Bioceres Crop Solutions Corp. (NASDAQ:BIOX) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Bobby Burleson: Great, Thank you. And my next question is just about the fertilizer opportunity in wheat that we should be looking out for kind of late May and into June. Is that really dependent like — are farmers basically, at this point, given what’s happened so far this year, really focused on making up for it, when is their wheat programs, or is that kind of a done deal. And it’s just all about the weather at this point. And so, we should just be watching, this abatement of and just, hoping that the weather continues to be on this positive trend. And then, the higher week plantings are just kind of a self fulfilling prophecy at that point, or there’s still decisions being made, do you think?

Federico Trucco: Hi, Bobby. This is Federico. It’s great to have you in the call.

Bobby Burleson: Hey, Federico.

Federico Trucco: I think it’s probably too early to tell now, because farmers are today 100% dedicated to making the most out of the current crops, the summer crops, which are the ones that are economically more meaningful to them. Now, as we indicated, their losses in the summer crops that are non reversible, so the expectation is for the overall crop to be 20% below a normal year. And this is happening after a very tough wheat campaign in the prior season. So revenues from wheat decline, revenues from summer crops will decline. So I think, if the weather is acceptable, and we have good moisture in the ground, there’ll be a lot of wheat planted. And we don’t anticipate wheat prices to sort of come down given sort of a shortage that not only Argentina, not in Latin America, probably we’ll see in other geographies around the globe.

So I think, it is — it will be highly dependent on the weather situation. We don’t need it to be perfect. We just need it to be moist enough, so that farmers will go full force in trying to recover part of that loss revenue.

Bobby Burleson: Okay, great. And then, just one last one and maybe this is for you also Federico. The Corteva acquisition of Stoller and what that does to kind of the state of play in South America. Does that create more of a sense of urgency for Syngenta to kind of target Brazil with disagreements? You know, does this create bigger opportunities for bio Bioceres in the area?

Federico Trucco: Look, I think, it’s obviously evident by now that industry leaders have put a lot of energy and resources in to trying to have a strategy around biologicals. Stoller is a well known company, particularly in biostimulants and particularly in Brazil, that’s where they excelled. And there is, I think, a consensus view today that, to be able to do the trick, you need specialized sales teams. So in part what we are doing with Syngenta with the inoculant agreement is holding hands, sort of using our platform and our capabilities to help them execute on these more technical sales was part what called into Stoller. And it’s reflective of broader M&A in the space. There are a number of other deals that have been announced recently.

So I think to be an industry leader in a space that is turning hotter, every minute, is obviously nice to see, because it that does create alternatives for us. And hopefully, in the future, we are at a position where we can materialize the leading position we’re building today. Now in ways that can vary, depending on the scenarios. But I think there’s a clear race to try to lead on the biological space, as industry leaders are recognizing that the only way they can build these businesses internally is through M&A.

Bobby Burleson: Great. Thanks, Federico. Thanks, Enrique.

Operator: Our next question comes from Brian Wright from ROTH Capital Partners. Your line is now open.

Brian Wright: Thanks. Good morning. Just a real quick on data follow-up, you said on the on the debt that you would just the 26.6 million to you. Give us those interest rates again, in terms of like 1.5% to 3.9%, but I just want to make sure, that I got that correct.

Enrique Lopez Lecube: Hi, Brian. This is Enrique. Thanks for joining us and for the question. And, yeah, so it was an issuance of $26.6 million, of which 2021 were in the tranche of the 24 months maturity with 1.5% interest rate. And then, there was about $5.5 million that were in the tranche that matures in 36 months, and that tranche of the bonds base coupon of 3.9%.

Brian Wright: Sure, come a long way. Congrats.

Enrique Lopez Lecube: Thanks. I mean, it’s like we will keep these as part of our financial strategy. I think that this goes hand-by-hand with our leverage ratio, in keeping sort of the short-term of our debts, well, beyond — well below, and sort of like current assets. That’s what we’re looking for, as well as the strong cash position. So all of these three things go hand-by-hand and what’s important to us to be able to sort of like bring down the short-term piece of our debt.

Brian Wright: Great, Thank you.

Operator: Our next question comes from Kemp Dolliver from Brookline Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Kemp Dolliver: Great, thank you and good morning. Just a couple of questions, first, there’s reference to some transaction expenses in the quarter, which I think you mentioned, related to Marrone, which closed in July, what were those expenses that they would show up after closing?