Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by. Welcome to the EcoSynthetix 2021 second quarter results conference call. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question -and-answer session. Instructions will be provided for you at that time for questions. If anyone has any difficulty hearing the conference, you may press star zero for operator assistance at any time. Listeners are reminded that portions of today's discussion may contain forward-looking statements that reflect current views with respect to future events. Any such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. For more information on EcoSynthetix risks and uncertainties related to these forward-looking statements, please refer to the company's annual information form dated March 2nd, 2021, posted on SEDAR.
This morning's call is being recorded on Thursday, July 29th, 2021, at 8:30 A.M. Eastern Time. I would now like to turn the call over to Mr. Jeff MacDonald, Chief Executive Officer of EcoSynthetix. Please go ahead, sir.
Thank you. Good morning, and thank you for joining us today. Yesterday afternoon, we released our 2021 second quarter results, which you can find on our website at ecosynthetix.com. You can also download a copy of the slides that accompany today's call from our website, or alternatively, access them on the webcast. We feel like we had a great quarter, where we saw general recovery and also real impact on our results from the diversification strategy we've invested in. Sales were up, coming in at CAD 4.9 million, a 58% improvement from the depth of the pandemic. More important than the actual results, in our view, are the positive steps we have taken with our high-value strategic accounts. During Q2, we saw more meaningful sales from our DuraBind bioresins that target the wood composites market. We believe this is the start of a sustainable trend.
Historically, more than 90% of our revenue was derived from the paper and paperboard end market, where we sell our EcoSphere bio-latex to manufacturers as an alternative to SB latex. This concentration created exposure to the movements of commodity markets, specifically oil and SB latex. EcoSphere is still the majority of our sales, and we expect it to continue to be a foundational part of our revenue mix. However, the momentum we're seeing in the wood composites market is stronger today than ever before. Our opportunity set has expanded, and we've made important commercial progress with our strategic accounts. Our long-term investment to diversify beyond paper is beginning to show results. The multiple shots -on-goal commercialization strategy is working. Our first major customer in wood composites, the Swiss Krono Group, is broadening its use of DuraBind in OSB and particleboard.
They are using DuraBind in multiple facilities, and we're supporting their plans to expand into even more mills. Their BE.YOND particleboard offering is steadily expanding. While volumes are still relatively small today, they see BE.YOND as a competitive differentiator in the market as the most environmentally friendly particleboard available. They remain committed to driving adoption and continue to invest in marketing resources to support market penetration. In addition to Swiss Krono, we are also seeing strong momentum with the leading retailer and manufacturer of wood composites that has been our strategic prospect. Our volumes with them became a more meaningful part of our revenue mix in the quarter as they ran multiple large production runs in support of further end product validation and testing. These production runs are a necessary step towards ongoing and expanded commercial production.
The momentum we are seeing in the wood composites market is both a result of the demand for more sustainable and healthier products from retailers and consumers, as well as the payoff from the past six years of development work we have invested in alongside our strategic partners. As an example, the strong demand for building materials has resulted in high operating rates at panel manufacturing facilities. Line speed is crucial for manufacturers during these peak periods. Our DuraBind resin is now part of the solution. During the quarter, we were able to help our customers run faster using DuraBind than with their incumbent resin systems, including urea formaldehyde. This is a direct result of our continued innovation to deliver new products to the DuraBind family, including our tackifier for particleboard and our catalyst for line speed improvement. We continue to invest in development.
We hired new talent this quarter to support our efforts, which is invigorating to the team as we emerge from the pandemic. We believe the momentum we're generating in the wood composites market, while still early days, signifies a transition for the business. Successfully delivering on our commercial strategy in the wood composites market is our number one priority and the key driver of meaningful growth for the business. Moving to the paper and paperboard market, the macro fundamentals continue to be under pressure. Demand for coated free sheet, the primary market we sell into, is down 19% year-to-date. As part of the strategy to deal with declining demand, manufacturers have aggressively consolidated mills to improve capacity levels and mill operating rates. Due to the higher operating rates, our EcoSphere volumes were up significantly this quarter; however, they remained relatively flat on a six-month basis.
Where we see growth opportunity in the paper and paperboard market, it is with packaging and specialty applications like green sustainable packaging, tissue, and pulp. We continue to invest in development for these end markets, where the characteristics of our biopolymer are attractive to manufacturers. We believe our EcoSphere solution will continue to be a standard ingredient for the paper and packaging manufacturers that use it and that it will remain a foundational part of our business. On the personal care front, we continue our work with the global chemical company that is our development and marketing partner in personal care. We are developing both new hair fixative ingredients for them, as well as new ingredients for other product lines in personal and home care. The hair fixative market on its own represents an approximately CAD 350 million opportunity for our binder, with strong margins.
We believe the demand and interest in sustainable, healthier ingredients will be a continuing tailwind in the personal care category, and our partner agrees. They're highly engaged, investing resources in marketing and go-to-market strategies that drive awareness and adoption. We view the personal care opportunity as a warrant to our growth. Our strongest growth opportunity remains the wood composites market. It is the largest of our three target markets. We're working with customers and prospects that are highly engaged in adopting no added formaldehyde solutions, and our DuraBind resin offers material benefits to their carbon footprint and to their end users. This quarter's results demonstrate that the market is starting to move to us, and we have an offering that meets its needs. With that, I'll turn it over to Rob to review the financials. Rob?
Thanks, Jeff, and good morning. Net sales were CAD 4.9 million in Q2 2021, up 58% compared to the CAD 3.1 million in the same period in 2020. The increase was due to higher volumes, which impacted sales by CAD 1.1 million, or 36%, and a higher average selling price, which impacted sales by CAD 700,000, or 22%. As Jeff mentioned, the volume increase was driven by both the rebound in paper and higher volumes from the wood composites market as we advance our commercial strategies. The pricing increase was the result of higher market pricing for incumbent chemistries and the recovery of manufacturing cost escalations, which we have experienced year to date. Gross profit was CAD 1.1 million in the quarter, up CAD 600,000 compared to the same period in 2020. The improvement was due to higher volumes and higher average selling prices, partially offset by higher manufacturing costs.
Net of manufacturing depreciation, gross profit as a percentage of sales was 26.3% in the quarter, compared to 23.6% in the same period in 2020. SG&A expenses were CAD 1.3 million in the quarter, an increase of CAD 400,000 compared to the same period in 2020. The change is primarily due to lower payments received under the Canada CEWS program of CAD 100,000, a change in foreign exchange gains and losses of CAD 100,000, and an increase in variable base compensation of CAD 200,000. R&D expenses were CAD 600,000 in the quarter, compared to CAD 400,000 in the same period in 2020.
The change is due primarily to the increase in salaries and benefits as well as discretionary spend. Adjusted EBITDA loss was CAD 200,000 for the quarter, unchanged from the same period in 2020. As of June 30th, 2021, we had CAD 41.2 million in cash compared to CAD 42 million as of December 31st, 2020. During the quarter, we invested CAD 200,000 in NCIB share buybacks and CAD 400,000 year to date. We have demonstrated our ability to responsibly manage our cash reserves through multiple cycles while continuing to invest in our long-term growth strategy. With that, I'll turn it back to Jeff for closing comments.
Thanks, Rob. The momentum we are experiencing, both in the markets we address and with the customers and prospects we're engaged with, is incredibly exciting. I've never been more confident in the long-term prospects of the business. Effecting change in large industrial markets requires patience and endurance. Five years ago, identifying change agents within an organization was both critical and challenging. Decision-makers were just as influenced by champions of the status quo. Today, those change agents not only have greater influence, but there are also more of them. The demand for change to reduce carbon footprint and move toward healthier ingredients is coming from the top of major players, including our important strategic partners. The level of urgency and the demand for alternatives that support carbon reduction targets is driving a different tone in our inbound calls.
Thought leaders in industry, like IKEA, have long recognized the need for change. They have detailed disclosures as part of their sustainability program of where they can impact their carbon footprint. They are now being joined by other manufacturers and retailers as well, who are looking for ways to reduce their impact on the environment. Momentum is building in the broader market for more sustainable offerings, and we're seeing more interest in our platform as manufacturers and retailers search for ways to improve the sustainability profile of their supply chain networks. Our bio-based binders deliver, from an environmental perspective, a value perspective, as well as on a performance basis compared to conventional petroleum-based binders. That is a compelling proposition to take to these agents of change and decision-makers.
We have the technology and the financial strength. We're working with the right customers and partners to make a difference in our target markets. We appreciate the trust and patience that our shareholders have shown. I look forward to updating you further on our progress. With that, I'll turn it back to the operator to open the call up for questions. Thank you.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question -and-answer session. Should you have any questions, please press star followed by one on your touch-tone phone. You will hear a three-tone prompt acknowledging your request, and your questions will be polled in the order they are received. Should you wish to decline from the polling process, please press star followed by two. If you're using a speakerphone, please lift your handset before pressing any keys. One moment for your first question. Your first question comes from Brian Morrison as a private investor. Brian, please go ahead.
Hey, good morning, Jeff and Rob. How are you?
Good morning, Brian.
Good morning, Brian. Doing well. Glad you're here today.
Yeah, good. This is all really intriguing. I have a few questions for you this morning. My first question is, in the language between Q1 and Q2, it's a little bit different. In Q1, you state you made important steps in your commercialization strategy with your key prospect. This quarter, however, you state you had this leading retailer do large -scale production runs as important steps to ongoing expanded commercial production. The question I have here is, does this indicate this partner has transitioned from a prospect for commercial production to an account now, such that a contract is in place?
Yes. We've actually specifically referred to them as an account, but I guess a little bit behind that, to the extent we can share what's happened, we made some really meaningful steps with them, strategic steps, which resulted in them showing up in a more meaningful way, and I'll say a meaningful way, really for the first time in our results within the quarter. Yeah, we consider them an account. I think it's really important, though, in thinking about that transition, to just remember the journey that we've been on with them and that we'll continue to be on. This is a lot more of a march of progress than it is a sudden moon landing.
That transition to being an account for us is very important, and we're really excited that it's beginning to show up in a meaningful way in our results. There's still a lot of work to do, and the march continues.
Okay.
Does that clarify it for you, Brian?
Yeah. No, obviously it's an account now. That's great. If we stick with wood products and the momentum, it really looks like you're implementing notable price increases to offset some of the cost pressures, while in fact gaining margin. Can you maybe talk about the updated economics of a line in the new environment, specifically from a revenue per line perspective? Then just looking a little further out, call it 36 months or so, how many lines could you potentially see as reasonable?
Let's touch on margin first. One of the things that impacted us, I mentioned in the prepared remarks, was just the introduction of new products, and those new products do carry a more attractive margin profile. I think we've consistently said that we expect our margin profile in the wood composites market to be in excess of 30%, and that's showing up in our results. We feel that we're on the right track there. In terms of the volume per line, the guidance we've provided is that we expect to have a share of wallet with a customer that adopts DuraBind of somewhere between CAD half a million and CAD 3 million. We'd like to see these first strategic accounts get to those CAD 3 million levels.
With the introduction of these new products, there is some additional headroom there in terms of the value we can offer to customers. We're optimistic that it could, in fact, be more than CAD 3 million going forward, but we'd like to get to the CAD 3 million milestone first with some of them before we sort of adjust that view for everybody. Then again, in terms of how many lines it could be. Let me just step back. We've thought about, as a business, these key milestones of progress.
The business previously, I think, thought about the moonshot as being just around the corner, and we thought it was really important to sort of keep our feet on the ground and say, We want to achieve this as the next step, and then our most recent step in our milestone march has been getting ourselves to consistently be cash flow positive. The next milestone we have is to establish ourselves as a CAD 100 million business, and we feel that's within sight, I would say in sort of the three -five-year timeframe. If things go extremely well, could be shorter, but we'll keep our feet on the ground and say three -five years.
We think the makeup of that mix would see something like CAD 60 million coming from the wood composites market, which would represent somewhere around 20 lines. We think that with the progress that we've made so far and the accounts that we're exposed to, within that timeframe, that's very possible.
Okay, thank you. That's positive. I guess in terms of one of your comments about getting end product validation for your clients, I guess in terms of the testing and production runs, have you exceeded client expectations, and what are the key benefits here? Is it simply the reduction of fossil-based glue, or are there also economic benefits here as well? It sounds like in your commentary, you said line speed is also a contributor.
Yeah, it is important to step back and think about our journey as well. When the journey started, it actually started largely with the strategic prospect, now account, that we are talking about, over six years ago. The main objective in the journey as it started was to reduce formaldehyde emissions. That remains an important point, I think, for everyone that we are engaged with. As the green agenda has caught hold, we are seeing a lot more emphasis being put on carbon footprint reduction, and really everyone that we are engaged with is looking at measuring that and our impact on it in some way. I would say it has evolved to be more of that, with no added formaldehyde as an important second. Especially just in the last six months, I think we have also come up on a phase here of real market impact and value impact.
We've always thought of ourselves as being competitive from a value perspective, but with the introduction of some of these new products, and specifically the catalyst to improve line speed, especially in this environment where everybody's sold out and they want to produce more, we're actually setting records on production lines with some of our customers. There's really a compelling value message in the short term that's driving some of our customers' activities as well. It's really all those things, but we feel like we've made a big step this year on the value specifically coming from speed.
Okay. Sounds like you're checking all the boxes. I guess that really leads to my next question. As you hit this transformational stage, it would appear, certainly at a minimum inflection point, that it should really drive free cash flow. You still have over CAD 41 million of net cash on your balance sheet. What are you looking for in terms of M&A? More importantly, from my standpoint, can we expect an ongoing active NCIB? As with this long-term potential growth as you mentioned, it certainly appears quite the opportunities to put this cash to work.
Before we jump from the importance of customers, I think we should remember that it is an important element of our customer-facing approach as well. Just given the timeframes involved in changing materials in these large customers, we get asked all the time from our key strategic prospects, from everyone, How do we know you guys are going to continue to be around? We show them our cash balance, and it gives them confidence. That's an important point. Let me jump off the customer point. As we move toward our march to be a CAD 100 million business, there's a significant uptick required in working capital that we factor into our capital planning. We continue to be engaged in looking for strategic fits from an M&A perspective. If we find the right one, we'd love to put some of our cash to work in that way.
Also, we expect to continue to return capital to shareholders through our NCIB in a balanced way that is consistent with the way that we've been doing it for the last several years. We'll continue to invest alongside other meaningful investors. We see value in our stock, and our ability to buy it back, I think, conveys our confidence in where we're going.
All right. I'm going to leave it there. Good luck, and thank you both for your time.
Thank you, Brian.
Thank you. Your next question comes from Gerry Wimmer, a private investor. Gerry, please go ahead.
Hi. Thank you, and congratulations, Jeff and Robert, on a quarter, kind of an inflection point for the business. I'm sure you're excited, as shareholders are.
Oh, good. Thanks, Gerry.
Yeah, well done. My first question, and some of the questions, actually were answered from the previous caller. As it relates to your strategic account, how many lines do they have, I guess, in-house and third -party?
Yeah. In total, we estimate that to supply all of their needs requires something in the range of 17 production lines.
17.
They drive about 30% of their own production needs through their in-house capabilities across five lines, to the best of our knowledge. Then they source the rest of their requirements from the other major players in the industry.
Okay. On the validation runs that you're having at this point, are they all internal lines to the strategic account that they're on?
Yeah. Safe to say yes. It begins to get into a little more detail than they would like us to be sharing.
Sure.
It's very clear from their activities, just generally, as a producer, and as they work with their supply chain, one of the things that they do is they like to have a strong understanding of the technology, how it works, and the cost structure so that when they go to their partners for the other 70%, they really have a good understanding of the economics and the technology to be able to help them supply them with the rest of it. It's a broader philosophy that they use, and they do the same thing with their particleboard.
Okay. I forgot if you answered this. Are you on all five lines that they have internal right now?
Can't answer that.
Fair enough. You talked about, with the strategic partner, that currently you're on a certain number of lines, and they're in a validation phase, production run validation phase, I think is what the terminology you used. Since June 30th, are you still in that phase, or has it progressed to a different phase?
It's gonna continue to be in that phase, I would say, for some time. I guess if we think back to how we got started with Swiss Krono, it was very similar. What you do is you work first with the low-hanging fruit, and you optimize around that low-hanging fruit of SKUs within their portfolio.
You optimize your resin mix and the production process, and then they do downstream validation and testing on the products that the panels go into. It's progressing in a very similar way. The kind of things that we're doing with them and with any customer are really expanding the use of our product through more SKUs, optimizing the resin loading. You start off at a more conservative level where you know everything's gonna hold together well. To drive the right economics and the right speed, you're gradually tweaking that to a better place to minimize the use of resin and maximize the speed. Those are the kinds of things we've been working through.
Also mechanically within any operation, this holds true for everybody we've worked with. As you begin to learn more about how the resin flows through each of these unique systems, you're making some changes and optimizations to those delivery systems mechanically. All the way along, including in the last quarter, we've been making some adjustments there as well. Those are the kinds of things you work through, and as it was with Swiss Krono, it's a process of many months until you have everything lined out where you're not engaged in the same way anymore, but you get to a point where your product is flowing into products that they're producing and taking to market. Therefore, they consider it commercial; we consider it commercial at a certain point, and we think we passed that point during this quarter.
I don't know if you can answer this. Am I to assume that any of the SKUs for your strategic partner is making it to their stores as a final product? Known or unbeknown?
We can't answer that. We don't officially know, but the panels that have been produced using DuraBind are working their way through their supply chain. We know they've been certified as good, and we know that they're making their way into end products. We don't know exactly what happens with them , and if we did, we probably couldn't comment on that either.
Okay. Fair enough. Change of topic. You added a new director to your board last month, one that has obvious analyst experience in the sustainable market. Is she actively helping you bring the message to the street to this point?
Sarah joined us for her first board meeting this week. I think all around the table, everybody felt that she made a contribution right away as we expected she would. She's known our business for quite a while. She has great experience and great contacts on the street. She brought some interesting new perspectives. I think there are lots of ways that she can help us, both strategically and with our capital market strategy, looking at M&A opportunities. We're really pleased to have her join us.
Great. Thanks for the insight.
Thanks for bringing that up. That's a good point.
Yeah. Thanks. Finally, a question for Robert, and I don't know if there's any significance in this. Compared to last year, your cash, CAD 42 million or so , is in cash; last year you had half of it, or CAD 25 million, in short-term investments. This year, it's all sitting in cash. Is there a significance to that change in strategy?
No significance to it, Gerry. It's just the interest environment that we're in today, I think that everyone knows ; I hate to use the word, but it's terrible. There really isn't a lot of yield right now on deposits or short-term investments. We've elected to keep our money in deposits and wait . I shouldn't just say wait, but look for opportunities for higher yield. We're essentially just keeping it current right now opposed to locking it up at super low yields that really isn't giving much of a return on the cash.
No, fair. Those are all my questions. Congratulations on a great quarter.
Thanks a lot, Gerry.
Thanks, Gerry.
Thank you. Your next question comes from Daniel Marks with Stonehouse Capital. Daniel, please go ahead.
Morning, gentlemen. Great quarter.
Morning, Dan. Thank you.
I apologize if—
Thanks, Dan.
You're welcome. I apologize if there's some overlap with some of the other shareholder questions. It sounds to me like you're saying your product is now greener, it's faster, it's as cheap as or cheaper, and it's as good as or better. With the expansion in SKUs and lines that your product's going into, are you moving beyond sort of the green? Like, specifically, if I looked at Swiss Krono, they had the BE.YOND product. Is it moving beyond that? Pardon that unintended pun. Are you spreading out to the non-green products as well?
Well, it's actually interesting because the story's actually a little bit reversed to the way you've posed it. We weren't able to talk about it initially; Swiss Krono has subsequently come out and really promoted their OSB products as greener through the use of our bio-based binder as well. The key thing there in getting started in that space was better economics. For their OSB products, we were helping them initially with better economics, and then the added green benefits became an important value driver for them as well. The answer is yes, but we've been doing it for longer than prior to BE.YOND.
Got it.
Before BE.YOND.
Before BE.YOND. Okay. BE.YOND. Fantastic. Related to Swiss Krono, this may be just a bit of an aside; obviously, they were your first brand, I'm gonna say brand name partner.
Not sure if you can still hear us, but sounds like Dan got cut.
Apologies. It looks like Mr. Marks' line was disconnected.
Okay. Hopefully he'll rejoin us.
Ladies and gentlemen, as a reminder, should you have any questions, please press star one. We have a following question from Brian Morrison as a private investor. Please go ahead, Brian.
Sorry, I just have one follow-up question, guys. In terms of the personal care product market, can you just maybe talk about the engagement of your key partner and the status of their exclusivity? Then you made a comment, Jeff, about a strong margin profile. Can you just elaborate on the details or comment on how that margin profile unfolds?
I will, to the extent we're able to, just with the disclosure.
Sure
Requirements we have with our partner. The engagement level remains really high. As we are not the personal care experts, we rely on their enthusiasm and engagement as our barometer for how engaged we should be. Maybe just a measure of that engagement, like in the last, I'll say, 12-month period or so, we've delivered them over 60 new product samples based on requests they've had for modified ingredients or new ingredients from us. The agreement remains exclusive. We are exclusive to them as a supplier of these ingredients. It's also an exclusive not only marketing agreement but development agreement.
The other thing that I think gives them confidence that some good things are coming is that they continue to win awards for the product from, let's say, independent bodies, but also from partners of theirs, customers of theirs, that are giving them awards for the introduction of green chemistries. I don't think that would happen unless customers like that were somehow working with that product towards some new product launches. There's obviously a bit of speculation because we are not the marketing arm there, but there seems to be great engagement by them with their customers as well.
I guess the other thing to highlight is that in addition to them working with primarily major players, they've also engaged distribution partners and one in particular that has really broad regional reach and is able to go down deeper to probably some of the medium and small-sized players where some of these green niche brands may be more prevalent. The fact that that engagement is still fairly recent and they're pushing it through that channel shows that it's building momentum of investment in the marketing side. Despite not them nor us having enough yet coming through ringing the cash register, there's still a high degree of optimism that as the world sort of opens back up and people are going out again, that's gonna drive some of these new product launches to take advantage of people just being out there again.
Are you seeing an expansion in the number of verticals that they're looking at? Just in terms of the margin profile, I respect you don't want to get into it, but would it be similar to that of wood products, or would it be substantially higher?
It's significantly higher.
In terms of verticals of expansion?
Oh, yeah, I don't want to get into a lot of detail there. It's still very early days of them putting our product into different kinds of formulations. There are some small niche examples out there already where our product is inside things outside of haircare. Eyecare, for example, is one that's shown up in a very small niche way, but it does show how our product is very versatile as a film former where that's required in other things, like mascaras, for example, in that case.
Okay. Thank you again.
Thank you, Brian.
Thank you. We have a following question from Daniel Marks. Please go ahead.
Gentlemen, I guess you didn't like the question I was going to ask. I got cut off there.
We actually have no ability to do that, Dan. It's not us.
Okay. I take it I was gonna ask about the personal care side, but I gather I just caught the end of your response there. Just quickly, is it fair to assume that things are going on track? It's just that wood composites are very exciting this quarter, so it got the headline?
Yeah. I don't think we could say it's going on track. I think we've been delayed by probably 18 months here. I think that would be our partner's view on it and our view on it. The fact that we remain engaged on all these development opportunities and they on formulation opportunities with customers, we're okay with that delay given what the world's gone through as long as we open up; we start to see these formulations making their way into some new product launches.
Got it. Just a couple quick questions. This one is probably for you, Robert. SG&A quarter-over-quarter and going back pre-COVID seem to be pretty steady in the CAD 1.2 million-CAD 1.4 million range. You identified the things that moved it up this quarter over last quarter. Compared to almost a 50% revenue increase, for modeling purposes, is that sort of the go-to SG&A number in that range regardless of revenues? What level of revenues should I start adding to my SG&A number?
Yeah, no, that's a good question, Dan, and you're right. The levels that you're seeing this quarter, with, I'd say, a small escalation from there. The good thing with our business is we have a fair bit of leverage in it. Like Jeff referenced, what's required to get to CAD 100 million? It's not a significant uptick from what you're already seeing today. Two extra technical people in the business, customer support. The team is well built out here right now to handle a lot more. Part of what you saw in the quarter was obviously a return to us having some variable compensation, because we hit some big strategic milestones in the quarter that we talked about.
The business definitely sees the path to profitability again from where we were a year ago, which was a big strategic goal for the year. From a modeling perspective, I would go off this quarter.
Maybe a little bit more. I hate to talk about recovery when it comes to SG&A, but the one thing that's just really recovering now is travel to get to customers. Just in this quarter, our sales and customer support people have been on a, I'll say, a more normal flow. We're not all the way there yet. I think there'll be some travel costs that come back too. Again, it's like we're not talking about a huge investment. It's a couple of hundred thousand dollars to that line at the top end.
Yes, if we're going to those levels, Dan, the only thing else I would say is that we have benefited from CAD 200,000 in government support this year. We do not expect to qualify for that in the second part of the year, just obviously because of our return to growth, which I'm very happy with, quite frankly.
Got it. You said something, Rob, that piqued my interest. The variable bonuses and variable compensation—are they bonuses tied to you achieving a certain benchmark with your key customer?
Yeah. We have a very balanced variable incentive plan that is , well, it's 100% linked to results. Part of those results is advancing our strategic goals. We're definitely on track there.
Got it. Okay. Thank you. With regard to your strategic account, formerly strategic prospect, given their size, 17 lines, are there any minimum take or pay components to your contract with them, or are you required to ensure a guaranteed supply level?
No. That kind of gets into details of contracts that go beyond what we're able to disclose. It's pretty standard fare in terms of sort of the buy -sell of our product. I'll just say that generally, across all of our markets and customer bases, take or pay is not a normal thing for us. It's basically just ensuring that we have the supply capability and, in some cases, the inventory levels to be able to support them. I guess the good news is that this, like most of our products, leverages our existing footprint; we can turn on or off our two big lines in order to support them as needed. That gives them a lot of confidence that we're there to support them. Take or pay is not really a standard part of the way we do business with customers.
Okay. They have vetted that you have the capacity to meet all their needs, I presume.
It's safe to say that when we talk about all of these large strategic customers, we've gone through very extensive supplier evaluations. They dig into our ISO programs; they get right into our operations and look at what we're doing. Deep level of due diligence and making sure we can support them.
Got it. Two last questions. You've mentioned the CAD 100 million revenue number, both today and on the SmallCap Discoveries webcast you were on a little while ago. With what transpired in the quarter, and I'm guessing that if bonuses were paid out, you are hitting your internal benchmarks, whatever they might be, on the path towards that goal?
Yeah. We feel like we're on the right track to it, and the results and how we're measured as an organization are very much tied to progress on that.
Perfect. One last question. Obviously, Swiss Krono is important to EcoSynthetix, and in the past, Jeff, you've spoken very highly of their CEO, and he is now chair of the European Panel Federation, which I assume is the industry body, and I'm assuming that's a good thing for Eco. Anything you can give us on the impact of having someone that progressive and mandated a green vision for Swiss Krono? How does that appointment impact Eco?
I guess, first of all, I think it's a great thing for Mr. Brettenthaler to be recognized and respected that way. I think them appointing him is reflective, hopefully, of how the EPF is thinking about the future in similar progressive terms to the way Swiss Krono, as a great family business, thinks about things. The green direction within their organization, their values, comes right from the top of the family, the chairwoman, and right through Mr. Brettenthaler. Their values are very closely tied to ours, and that's, I think, a large part of why we've been very successful working together. Yeah, we hope that has some spinoff and pushes the EPF more in the green direction as well. That could only be helpful for us, but we're really pleased to see Mr. Brettenthaler and them recognized that way.
It seems Mr. Marks has disconnected again. Your next question comes from Matthew Gaasenbeek with Stifel . Matthew, please go ahead.
Hi, Jeff and Rob. Congrats on a great quarter, but congrats on a more exciting future. I think there have been some great questions asked that covered a lot of my areas. My one question is really around the no formaldehyde added movement and a little bit of an update on what is happening from a regulatory standpoint within the state of California, Germany, and markets that have really been focused in on this issue.
Good morning, Matt. Thanks for the kind words. On the regulatory front, I think generally the North American market is feeling like they've made their big move to CARB2 fairly recently. In fact, the Canadian move toward the same standard as the U.S. has adopted was actually just formalized in the last quarter, believe it or not. It usually takes us here in Canada a few years to essentially just ratify the U.S. view on things. The one thing that could potentially change in the North American market, which we think is an important step, revolves around worker safety and the levels of formaldehyde within the workplace itself. I think that's under some scrutiny right now and could drive some further change. Change on that agenda would take some time.
The change that's in process right now is really in the European market around Germany's move to kind of break from the European ranks and impose the E0.5 standard, which essentially cuts the allowable formaldehyde emissions in half and makes it much more costly and has lines running much more slowly in moving to that standard. Germany is a really important producer of panels within Europe and a really important consumer. That kind of forces everybody else that is sort of pan-European to be thinking about their future in resins. We see some of the large players, including some of our strategic partners, already moving toward that standard as their pan-European or even sometimes pan-global standard that they're moving to.
Yeah, I think change, why not invest in going all the way, especially now that we've got the big steps in economics and speed that we've been able to achieve in the last six months or so here.
Matt, the only thing I would add to that, too, is probably even more important than the regulatory side is really the consumer pull. Coming out of COVID here and the pandemic, there definitely seems to be a much more heightened awareness of doing better things for the environment and thinking about the impact on the environment. What we're seeing, I would say, is a lot more activity internally from very large organizations taking a hard look at their ESG mandates and their material choices within their supply chain. I think fundamentally, we see that probably being more important than even the regulatory. The regulatory will happen, but we think it's going to happen faster just simply through consumer pull and ESG mandates.
Yeah, that's a great point, Rob. I think probably the most important thing to happen in the last 6 months on that front is IKEA coming out and saying that glues represent 6% of their entire carbon footprint as an organization and that they want to cut that significantly. That foreshadows to all of the companies that supply to them that there's a need for change.
I guess on that point, Rob, with Swiss Krono's no -formaldehyde-added marketing, are we seeing customers showing up into the major customer saying, Hey, where are the no -formaldehyde-added baby cribs or change tables? Are we seeing consumers getting to that stage where they're that educated yet?
I think their level of education is definitely getting there. We do know that large retailers get a lot of inbound calls asking about the safety of their product and specifically about formaldehyde. I'm not sure that the connection has been made all along the value chain yet. It is a fairly complex value chain to get all the way to a baby crib at, let's say, a Home Depot or someplace like that. I think there's still probably some work to be done there. We try to help with that work in whatever way we can. We know Swiss Krono's working on that agenda as well. That's probably the step of sort of visibility and transparency all along the value chain that needs to happen so consumers know what they're asking for.
That's great. Thanks, and congratulations, guys.
Thanks a lot, Matt.
Thanks, Matt.
Thank you. There are no further questions at this time. Mr. MacDonald, you may proceed.
Thanks very much for all the questions today in particular, and thanks to everyone for joining us.
Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes your conference call for today. We thank you for participating and ask that you please disconnect your line.