Good morning and afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Tidewater Renewables 2025 Q1 Financial Results Conference Call. At this time, all lines are in listen-only mode, and following the presentation, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. If at any time during this call you require immediate assistance, please press star zero for the operator. This call is being recorded on Thursday, May 8th, 2025. I would now like to turn the conference call over to our CFO of Tidewater Renewables, Mr. Ian Quartly. Please go ahead.
Thank you, Operator. Welcome, everyone, to Tidewater Renewables' first quarter 2025 results conference call. On the call with me today is our Chairman and CEO, Jeremy Baines, who will provide an update on operations and regulatory updates during the quarter. I will follow with our financial results, and then we'll open the line for your questions. Before we get started, I'd like to note that today's call is being recorded for the benefit of individual shareholders, the media, and other interested parties who may want to review the call at a later time. The recorded call will be available through Zoom. This morning, we reported results for the first quarter ended March 31st, 2025. A copy of our news release, financial statements, and MD&A may be accessed on SEDAR+ or on our website.
Before passing the call over to Jeremy, I remind you that some of the comments made today may be forward-looking in nature and are based on Tidewater Renewables' current expectations, judgments, and projections. Forward-looking statements we express today are subject to risk and uncertainties, which may cause actual results to differ from expectations. Further, some of the information provided refers to non-GAAP measures. To know more about these forward-looking statements, non-GAAP measures, and risk factors, please see the company's various financial reports, which are available on our website and on SEDAR. I'll now turn the call over to Jeremy.
Thank you, Ian, and thanks to everyone for joining our Q1 results conference call today. While the quarter was disappointing from a financial results point of view, our outlook is improving significantly in spite of what is hopefully only a delay on our trade case. Regulatory changes in British Columbia and improvements in U.S. import parity prices for renewable diesel coming into British Columbia are both supportive of our profitability go forward. First, let me start by providing an update on our ongoing trade action. On May 5th, 2025, the Canadian International Trade Tribunal issued a decision to terminate its preliminary injury inquiry regarding Tidewater Renewables' countervailing, anti-subsidy, and anti-dumping duty complaint concerning imports of renewable diesel from the United States.
While we are disappointed with the Tribunal's decision, we want to be clear that Tidewater Renewables remains steadfast in its commitment to ensuring fair competition in Canada's renewable diesel market. Our position remains unchanged. The evidence strongly supports the fact that unfair trade practices by the United States have led to a flood of subsidized dumped renewable diesel into Canada. This influx has caused significant harm to Tidewater, who is currently the sole Canadian producer of renewable diesel. It is important to note that the Canada Border Services Agency initiated the investigation after confirming the validity of our concerns, recognizing that U.S. subsidies and dumping practices have distorted the Canadian market. With the support of our external trade law counsel, we will thoroughly review the decision upon receiving the Tribunal's reasoning on May 23rd, 2025.
Based on that review, we will aggressively pursue all available legal remedies, including the possibility of filing an amended or new complaint with the Canada Border Services Agency. In spite of this hopefully temporary setback in our trade case, we are optimistic about the future of the Canadian renewable diesel market. On February 27, 2025, the Government of British Columbia announced changes to the Low Carbon Fuels Act, which increased the renewable fuel requirement for diesel from 4% to 8% for the 2025 compliance period and, effective April 1, 2025, mandates that renewable fuel content be produced in Canada. Since the announcement, there has been a significant increase in demand from customers who want to buy our Canadian renewable diesel in replacement of their historical volumes imported from the U.S.
We have been having good success in selling our renewable diesel with the related emissions and Canadian content credits attached at reasonably profitable levels. Additionally, U.S. D4 RIN values have increased over 70% during 2025, and California LCFS values have remained strong, which increases the import parity price of the competing U.S. renewable diesel that is imported into Canada. This ultimately sets the value of our Canadian emissions credits, and these favorable market dynamics are leading to improved Tidewater Renewables' margins throughout the remainder of 2025 and beyond. We are confident that these factors will drive significant value for our stakeholders and position us as a leader in Canada's renewable diesel industry. Now turning to our operational performance at the HDRD Complex for Q1 2025. For the three months ended March 31st, 2025, the HDRD Complex had average throughput of 2,239 barrels per day, or 75% of design capacity.
Utilization was lower during the first quarter as we managed inventory as there was an excess supply of diesel at Western Canadian market and somewhat muted demand and inclement weather, which affected feedstock coming into the plant via rail. On April 1st, there was a minor fire in the main renewable diesel process unit at the HDRD Complex. The fire was swiftly extinguished by our operations team utilizing the firefighting equipment at site. There were no injuries reported. The damage was minimal and could be repaired with spare parts on hand. Operations resumed on April 14th, and the HDRD complex has been operating as expected since the outage. Looking ahead, we estimate our maintenance capital expenditure for 2025 will be between $8 million-$10 million. A significant portion of this is allocated to the planned turnaround at the HDRD complex during the third quarter.
The turnaround is expected to last approximately three weeks. We will continue to sell renewable diesel from inventory during the turnaround. The HDRD complex is expected to have a regular two- and four-year turnaround cycle. The year-two turnaround is focused on the hydrodeoxygenation catalyst replacement. The four-year turnaround will be more comprehensive, including hydrodeoxygenation and DWACS catalyst replacements, vessel inspections, and targeted equipment upgrades. As we progress through 2025, we are confident in the positive trends that are shaping the renewable diesel market. Regulatory changes, including the BC government's commitment to increasing the renewable fuel mandate and requiring Canadian production, are expected to continue driving demand for domestic renewable diesel. Our continued focus on operational efficiency, coupled with strategic investments in maintenance, will support our ongoing efforts to maximize throughput and profitability in the year ahead.
I'll now turn the call over to Ian, who will provide a more detailed review of our financial results for Q1 2025.
Thanks, Jeremy. During the first quarter of 2025, Tidewater Renewables reported net income of $5.2 million, an increase of $8.6 million from the fourth quarter of 2024. This higher net income was primarily due to unrealized gains on derivative contracts and a higher income contribution from the equity investment. Adjusted EBITDA of $2.4 million for the first quarter of 2025 was a slight decrease from the $6 million adjusted EBITDA generated in the fourth quarter of 2024. The decrease in EBITDA is due to lower margins from the sale of renewable diesel and emissions credits, as the majority of sales were contracted before the Government of British Columbia announced the changes to the Low Carbon Fuels Act in late February. Subsequent to the quarter, on May 7th, 2025, we successfully extended the maturity date of the senior credit facility by one year to February 28th, 2027.
In combination with the amendments made to the first and second-lien credit facilities at the end of March, the refinancing significantly enhanced Tidewater Renewables' financial flexibility, provided the additional capacity necessary to support the company's ongoing financial stability, and extended the earliest debt maturity out to February 2027. I'll now ask the operator to open the call for questions.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question-and-answer session. Should you have a question, please press the star followed by the one on your touch-tone phone. You will hear a prompt that your hand has been raised. Should you wish to decline from the polling process, please press the star followed by the two. If you are using a speakerphone, please lift the handset before pressing any keys. One moment, please, for your first question. Your first question comes from Robert from CIBC Capital Markets. Please go ahead.
Hey, everyone. I wondered if you could first start by providing us with a more specific indication of what you're seeing in the April LCFS credit market following the onset of the market reforms.
Yeah. It's a little bit of a repetitive piece of disclosure, but we're seeing a full credit stack now that is in the, you know, on an import parity-based value, $450-plus, sort of at today's market.
Okay. What do you understand of the reasoning behind the Tribunal's decision to terminate the inquiry? Did it consider the U.S. bill that's aimed at retroactively extending the biodiesel tax credits?
We're not quite sure, to be honest, Rob. Like, it's an awkward spot. We went through, you know, the Canada Border Services Agency took up our case. Our understanding is it's extremely rare when the CITT, you know, rejects that case, as has happened. We're waiting for the reasoning. Sometimes it's just a procedural thing. You know, when this happens, you refile and advance the claim. We don't have any real insight to it because they don't release their actual reasoning and decision until, what's the date there? May 23rd or whatever it is. We're still two weeks out from kind of knowing what the reasoning is. We actually are, you know, we are preparing to refile just so we don't lose time here. We'll see what happens there.
Yeah. It's understandable. Last question for me is, how do you see support from the BC government changing following the Tribunal determination? Has it done enough to ensure credit prices return to a level that can support the industry?
Yeah. So, you know, what the BC government has said publicly is that they're monitoring the market. They will look at taking this up, the Canadian content as appropriate. I think the reality is we think they're supportive of renewable diesel production and the renewable diesel industry. They want to see the Canadian producers be successful and have a fair playing field to compete on, which it isn't today. We expect they likely will take that Canadian mandate up. There's no guarantee of that, but we expect that. Ultimately, in the long run, we see the Canadian market being balanced when you look at the amount of diesel that's consumed in British Columbia and the, you know, with the tightening CI requirements go forward.
We think the, you know, what we expect the Canadian R&D production to be by the end of this year, the BC market is balanced, and we will back out the, you know, we'll compete well with those imports, and the market will be balanced and productive for Canadian-produced renewable diesel.
Okay. Thank you.
Thank you. Just as a reminder, if you do have a question, please press star one. Your next question comes from Maurice from RBC Capital Markets. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Good morning, everyone. I just want to come back to more of a big-picture question here. I think you mentioned that because of the BC government and because of, I guess, increased demand, some of the prices have actually recovered, and to some extent, the profit has returned. When I think about this termination of the inquiry by the Tribunal, if I take one step forward, do we actually need it? I'm sure it would be nice to have it, but then in terms of the longevity of your business case, is this step necessary, or can investors move on?
We're not ready to move on because we've been irreparably harmed. It's been a challenge based on the unfair trade. To your point, there is clearly, you know, without it, with the support of the BC government, if they continue to do what they've said they're going to do around the BC LCFS regulations, we do think that we've got a long and competitive, profitable pathway. Even if we're not successful there, we still, you know, we haven't seen the ruling, so it's hard for us to say, but we still will pursue a fair and level playing field. That is an avenue that is there that we need to continue to pursue.
To your point, with the improvements in the import parity pricing, with the improvements in the BC government regulations, we expect to be profitable and, you know, the remaining quarters of this year to be, you know, healthy.
It's really good to hear. We're just finishing up and sticking with the policy side of things. When you think about the coming quarters, suppose it takes a few months for the federal government to be put in place and have mandate letters put out. Can you just broadly discuss, you know, what policies it maintains is good and perhaps what policy changes it proposed will be good for you and you're watching out for?
Yeah. I think there's, you know, on the federal front, you know, anything that tightens the CI around the federal credits is supportive of our business because we generate a significant amount of those credits as well. You know, depending on what the ruling is from the trade outcome, I do think that, you know, sort of an equal and offsetting federal, you know, similar type tax credit that, you know, to mimic the U.S. one to make for fair trade would be a good policy outcome from the R&D side. You know, things around SAF could be supportive of our SAF project as well.
Perfect. Thank you very much.
Thank you. There are no further questions at this time. I will now turn the call back over to our CEO of Tidewater Renewables, Mr. Jeremy Baines. Please continue.
Thanks, everyone, for joining us on the call today. Please do not hesitate to reach out to me or the team if you have any questions. Thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes your call for today. We thank you for your participation. As they do, please disconnect. Have a great day.