St. Louis, Missouri, USA
November 9, 2023

• Reported revenues decreased 8 percent year-over-year to approximately $113.1 million. Proprietary revenues increased by 27 percent year-over-year.
• Reported gross profit was $4.1 million (gross loss of $0.2 million when excluding an approximate $4.3 million impact from open mark-to-market timing differences).
• The Company ended the third quarter with $86.2 million of cash, restricted cash, and marketable securities.
• Management improves its 2023 financial guidance.
• The Company expects to pay down approximately 50 percent of the senior convertible debt in November.

Benson Hill, Inc. (NYSE: BHIL, the “Company” or “Benson Hill”), a food tech company unlocking the natural genetic diversity of plants, today announced operating and financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2023.

“Our team effectively managed a challenging third quarter, addressing some softness in soy crush margins and reduced demand for proprietary products because of market headwinds,” said Deanie Elsner, Chief Executive Officer of Benson Hill. “The combination of the sale of certain non-core licensing technologies and higher-than-planned soy white flake ingredient sales expected in the fourth quarter positions us to end 2023 consistent with our prior guidance for gross profit. We expect these market challenges to persist, further supporting our decision to accelerate the shift to an asset-light business model designed to serve broadacre animal feed markets with our seed innovations enabled through the CropOS® platform.”

Third Quarter Results Compared to the Same Period of 2022
The following financial results exclude the completed divestiture of the Fresh business on June 30, 2023. The impact of open mark-to-market timing differences on the statement of operations and reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures can be found in the accompanying financial tables.

• Reported revenues were $113.1 million, a decrease of $9.2 million, or 7.5 percent, driven by a 17 percent decline in non-proprietary revenues due to record-level crush margins for soy and yellow pea in the third quarter of last year. Proprietary revenues were $33.1 million, a 27.2 percent increase, driven by greater availability of products compared to the prior year and the sale of proprietary soybeans into the commodity market. Reported revenues included an unfavorable $0.1 millionimpact from open mark-to-market timing differences.
• Gross profit was $4.1 million, a decrease of $1.8 million. Excluding a favorable impact of $4.3 million from open mark-to-market timing differences, gross profit decreased by $4.7 million to a loss of $0.2 million due to the sale of proprietary products into the commodity markets at unfavorable margins and non-recurring factors affecting the supply chain, including logistics and unscheduled maintenance costs at our processing facilities.
• Operating expenses were $28.4 million, a decrease of $2 million. The decrease was driven by the Liquidity Improvement Plan actions to deliver an expected $15 million run rate reduction in 2023 partially offset by $2.5 million of non-recurring expenses. Excluding the non-recurring items, operating expenses declined by approximately 14.7 percent to $25.9 million.
  • Selling, general, and administrative expenses were $17.9 million, a decrease of $1 million or 5.5 percent inclusive of non-recurring costs.
  • R&D expenses were $10.5 million, a decrease of $0.9 million or 8 percent.
• Inclusive of open mark-to-market timing differences, net loss from continuing operations, net of income taxes, was $19.2 million, a decrease in reported loss of $7.2 million. Adjusted EBITDA was a loss of $14.2 million compared to a loss of $14.7 million in the prior year. Excluding the impact of open mark-to-market timing differences, the Adjusted EBITDA loss in the quarter was $18.5 million compared to a loss of $16.1 million for the same period last year.
• Cash, restricted cash, and marketable securities of $86.2 million were on hand as of September 30, 2023.

First Nine-Months Results Compared to the Same Period of 2022
The following financial results exclude the completed divestiture of the Fresh business on June 30, 2023. The impact of open mark-to-market timing differences on the statement of operations and reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures can be found in the accompanying financial tables.

• Reported revenues were $356.7 million, an increase of $74.7 million, or 26.5 percent. Proprietary revenues were $77 million,an increase of 47.3 percent, driven by proprietary product sales into the aquaculture market and some limited soybean sales into the commodity markets. Reported revenues included a $6.3 million gain from open mark-to-market timing differences.
• Gross profit was $16.6 million, an increase in profitability of $13.9 million, and includes a $6.4 million gain related to open mark-to-market timing differences. Overall profitability increased in dollar and margin percentage terms due to the combination of partnership and licensing agreements and improved operating results compared to start-up costs incurred in the prior year.
• Operating expenses were $97.6 million, an increase of $2.4 million, or 2.5 percent, which include approximately $17.3 million of non-recurring costs, including a $19.2 million impairment of the carrying value of goodwill. Excluding these non-recurring items, operating expenses declined by 15.6 percent to $80.3 million due to cost reductions realized through the Company’s Liquidity Improvement Plan.
• Inclusive of the mark-to-market timing differences and goodwill impairment, the reported net loss from continuing operations, net of income taxes, was $73.2 million compared to a net loss of $68.9 million. Adjusted EBITDA was a loss of $41 million compared to a loss of $59.8 million.

2023 Outlook
Excludes the Fresh business which was divested on June 30, 2023.

Management improved its guidance for 2023, driven by expectations for improved performance in the fourth quarter and continued benefits from the Liquidity Improvement Plan.

1 Categories such as income tax expense (benefit) and changes in fair value of warrants and conversion option, stock-based compensation and significant non-recurring items may impact the actual full-year non-GAAP reconciliation for both Adjusted EBITDA and Free Cash Flow. These amounts cannot be estimated at this time.

2 Reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures can be found in the accompanying financial tables.

Website: https://bensonhill.com/

Published: November 9, 2023