AUGUST 24, 2022 – HOUSTON, TX, USA – Select Sands Corp. (“Select Sands” or the “Company”) (TSXV: SNS, OTC: SLSDF) today announced operational and financial results for Q2 2022, and the filing of its financial statements and associated management’s discussion and analysis on www.sedar.com. All dollar references in this release are in U.S. dollars.
KEY HIGHLIGHTS
- Sold 83,207 tons of frac and industrial sand during Q2 2022 compared to 107,428 tons in Q1 2022 and 85,242 tons in Q2 2021. For the six months ended June 30, 2022, the Company sold 190,635 tons of frac and industrial sand – a 31% increase from 145,212 tons sold during the first six months of 2021;
- Recorded revenue of $5.3 million and gross margin of $1.0 million in Q2 2022 versus $6.2 million of revenue and gross margin of $0.7 million in Q1 2022, and revenue of $4.8 million and a gross margin of $0.5 million for Q2 2021.Substantially driving the gross margin per ton increase from Q1 2022 was a higher average per ton sales price for Q2 2022;
- Reported net income of $0.1 million, or $0.00 per share, in Q2 2022 compared to a net loss of $0.1 million, or $0.00 per share, in Q1 2022 and net income of $0.3 million, or $0.00 per share, in Q2 2021;
- Generated adjusted EBITDA(1) of approximately $0.7 million for Q2 2022, which was a 50% increase from approximately $0.5 million in Q1 2022 and more than 3.5 times higher than $0.2 million for Q2 2021; and
- As of June 30, 2022, cash and cash equivalents were $0.4 million, accounts receivable was $1.5 million, inventory was $4.2 million and working capital was $1.4 million.
- Adjusted EBITDA is a non-IFRS financial measure and is described and reconciled to net (loss) income in the table later in this release under the section titled “Non-IFRS Financial Measures”.
Zig Vitols, President and Chief Executive Officer, commented, “Our second quarter results benefitted from a continued strong energy commodity price environment, which supported the increase in our average unit sales price. As we discussed in our first quarter earnings release, our decrease in second quarter sales volumes from the first quarter was primarily due to an overall increase in the amount of time it took for customers to return rail cars. This impacted our ability to fully capitalize on the ongoing growth in demand for our premium quality Northern White Sand and other product offerings, as well continued strength in the spot sales market. Despite lower sales volumes, we generated an increase in gross margin and adjusted EBITDA of 42% and 50%, respectively, from this year’s first quarter. This was a direct result of the efforts of our dedicated workforce, and I want to thank them once again for their efforts as we execute on our targeted strategies designed to take Select Sands to new heights.”
FINANCIAL SUMMARY
The following table includes summarized financial results for the three months ended June 30, 2022, March 31, 2022, and June 30, 2021, and for the first six months of calendar year 2022 and 2021:
SALES VOLUMES
Select Sands sold 83,207 tons of frac and industrial sand during Q2 2022, which was below the full shipment capability of Select Sands’ Arkansas’ operations (approximately 150,000 tons per quarter). This presents the opportunity for continued improvement in sales volumes (and the ability to spread fixed costs over a wider base of tons produced) over time. Primarily impacting Q2 sales volumes was the aforementioned delay in the return of rail cars from customers due to slower than expected unloading schedules.
For Q3 2022, the Company expects frac and industrial sand sales volumes of 90,000 to 100,000 tons. Contributing to the anticipated increase from Q2 2022 is Select Sands continued efforts to closely work with customers to eliminate the delayed return of rail cars.
OPERATIONS UPDATE
Supporting the Company’s positive outlook is Baker Hughes’ recently published weekly drilling rig count estimates that show a U.S. onshore count of 763 rigs as of August 12, 2022 – a 52% increase from the same time last year. Assuming the oil and gas pricing environment remains strong, Select Sands expects the U.S. rig count to continue to grow modestly for the remainder of 2022, and the Company remains focused on positioning its operations to capitalize on this trend by further leveraging its high-quality product offerings. This includes serving the increasing needs of customers in the Eagle Ford shale basin in South Texas. The Company’s George West transload facility continues to operate 24 hours per day and seven days per week and offering transload for other rail shippers.
OUTLOOK
Mr. Vitols concluded, “Over the past months, we have worked closely with our customers to decrease rail car return times. We have seen improvement in the third quarter and are targeting to have late rail car returns substantially resolved by early in the fourth quarter. This will allow to more fully capitalize on the increased demand for our products and further improve our operating and financial results in the second half of 2022. As such, we maintain our positive outlook for the remainder of the year and into 2023 as oil and gas operators continue their targeted development activities supported by the solid industry backdrop. As in the past, we remain uniquely positioned to benefit from this landscape due to the superior quality characteristics of our Northern White and other product offerings sourced from operations that are located much closer to key oil basins in the Southern U.S. compared to the majority of other Northern White Sand producers. In addition, we will continue to evaluate high rate-of-return opportunities that will further enhance our position in the marketplace and provide long-term benefit to our shareholders.”
Elliott A. Mallard, PG of Kleinfelder is the qualified person as per the NI-43-101 and has reviewed and approved the technical contents of this news release.
ADDITIONAL MANAGEMENT COMMENTARY
An audio recording of management’s additional comments related to its results and outlook will be posted to the Company’s website (https://www.selectsands.com/) under the Investors section before the market opens Thursday, August 25, 2022.
ABOUT SELECT SANDS CORP.
Select Sands Corporation is an industrial silica product company, which wholly owns a Tier-1 (Northern White), silica sands property and related production facilities located near Sandtown, Arkansas. Select Sands’ goal is to become a key supplier of premium industrial silica sand and frac sand to North American markets. Select Sands’ Arkansas properties have a significant logistical advantage of being significantly closer to oil and gas markets located in Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, and New Mexico than the majority of sources of similar sands from the Northern mid-west area such as Wisconsin. Select Sands also operates a transload facility in George West, Texas in Live Oak County that serves customers operating in the Eagle Ford Shale Basin. The facility has a capacity for 180 rail cars and is equipped with two offload/loading stations with dedicated silos for a high throughput capacity. In addition to transloading Select Sands product, the Company sells other sand products from this facility and is able to offer transload services.
The Tier-1 reference above is a classification of frac sand developed by PropTester, Inc., an independent laboratory specializing in the research and testing of products utilized in hydraulic fracturing and cement operations, following ISO 13503-2:2006/API RP19C:2008 standards. Select Sands’ Sandtown project has NI 43-101 compliant Indicated Mineral Resources of 42.0MM tons (TetraTech Report; February, 2016). The Sandtown deposit is considered Northern White finer-grade sand deposits of 40-70 Mesh and 100 Mesh.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This news release includes forward-looking information and statements, which may include, but are not limited to, information and statements regarding or inferring the future business, operations, financial performance, prospects, and other plans, intentions, expectations, estimates, and beliefs of the Company. Information and statements which are not purely historical fact are forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements in this press release relate to comments that include, but are not limited to, statements related to expected current and future state of operations, sales volumes for 2022, customer activity levels, and the unique market position of the Company. Forward-looking information and statements involve and are subject to assumptions and known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause actual events, results, performance, or achievements of the Company to be materially different from future events, results, performance, and achievements expressed or implied by forward-looking information and statements herein. Although the Company believes that any forward-looking information and statements herein are reasonable, in light of the use of assumptions and the significant risks and uncertainties inherent in such information and statements, there can be no assurance that any such forward-looking information and statements will prove to be accurate, and accordingly readers are advised to rely on their own evaluation of such risks and uncertainties and should not place undue reliance upon such forward-looking information and statements. Any forward-looking information and statements herein are made as of the date hereof, and except as required by applicable laws, the Company assumes no obligation and disclaims any intention to update or revise any forward-looking information and statements herein or to update the reasons that actual events or results could or do differ from those projected in any forward-looking information and statements herein, whether as a result of new information, future events or results, or otherwise, except as required by applicable laws.
NON-IFRS FINANCIAL MEASURES
The following information is included for convenience only. Generally, a non-IFRS financial measure is a numerical measure of a company’s performance, cash flows or financial position that either excludes or includes amounts that are not normally excluded or included in the most directly comparable measure calculated and presented in accordance with IFRS. Adjusted EBITDA is not a measure of financial performance (nor does it have a standardized meanings) under IFRS. In evaluating non-IFRS financial measures, investors should consider that the methodology applied in calculating such measures may differ among companies and analysts.
The Company uses both IFRS and certain non-IFRS measures to assess operational performance and as a component of employee remuneration. Management believes certain non-IFRS measures provide useful supplemental information to investors in order that they may evaluate Select Sands’ financial performance using the same measures as management. Management believes that, as a result, the investor is afforded greater transparency in assessing the financial performance of the Company. These non-IFRS financial measures should not be considered as a substitute for, nor superior to, measures of financial performance prepared in accordance with IFRS.
As reflected in the above tables for the periods presented, the Company defines EBITDA as net (loss) income adjusted for items listed. The Company defines Adjusted EBITDA as net loss (income) adjusted for select items used to estimate EBITDA with additional adjustments as listed in the above table to estimate Adjusted EBITDA. Select Sands uses Adjusted EBITDA as a supplemental financial measure of its operational performance. Management believes Adjusted EBITDA to be an important measure as they exclude the effects of items that primarily reflect the impact of long-term investment and financing decisions, rather than the performance of the Company’s day-to-day operations. As compared to net income (loss) according to IFRS, this measure is limited in that it does not reflect the periodic costs of certain capitalized tangible and intangible assets used in generating revenues in the Company’s business, the charges associated with impairments, termination costs, transaction costs or other items management views as unusual or one-time in nature. Management evaluates such items through other financial measures such as capital expenditures and cash flow provided by operating activities. The Company believes that these measurements are useful to measure a company’s ability to service debt and to meet other payment obligations or as a valuation measurement.
INDICATED RESOURCES DISCLOSURE
The Company advises that the production decision on the Sandtown deposit (the Company’s current “Sand Operations”) was not based on a Feasibility Study of mineral reserves, demonstrating economic and technical viability, and, as a result, there may be an increased uncertainty of achieving any level of recovery of minerals or the cost of such recovery, including increased risks associated with developing a commercially mineable deposit. Historically, such projects have a much higher risk of economic and technical failure. There is no guarantee that production will occur as anticipated or that anticipated production costs will be achieved.