BioHarvest. The fragrance project and supply agreement we are discussing today is just one example of that vast potential. Let me now emphasize the key strategic goals of the company for the next 12 to 18 months. As demonstrated by today's announced manufacturing agreement, we will accelerate the monetization of molecules we have already developed or that are in advanced stages of development. We will shift our focus from proving the breadth of botanical synthesis application to selectively converting our highest value opportunities into recurring manufacturing revenue, royalties and sustainable profitability. At the same time, we will continue building our direct-to-consumer business for healthy, profitable growth. Taken together, these priorities support our growth plans and our path to EBITDA breakeven in 2027 on a consolidated basis. And throughout, we will manage our cash carefully with the intent to avoid raising equity-based funding. Now I will review details of our other CDMO programs that are making important progress. As reported last quarter, BioHarvest' CDMO division completed Stage 1 of its multistage Safran development agreement, successfully establishing a Safran cell bank for potential nutraceutical as well as culinary applications. Safran is one of the most -- one of the world's most valuable and health-promoting botanicals. And this program, along with our fragrance program is highly valuable to us. Completion of Stage 1 for the Safran program triggered advancement to Stage 2, a development agreement valued at $1.125 million which will focus on scaling Safran biomass in bioreactors to support pre-commercial testing and formulation work. Under the terms of the agreement, BioHarvest retains a 25% ownership position in the Safran composition being developed in addition to future manufacturing royalties. In May, we also announced an update with our strategic partner, Tate & Lyle, which was an expansion of our original collaboration that broadened the scope of our joint sweetener development program. The expanded agreement broadens the scope of the partnership, moving from a single compound to development of several plant-based sweetener molecules. Based on our optimized strategy, we believe there is opportunity to secure additional selected contracts with strategic partners over the next year. We also expect additional development revenue from existing projects before the end of this year. In July, we announced that the Israel Innovation Authority approved a grant of approximately $1.4 million to BioHarvest. This non-dilutive funding will support the new research initiative integrating advanced data science, machine learning, computer vision and high-throughput digital sensing directly into BioHarvest' biological development workflows with the goal of accelerating its plant cell culture progress. The initiative aims to move plant cell culture from traditional empirical trial and error methods towards a data-driven optimization framework. This is the second IIA grant BioHarvest has received this year. The first supported scaling the company's manufacturing facility through industrial automation and machine learning. The grant takes the form of a zero interest loan with repayment contingent on the company reaching predefined commercial milestones and expected to come solely from future revenues generated by the funded project. This technology investment, among other goals, aims to enable BioHarvest to own the largest cell bank for valuable and endangered plant species in the world. The CDMO side of our business remains strong with high growth potential. Today, we announced that the CDMO business is tightening its expected revenue range from $4 million to $6 million to $4 million to $5 million and is anticipating a significant reduction in full year EBITDA loss from $4 million to $5 million to $1.5 million to $2.5 million. Now an update on our product division. We are revising full year guidance for the VINIA D2C business from $38 million to $42 million to $33 million to $35 million, reflecting a reallocation of spend towards its manufacturing capacity build-out and investments in the CDMO business. Accordingly, the Direct-To-Consumer business is now forecasting an expected EBITDA loss of $1.5 million to $2.5 million compared to previous guidance of a gain of $0.5 million to $2 million. This reflects a deliberate reallocation of spend, not a deterioration in the underlying business, which remains stable at approximately 95,000 active customers with growth of 2% versus the prior year and 2% versus Q1. Our decision reflects where we see the best return on every dollar of customer acquisition spend. The category has seen meaningful media inflation. Meta media costs increased double digits over the period with more advertiser dollars chasing the same audiences. Our view is that the right response is not to spend more into that environment, but to change what we put in front of the consumer. We have directed capital toward our manufacturing capacity build-out, building the channels we control directly and requirements of the growing CDMO business. We are pairing that discipline with three offensive moves entering the second half. First, in June, we implemented the first pricing change since May 2021, an increase of up to 20% for new subscription customers from their second order onward. Execution was clean, and we have so far not seen material impact. Second, we're executing a substantial shift in brand messaging that we believe will improve conversion rates and lower our cost of acquisition in the current environment. Third, in September, we will launch single-dose VINIA Daily Chews, a format we expect to drive further improved conversion rates amongst our younger audience as well as deepen consumption and retention across customers. Alongside these, our health professional affiliates channel continues to build momentum, and we have completed a comprehensive strategy to address gins and running, hiking and swimming clubs, which we are putting into action. These are contributors to future growth at structurally lower acquisition costs. This is a deliberate sequencing decision, stronger offer, stronger creative and broader product range with our chosen market first with paid investments scaling behind us, positioning us to grow more efficiently and more profitably than spending into the current environment would have allowed. In summary, and as I have emphasized in today's call, we are optimizing our revenue targets to achieve our two critical goals: EBITDA breakeven on a consolidated basis in 2027 and preservations of cash. Accordingly, total revenue guidance for 2026 is $37 million to $40 million compared to previous guidance of $42 million to $48 million. Despite the revenue reduction and as a result of the strong momentum on the CDMO, the consolidated EBITDA losses are expected to be in the range of $3 million to $5 million as compared to the previous expected loss of $3 million to $4 million. In closing, I'm currently here in Boston at the Canaccord Growth Conference, which gives me a great opportunity to share today's news and BioHarvest's growth strategy directly with institutional investors. I'm looking forward to several engagements with conference attendees and with our BioHarvest investment community to update them on the exciting prospects of our business. With that, I'd like to open the floor to questions. Operator?

[Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from the line of Matt Hewitt with Craig-Hallum.

Congratulations on the CDMO contract. That is big news. On that topic, so you're still working on the Stage 2 of development that's supposed to take basically through the end of the year. Will you be able to start the actual production while that Stage 2 is in process? Or do you need to wait for that to complete first and then start the larger production program? And with that larger production program, are you able to generate revenues as that's ramping up? Or is it once the project is completed, which sounds like it will be later in '27?

Actually, let me explain. Thanks for the question. So as you know, once we have crossed Stage 1, which is considered the riskiest part of the project, we were able to understand and basically check the mark on the initial success of the project. Stage 2 is important, and we expect to complete it by the end of the year. What we would be doing is that instead of having Stage 3 in which we are actually increasing the size of the bioreactors, we will start manufacture with a smaller scale bioreactor that would provide a commercial availability for the customer to be able to bring to the market. And hence, we will be able to recognize revenue from product sales in the first half of 2027. We will not have to wait until the end of 2027 for that purpose. In fact, we expect to move into larger bioreactors throughout in the middle of the year. And then in 2028, because of the size of the contract, it's a 2027, 2028 contract for 20 tons. It will be now -- it will be then in 2028 part of the larger facility that we are currently building.

Got it. That's super helpful. And then shifting gears to the VINIA opportunity. I know you're launching the Daily Chews here in September. But I think there's previously been talk about potentially getting into a retailer or more. I'm just curious how those discussions are going. Is that an opportunity still out there? Or with the kind of the refocus on the CDMO business, should we just kind of focus on that?

These are not competing priorities. The work led actually by Ilan on the retail side continues. We are continuing to seek those opportunities in the U.S. and outside of the U.S. as well for retail, focusing on products. For example, like the hydration would be one of the great opportunities on the retail side. We will continue to update you once we have such a retail arrangement, but they are not competing priorities.

Your next question comes from the line of Sean McGowan with ROTH Capital Partners.

Yes, following up on a couple of those questions. So in CDMO, why would the fact that you've got this contract result in a tightening of the revenue forecast? Is it a question of reallocating some resources? Or is something else going on?

It's more on what I said earlier in the call, which is instead of chasing a significant number of opportunities, which would have brought us to $6 million in terms of tightening $4 million to $5 million instead of $4 million to $6 million is actually focusing on the opportunities that will bring more value. So it's value more than number, which would allow me to focus my resources into the projects, including especially the fragrance project, which requires more focus to get it to manufacturing earlier in 2027.

Okay. I get that. So it's a resource allocation issue. And then on -- similarly, in products, can you talk about what the status is of work that was being done on other plants pomegranates, olives, other things that you guys have talked about in the past, given this kind of dial back on the marketing in wine and red grapes rather.

So that is -- there, there is indeed a change in strategy and any other products that we develop and part of the CDMO assets are the products that we have already developed, and these will be made available to customers of the CDMO. In fact, they will accelerate the process so that we don't have to wait a customer -- if a customer is interested, let's say, in the Olive product or the pomegranate product or the blueberry product or others that we have already as assets, it will be faster. So there's less time for development, and we can move much faster into the manufacturing and supply arrangements. We don't plan to bring into the market by ourselves any product besides VINIA this time.

Okay. And can you -- if I can follow up on this contract. Can you give a little bit more detail on some of the parameters of the contract? Are there guarantees? What would be the timing of the revenue recognition? Are there upfront payments related to that, et cetera?

There are no upfront payments. We will deliver the products. There is a schedule of delivery in 2027 and 2028, obviously, more in 2028 than it is in 2027. First half is when we start delivering products, and we expect to generate revenue, and that's built into the strategy and the numbers that we are projecting internally for purpose of achieving our goal of being breakeven next year on a consolidated basis. So we're timing our delivery. We're focusing our resources with that purpose, and then we align them with the contract and the schedule for delivering products. From a customer perspective, the earlier, the better, the opportunity is vast, and it's a very disruptive supply of a very important ingredients in the fragrance industry. So it's not for the lack of demand. It's just that our ability to manufacture. I think the customer is very happy with the speed at which we were able to advance the project and is looking forward to start sampling and start getting products in the market.

Your next question comes from the line of Sameer Joshi with H.C. Wainwright.

I would just like to understand a little bit more on the new contract announced. Is there a possibility of disclosing the name of the customer and what product -- exact product it is? And more importantly, once they start selling it, do you get sort of recognition like BioHarvest inside kind of ingredient disclosure that they might want to talk about?

So I'll start with the latter part of the question. We haven't really contemplated yet in that part. And remember, we do have 20% ownership in that in the profit that this business will be generating. So we are -- this agreement is part of this partnership that we have with that customer. At this time, we've agreed with the customer that we do not want to disclose the particular details on which product it is, and we can -- it's a significant fragrance raw material that covers a multibillion dollars sector of the fragrance business and a growing one. I mean there are -- it's not hard for some people to dig deep and try to find out, but we're binded right now by nondisclosure arrangement, both for the name of the customer as well as the name of the product. But it's a multi-billion dollar industry, and this raw material is very important in several parts of the world, and it's growing also in the Western world and used by serious high-end fragrance manufacturers and brands. We -- as I said earlier, it's not for the lack of demand and -- but still we want to keep it in a stealth mode so that when it comes to the market, we're ready to penetrate the market faster and more efficiently.