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Text: But first, I'll review the Safe Harbor disclosure.
I have joining me on the call today Stuart Rose, Executive Chairman of the Board; and Zafar Rizvi, Chief Executive Officer.
REX is very pleased to report on our strong third quarter results.
We now have just one reportable segment of ethanol and by-products.
Sales for the quarter increased by 63% as we experienced higher pricing for ethanol, distiller grains and corn oil.
Ethanol sales for the quarter were based upon 69 million gallons this year versus 74.6 million last year.
The reduced gallons were primarily due to limited corn supply at the beginning of the quarter which abated once the current year corn harvest began.
We reported gross profit of $25.2 million from continuing operations versus a gross profit of $18.9 million in the prior year.
For the current year quarter improved selling prices were offset somewhat by higher corn and natural gas pricing.
Ethanol pricing improved by 76%, dried distiller grain improved by 43% and corn oil pricing improved by 146% for this year's quarter over the prior year quarter.
Corn cost increased by 97% and natural gas pricing increased by 119% for this year's quarter compared to the prior year.
SG&A increased for the third quarter to $6.3 million from $4.3 million in the prior year.
This primarily represents increased incentive compensation based upon higher earnings in the current year and increased railcar lease costs.
We had income of $349,000 from our unconsolidated equity investment in this year's third quarter versus income of $1.2 million in the prior year.
Interest and other income decreased to approximately $35,000 versus $537,000 in the prior year, primarily reflecting the lower interest rate environment.
As mentioned above, since refined coal operation is now classified as discontinued operations, its results and historical results now reflected on one line on the income statement including the tax benefits from this business.
We reported $2 million of net income reportable to REX shareholders from discontinued operations for the third quarter.
This also resulted in us reporting a tax provision of $4.3 million for the third quarter of this year versus a provision of $5 million in the prior year from our continuing operations.
These factors led to net income attributable to REX shareholders from continuing operations of $13.3 million for this year's third quarter versus $9 million in the prior year, a 47% improvement.
Our net income per share from continuing operations attributable to REX shareholders was $2.23 for this year versus a $1.47 in the prior year.
Total net income per share, attributable to REX shareholders, including the discontinued operations was $2.56 for the quarter versus a $1.44 in the prior year.
Doug, is Stuart there still?
Zafar, why don't you go ahead?
Sorry, I'm on, I'm on.
Going forward, we are currently running in a significantly higher rate of earnings per share in the quarter that we currently reported.
Crush spreads have risen greatly even with higher input prices of corn and natural gas.
Zafar Rizvi will discuss this later in his section.
Refined coal operations as Doug ended in the middle of November.
After tax, it was profitable all the way up to the end.
Tax credits that -- we have not used that yet, we'll carry forward for up to 20 years, will help our cash flow significantly over in the next few years, assuming we continue to make good earnings.
The sequestration project is moving forward.
Carbon sequestration, Zafar Rizvi again will discuss that in his section.
Cash balance right now has risen to $219 million, up significantly from year-end of $108.7 million.
We currently, based on current operations, we again expect that to rise over the next -- over the next couple of -- over this quarter.
We bought back almost 67,000 shares in the quarter, we're working on our carbon capture project which Zafar again will talk about.
We continue to look for top quality ethanol plants, we tried, but we've not been as imminent at this time, we know nothing that's top quality that is up for sale at a price, we would consider buying it for.
We are open to considering other alternative energy projects and carbon capture opportunities.
So we'll see what happens in those areas.
Again, our cash balance as you can see on the balance sheet, $219 million.
Zafar will now discuss the operations.
As I mentioned in our previous quarterly call, the operating environment in 2021 improved in the first and second quarter.
We saw a decline in the crush margin in the beginning of the third quarter due to several factors.
But then the operating environment has begun to change.
An early harvest resulted in an increase in the availability of the corn -- favorable ethanol and corn oil prices helped to increase the crush margin due to the availability of corn.
We were able to increase the production at our plants, which is resulted in a very profitable quarter as Doug and Stuart mentioned earlier.
We continue to see favorable trend as Stuart just mentioned in crush margin, which could result into another profitable quarter.
Both of our majority-owned plants currently are producing at near capacity, are the logistic problems continue to be very challenging and are beginning to get worse due to the slowdown of the railroad and the availability of DDG containers and trucks.
We expect this trend may continue into the first quarter of next year or maybe longer which could adversely affect production and net income.
Let me give you a little bit of progress of our carbon sequestration project.
As you know, we are working with the University of Illinois to drill carbon sequestration well.
We have received a permit from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources to drill a test well, the site for the drilling has been prepared.
Rigs and other materials and equipment have arrived at the site.
We expect drilling will start today.
We hope to convert the test well into Class VI in the monitoring well.
The first stage of preparing the Class VI permit application has been using.
Existing information and US EPA has been notified.
The completion of the application process will continue -- will continue as we began to receive more information after the test well is completed in January 2022.
It will require another several weeks of testing, extensive modeling and computer stimulation to predict the behavior of the CO2, when it is injected, it is a very slow process.
This stimulation model will determine how much CO2 can be injected at the location, at what rate and it is eventual distribution in the subsurface area.
2D seismic processing has just finished and currently, preliminary [Phonetic] reports looks good at the proposed site.
The process [Indecipherable] testing has started, permitting fertility [Phonetic] usually takes more time than 2Ds as there is more land involved.
The fertility require us to enter in the fields and run linear grids across the property after receiving permission from the landlord -- landowners.
Our FEED study of the capture of CO2 and the design of the facilities are underway.
The design of the capture CO2 facility is expected to be completed soon.
As I have mentioned in the previous calls, this project is still at a very preliminary stage, and we cannot predict yet that we will be successful.
In summary, we are pleased to announce once again a very profitable quarter and progress with our carbon sequestration project.
I'll get back -- I'll give the floor back to Stuart Rose for additional comments.
In conclusion, we had a very, very good quarter as we both mentioned.
We're in the midst of an even better quarter, a significantly better quarter as crush spreads have risen.
We have continued to outperform the industry.
Significantly, we have good plants, good locations and as Zafar mentioned, we believe we have the best people in the industry and much capable people in the industry.
That's really what sets us apart from what the average plan is currently doing.
I'll now leave the floor open to questions.

user
compname reports q3 earnings per share of $2.56.
compname reports fiscal 2021 third quarter net income per share attributable to rex common shareholders increase of 78% to $2.56.
q3 earnings per share $2.56.

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