Synthesis Energy Systems, Inc. (SYMX)

F1Q13 Earnings Conference Call

November 07, 2012 8:30 AM ET

Executives

Matthew Haines - IR, MBS Value Partners

Robert Rigdon - President and CEO

Kevin Kelly - Chief Accounting Officer, Controller and Secretary

Analysts

Robert Smith - Center for Performance Investing

Presentation

Operator

Good morning and welcome to the Synthesis Energy Systems, Inc. First Quarter 2013 Financial Results Conference Call. All participants will be in a listen-only mode. (Operator Instructions)

Now I’d like to turn the conference over to Matthew Haines, Managing Director of MBS Value Partners. Please go ahead.

Matthew Haines

Good morning and thank you for joining Synthesis Energy Systems earnings conference call. Today management will discuss financial results for the first quarter of fiscal 2013 ended September 30, 2012 and will provide an update on corporate development. Following management’s prepared remarks, we will open the lines for questions.

Before we begin, I would like to remind you that during this call, management will be making forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 as amended and Section 21E of the Securities Act of 1934 as amended. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks, trends and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. Although the company believes that in making such forward-looking statements its expectations are based upon reasonable assumption. Such statements may be influenced by factors that could cause actual outcomes and results to be materially different from those projected. There can be no assurances that the assumptions upon which these statements are based will prove to have been correct.

Please note that in connection with the proposed ZJX China Energy transaction, SES has filed a preliminary proxy statement and intends to file a definitive proxy statement with the SEC and intends to mail the definitive proxy statement to the stockholders of SES. SES and its directors and officers may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxy from the stockholders of SES in connection with the transaction. You may obtain the preliminary proxy statement and when available, the definitive proxy statement for free by visiting EDGAR on the SEC website at www.sec.gov. Investors should read the definitive proxy statement carefully before making any voting or investment decision because that document will contain important information. Please refer to the company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended June 30, 2012 for further discussion on risk factors. SEC’s 10-K and other SEC filings are available on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s website at www.sec.gov or on the company’s website at www.synthesisenergy.com.

And now I’d like to turn the call over to Robert Rigdon, President and CEO. Robert?

Robert Rigdon

Good morning and welcome to our first quarter of fiscal year 2013 earnings call. With me on the call today is Kevin Kelly, our Chief Accounting Officer. Although it’s been a short six weeks since our last call, the company is moving forward aggressively on our key initiatives and we have some positive developments to report since our last call. To highlight a few, we recently closed important strategic equity investments from Hongye and Zhongmo, the details of which we released a few weeks ago. We also continued to make good progress in commissioning our Yima Joint Venture plan and have advanced the negotiations that are key to returning our ZZ joint venture plant to operational status.

In addition to the accomplishments and progress in China, we are also seeing increased interest in applying our technology in the fuel, steel and power segments, including renewed interest in the US, all of which have recently led us into new commercial discussions that we believe hold important potential near-term business for SES.

Before I go into more detail, I’d like to turn the call over to Kevin Kelly to review our first quarter fiscal 2013 financial results. Kevin?

Kevin Kelly

Thank you, Robert. Total revenue for the three months ended September 30, 2012 was $71,000 versus $2.5 million for the three months ended September 30, 2011. This continued to keep the ZZ plant idle since September 2011 due to non-payment of the capacity fees contractually owed to the ZZ joint venture. Consequently there were no product sales from the ZZ joint venture during the first quarter of fiscal 2013 compared to $2.1 million during the first quarter of fiscal 2012. We have been and are continuing to work diligently on new contract terms with the Shandong Weijiao Group which has recently acquired a controlling interest in Hai Hua.

Technology licensing and related services revenues for the three months ended September 30, 2012 were $71,000 versus $307,000 for the three months ended September 30, 2011. The technology licensing and related services revenues for the quarter ended September 30, 2012 resulted primarily from cold testing services for customers who are actively developing projects and may license and build plants using our technology.

The company’s operating loss for the first quarter of fiscal 2013 was $3.9 million versus $4.4 million reported for the first quarter of fiscal 2012. Decrease in the operating loss was primarily attributable to lower costs at the ZZ joint venture plant while holding the plant idle.

The net loss attributable to stockholders for both the first quarter of fiscal 2013 and 2012 was $4.5 million or $0.09 per share.

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