Sadot Group Inc (SDOT) 2024 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Welcome to the Sadot Group Inc. Q3 2024 earnings conference call. Today's call is being recorded. (Operator Instructions)

歡迎參加 Sadot Group Inc. 2024 年第三季財報電話會議。今天的通話正在錄音。（操作員說明）

At this time, for opening remarks and introductions, I would like to turn the call over to Frank Pogubila, Sadot Group Inc.'s Investor Relations contact.

現在，為了進行開場白和介紹，我想將電話轉給 Sadot Group Inc. 投資者關係聯絡人 Frank Pogubila。

Before we get started, we would like to state that this call may include forward-looking statements pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the US Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. To the extent the information presented on this call discusses financial projections, information or expectations about the business plans, results of operations, products or markets or otherwise make statements about future events, such statements may be forward-looking.

在開始之前，我們想聲明，根據 1995 年美國私人證券訴訟改革法案的安全港條款，本次電話會議可能包含前瞻性陳述。如果本次電話會議中提供的資訊討論了財務預測、有關業務計劃、營運結果、產品或市場的資訊或預期，或者以其他方式對未來事件做出了陳述，則此類陳述可能是前瞻性的。

Such forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of the words such as should, may, intends, anticipates, believes, estimates, projects, forecasts, expects, plans and proposes. Although management believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, there are a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking statements.

此類前瞻性陳述可以透過使用「應該」、「可能」、「打算」、「預期」、「相信」、「估計」、「項目」、「預測」、「期望」、「計劃」和「建議”等詞語來辨識。儘管管理階層認為這些前瞻性陳述中反映的預期是基於合理的假設，但存在許多風險和不確定性，可能導致實際結果與此類前瞻性陳述有重大差異。

You are urged to carefully review and consider any cautionary statements and other disclosures, including the statements made under the heading Risk Factors in Sadot Group Inc.'s most recently filed Form 10-Q and elsewhere in documents that Sadot Group Inc., files from time to time with the SEC. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of the document in which they are contained, and Sadot Group Inc. does not undertake any duty to update any forward-looking statements, except as may be required by law.

我們敦促您仔細審查並考慮任何警告性聲明和其他披露信息，包括 Sadot Group Inc. 最近提交的表格 10-Q 中“風險因素”標題下的聲明以及 Sadot Group Inc. 提交的文件中的其他部分不時與SEC 聯繫。前瞻性陳述僅代表截至其所包含文件之日的情況，Sadot Group Inc. 不承擔任何更新任何前瞻性陳述的義務，除非法律要求。

For this call, all disclosed -- all numbers disclosed have been rounded to the closest $100,000, and percentages have been rounded to the closest tenth of a percent unless otherwise noted. All numbers disclosed in this report are the amounts attributable to Sadot Group Inc. and exclude the portion related to noncontrolling interests. On this call, we will refer to Sadot Group Inc. as Sadot Group, Sadot, or the company.

對於本次電話會議，所有揭露的數據均四捨五入至最接近的 100,000 美元，除非另有說明，百分比均四捨五入至最接近的十分之一。本報告中所揭露的所有資料均為 Sadot Group Inc. 的金額，不包括與非控制權益相關的部分。在本次電話會議中，我們將 Sadot Group Inc. 稱為 Sadot Group、Sadot 或公司。

With me on the call today are Sadot Group's Chief Executive Officer, Michael Roper; and Chief Financial Officer, Jennifer Black. Michael and Jennifer will be presenting prepared remarks related to Sadot Group's financials filed on November 12, 2024, and those documents may be found on the company's website, Newswire feeds and on the SEC's website link from Sadot's website at www.sadotgroupinc.com under the Investor tab.

今天與我一起參加電話會議的是 Sadot Group 執行長 Michael Roper；和首席財務官珍妮佛·布萊克。Michael 和Jennifer 將發表與Sadot Group 於2024 年11 月12 日提交的財務資料相關的準備好的評論，這些文件可在該公司網站、Newswire 以及Sadot 網站www.sadotgroupinc.com 下的SEC 網站連結上找到。

At this point, I would like to turn it over to Sadot's CEO, Michael Roper. Michael?

現在，我想把它交給 Sadot 的執行長 Michael Roper。麥可？

Thanks, Frank, and good morning, everyone. I'm pleased to welcome everyone to today's call, where we'll be discussing our third quarter results for 2024.

謝謝弗蘭克，大家早安。我很高興歡迎大家參加今天的電話會議，我們將在會議中討論 2024 年第三季的業績。

I'm extremely proud to report positive net income for the second consecutive quarter, marking a milestone achievement for the company. This accomplishment is accompanied by our best nine-month year-to-date performance in our history, underscoring our ongoing efforts to drive growth and profitability.

我非常自豪地報告連續第二個季度實現正淨利潤，這標誌著公司取得了里程碑式的成就。這項成就伴隨著我們歷史上迄今為止最好的九個月業績，突顯了我們為推動成長和獲利能力所做的持續努力。

In Q3, we generated consolidated revenues of $201.7 million, a 10.7% increase over the same period last year. However, the vast majority of our revenue, 99.6% of consolidated revenue or $200.9 million, was generated by our core agri commodity group, Sadot Agri-Foods. This division drove an 11.6% revenue increase over the same period last year as we continue to implement and execute against our global expansion strategy.

第三季度，我們的綜合營收為 2.017 億美元，比去年同期成長 10.7%。然而，我們的絕大部分收入（合併收入的 99.6%，即 2.009 億美元）是由我們的核心農產品集團 Sadot Agri-Foods 產生的。隨著我們繼續實施和執行我們的全球擴張策略，該部門的收入比去年同期成長了 11.6%。

Our net income reached positive $1.2 million for Q3, making Q3 our second consecutive quarter with positive net income. Our Q3 net income of $1.2 million was a substantial improvement from the negative $5.2 million net loss in Q3 2023. This represents an improvement of net income of roughly $6.3 million year over year.

第三季我們的淨利潤達到正值 120 萬美元，使第三季成為連續第二季實現正淨利。我們第三季的淨利潤為 120 萬美元，較 2023 年第三季的負淨虧損 520 萬美元有了大幅改善。這意味著淨利潤年增了約 630 萬美元。

Our Q3 2024 EBITDA was also positive this quarter at $2.9 million compared to a negative $4.4 million EBITDA in Q3 last year. This represents an improvement of $7.4 million in EBITDA year over year.

本季我們的 2024 年第三季 EBITDA 也為正值，達到 290 萬美元，而去年第三季的 EBITDA 為負值 440 萬美元。這意味著 EBITDA 年比增加了 740 萬美元。

Notably, our year-to-date through Q3 net income stands at $3.3 million, a marked improvement compared to the $6.1 million net loss recorded for the same period in 2023. This achievement represents the highest net income over the first nine months of any year in our company history.

值得注意的是，我們今年迄今到第三季的淨利潤為 330 萬美元，與 2023 年同期的 610 萬美元淨虧損相比有了顯著改善。這項成就代表了我們公司歷史上任何一年前九個月的最高淨利潤。

These results demonstrate our ability to operate profitably within a nearly $2 trillion global agri commodities market and reinforces our strategic vision to expand operations into essential agri commodity supply chain verticals, including farming, origination and trading, with further potential for growth into additional areas such as shipping, logistics, processing, and distribution. In addition, we want to widen the types of commodities we trade while also expanding into new geographical trade areas.

這些結果證明了我們有能力在近2 兆美元的全球農產品市場中實現盈利，並強化了我們的戰略願景，即將業務擴展到重要的農產品供應鏈垂直領域，包括農業、原產地和貿易，並具有進一步成長到其他領域的潛力，例如運輸、物流、加工和分銷。此外，我們希望擴大我們交易的商品類型，同時擴展到新的地理貿易區域。

With that, I'm pleased to announce that we recently placed a deposit and are in negotiations on an agricultural property in Indonesia to expand our portfolio of farming assets, and we look forward to sharing further details upon the successful completion of this transaction.

在此，我很高興地宣布，我們最近存入了一筆定金，並正在就印尼的一處農業地產進行談判，以擴大我們的農業資產組合，我們期待在成功完成本次交易後分享更多細節。

Regarding our legacy restaurant brands, we've been strategically divesting these noncore assets to streamline our focus on core operations, and we remain committed to keeping you updated on any developments related to these restaurant asset transactions. We have closed or converted all company-owned and operated restaurant locations into franchise locations, including Superfit Foods. We are now a 100% franchise concept and have been able to reduce some overhead expenses accordingly.

關於我們的傳統餐廳品牌，我們一直在策略性地剝離這些非核心資產，以簡化我們對核心營運的關注，並且我們仍然致力於向您通報與這些餐廳資產交易相關的任何進展。我們已經關閉了所有公司擁有和經營的餐廳或將其轉變為特許經營店，包括 Superfit Foods。我們現在採用 100% 特許經營概念，並且能夠相應地減少一些管理費用。

With that, I'd like to turn the call over to our CFO, Jennifer Black, to review the company's financial performance for the third quarter of 2024. Jennifer?

因此，我想將電話轉給我們的財務長 Jennifer Black，以審查公司 2024 年第三季的財務業績。詹妮弗？

Thank you, Mike. Before I begin, please note that our financial results for the quarter ending September 30, 2024, on Form 10-Q were filed with the SEC yesterday, November 12, 2024, along with the press release on that same day.

謝謝你，麥克。在開始之前，請注意，我們以10-Q 表格形式提交的截至2024 年9 月30 日的季度財務業績已於昨天（2024 年11 月12 日）向SEC 提交，同時也發布了當天的新聞稿。

For the third quarter of 2024, consolidated revenues increased by 10.7% to $201.7 million, up from $182.2 million in the same period last year. Our Sadot Agri-Food business accounted for the majority of our revenue, contributing $200.9 million in the third quarter as we completed 24 transactions across 14 different countries. Our legacy restaurant operations, which, as of September 30, are 100% franchise system and classified as held for sale, had $0.8 million of revenue from royalties and company operations in Q3.

2024 年第三季度，合併收入成長 10.7%，達到 2.017 億美元，高於去年同期的 1.822 億美元。我們的 Sadot 農產品業務占我們營收的大部分，第三季貢獻了 2.009 億美元，我們在 14 個不同國家完成了 24 筆交易。截至 9 月 30 日，我們的傳統餐廳業務採用 100% 特許經營系統，並歸類為待售類別，第三季來自特許權使用費和公司營運的收入為 80 萬美元。

Q3 2024 net income improved significantly to $1.2 million compared to a $5.2 million net loss in Q3 of 2023. For the third quarter, EBITDA rose to a positive $2.9 million compared to a negative $4.4 million in the prior year period.

與 2023 年第三季的淨虧損 520 萬美元相比，2024 年第三季的淨利大幅提高至 120 萬美元。第三季 EBITDA 增至正 290 萬美元，去年同期為負 440 萬美元。

Basic earnings per share improved to $0.25 per share compared to a negative $1.39 per share in the prior year period. And dilutive earnings per share improved to $0.23 per share compared to a negative $1.39 per share in the prior year period.

每股基本收益增至 0.25 美元，去年同期為負 1.39 美元。每股攤薄收益增至 0.23 美元，去年同期為負 1.39 美元。

SG&A expenses were $4.2 million this quarter, an increase of about $0.9 million compared to last year, mainly due to initial investments in the opening and expansion of our Sadot Agri-Food trading officers -- offices, sorry, a key element of our growth strategy. In addition, there are certain trade-related expenses that we reclassified from cost of goods sold to SG&A starting in Q3 to correctly reflect the operations.

本季的SG&A 費用為420 萬美元，與去年相比增加了約90 萬美元，主要是由於我們薩多特農業食品貿易官員辦事處的開設和擴張的初始投資——抱歉，這是我們成長策略的關鍵要素。此外，從第三季開始，我們將某些與貿易相關的費用從銷售成本重新分類到銷售及管理費用，以正確反映營運狀況。

Looking at our balance sheet, the company had a cash balance of about $1 million and working surplus of $18.9 million. It's important to note that as a part of our ongoing strategy, we continue to reinvest cash into our Agri-Food commodity trading business to drive the revenue growth and acquire strategic assets.

從我們的資產負債表來看，該公司的現金餘額約為 100 萬美元，營運盈餘為 1,890 萬美元。值得注意的是，作為我們持續策略的一部分，我們繼續將現金再投資於我們的農產品貿易業務，以推動收入成長並收購策略資產。

The company is exposed to market risk, primarily due to the volatility in prices of food and feed commodities. To manage these risks, we occasionally enter into forward sales contracts and hedges. These forward sales contracts are initially measured at fair value, with any changes in the fair value recorded as a gain or loss from fair value remeasurement. The mark-to-market gain on these derivative transactions contributed approximately $5.5 million in income for this quarter.

該公司面臨市場風險，主要是由於食品和飼料商品價格的波動。為了管理這些風險，我們偶爾會簽訂遠期銷售合約和避險。這些遠期銷售合約最初以公允價值計量，公允價值的任何變動記錄為公允價值重新計量的利得或損失。這些衍生性商品交易的以市價計算的收益為本季貢獻了約 550 萬美元的收入。

We are proud to report Q3 was our second consecutive profitable quarter, with significant improvements compared to the previous year. Our Q3 2024 financial results also reflect the best year-to-date nine-month performance in our company's history. We believe positive changes are occurring across our business, which will help us deliver on our goals of enhanced revenue streams, a larger working capital surplus and profitability.

我們很自豪地報告第三季度是我們連續第二個獲利季度，與前一年相比有了顯著改善。我們的 2024 年第三季財務表現也反映了我們公司歷史上今年迄今 9 個月的最佳業績。我們相信我們的業務正在發生積極的變化，這將有助於我們實現增加收入來源、更大的營運資本盈餘和獲利能力的目標。

With that, I'd like to turn the call back over to Mike.

這樣，我想把電話轉回給麥克。

Thanks, Jennifer. So everyone, where do we go from here? How do we drive growth? So first, we want to continue to diversify into various verticals within the global food supply chain. This can be farms, logistics, processing or wholesaling.

謝謝，珍妮佛。那麼大家，我們該何去何從？我們如何推動成長？因此，首先，我們希望繼續在全球食品供應鏈內的各個垂直領域中多元化。這可以是農場、物流、加工或批發。

Second, we plan on expanding our farm operations into new geographies and leverage the farm assets into our trading operations. Third, we want to expand into new geographies such as our recently announced expansion into Brazil and Canada. And lastly, we want to expand into new commodities themselves. We recently started trading in sesame seeds and lentils, for example. So we want to expand into new commodities.

其次，我們計劃將我們的農場業務擴展到新的地區，並將農場資產用於我們的貿易業務。第三，我們希望擴展到新的地區，例如我們最近宣布擴展到巴西和加拿大。最後，我們希望擴展到新商品本身。例如，我們最近開始交易芝麻和扁豆。所以我們想擴展到新商品。

Bottom line is that we believe we've only scratched the surface on growth opportunities within the $1.9 trillion industry.

底線是，我們相信我們只觸及了價值 1.9 兆美元的產業成長機會的表面。

Finally, I want to express my sincere gratitude to all our investors, stakeholders and team members for your time, trust and continued support of Sadot Group. This quarter's achievements underscore the strength of our strategy and commitment to growth, profitability and operational efficiency. We remain focused on advancing our core agri commodity operations, optimizing our asset portfolio and driving long-term value for our shareholders.

最後，我要向所有投資者、利害關係人和團隊成員表示衷心感謝，感謝您對 Sadot Group 的信任和持續支持。本季的成就凸顯了我們策略的力量以及對成長、獲利能力和營運效率的承諾。我們仍然專注於推進我們的核心農產品業務、優化我們的資產組合併為股東創造長期價值。

With that, please give us a few moments while we open up the lines for questions.

那麼，請給我們一些時間，讓我們開始提問。

Before we get into questions from our selected analysts, Michael Roper would like to address some questions, which we received from our stakeholders. Michael?

在我們回答我們選定的分析師提出的問題之前，邁克爾·羅珀（Michael Roper）想回答我們從利益相關者那裡收到的一些問題。麥可？

Thanks, Alexa. So just before we get into questions, a couple of things I want to talk through here real quick. Just everybody knows, I do have Kevin Mohan and Benjamin Petel on the phone as well. Just so everyone is aware that they're here in the room with us -- with Jennifer and I.

謝謝，亞歷克斯。因此，在我們開始提問之前，我想快速討論幾件事。大家都知道，凱文莫漢 (Kevin Mohan) 和班傑明佩特爾 (Benjamin Petel) 也在打電話給我。這樣每個人都知道他們和我們一起在房間裡——和珍妮佛和我在一起。

Before we get into questions -- and these are questions that come in from different shareholders through different mechanisms, either right into the IR site or maybe we read them on Stocktwits or something. We do something out there. Yes, we do see some of that, guys, that you're posting. So in any case, we get some of the questions and try to summarize them up to make sure that we're addressing everybody's concerns.

在我們提出問題之前，這些問題是不同股東透過不同機制提出的，要麼直接進入 IR 網站，要麼我們在 Stocktwits 或其他網站上閱讀。我們在那裡做一些事情。是的，我們確實看到了你們發布的一些內容。因此，無論如何，我們都會收到一些問題並嘗試對其進行總結，以確保我們能夠解決每個人的擔憂。

Before I get into the questions, though, right, I do want to make a special announcement here. It concerns revenue, right? So before we start with the questions, I want to make this special announcement. This is just coming in this morning, so it's just been finalized, but we are happy to announce that our October revenue was extremely strong, coming in at $87.9 million in revenue for the month, okay? Again, it was $87.9 million for the month of October.

不過，在回答問題之前，我確實想在這裡特別宣布一下。這關係到收入吧？因此，在我們開始提問之前，我想特別宣布這一消息。這是今天早上才發布的，所以剛剛敲定，但我們很高興地宣布，我們 10 月份的收入非常強勁，當月收入達到 8790 萬美元，好嗎？10 月的銷售額再次達到 8,790 萬美元。

That's a great start to the quarter, and we wanted to let everyone know as soon as we could, okay? So that was a special announcement again, just right off the presses here, right, that came in this morning. So that's something new that we shared with you.

這是本季的好開端，我們希望盡快讓大家知道，好嗎？所以這又是一個特別的公告，就在今天早上媒體發布的時候。這是我們與您分享的新內容。

So let me jump into some of the questions. I think the first one, we are going to have -- who's going through the first one? Kevin is -- okay? So Kevin?

那麼讓我來談談一些問題。我認為第一個，我們將會——誰會經歷第一個？凱文是——好嗎？那麼凱文？

Hey, guys. Thank you. So we had a question regarding Canada, and somebody had asked, can you provide an update on progress being made in Canada?

嘿，夥計們。謝謝。我們有一個關於加拿大的問題，有人問，你能提供加拿大的最新進展嗎？

So I want to share some early achievements from our new trading division in Canada. Since its recent launch, the division has not only met but exceeded our initial expectations. So this is marking a pivotal forward -- a pivotal step forward in our growth strategy. So I want to share a couple of highlights with you guys.

因此，我想分享我們在加拿大的新貿易部門的一些早期成就。自最近推出以來，該部門不僅達到而且超出了我們最初的預期。因此，這標誌著一個關鍵的進步——我們成長策略的關鍵一步。所以我想與大家分享一些亮點。

So to date, the Canada team has facilitated sales of 11 specialty crop commodities. These include items such as lentils and pulses. They've initiated sales with 12 new customer accounts moving product to five different countries.

迄今為止，加拿大團隊已促進 11 種特種作物商品的銷售。這些包括扁豆和豆類等物品。他們已向 12 個新客戶帳戶發起銷售，將產品轉移到五個不同的國家。

And most importantly, Canada has been involved in roughly $20 million of transactions across Canada and in collaboration with other company divisions. So we're very optimistic about the continued and growing success of our Canada trading division as it strengthens our foothold and contributes to our long-term vision.

最重要的是，加拿大與其他公司部門合作，參與了加拿大各地約 2,000 萬美元的交易。因此，我們對加拿大貿易部門的持續和不斷增長的成功感到非常樂觀，因為它加強了我們的立足點並為我們的長期願景做出了貢獻。

Okay. So that was some questions and some updates about Canada. Then I think Jennifer now has some questions to review and some information regarding the Indonesian farmland.

好的。這是關於加拿大的一些問題和一些最新情況。然後我想詹妮弗現在有一些問題需要回顧，還有一些關於印尼農田的資訊。

Yes. The question came in is, can you provide some details on the deposit for the new farmland?

是的。那麼問題來了，您能否提供一些關於新農地押金的詳細資訊？

The company did place a deposit as part of the negotiations for an acquisition of farmland in Indonesia. We are in detailed negotiations. But in general, we're discussing roughly 9,500 acres, which has vanilla plants and coconut trees, but can also produce other crops such as corn. If completed, this transaction would provide Sadot with new niche commodities to trade while potentially leading to improved margins.

作為收購印尼農地談判的一部分，該公司確實支付了一筆押金。我們正在進行詳細談判。但總的來說，我們討論的是大約 9,500 英畝的土地，其中種植香草植物和椰子樹，但也可以種植玉米等其他作物。如果完成，這筆交易將為 Sadot 提供新的利基商品進行交易，同時可能提高利潤率。

In addition, the new farm would allow the company to control its commodity supplies in important geographies while being able to trade around the projected yields throughout the year. The new farmland would represent a strong addition to our portfolio, offering both immediate operational value and potential long-term growth.

此外，新農場將使該公司能夠控制重要地區的商品供應，同時能夠圍繞全年預計產量進行交易。新農地將是我們投資組合的強大補充，提供直接的營運價值和潛在的長期成長。

Okay. Thanks, Jennifer. And hopefully, we'll be able to make some announcements soon about that being all finalized. But again, we have the deposit down, and we are in the final stages of negotiations there.

好的。謝謝，珍妮佛。希望我們能夠很快發布一些關於一切都已敲定的公告。但同樣，我們已經支付了訂金，而且我們正處於談判的最後階段。

Another question that we had, which I know a lot of people talk about a lot, is what's going on with the sale of the restaurants, right, for both Pokémoto and Muscle Maker?

我們遇到的另一個問題，我知道很多人經常談論，是 Pokémoto 和 Muscle Maker 的餐廳出售情況如何？

So let me just walk you through that. So regarding the whole potential sale of Pokémoto and Muscle Maker, we're moving forward, and we're advancing steadily, okay? We currently have multiple interested groups in various stages of due diligence, and we anticipate a formal offer coming up here in the near future.

那麼讓我來引導您完成這個過程。因此，關於 Pokémoto 和 Muscle Maker 的整個潛在銷售，我們正在向前推進，而且我們正在穩步推進，好嗎？目前，我們有多個感興趣的團體處於盡職調查的各個階段，我們預計在不久的將來會收到正式報價。

To streamline the process and enhance efficiency, we actually prioritized the closure or conversion of all the corporately owned and operated locations and converted those into franchise locations. And as of September 30, we no longer own or operate any corporately -- any corporate restaurants of either Muscle Maker or Pokémoto. And as of September 30, we completed that, right? And the company is now 100% franchise model across all brands, okay?

為了簡化流程並提高效率，我們實際上優先考慮關閉或轉換所有公司擁有和經營的地點，並將其轉變為特許經營地點。自 9 月 30 日起，我們不再擁有或經營任何 Muscle Maker 或 Pokémoto 的公司餐廳。截至 9 月 30 日，我們已經完成了，對吧？公司現在所有品牌都是 100% 特許經營模式，好嗎？

And that was key because that helped us reduce some of our overall costs and actually streamline the process of negotiations. We eliminated some of the confusion out there. It's very straightforward now just being a franchise model that we're selling. This adjustment not only simplifies the sales process, but it's also allowed us to reduce operating expenses overall as the corporate locations transitioned over to franchise ownership, as I had said.

這是關鍵，因為這幫助我們降低了一些整體成本，並實際上簡化了談判過程。我們消除了一些混亂。現在我們正在銷售的特許經營模式非常簡單。正如我所說，這項調整不僅簡化了銷售流程，而且還使我們能夠在公司地點轉變為特許經營權時總體上減少營運費用。

Additionally, as part of our sales strategy, we've implemented a more structured due diligence approach with prospective buyers. This process requires potential buyers to complete nearly all of their due diligence prior to submitting a formal letter of intent or an LOI.

此外，作為我們銷售策略的一部分，我們對潛在買家實施了更結構化的盡職調查方法。此過程要求潛在買家在提交正式意向書或意向書之前完成幾乎所有盡職調查。

This approach allows us to closely -- to close relatively quickly once an LOI is in place, preventing situations where we're locked into exclusive negotiations prematurely. When you go into an LOI, you have a 30- to 60-day exclusivity period. We don't want to do that, right?

這種方法使我們能夠在意向書到位後相對較快地關閉，從而防止我們過早陷入排他性談判的情況。當您簽訂意向書時，您將擁有 30 至 60 天的獨佔期。我們不想那樣做，對吧？

We want to make sure we get as much of the negotiations and all the due diligence done beforehand. So it's a much shorter process.

我們希望確保提前進行盡可能多的談判和所有盡職調查。所以這是一個更短的過程。

It ensures we remain open to other interested groups as well until a deal is near certainty, allowing for greater flexibility and reducing the risk of needing to restart the process if a buyer doesn't close, right? We don't want to have a start and stop to the process. So that's a new thing that we've implemented as well. But again, we're moving forward with multiple groups, and they're in various stages of due diligence. Okay.

它確保我們對其他有興趣的團體保持開放態度，直到交易接近確定，從而提供更大的靈活性，並降低如果買家不成交則需要重新啟動流程的風險，對吧？我們不想讓這個過程開始和停止。這也是我們實施的一項新事物。但同樣，我們正在與多個團體一起推進，他們正處於盡職調查的不同階段。好的。

With that, I think, Alexa, it's time to go to the different analysts that are out there with their questions.

有了這個，我想，Alexa，是時候向不同的分析師提出他們的問題了。

Aaron Grey, AGP.

亞倫·格雷，AGP。

Hey, how's it going? Thanks for the questions. And thanks for the October numbers. So revenue ticked up nicely in the Q. It looks like it continued in October with $88 million you just announced. Curious if you could maybe provide some color on the gross margin related -- it looks like it was about 1%, 1.1%. So are you getting better line of sight of margin improvement?

嘿，怎麼樣？感謝您的提問。感謝您提供 10 月份的數據。因此，第一季的營收成長良好。很好奇您能否提供一些與毛利率相關的資訊——看起來大約是 1%、1.1%。那麼，您是否對利潤率改善有了更好的認識？

What are some things that we should be watching for out there either geographically or types of sales to start to see more margin improvement on the sales momentum that you're getting?

我們應該在地理或銷售類型上關注哪些事情，才能開始看到您所獲得的銷售動能的利潤率進一步提高？

are really in line with other companies similar to us in the bulk commodity trading business, right? So you have the bulk portion, which we're experiencing what we expect in that area, right? Now as we bring on more and more trades with Canada and Brazil and other pieces of the business, right, there are ways to improve the margins through that.

確實和我們類似的其他公司在大宗商品貿易業務上是一致的吧？所以你有大部分，我們正在該領域經歷我們所期望的，對吧？現在，隨著我們與加拿大、巴西以及其他業務領域進行越來越多的貿易，有一些方法可以透過這種方式提高利潤。

So I'm just going to use Canada as an example. When we trade in lentils and pulses, while Canada has smaller-sized trades, okay, they're not the big giant bulk cargo ships, but they are way more frequent, and they turn much quicker, okay? Those have much higher margins normally with those trades.

所以我只想以加拿大為例。當我們進行扁豆和豆類貿易時，雖然加拿大有規模較小的貿易，好吧，它們不是大型散裝貨船，但它們的頻率更高，而且轉動速度更快，好嗎？這些交易通常具有更高的利潤。

So as we bring Canada on and they continue to improve -- or increase their number of trades every month, every quarter, that should help in driving some of the margin numbers. So I think one of the things to look for is how much Canada gets involved overall, okay, with this whole process.

因此，當我們讓加拿大加入時，他們會繼續改善——或者每個月、每季的交易數量都會增加，這應該有助於推動一些保證金數字。所以我認為需要關注的事情之一是加拿大在整個過程中的整體參與程度。

And so that's what I'd be looking for from a margin perspective.

這就是我從利潤角度尋找的。

Okay. That's helpful there. Second question for me. Just on the Indonesian farm, can you just maybe walk us through again or provide a bit more detail with some of the rationale there? Is it different crops than the Zambia farm? Were you looking to diversify geographically? Just some more color on the rationale with the farm purchase there. Thank you.

好的。這很有幫助。我的第二個問題。就在印尼農場，您能否再次向我們介紹一下，或提供更多詳細資訊以及其中的一些基本原理？與贊比亞農場的作物有不同嗎？您是否希望實現地域多元化？只是對那裡的農場購買的理由有更多的解釋。謝謝。

Yeah. So a couple of things with the farm, and I'll let others jump in as well, right? First off, we're still in negotiations, right? So I need to be a little bit careful of what we say or whatever on things as we finalize that. But yes, it's different crops that are more specialized.

是的。那麼農場的一些事情，我也會讓其他人參與進來，對嗎？首先，我們仍在談判中，對嗎？因此，在我們最終確定這一點時，我需要對我們所說的話或其他事情保持謹慎。但是，是的，不同的作物更加專業化。

So the area that we're looking at has more niche products, okay, in it than your typical corn and soy and all that stuff. However, they can still do corn and soy in those things as well. So it will be a combination of those different products that are there. But yes, so that's a little bit different than Zambia.

因此，我們正在關注的領域有更多的利基產品，好吧，比典型的玉米和大豆之類的產品更多。然而，他們仍然可以用這些東西做玉米和大豆。因此，它將是現有不同產品的組合。但是，是的，這與讚比亞有點不同。

It also allows us to have a different geographical area, right, different parts of the world, different needs and different shipping routes and trading partners and everything that are there as well. So that's one of the reasons why we do it.

它還使我們能夠擁有不同的地理區域，對吧，世界的不同地區，不同的需求，不同的航線和貿易夥伴以及那裡的一切。這就是我們這樣做的原因之一。

And ultimately, we are still looking at expanding into other areas for farming as well, right? This would just be our second farm that we bring up online. We've already talked in the past some of the advantages of having some of the farm: lets you trade around some of the commodities, let's just do your own supply of your products that are there, lets you control your own destiny to a certain degree with some of those products that are there. So there's a lot of advantages to the farm.

最終，我們仍在考慮擴展到其他農業領域，對吧？這將是我們在網路上建立的第二個農場。我們過去已經討論過擁有一些農場的一些好處：讓你可以圍繞一些商品進行交易，讓我們自己供應那裡的產品，讓你在一定程度上控制自己的命運程度與其中一些產品。所以農場有很多優點。

It's all part of the vertical integration process that we've told the Street about. So I think we're going to continue to move that narrative.

這都是我們向華爾街透露的垂直整合流程的一部分。所以我認為我們將繼續推動這個敘事。

Great. Appreciate that. Last quick one for me. It looks like SG&A increased a bit in the Q.

偉大的。很欣賞這一點。對我來說最後一個快速的。看起來 SG&A 在 Q 中有所增加。

So just what were some of the drivers there? Were there some more things onetime in nature? Or is that the base rate we should expect going forward?

那麼那裡的司機到底是什麼呢？自然界中是否還存在著一些曾經存在過的東西？或者這是我們未來應該預期的基本利率？

I'll take that one. It's financial related, right? As we continue to expand like in our different geographical areas, we've got to build out these teams. So as a result, there's going to be an increase in SG&A for items like salary, benefit, rent. These costs will always precede the growth as we're building this business.

我會接受那個。這跟金融有關吧？隨著我們繼續在不同的地理區域擴張，我們必須建立這些團隊。因此，薪資、福利、租金等項目的SG&A將會增加。當我們建立這項業務時，這些成本將始終先於成長。

And we expect SG&A to increase as the company grows for those exact reasons.

由於這些確切原因，我們預計 SG&A 將隨著公司的發展而增加。

But there will be some one-time expenses, Jennifer, right?

但會有一些一次性費用，詹妮弗，對嗎？

Right. Yes, I mean there's always onetime expenses. But for the most part, we've got to think about growth and building the personnel and the people to grow the business. And that growth always comes before the revenue does.

正確的。是的，我的意思是總是有一次性費用。但在大多數情況下，我們必須考慮成長以及培養人員和人員來發展業務。而這種成長總是先於收入。

Okay. Great. Thanks for the call. I'll jump back into the queue.

好的。偉大的。感謝您的來電。我會跳回隊列。

Awesome. Thanks, Aaron.

驚人的。謝謝，亞倫。

Tom Kerr, Zacks.

湯姆·科爾、札克斯。

Good morning, guys. Can you hear me?

早安，夥計們。你聽得到我嗎？

Yes.

是的。

Just a quick follow-up on the last SG&A question. I think you mentioned in the presentation, some items were moved from cost of goods sold. Was that something different than what you just mentioned in terms of building out? Or what was the move?

只是對最後一個 SG&A 問題的快速跟進。我想您在演示中提到，有些項目已從銷售成本中移除。這與您剛才提到的建造方面有什麼不同嗎？或者說是什麼舉動？

It was -- it's all related. There are some items that we did -- there's some salaries that we reclassified for certain personnel that we reclassified from cost of goods sold to SG&A because they're truly SG&A people now. It's been some movement and changes in the business, and we wanted to make sure that our financials correctly reflected the way our operations were being driven.

一切都是相關的。我們做了一些專案——我們將某些人員的薪資重新分類，將其從銷售商品成本重新分類為 SG&A，因為他們現在是真正的 SG&A 人員。業務發生了一些變化，我們希望確保我們的財務數據正確反映了我們營運的驅動方式。

Okay. Great. Back to the revenue growth, you mentioned Canada was a good contributor. Was Brazil also a major contributor? Or what else contributed to the growth?

好的。偉大的。回到收入成長，您提到加拿大是一個很好的貢獻者。巴西也是主要貢獻者嗎？或者還有什麼因素促進了成長？

Was it different commodities or pricing? Or just give more color on that.

是商品不同還是定價不同？或只是給它更多的色彩。

Yeah. Okay. So a couple of things there, right? I want to make a quick distinguishing comment between Brazil and Canada, right? They're different models basically.

是的。好的。那麼有幾件事，對吧？我想快速區分一下巴西和加拿大，對吧？它們基本上是不同的型號。

Canada is coming across as more trading, right? And you're seeing some of the results of them being integrated with the rest of the business, right, as they help facilitate trades across the world for different things, right, to be their own products or just helping other areas. And as you bring more traders on and more divisions or groups like that, you're going to continue to grow revenue through that as well, right? So Canada is into the trading portion of it.

加拿大給人的印像是貿易量增加，對嗎？您會看到它們與其他業務整合的一些結果，對吧，因為它們有助於促進世界各地不同事物的貿易，對吧，成為自己的產品或只是幫助其他領域。當你引入更多的交易者和更多類似的部門或團體時，你也將繼續透過這種方式增加收入，對嗎？因此，加拿大正在參與其中的貿易部分。

Brazil is a little bit different. Brazil does have some trading, okay? But reality is Brazil is building different type of relationships, and they're working on different, I'll call it, infrastructure throughout Brazil and agreements with different companies there to be a company that actually can move products up and down from the farms and everything else out to the shipping lanes and things, right? And so there's some infrastructure areas inside Brazil where there's opportunities. So they're focusing on more of those type of areas than they are pure trades.

巴西有點不同。巴西確實有一些貿易，好嗎？但現實是巴西正在建立不同類型的關係，他們正在巴西各地建設不同的基礎設施，並與不同的公司達成協議，以成為一家實際上可以將產品從農場上下運輸的公司，其他一切都在航線之類的事情上，對嗎？因此，巴西境內的一些基礎設施領域存在著機會。因此，他們更關注此類領域，而不是純粹的行業。

So a little bit of difference between Brazil and Canada. When you take a look at the revenue numbers that we just reported, a lot of that was just increasing our overall normal trades as our team continues to grow and our team continues to build.

巴西和加拿大之間有一點區別。當你看一下我們剛剛報告的收入數字時，隨著我們團隊的不斷發展和團隊的不斷建設，其中許多只是增加了我們的整體正常交易。

But Canada did play a certain portion of that. They're probably involved in -- I'm going to rough the number here a little bit, call it about $20 million worth of trades for the quarter that they were involved in, right? Now they didn't all necessarily go through Canada, but they were involved with the trade, helping facilitate it and go from there.

但加拿大確實發揮了其中的一部分作用。他們可能參與了——我將在這裡粗略地算一下這個數字，稱其為他們參與的季度價值約 2000 萬美元的交易，對嗎？現在，他們不一定都經過加拿大，但他們參與了貿易，幫助促進貿易並從那裡出發。

So like I said, as you get more and more traders, for lack of a better definition of the role, involved in the business, the more and more revenue you should be able to generate.

所以就像我說的，隨著越來越多的交易者參與業務，由於缺乏對角色的更好定義，你應該能夠產生越來越多的收入。

All right. Sounds good. On a different note, can you provide any more color on the Yorkville debt retirement transaction? Was that just a cash payout? Because I thought there were shares involved.

好的。聽起來不錯。另一方面，您能否提供有關約克維爾債務清償交易的更多資訊？這只是現金支付嗎？因為我認為涉及股票。

Yeah, I'll take that. Yes, Tom, it's Kevin Mohan. I'll take that one. So there were -- if you're talking about was there any additional shares, you asked two pieces.

是的，我會接受的。是的，湯姆，我是凱文莫漢。我會接受那個。所以，如果你談論的是是否有任何額外的份額，你會問兩個部分。

Could you repeat that question for me?

你能為我重複一下這個問題嗎？

Well, I know there's share issuance in the past related to the Yorkville deal. Did that go away? Or did they sell? Or do they still own? They have all the details. Sorry.

嗯，我知道過去有與約克維爾交易相關的股票發行。那消失了嗎？還是他們賣了？或者他們仍然擁有？他們有所有的細節。對不起。

No problem. Yeah, they -- what we did is we did a prepaid advance with them, and then they were selling shares into the market to repay that debt. The last piece of that debt, we actually paid off with cash on hand. And so we have met our obligation with them, and it is my understanding based on my last conversation, which the last conversion was done in September.

沒問題。是的，他們 - 我們所做的是我們與他們預付了預付款，然後他們向市場出售股票以償還債務。最後一筆債務，我們實際上是用手邊的現金還清的。所以我們已經履行了對他們的義務，這是我根據我上次談話的理解，最後一次轉換是在九月完成的。

But the last conversation that I had with Yorkville was that they are flat. So they do not own any stock. We do not owe them any money. And so we're in good shape.

但我與約克維爾的最後一次談話是他們很平坦。所以他們不擁有任何股票。我們不欠他們任何錢。所以我們的狀態很好。

Okay, thanks. Last one for me. It looks like it's the middle of November, the restaurant deal closing would likely be a 2025 event. Is that fair to say?

好的，謝謝。最後一張給我。看起來現在是 11 月中旬，餐廳交易完成很可能是 2025 年的事件。這麼說公平嗎？

Well, here's what's happening, Tom, on stuff. As I mentioned, we've got multiple groups in various stages of due diligence. We're getting very close to the end with several groups, right, as they go through. We expect to get a formal LOI here shortly, okay? However, one of the things to consider in there is we did give incentives to the group that we talked to about wanting to close before the end of the year, okay?

湯姆，事情是這樣的。正如我所提到的，我們有多個小組處於盡職調查的不同階段。我們已經非常接近幾個小組的結局了，對吧，就像他們經歷的那樣。我們希望很快能在這裡收到正式的意向書，好嗎？然而，需要考慮的事情之一是，我們確實向我們談論過的想要在年底前關閉的團隊提供了激勵，好嗎？

So we gave them some decent incentives to do that. And so they are pushing hard to see if they can complete it by the end of the year.

所以我們給了他們一些適當的激勵來做到這一點。因此，他們正在努力爭取是否能在今年年底前完成。

And I think another important note, too, as Mike mentioned earlier in the call, the process that we're using, Tom, to get people all the way to the end before we get to LOI, I think, is going to help this thing close quickly when the LOI is signed.

我認為還有一個重要的說明，正如邁克在電話會議中早些時候提到的那樣，湯姆，我們正在使用的流程，在我們到達意向書之前讓人們一路走到最後，我認為，這將有幫助這一點簽署意向書後，事情很快就會結束。

So I think that's really important. I think if you look back at this company's history, you're going to find that we don't ever announce LOIs. We're not a company that likes to do that. And so we want to make sure that we have concrete deals in place before we make those announcements. So I think it's important for the investors to understand that when we do make the announcement, that's going to be the actual sale and the definitive docs being done.

所以我認為這非常重要。我想如果你回顧一下這家公司的歷史，你會發現我們從來沒有宣布過意向書。我們不是一家喜歡這樣做的公司。因此，我們希望確保在發布這些公告之前我們已達成具體協議。因此，我認為投資者了解這一點很重要：當我們宣布這一消息時，這將是實際的銷售和正在完成的最終文件。

Great. That makes sense. That's all I have for now. Thank you.

偉大的。這是有道理的。這就是我現在所擁有的一切。謝謝。

Thanks, Tom. Great.

謝謝，湯姆。偉大的。

That concludes our Q&A portion of the call. Mr. Roper, any final comments?

我們的電話問答部分到此結束。羅珀先生，最後有什麼意見嗎？

Yeah. I just want to thank everybody again for believing in the company and seeing we're going, understanding our strategy. We do consider ourselves a growth company. And so with that, there's always a lot of announcements and change and things that happen throughout the process. So I appreciate everybody with their questions.

是的。我只想再次感謝大家對公司的信任，看到我們的發展，並理解我們的策略。我們確實認為自己是一家成長型公司。因此，整個過程中總是會有很多公告、變化以及發生的事情。所以我很感謝大家提出的問題。

I appreciate the patience. I appreciate everybody believing in the company.

我很欣賞你的耐心。我感謝大家對公司的信任。