FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Nov. 14, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ZEFIRO METHANE CORP. (Cboe Canada: ZEFI) (Frankfurt: Y6B) (OTCQB US: ZEFIF) (the "Company", "Zefiro", or "ZEFI") today announced the Company's consolidated financial results for the fiscal quarter ended September 30, 2024 ("FQ1").
- Generated record revenues of $10.0 million USD, an approximate 7% increase from the quarter ending June 30, 2024, and 26% compared to quarter ending September 30, 2023.
- Record gross profit of $3.3 million USD (approximate 33% gross profit margin).
- $460,297 USD of adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization ("Adjusted EBITDA") (See "Non-IFRS Financial Measures" below), an approximate increase of 107% compared to quarter ending June 30, 2024.
Please refer to Zefiro's SEDAR+ profile at www.sedarplus.ca/ for full filings containing these financial results.
Zefiro Founder and Chief Executive Officer Talal Debs PhD commented, "Zefiro's business momentum is accelerating as our team successfully executes on our near- and long-term growth plans. Not only is this resulting in immediate financial success, but it is laying the groundwork for the company to become the recognized global market leader. Zefiro is having a growing impact in communities across the country that have had to endure the large and often dangerous legacy problem of toxic methane emissions, and we are aggressively plugging leaking wells."
Mohit Gupta, Chief Financial Officer, commented, "We are aggressively executing on our strategy and have great momentum at Zefiro. We continue to be a high performing, well-run company with strong client engagement, a robust new client and acquisition pipeline - and are extremely well positioned to capitalize on the growing need for carbon offsets."
Zefiro's business strategy updates include:
1) Geographic expansion
Continuing its geographic expansion, Zefiro subsidiary Plants and Goodwin ("P&G") successfully completed the Company's first ever Oklahoma-based gas well remediation project. Specifically, P&G executed a "plug and abandonment" operation on a gas well in Custer County. The sealing of this site will produce American Carbon Registry-approved offset products and represents Zefiro's ambitions to expand into additional south-central U.S. states, such as Texas and Louisiana, within the next twelve months.
Zefiro also continues to actively plug leaking methane wells and expand its business in Appalachia.
2) Originating and distributing quality carbon offsets from reducing methane emissions
In addition to its carbon credits initiative in Oklahoma, Zefiro in the first quarter announced the presale of a portion of its carbon offset portfolio to EDF Trading, a leading player in the international wholesale energy market and part of EDF Group, a global leader in low-carbon energies. Zefiro has expanded its efforts to seal potentially hazardous oil and gas wells and these credits.
Zefiro continues to actively explore commercialization opportunities to address the needs of Fortune 1000 companies, other corporate players, financial intermediaries and high-quality carbon offset exchanges that have committed to a carbon-neutral footprint by utilizing high-quality offsets such as those originated by Zefiro. The company is pursuing global initiatives to market its carbon credit portfolio to multinational corporations and global market participants, including through high-quality carbon offset exchanges.
3) Participation in the allocation of infrastructure funds from federal and state governments to plug orphan wells
Zefiro announced in the first quarter that Plants & Goodwin successfully completed Pennsylvania's first-ever Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act ("Bipartisan Infrastructure Law ")-funded oil and gas well plugging project. The federal legislation allocated $4.7 billion to help address the nationwide proliferation of abandoned oil and gas wells. The company continues to be well positioned for future outlays of these funds.
4) Continuous evaluation of new products, offerings, and partnerships
Zefiro announced in August that the Company had purchased a minority ownership stake in Winterhawk Well Abandonment Ltd. ("Winterhawk"), a manufacturer of specialized downhole tools and technologies designed to expand casing in oil and gas wells. Specifically, Zefiro subsidiary Plants & Goodwin and Winterhawk entered into an exclusive patent license agreement for Winterhawk's U.S. patents and the ability to sublicense Winterhawk Products to other entities operating in the United States.
In September, Zefiro announced that it had entered into a strategic partnership with Fiùtur, a digital verification network ecosystem, to accelerate the scalable aggregation, verification, standardization, and delivery of environmental data for carbon credit issuance.
5) Talent acquisition
In July, Zefiro announced the appointment of Mohit Gupta as Chief Financial Officer. With over thirty years of experience in banking and energy trading, Gupta was one of the key founding members of J.P. Morgan's Energy Trading business.
In September, the company announced the appointment of Richard Walker as Chief Technology Officer. He has over 30 years of experience in commercial information technology strategy, most recently as a senior partner in Bain & Company's Financial Services and Enterprise Technology practices.
Notable Highlights:
- The Company generated record consolidated revenues and Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter ended September 30, 2024.
- Completed the recapitalization of Plants and Goodwin, Inc. and acquisition of 100% of outstanding common stock.
First Fiscal Quarter Financial Highlights (in USD):
| For the three months ended | September 30, 2024 | June 30, 2024 | ||
| Revenue | $10,006,487 | $9,385,282 | ||
| Gross profit | $3,262,158 | $2,937,349 | ||
| Total operating expenses | ($4,379,125) | ($4,331,734) | ||
| Net loss and comprehensive loss for the period | ($1,665,403) | ($2,890,536) | ||
| Basic and diluted loss per share for the period | ($0.02) | ($0.04) | ||
| Weighted average shares outstanding | 68,583,532 | 65,306,863 | ||
| Net loss for the period | ($1,644,323) | ($2,916,263) | ||
| Add: | ||||
| Amortization | 993,874 | 1,061,866 | ||
| Interest expense | 410,514 | 391,539 | ||
| Interest Income | (4,249) | (4,176) | ||
| Share-based compensation | 386,741 | 142,405 | ||
| Gain on debt modification | - | 30,559 | ||
| Settlement of convertible promissory note receivable | - | 87,500 | ||
| Loss on sale of equipment | - | (38,706) | ||
| Change in fair value of investments | 2,692 | - | ||
| Income tax recovery | 151,267 | 566,638 | ||
| Listing Fees | - | 415,379 | ||
| Foreign exchange gain (loss) | (27,402) | 37,995 | ||
| One-time transaction expenses | 191,183 | 729,789 | ||
| Adjustment for non-controlling interest | - | (281,509) | ||
| Adjusted EBITDA1 | $460,297 | $222,453 | ||
As at | September 30, 2024 | June 30, 2024 | ||
| Cash | $497,192 | $981,746 | ||
| Current assets | $10,094,700 | $10,223,370 | ||
| Total assets | $29,088,220 | $28,971,195 | ||
| Total liabilities | $19,974,882 | $20,288,328 | ||
| Total equity | $9,113,338 | $8,682,867 | ||
About Zefiro Methane Corp.
Zefiro is an environmental services company, specializing in methane abatement. Zefiro strives to be a key commercial force towards Active Sustainability. Leveraging decades of operational expertise, Zefiro is building a new toolkit to clean up air, land, and water sources directly impacted by methane leaks. The Company has built a fully integrated ground operation driven by an innovative monetization solution for the emerging methane abatement marketplace. As an originator of high-quality U.S.-based methane offsets, Zefiro aims to generate long-term economic, environmental, and social returns.
__________________________
1 See Non-IFRS Financial Measures
On behalf of the Board of Directors of the Company,
ZEFIRO METHANE CORP.
"Talal Debs"
Talal Debs, Founder & CEO
For further information, please contact:
Zefiro Investor Relations
1 (800) 274-ZEFI (274-9334)
investor@zefiromethane.com
For media inquiries, please contact:
Rich Myers - Profile Advisors (New York)
media@zefiromethane.com
+1 (347) 774-1125
Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information is often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as "seeks", "believes", "plans", "expects", "intends", "estimates", "anticipates" and statements that an event or result "may", "will", "should", "could" or "might" occur or be achieved and other similar expressions. In particular, this news release contains forward-looking information including statements regarding: the Company's intention to reduce emissions from end-of-life oil and gas wells and eliminate methane gas; the Company's partnerships with industry operators, state agencies, and federal governments; the Company's expectations for continued increases in revenues and EBITDA growth as a result of these partnerships; the Company's intentions to build out its presence in the United States; the anticipated federal funding for orphaned well site plugging, remediation and restoring activities; the Company's expectations to become a growing environmental services company; the Company's ability to provide institutional and retail investors alike with the opportunity to join the Active Sustainability movement; the Company's ability to generate long-term economic, environmental, and social returns; and other statements regarding the Company's business and the industry In which the Company operates. The forward-looking information reflects management's current expectations based on information currently available and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that may cause outcomes to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking information. Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking information are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed timeframes or at all. Factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations include, but are not limited to: (i) adverse general market and economic conditions; (ii) changes to and price and volume volatility in the carbon market; (iii) changes to the regulatory landscape and global policies applicable to the Company's business; (iv) failure to obtain all necessary regulatory approvals; and (v) other risk factors set forth in the Company's Annual Information Form for the year ended June 30, 2024 under the heading "Risk Factors". The Company operates in a rapidly evolving environment where technologies are in the early stage of adoption. New risk factors emerge from time to time, and it is impossible for the Company's management to predict all risk factors, nor can the Company assess the impact of all factors on Company's business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ from those contained in any forward-looking information. Forward-looking information in this news release is based on the opinions and assumptions of management considered reasonable as of the date hereof, including, but not limited to, the assumption that general business and economic conditions will not change in a materially adverse manner. Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking information in this news release are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information. The forward-looking information included in this news release is made as of the date of this news release and the Company expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law.
Non-IFRS Financial Measures
Zefiro has included certain performance measures in this press release that do not have any standardized meaning prescribed by International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) including: (a) Adjusted EBITDA. Adjusted EBITDA is not a standardized financial measure under IFRS and might not be comparable to similar financial measures disclosed by other issuers. The Company believes that, in addition to conventional measures prepared in accordance with IFRS, certain investors use this information to evaluate the Company's performance and ability to generate cash flow.
(a)Adjusted EBITDA
Adjusted EBITDA is a non-IFRS measure which excludes from net income (loss): amortization, interest expense, share-based compensation, gains or losses on debt modification, gains or losses on sale of equipment, changes in fair value of investments held, income tax expense or recovery, non-recurring expenses related to the Company's IPO transaction, and net income (loss) attributable to the Company's non-controlling interest in its subsidiaries. Management uses Adjusted EBITDA to evaluate the Company's operating performance, to plan and forecast its operations, and assess leverage levels and liquidity measures. The Company presents Adjusted EBITDA as it believes that certain investors use this information to evaluate the Company's performance in relation to its peers who present on a similar basis (though Adjusted EBITDA does not have a standardized meaning under IFRS and therefore may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers). However, Adjusted EBITDA does not represent and should not be considered an alternative to net income (loss) or cash flow provided by operating activities as determined under IFRS.
Statement Regarding Third-Party Investor Relations Firms
Disclosures relating to investor relations firms retained by Zefiro Methane Corp. can be found under the Company's profile on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca/.
