Helen Xu
谢谢,Paul。女士们、先生们,早上好,以及来自中国的各位听众晚上好。欢迎大家参加海湾资源2021年第三季度业绩电话会议。我是公司投资者关系总监Helen Xu,公司首席执行官刘晓斌先生今天也参加了本次电话会议。我想提醒所有听众,在本次电话会议中,管理层的一些陈述将包含关于海湾资源公司及其子公司业务和产品的前瞻性信息,这些信息符合1933年《证券法》第175条规则和1934年《证券交易法》第3b-6条规则的含义,并受这些规则创建的安全港保护。实际结果可能与今天讨论的结果有所不同,考虑到许多风险因素,包括但不限于中国的一般经济和商业状况、COVID-19大流行的风险、未来产品开发和生产能力、向最终客户的发货、新老产品的市场接受度、来自溴和其他化学行业现有和新增竞争以及技术变革的额外竞争、未来溴资产开发能力以及公司无法控制的各种其他因素。所有前瞻性陈述均明确受到本警示声明和公司向SEC提交报告中详述的风险因素的完整限定。海湾资源没有义务修订或更新任何前瞻性陈述以反映本次电话会议日期之后的事件或情况。因此,公司认为这些前瞻性陈述中反映的预期是合理的,但不能保证这些预期将被证明是正确的。此外,关于公司未来业绩的陈述代表公司管理层截至2021年11月16日今天的估计。对于现在无法收听整个电话会议的听众,公司网站将提供重播。本次电话会议也可通过网络广播收听,链接可通过我们网站访问。请查阅我们早些时候发布的新闻稿了解详情。在讨论季度业绩之前,我想先谈谈我们三个业务部门的最新发展以及季度结束后发生的事件。首先,让我们看看化学品部门。世界和中国经济受到许多行业供应链问题的影响,包括能源行业。航运短缺扰乱了全球许多产品的交付。中国也受到能源短缺的影响,例如,在中国一些地区,政府限制了电力使用,包括寿光市,寿光市一些在建企业也受到电力使用限制。因此,供应链问题以及电力限制延迟了公司新化工厂部分设备的生产和交付。此外,公司的新宇鑫化工厂也受到电力使用限制。这意味着化工厂的安装、测试时间和试生产将延迟。目前,公司无法确定延迟的程度,但将随时向股东通报情况。这个新化工厂将专注于医药中间体产品及其副产品。我们可能生产其他产品,但医药中间体产品需求旺盛,能为我们提供更高的利润率。因此,我们预计该工厂在商业化生产后将实现盈利。其次,让我们看看溴部门。我相信大家都知道,全球溴价格大幅上涨,在中国涨幅更大。在世界市场上,航运问题扰乱了交付。因此,中国无法进口其正常份额的溴,由于供应短缺和需求旺盛,溴价格飙升至历史最高水平。从2020年第二季度到2021年第三季度末,溴价格上涨了68.1%,达到创纪录水平。自第三季度末以来,溴价格又上涨了约40%。由于原材料价格上涨幅度低于溴价格上涨幅度,我们认为这种定价环境应该有利于我们2021年第四季度的盈利能力。公司不知道当前的短缺将持续多久。然而,如果我们看到任何变化,也将随时通知股东。如果您查看第三季度的业绩,就能了解溴定价对盈利能力的影响。2021年第三季度,我们销售了2,511吨溴。去年同期,我们销售了2,301吨溴。平均售价为5,939美元,而去年同期为3,990美元,上涨了48.8%。目前,市场价格为每吨10,787美元,比第三季度平均售价上涨了82%。由于订单接收和发货之间存在时间差,更高的价格将影响2021年第四季度的销售和利润率。第三季度,每吨毛利润为3,210美元,而去年同期为1,569美元,增长了111%。如果价格保持高位,我们的溴业务将非常有利可图。考虑到当前价格,我们预计2021年第四季度毛利率会更高。目前,我们预计第四季度的产量与第三季度相对相同。唯一潜在的问题是政府是否会宣布冬季停产,因为2022年春节比2021年提前10天,少量生产可能会从第四季度转移到2022年第一季度。同时,目前我们尚未听到任何关于冬季停产的消息。我们预计2021年第四季度我们4个运营工厂的产量将略高于2020年第四季度。关于我们公司的2号、8号和10号溴工厂的最新进展。正如我们已指出的,政府正在完成所有矿区的规划流程,这是由于溴和粗盐核心生产的要求,包括防洪要求。从我们的角度来看,主要问题涉及水的处理和处置,虽然计划尚未完成,但我们知道我们将无法将废水排入大海或排放到农田。这可能涉及建设处理设施和[听不清]。虽然我们无法控制政府批准的时间,但我们仍然对能够重新开放这3个溴设施持乐观态度。当然,让我们看看我们的天然气部门。此外,公司还认为,当前影响中国的能源问题最终可能有助于我们在四川省获得天然气项目的批准。中国迫切需要新的天然气资源。四川省有大型天然气发现[听不清]。政府已经规定私营公司可以钻探天然气。我们相信我们将获得在四川钻探天然气的批准。展望:鉴于当前溴价格,公司预计第四季度的销售和收益将大幅好于去年同期。虽然我们目前没有给出具体指引,但我们认为2022年对公司来说将是很好的一年,因为我们预计在可预见的未来溴价格将保持高位,我们相信我们的化工厂和其他3个溴设施将投入运营,并且我们希望获得钻探天然气的批准。现在让我们转向财务业绩,第三季度收入。第三季度收入增加6940万美元至约1780万美元,而2020年同期约为1050万美元。毛利率从35.6%提高至53.8%。运营收入为710万美元,而2020年第三季度亏损270万美元。净利润为540万美元,而上一季度亏损290万美元。每股收益为0.52美元,而去年同期每股亏损0.30美元。9个月业绩:9个月收入增长108.3%至3420万美元。毛利率从22.6%改善至43.5%。运营收入为140万美元,而去年同期亏损1050万美元。每股收益为0.02美元,而去年同期每股亏损0.91美元。资产负债表:第三季度末,现金为9890万美元。营运资本为1.047亿美元,股东权益为2.822亿美元。基于流通股数,每股现金为9.44美元,每股净现金为7.31美元。每股营运资本为10美元。每股账面价值为26.9美元。现金流:截至2021年9月30日的9个月期间,经营活动提供的现金流约为1110万美元,主要是由于与不动产、厂房和设备折旧摊销以及限制性股票费用相关的非现金调整,抵消了1232万美元的净亏损和约689万美元应收账款的增加。但在2020年同期,经营活动提供的现金流约为326万美元。第三季度分部报告:溴部门:溴销售额增长62.4%至1490万美元。产量仅增长9%。因此,大部分增长是由于价格改善。毛利润率为55.7%,而去年同期为39.3%。运营收入增长252%至690万美元。粗盐部门:粗盐收入增长118%至280万美元。毛利润增长921%至120万美元。运营收入约为561,400美元,而去年同期亏损484,300美元。化学品和天然气部门:化学品部门报告运营亏损约535,000美元,天然气部门报告运营亏损49,300美元。现在让我们把电话会议交给刘先生进行一些评论。
Helen Xu
Thank you, Paul. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and good evening to all those of you joining for us from China. And we'd like to welcome all of you to Gulf Resources Third Quarter 2021, Earnings Conference Call. I'm Helen Xu, the IR Director, our CEO of the company; Mr. Xiaobin Liu, is also joining this call today. I'd like to remind you to all our listeners that in this call, certain management's statements during the call will contain forward-looking information about Gulf Resources Corporation and its subsidiaries business and products within the meaning of Rule 175 on the Securities Act of 1933 and the Rule 3b-6 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and are subject to the safe harbor created by those rules. Actual results may differ from those discussed today, taking into account a number of risk factors including, but not limited to, the general economic and business conditions in PRC. The risk associated with the COVID-19 pandemic out of reach, future product development and production capabilities, shipments to end customers, market acceptance of new and existing products, additional competition from existing and new competition from the bromine and other chemical industry and the changing technology, the ability to make future bromine assets that -- and the various other factors beyond the company's control. All forward-looking statements are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement and the risk factors detailed with the company's reports filed with the SEC. Gulf Resources assumes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this call. Accordingly, our company believes expectations reflected in those forward-looking statements are reasonable, and there can be no assurance of such will prove to be correct. In addition, and in reference to the company's future performance represents the company management's estimates as of today, the 16 of November 2021. For those of you unable to listen to this entire call at this time, a replay will be available at the company's website. The call is also accessible through the webcast and the link is accessible through our website. So please locate our press release issued earlier for the details. So before we discuss the quarter, I'd like to discuss the recent developments on our 3 business segments and the events that have occurred after the end of quarter. Firstly, let's look at the Chemicals segment. The world and Chinese economies have been impacted by the supply chain issues in many industries, including the energy industry. Shipping shortages have disrupted delivery of many products throughout the world. China has also been impacted by shortage of energy, for example, in some regions of China, the government has restricted electrical usage, including Shouguang City and some businesses under construction had restricted from electrical usage in Shouguang City. So the supply chain issues as well as electrical restrictions have delayed the production and delivery of some equipment to the company's new chemical factory. In addition, the company's new Yuxin chemical factory has also been restricted from the electrical usage. This means the installation, timing of testing and the beginning trial production at the chemical factory will be delayed. At this time, the company is not in a position to determine the extent of the delay, but it will keep shareholders advised. This new chemical factory will focus on pharmaceutical intermediary products and its by-product. We may produce other products, but pharmaceutical intermediary products are in high demand and provide us with higher margin. So we expect this factory will be profitable with commercial production. Secondly, let's look at the bromine segment. As I'm sure you know that bromine prices have risen substantially throughout the world and even more substantially in China. In the world market, shipping issues have disrupted delivery. As a result, China has been unable to import its normal share of bromine, with a shortage in supply and the demand, the prices of bromine soared to the highest levels ever recorded. From the second quarter of 2020 to the end of the third quarter of 2021, bromine prices increased 68.1%, reaching record levels. Since the end of the third quarter, bromine prices have increased approximately 40%. Since the raw material price increases and lower than the bromine price increase, we believe this type of pricing should be good for our fourth quarter 2021 profitability. The company has no idea on how long the current shortage will last. However, we will also keep our shareholders informed if any change we have seen. If you look at the results from the third quarter, you will be able to understand the impact of bromine pricing and profitability. In the third quarter of 2021, we sold 2,511 tons of bromine. In the same quarter of previous year, we sold 2,301 tons of bromine. The average selling price was $5,939 versus $9,000 -- sorry, versus $3,990 an increase of 48.8%. At the present time, market prices are $10,787 per ton, an increase of 82% over the average selling price in the third quarter. Because there is the lag time between order received and shipping, which set higher prices to impact the sales and margins in the fourth quarter of 2021. In the third quarter, gross profit per ton was $3,210 versus $1,569, an increase of 111%. If prices remain elevated, our bromine business can be very profitable. Given prices, we expect higher gross margins in fourth quarter 2021. At this time, we expect production in the fourth quarter to be relatively the same as the third quarter. The only potential issue is whether the government announces a winter shutdown because Chinese New Year in 2022 is 10 days earlier than the year 2021, a small amount of production could be shifted from the fourth quarter to first quarter of 2022. At the same time, present time, we have not heard anything about a winter shutdown. We expect production from our 4 operating factories to be slightly higher in fourth quarter 2021 than in fourth quarter 2020. So for our company, bromine factories number 2, number 8 and number 10, the most recent development. As we have noted, the government is completing its planning process for all mining areas due to the requirement for core production of bromine and crude salt and including that for prevention of flood. From our point of view, the major issue related to the treatment and disposal with the water, while the plan is not yet complete, but we know we will not be able to send the wastewater to sea or deposit it to the farmland. This could entail constructing treatment facilities and [indiscernible]. While we cannot control timing of government approval, we remain optimistic about being able to reopen the 3 bromine facilities. Certainly, let's look at our natural gas segment. In addition, the company also believes that the current energy issues impacting China could ultimately assist us in receiving approval for natural gas project in Sichuan Province. China badly needs new resources of natural gas. There are a large natural gas discovery [indiscernible] in the Sichuan Province. The government has already ruled that private companies can drill for natural gas. We believe we will receive approval to retain -- to drilling natural gas in Sichuan. Guidance, given the current price of bromine, the company expects sales and earnings in the fourth quarter to be substantially better than those of the previous year. While we are not giving specific guidance at this time, we think year 2022 will be a very good year for the company because it expects higher prices for bromine for the foreseeable future, we believe our chemical factory and our 3 other bromine facilities will be operational and we hope to receive approval to drill for natural gas. Now let's turn to the financial results, the third quarter income. Revenues in the third quarter increased $69.4 million to approximately $17.8 million versus approximately $10.5 million in the same period of 2020. Gross margins increased to 53.8% from 35.6%. Income from operations was $7.1 million compared to a loss of $2.7 million in the third quarter of 2020. Net profit was $5.4 million compared to a loss of $2.9 million in the previous quarter. Earnings per share were $0.52 compared to a loss of $0.30 in the same quarter of the previous year. 9 months results. Revenues in the 9 months increased 108.3 percentage to $34.2 million. Gross margins improved to 43.5% from 22.6%. Income from operations was $1.4 million versus a loss of $10.5 million. Earnings per share were $0.02 versus a loss of $0.91. So balance sheet. At the end of the third quarter, cash equaled to $98.9 million. Working capital was $104.7 million shareholders' equity was $282.2 million. Based on the shares outstanding, the cash per share was $9.44, net-net cash per share was $7.31 per share. Working capital per share was $10. Book value per share was $26.9. Cash flow. During the 9-month period ended September 30, 2021, cash flow provided by operating activities of approximately $11.1 million was mainly due to the noncash adjustments related to the depreciation and amortization of property, plant and equipment, and restricted stock expenses offset by a net loss of $12.32 million and an increase in accounts receivable of approximately $6.89 million. But during the year, same period of year 2020 cash flow provided by operating activities was approximately $3.26 million. So the third quarter segment reporting, bromine. Bromine sales increased 62.4 million to 14.9 -- 62.4% to $14.9 million. Production increased only 9%. So most of the increase was due to improved pricing. Gross profit was 55.7% versus 39.3% in the same period of the previous year. Income from operations increased to 252% to $6.9 million. Crude salt. Revenues in crude salt increased 118% to $2.8 million. Gross profit increased 921% to $1.2 million. Income from operations was approximately $561,400 versus a loss of $484,300 in the previous year. Chemicals and natural gas. Chemical reported operating loss of approximately $535,000 and natural gas reported an operating loss of $49,300. So now let's turn the call over to Mr. Liu for some remarks.